hey everyone, this is a short post just to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays.
I appreciate every one of you who comes to my blog, time is so limited I realize, and the fact that you spend your precious time reading my blog, or even skimming, means alot to me.
I want to say that I wish for all of you lovely people to have a very blessed 2013. May the new year bring you much health, happiness, peace, joy and all the wonderful things you desire.
Stay safe this holiday season, and fill your days with beautiful memories. Time is precious, so make it count!
hi folks, seems I am forever behind, lol!
First off I would like to wish all my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks to you, we now have Black Friday sales in Canada, yeah!! Any sale is a good one, but it's not as hectic here as it would be in the US. I still managed to take advantage today :-)
I hope you are all enjoy time with loved ones.
I've been working hard on some new art, and have some new paintings to show.. First off is my wee owl shown above I decided to make prints of this one for myEtsy shopand they look identical to the original (thanks to my new super duper printer!).
There's also a whimsical fox
and of course, you've got to have some holiday penguins!
I didn't forget about my girls..In fact I have some new illustrations I'm working on right now, more like children's art I would say. They are also Christmas themed, so hopefully I can get a couple finished by the weekend, and maybe show them here. It's almost a month till Christmas, wow how time is flying!
Where ever you are, may you be blessed and thanks for reading
Does anyone else feel like Blogger is way more complicated than before? Maybe it's because I'm not used to it yet, but I find myself almost dreading making a new post....it's too glitchy! and from some comments I've been receiving, I'm not the only one having trouble!
Above is my latest witch, sorry about the not so great photo. I am still without a printer/scanner, and trying to get a good photograph is impossible! It's so overcast here, that by the time I get home, the sun is gone over the neighboring houses, so I can't get an accurate image Now that I started painting again, the last thing I want to do is stress over photographs.
It feels good to get some new art done. Once again my sketchbook is filling with ideas, and any day now, I will start with the Christmas art. It's coming alot faster than you think! Once Halloween is over, the holiday season swings into full speed- at least here in Canada, and every year I am left unprepared. It would be nice to be ahead for once in my life, lol! I really envy those of you who are so organized, manage to get everything done on time, and manage to take gorgeous photos too!
Have you ever looked through the magazine called Artful Blogging? pure eye candy. I just want a fraction of the prettiness found inside. My blog is so plain, no frills, no fancy lettering, but with so little time, you have to pick and choose where you spend it. Right now I need to focus on getting better at my art, and as much as I wish I could take gorgeous photos of my art to put on Etsy, it just isn't going to happen. It sucks, but that's life. Besides, I went on an art supply shopping spree on Etsy and at Micheals, and got myself a whole lot of fun stuff to play with! Papers and stickers and tapes, oh my!
thanks for reading, and have fun wherever you are
xoxo
Hey friends, it's the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and it fell on a much earlier date than we are used to! We had our big dinner today, and I overate of course. That's ok, tomorrow I get back on track with healthy eating. It's amazing how much better I've been feeling when I stick to a natural diet. I tried one of the most delicious juices I've ever had a few days ago, and have been making it every morning since. I copied the ingredients from Youtube, where you can find the video
Recipe for Kristina's FullyRaw Fall Beet Juice Cleanser:
5-6 Honeycrisp Apples
1-2 Large Beets with Tops
Thumb of Ginger
Half of One Sweet Potato
I've been working on more Halloween painting, and the one above with the wee owl on the pumpkins is my latest. Inspired by Christy Tomlinson, as I would never think to make patterned pumpkins.! That woman is a genius and I just love watching her work.
It sure feels good to get working back on my art again. I had taken several months break from blogging, and while I don't paint as much in the summer, the truth is I couldn't seem to make myself create at all. It felt like
my creativity vanished, and all I felt like doing was watching tv, or reading novels. Thank goodness the slump is over, and now I'm back to thinking about art all the time :-)
Just a quick note to my fellow bloggers, I was catching up yesterday, and was trying to leave comments, but there must have been problems with Blogger, because I kept typing in the correct word verification, and.it would say the word was incorrect, so just keep in mind that no one would have been able to leave you comments.
that's it for now, hope you are all feeling inspired, wherever you are,
thanks for reading!
hi friends, I'm making an effort to be more consistent with blogging, we shall see how it goes, lol!
