HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!

What I did with the "mound of sweaters"...keep reading to see more...It was a FUN AFTERNOON!! THANKS ALISA!

Today is special to me. This is my one year anniversary for my blog! I have to say that this has been an awesome experience for me. As I said thank you to some of you wonderful followers that have commented...It is a great thing to sell a painting or created work, but I have to say at this time what has been the greatest reward is if I have in some small way inspired anyone to create something wonderful, to learn more of something they want to do, or to find a path that makes them happy!

The title of my blog is ART FOR LIFE, and it's purpose has been about my process as well as my work. As I have written before, the process for a person in anything in life begins with inspiration. As I have done in my classroom, in workshops, and my one on one interactions with others I try to inspire first! If we do not have the interest or that spark of excitement for something we most likely will not stick with it! All of you artists out there know what I am talking about.

I have loved art since I can remember. I loved it way before I knew how to "do" it. I love it still. For me it is the culmination of whatever has inspired me in life, whatever I see as beautiful or meaningful. I have a drive to create that is almost the strongest drive I have. My drive to serve God is first, my drive to love and cherish my family is second, my drive to inspire and make someone smile comes next and very closely behind is my drive to create art! In many ways I feel they all lay next to one another.

As some of you wrote in your comments you have felt something, been inspired even when I have talked about my family; my children, my husband, my parents, my siblings. My family is my center only after God. I believe God loved me so much He gave me the gift, the drive to create, and for that I am truly blessed! My family is one thing that inspires me to be the best person I can. I love my children as any of you can imagine that have children. I am fierce for them. I exist as I am because of them. They were my motivation when life was really hard to be the best I could be; FOR THEM to have the chance to be the best they could be. They now bless me with their lives; what they have been able to become and do. My husband is there now to give me that desire to keep on trying to be the best I can be. My parents are always there to ground me and remind me where I came from and what I can do has endless possibilities! To all of you I say thank you!

So many of YOU have inspired me this year! I have found such beauty and creative energy in so many of you! For this I thank YOU! That is what my give-aways are all about. My thank you to YOU! You may not have known it, but this year has been among the toughest for me for several reasons, but your work I have been lucky enough to see, your comments that have carried me to the next creative venture have been so valuable. I look forward to more!

Black and Yellow Cowl...for my mom! :)

Pink and Grey cowl...for my pinky feeling days!!

As I do from time to time, I switch to another type of art in order to keep my creative juices flowing, to cleanse my artistic palette so to speak. This weekend I did just that. My inspiration for this latest "cleansing" was Alisa Burke in her blog titled "Redefine Creativity". If you haven't visited this very creative and talented artist I am inviting you to do so now. I first visited Alisa's blog a few months ago because I noticed she was from San Diego (where my most wonderful son Jonathan lives), and she does some beautiful graffiti art. Well, it reminds me of graffiti, though she is SO MUCH MORE than that. Her creative spirit has inspired me on many occasions! This woman has figured it out! She sews, paints, she creates such wonderful and often practical things. I am laughing as I write this post as her post today is about NOT using other's work to find your creative bent. I have to say I agree with her for certain times in life when we NEED that quiet time to really delve into our deepest creative souls to find what is within US, not taken from another...but I have to say to see a color, an image, a painting from someone else can often be a jumping off point for our own creative adventure. For that I see value in being inspired by another's work. This is what I LOVE about all of you that I follow...we all have our own ways of finding that secret and most wonderful place in our lives that allow us to create!

SO, for me this weekend I found a fun escape from what I do most every day in sewing these wonderful cowl neck scarves that I found on one of Alisa's many tutorials. It has been SOOOO cold here of late and they looked like so much fun, I just grabbed some old sweaters and such and made a few. It was fabulously freeing to do something so different, yet it is still creating, and it still inspires; and for me helps me plan what I want to do next in my painting world! Thank you Alisa for that, and thanks to her for graciously allowing me to post photos of scarves I made from her creative mind that she shared! For those of you who may want to do this click HERE for her tutorial on this project.

Tonight I will be choosing a winner from all of my wonderful followers; and that includes those who follow by e-mail! This is my way of saying thank you for being there this year, and I hope you will continue to find something; ANYTHING that inspires you from this blog. That is a true blessing for me!

I will announce the winner tomorrow, so for today...HAPPY INSPIRATION from wherever you can find it!