Haiku for You - Kisses

A thousand kisses
Over and over again
A thousand kisses

-cew

Music Monday - Rose Garden

Rose Garden by Stevie Nicks is one of my favorite songs.

I love the guitar and her voice in this song.

Twenty Second Sunday

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

-Victor Hugo

Journal - Peaceful Feeling

This is the lawn chair from where I paint. That is my pool. Those are my boys.

This is the beginning of page.

This is a the finished page.

The flying hearts are encroaching on the guitars. And who's to say that is actually a guitar. Not me.

I do find that when I'm sitting outside, listening to music, and painting I do have a sense of peace about me. I'm with the music. I'm with my thoughts. The boys are running around. It's a nice day when it occurs.

Don't forget: Head over to House of Shine on Monday to see who is nominated for the Yellow Envelope Project and commit to sending them a note. It's an easy opportunity for you to shine!

No Post Friday

It's Field Day!

Oh! Hello Thursday Post.

It is an absolutely beautiful day here in the DFW area. I stopped to fill up the gas tank this morning and I seriously thought about calling my boss and saying, "Man, I suddenly don't fell very well. I better go home." But I came to work instead.


I got my daily dose of House of Shine which today is talking about the evidence of our greatest talents and contributions being traced back to elementary school. I painted sea shells while visiting my grandparents on vacation. But we can discuss all of that at House of Shine.

Then I realized I had no post for the blog today. Not that I haven't been painting because I have. Last Saturday, my boys asked if they could paint something I broke out some paper and the paints for them. I even took pictures. But I haven't downloaded them or edited them. I have a new green guitar painting finished but photos are sitting at home.

Above are four paintings I've been working on. They all look pretty much the image above except the lower right one. You wouldn't recognize it because on Saturday after I painted with the boys I changed it almost completely. And, I can't wait for you to see it. It's my favorite.

Behind the Scenes - Red Guitar 2

I wanted to start this painting off with black and white and build from there. I had some red paint left over on the table from Red Guitar 1 so that's why you see some pink. It will be a red color scheme when all said and done.

5/15/11 @ 10:53am

5/15/11 @ 11:24 AM

and finally at 1:08pm

I love that hot pink in the top right. You won't be able to see it after I start painting but I love it!

I was working on 4 pieces at the same time on that Sunday.

Stay tuned.

Haiku for You - Foolish

Foolish I may be
Fall down, get up, I believe
Not foolish, you see?

-cew

Music Monday - Peacful Easy Feeling

The Eagles is one of my favorite bands. They're sing along songs and I like that even though my singing- well, I don't even want to listen to it. That's why I like it loud.

Twenty First Sunday

Two kinds of gratitude:

The sudden kind we feel

for what we take;

the larger kind we feel

for what we give.

-Edwin Arlington Robinson

Journal - Just Pretty Flowers

There are no deep meanings in these pages of my journal. No underlying story. Just pretty flowers. Just because.

Want to do something that feels pretty? Join us at House of Shine and participate in the Yellow Envelope Project.

Behind the Scenes - Red Guitar One

At 10:00 AM, a red wash was applied.

Then there was a quick consult with the Bob Burridge composition chart and with my Derwent pencil, I sketched in a guitar. This is where I was standing at 10:07 AM.

Closer up so you can see I'm not lieing.



By 10:23 AM, I had added a lot of black. Don't worry, it's not staying.

Layers of paint.

This is where this painting ended at 10:32 am. It has a ways to go still but it's started.

Behind the Scenes - Blue Guitar Option 2 Continued

Click here to see where I left off with this painting.

So when I stalled on the collage portion of the other blue guitar, I turned to this painting. I added white splatter to it but didn't like it so I blended them back in.

Here's where it was at 9:40 am on May 15th.

You can't tell that those bottem blues changed over and over in the next few hours. I guess I was so involved I didn't stop to photograph the changes.

At 1:08 pm, this is where the painting was at.

And where it's still at. I may add a few touches but for the most part, it's done.

Behind the Scenes - Blue Guitar 1 Continued

Click here to see where I left off with this painting:

At 8:20 am on Sunday, May 15th, I added some white splatter and I covered the black lines that I felt were too dominant in the painting.


By 9:01 am I had added a collage element that Paige and I discussed.

And unfortunately at the same time, I was at a stand still on the painting because I ran out of collaged pieces to add and I really feel like it needs to go one more line.

Guitars have 6 strings. This one will only have 5.

Hey! It's abstract art! :)

Haiku - Dancing Dreams

dancing girls and boys
the days of their youth go by
old farts sit and dream

-cew

Music Monday - Whatever It Is

I want to be whatever IT is for someone. :)

Twentieth Sunday

The weak can

never forgive.

