Balance
8″ x16″ mixed media painting. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted red.
This painting is available HERE
“We come into this world head first and go out feet first; in between, it is all a matter of balance.”
The Polka Dot Dress
6.5″ x17.5″ mixed media painting on stone paper. This painting is not matted but does have a .25″ border.
This painting is available HERE
My Protector
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
Watch Her Fly
6.5″x17.5″ Mixed media painting on stone paper. There is a .25″ border.
This painting is available HERE
In less than a month I will have a ten year old. How did that happen? I must remember to let her fly. I know I am over protective and sometimes my first instinct is to keep her caged. I must learn how to support her flight, to encourage her to soar and to stand back and watch her fly.
Free As A bird ( I Wish I Could Make It All Better)
This is a 18″x24″ mixed media painting on wood from My Too Small series.
The image of a bird cage just keeps popping into my head and on to the pages of my sketchbook but, I until now, I have not included it in an actual painting.
I love the see-through quality, and delicate wire bars of this Victorian birdcage. As a sculpture, a birdcage is rather beautiful and decorative. (Indeed, many people collect birdcages just for that reason.) However, I can’t help looking at an empty birdcage without feeling a little sad. Like something is missing. (Well, a bird obviously!) Perhaps I just need to try thinking about it differently; that the bird has escaped its captures and is free. This would make me happy if I was not so sure that a bird that was once caged would most likely not fair so well out in the wild.
I worry about being over protective with my children. How will they fair if I never let them fail? I constantly try to protect them from any hurt or nastiness that this world may bring them. Will they be able to make it all better for themselves? Comfort their own hurt? How can I teach them these skills? And, indeed, is it already to late? If I keep them caged up now, what chance do they have? At the same time, I want their childhood to be magic, innocence and joy. Childhood should be paradise. It should be free of worry and sadness. It is the only time that we are truly allowed the freedom of those feeling. When I see children that are deprived of those things my heart aches.
It is such a balance isn’t it? Just finding that perfect balance is a life’s work. A mother’s work. (And father’s too, of course).
ACEO Joy 2
This is a new ACEO I did recently. I have been challenging myself trying to capture extreme expressions without having them look distorted or unatural. It is hard. I think I managed to do it. I love the way children really feel the joy with their whole body. Head back, mouth open. Just pure pleasure in the moment.
This one is available in my etsy shop.
Also, this painting was included in a new treasury on etsy called It’s A Dog’s Life
This one is called ‘My Red Guitar’ and is available on Etsy
Leopard Print and Tiger Lilies
Another new mixed media painting. I have to admit, leopard print is one of my guilty pleasures. I know to some it is condisdered tacky but I just can’t help it! I kind of shy away from wearing it myself (most but not all of the time) but I have no problem dressing my kids up in it. No problem at all!
Oh, and is it ever FUN to paint!
SOLD
Balanced
A new painting, ‘Balanced’, 18″x24″, mixed media on wood stretcher.
I found this amazing photo on http://clancysclassics.blogspot.com/, actually in her etsy shop. Check out her beautiful work. She graciously let me use this image for a print of the final painting. Thanks Marianne!
You’re Beautiful When You’re Mad
You’re beautiful when you are mad. You’re beautiful when you are tired and even when you just wake up in the morning . And you don’t even care.
Beauty is wasted on children.
Meanwhile back at the ranch … here I am. Mad, tired and constantly feeling like I just woke up. And all because of children! And I DO care! As my five year old would say “That’s no fair!”.
