Island Time

 Summer Market

Last summer my husband and I were blessed to spend a week on Orcas Island in the San Juan group in Puget Sound off the coast of Washington State.  Oh what a lovely time!  Joined by our dear friends,  John and Linda, we reached the island by ferry.  We relaxed on the patio with the view of Puget Sound, Mt. Baker and the surrounding Cascade range before us.  Dinners of fresh Dungeness crab and fresh halibut stir up my tastebuds as I type!  Ah!  It was SO delicious!  The picturesque village of Eastsound was just a few miles away down the mountain, its streets lined by quaint structures of shops, churches, restaurants, inns, and graced with hollyhocks and roses.  It was July and the temperatures never reached above 80. Oh...take me back!  

The market was on Saturday in town so we decided to enjoy it with the locals.  There was an array of products...jewelry, handmade soaps, lotions, art, woven goods, clothing, carts preparing the local fare, all calling out to my camera.  This ice cream cart and the cute lady standing there with her glass of iced tea was one.  The background is from my own imagination.  I love the colors, the bright summer day feel.  I can almost feel the breezes and smell the aromas.

When we travel, I am always ready to return home.  Always. There's no place like it.  Not this time.  I could have stayed a month!  I begged Jim to let's please come back.  He loved it nearly as much as I and we do plan to return, but there are so many places to go and so much to see.  Time will tell.

Thanks for joining me here and at Orcas Island.  Blessings!

 

Bluebonnets, Clouds, and a Clear Path.

Surely the whole world is aware that among the many things Texas is known for is its Bluebonnets, that brilliant cornflower blue blossom that covers many a central Texas field and hillside in spring, plus many Texas roadsides.  The tradition of packing up the kids and carting them off to the best field of bluebonnets, along with the camera, the tripod, and the family dog is common to families.  Cars will line the highway shoulders, as families tromp out to the perfect spot for the pose.  This spring especially after the tremendous amount of winter, then spring rains, the blue fields flourished. 

I saw several photos on Facebook this spring of a particular field near Muleshoe, Texas.  Someone has called it the "Field of Dreams".  I received Taylor Kelly's permission to use her photo which was so beautiful and try my hand at painting it.  I've added my own touch to it, including a limestone bluff which is common in the Texas Hill Country.  When I paint this again, I will move the road to the right about an inch.  There's just something about focus being in the center of the painting that is not a pleasing as it being a bit "cockeyed".  This is a 24"X30" oil. 

Clouds.  I really love clouds.  One cannot be precise when painting them.  A loose wrist,  an imperfect edge.  Clouds really are not all white. There's yellow and pink and gray, and I'm sure many other colors I'm yet to learn about.  It was fun to fill the majority of this canvas in clouds.

This painting is laden with clouds yet full of promises fulfilled.  Growth, beauty, peace, clearness of path.  That's the way life can be.  Clouds everywhere, but peeks of blue sky and goodness.  God is gracious and full of mercies.  Even if our path is clouded, He provides all that we need to travel this path of life. 

Proverbs 4:26
Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established.

Today I may have experienced the most gratifying result of any painting I have been privileged to paint in my short number of years as a painter.  My good friend's daughter and her husband have been trying to adopt for years.  After many difficult years of waiting, praying, and hoping, they recently brought home from China a precious 9 year old boy.  They knew God had answered their prayers.  

My friend (the young man's grandmother) one day showed me a snapshot of him shooting a basket on the driveway of his home.  His dad is a basketball coach.  My friend said, "this looks like something you'd paint".  I was on it!  I loved the photo.  I said  "please send it to me."  She texted it to me and I couldn't wait to get started.

Today we celebrated with this family and "showered" him with gift cards!  He was so excited and happy.  I surprised them with this painting.  I believe they were thrilled.  I was thrilled to see the smile on his face when he saw himself in oil. I am thankful to have this privilege.  I would hope for many more opportunities to share my art in this kind of happy circumstance.

God has a plan and purpose for everything.  When times are tough, we can be assured He will work out everything together for our good.  I believe this little family has gone through some long years of waiting and wondering and hoping and praying.  To see them all together today, so happy, was such a blessing!  May God bless them all!

Moving Along

This painting is (tbh) part of a whole.  The whole is called "To Market" which I partially drew from my own thoughts but the lady in polka dot comes from another painting of mine who originally found herself in a travel magazine of the island of St. Martin.  Our next door neighbors were living on the island half the year and when they returned once, their little girl, Sabrina, who was around eight years old at the time brought me this magazine which she, who has very artistic abilities herself, thought would be nice for my inspiration.  Wasn't that the sweetest thing?  So, the lady in polka has now traveled from one of my paintings to another.  The first one was called "Market Day in St. Martin" and this, "To Market".  This little section of painting happened when Google decided to interfere with my painting image and this is the product.  I thought it was quite artistic, so I kept it.  

