A Nostalgic moment to be in

Her spirit lingers there still. The familiar smells of her cooking remain in the kitchen as strong as ever. (she’s been gone for years) I could almost here her say supper is ready. How odd I could still smell her perfume (she wore White Shoulders) It was like yesterday when I was there at the wake. It was the first time in my life without her. 24 years I knew her. She has been gone since 1985.

I miss her, and being there. She gave me solace, and wisdom. The hours she would spend talking to me. Reading her stories. Telling me about her childhood, and the silly things she did. She always told me I was special, and had a purpose in life (I still haven't figured that one out) but she seemed to know.  I loved staying the weekend there. Mornings were wonderful to wake to her pancakes, bacon, eggs. OH how she loved to cook! and there would always be some old time gospel songs she would be singing to, and the Cuckoo clock!

She was the one person in the world that I adored most. It seems like yesterday that she was here, and now she is gone, but my memories of her live strong in my mind and heart. What would my childhood have been like without this safe place to go. I feel blessed Grandma that I had a moment in time to spend with you……Days with you were simple and peaceful, and you gave me these moments to cherish always. I miss you!

Concept art to digital art

This was my first attempt at using a drawing pad with a digital paint program. (Painter IX) It took about 2 days to do.

The design was something a friend inspired me to do years ago, but never finished it. I just sort of put it in the back of the closest, but as it goes sometimes you need to clean out the closest. Oh what treasures you find.......many I have found! Now I think I'm in the best part of my life where I can breath new life into these old inspirations, and make new treasure. Hopefully though not to get stuck back in the closet till the next closet cleaning adventure.

Maybe in time I will do more work. As an artist the ideas are there, and just waiting to be turned on......as O’Keefe says sometimes I just flounder.....ahhh yeah Georgia I hear you. For years I have been frustrated by the dullness of my work, and I'd rather not do anything at all then drivel with tedious notions of something that will never become anything.

As I ramble on here with nothing more to say than. I should go back to my drawing pad, and sketch book and see what else I can come up with.

Where did summer go? 2006

I'm so glad August is over. It seems August is my worst month. I don't know why but as far back as I can remember everything crazy, weird, annoying, off the wall, seems to go off in August. It's like all the full moon weirdness that could happen is in this month. So think about it if it were possible having a full moon everyday for a month.......crap oh crap.....it gets really crazy.......I wonder why? Maybe it’s my spirit doing the year end cleansing…….lol.......or it’s something far deeper that I won‘t know about till I get to the other side? Or maybe it's all just my imagination and it's a conspiracy against myself and my odd way of thinking.

Anyway it would be cool if there was the opposite month where I would have everything great, amazing, fantastic, and miraculous happen. Is that even possible? Maybe that is August and I’m just being ungrateful. Silly me maybe I just misunderstand myself……who knows, but this is the start of my new year September! Fall, Autumn, the start of winter. I love that and love the holidays, and festivities. I decided to do a fall autumn road......I love all the possibilities down this road!

Interesting Icons made in Photoshop

This was one of my first attempts at using photoshop for more than just a photo editing tool.

What are Sandy Fish anyway? Fall 2007

I did this for another class and I really liked how it turned out, but then I was thinking beyond the image and into more of the absurdity of it. I think sometimes when we create something it is something deep within ourselves that we are exposing to others. But then I guess that is what art is all about being vulnerable to expose our inner self.

Ok maybe it's just a silly fish picture cuz I couldn't think of anything else to put into it.....It was an exercise in mapping layers. Ahhh another metaphor.....sorry I'm exposing my inner artist self to you all......lol

So what are sandy-fish and what was I thinking?

Snuffles and Sheba

I was going through the many images that I have taken over the years, and the one thing that I kept coming across were the many pictures I had taken of my dogs. Snuffles and Sheba. They were sisters born in 1988. We found them in San Angelo Texas, and they were basically born on a cattle ranch and their parents were working dogs. Both of them were Part Border Collie, and Blue Heeler. They were wonderful animals that I will always cherish the memory of.

Sheba was quiet, shy and loved to curl up in a corner. Snuffles got her name as she was always sticking her nose somewhere embarrassing.....lol They both loved to play frisbee Sheba could go air born and just hang there for what seemed like an eternity while Snuffles ran like a tank and would charge Sheba when she got the frisbee, but she could never catch her because she was too fast and much better at catching stuff.

They loved road trips and were always excited to go for a ride in the car. They traveled all the way from Texas to Alaska to Arizona to New York to California to Arizona where they both finally passed away in 2000 and 2004. They lived a full life and brought much joy into our lives.

But anyway I wanted to share my memory of them. Although they are only dogs they were with me for over a decade. That's a lot of years in DOGGIE life......I miss you both and will always have a special place in my heart…….sigh!

Four Seasons

I was having a dry spell of ideas. I poured though all the Photoshop books looking for some inspiration, and still nothing. Then in a dream it came to me! 4 seasons! Ok maybe this isn't too original, but I had to come up with something that I could use in a variety of layers and styles in one picture. What I came up with was pretty much what I dreamed.

As I was doing this image I was thinking how we go through different seasons of our lives or maybe even thought processes. Not having any ideas seems like I'm digging in the frozen ground for something, but everything looks dead or uninteresting. Then suddenly my ideas warm up to me, and a thought maybe even an inspiration works it way out of my mind like a small seed in the soil beginning its new growth in the spring.....as my thought develops it comes to full bloom. Then subtly it’s done, and falls away for new life to begin again in my next idea. So maybe as artists in each thing we do we go through the various seasons. It's an interesting cycle of life...........its hard work but in the end the fruits of my labor are worth it! (ok maybe a bit cliché but very true)

So maybe it's not just a picture of various images it's much more....well at least to me! Enjoy comments always welcome!

Contemplation Spring 2006

The sketch is called pondering of the soul.  My first attempt at a self portrait drawing class.

Butterfly Friend Spring 2006

As my life was so busy today I forgot to just stop and look around. As sometimes I do. There are small surprises everywhere. I guess that is why I love being around nature. If you really look you see things. This image reminded me that life is very complex but yet so simple. She was fluttering around landing here and there drying her wings from the afternoon shower. Waiting as long as a butterfly could for me to take the picture, and then she was gone! 

The First one! Iraq 2005

I know nothing for certain, nothing, that is, of what alone counts to reach happiness in life, but constitutes an idea, which is the inner harmony to be reached by a human being whose will is torn apart between passions and reason and whose unity is not given from the start as the foundation for social harmony between men and women.
Socrates