We just celebrated Christmas and one of my very favorite parts of this wonderful holiday season is decorating my Christmas tree! I am a firm believer that a person's or a family's Christmas tree says more about who they are than almost anything else. If I ever become a behavioral psychologist, I will have my clients bring in a picture of their tree to one of the first appointments, so I can get to know them better. It's like a scrapbook of what really matters to a person, all "wrapped up" with a bit of personality. As you can guess, our family tree is FULL of whimsy. It's art, baby!
Isn't it a masterpiece? I sure think so!
For the first time in my life, we had an honest to goodness "White Christmas" here in my city. It was beautiful, but we lost power for a few days and the whole area has pretty much shut down. That is fun for a total of 1 day, but after that, we all start to get a bit of cabin fever. What better time to create some art?! I painted some new Toms, which I bought myself for Christmas. I've done this to 2 other pairs and I love them!:
I used some really professional products here, folks ;) Actually, I just used a basic black permanent marker to draw the circles, then a yellow fabric marker to "paint" the soles. I sprayed them well with a weatherproof matte finish to protect them from the elements. If you have some extra Christmas money and want to have your very own personalized Toms, please contact me and I will be glad to create some for you. I can do simple or elaborate designs with permanent marker or paint. Plus, they are waterproof, so if you go sledding in them, no worries about ruining your cool new shoes!
One of my very best friends in the whole world, AG, asked me to paint something for an art awareness show, which helped to raise money for Hope Cottage of White County. It is a safe place where women and children can go to flee abusive situations. What an honor to be apart of such a good and worthy cause!
This is basic acrylic paint on a 16X20 canvas. When I painted it, I was thinking of a woman who was in the middle of a very overwhelmingly painful and sad situation, which she thought was never going to end well. Her battle ended in May. Something inside her helped her stay calm--that constant that holds us all together when we need it most. I believe it's God, but you can make your own interpretation. This is titled: "Upward Spiral" and I'm very proud of it!
2012 is coming to an end and many of us are making our resolutions to become better people, in one way or another. But, I encourage you not to wait until the New Year to make necessary changes in your life. Today is a new day. This moment is a new moment. What will you create within yourself? I can now say I've created and finished this blog post, which is a huge accomplishment!
