Vincent van Gogh, my friend

Hello all,

I just finished reading the book, "The Yellow House" ( van Gogh, gauguin, and nine turbulent weeks in provence).
And I couldn't put the book down!
I am a huge Vincent van Gogh fan and I have a book collection of over 40 books written about him and his art. Books about the spiritual side of Vincent, about the women in his life, the complete letters he wrote to his brother Theo, etc. and this Yellow house book has been calling to me for awhile to take it down off of the bookcase and read it's contents, so I finally did and I am soooo happy I heeded the books call.
For Vincent, the yellow house represented a place where he would finally be accepted, a place where other artists would come together in harmony and create art side by side, a brotherhood of artists.
Paul Gauguin was to be the yellow houses's first guest, the total opposite of Vincent van gogh, and maybe that's why Vincent was drawn to him.
The two artists work together for awhile but eventually tempers and egos get in the way and all does not end well.
(This is where the incident of "the ear" takes place)
And even in the midst of conflict and strife Vincent van Gogh engages in one of his most astonishing creative spirits in Western art. During his year in Arles, he produces some two hundred paintings, many of which were masterpieces!
While in France, my husband and I traveled to the various cities where Vincent had lived.
We got to see the yellow house in Arles and the cafe where he hung out with friends.
And then we traveled to St. Remy and stayed right down the road from the asylum where Vincent lived for a bit. It definitely was a very surreal feeling walking down the haunting empty
hallway where this great artist also had walked.
Our last part of the trip was spent walking the dusty streets in Auvers where Vincent spent his last days
and it is forever etched into my soul of the day I got to sit in the room where Vincent lived the last weeks of his life, so heart wrenching and inspirational, all at the same time.

The day of visiting Vincent and Theos grave melded my heart with theirs and I will never forget that gorgeous blue sky I gazed upon as I stood at the foot of their gravestones.

Vincent van Gogh was a very complex man, full of genius, detemination and complexity and the last paragraph of the book puts it all so wonderfully, so I will leave you with it's words.

"Vincent wasn't only an inspired, mad artist; he was a great painter desperately trying to remain sane. He saw the world with a rare intensity which gave great power to his work. And it was while looking and painting that he knew the greatest pleasure of which his tormented nature was capable."

talk to you soon,
deborah

Romance and decorating

Hi all,
Just thought I'd show you a couple of corners of my home.

I have always loved the look of dried flowers, so I have a few bouquets hanging up here and there in my house.
I don't do anything special to make them dry, I just hang them upside down and they do the rest.


Simple but beautiful.

talk to you soon,
deborah

When it rains, it pours!

Hi all,

Yes, it has been raining and snowing here in Northern California like crazy, which is a wonderful thing, because our state needs it sooooo badly! But, I'm not talking about that kind of downpour, I'm talking about my latest winning streak of blog giveaways!

Being a total optimist, I enter the contests with plenty of hope and faith, trying to look past the list of names that are also hoping that their name will be the "lucky winner".
And, then out of the blue, I won not one, not two, but three of the last giveaways that I entered!
I felt like I had won the lottery and squealed with delight with each pkg. that came in my mailbox. My poor hubby had to endure my "look, honey, aren't this cute" remarks but I actually think he was getting a kick out of my being so thrilled with all the goodies!

Hope you enjoy seeing my "winnings" and I hope that you will check out the shops and blogs of the wonderful artists who put on these lovely giveaways.

The first giveaway I won was from the wonderful shop on etsy called Artsnark.etsy.com.
I met this artist on the mixed media thread and when I saw that she was having a giveaway I jumped at the chance to take part! And, I'm sooooo happy I did.
Artsnark also has a blog called "ArtSnark's Artifacts, art and musings for the eclectic soul" so when you get a chance jump over there and check it out, you'll be glad you did.
I can't wait to use the heart punch and rubber stamp on my own creations and the artists board and pretty papers are perfect for my collages.
Thanks ArtSnark for all the wonderful goodies :)

The second giveaway was from Catnipstudiotoo.etsy.com and I have been a fan of this shop since I first joined etsy. The reason why? because of their amazing and beautiful hand decoupaged egg and ball ornaments!
My dream is to decorate my christmas tree in these gorgeous ornaments one day! And now I have my very own collection started and I couldn't be more thrilled!
Catnipstudio also has a beautiful blog, so make sure you take a little time to enjoy the wonderful photos and musings :)
Thank you catnipstudio for all the lovely goodies, the tags, the beautiful paper and stencils and now my own gorgeous ornaments!

