Friday, May 25, 2012

Nick is an Honor Graduate!

These last weeks has been an emotional roller coaster of events and experiences. I am very proud to be a parent of an honor graduate who has earned a scholarship to attend school at Western Kentucky University to pursue his dreams of being a pharmacist.

My Mom arrived from Alaska on the 14th and all my days were busy not only showing her what it is like to live in Kentucky but also dealing with all the pre-graduation events for Nick and ending the school year for Jared. So let's just say I averaged if even a couple hours of sleep. We celebrated my Mom's birthday at Maker's Mark Distillery and drove to Bowling Green, KY to show her the National Corvette Museum and Nick's future college. She left yesterday and today I finally crashed. So here are some pictures to share I will make sure to share more in the near future.


 My Mom arrived from Alaska on May 14th.
Some pictures of Nick's graduation


I am now officially a mother of a college student and a senior! And to even make me more proud both boys report cards were straight A's and a 4.0 GPA to end the year with despite the hard honor classes and AP classes they had. Now to rest up a bit and get caught up in my classes and unwind from all the festivities to get ready for a nice break in July.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Bloom True Experience

Funny how the little things like receiving a package can alter your whole week to a much better direction. :)
    
     On February 6th 2012 I was excited to be a part of a great experience. I was about to start my Bloom True E-Course with Flora Bowley. It was an early birthday gift to myself and I knew I needed this course not only to guide me in my art but also to reassure myself that even if it may be rocky at times my path in being an artist and knowing that within me is a real experience. I have to say Flora was the perfect instructor for that, to show us that not all the time do you always have to plan what comes out in your painting but to be intuitive and to learn from our own selves what we love and what we are drawn to and what grounds us.

     Since then we experienced another shift in our household. And emotional one. In March right after the class ended I ended up getting really sick off something I ate and had a very intense allergic reaction. My husband happened to be gone and thankful for a great friend to help bring me to the Emergency Room of our military post which was 20 miles away from where I live. The reaction was so bad that they actually had to cut my wedding ring off my finger or else I would lose blood circulation to that finger. It took a week to recover and even feel a bit normal then we got hit with the news not even a couple weeks after of my father in law passing away. Still sick and Bo finally being home we had to last minute rush to drive down to the Coast of Mississippi to not only attend but to also be part of the funeral. At that point my paintings should have been finished but it was hard to paint when your mind is not all together there and your are hurting both physically and emotionally. My journals then saw most of my work. It was easier to vent my feelings that way and to remind myself that this is all a part of life and at some point this gray area in our life will have to pass. 

     It is now May. Our schedules have been hectic with me finishing my spring college semester (which by the way I have a 4.0! A's in all my classes and rocked my finals) and all the events leading up to Nick's graduation. So to even have any time to my art work seems to be hiding in the corner. My paintings sit right in my living room to remind me to finish them, and believe me I really want to but the motivation was lost and I feel as that if I approach the canvas with the stress and negativity that has surrounded me lately, that I would just ruin the happy layers already on it.

    This morning the doorbell rang and sat at my doorstep was a package. Flora Bowley's new book that I was gifted due to being in her workshop had come!!! The excitement and the yearning to paint came flooding through me as I flipped through the pages of her book. I even made time today for some small projects and will leave reading the rest of the book before I head to bed so that I can have all those beautiful thoughts in my head to push me to work on more art tomorrow before my summer class starts tomorrow night. Thank you Flora for how you communicate with us through writings, your art and of course your personality and how you give us the confidence to just be who we really are. I am very thankful to all the artists whose workshops I have taken this year to do the same. It is that support group I never thought existed has really kept my head up and pushed me to keep on even if I only most of these artist friends online. One day we will meet in person.

     So here are the progressions of the two canvases I have been working on since the start of Flora Bowley's Bloom True class:

I have worked more on it since the last picture but have not taken any pictures of the progression. I was going through one of those moments where I was frustrated and stuck. But now with her book in my hands I hope that her insight and guidance will once again put me in that perspective to create and with that have what will be the end result to the two canvases. :) Again thank you to Flora Bowley. If you want to know more about her and her work here is her blog: http://florabowley.typepad.com/
and website:   http://www.florasbowley.com/
Go take a peek she is a very talented and awesome artist. :)