Winter's Last Gasp- Digital Art by Tracey Grumbach

About this image: After the wind howls and the snow accumulates, it is time for the big dig. Particularly for farmers, it is essential to be able to move about freely to care for the animals. Here in northern Maryland, we are currently experiencing a winter storm full of snow and sleet. They originally were calling for 10-15" of snow, but the sleet has cut those predictions down. This image was not taken this year. It was taken last January after we had a major back to back snow storm dumping 2-3 feet of snow in the area. Wherever you are, please check in on neighbors, especially the elderly, to make sure they are warm, safe, and have a cleared path for emergencies. Hopefully, this will be winter's last gasp. Come on, spring!

Be safe and stay warm.

xo

First Amish Snowfall- Digital Art by Tracey Grumbach

First Amish Snowfall
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

From my family to yours- wishing you all the merriest of Christmases! May your Christmas be filled with family, love, hope, peace, and joy. I plan on enjoying the holiday with my family and will be back to blogging before the New Year!

God bless, peace on earth and goodwill to all people.

xo

Wisely and Slow

Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.

William Shakespeare

This is a digital painting created from a picture I took while traveling in Amish country.  I hope you enjoy it. <3

Behind the Scenes

During last week's snowfall, a local photographer and a friend of mine, Dawn Bayer, asked my daughter to pose in a red dress. It was a vision she had in her mind for some time and my daughter was thrilled to pose for her, although she was quite chilly during the process. I grabbed my camera and shot the behind the scenes action for both my daughter and for Dawn to remember the shoot by.

You can see some of the results of the shoot on Dawn's blog. I am excited to have these images of my daughter and can't wait to get then printed!  

Have a wonderful day, y'all.  Stay dry.

The Cage Without a Key

The fog is like a cage without a key.

Elizabeth Wurtzel

I haven't felt much like writing lately...so I will let the quotes and my creations speak for themselves. 

xo

Amish Winter Sunday

Regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow are twin thieves that rob us of the moment.

~Amish Proverb

Suzanne Woods Fisher

Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life 

Have a beautiful Thursday. xo

Abandoned

Reality seems valueless by comparison 

with the dreams of fevered imaginations;

reality is therefore abandoned.

~Emile Durkheim

This is what my mantra has been lately with my art. Why stick with reality when I can instead create something from the dreams of my fevered imagination?

For example, why would I stick with the photograph I took (below) when I can transform it, and create a dream-like vision that speaks from my heart? Now, when I see with my eyes scenes like the one on the left, I actually envision the scene on the right in my mind. I've trained myself to "see" this way.

Before and after. Reality abandoned.

Have a wonderful day. Abandon reality and go with your fevered dreams.

xo

White Farm

Recently I have really begun to realize just how incredibly lucky I am to do what I love and to make money from art. Truly, if you think about it, how many people in the world do their soul's work for a living? I must admit, I can't support a family on what I am making with my art by any means, and I am thankful to my husband for being able to support us so well. But still, I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that what I am doing would ever bring joy to others and sell to the public at the consistent rate. I still have so many professional goals to reach and maybe one day I will be able to make a wonderful consistent income from what I do with art. Right now, I still rely on real estate photography to make a huge portion of Nine Acres Designs, LLC's income but perhaps in the not too distant future that will change.

This weekend I received another phone call from Arts By the Bay Gallery in Havre de Grace saying they sold another piece of mine and that I was to bring in another one to replace it. How exciting! I currently have 12 new limited edition pieces ordered (and shipped) and awaiting the box is like anticipating Christmas morning for me. To actually see my digital art printed on Somerset Velvet paper with deep rich archival inks after creating and seeing my creations only on a digital screen is equivalent to that first buzz I got when I took my black and white film class and saw the images appear on the photo paper in the darkroom. It takes my breath away and brings me so much joy.

I hope your day is bringing you joy and that you can take a moment to appreciate all the blessings in your life.

xo

Lone Horse in the Snow

Happiness isn't a fixed point.

It's always in flux.

~Unknown

This quote is so true and it has taken me a long time to accept that life isn't always happy and life isn't always the way we want it to be. I've also learned, though, if I stop living in the future and start living right here and now, riding the waves of emotions is so much easier and more rewarding. I have eliminated a lot of worry from my life simply by choosing to focus on the now and not worrying about tomorrow. Because I am a planner, I always wanted to know what tomorrow would bring which, many times, caused worry and an unsettled feeling. Living here, now, and not fretting over what is to come has been a process of conscious choice for me. It isn't easy but it has saved my emotional well being. When I feel my thoughts moving into the future in a negative way, I stop that train of thought and refocus on now. It is training my mind to think very differently than I what I am used to.

I have tried to stop saying "I will never _________________" fill in the blank with things I physically can't do right now to "One day I will _________________ again." It all comes down to being able to wait and not lose hope.

Now, I must also retrain my brain not to live in the past as well ;) I am a work in progress.

For the Inactive Windmills

For the inactive windmills, even the winds from the bird wings is a hope.

~Mehmet Murat Ildan

Hope:

1.  to cherish a desire with anticipation

2.  to desire with expectation of obtainment

3.  to expect with confidence

For such a small word, it holds not only the world on its shoulders, but also the slow burning glimmer that lives inside each soul. Four letters spells out such a broad, sweeping concept. 

Even the winds from the bird wings is a hope...

Keep hoping because as long as hope is alive, so are we.

xo

P.S. Here's to hoping we get some snow soon, y'all.  You know I love the white stuff.