As I write, the winds are howling outside my window, and it gets dark much earlier. .My favorite time of year!
Makes me want to drink coffee all day long, And I just noticed on the calendar that our Thanksgiving is on Oct 8th??? WHAT? that's pretty early, normally it's mid October. Oh well, that means I get to enjoy pumpkin pie earlier, and there's nothing wrong with that :-)
I finished 2 Halloween paintings on the weekend, including the one above. I like the other one too, but the scan is crappy so I don't want to show it until I can figure out why my computer doesn't like my camera's memory thingy. It's very liberating to paint looser than I am used to. I love folk art, but normally am too controlling...this time I let things get messy. Hey! what the heck is that 3-eyed thing doing at the bottom of my painting???
just kidding, it's a sticker, lol! I love stickers, and other fun embellishments, they add an extra bit of whimsy to your art. You can't tell, but there are lots of various papers underneath. Normally I do lots of layering before I paint the main image, but I think I overdid the paint bit, because you can't really see the papers anymore. Next time, I will make sure I add some acrylic glazing liquid to the paint, to make it more sheer, so that you can see the backgrounds. So the viewer may not see all the layering, but the artist knows it's there, and that makes me happy :-)
That's it for now, I'm going to watch the Voice, one of my favorite tv shows. Hope you are all doing well.
thanks for reading.
I thought I'd send off a quick blog post to let you know that there is a documentary which I feel is very important for people to see. It is free to watch right now, until Sept 22nd, so here is the link: http://geneticroulettemovie.com/
A few months ago we were having dinner with my cousins, and I was shocked when one of them asked 'what are Gmo's?'. I assumed everyone knew about genetically modified organisms. It's funny but many years ago, when this was new technology, I started taking some university courses in science, with the idea of moving towards genetics, but at that time, with a full time job, it became difficult to continue. Now, I've been reading much information over the years of the dangers and concerns, and feel this is something people should educate themselves about.
I could talk for a long time about this topic, but this documentary covers all my concerns very well.
Before I go, I must tell you about a simple, and delicious smoothie I made this morning. I didn't feel like running outside to the garden to grab some kale leaves, so I made a fruit smoothie rather than my usual greens moothie. Very simple:
1 - 2 ripe frozen bananas
1TB carob powder (has lots of calcium and is caffeine free
about a cup of coconut water (or water, or almond milk)
approx 1/4 cup of coconut creme (or coconut milk)
Big Tablespoon organic peanut butter
1TB of hemp seeds - for protein
1TB maca powder (optional- for energy)
Blend in a blender. How easy is that? and you end up with a banana peanut butter smoothie, that is out of this world. I myself don't measure my ingredients, but feel free to adjust as you wish.
everything mentioned is available at a health food store, or the health food section of your supermarket.
Enjoy!
Hello friends, did you think I fell off the face of the earth? Well it sure felt like it! I took a bit of time away from my blog over the last few months. I don't do much art over the summer, as the weather beckons me outside. This year was super busy, we went to Greece, where I enjoyed the sunshine and beach for a couple of weeks, then once home, I had to look after my parents' garden and dog for 6 weeks while they enjoyed a nice vacation too. The weather gods kept me busy, they thought it would be fun to give us a drought, which meant frequent watering, and of course, the dog can't miss his walkies!
As well, I've been in kind of an art funk. Haven't felt like creating anything for months, once again my muse decided to vanish without warning....however, I'm feeling in the mood again, and the last week, created 2 new mixed media paintings, the witch you see above (sold), and the angel below. As much as I love summer, I'm always happy to see the weather turn cooler, because it means more time indoors, and this is when I'm at my best.
