"I will always hold you close, my dear one" - goes home!

"I will always hold you close, my dear one"

This tender painting... I did is part of my #1FaceaDay challenge. 

You know how close this theme is too my heart!  The beauty of a Mother's Love.

I haven't shared my work on Facebook for March - not for a specific reason.

  I think I'm just enjoying Instagram so much more at the moment that sometimes I forget about Facebook and other media's.  But I shared this one last night before I went to bed.

I woke to such sweet messages to this piece and two offers to buy it.

That totally made my Friday!  And I love Fridays!

Thank you!

This piece is going to a beautiful lady.

I met her in our virtual classroom, in Studying under the Masters 1,

and I was privileged to hear her story and be touched by it.

The best part of selling this piece to her, is her own personal story and the reason for buying this specific piece.  Nothing gives me greater joy than the reason why a person chooses one of my pieces... esp. because it's touched something deep inside of them.

That's enough to keep me painting, right there.

I haven't sold a piece since Christmas.

I am not bound by my sales and I don't paint to sell.

I paint for the love and joy of it and my journey through each piece.

Each time I get lucky enough to sell a piece - I'm literally blown away.

And this morning this was no exception.
Thank you!!!

#InMyStudio... #1FaceaDay

For the first time in ages - I am running current with #1FaceaDay... sometimes life is such that I miss days #InMyStudio and then I'm constantly play catch up.  It's not nice always being on the rear foot and feeling the pressure of being behind.

Today finally allowed me to start ArtEntwined too.  Before I ran out the door today, I grabbed my new note book that Gilly gave me and while I was waiting for Corks... I got to start with my Elements of Design and Principals of Art.  It's art theory and I'm already learning and enjoying!

I'm going to keep my notebook with me wherever I go.  I'm jotting down the homework lists and will work through them as I go... part of that is allowing myself to see the homework and really mull over it.  Especially the written work... poems and assignments.  It's like they have to take root in my mind first.   For the first time in ages I'm feeling really excited about learning and getting through new material.  Can't wait to dig in and deeper... 

#InMyStudio - MotherDaughterLove

Sooo I am not sure if you remember this piece.  I did it last year sometime, mainly in stabilo and gesso and it was pretty special to me at the time and it's been up in my room because it totally represented me with my girls... #MotherDaughterLove.

I've been looking at it for sometime and I knew I wanted to rework it... add some color.  And I started my time #InMyStudio this weekend with this piece.  I find it's a great way for me to warm up before I start new projects... especially if I am feeling a tad bit overwhelmed.  It's a perfect place to start because the canvas isn't blank and it's like working with an under painting and that is always less intimidating...

Ahhh man that was so lovely to do... fun!

That totally made my day... a great way to start my studio time.

This piece is actually quite small and those faces are tiny and at times it was down to a tiny brush and virtually putting down dots of color... wonderful tiny detail work.

I'm still so attached to this piece... and I just love the sweet tenderness between them.

It's back up in my room.

I think I am so attached to this piece because it's often the position I find myself in... always flanked by my two beautiful daughters - it's such a privilege to have them walk along side me daily, wherever I go... always by my side usually still holding my hands or arms wrapped around me.  It's something I value and adore.

I pray this lingers longer in my life!

My week in bed, creativity and my week in color pics...

So on Monday, after a horrible weekend in and out of bed with fever - I went to see the doctor and got some antibiotics.  I'm so glad I did...  my ears, nose and throat were an issue and my lungs were rattling and in a nutshell I was feeling bleak.  I had Monday off - tried to go to work on Tuesday and that set me back and I spent Wednesday back in bed.  All in all it was 2 weeks of bleakness and I am not a fan of bleakness or being man down.  But that being said - I was so grateful for the bed time.  All in all - I didn't have much capacity for StudioTime so I did one or two things here and there.  And generally played catch up this weekend.

I think I could get addicted to continuous line drawing.

Funny enough Corks is doing this as her art theme together with portraiture, for this last part of this term.  So we are working through some of her assignments at the same time.  I said I would try and do whatever assignments she gets.  And funny enough that is totally in line with Misty's Art Entwined - week 1 - Elements of Design - LINE.

I have added this to one on the right to my #1FaceaDay... the one on the left became this graphite drawing with gesso below.

Corks hasn't really seen continuous line drawings and I have some friends on IG that do it so we sat last night working through the concept and doing some exercises and research together.  I love that we have this.

Some of my pieces from this week for #1FaceaDay

I drew this up last year on FullCircleWorkshop - Icon Homework

It was nice to play a little with this piece - just a sweet little piece.

I found beautiful new paint colors the other day from The Italian Art Shop and we have been playing non-stop together.

How awesome are these two...

First CapeTownCycleTour for Corks - FatherDaughterMoments!

Just felt so sad for her that the distance was cut short (47kms instead of 109kms) because of all the fire damage along the route - she was good for the distance.  But such is life and she embraced it!  She was the 15th Junior Woman (Age 16-23years) home overall.  That's pretty impressive considering the crowds and her lousy start group.

I'm seriously so proud of this young gal!  She's awesome!
I kind of like her!  A lot!

While the other two were at the Cycle Expo and race - my Kitty Girl and I stole moments together all weekend.  Relaxing, feet up and catching sun rays... also studying and lots of homework while I worked #InMyStudio too.

Beautiful gentle recovery weekend!  #SoGrateful

The Mountain Raged while the City Unites

Powerful images from the past week from the fire that raged through the Mountain region of the Cape Southern Peninsula.

I wish I could give photo credits but I can't tell you who took some of these images because images have been have been flying around The Cape all week.

I have lots of friends on that side of the mountain and it was an edgy week.  That together with the fact that this area is our usual playground for trail running and mountain biking - most of which was consumed.  It just felt to devastating and a little out of control and at times I felt real fear.

The fire raged for over a week and the firefighters worked around the clock.

The local community rallied together to fight together with the firefighters and to stand together in their hour of need.  In fact, the whole of Cape Town pulled together to raise funds, deliver food parcels, medical supplies and water.

Pretty remarkable stuff to see the unity.

Finding beauty in the ashes...

Just when we received news that the fires were finally under control on Thursday morning... I received a call from my daughter to say the office building next door to their school was on fire.  Their gennie caught fire and the roof and the third floor collapsed.

Their school was closed and they spent the day on the school fields having fun activities while waiting for the smoke to subside and the drama to settle.   Seriously!!!!

Some of the devastation of vegetation and our beautiful National park.

And our beautiful running and riding routes.

I have to say we have ended the week all a little pooped from sitting on the edge of our seats.  Feeling a little out of control and a tad bit freaked out... looking forward to a quiet weekend at home.

SelfieTime

The dark truth about aging is that she comes for all of us.

And when she's ready, she's swift - to claim our skin, our hair and her ultimate prize - our youth!

It's what makes us all equal, the same.

Learning to embrace the new depth that she leaves me with and in that,

finding it's own kind of beauty in my same but different face. 

#InMyStudio - Beautiful Creative play with meaning...

A night full of stars and prayer balloons

I did this piece as part of my #1FaceaDay - but I wanted it to be a finished piece...

This pieces is dedicated to a very special lady and her family.

Sending up prayers for this mighty courageous family.

I think about them a lot.

I worry about them.

The balloons were inspired from the balloon on her dress and the more I painted these sweet balloons, the more I knew they were prayer balloons.

There is something majestic about her, regal, mighty... heavenly.

I really love her.

I love mixed media creative play - it's good for the soul!