And last but not least! Thank you to tiedupmemories.etsy.com Every time I browse this shop, I am just blown away from the darling creations! So unique and pretty and I had been stalking a certain french style necklace in the shop for months and one day I just couldn't take the waiting any longer and bought it for my very own!
I wear it every chance I get and it gets so many compliments.
Tiedupmemories is new to the blogging world and this was her first blog contest, so I feel very honored to be the winner of her very first giveaway!
So, if you are in need of a cheery fun blog then check it out :)
Thankyou, tiedupmemories for such a darling prize.










Hope this post encourages you to throw your own name into the ring of giveaways.
You'll be happy you did :)
talk to you soon,
deborah

Painting is really my passion

Hi all,
I just wanted to show off my latest art creation.
Lately I've been really longing to get back to my original love, which is
painting.
Now don't get me wrong, I still love crafting, but getting that paint brush in
my hand just brings me such joy. I've been a painter since childhood and
when I swirl that paint around on the palette and dip the brush into the
acrylics, a feeling of complete unity overtakes my whole being!
It never feels foreign to me, just ease and familiarity.
The one down side though is that each piece takes me quite a bit of
time to create, which doesn't help me fill up my etsy shop very quickly.
Anyway, that's another issue, lol.
My plan is to start painting alot more and this is just the start of my
color series.
I'm really excited about my next series which is going to be based on
the inspiration of Vincent Van Gogh, so stay tuned for more color.
talk to you soon,
deborah

Remembering my grandmother

Hi all

Today I started to fill out a memory book of my family history and it was asking for such things as:
What do you remember of your childhood home?
What was your bestfriends name?
What was your grandmother like?

and for some reason I decided that I didn't want to fill it out after all, lol, but it did get me to thinking about some of my childhood memories which got me to thinking about my moms mom, my grandmother.
Even though she hasn't been here on this earth for many years now, I still miss her and I wanted to show a few photos of her.

Didn't she have the cutest round chubby cheeks (which I also seemed to inherit) and I'm sure that expression of hers made it hard for anyone to say "no" to!
Of course, her expression in the second photo
puts no doubt in my mind that she must of had some what of a mischievous spark behind that cuteness!

But my favorite photo of them all is this 1920's shot, of her dressed in her wonderful sense of style.
Did you notice the tie?

Even though my grandmother was a proper lady of her time she also was a rebel and was the first woman in her small little town to wear a pair of pants!!!
Ohhhh, the scandal!

And as I was pondering this scenario I had a lightbulb moment of my own history.

When I was in Junior High (yes, a long time ago, lol) there was a rule in our small town, that girls were not allowed to wear pants to school.
I thought it was a ridiculous rule because we lived on the coast and during the winter it was foggy and cold all day long, so one day I decided that I would wear pants to school.
My mom said it was my decision (yep, she is a rebel too, lol) and so I ventured out in all my independent glory wearing "pants".
I did feel somewhat anxious the whole day but no one said a word to me, until my way out the school doorway at the end of the day.
I was told in a very clear and loud voice by the school secretary to never go against the school rules again and the glare she gave me, put fear into my little soul!
That's all I needed, a severe reprimand, but guess what happened a year later?
The school rules were changed and girls would be allowed to wear pants whenever they
wanted!!

My grandmothers birthday is Monday and I will be thinking of her as I go through my day.
I will think of her independent spirit, her strength and most of all, how she is a part of me to the end of my days.

talk to you soon,
deborah

Oh oh, the home decorating bug is biting!!!

Hi all,
I don't know about you , but I know that spring is approaching when my mind starts
to meander into the home decorating realm!

I love it though, because decorating is probably my biggest passion. Even over art!
Of course I think of decorating as a kind of art too, so I get to combine both of my passions in one full swoop :)
I've been wanting to repaint my master bedroom for a while now and I am determined that it will happen this year! I'm keeping to the same color scheme of cream, but I want to paint the walls in broad vertical stripes. Alternating each stripe with a flat finish of cream paint and then a semigloss stripe of cream paint.
Subtle but elegant.

