A Moment To Remember A Friend..LYLAS Deb

I had forgotten how life can change in a instant....I lost my growing up, unconditional love, best friend this week. She died very suddenly with no warning from a brain aneurysm. We were preparing to celebrate our shared birthdays this weekend as we are a week apart and try to see each other every year. I have had a lot of other things going on this year but to lose such a dear friend so suddenly puts most everything in perspective and in a different light. There's not a moment to be lost in this life. Let the people you love know it right now, everyday....

I miss you Deb.....so many firsts we shared. You were one of the bright shiny people and the world is worse off for having lost you. I am worse off for having lost you. I am done with tears now and I am moving on to celebrate your life this weekend as we were planning on doing. This is a photo I love of us when we were 14 and off to the Charles Chips Christmas party your parents had every year. We were so fancy and felt so glamorous. I remember it like it was yesterday. Dana, Tom, Carla, Harriet, David, Karl ....let's all just keep on loving her the way she loved us. Unconditionally

I'll be back in a while after I regroup and can think creatively. I wish you all very peaceful loving holidays with those you love most.

I am PINK today.......

Two posts in one day.....it must be a blue moon tonight! I thought I'd share my inspiration for a journal page from scratch and then I will show you the results in my next post. Yesterday was my checkup day with two docs and I just hate waiting rooms so I always take a sketch book and a magazine. I had quite a few of those ah ha inspiration moments looking through Elle and Real Simple. Unfortunately these were NOT the magazines I had arrived with. I hate it when people tear up magazines in the waiting room...you know half way through an article and RIPPPP....you're left hanging so I went to the window and quietly explained "I had to have these magazines or my inspiration would be lost and I would gladly bring two magazines to replace these next visit"......by now the girl is "Good..sure..just back away from the sliding partition lady" So now I am off to work with these gorgeous images. I am pink inspired ! I keep singing that color song from the Dell laptop commercials..."I am green today...." but inserting pink! Here are the lyrics for anyone who has managed to stay with me this long :)

Colors By Kira Willey
'I am green today, I chirp with joy like a cricket song,

I am grey today, gloomy and damp like a morning fog,

I am orange today, loud and messy like finger paint on the wall

I am red today, hopping mad like a playground ball

I am black today, strong and tall a great big bear

I am purple today, bright and happy like a butterfly in the air

I'm a rainbow today, all the colors of the world

I'm a rainbow today, all the colors of the world are in me

I am yellow today, I shine my light out like the sun

I am White today, soft and quiet like new snow

I am Blue today, calm as glass and cool like the sea

I'm a rainbow today, all the colors of the world are in me.'

Beautiful Day To Be Getting Older :)

I just took a walk down our drive today with little pup in my arms and my big girl trotting beside me. The sky is an amazing shade of blue. I had to go back for my camera to record it and share it. I did not do anything to this photo other than throw it up here to remember that we do have absolutely beautiful days here at the Sandspur Ranch. This is fall for us. It's in the 70's and clear as a bell. Fall takes it's sweet time, granted, but when it sticks around for a few days I am happy!

Lines blur.....

I realized I've missed my blog. A lot. It seems as if I've been struggling forever to get back to a semblance of normalcy after my surgery this summer. I've had to make choices about how I've spent my time. Blogging just didn't make the top 10 when I couldn't seem to create the smallest thing or cook or properly take care of my household. I have had a lot of time to think of course and that can be a good thing or a bad thing as I'm sure you know. I've come to realize that I love being able to have a communion of sorts with other artists as we create and if we share some personal info along the way I am good with that. The reason I mention this in particular is that the way I've been pulling myself up out of my artistic dry spell has been to read other artist's blogs and finally to take a journal class with Kelly Kilmer. Now this is not my first journal class. I took a wonderful class with Pam Carriker and one with Dina Wakely but I was more interested in technique. I considered my journal pages more personal than my other artistic endeavors and wasn't sure how I felt about the overly personal posts I'd seen other artists blogs. Did I want to read about other peoples thoughts or have them see mine. Big question...did I want to mix art with my personal life? Now it's not like I have a huge audience but still....However as I spend more and more time playing in this art I find I am drawn to this very aspect of the whole thing. It's wonderful to see how art and emotions come together. So my blog may be taking a slightly more personal direction as I share a little bit of life with you through my journal art. I still want to do my favorite mixed media challenges when I get up to speed. I've met some very wonderful and creative people doing those. But I also love to look for old things to create with as well as things to decorate myself and my home with. I'm going to share those things too. So here's to living the lives we love and never taking a single moment for granted.