The Grape

"I want you to paint a picture of my favorite restaurant in Dallas."
     Hmmm... it's a building.
                       
"It's the first place he told me he loved me."
     Ahhhhh.... it's a STORY!!
           And just like that, I can't wait to get started!

Original Oil on 16" x 20"
[SOLD]

:) Good bye Red Beetle & Self Portraits

I've never painted a real self portrait, but I've done a couple of pseudo-self portraits that I've loved.

One is what I use for my little Word Weaver Icon.

You can read about how this one came about in a post from a post in  July of 2013 called "Sisters."

This happy little drawing pretty much still sums me up.  I'm wearing my favorite color, green.  I've got a smile.  My hair is an ever silvering brown, which I think is just fine... thank you very much!  And, I'm wearing my dangly, squigly power earrings.  (You can read about those earrings in a post called "We'll Just have Salad.")

This is me with my sisters... The five of us went on a sister cruise,
and we each had a canvas beach bag with this painted on them.

Ha ha ha... It just occurred to me that maybe I've done a third.  When I painted "Welcome Home Retreat," I mentioned that each cow had the personality of one of us sisters.

The other pseudo-self portrait was a fuzzed out version of me in my beloved red bug.  

I loved that little bug!  It was a part of me... who I was... the girl with the red bug.  I got it after both of my kids had cars of their own.  So, I never had to share it.  (Actually, when my son was 18, he once described it this way. "Whenever you come out of a store, just look for the most embarrassing car in the parking lot.  That's my mom's car.) I tootled around in that little car for 9 years, and it was still basically in perfect condition.

... I have to sigh a little bit... 

So many changes in my life these days... (one of which is that huge change of retirement in... 85 more school days... 😜😜😜...)                                                                                                             It's just silly how choked up I got at watching my little red bug with the daisies in the vase drive away.

But... ah ha... there's a shiny new GREEN bug in the driveway now!

Daffodils in a Vase

I'm going to call this my Snow Day project. 

Yeah, we had a snow day. I know my friends in the North make fun of us for letting school out when there's an inch of white (almost) covering the ground.  I do know that I wouldn't want to drive a bus filled with kids on icy roads, but come to think of it... I wouldn't want to drive a school bus... period...

I wonder how I'll feel next year when the schools have a snow day and it won't affect me... Hmmm... 

Thanks to Lela at Paint and Draw Together for choosing such a lovely image for her Challenge #65 - Narcissus in a Vase.  I love seeing all the pieces done by different artists.  All exactly the same, yet each completely different.

As soon as I saw this one, I knew I wanted to paint it. I love daffodils, and spring is such a loooooooong time away!  

Because I'm never sure, I Googled the difference between narcissus and daffodil and jonquil. They seem kind of interchangeable so I'm not sure it's worth remembering, but here's what I learned.  Both of them fit in the genus of narcissus.  The jonquils have tube-like leaves, while the daffodils have flat leaves.  Also, jonquils have several in a bunch rather than one on a stem.

Original Oil Painting - 11"x 14
[GIFT}

Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes... 2017

Happy New Year!

Welcome... 2017!

I'm one of those lyric-challenged people who can never remember the words to songs, so it may be completely inappropriate... but I keep hearing one line from David Bowie in my head... 

"Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes! Ch-ch Changes!"

My life has been pretty consistent for... well... forever... but 2017 is going to bring some ch-ch-ch-ch changes.

This scruffy little thing was a 4th grader back in 1974.

She said, "I'm going to be a teacher when I grow up."

And, she never changed her mind.

Under her senior yearbook picture back in 1982, her aspiration was printed - Elementary Teacher.

Just after turning 21, she got her first class.  Wow... That was in 1985 so those kids would be 40 years old now... I hope they all became productive citizens!

Then a few months ago, that girl welcomed kids into their new class home for the 32nd time...
Where did the time go...
How many kids...
How many lesson plans...
How many papers to grade...
How many books read...
How many....


Well... Let me take a minute to wipe my eyes... allergies I guess... 😉
... and say that I made the right choice back in 4th grade... It's been a great ride...

But... Ch-ch-ch-ch changes...
...31.5 years down... half a year to go...
...63 semesters down... 1 to go...
...5,601 days down... 95 to go...

What will I be?
What will define who I am?
What will fill my time?
What will occupy my thoughts?

I look forward to discovering those answers...