To welcome fall, I decided just yesterday, to put everything in my Etsy store 20% off. It's a good time to do a little clearing out, and making way for new art. If you are interested in anything, please use the coupon code 'Pink20' at checkout, and it will automatically take off your discount.
This has been a year of technical difficulties as well. My crappy printer decided it will no longer print black - which means I can't add new prints to my shop, and now my computer won't recognize my camera stick, so I can't take photos of my art to upload to my computer. How frustrating! Looks like I will be buying a new printer soon. I'd be happy to hear some suggestions...I'm leaning towards an Epson, but haven't done any homework yet.
That's it for now, don't want to bore you with a novel. I look forward to getting caught up on my blog reading. One of my joys for the fall and winter is to make a nice cup of coffee, sit down and read my favorite blogs. Hope you all are doing well, I missed you all!
I sure have been a bad blogger! You wouldn't believe how many times I've written notes about what I should blog about when I get home from work, but I never got to it...ah well, we all seem to be inundated with so many distractions these days. Namely Pinterest, lol! That site is the most addictive thing on the internet! but what a great source for inspiration! I have made several boards filled with colors and art I love, it's like bulletin boards but online.
Haven't been doing too much painting, instead I took a bit of a break to play with art journaling. I'm working in 3 journals, and am mostly practicing background technique. I never thought I would love it so much!Now putting words on my pages is a bit harder, as I don't know what to say,. so instead of forcing it, I will leave them alone until I feel the need to write something. Above is one of my earlier ones, and I wrote part of a poem on it. It's not the greatest page, but it was an experiment.
Below is another, this is a simple one, but I loved the oranges.
I did manage to get an owl ACEO done in time for an Earth day challenge we have going on over at the 7 card draw blog Leave it to me to wait until the last minute, lol! He's a little tree hugger :-)
On a random note, I couldn't believe that Doctor Oz talked about the 5 Tibetan rites! I wrote about these a long time ago on my blog, where I recommended them for everyone who wanted to have more energy, and to feel and look more youthful. I thought they were too esoteric for mainstream, but this is a good sign. People are tired of being unhealthy, and are looking for new ways to improve their lives.
Here is a site that explains them: 5 Tibetan Rites
Last week I even saw recipes for green smoothies on his show, which I've been doing since last summer (which helped me lose several pounds, which I had gained over the years).
One of the recipes he had for a breakfast idea was very simple: just take some almond milk, add a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds, let it sit 15 minutes, then add cinnamon and vanilla. Instant breakfast! and so nutritious.
that's it for now, sure felt good to get this blog post done!
thanks for reading friends
betty
Well I finally got some new art up, after taking a few weeks off to mostly play around with techniques and stuff. The above is on a wood panel, and looks much better than the crappy scan. You know when you get something in your head, and try to recreate it? doesn't always work out as you imagined. I was hoping to give her a more circusy feel, so not sure if I accomplished that. I defintely like the plain wood background though.
Anyway, the real reason for the post was to let you know to look outside quickly, lol!
There is a lovely show between the crescent moon, the planet Venus and Jupiter. I'd caught the tale end of some stargazing discussion on the tv, about the moon and venus, and never thought about it again until I hopped in my car to head to Michaels, and upon looking up at the sky, saw the most lovely spectacular scene. The crescent moon is just above the very bright Venus, and until I checked online, didn't realize this is something we won't see for a long time.
I've been wondering the last few weeks what the 2 stars were that I could see very brightly over my house, and now I know :-). So if you see this post on time, run to your window, lol!
hi everyone, I have been taking a mini break from my blog for a bit, as I decided to spend more time experimenting with art, rather than putting the pressure on myself to have a 'finished' product every time. It wasn't planned, but each time I wanted to update, I didn't feel like there was anything interesting to post, lol! I did notice that on a lot of blogs I follow, people are getting more busy, and the weather has been so nice! of course, as the weather gets better, we do tend to spend more time away from the computer.
