Oil Painting for January

Good "cold" day y'all!!!     Sure hope y'all are as snug as a bug in a rug that's close to the fireplace today!      Gosh, it just stays cold here in my neck of the woods!!!!      It will warm up for a bit and you'll see people out in shorts and sandals one day and then the next day you'll see those same people bundled up like they are dressed for the coldest part of Alaska or something.     It makes me laugh sometimes.    I want to do "before", "after", "before", "after" and see if they could get the picture.   Oh well, I'm certainly not the fashion police or the "seasonal" fashion police.    Just an observation that I think is kinda funny.    So, as I bundle up for the day, there's no telling what I will have the honor of seeing, once I leave the warmth and comfort of my home.     But, no doubt, it won't be anything new, so...............on to something that is new and that's my Oil Painting for January.

Yup, I went to Oil Painting Class in January and it was so fun.     There was 12 there that time and it was so fun for everyone to paint and just see that all 12 were different, yet beautiful, at the same time.    It will soon be time for this months painting class.    It should be a real beauty this time.     It is really more like a "real" painting with the kind of scenery and everything.    Kinda like looking at a lovely view from the back yard into a woodsy area.    Can't wait, but till then, I'll share what we done in January.

 The pic above is our instructors pic that she used to paint her pic by as we all painted ours.      She does a step and walks us through ours.    She really has the patience of Job.    She wants everyone to be successful.     I just love her!!!

 Ok, so the above pic has the white base all over the canvas.     We just put that on and then spread it all over the whole canvas.      Going left to right and then up and down to assure an even layer.     After that we started with yellow, and she said normally we would not start with yellow like we did, but she said that we needed to get a lot of yellow down now, even more than we wanted the pic to end up with, because once we get started, we can't go back and put more yellow in because it would get muddled with other colors.    So we used two diff yellows and then we put in a bit of orange.

Next we put in some red, I believe it was red.     Blended with the other colors it looks more rosy colored, but we just streaked it in and wow, I really love it.   

We used a bit of brown also for this.    Just a bit here and there, streaked around.

Here we was done the sky and started putting our trees in.     My trees look a little like stick people trees, hahahah.

On this one, we took the fan brush that we all love using and made clusters of leaves on our trees.      Just tap, tap, tapping in the clusters; kinda makes you feel like a real artist.    hehehe

Then on this one, we tapped in more background trees and undergrowth.    Then for the most part it was finished.     She wanted everyone to put in birds made like the funky check mark, but for the life of me, I could not do it.    I could not get a good bird painted and I wasn't about to ruin my painting by putting something that didn't look very good at all on it.    I had wished I would have saved my black paint from that day, I would have practiced more when I got home.     But, if I would have, and made a mess, I would have been stuck.     So, glad I didn't.

This is the finished and framed piece.      I took the pic flat on its back and the coloration looks a little different.     It is more truer to color in the above pic than it is in this one.     Kinda wish I would have noticed that before I got it on my blog, I would have taken another pic of it.     I do love the beauty of this sunset in oil.     As a matter of fact, a few months ago I was coming home from having been out town and when I turned on my street, which is facing direct west, this is the sunset I seen.     Just absolutely beautiful with all the swirly pastel colors.     God is good!!!!!

I had said January 1st, that my theme word for the was "rejoice".      I'm still rejoicing!       Sometimes is a little harder than other times, but there is ALWAYS something to rejoice about in every day, whether you feel like it or not.      There really is.

1 Thessalonians 5:16      King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶ Rejoice evermore.

Such a simple verse, isn't it?       Well, not really.      Although it is beautiful in the KJV, it is nonetheless, NOT very simple.      Paul wrote this letter to the church at Thessalonica.     He loved these people dearly.     

At the end of this letter he gave the "Instructions for Holy Living".     This is my quick gist of what Paul was telling these people.     Love each other; be at peace among themselves; encourage those not as strong in their faith; stay away from evil but follow that which is good; rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all things; don't put out the fire of Holy spirit; hold no contempt for prophecies; test everything; hold on to that which is good; and avoid all appearance of evil.

Some pretty good guidelines for everyday lives, I do believe.     They hold as much truth in them today as they did the day God breathed those words thru Paul!     The two words I am focusing on is in the center of all theses is "rejoice evermore"!    Simple, right?     Well, that depends on the momentary situation I'm in, right?     Well, that depends on what side of the bed I woke up on this morning, doesn't is ?      Well, that really depends on how the religious folk treat me, right?      Oh, that really depends on what kind of day I had on the job, right?     Or, that depends on the news I got at the drs office today, doesn't it?     Oh, well, that really depends on my child's behavior at school, right?     Well, I'm really not expected to rejoice after the fender bender I just had, am I?     How in the world am I expected to rejoice over the death of someone important to me?     What about the victim of abuse, are they supposed to rejoice in that, really?     What about all the trouble that our world seems to be in right now, rejoice, really!!! 

