Another Strength Ditty

I do not define myself by how many roadblocks have appeared in my life. I define myself by the courage I've found to forge new roads. I do not define myself by how many disappointments I have faced. I define myself by the forgiveness and faith I have found to begin again. I do not define myself by how long a relationship lasted. I define myself by how much I have loved and been willing to love again. I do not define myself by how many times I have been knocked down. I define myself by how many times I have struggled to my feet. I am not my pain. I am not my past. I am that which has emerged from the fire. ~Unknown Author

St. Francis

Got home today with tight schedule to keep moving and saw a package on my sidewalk. I thought, oh crap forgot to return the book club form again. They ding you for shipping fees even if you refuse the delivery. When I approached the package it listed sender as Pack, Wrap and Send and I wondered did I order shipping materials? Sad to say that my memory is sluggish. I opened it and was stunned by treasure! The handcarved appearance and handpainted highlights and oops there's a notecard too! A very kind and dear new acquaintence was thinking of me. Thanks Barb! I love it! Oh and that is a little dog at his side... bad camera angle.

Life with Lynn

Back to life tonight. Was hesitant to go, an overpacked schedule this week, but great to meet the new model. Not new, but new to group, she's a regular at College of DuPage and Dupage Art League. A bird lady... interesting chat, hope to cross her path again soon. Large lengthier pix done in pastels, pale smaller pix in color pencil. More interested in values and form than features tonight and still exploratory in direction of pastels. Out late and tomorrow another full day.

I've lived through things I would never thought I was capable of. And I'm much less afraid than I used to be. The process of wounding awakens us to our strength...
It shuffles out our values, and the top priority is never what you thought it would be. It's never about perfection or power. It always turns out to be about love.
Knowing ourselves to be vulnerable and our time here to be limited, we're freed to live more passionately and fully than we have before, to discover what's worth fighting for and who we are...
real strength lies burned at the depths of any wound we have survived.
~Author Unknown

Soft pastel and Sarah

Set out to play tonight. New pastel set, had to break them in and see what they would behave like. New model to our group, Sarah. Bright art student at DePaul. Met her through Val at Flat Iron Building, looking forward to working with her again. It was really good to be out again... even with deadlines looming in upcoming weekend again. Even traveling on bald tires. Scheduled a pair of new tires on Friday, hope they make it till then. Is a month without major new debt too much to ask? I need to buy more pastels and a couple frames. And maybe some new paper...

Sunshine on a Rainy April Day!

I came home from work to a new gift in a box painted as bright as my favorite daffodils! Thank you Elena, I'm back in business! Now I need to create some new work to photoshoot! Yah!

LaGrange Art League Sap Green Exhibit

Here I am again. Are you still listening? Works in progress are waiting for completion on the backburner while life commitments consume my time. But I'm down at the La Grange Art League watching over the months Sap Green Show. Well, my eyes are green. Maybe even sap green. Put in some volunteer time yesterday and even added a couple sketches to the "Make Your Mark" art journal starting a spark of interest there. Maybe, they'll scan them there.