Horses

Of course I cant give up painting for too long.  Especially animals.  Painted with acrylic on canvas. 

Finally getting something done again!  Placed these new bottles on my etsy site.  These are so fun to create.  Not only finding the bottles but putting them together.  To see the rest of my new bottles visit my etsy site.  www.etsy.com/shop/painterlex

Found these great 1950's picnic baskets.  I love taking a picnic basket places and this is such a fun way to travel.  I take mine to the park, the beach, on hikes and even to a friends house when asked to bring a covered dish....

Love Endures Wooden Cross

Found some scrap wood from a previous project that was almost a cross. A little transformation  and here is what  I came up with. 

The Urgent vs: The Important

Why is that the urgent takes up so much of our time that we never get to the important?  I wish my art gift was photography.  So I would always have a camera in my hand and would capture all the important moments.  My middle child just turned 16.  I had a big dinner party for him with 15 guests.  It was great! But I dont have ONE single picture!  It seems time is slipping by so fast I take a breath and its gone. 
When I became a single mom I was thrown back into the workplace.  I started off waitressing, moved into restaurant management and then back to waitressing.  I always believed that my true passion, art, would take over and supply my financial needs.  That was SIX years ago!  Where has the time gone?  How does one do it all?  How do we find time for the important amidst all the urgent?  I know I have to do something different or before I know it six more years will have escaped me.  Not sure where to begin....................

soldered new bottles

soldered bottles

Kids are back to school, it's a million degrees outside and finally I am posting some new art to my blog.  So much for keeping up with it once a week! 

I found some really cool old bottles at an antique "junk store"  I knew I had to do something with them.  But old bottles are kind of rare to find here in the desert.  So I didnt stop there.  Why not use not so old bottles and turn them into something too! 

tooth fairy box

I made a little girls tooth fairy box.  I painted a fairy sleeping on the top of the box and glittered her wings.  It's just the right size with two compartments inside.  One to hold the tooth and the other a little letter for the tooth fairy and a place to leave the money.

Creative Junking

Well, have had a sick kid, so not much new created.  Did get a chance to do some junk shopping today.  Found some cool old bottles and thinking could make some neat art projects with them.  Maybe message in a bottle or something with soldered crosses on them.  My mind is in create mode, even if I am sitting on the couch with my sick boy. 

Garden Chair After Photo

Here it is all painted up.  I put ten lady bugs throughout the chair for the kids to seek and find.  It was a lot of fun painting this chair.  I love it when someone gives  you free liberty to create something.  I cant wait to hear how the kids like it when school starts back up. 

Garden Chair?

A kindergarten teacher brought me this chair to tranform into a fun art piece for  her room.  She has a garden theme in her classroom.  Here is the chair before the transformation.

Table Grace

When my kids were little we had a big glass jar.  One day we sat down together and I helped them write the names of all the people that were in our life.  Our family, our grandparents, relatives, their friends, teachers, school principle, our minister, youth pastor, sunday school teachers and the president of the United States.  We put all these slips of paper in our jar.  Every night at dinner, we would bring out the jar and whoevers turn it was to say grace got to pick out a name.  They were to include them in their prayer.  Before we started our prayer jar, the kids would usually recite from memory a simple prayer with little thought.  After we introduced the prayer jar, they were actually thinking about what they were saying.  Something else amazing happened.  We all paid more attention to the lives of the people we were praying for.  We became much closer in our relationships with them.  Sometimes a name was drawn two nights in a row.  At first the kids wanted to put it back and redraw.  But then we came to feel like they needed extra prayers.  It was a great way to teach my children to pray for others needs, and to pay attention to those close to us.  My youngest daughter whenever she sees a jar like "our prayer jar", she always says "hey remember our jar"!  I created this box to inspire others to continue the tradition of the family prayer jar.  You can purchase one from my etsy store, or order one with your kitchen colors and theme from me.  I hope I have inspired you.

Encouragement/Affirmation Box

"I am enough".  I designed this box as a simple reminder for my daughter that God loves you just the way you are, not for what you have done or what you will become.  I get so tired of the media telling girls/women, that we need to be perfect.  We need to be a certain way to be loved.  We are all his beautiful and perfect masterpiece, and we are enough just the way we are!

New Adventures, New beginnings!

Hi Everyone,
I have decided to embark on a new adventure!  Writting a blog.  I am a little nervous about starting this relationship, so to speak, as my plate feels pretty full.  Im a single mother of five wonderful kids.  I have two dogs, a desert turtle, my son has an aquarium of fish, and my daughter a guinnea pig.  I am an artist and musician.  Where will I find the time to add one more thing?  But being creative is my passion.  It sustains me when times get tough.  I could not exsist without creating.  I am excited to connect with other artists and creative souls, share stories, share inspiration and encouragement.  Well...... here goes.......