Can you relate to any of those scenarios I mentioned?     Of course you can!     At least one or two and maybe even more.     Do you have the mindset to rejoice in and thru any of them?      This is where the rubber meets the road.     Sometimes, I just make the conscious decision, that I won't.     I'll be willing to say that you have too, at some time or the other.     We rejoice or we don't.     This is one of those things that we have to consciously think about and make ourselves do till it becomes second nature.     Till it becomes as easy as our heart beating.    Our heart beats and we don't even think about it, because we can't control it by the way we think.     So, when we get so accustomed to rejoicing without even thinking about, because it is so engrained in us that it has become a part of our spiritual dna, then we can say that we are "rejoicing evermore".    Paul wasn't saying rejoice when it's something worth rejoicing over or convenient.    NO!!!!   He said "REJOICE EVERMORE" as the KJV says.     So, even if it isn't something we would consider worth rejoicing over, do it anyway.     

Every day that you and I are blessed to have a part in is worth "rejoicing evermore" over.     If your eyes opened this morning, rejoice!      If you had the ability to get out of bed, rejoice!     If you have a job to go to, rejoice!      If you have a child, rejoice!!!     If all you have is memories of your loved one, rejoice because you have those sweet memories!     If it sounds like I'm preaching at ya', I'm not, this is just what I have to tell myself sometimes when it seems there's not a lot to rejoice over.       But.......when I look with the expectation of seeing something good and worthy of "rejoicing evermore", Oh my friend, it's always there!!!!!     Just being alive and being a part of God's plan, oh, that's something to "rejoice evermore".     Having Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior is what gives me the ability to "rejoice evermore".     If you know Him as your Lord and Savior, then you, my friend have an eternity that began the moment you accepted Him, that is also worth "rejoicing  evermore" about! 

I would ask you to be in prayer for all the sick, those with recent diagnoses of not so good stuff, those that are carrying a lot of burdens, those that have had surgery recently, and all the other stuff we know people are dealing with.     Sometimes we look at prayer as the last resort, don't we?     But I challenge us to look at prayer as the very first line of defense at our disposal any time, day or night, no busy signals, no put on hold and God is always happy to hear from us.

I hope the rest of your day is totally spectacular.     Look for the beautiful sunset where you live, see if you can see one that looks like what I painted.     I'll bet you will eventually see one just like it.    Remember to "rejoice evermore", it won't be real easy just starting out, but it will become easier.

Ladybug, I hope you are having an awesome day and I know you have been a blessing to a lot of people today.   For that, I am thankful.    Sweetpea loves you!

Always remember that God loves y'all and so do I!!!!   hugs, Patty

October Painting

Hello!!!    It seems as if I'm starting to slack off some with my blog updates.   I'm really not slacking, just a bit busier than usual.     So, as y'all know for yourselves, when you get busy, something has gotta give.    But, I did manage to find my way back here today.   Yay!!!!     We have had a few chilly mornings here, in my neck of the woods, with a heavy frost or two.     The cool, crisp mornings are a welcome change from the heat of the summer.     It won't be long before the cold of winter will settle itself in on us for a "long winter's nap".     I remember my mother saying something like this, "Well, did you see those poor little cold kids, bundled up from head to to toe?"     Now, the saying is more like this, "Well, did you see those poor little cold kids, bundled up from head to knees?"    It doesn't matter how cold it gets here anymore, we can have 0*, and see people out with shorts and sandals, but bundled from head to knees.    Well, if I have a coat on, y'all and something over my head and gloves on, you can bet your bottom dollar, that I will have on britches down to my feet and shoes and socks on!    hahahaha     So, as we head on in to the end of the year at break neck speed, prepare yourself for the up coming winter, make sure you got some long britches and socks and shoes, y'all.    hahaha

Monday was our painting class at the senior citizen center here in town.    So, this is the 4th painting I have done.     It seems as if they get a bit more stressful as I go along.     I try not to put pressure on myself.    The sole purpose of this for me is fun!!!!     Just something to let go and have fun and not have to really think about whats happening.     Just brush to canvas!     So, in the same fashion of the other three, I did take pics along most every step.    It is a winter scene this time.   I really love it although mine isn't great, I at least love the concept.    It was a bit harder to paint.    I don't know why, but it just seemed to be a bit harder to me.     We had three colors on our pallet.    Blue, white and brown and then some liquid white.     So, without any further delays, here's the process, one pic at a time.

