Fun With Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen

Julie and Chris, those two gals run a mighty fine online painting workshop. 

I go through moments of procrastination, challenge, hope, anxiety and joy.  Hard to believe that painting can be such a complete and total emotional roller coaster ride for me.....oh yea, did I mention anger, angst, resignation, more hope and joy......

and then, of course, no post would be complete without a quick pic of the ever wonderful Miss Iris.....check out those teeth !!!!

Even the kitty had fun !!!

 

HOOK - LINE - SINKER

She'll be 6 on January 3rd.

She has bought the Santa story, Oh My God, has she ever.

Hook, Line and Sinker !!!!

We are having a blast this Christmas.

Hope you are too.

Bliss.................

There is nothing as wonderful as a five year old building tents in the living room.

Or watching a five year old fly around the backyard using her princess dress for a cape.

And finally, waving goodbye as they drive off to "the ice cream social/meet the teacher" for the very first time.

Yep.  This is a summer I will never forget.

DALLAS AND IRIS

P1000302, originally uploaded by Paula S In New Mexico.

A son and his daughter.....oh how I cherish these moments in life.

THE QUEEN OF EVERYTHING

LIFE DOESN'T GET BETTER THAN THIS

My son Dallas and my grand daughter Iris.

What a wonderful weekend.

Ahab's Wife - Mixed Media On Birch

Well this was an interesting piece.

Mostly it provided me with a lot of time to think about life, our relationships, being far away from the ones we love.

My son and his family live in Denver. That is roughly a 6-7 hour drive from my front door. I miss my grand daughter, Iris a lot. She's just turned 4 and at an age that is so much fun. I'm hopeful that a trip can be arranged very soon.

What about you? Where is your family? Do you see one another often?

A MOMENT OF FUN

Meet Audrey,
The pole dancing
slut cat.

I swear
she has no shame.

GRANDMA TAKE A PICTURE OF ME !!!!!

IRIS HAVING LUNCH OUT WITH HER GRANDMA
Paula ~ 2008

Grandma take a picture of me with my hands on my head !

Grandma take a picture of me with my eyes closed !

Grandma take a picture of me sticking out my tongue !

And on, and on, and on it went,

hours of pure, electric, euphoric joy.

Such is being Iris' grandma.

THIS IS WHO ROCKS MY WORLD

THE VOICE INSIDE

Jack and Friends
4 x 6 postcard
Mixed Media

I made this postcard to my daughter-in-law a year or so ago. I really loved the mood that "jack" gave off. Kind of a "make my day" attitude!

I especially like making art on top of layers of old paper, pages from books, whatever strikes my fancy. For me those faint words in the background are like the unheard, inside voice we all have. The things we are thinking but wouldn't dare say, for fear of hurting, insulting, building false hope or whatever.

Throughout life I've usually abandoned the idea of the "inside voice" but as I age I find myself reserving those inside thoughts more and more.

At the first of the year I quickly abandoned the notion of a New Year's Resolution for something more like "My 2008 Motto". My motto for this year is:

Keep It Simple and Be Nice.

So I guess that is what's going on with Jack here. He's being nice and keeping things simple by not allowing the others to hear his inside voice.

Do you have an inside voice? One that you keep to yourself? Why? When? What happens with you have the overwhelming urge to just say what you think? "Oh that art really sucks!" or "Gee I sure hope that hair color isn't permanent"............or..................."I love you".

Please comment, I'd love to hear your inside voice on this topic.

Enough for today.

SPIRITS OF LOVE

Birds are the spirits of love sitting at our window sill. Watching over us morning through night. Ever watchful that we are safe, warm, happy and loved. They are there even when we close our eyes pretending we don't see, we don't know or maybe even we don't care. No matter, the spirits of love are there hovering about patting our hearts, stroking our souls, drying our tears as a mother fusses over her baby.

Have you seen any birds at your window sills today? Have they landed in your hair, not noticed? Hmmmmm? Do you have your eyes closed ? Maybe so, but even still you must feel that soft, and tender warmth in your heart. You DO feel it, don't you?

SWEET BABY STUART

"Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
and sings the tunes without the words
and never stops
at all. "
Emily Dickenson

It seems impossible that Stuart would be 29. Sometimes I tell myself the pain has eased. Sometimes I even manage to let the date slip by altogether.

Be nice, live fully, love your children.

THE BEST SUMMER .....EVER !

Oh yeah, I guess I already said that, but I just wanted to make sure everyone knew what a great summer this has been.

We rented a lovely home in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado , just at the base of Crestone Peak. Our children met us there and brought the lovely Miss Iris who will be three this coming January.

Miss Iris (aka, Snoozey) spent all of her time on her new wheels. At night she slept in her Pink Disney Princess Tent.

We are worn out but oh it is such a good kind of ache. Being with our kids is the best vacation I could ever ask for.

DALLAS KICKS BACK

My son Dallas is such a sweeteheart. Last night I called to talk just as he was arriving home from work. He's an electrician and had been crawling around in a building all day and was covered with dust. My daughter-in-law, Cherise always makes the comment that Dallas works very hard. I believe it.

So this post today shows a little postcard I made for Cherise. Hopefully Dallas will get to kick back during this extended weekend and relax. Although with a 2 1/2 year old daughter jetting around the house, that idea can sometimes be just that "an idea".

Have a great weekend. Love those you love. Eat something fun. Laugh. Smile. Make the world go around.

NOW "THIS" IS AN ANGEL !!!!!!!!!

CAN YOU SEE HER HALO?????

Look very close, you can almost see her halo.

My grand daughter, Iris is 2 1/5.

We visited recently and got the fun of taking her on her first outing to the aquarium. Nothing in this world brings me as much joy as watching this child and her unending wonder of the world she lives in.

SWEET SWEET SOPHIE

On Friday, April 13th, Sophie died.

We move through our days in a fog. We cry a lot. This sweet little cat that we rescued in the wilds of 20 degree below zero weather and 10 feet of snow has been our angel for nearly 16 years. My heart is simply bursting with grief.

Words are hard to come by right now. I don't want to let her go. I don't want her to suffer. I want to live on in the vacuum of kittie happiness with my Sophie. She has been a joy. Sweet, sweet Sophie.

Christmas

My sweet grand daughter Iris really got into Christmas this year. She is just shy of 2 years old here. This toy was surely what she was ready for, as one can almost hear the little gears in her brain whirring away ! She spent hours on my lap absorbing everything this little box had to offer.

She's full on with the "terrible twos" and she's giving her mom and daddy a run for their money. I don't recall my son ever being such a hand full.