Janet of All Trades

I was thinking about art the other day and how I could identify paintings from certain artists. Of course all the well know artist are pretty easy to identify thru their style of painting. I next thought how did I learn about all of this? It's not that I haven't been exposed to art but seems the recollection of some paintings comes from some far away place. And then I remembered that it was from the game Masterpiece! Not from an art gallery I visited when I as five but from a game where you were part art critic and part detective. I always wondered when I was younger why a Dega or Van Gogh looked familiar. I would think, hey it's that picture from the game! The game was working it's way in to my brain while I was playing. I taught be more about art and less about being a detective of wether it was a masterpiece or not.

I grew up in a family of five girls. Heaven bless my father and how dealt with all those females. He was a great guy who loved sports and loved his family too. I can honestly say that my love of sports comes from him since I would ask him questions about sports to spark conversations. I also think my love of creating comes partly from him as well. You see my mother loved to go to estate and yard sales and bring home antique furniture to refinish. Well the refinishing part was my father's forte. He would sand and sand and fix and rebuild and stain and make the furniture beautiful again. He also taught himself to cane chairs, something I can say is not that easy. They are works of art and a puzzle to create. The weaving requires a dutiful master and a dedication to complete. I always thought that my creativeness came from my mother, but i am realizing that it also came from my father's spirt and dedication to complete a project. I think that drive to create and complete is his le...

                                   "The reward of labour is life" - William Morris I like to be busy since boredom makes the evil demons of my brian start to cause havoc. I like to have goals and as you can see from this blog that I am attempting to finish everything I write about. That is why I like this quote from William Morris. Life is a laborious gift and we can see these gifts in the goals that strive to achieve everyday Sometimes the goal may not be met but on the you learn something else along the way. Today my goal is to write this blog and have it not sound like some deep inspiration message and as I read it I think my brian has failed me. Oh crap! Goal for today, no more blogs like this! Just ignore and enjoy the lovely photo of Maine!

I found this wall art in the West Elm catalog and I think I like it. I just would need to find the right spot to hang it since i don't have concrete walls like the photo.It reminds me of the beaded curtains of the sixties and seventies but more modern. My Sister had one on her closet door and I always thought she was so hip so she must be a real hippie.(I was five) It also reminds me of a necklace that I own and every time I wear it I feel like I am wearing art. It is large and can be a bit noisy when I walk, but I still love the way it looks. Circles of various size floating on my neck. And then again I look at this photo and I think I can make it. The problem is will I hang it or wear it or maybe both!

We had the opportunity this past weekend to dog sit a very lovely dog named Sammy. Sammy is a cute and rotund Beagle that lives around the corner. We were asked to let him out and feed him for just a few days. Well it turned out that he practically spent the entire weekend with us. He is pretty easy going fellow who just likes to lay around, occasionally go outside and lick you face if he can get to it. He slept alot during the day and we weren't sure if this was his normal routine or he just wasn't sleeping at night since he has separation anxiety. His tail it seemed never stopped wagging unless he is sleeping. Even in his most hunt like stance of listening and watching the neighborhood, does the tail stop moving. He was a delight and a very happy guy to have as company.

I am kind of stuck on the word mood today. It actually happened last night with the approach of the end of the weekend and Monday Morning. I am now going to call Monday, Mooday, Since I am usually not in particularly happy mood on Monday. I try not to obsess about Mooday but it makes it way in to things I create. Mood was also present this weekend in the painting that completed that has been rolling around in my brian for a few weeks. First I drew some inspiration from a painting I found online(seen at right) and Second I selected my colors and canvas size. I really love the way the colors blend and move on the canvas.The size (22" x 28")is the largest I have every created and will find a home on my wall once I find a suitable frame. It is colorful and full of emotion and looks like a meadow. So it will be called Mood Meadow For Monday. Enjoy Mooday!

Here is a large sunny flower to head into the weekend. So bright and cheery on this gloomy morning! Have a lovely weekend! 

On my recent trip to Cincinnati, we only used a GPS to direct us to our destination. I was thinking how strange it was not to follow our progress on a paper map. How will I know where I am if it is not on a slab of paper? On every family trip we always had a map and an inevitably an argument would start on who would read and hold the map. It was the ultimate prize and the closest thing to being the actual driver si nce you were in control of the directions. So traveling for me without a map is like leaving a essential vacation item behind. I can say that I still like maps since you can see the big picture  and how close you are to other cities or points of interest. I know the GPS does this to but not in the same tactile way a paper map does. I tend to collect maps too when we traveling. It is a memory of where you were and you can flip it open and look at the places you have been. Recently I was working on a project for our hallway and decided to use some of my maps as mats for photos...

You probably have heard of water on the brain, I think I have paint on the brain. I am getting the itch to paint again and not sure which type it is this time. I have this desire to paint our living room a wonderful color that I like to call Suntanned Pumpkin. I have yet to come across the exact color that this describes so I will keep looking and painting will be put on hold. The other color that I have fallen in love with is this room in a Key West Cottage. It is called quite simply Peach Pink by Benjamin Moore. I love it with the Lime Green and White, I am just not sure it will work in my home so far from Key West and might look silly in the dead of winter.                                                         The other painting that I am  thinking of is this semi abstract flower piece. I do have a tiny bit of ability to reproduce paintings that I like. I might try this one of another one this weekend if the paint will stay on my brain until then!

I am back from the US Open Series in Cincinnati and it was fantastic. Perfect weather,although it was in the 90's and really quite warm. The best part of the tournament was that we were able to get close to the players while they were practicing and get some great photos. We were there to see the Women's event, but also saw some of the Men's Qualifying for their tournament this week. It was really an enjoyable and a very intimate setting to watch tennis. Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic played in the final with Jelena winning in 2 sets. The photos are of Jelena warming up outside center court before her match in amongst the crowd and Dinara Safina practicing during the afternoon before her match.