This one has the liquid white base on it and then the blue of the sky blended in to the liquid white.    We tried to bring the sky down about a third of the canvas, using our big 1" brush.

Here, we used a smaller rounded brush to lay in our mountains in the background using the blue.     I really do love the colors of this painting.    Since the mountains are off in the distance, there isn't a lot of detail to them, just shape.

In this one, we took more of the blue and brought it down in the front of the mountains trying to create different layers of the landscape between the front of the canvas and the mountains, so it would have depth to it.

In this one, we used our fan brush loaded with blue to draw in the trunk of the tree and then to tap in the branches of the fir tree.  

Then we took our brush and went right at the bottom of the first little tree and pulled down just a bit to create the shadowing and depth for that little tree and we went right in then and drew the trunk for the next tree and then tapped in the branches.

Then we went under this tree and pulled down again, creating the shadowing and layer affect, then we went right in to the last fir tree, spruce, pine, cedar or whatever they ended up looking like is what we called them...ggg

We then done the same thing to this tree that we had done to the other two, by pulling down on the bottom of the tree and smoothing it out to look like a little hill with a tree on it.

Next, we used the brown paint and our palette knife and cut a bead of brown paint on the edge of the blade and then laid in our tree.   I think mine ended up looking like a birch tree.   After we got the trunk of the tree in, we went back and cut a bead of white paint onto the palette knife and just laid that down on the top of the brown, and that's when my birch tree was born.  ggg

Then we took a liner brush and used liquid white and brown and got our brush loaded with that mixture and drew in branches on the tree.   I had a hard time with this, I must say.    Our painting instructor told me to pull out my paints and brushes and practice, practice, practice loading the brush properly and and then making branches and watch how the tip of the brush is touching the canvas and to use the very tip of it to get the very fine lines of the branches.    And also proper technique of holding the brush to have best control over it.    So.... it looks like I have some work ahead of me.   At least she didn't tell me to lay the brushes down and don't ever pick them up again.     hahahaha     That was kinda what I was expecting.    ggg

After I got that tree in, I put the other one in using the same (poor) technique.   Then we took our brushes and pulled down from the bottom of those trees and drug the brown down to make a little brownish shadow under those trees and the appearance of a little mound.    Then we created a little grass stubble at the base of each tree by pulling up on the brush ever so lightly.

The final thing was signing our paintings and putting them in a frame, if we chose to do so, and I did.

This is after I got home with it and laid it in a dining room chair and took the pic.   I wish I would have taken a finished pic before I left, but I was in a hurry and waited till I got home.

I did have a great time painting.    It's always great to do something fun and meet new people and make new friends.     I can't wait till next month.    What ever we do will be fun.    If you get the opportunity to do something like this, jump at it, you won't regret it. 

As I leave you today, I leave you with this scripture for thought:   Matthew 12:15 "Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there.   And many followed Him and He healed them all."

We notice three things about this verse right off the top.  #1 Jesus was aware of something.   #2 Many followed Him and  #3 He healed them all.

#1 What was Jesus aware of?    He had just healed a man with a withered hand.   He restored it to be as good and looked as good as this mans other hand.   Jesus was the real deal!!!    He healed people with His divine love, not seeking fame for Himself, but pointing people to His Father.    Jesus was not seeking to bring attention to Himself in any way.    Jesus had no intentions of greed nor was he promoting the religious establishment of the day!  

When Jesus healed this mans hand, the religious leaders in verse 14 set out to plot, plan, and kill Him!     They knew Jesus was the real deal and they were jealous of His power and the fact that He drew a crowd.    What I don't get is why they were so jealous of Jesus.   The people that were following Jesus were the people that the religious leaders didn't want to have anything to do with.   Most were considered unclean and had no place in society.    So, why bother with trying to get rid of Jesus?     The same reason people are trying to get rid of Jesus today!    Because He is still the Real Deal!!!!!!     Jesus is still stirring peoples hearts to do good, and changing lives, and healing brokenness, and helping us to make a difference in the world in which we live!    Jesus is still calling the hurting, the broken, and those with no place in society!   The gods of the other world religions are dead!!!!!!    Just like the god of baal in the Old Testament.    Followers of the Way are not "religious"!     We are not about religion at all!!!!    We are about a "relationship"!!!!!     Do you have relationships in your life that you value?    Of course you do, and I pray that your relationship with Jesus Christ is the most valuable relationship you have!   

