its been snowing here at my house for a few days… well today it actually stopped. like no snow all day, and it melted a little. it has been snowing since last friday, everyday , off and on during the day. there was one other winter like that since we’ve lived here in Germany. i think its pretty, and love to watch it when its really coming, and boy , having kids really brings back the memories of being excited that we would get to play in it, get all bundled up, get all worn out, and eventually come in from the cold and relax.
I’ve been drawing and painting and trying new things out, and just really really enjoying the time being cooped up in the house, with art! I actually got my oldest kid into the mood to draw and paint a little, learning new techniques with painting and drawing portraits….boys usually seem to want to draw cars, or robots, so its neat to have him join me.
here are a couple more attempts. i did one other one with collage and paint, but ugh… it was NOT good. maybe it will look better tommorrow?
i plan to paint over Mr. Chaplin sometime this week. we’ll see how that goes.
This portrait was done with the Shiva Paint Stiks… only the piant stiks. they are really fun to use. painting with your fingers….
who did i paint now?
can you guess…..?
no really… can you tell? this is one of my favorite icons of all time…. since i was young, really young. i cannot tell you how awsome this online class has been for me. i’m so glad i decided to do it. i feel so much more comfortable now painting portraits, and drawing them. i still don’t think i’m anywhere near as good as my hubby… he’s really good.
anyway here is …
the king of Rock ‘n’ Roll
welllllll
i still had fun……. haha
this was done with a Stablio Pencil, white acrylic paint, and Shiva Paint Stiks
and these Shiva Paintstiks are A W S O M E…. i saw a lot of folks started using them when they first came out, but i was like, no , no , no i want to continue to paint the way i’ve learned. i don’t need no stinking paintstiks. ugh…. i was wrong. these things are awsome… you just have to try one. really… just one.
yay!
ugh i need an entire class on hair… but i’ll take this … this is sooooooo good
i see where i need work still (hair, proportions) but i’ll take it, oh yeah
i’m a little late, or behind in the Misty Mawn class i’m participating in… i’m still inthe drawing portion. already we need to move on to some really fun stuff. tonight i will try it out and post my explorations tommorrow, now that i have a couple of free-er days… one thing is painting mona lisa! aaaaack!
so i’m also late in blogging this, but i’ve noticed blogs talk about their word for the year. i think i did this last year too but i can’t remember. and i think i’m picking the same word but i like it…
G R O W
i still have so many areas that ineed to apply this word too.
faith, marriage, motherhood, God given talents, art
i’ve still got a bit a growing to do~
Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.
William Butler Yeats
What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away.
Henry Ward Beecher
cute song i found about growing….
BEFORE……….
AFTER……..
yeah…. this is such a needed class for me. i think that jumping into art, at the beginning of the year, after being away for a couple months, is HUGE. i love drawing, my kids love it, but usually i’m all about painting, then waiting till bedtime to jump into that because well the littlest one, whose nickname is Ocean, he likes to ‘help”. BUT drawing can happen WITH the kids, and won’t cause utter chaos, AND your supposed to put your feet up when your pregnant. see? its a win ~ win all around.
i’m a little behind in the lessons. next up are some painting assignments. yay…. i didnt actually have the best supplies for the drawing lessons. and ordered a few things, because well practice makes perfect… drawing is a huge element to good paintings. i think drawing is harder than painting. which is funny because thats all i did when i first started out. but once i got into mixed media , i sort of slowly went away from drawing everyday. i’m glad to be back at it.
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
yeah… i’m a little late. but well i’ve had visits from family, and i’ve been pretty sick with this pregnancy. in fact my sister just left yesterday, after her visit here to germany, with her little girl. i miss my sister so much already.
we got some great quality sister time while she was here, and then of course herding around this lot:
yeah i know…. we had our hands FULL some days.
haha
we saw some sights while she was here…..
then was some silly fun….
well i’m here to say, i’m ready to get back into some awsome things…. i’m participating in a r e a l l y c o o l project and i’m also taking an online Drawing and Painting Portraits Class by one of my favorite artists , Misty Mawn, who is also doing a month of Art Journaling! yay….
i also have a couple of folks who have commision requests, so i’ve got some things to do. i really havn’t been very creative since getting pregnant… just from being so sick for so long, and really unmotivated.
i’m sure this is going to be a starting over point with my little blog here. i’m gonna change a few things up, dust it off and just have some fun here.
here is where new baby and i are at in looking more and more like a snowman:
oh and i did want to share this song i’ve been listening to… well just today actually. g o h e r e
So it’s been a long time, I know. I have an excuse… morning sicknesss, sleepless nights, and breathlessness.
it’s all for a good cause of course….

sorry it’s blurry… my 10 yr old took it, and i think he did a great job.
i wanted to share what we did today…. we went to the American Cemetary in Luxembourg. we havn’t been to any cemetaries or really any truly historical spots yet, other than castles, so it was neat. we went for the ceremony, which was also neat.



we’ve been doing this and that, starting new things, doing the same old same old, and then there are the random bits…










OH YEAH! and rumor has it that ……….
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had to take two because SOMBODY didn’t quite believe it…..


































