Punkins

There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.

~Linus

It is rainy and beautiful today. The mums are gorgeous and the pumpkins are blissfully unaware of their impending Halloween makeover. Until then, they are basking in the front flower bed spreading their fall cheer. Parker has been ready to carve “those suckers” for days, but I am always sad to make pretty pumpkins into growly goblins so I put it off as long as possible. I will eventually give in and help carve them, however, because I loved fresh roasted pumpkin seeds more.

October 17, 2009October 17, 2009

I am me

“I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it — I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know — but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay. – Virginia Satir

There is no way I could have said it better myself. I want to weep when I read these beautiful words. How often I feel lost in this world. Thank you Virginia Satir for creating this mantra for me to live by when I find myself trying to compare myself to others…when I feel like I should be something I am not…or just plain forget who I am.

September 23, 2009September 24, 2009

A Rare Beauty Indeed

Is it hard to imagine that we share our huge world with such fascinating and diverse populations? That there are actually people out there who aren’t concerned with the HOA ? or What fashion labels are in this season, what meetings that need to be attended?

Thanks to YouTube, I have had the pleasure of seeing the most amazing images of the Omo People. These gorgeous people are a collection of tribes in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. They say their incredible body art is purely spontaneous and for their own pleasure and experimentation! In seems that in our society, more often than not, we strive to cover most of our bodies and find shame in revealing ourselves. However, the Omo place emphasis on their selves where our culture would see as offensive. I think I’m from the wrong clan of people.

Hanz Silvester is the amazing photographer behind these breathtaking photos. His amazing work can be seen in his latest publication, Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa . These Incredible images and people are so inspiring and just waiting to be explored on a giant canvas with my name on it.

September 22, 2009July 15, 2010

It’s Not The Critic Who Counts

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Who really counts is the fabulous and inspiring person who paid you to do it! Thank you Courtney.

Courtney stands by her new painting.

I fretted and worried all night and for the entire ride to meet her that she would hate it. Which she didn’t! We had a fabulous day celebrating her birthday by soaking in culture at the Kimball Museum, doing a little gratuitous shopping and tons of eating. I toasted the occasion with a Raspberry Martini and we had lots of cake!

AND SO WE HAD CAKE!

September 15, 2009September 21, 2009

Winds of Change

The Present…

Today, I should have been investing my time and energy in day- job searching and finishing a painting. I, instead, spent the day feeling no-so-bueno with a killer sinus headache thing, and obsessively musing over blog face lifting and gratuitous art supply shopping. A gallery page has been added to the site, if you haven’t noticed, but I haven’t managed to get to the “add stuff” phase. Sweet BFS is so super busy with his own work and artistic endeavors but still takes the time to build and work on my site. I hate to bother him to0 much but he’s my number one technical go-to hunny (errr my ONLY go-to hunny). He is really an amazing person, and I cant wait to see how he cooks it all together to make a fantastically brilliant site.

The Dream…

I have also been doing a heck of allot of thinking and planning. Great things are coming for Wenders and Wenderflonia. I have been truly inspired by my great friend Courtney, who has commissioned the brilliant piece of work I have been musing about lately. She has forced me (pretty sure I was kicking and screaming ;-)) into opening myself up to new possibilities. I have seriously been exploring the feeling that I am on the brink of something; a vibration of hope, possibly a nervous breakdown, who knows. I just feel a wind of change has been coming and is seriously overdue. My passion has always been in artistic endeavors, I’ve never fit into the traditional work environment, and so many people are baffled as to why I haven’t decided to do this sooner. But I want to be an artist….actually I want to be a paid artist.

The Reality…

The current job search has been getting me so down lately. I have fretted so long about not being able to just jump into a well paying job right away. I’m educated, smart and make sure I smell good at interviews, so why is it so hard to find a job? Possibly, it is because I’m being whispered to about taking a different approach to life and need to listen to what it’s telling me. I fully believe my true talent lies withing the creative arts and I need to pursue it. That isn’t to say NOT to look for an outside source of income. The day job search is still on, but ultimately the goal is to become a totally self sufficient working artist. The first step is to start creating, making myself available for commission work and promote pieces to sell. The hardest part, however, will be to allow myself to be vulnerable….exposed….aaahhhhhh (paper bag! Quick!) to the criticism and scrutiny of others. This is going to be so hard since I am such a private person and my art is so meaningful to me. I will not shatter…I will not shatter…..(where is that paper bag!)

The Future…

The goal for the next two weeks is:

1) To keep the job search up..have to eat…have to eat….

2) Finish Paintings in progress and post in gallery, deliver to proper homes.

3) Get website cleaned up, nipped and tucked.

4) Allow the spirit of change to keep directing me in new directions and to not be limited by my vulnerabilities.

YIKES!!!

September 13, 2009

Progress

The monster canvas continues to takes shape. Just days ago, I was too frightened to touch it and now I’ve got at least 3 to 4 layers of yummy paint and paper. The painting in progress is a mixed media piece that incorporates pretty paper to make a patchworky design.

I’m not showing the whole piece in progress because the painting is for a very dear friend and I want her to be surprised (pleasantly I hope). Since starting this project, I have found tons of inspiration so I’ve a good feeling about it. In the mean time, the close ups of some of the progress are just as enticing.

July 25, 2009July 25, 2009

Saturday Treasures

What a great Saturday spent in the down town historical district of McKinney, Texas. There were blocks and blocks of great antique shops, vintage boutiques, art galleries, cozy restaurants, and much much more. It took me 3 hours to wander around most of the blocks. Being my first time (probably will now be my new favorite Saturday activity), I didn’t take much cash with me . This is always a very wise decision; otherwise, I would have driven home with a ton of stuff strapped to the roof of my car. I simply enjoyed walking around, sampling the goods of the Mom and Pop shop, and getting great ideas about decorating and gifts. I did pick up two small items. One was a blue stenciled, enamelware pan, that will look great filled with all kinds of fun things. The other was an old wooden shelf piece that will look great on our book case. It caught my eye because it was red AND spiral. SCORE!

See my creative picture attempts.

July 24, 2009

Getting In the Rhythm is Difficult

I’m trying to find some rhythm to my life that flows more harmoniously with my creative spirit. Right now everything is topsy turvy and full of challenges. With the move, dead laptop, and countless, unsatisfying job searches, my creative flow has hit an all time low. I’m guessing this might actually be a sink or swim challenge from the creative gods, so I’m pushing through. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo yesterday, and I took some creative wildlife shots. maybe this will get me back on the road.

Click on the images below to see full size:

May 21, 2009

crazy town

It has been awhile since I’ve posted, and I’m impatient with the photos (all most excellent) taking forever to upload. So I’m trying to think of a clever topic to broach or discuss. Since it is against my religion to discuss politics and most would run me out of town anyway, I’ll keep silent.

There is a signature phrase that my mother always uses that keeps coming to mind. “Things are crazy here.”, is what she says to every one she is sorry she hasn’t kept in better touch with. It’s is always funny because it is true. It seems that life never slows down for a minute (it would be kind of scary and apocalyptic if it did). Well, that is what I feel like saying. “Everything is crazy here” and I mean that with all my heart! Sorry I haven’t kept in touch. There are great pictures comming……eventually

May 5, 2009May 5, 2009