#2 and #3   Many people followed Him and He healed them all.    Who do you follow today?   That is a very important question and the answer to it is a matter of life and death!!!    If you have chosen to follow Christ, you have chosen wisely and chosen life.    Oh, this life that we are living will come to an end at the time that God has designated for you and me, and then, this is where life or death will actually come in to play.    If you have accepted Christ as your Savior you will live in Glory, forever and forever with no end, ever!!!!     If you choose to follow the world and a dead god of a dead religion, then you will not only die in this life but you will wish you could die in the next life!     A life of torment will not be escapable.    Separation from God will be hell enough, but the ever consuming pain of hell will last forever and forever.     It is the choice we make for ourselves.

Make no mistake, Jesus is still healing the broken hearted, He is still binding up the wounds, relieving the oppressed.    He is still giving strength to those who are in the trenches, doing warfare with the enemy.    He is still healing those who cry out in desperation to Him.    I have a picture in mind of someone for each and every one of this scenarios, lots of pictures in my mind as a matter of fact.    One of those images is myself.    Every time I look in the mirror, I see a woman whom God has taken mercy on, thru the blood of Jesus Christ.    He has healed my heart, He has bound up my wounds and He has relieved my oppression.    So, I can speak with some authority on this and you can too, if you have a "relationship" with Jesus Christ.   

Jesus Christ died on the cross for absolutely every person that has ever been, that is now, and that will ever be!     John 3:16 says, "Who so ever".....   Guess what folks, YOU are the WHO SO EVER that Jesus spoke of!!!!     Even when He spoke those words, YOU was on His mind!!!!   No one is left out of that!!!!!!     But, we have free will, we get to choose, we get to pick what side we are on, we get to make that choice.    Don't be fooled either, no choice IS a choice!    None of us can ever blame God for the decisions that we have made.     God is a gentleman, He will never force Himself on anyone.    He sent the Holy Spirit as our Comforter, to prompt us to the make the right decision.     If you haven't made that right decision, seek out someone that you know who is a follower of Christ and talk to them.     I pray that you will today and that you will tell someone about the decision you have made and that you will find a Bible believing, Bible teaching church and get in it and start studying the word.     God is good!!!!    He gives us what we don't deserve, and He doesn't give us what we do deserve!     That, folks, is Mercy and Grace, defined, in a nut shell.

I pray that y'all have a most enjoyable day today.     I challenge y'all to tell someone you see today that they are a "Who so ever" that Jesus spoke of in John 3:16.    I hope you enjoyed your time here today and I pray that you will come back soon and see what I have been up to.    You never know what I will be doing.   ggg

I hope you have a wonderful day today, Ladybug!   Sweetpea loves you!

God bless each and every one of y'all.    Remember that God loves y'all, and so do I.    Hugs and much love, Patty 

September Painting

Hello Y'all!!!   I hope and pray that this post finds each of y'all doing well and loving life!!!   The weather here in my neck of the woods is kinda wonky.   ggg   One minute, it looks like it's gonna rain, the next minute the sun is shining and then the next minute, it's sprizzling.   Go figure.   Oh well, it's just weather and we need something to keep us on our toes.   It won't be long till the bad weather will roll in and then winter will be upon us.   I love fall and all the beautiful colors that comes with it.   Pumpkins, all the other winter squash, colorful falling leaves, corn shocks, end of mowing season, clear skies, cooler nights, first frost, end of gardening, harvest season, sorghum making.......what else tells us that fall is in the air?  

I had a weekend to spend with my Mom this past weekend and I must say although it was short, it was sweet!   I got to see three of my brothers while at Mom's, that's always a great thing.   One came Friday and was there when my husband and I arrived.    Mom and I went to church on Friday night.   A preacher comes to the Village and they have church services in the recreation room.   There was 16 at church and that was a great number.   On Saturday morning, my brother that was there on Friday came back and took us to breakfast then we went to the new local nursing home.   It has been opened a little over a year.   Going in the front entrance it looks like you are entering a beautiful resort.   It really is something.   We spent about 3 hours there visiting with people we have grown to love, we could have spent more time, but we needed to get back to Mom's.   Early that evening another brother came and visited with us for a while.  While he was there, another one came with his wife and we had a great visit.    On Sunday morning we went to my Mom's church.   It is always a great time to go there, I love them and they love me.    I got home early enough on Sunday to go back to my own church.    We are getting close to getting into our new church building.   On Sunday nights in September, we are meeting at the church and having walk thru prayer services.   We go where ever the Lord leads and pray.   It has been a really big blessing to do that.   Just to pray and ask God to give us His direction and guidance, it has been an awesome time.   After all, it's all about God, not us!    We will be in it shortly and that is so exciting!!!

