From my home to yours….

and from my heart…..to yours

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Are we all swamped?

Or is it just me? Boy, the past 2 weeks has been crazy busy, but I guess, this just comes along with the season I seem to be one that rushes and rushes to get things done at the last minute instead of taking my time and learning to enjoy it more. That’s my goal next year. I’m going to start much, much sooner!

I’ve done a little more pyrography/painting and I’m really getting hooked on it!

Here is a 12 x 16 Pine board that I’ve done for an upcoming charity auction.

I actually sketched and erased so much on the wood that it was throwing me off as far as putting together a new design, so I covered the entire piece with 1” squares of scrapbook paper and then started over. I burned the whole design onto the board and then painted her. The message on the house is from Hebrews 13:2

“Do not neglect hospitality for through it, some have unknowingly entertained angels”

I love that verse!

Here is another, 12 x 12 piece of pine:

I need to seal her and then she’s going to my Etsy store.

Hope everyone is doing ok, sorry I’ve neglected my blog visits and hope that everyone else is so busy they’ve not been able to update much anyway Then I won’t feel like I’ve missed so much!

I’m hoping to get back soon, but if not, MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all!!

Darla

12 x 12 Wooden Canvas with BEESWAX :)

It’s so scary to take a piece that I already really like and put beeswax to it, but I did it and I LOVE the dreamy, hazy look it gave this piece!  I’ve been working on this one a little at a time and finally decided to just finish it up!  I think I’m the queen of procrastination these days?

Below is an example of what sketching on a ‘low self-esteem’ day can bring out of me   I don’t know but lately I swear I see a new wrinkle, a new age spot and more hair in the sink after styling.  It’s quite depressing!  I’m getting the ‘why even bother!?’ mentality.   When I feel bad about myself, I don’t take care of myself very well either.  The diet is full of crap, very little healthy, good stuff these days.  The worse I treat myself, the worse I feel about it.  I see therapy in my near future if I don’t snap out of this and get a grip! 

This year's Christmas Card

I know people like receiving photo cards at Christmas but when your kids are grown and out on their own, it's just easier to paint something than to try and line everybody up for a picture :)

This is on watercolor paper and I punched little snowflakes out of some tin foil to adhere.

I ordered through www.vistaprints.com Their prices are pretty reasonable and you can pick from so many designs! Also....they take payment through paypal so that was a nice bonus!

I've been fighting an awful head cold this past week. I don't know which is more chapped~ my lips or my nose! ugh :( I'm starting to come around and hopefully I'll muster up enough energy to decorate for Christmas sometime this weekend.

Hope you are all enjoying a cozy, lazy Saturday morning like I am :) I LOVE my weekends!
Darla

Hard to explain....but

There is something fun and totally 'freeing' about painting these drippy girls. First of all, I know I'm just playing......so bye-bye pressure and expectations! Second, it's only paper...who cares what goes right or what goes wrong? Not me! There's blotches of color where there shouldn't be and I'm totally ok with it :)

I highly recommend trying this if you've found yourself in the same boat I was in. Get out some watercolor paper or bristol paper if you like acrylics and just sketch and play and drip and make a mess! It's so fun ....really!

Hope you all have a great week!
Darla

A special order

My son’s girlfriend has a very special relationship with her grandmother and wanted to give her a painting for Christmas.  My first attempt, actually my first 2 attempts made me so frustrated so I switched to trying a watercolor and I like it much better  

Quote: A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher and a little bit best friend.

 

I also painted a friendship painting this morning. I love this quote: Friendship isn’t about who you have known the longest…it’s about who came, and never left your side’

I also painted up a couple of paintings for another order.  She only cared for one so I’ll show you that one

This one’s on 8 x 10 canvas.  The little girl plays the piano…oh, that’s probably pretty obvious? haha 

Anyway, after all my orders are done I think I’ll back away from special orders for awhile, if not forever.  It’s much too stressful on me.  I enjoy just painting whatever comes to mind so much more than trying to create something that someone else has in their mind, ya know?  Make sense? 

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!  Time to hit the shower!  I get busy painting and forget the day is moving right along.  ha!

*** FREE SHIPPING ***

I've decided to jump on the BLACK FRIDAY frenzy wagon and offer FREE SHIPPING on all items in my Etsy shop! Domestic sales only :( but I can definitely give a great deal to international sales too!!

Coupon Code: BLACKFRIDAY

I just heard on the news that a lady sprayed pepper spray at people at a Walmart in Los Angeles. Good God! I think that's just terrible!

Stay safe and shop online :)

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving....mine was quiet and different than normal, but nice just the same.

Take care,
Darla

Note to Self:

Don't cry in the wind..... hehe
Another drippy girl, I guess that's pretty obvious huh? :)

I needed this!

After struggling with some custom orders, I just needed to play, to create, to use my imagination with no restrictions, no expectations and no worries.  I LOVED it and maybe now I can go and finish the orders

 

Here is something new…

As some of you may or may not know…I tend to putz around and try to keep things ‘inside the lines’ too much.  This was fun, to the let the colors drip and go where they may.  See the green leg on the lower right?  Maybe I’ll ‘walk away’ from being so anal, this was fun!

 

Here is a streamer girl…odd, but fun!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of my mother’s passing.  It hit me last night that if I went to heaven today to  be with her again, I’d be 52 and she’d be the age when she left so she’d be a youngin’ and 8 years my junior.  How awkward! ha!  Love and miss you Mom!

 

Have a great weekend filled with color and love and fun!

Darla

Confusing times…..

