Sunrise Spectacular

A beautiful sunrise this morning at 6:24 am. My son, Scott, asked where the camera was. I quickly ran back in the house, grabbed it, and got this great shot. Too bad I didn't think of it!

On another subject regarding my menu for this week. Last night I made the Creamy Pork Tenderloin...WOW! It was so incredibly delicious. I've made it before but can't believe I didn't make a note about how great it was. Can't wait to eat it for lunch today...I love leftovers!

Week 39 Menu

Chicken Burritos

Creamy Pork Tenderloin

Pizza

Macaroni and Meat Pie

Tacos

Chicken Tomato Vinaigrette

Ham Mac 'N Cheese

No new recipes this week, just fine tuning old recipes for my holiday cookbook. I'll share more about the cookbook project later, just wanted to shoot this menu out there since it's on my mind.

Daisy Heart Revisited

A before shot (left) and after shot (right) of a painting I started almost a year ago for my 7 year old daughter's room. I wanted to bring in the colors of her room and I decided to go big (24"x30"). The before photo shows how far I got and then simply shut down. I learned that painting big is hard and time consuming and it wasn't turning out how I envisioned. That happens a lot with me...I'm too quick to judge and too impatient to wait until it's done before criticizing my work. Since I wasn't really liking it, other projects got my attention and this one got stuck in the corner. Over the summer I decided to finally finish up her room and finish this darn painting, good or bad! Originally I had planned on strictly painting with acrylics, but over the course of that year I have grown to love mixed media and all the different techniques and mediums you can apply to a single painting. So I played around by adding torn paper, sheet music, rubber stamps, oil pastels, chalk pastels, charcoal, and anything else I thought would make it more interesting. Interesting it is and I love it. A far cry from the original. Every night, when I lay down with Paige in her bed and she says she "hates" the torn paper on the petals and wants me to change it back the way it was, I just smile and maturely say "Too bad, it's my painting and I like it that way. You can't make me change it!"

The photo below shows the painting hanging in it's new home, Paige's room.

My Inspiration

Three back issues of Artful Blogging arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I couldn't wait to dive in and read every word. Though I had no intention of starting a blog, at least not for a while, I still enjoy reading about how blogging changes lives, or connects people who would otherwise remain strangers or inspires artists/crafters to create. By the time I got to page 20 of the 2007 Premier Issue I had decided to start a blog. I was reading about Kerri Posson's "Adventures in Art & Life" and she wrote "...my blog has become a tool for documenting my creative journey for myself." It was her words that helped me realize I could begin my blog now, for myself, with no expectations to meet. I don't have to tell anyone about my blog until I'm ready. I don't have to make it look beautiful right away. I don't have to plan it all out beforehand. I don't have to write what people will read, I just have to be me. I may not be as funny, or as insightful, or as creative, or as talented as other bloggers, but I do have a story to tell...Mine!

I am not a writer nor am I a journaler (although secretly I wouldn't mind being both). I am, however, interested in learning more about who I am. The art journals of Judy Wise captivated me about a year ago and I've tried to be like her, but it just wasn't working for me. I guess I don't have enough discipline or enough time (three kids can do that to a person). I still love the art journal idea though. I also like Julia Cameron's morning pages philosophy. The thought of spilling everything onto the page to free up my mind for other, more creative tasks totally make sense. Well, guess what...not so good at doing that either. Perhaps taking pieces of both methods and putting them together to suit my style will work better for me. I just need to figure out how to do that. But for now, documenting my creative journey on this blog is a good place to start.