There's just something that I find soothing about a white bedroom, maybe it's the purity of it or the crispness. And when the sunshine streams in onto the cream colored walls, it is just sooooo beautiful and romantic.

Of course if I could have the view of the above photo then I would probably never leave my room no matter what the color!

Throw in a glamorous crystal chandelier and maybe a gold
carved mirror and voila, the perfect bedroom!

A girl can dream, can't she?

talk to you soon,
deborah

Hi all, I have been honored with an award of having a charming blog!
That just makes my day!!!

Thank you to Kathy of Catnip Studio for such a sweet compliment.

The authors of this award say that blogs who receive this award are exceedingly charming.

"This blog invests in the PROXIMITY in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that even more friendships are propagated."

I love this! That is truly one of my goals, to be a friend and to promote kindness through my words. It's what makes the world go round!!!

The authors ask that when you are awarded this award that you then pass the award on to 8 other bloggers that you admire and include their links and notify them to let them know that they have been awarded.
So without further ado, here are my 8 fav bloggers and their links:

my little life
The Seasonal Cottage
EDDIE ROSS
persistingstars
keepingupwiththetatums
mytangerinedreams
myromantichome
sweetrepeats

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

talk to you soon,
deborah

Yesterday and the future!

Hi all,
I still am on the happiness vibe of yesterday!
So many wonderful historic moments and so many emotional ones too.
The speeches, the dancing, the people and most of all the man!
The man and the woman. The leaders of our wonderful country.

I am proud today, I am joyful today, I am hopeful today

deborah

My latest project

Hi all,
I wanted to give you all a little sneak peek of my latest art project.

My heart has really been longing to get back to my love of painting lately and last month during my blog tea party I was soooo in love with this tea cup photograph from the etsy shop, couragemylove.etsy.com and I just couldn't get it out of my mind!
And one day it just came to me that I should design a painting around the photo, and this is what I have so far.
I haven't decide whether to add fabric to the piece or not, but I have added a piece of vintage paper below the stack of tea cups.
Of course, I am only in the beginning stages of my work but
the wonderful thing about starting this art piece is that when I picked up my paintbrush and started squeezing paint out on my palette from the paint tubes, such a wonderful feeling of joy flushed through my heart and soul.
You see, I am really a painter, and as much as I love my crafting, my heart really belongs to the medium of paint.
There's just something so amazing in that feeling of holding a paintbrush in my hand and applying the paint to the canvas, that is so part of my being.
I have let that go lately and I have really been missing it, but no longer!
Of course, I will not leave my collaging and crafting behind but I will definitely not be putting my painting creations on the back burner any longer.

Now, if any of you have any ideas on how I could create more hours to the day please let me
know!

talk to you soon,
deborah

Ringing in the year with grandchildren!

Hi all,
Just wanted to show you a few photos of the newest addition
to our family.
Her name is Madalyn Jane!
Here are all three of my children holding her at various times.

The handsome young man with the glasses is the proud papa of Madalyn and I took the photo during a walk after New Years on the Yuba river hiking trail.
As you can see by how the baby was dressed it was pretty brisk outside that day! but it felt great to get out into the winter air and view the scenery.

The other handsome young man is my other son and proud Uncle of baby Madalyn.
He loves getting to hold her every chance he gets.

And the young lady in the pic is my daughter and she is the proud Auntie of Madalyn.
This is the first chance she has gotten to see the baby since she was born in September, so it was super special to see them together.

I couldn't of asked for a better start to the New Year!

It was filled with family and fun and many blessings.
May this 2009 year also bring you the things and people that fill your heart full of happiness and peace.

talk to you soon,

Happy 2009!

Hello to you all and Happy New Year!
I hope the new year brings you all happiness and health and most of all
peace in your soul.

One of my major goals for this new year is to do alot of corresponding through handwritten notes and letters to family and friends.
Don't get me wrong, I love the world of emailing and blogging etc. but I think there's nothing like opening up your mailbox and finding a little note or card from a friend.
Knowing that someone would take the time to get out their trusty pen and pretty paper and set apart a little bit of their day to talk to me is just soooo
wonderful and joyful.
So, I want to bestow that same feeling upon others this 2009 year.
So don't be surprised if you open up your mailbox and find a little note from my home to yours :)

Talk to you all soon,
deborah