However, I thought I'd post a quick link for for anyone who is interested in health.. There is a free documentary that will be shown in it's entirety starting today, until the end of the month, and it sounds very interesting. I signed up to watch, as I have seen their previous one titled 'Food Matters' and loved it.
I believe this is a life changing movie, and it will all make perfect sense.
This is the website for those of you who may want to watch it:
Please check out the trailer and see if it's something that may interest you. I truly believe we can heal ourselves and our planet by truly opening our eyes, and seeing what has been going on while we were sleeping. Our health, and the health of our loved ones depends on waking up to what has happened to our 'food'. It's time to make a change for the betterment of all mankind.
Anyway, I hope to be around soon with a more proper post, and maybe some new journal pages.
I hope you all have been keeping well, and are making the most out of every blessed day
hi everyone. You know I have done probably hundreds of owl ACEOs, and realized that I have never put them on anything larger than a baseball card...so here is my first painting. I wanted to really loosen up on this, and just play. I wanted to use pretty colors that drew me, and forget about realism. Folk art is one of my favorite types of art, yet it can be tricky to do (for me at least...I tend to try and control my paintings). What fun this was! I can't wait to do another one.
Now I would have had more art to show you, but I got sidetracked by Pinterest, lol! Wow, that is a wonderful tool! It's like an online bulletin board for all the good stuff you find online. I had to join Twitter though, in order to get access. I'm slowly being dragged into the social media world :-)
Last weekend was a complete disaster art wise, so rather than fighting it, I sat down and sketched a red riding hood character. One of my favorite things to do is faces, so this was very relaxing. Mind you it is a rough sketch, and I experimented with watercolor crayons on the face, as well as pencil marks. It was fun to just paint without needing it to be perfect. It's a great way to try out new things, as some of you have commented.
Well, back to work for me -if I can drag myself away from my computer
thanks for reading!
The time will come
When with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you have ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
Derek Walcott
Happy Valentine's Day! Not all of us have someone to share it with. I certainly don't. Doesn't matter.
I came across this perfect poem for today. It's a poem about reuniting with your self and finding the one perfect soul that has always loved you...YOU
turns to crap!! yup, that's me this weekend. Have you ever had one of those days when you have such high hopes for your art, but nothing seems to work as you envision? It's been like that all weekend for me. I had such great ideas, leading up to this weekend that when Saturday finally came around, I couldn't decide where to start....so after wasting hours on indecision, I started. And guess what? it was garbage! I mean really bad! In the garbage bin it went. Then the next idea, then the next....oh boy, maybe I should have made this a week to sit back and watch movies. Because art didn't love me this weekend. Try as I may, my art didn't feel real, it felt fake, like I was forcing it, which I was.
So what do you do when you are ready to give up? Play. Just play with your art, don't put limits on it, don't expect it to be pretty, or something that you can sell. Experiment, and don't be afraid to paint over the whole darn thing when you realize how bad it is. That is how we grow. Not by our successes, but by our failures. We learn how not to do something, and we make that ok. Don't ' beat yourself up, just paint, or sketch, with no goals in mind. This is the lesson for me this weekend. Right now I feel like painting little red riding hood on watercolor. I don't know if anyone will ever see it, but after scrapping so many drawings, it's the one thing I felt like doing. So I got no art to show you.
Not all was wasted this weekend, I finally joined twitter. I only joined because it was tje only way I could join Pinterest, which sounds like every artists' dream. I have no idea what I am doing, lol! but will slowly try and figure things out.
Wherever you are, I hope you are having a lovely weekend. Be blessed, and love your life! It's the only one you got!
xoxo
betty
After a bit of a dry spell, today I finally had the urge to paint a face.It's funny how music can move you. Yesterday I was shopping with a friend, and a song came on, that I remembered from many years ago. It was so haunting, that I pulled out my pocket journal, wrote a few lyrics so I wouldn't forget, and went on with my day.
