The Hanging Tree

Are you, are you

Coming to the tree?

Where dead man called out

For his love to flee?

Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be

If we met at midnight

In the hanging tree.

~The Hanging Tree

(click the title above to hear the song)

James Newton Howard featuring Jennifer Lawrence

The Hunger Games:  Mockingjay Part 1 Soundtrack

I began taking another online digital art/mixed media art class this week.  Unlike the other classes (2 previous ones now), I actually am learning and enjoying this one.  I feel like I connect to the content and it is motivating me to create again.

One of the things that happens to me when I listen to songs is I create images in my head that go along with the lyrics.  Sometimes it is a very literal interpretation of the song and sometimes it is not...it is just an abstract representation of how the music makes me feel.  I decided to actually take one of the images I've had in my head from hearing the song The Hanging Tree and make it a reality.  This was the final result.

I really enjoyed working on this piece and am looking forward to continuing this exploration of music and art.  I already have plans to do one for the song Centuries by the Fall Out Boys.  I think that one may end up being a bit more abstract...we'll see.  It feels like air in my lungs to be creative again.  I hope I stay well enough to continue!

Cone Flower

Today I really don't feel like being thankful.

I don't feel like counting my blessings.

All I want to do is cry all day and feel sorry for myself.

As I am gathering more and more information about Lyme

and the co-infections that go with it,

(I can NOT believe with the wealth of information out there 

no one in the last two years picked up what I had...

it now seems so incredibly obvious)

I feel like I am at the base of Mt. Everest 

with no provisions, no map, no energy, or understanding

of how to climb this massive range that divides me

from the healthy life that surely awaits me on the other side.

How will I scale this impossible mountain?

And yet I know the answer...one baby step at a time...

one muscle twitching, pain inducing, headache pounding, nauseating, exhausting

baby step at a time.

There will be backslides and falls and stumbles along the way

but I will make it.

I have to keep telling myself that there is a quality of life worth doing this for

on the other side of that mountain.

Today I am thankful for something so mundane and little

that most people would laugh at being thankful for this.

I am thankful that I had the energy today to put away the laundry.

I hate when it is sitting out reminding me that I can't put it away,

that I can't muster the energy or pain-free movement to pick up laundry and put it away...

so getting that completed today made me feel less guilty about giving my body

the rest it so needs to begin the battle against these horrible bugs inside me.

xo

Moon Rising

Moon Rising was created with an original image I took at Sunset Beach in Cape May.

Have you ever been in one of those really dark moods 

where you just want to be left alone?

No one touching your skin,

No one talking to you...

you crave silence like air itself?

Deep down in your gut and in your chest, where your spirit resides,

 it just feels dark 

and you warn everyone it is one of those days.

Yep, it is one of those days for me.

I woke up this way and have no idea why.

I warned the kids at breakfast.

I told my husband.

Beware.

As the hours of the morning wore on, 

I knew that it wasn't fair to everyone around me.

I had no reason to be grim with them.

I knew the choice was mine to change my mood.

So, today I am thankful for all of those comfort mechanisms that bring me peace.

Soft Native American flute music over a soundtrack of nature sounds....

(yep, the kids had to listen to it silently all the way to gymnastics, poor things.)

A lilac candle whose smell brings me joy.

(yep, two of them lit right now in my house.)

My most comfortable jeans and softest shirt.

(Check...got'em on.)

Digital Art, releasing those dark feelings creatively and in a positive manner

on my iPhone while waiting the hour and a half for the kids to finish their gymnastics class.

(Ahhhhh...yes...that image from Cape May I wasn't sure what to do with.)

And a good book to get lost in while swinging on the porch swing

while the birds at the feeder chirp their songs.

(Getting there soon...)

I can do this.

I can control that synapse of time between when the kids annoy me 

and when I respond to them.

That moment in between a stimulus and our reaction is golden...

we hold all the power in those brief seconds...

how will I choose to respond to this?

Angry, mean, and distant or loving, caring, and calm?

xo

Reflection of My Mood

As seen in a reflection of a window...texture added to fit my mood.

Today is one of those days where it is just difficult.

I was going to write a post about how every fiber in me aches today...

true, deep, pain in every cell,

not emotionally...physically.

But, who wants to hear someone whine and complain?

So I deleted all of that...and now I have this post.

Not much...it is what it is.

It is difficult on days like today not to give up on my quest to find

answers to my health problems.

I'm just so tired of hurting.

Despite my mood and my pain,

I still found 2 things to be thankful for today...

one is driving without any radio, phone, or children noise.

It is so delicious to be all alone with one's thoughts sometimes,

is it not?

Second, I am thankful for a fellow artist at the gallery where I show my work.

While I was putting in my floor time he stopped in to pick something up.

I took the opportunity to talk with him about plein air painting.

He is teaching an upcoming workshop on the topic

and he is accomplished in that form of art.

He was very generous with his time and knowlege

(and very patient with my utter lack of knowledge).

He took the time to answer my very novice questions about the art form

and even showed me some examples in his work.  

Our discussion even gave me a new perspective about photography and digital art.

For his knowledge and grace, I am thankful.

 

Ready to Unfurl

Today I am thankful for my beautiful 15 year old daughter

who brings such joy and laughter to my life.

She is such an amazing person with a huge, kind heart,

a humble, strong, quiet, self confidence

and a smart, creative brain with ideas that still fascinate me.

Why God decided to bless me with this gift that is her 15 years ago,

I will never know, but I am honored to be her mother.

