Merry Christmas to You and Yours...Loving this time of year!

Oh the Holidays! I love them.  We finally got our tree last weekend and the girls decorated it beautifully!  I love watching them, lovingly adorning the tree with the ornaments that they and we have collected over the years. Our tree is a mish-mash of ornaments that they have made in school, or have picked out themselves with their Papa every Thanksgiving (he takes them out to pick out an ornament every year).  It's beautiful! I tried to take a picture of it.  But it just doesn't do it justice!

I am trying to make most of my gifts this year and am loving every second of it. I am keeping busy, busy, buys!  I hope everyone is really enjoying the things that matter this season.  Take time to cherish the moments and remember that it's not all about the hustle and bustle, the entertaining, the decorating, the gift giving and receiving...but more about the love we have for our family, our friends, our neighbors...and for some of us our Blessed Father who gave us the most important gift mankind has ever received,  His Son.  I am so Blessed in this life and am thankful for everything big and small.  Thank you for your friendships, your support, your love, and I hope I can give to other's as much as I have been given.

Merry Christmas everyone! Be Happy and don't sweat the SMALL STUFF!

Love and Hugs
Kristen

Today's Little Painting

Here is today's painting I did this afternoon.  I love the colorful face!  I went a little overboard with the markings on her face though. 

50 Pieces of Art in 50 Days...Progress???

Well folks, I am not the most disciplined person in the world and I'm having a hard time keeping up with my friend Jani from This Redhead Can Paint.  She challenged herself to make 50 pieces of art in 50 days and I'm kind of tagging along (lol)!  Her art is pretty amazing!!!

Here are a few of the items I have created so far.  I'm kind of cheating and counting jewelry as a piece of art.  While my jewelry pieces are not always "new" (because I use prints from art I have all ready completed)...they are "re-creations" of my art into something different (that counts right?)!!!

My style of creating art is usually not a "cut and dry" process I can complete in one day.  I am all over the place, so I may sketch something one day, go on to something new....and then 2 days later go back to the first and maybe lay in some initial color....by then I'm on to something new again, come back again and add some background or collage, or more layers.....You get the picture!  But someday I would really like to get to a point where I can just whip up a work of art in one day like Jani can!  I'm not quite there yet!

But it's okay that I'm not quite there yet, because for me it's all about the process, the learning, the practice...So I'm okay with where I'm at right now.  I know in my heart that I am capable of so much more, I just have to be patient with myself and let it happen.  I am so thankful

for websites like Flickr and Youtube and Ning sites like Hands & Heart, Little Glimpses Community Studio, Willowing, Loving Mixed Media and Suzi Blu just to name a few!  There is so much inspiration and talent out there!

If you are new to mixed media or art in general and want to learn more about a particular technique or style I suggest trying an online workshop.  They are less expensive than others, some of the instructors even let you download the video lessons so you can have them forever.  You can work at your own pace, watch the lessons as often as you want and you get the encouragement from not only the instructor, but also from the others taking the class.  I have made so many new friends in the art community online and will continue to take workshops online, probably for the rest of my life!

If you have the passion for creativity, in whatever area it may be, writing, painting, poetry, woodwork etc....Make some time for PLAY....everyday!  It feeds the soul and allows you (even if only for ?a moment) to forget the pressures of everyday life.  It's good for

YOU!

Happy creating everyone!