Reflections

After the everyday household chores of dishes, laundry, cleaning and the monthly responsibilities of paying bills on time, budgeting our lives, and balancing the checkbook; I forget to reflect on what keeps me going. My little girl, family, career, and my art. This photo puts it into perspective for me. That's Elizabeth and she won't be staying little forever. So I grab the camera.

The Quick Post

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in taking care of my daughter's needs and my career, I forget to do something for myself. This blog is my outlet. I love taking photos and find it faster than trying to sit down and draw something out. Since I'm not very patient, results need to be fast. This is a rocking horse that was handed down to my daughter that I saw the evening sun hit just right.

The Hugging Cousins

For "Chair"ty

I didn't really come up with the name. But I volunteered to paint an Adirondack chair to be auctioned for a good local cause. This is one of maybe 16 chairs to be auctioned to raise money in support of a company who employs mentally disabled workers.

These are details and the one pictures shows my signature and gives credit to my daughter for helping me out. Even though she was more interested in eating the paint, I was able to get eight of her hand prints. My theme was kids and art. Think back to Kindergarten.

Just a Plug...

Dani Stephenson took some beautiful pictures of Elizabeth and posted them on her blog.

http://danistephensonphotography.blogspot.com/2009/04/elizabeth.html

I thought I would put in a plug for her even though she's not taking on any more photo sessions for some time. But I enjoy looking at her photos as a tool for teaching my students to be creative with their photography in my yearbook class. And she's also very inspiring to me.

Happy Birthday.

Monday, my little girl turned 1! What a fun age. I've been busy with birthday celebrations but wanted to put up a comparison of Elizabeth at birth and almost 1 year.

My Peeps

Hello again. I've missed out on posting to my blog for way too long.

Robbie and I have been pretty busy with Elizabeth. She wants to skip walking and go straight to running. I have to keep a mindful eye on her at all times.

School's been choatic. March was Youth Art Month so I had a number of shows to get student artwork ready for. I try to go the extra mile for my students in hopes that they will take pride in their work. I feel we don't take enough pride in our talents, hobbies, and even our career paths. It would be an awfully boring life without a little color, stress, passion, and creative problem solving.

I am trying to get back to my creative self and enjoy every minute of my daughter.

Over a month...

I've been trying to catch up on things at school and at home so I haven't updated my blog. This is going to be a short one. I celebrated my birthday this month and on my birthday I drew a couple of scribbles just because I was inspired. There is something calming about drawing with little purpose other than to create something personal. It's like journaling to those who like to write. Lately, I haven't been eating right and I feel a little less than perfect. Not to mention I got a little older this past year.

I hope you enjoy my drawings. I'm trying a few things lately that are more illustrative.

Very Behind...

I have been very behind on many things lately. I have no pictures to offer. Just this link.

http://wisconsin.cowparade.com/cow/detail/3983/

I painted this cow for the Cow Parade in Madison a few years back.

When things calm down, I hope to post some more photos and artwork.

The Fishbowl

These are just a couple of sketches that I drew around 2006. When I was dating my husband, I got a job as an art teacher but had to find another art teaching position which stressed me out. I ended up landing in my hometown teaching art and often traveled to see Robbie. He played pool and even had a pool table in his apartment living room. All this inspired the sketches. I miss sketching on whims. I'm thinking when I'm more relaxed I can get sketching again.

Cousins...

Yesterday, I took pictures of my daughter for her 9 months. Right now it's getting harder for me to keep her sitting still long enough to snap a few shots off. She obviously really likes her mommy time - and I can't say that I don't miss her when I'm working during the day.

My husband, daugther, and I went to my husband's parents so we could help celebrate his dad's birthday. I wanted to take more pictures but again, Elizabeth could barely let me go. I managed a picture of her wearing these glasses that came with Dai's Nerf gun.

I also tried to snap a few shots of her cousin, Tyler. Elizabeth dwarfs Tyler. I was grateful to hear that he is now 7# 4oz. which is 1 oz. higher than Elizabeth was when we took her home from the hospital after she was born. I take it as a good sign for the rest of his future. Before I know it, both will be running around playing and fighting.

Faith, Love, and Hope...

And most of all, LOVE. I did this drawing for my sister-in-law and her husband for Christmas. After all, they graciously accepted being my daughter's godparents.

I do lettering occasionally these days. Mostly for classroom examples so students can see how to use lettering in art.

Speaking of my daughter, she is 9 months today. Seems like yesterday I had her.

Happy 2009!

With the new year, I'm posting old work. I finished the following in the spring of 2006. I've done graphic design work before but these posters were a bit more intensive then what I normally did. Plus, adding words to my artwork was a first. Yes, I took the pictures as well as used Photoshop for the many layers.

My sister-in-law, Corry, skating. The quote is, "What is wrong with wanting to feel strong and graceful and beautiful..." from the movie Ice Princess.

This one is a former student of mine. The quote is, "If it has more than three cords, it's jazz." from Lou Reed.