This year….oh boy, so many things it seems have been tossed at me that I did not expect.  I can spend hours, days, weeks trying to make sense of things and I’ve finally realized I can’t. 

It’s time to accept and move on, it’s the only healthy thing to do.

It’s going to be one. long. day.

 

Oh boy, this time change thing is so hard on me.  I even stayed up a little later last night to make sure I could sleep in this morning but nope!  3:35 a.m. and I was awake and couldn’t fall back to sleep.   As all the Norwegians in my area would say, ‘UFFDA!’

 

Soooo, I watched some youtube.  I learned a lot about my Plantar Fasciitis  and some exercises to help

I also painted 3 ACEOs. 

Here is the first:

I call this one ‘And yet, she dreams’  Notice the grey hair   Yes, as old as I’m getting I keep dreaming that someday, somehow I’ll be able to do what I love whenever I want.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?  I suppose that’s what retirement is for but I’m not close enough to that just yet. ha!

Here is the next:

This one is called ‘Bracing Myself’

I don’t like winter….nuff said.

And finally:

This is my little attempt at a Picasso inspired piece.  It was actually SO VERY FUN to do! I call this one ‘Rise Above Negativity’  My thought process was the more we believe in ourselves the smaller and more insignificant the negative voices (even our own) will become.

 

It’s 10:00 am, I’ve been up for 6.5 hours already so it’s either time for a shower or a nap!

Have a great Sunday!

Darla

Another video : Anger amongst Angels

Ok, my editing skills still stink!  Sorry about that….If I could just master the ‘trim’ option I could get rid of so much of the putzin’ I do sometimes

Anger amongst Angels

Art Journal

I made a video!

And what I learned was 'OH BOY!' It is time consuming for newbies!!! Painting was easy and recording it was easy but editing it and getting things 'ok' to share? It about killed me! I have such an awesome respect for all the lovely people who share on You Tube. I don't know how you do it!? Maybe if I do another sooner I'll remember the 15 different steps I had to take to get here. haha

Hope it doesn't bore you to tears, but here it is:

http://youtu.be/uLWW3o_e8sg

Sorry, but I also can't get the embedding thing to work decently anymore either! I think I've lost all of the limited technical abilities I once had!

Have a great week!

Darla

Ok....another :)

I know I missed the boat on mermaids....other artists have been painting them for a long time but I just started and they are quite fun. The first one was acrylic on 12 x 12 (yesterday's post). Today I've done a 9 x 12 watercolor. I'm just lovin' watercolors!!

Another thing I've never done and most everyone else has.....Frida! I guess I'm just slow and perhaps I'll try Frida someday too.

Have a wonderful night!

Darla

A Mermaid!

I wanted to do a whimsical little girl mermaid when I found the bubble sticky sequin thingys at Michaels but somehow she turned into a bit of  a seductive underwater vixen?

How’s everyone’s week going?  Mine has flown by.  I’m looking forward to the weekend!  My granddaughter competes in the State Cross Country event in Fargo so I’ll head there to watch.  She’s doing so great!  Proud of you Cailee!!!

 

Have a great weekend!

Darla

Thank you Serena!

I installed Windows LiveWriter and this looks much easier!

 

This is a test….I’ll see now how I can get it over to my blog! ha

I need some help?

Can someone help me figure out how to post somewhere else and transfer it here? I can't move photos around, I have so much trouble posting what used to be a simple blog update. I'm not sure if Blogger has just changed things and I haven't kept up or what???
I'd love to post more and share more but it's getting so frustrating that I end up starting and leaving because I can't get things the way I'd like.

I remember someone posting awhile back about a nice place to prepare a post and then just come to blogger and post it. That's what I'm looking for :) Anybody?

Some watercolor paintings

I just love Rascal Flatts song 'Stand'....I can SO relate to it this past year! This is a little watercolor about 4 x 8. I think I'll mount it to wood or something and make it into a fridge magnet....a BIG fridge magnet :)


Sorry for the glare......need to mount this one also so it will lay flat so I can get a good pic! It says 'Friends are kisses blown to us by angels' It's about 6 x 8

Another 6 x 8ish watercolor. She has glittery wings and the way her hair turned out, I think she resembles a dragon fly :)

Here's a little Rascal Flatts for you :) Enjoy and STAND!

http://youtu.be/vm8711y6ILU

Angel sisters

Verna Ann and Lily Arielle

Two little angel babies given to Ross and Allison briefly before flying back to be with Jesus.

Rest in peace ......

Saturday morning fun :)

A little 5 x 7 watercolor/ink....'She Said, He Said' :)


I had to do another version for Dale. This is a funny story from one of our first dates. We went to Applebees and I can't remember what sandwich I ate but as we sat there for an hour or so, I worked on it and finished the whole thing. Later Dale says, 'I can't believe you ate that whole thing. That was one #$&*! BIG sandwich!' So romantic........but I guess I am still with him 5.5 years later :)


This is a 7 x 10

And another little 5 x 7 shown here in a matte

Close up

Have a wonderful weekend! It's beautiful here....I LOVE FALL!

Darla

Auction donation piece

Here's a close-up of the 16 x 10 canvas I'm donating to the Mayville State Farmers' Bowl auction this weekend. Not sure how to categorize it....children's art? It's rather dark in color for a child's room, but it's a young girl/angel and I can see it in a young girl's room? Oh well, hopefully someone will bid on her :)


The wording around her halo says 'His eye is on the sparrow...and I know he watches over me'

Here's another 9x12 watercolor painting. She's too funny....young face and old, witchy hands. I titled her 'Not so sure'...because she's just not so sure I captured this one right :) haha

Have a great Wednesday!!

Darla