I will be out town for few days so my post maybe nonexistent or sparse. I am off to a US Open Tennis Series event. I have been playing tennis since I was eight years old and I still love the sport although now I only play maybe one or two times a year. I grew up with tennis courts in my backyard, they weren't ours,but belonged to the the local college so they became my playground. I grew up playing tennis on those courts and eventually taught tennis there as well. I tau ght mostly to children and at times I felt that it was not worth the $10 an hour I charged. One little boy took no instruction and hit the ball as hard as he could as if he was playing baseball. I think I lost more tennis balls over the fence that year than all my years playing. I taught tennis all thru college summers and a few after college,but by then my desire to play and teach was starting to wain. I had been on the tennis court for a large part of my life and didn't seem fun any longer so it was time to mo...

When I graduated from High School some twenty years or more ago I was given three gifts by my parents. Being the youngest of five girls, I knew what two would most likely be. One would be a piece of jewelry (mine were pearls, not real) and one would be a Cross pen (I guess to fill out job applications with or write all those papers in college with). The last gift was something usually specific and personal with a lot of thought put in to its selection. Mine was a Canon AE-1 35 mm Camera. I was (and am still) completely surprised by this gift since it was so very expensive and I really didn't think that my parents could afford it. I had been using their camera to take some photos over the years and I guess they felt that I needed to have a good camera to keep taking photos and develop that talent. I can say that I used it for many years and took some exceptional images with it. I use a digital camera now since they are much smaller and lighter but not of this caliber. My current cam...

First I had promised to complete the wall hanging garden in the Sunbrella Essex Ivy fabric. Here it is finished and hung on the gate. It was made from one yard of awning fabric that was not easy to sew. I only made two pockets and used grommets on the bottom to secure to the fence since the wind gets behind it and blows it like a kite. I took a dowel and two old door knobs for the top and stained them brown and then secured to the fence. The flowers are faux for now as I will be getting some mums for the fall but it is too early since it is still warm and muggy. I think it looks great and covers up the somewhat ugly chain link fence gate! This is a double gate so I may make one for the other side! Second I made two necklaces this weekend as well. One from an old belt with some nice blue beads and the other was made from ten beaded bracelets that had lost the elasticity and added a brand new orange flowered disc pendant. They were very easy and now I want to take apart all my jewelry a...

I have been wanting a messenger bag for awhile now and it would be great for an upcoming trip. Then I saw this great pattern and thought I would make one this weekend. Problem is I still have not finished the hanging wall garden in the Sunbrella Essex Ivy fabric. As well as I would have to find just the right fabric for it and that will take some rigourous searching. I also would like to make a fe w pieces of jewelry. I took apart a beaded belt I have had for probably ten years and it yielded some really nice beads,so that will be on the project list as well. Lastly this will be a project for the winter I presume, Amy Butler's, August Fields Duvet Cover. It is made out of 19 different fabrics and I am sure I more than enough in my leftover pile. Too many projects once again, Okay I promise to finish one this weekend and post some photos next week!

There have always been too many crayolas in the box for me. This well worn box of mine shows that I have diligently used all of them. If had to chose a favorite it probably would be Cornflower Blue. But I have to say that Green is making a slow creep in to my infatuation with color. In my home I have painted each room at least twice and green has been a choice (the last time around) for four rooms. I wonder if it is subliminal and the obsession with being "green" that has taken over the nation. It just has sunk into my head wrong and my brain thought it was all about color! When I think of green I think of the words of Kermit the Frog "Green is the color of spring, and green can be cool and friendly-like and green can be big like an ocean or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree". Its so easy being green or loving green!

Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. - Erica Jong I have often wonder about talent and how it relates to ones vocation. I wondered if every person where doing what they loved to do,what would this world be like. I think it might be quite different from our society today. This idea first came to me when I was working at a jewelry store after college while searching for the "REAL JOB". One of my many responsibilities was to take the days checks to the bank(a short walk from the store). At the bank there was a lovely teller who was pleasant and very timid. She always seemed like she really didn't belong there and very uncomfortable in her surroundings. My mind took over and developed numerous scenarios of why she was working at the bank and what her talent were and what she should be doing. It made me think about my own life at the time and how completely lost I was. To follow what your true talents are, li...

Being true to the fact that I have too many irons in the fire, I like to read more than one book at a time. I don't like to limit my options and like to read different types of material. Some times brain candy and some times brain food. Currently I am reading Animal,Vegetable,Miracle: A year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. A very eye opening read about where our food comes from and interesting fact about food and animals. I will never look at asparagus or strawberries the same again. Second book,yet to be started is Dead Until Dark, By Charlaine Harris. Yes this the vampire series that the HBO True Blood is based on,but I have not seen the series yet and would like to read the book first. My impression of books made into movies or TV programs is that the book is always better. Perfect example is Twilight. Third Book is The World is Flat, By Thomas L Freidman. I keep giving this back to the library and need to finish it. The informational highway has made the world a more level ...

This past weekend I wanted to complete my hanging garden. Well I never did finish it since some other pressing household chores needed attention. Over a year ago we had a violent winter wind storm that tore off some of the siding on our house. Luckily it was only four panels and could be replaced. Unfortunately the no longer make the same color siding and we would have to have it replaced with a similar color. This meant that we would have to paint it to match. I love to paint and this was something I have never done before so it I thought it would be fun. Well it was since it only took a few hours and was instant gratification! Here are the before and after to photos as proof! Not exactly the painting I had in mind this weekend but it was an accomplishment none the less.