Ms. Polka Dot is certainly on a mission, headed in a confident direction, moving forward.  I think she knows just where she is going.   There are days when I don't seem to know which way is up or down or what!  There are times when the path I am on is foggy.  There are days when I get discouraged because I'm not sure what is just around the corner.  When my days get like that, there is one thing I know.  Jesus is with me and He will guide me.  I can trust Him to lead the way.  I may not know exactly where I am going on a particular day, but He knows. In this I am confident.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you like my paintings and get a bit of encouragement at the same time.  

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.   Psalm 32:8  

The Protector

There is a story for sure behind this painting.  When I was volunteering at our high school office some years back and around the time I began painting, one of the office workers brought me a photo, and truly flattered me by asking if I could paint it for her. (my first commission).  She told me it was of her little girl and a cousin.  The two are taking in the view from a window from which my friend's two year old had fallen a couple of years prior!  Horrors! Can you imagine the story this child must be telling which likely has been repeated to her over and over by her parents?  Wouldn't you love to have been standing nearby to hear that?  Thankfully, she only had bruises after the fall from this second floor window.  Babies are made of rubber, pretty much, aren't they?  God always knows what He is doing.  He protected this little one in an amazing way.  

There are times when we are so very much aware of His protection over us and our families and are amazed, but we truly have no idea how many times each day our Heavenly Father reaches out to keep us from harm. He gives His angels charge over us, His children, to keep us from falling, physically, mentally, and spiritually!! (Psalm 91)  He is our Protector.  When it comes right down to it, He is all we need.  I hope you know Him.

Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy.  Jude 1:24

Safe Harbor

So, I hope we don't float away.  The rain has been coming down constantly since Friday evening, heavy at times, light at times, but constant.  Our area was in drought for over a year but no more.  The lake is brimming and the ducks out back are happy, happy. (I didn't realize what I was just typing..quack, quack..DD, anyone?)  A rainy day is very pleasant to me, but not a rainy several days in a row with rather chilly temps.  Today's weather forced me to exhibit today's painting. 

Our neighborhood is extremely supportive of the American Cancer Society, raising many thousands of dollars each year through various events.  This painting was done a  couple of years ago specifically for that cause and purchased by a local couple who are former owners of several art shops.  That made me feel great, a donation to a great cause and a nice pat on the back for me.

As an aside, daylight savings time is back.  How do you feel about that?  My opinion...let's just stay with it all year.  It would be easier on all of us, don't you think?

                                                                          Safe Harbor

Thank you very much for stopping by.  I am enjoying this pleasant way of exhibiting my work, putting "e-pen to e-paper", and perhaps bringing a glimmer of hope your way.  Please leave your comments so I'll know you dropped by. 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;....

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  Isaiah 43:2

The Beauty of Spring

Can it really be?  Spring is beginning to subtly peek at us. I have not heard of so much snowfall in so many places in a very, very long time. My many friends and relatives in the north, surely you all are weary of the cold and the snow and the ice. Even my southern friends have had their share.  

 As I look out my window here in Texas,  I see pine trees blooming and I see those bushes with the reddish leaves and fuschia blooms whose name has slipped away from me.  Some of the early flowering trees have blossomed, and new growth is beginning to pop out.  (I looked it up...those plants with the fuschia blooms.. they are Loropetalum or Plum Delight, and to expose my horticultural ignorance, my Google search words were Laura Pedlum!)  Anyway, I believe the whole U.S.A. would say altogether, "We are ready for Spring!".

Today's painting is of one of my very favorite flowers in the whole plant kingdom.  The Peony.  I think one very excellent reason to move further north would be to be able to grow these in my own yard and go out and cut them for my viewing pleasure. I have one special friend in New Jersey who does just that.  I am jealous, Julie.   And, speaking of north, this painting was purchased by a college friend who lives in Illinois and with whom I had not had contact for some 40 years.   Thanks to Facebook, we have been reunited.  She saw this there and wanted it.  Thank you, Gail!

I would love it if you would post a reply here.  How great it would be to hear from you and get your feedback.  Follow me, if you like, by signing up on this page.  Thank you for stopping by.

[He has sent me] to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
Isaiah 61::3