Forgiveness is the

attribute of the strong.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Journal - Stop Blaming Yourself

I started photographing my journal in the fall of 2010 and I thought it would be cool to get a beginning and ending process.

Every September after I go to curriculum nights I feel an overwhelming amount of guilt that I wasn't able to hold my family together. I feel bad for my boys that they are shuffled between two households and they don't have the stability that kids with still-married parents.

But, then I take a deep breath and know that I did the right thing for me which means I did the best I could for them. They are loved. Andy loves them. I love them. And we do the best we can with the situation at hand.

The On the Fence series to me are little words of encouragement and advice. The words may be small and hidden in the painting where you have to be close to see it but once you see it you know it's there and that's what you tell yourself when you see the painting.

Stop blaming yourself. Forgive yourself.


It's good advice.

Here's more good advice: Join us at House of Shine and help send some shine by participating in the Yellow Envelope Project!

House of Shine - Yellow Envelope Project

I participate in a fun and wonderful blog called House of Shine. And, if you tune in on my Saturday Journal posts you see that I'm always trying to get you to come over to House of Shine and participate in the Yellow Envelope Project. (Now on Monday's!)

One of my main contribution to the House of Shine is providing artwork of the Ray Wattson and a new baby has been born - the Yellow Envelope Project series. When paintings fall short, I'll share some of these drawings. They are, after all, an extension of my creativity.

When preparing for this weeks posts I noticed a common element. Circles. Compare the drawing below with drawing above.

I'm pretty sure we can expect circles to start showing up in paintings....

What I Did Monday Evening - Chalk Flowers

This weekend I dedicated time to my boys and to my house- both in need of some attention.

On Saturday while the boys swam, I weeded out the little garden in my backyard. It's a never ending job because those darn weeds just keep coming back.

Sunday was Mother's Day and the boys made me coffee and presented me with handmade cards. It was perfect. Then, we spent the morning in our pajamas and I taught them how to play SkipBo.

After I beat them twice, I started cleaning. Another never ending job.

Monday after school, they were finished with their homework, dinner (and I use the word loosely) had been served, and they were playing in the front yard. After sweeping up I decided to join them and while they threw the ball to each other, I decorated our drive way.

So, since I didn't paint one single thing this past weekend, I'm sharing chalk flowers with you.

You should try it. It's good for the soul.

Haiku for you - Giggle

smile and laugh, laugh
and smile. giggle and jiggle.
jiggle and giggle.

-cew

Music Monday - Alright

I loved Darius Rucker when he was Hootie and the Blowfish and I love him even more as Darius Rucker.

Nineteenth Sunday

All major religious

traditions carry basically

the same message, that is love,

compassion and forgiveness...

the important thing is

they should be part

of our daily lives.

- Dalai Lama

Journal - Get Up & Paint

I was mad at myself for not painting more. I was mad at myself for wasting time on the couch watching some old movie I had already seen. I was mad at myself for not being motivated and passionate and for not practicing. Some of the words that are present in the letters are from Bob's Loosen Up book.

Paint now.

Take Risks.

Intention. As in "What is your intention?"

I included things that I'm painting: guitars, flying hearts, on the fence series, the word Shine for my work done at House of Shine, and the word Yes. Bob says to say it more often.

Yes, Bob. I will say it more often.

So, say YES to House of Shine and the Yellow Envelope Project! Check it out!

Behind the Scenes - Blue Guitar Option Two

On Sunday, I had some blue paint I needed to get out of the way so I started a second painting.

11:03 am

1:23pm

Adding Collage
2:40pm

Detail of part of collage - These are the words that I used for the painting I did for Cate Perkins.

One of the words tore in half so I need to fill in a hole. Hopefully, I will paint this weekend and have these two paintings wrapped up by Sunday evening.

I continued painting on Sunday. I also added some collage to the piece.

9:47am

12:54pm

Aw, shoot. I didn't take a finishing photo.

Sometime around 4ish.

Where we are now. That's a piece of cardboard cut out to protect part of the painting from the next step.

Behind the Scenes - Blue Guitar for ML

I started a commission piece this past Saturday.

Here's how it progress on Saturday evening:

8:51PM

9:23 PM

9:54PM


10:05 PM

10:41PM

Tune in tomorrow to see how it progessed on Sunday.

Photo: Warrior Dash

Taken at the Warrior Dash event held in Dallas.
May 1. 2010

Music Monday - Say It Again

I had a hard time picking out just one Don Williams song so go fall in love with him again on you tube after you listen to Say It Again.

Eighteenth Sunday

Do not dwell in the past,

Do not dream of the future,

Concentrate the mind on

The present moment.

- Buddha