My relationship with all my children is so unique and equally as fulfilling,

but when I imagined having a teenage daughter, 

I couldn't even begin to dream about a connection this close or rewarding.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful Ladybug!

May you always have the best in life 

and stay the sweet, caring person you are.

It is a joy watching you unfurl from a shy little girl

into this beautiful, confident woman.

One day you will change the world with your words.

You may already have...

xo

Daisy in the Rain

Today I am thankful for my garden and the beautiful,

life giving rain we had yesterday.

My garden was covered in leftover raindrops,

like tears caressing one's cheek,

slowly sliding off the petals to the ground below.

It was so quiet and serene with the skies still overcast

acting like a gigantic soft box.

Don't you love how the colors of the world POP after the rain;

the water magnifying the magnificence of Nature's palette?

Some hate the rain, 

but I actually find it comforting.

It makes the sun afterward that much more enjoyable.

xo

Winter- Inner Harbor, Baltimore

With this dreary weather today,

I decided to post this digital art piece to remind us it could be worse...

all of this rain could be snow ;)

This was from this winter when part of the Inner Harbor was frozen

and a fresh coat of snow and fallen over night, covering the sidewalks

surrounding the water.

Smile.  

It's Friday and warmer temperatures and drier weather are sure

to be just around the corner.

xo

The Blackbird

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of inflections

Or the beauty of innuendos,

The blackbird whistling 

or just after.

~Wallace Stevens

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

This blackbird landed upon a branch 

while walking with my daughter yesterday.

She sent my attention to it, suggesting that it would make a lovely image

what with the lighting and the bare branches and its clear outline

set apart from the limb.

I happened to agree with her.

xo

Coloring Inside the Lines

Not every day goes how I want it to.

What person's day does?

On those days when I am struggling to find the creative flow,

I revert back to my childhood.

It's like a throw-back Thursday, only creatively.

:)

Around Christmas time I found this kit marketed toward children

by a company called Dejeco.

The kit included 4 small pre-printed outlines on mat board,

8 markers, and an instruction booklet written by the artist

to show you how to complete the "painting."

A grown-up coloring book, if you will.

A paint-by-numbers...kind of.

A...well, you get the idea.

I fell in love with the whimsical, fantastical drawings and 

knew I had to get it...not for a Christmas gift for an artistically inclined child on my list, 

but to color myself.

I have very fond memories of spending rainy afternoons as a child

coloring in coloring books,

and then later as a pre-teen, coloring in those graphic design books

that were like kaleidoscope images.

It was always soothing, comforting, and a zen activity for me growing up.

Geared to ages 7-13, this kit was not meant for adults,

but my childhood love of coloring reared its head and convinced

me to overlook my embarrassment of buying a childhood art project for my

40 year old self.

I am so glad I did, though.

On days when I am just not feeling it,

I open this kit and just spend some quiet time

(sometimes alone, sometimes with my kids drawing next to me)

mindlessly filling in the blank board with texture and color.

It is not only therapeutic for my mind...very zen...but also

artistically therapeutic, as it gives me new ideas for projects and techniques.

I am sharing one of those boards here.

I do have to say, though, that I was not completely satisfied with just coloring it.

After I completed it the way the artist wanted me to in the instruction booklet,

I scanned the project and used my digital artist's toolkit in photoshop

to complete a transformation on the piece,

making it more of my own.

I am past my embarrassment of reverting back to coloring

and sharing this with you here in the hopes that it sends the message

that it is OK to reconnect with that inner 7 year old

in order to clear the mind, reconnect with a child-like excitement of the world,

and move past a stalemate in your creative process.

xo

Eutaw Street, Baltimore City

I went to the Hippodrome Sunday night to see 50 Shades,

the official parody of the book 50 Shades of Grey.

It was oh so hysterical

and

oh so inappropriate!

While I loved the show,

I loved being in the city even more.

I never ever want to move to the city,

as I am country girl at heart,

but I LOVE visiting and walking around.

There is something so invigorating about the 

noise, activity, and people.

Speaking of noise, if you look carefully,

on the far side of the road a fire truck is wailing up the street

the moment I snapped this image...

on my iPhone.

Yep, this is an iPhone image because they won't let you take a 

pro camera into the Hippodrome, of course!

I can't wait to have a chance to get back to Baltimore!

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Every spring for a few days each year, 

I am lucky enough to see these beautiful, shy birds at my feeder.

I so wish they would stick around for the summer, but alas,

despite Maryland being on the map for their "summer" range,

they are never spotted here in my rural Harford County location for more than a few days.

They have a beautiful song that is similar to an American Robin song,

only happier and more cheerful.

I had to shoot this image with my 400mm lens through glass

because they are very shy and cautious at the feeder.

Despite sitting still and quietly for an hour on my porch,

waiting for them to fly down to the feeder 

from their high perch in the cypress trees,

they never obliged my patience.

It's ok, though.

I don't mind enjoying them for a few days with 

my eyes and ears instead of the lens.

It makes their visit that much more special.

For more information about the Rose Breasted Grosbeak

and to hear their beautiful song, please visit 

the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

xo

Bleeding Hearts in a Bottle

Sometimes inspiration comes from looking back.

This is a photograph I took a year or two ago,

but with my new love of digital art and mixed media,

I wanted to bring new life to it.

Textures and digital painting bring a more abstract quality to this piece

that makes me happy.  

I still like the original for it's simplicity, but I also like this version.

Tis the time of bleeding hearts again...

they only stay with us for such a short time in the year

yet bring us so much joy.

I am lucky to have them in my garden.

xo