Head-cleaner anyone?

I am in serious need of a head-cleaner...no, not for my video machine, but for the head that resides between my ears! I have way too many thoughts running rampant in there and I can't seem to get them to stay in one place. It always amazes me that there seem to be people who can actually think nothing. I don't know how they do it. If I ask someone " What are you thinking?" and they say "Nothing", my next question is usually "HOW?!". Don't get me wrong ~ I'm a thinker and I like it that way, but sometimes I wish I knew where the off-button to my brain was. So, I am teaching a little girl and designing her curriculum, planning a painting, thinking about dinner and cleaning my house, wondering about all sorts of philosophies, stressing about my kids' school stuff and marveling at the stupidity of man-kind ~ all in the space of an hour! All of this seems kinda fruitless in the light of the fact that I'm not actually DOING anything about it! Oh well, maybe I should just take a nap and see if that helps....

Wifey Wednesday: How he brings peace.

I am a typical artist! I am always running about doing a little of this and a little of that with equal amounts of intensity. I do not, for instance, often differentiate between a crises in my head and an actual real-life crises. Both will be handled with equal amounts of drama and emotion, because both feel very real to me. I also don't always differentiate between my problems and the next person's and have often found myself tossing and turning about other people's issues. Now, add to this mix a healthy (?) dose of ADD ( real, not imagined) and you may feel like calling out a week of fasting and prayer for my poor husband. Depending on my current obsession, he might be equally as likely to come home to a SPOTLESS house as he might be to come home to a house with 3 separate paintings being painted at the same time and a pile of dishes ( not to mention the pile of laundry!).

So, here's the thing: Without my husband to bring some balance, I would surely be bonkers by now. He insists ( to my irritation) that I follow some sort of routine and finish one painting before I start another. He tells me when I over-react and when I need to get a bit of distance from a situation. He explains me to those who would misunderstand me and then turns around and moans at me because he knows I can do better. He is stable, sure and trustworthy.

Now, I wouldn't want you to get the impression that he's perfect! He certainly isn't... he never picks up his own socks, to name but one of his shortfalls. It's just that I never have to wonder about him or doubt his loyalty. I can always depend on him to speak the truth and bring perspective. Oh...and he loves me to bits. That gives me peace too!

Christian art?

I've been thinking about the purpose of my artwork allot of late. I never wanted to be a "Christian artist", because I don't want to be limited to painting pictures of an overtly spiritual nature. I can't see the need for delivering a sermon with every painting I do, but somehow I wanted my work to be "different". I have been looking at dozens of websites and looking at many works by different artists and I have discovered something...something of the Spirit of God comes through in the paintings of artists who serve the Lord! I looked at the work of 2 specific guys. Interestingly, I saw their work on websites that were exhibiting the works of several artists. Their work just sort of popped out at me. I don't know them personally and of course, I don't know what's going on in their lives, but both of them mention working for God on their sites and their work had that "something different" I wanted in my own.

What a comfort! I love the thought that Jesus will be seen in my work, even when I don't specifically paint a picture of Him! I like that He will shine through and speak to the hearts of those who are viewing my paintings.

You can take a look at the artists I mentioned here:

http://stock-space-images.com/index.html

http://www.danschultzfineart.com/information/statement.html

There are also some free art lessons and demo's for budding artists here:

http://www.artinstructionblog.com/
http://www.creativespotlite.com/

Enjoy!

New flavour!

I haven't blogged for soooooo long! This is mainly because of all the changes that have been taking place in my life. My kids have, by their own choice, gone back to public school. It's not easy to make such a radical change so quickly and I found myself in limbo. What's more, is that the kids have so much homework! I don't feel as if I have stopped homeschooling ~ I'm just doing everything in the afternoons! Anyway...we are giving it a try. The eldest ( 16yo) will have to stay in school until he finishes Gr 12 but we'll see about the youngest. He adapted well to school life, but school WORK is another matter altogether!

So, for the time being, this blog will contain mostly art stuff. For my homeschooling friends... I intend to add lots and lots of art info, links and demo's to help you with your art lessons. I hope you enjoy them!

I have shamefully neglected my blog! I am supposed to use this as a way to order my thoughts, but I don't seem to get them ordered enough to sit down and write!
My only reason (excuse???) is that I have been very busy and thus, very tired. My first unit study is being published on CurrClick next week! I am very excited. And I sold a painting on one of SA's biggest art festivals...also very excited! I have re-discovered lapbooking and notebooking, so school is not going to badly either. My son is still off the meds...all in all a very tiring, but productive month. :-)) At the moment, I am sooooo tired that I am typing this by faith. It might be better if I try again tomorrow....

This is the painting I sold...sorry, not the best photographer... I got double the price I would normally get, which isn't much...yet...but I'm not moaning~ it's keeping me in paint and canvas! ;-)

Homeschool Memoirs # 30 Get up and go. - sortof

Hmmmmm...I want to write about this, but I'm not sure what to write! Maybe some mom out there can identify, so I'll just be honest.:-)

I have always found field trips scary. From the time we had our youngest to very recently ( as in, some months ago) it was just such a huge effort to go anywhere on my own with my kids!

Let me explain...You know, how when people tell you that their kid has ADHD and you think: "Where???" or you want to grab the lolly from his hand and say :" Stop feeding him junk and he'll be better"? That's not my kid!! My one is the one where you either think "Can't that mom control her kid" or ( if you are at all decent and kindhearted) you feel very, very sorry for the mom!LOL! Trust me...the mom is feeling very sorry for herself!

So, whenever we had one of those days ( which you can imagine, is pretty often) we would just each do his own thing, but at home where we couldn't bug anybody else or break someones stuff or get hurt...you get the picture.

It's been getting better of late and about a week ago, I took my youngest of his ADHD meds. Now, we've tried this before and it was, to say the least, traumatic!!! This time, though, we had a minor miracle ( maybe a major one, depending on how closely you relate to us ) He has been off his meds for a week now and nobody has threatened murder yet...in fact, he's better without it than he has been with it the last few months. I can only believe that God is busy healing him. :-))


Luhan and I had coffee and juice in the restaurant.

Yesterday, we took our books to a nearby botanical garden and we did math there and IT WORKED!!!!! Praise the Lord, Hallelujah! We had a nice morning AND we got some work done AND I did not go home with a splitting headache! Mind you, that's all we did...just math, but he actually said he wanted to go back and do his work there again! Aaahhhhhh...now that is a MAJOR miracle.


This is a picture of one of the trails in the garden.

Maybe this post, for me, is more about future possibilities than it is a memoir. For the first time in many years, I have hope! How awesome is that? Ain't God good?

"B" is for Bliss

This is a photo of our (then) kitten. He used to fall asleep like that all the time! It was really hot at the time. :-) He made us all want to stretch out and fall asleep next to him....that or kiss his tummy ...