Along Big Falls Road- Landscape Mobile Art by Tracey Grumbach

Along Big Falls Road- Landscape Mobile Art by Tracey Grumbach

About this image: Some days are just hard as a parent. You try to do your best by your kids every day, but sometimes one just falls short. A few weeks ago my youngest daughter started telling me that she couldn't see the board or pocket chart in homeschool very well. She kept getting out of her seat and walking up to the board over and over again. Being that they are homeschooled, I play the dual role as her mom and as her teacher, which sometimes is not a blessing. Knowing my youngest daughter as I do, I suspected that she was making up that she couldn't see as an excuse to procrastinate doing her work and to stretch her legs. So, I told her to sit down and do her work after several trips to the board. Then, yesterday, during school, she told me again that she couldn't see, but this time it was vocabulary cards in a pocket chart. The pocket chart stand is very close to her desk, so again, I thought she was procrastinating and told her to sit down. This time, though, I noticed her visible frustration as she squinted to see the chart.

Guilt immediately kicked in. Maybe she really couldn't see the chart or board! So, being near-sighted myself, I grabbed my glasses and put them on her. Immediately, her face relaxed and she said, "Oh, now I can see..." and she spelled the word right off the card from her seat.

Ugh. For about two weeks I was letting this poor kid suffer with not being able to see things at a distance! I assumed she was just procrastinating and stretching and wanting attention when she really truly had a vision issue. I immediately called the eye doctor and as luck would have it, they had a cancellation minutes before for that afternoon. We grabbed that spot. Well, turns out she did need glasses and so she picked the prettiest pink and purple pair they had. Poor thing.

You may ask, "What does this have to do with this image?" Well, as we were traveling to the eye doctor, I came across this beautiful scene. I stopped in the middle of the road (I live in a rural area with barely any road traffic and in both directions there were no vehicles in sight) and took a picture with my iPhone. While waiting at the doctor's office, I used all my mobile app art tools to create this piece. When I was finished with it (about 6-7 steps in the whole process), I showed the twins my work. They both gasped and said, "How did you do that when you are not even at your computer?"  Since they were with me in the truck when I took the picture, they knew what the original scene looked like and could compare it to the finished product. I loved that they were impressed. N, my youngest daughter, said, "Mom, you are the best artist."  LOL. I don't strive to be the best artist, I just have a compulsion to create and express my feelings through digital art, but the fact that my kids think I'm the best makes me glow. Especially since I know I am far from perfect and make many mistakes as a mom. But, they love me and forgive me all my shortcomings.

Don't forget to stop in tonight at Oxford Art Alliance to see me from 5-8PM! I have three pieces showing and for sale...all three are limited editions with only one print available! They will never be printed again, so grab the one and only while you can. Check out the flyer below for details and please make sure you introduce yourself tonight!

Also, on yesterday's post, I said to tune in for a big announcement today, but I have to postpone revealing what that is until later next week! Sorry for any confusion that may cause!
xo