Today I pulled out my journal, googled the lyrics, and found it was an old Glen Campbell song. I cranked up the sound and let the melody take me away. In the middle of the song, I had an idea for the very last page of my Art and Music journal that I started several months ago. The last page has been blank all this time, (although I had painted the background, I couldn't decide what kind of face and lyrics to put on it). Just like that, I had the answer, and wasted no time getting my pencil out and drawing the girl. This is the end result
(sorry for the bad photo, but I had to take it indoors, with poor lighting)
Ok, can you tell I have serious issues with my handwriting?? It is beyond terrible, lol! there are a couple of online workshops on creative lettering, and I think it's time to take one of them :-)
So, months later, all it takes is the right song, to move me into action. Have you ever had a song that does that to you, that inspires you? For me, it's usually oldies, as I don't like today's music. My Youtube playlists are full of classics from the 60's and early 70's. That's just the music I seem to resonate with.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on music, and how it affects you. Go ahead, name your idols, or your fave songs. I have too many to mention, but over the years, I've shown some art on my blog that was inspired by them.
for you young folks, if you are curious about the song, here it is:
hey folks! I haven't forgotten about my blog, lol! but I have been a bit busy since the start of the year. I'm giving myself a short break from painting, but still creating my ACEOs.
Lots of artists choose a word for the year, something to focus on, rather than resolutions, which generally fail. As I was thinking about this, the word 'Resolve' came into my head, and it felt right at the time. For me, resolve means to be determined to do what needs to be done, to not quit, to be focused....Yes it's a boring word, lol! but it's the one that I first thought of, so I guess it stays.
Once my little art break is over, I plan to buy some of those wooden letters you can pick up in a craft store, spell out my word, and put it somewhere in my art room as a reminder.
One big change that happened the first week of January was I finally decided to get off my butt, and take yoga classes at my gym. I 'resolved' to do 30 days of yoga, and I have kept up that commitment to myself. What took me so long?? I've been doing yoga from DVDs for probably 20 years, and my gym has always had classes in the evenings, but I felt intimidated to go alone. I wanted someone to come with me at the beginning, so I could feel comfortable...but life is not always comfortable, and that's not how you grow.
It was the 7th of January, Saturday, and I got so angry at myself for being such a wimp, I grabbed my yoga mat, drove to the gym, and walked into my first real class. Of course it was so packed, since this is when most people go back to the gym, lol! I didn't let that intimidate me, I just found a spot, and did my first class. I haven't missed a day since then :-)
This may seem like such a small thing to most of you, but I tend to be quite shy in new social situations, until I get to know people, or am more comfortable, so it was a big deal.
This has been a refreshing break, and I am so looking forward to working on a painting, perhaps this weekend. Yoga will not end, I will continue it daily for at least the 30 days I promised myself. But art is calling to me again, so it's a matter of planning my time so that everything can fit in.
Since there is no art to show you, I thought I'd leave you with this humorous/educational video on good foods and bad foods. I love me some good sarcasm, and this video has got that, lol!
If you are a parent who buys cereal for your kids, you may want to take a peak!
Hello my dear blogging friends, I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. May 2012 bring you lots of joy, good health, success, and may it be the happiest ever for you.
It's up to us, to make life the way we want it. A little at a time, day by day, we can make the choices that bring us our dream lives, the one we have always imagined.
If not now, when?
sending you many blessings,
betty
"I will seek elegance rather than luxury; refinement rather than fashion. I will seek to be worthy more than respectable; wealthy and not rich. I will study hard, think quietly, talk gently and act frankly. I will listen to stars and birds, and babes and sages with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all things bravely, await occasions and hurry never. In a word I will let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common." - William Ellery Channing
Welcome to my little blog! My name is Betty,(or Pink, as people like to call me...) here you will find musings on art, life, and anything else that may come up. I hope to inspire, and encourage people to live out their best life!
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