This Monday, the 15th, was our oil painting class at the Senior Citizen Center.   I am so in love with oil painting, but I'm telling ya', I have a hard time venturing out on my own and trying something.   I just can't get the courage.   But....I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying these classes.   I really wish I could remember everything that she tells us so I could repeat it on my own.   I am just afraid to venture out on my own.    But, I did take pics of the steps we done yesterday.    I so loved this painting and I hope y'all do too!!!!

We started with a black canvas and then brushed on some oil that would let the paint that we use go on evenly and smoothly.   We only used four colors on this painting.   A liquid white, a thicker white, then a dark blue and and a brown.   We mixed the blue and brown and covered the canvas with that, brushing north to south and then east to west to make sure we got good coverage.  Then we used some of the thicker white and started making our clouds with the one inch brush.   Just making x's on the canvas.

Then we used a fan brush and laid in the liquid white just pushing the fan brush on the canvas till it bends and swirl it.

Here we done the same thing on the bottom layer of clouds and then we used the big brush to lightly blur the lines of the clouds to make it look misty, sorta.

Then we put in one small final cloud with the same technique used previously.

Here, we put in the line between the sky and the sea.   On the lefthand side of my canvas, it is really blurry between water and clouds and that is what I wanted.   We got some of the sea painted in and the we put in the diagram of the sea wave.  This is where I really started getting nervous about this.   I was NOT confident at all doing this painting.

Ok, we started putting in the roll over of the wave.   We tapped the fan brush in white, placed it on the right hand side of the wave, pressed till the bristles bent and pulled down.   Wiping the brush between each brush stroke.   We got to the top of the roll and stopped.

Then we used the same fan brush and went in to what is the eye of the wave and made a "C" shape and carried it all the way from the left hand side to the right hand side of the canvas.    We made the "C" shape to fill in the eye but we kept it just the width of the brush under the wave.

In this pic, we added the little splashes around the wave and up the side, making the spray that happens when a rolling wave comes in.

Here we added a little more of the splashes  and then we made the water on the beach, in the forefront bottom of the canvas.

This is my framed oil painting.   About half way thru, I thought my painting was not gonna be frame worthy, but....in the end, I am thrilled with it!    My husband is just so happy with what I have done.    I so love the look on his face when he see's my paintings.    He loves them and I am so happy that he does.    He totally supports me in what I do and is always encouraging me.

Before I leave you, I want to leave you with some scripture to think about.   I am going to pick up with Psalm 23:3  "He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

What do you think of when you think of the word "He restores my soul"?    God renews us, He refreshes us, reinvigorates us, recreates us, God quickens us, He makes us alive, God puts new life into us.   Have you ever needed to be refreshed, renewed, recreated?   I don't know about y'all, but I certainly have!!!!    Gods refreshing us is like a tall glass of ice water after being parched and dry.    Have you ever been so thirsty and then get a cold glass of water, you know what that feels like.   Transforming you from parched and dry, to refreshed and renewed.    That is exactly what Jesus Christ does for us!    He is the Everlasting Water!   He refreshes us and renews us.   He actually recreates us and makes us into new creatures.

"He leads me in paths of righteousness".  With the Lord being our shepherd, He directs our paths.    He makes our paths straight and safe.   He directs us in truth and holiness.   When we listen to the Lord, He will prevent us from wandering.   We can NOT walk in righteousness in and of ourselves!   God has to direct our paths to the paths of righteousness.   Do sheep really know where to go without a shepherd?    No, they don't.    Neither do we.

"for His names sake".     This says is all!    It's not about me, it's not about you!   It is all about the faithfulness of God, of His glory, and His goodness!   The Lord does not direct our paths just so we will be saved; but for He, Himself to be glorified.    God had promised that He would lead His people and in doing so, He is keeping His promises in our lives.    The Shepherd knows His sheep and the sheep know their Shepherd.    I pray that you know the Shepherd.    God loves us so much and He wants to be our Shepherd, but.....He will never force us to follow Him.    It is totally our choice, lets choose wisely!

Ladybug, sweetpea had a great time this past weekend and looks forward to visiting again.   Sweetpea loves you!

I hope and pray that y'all have seen something here that you liked, if you did, tell someone.    Share with someone what you seen here.    Tell someone you know that the Shepherd is good and faithful!    God loves y'all and so do I!   hugs, Patty

August Painting

Good early evening y'all!!!!     I do pray that y'all are enjoying this wonderful day.    In my neck of the woods, we were supposed to have a 50/50 chance of thunderstorms, but instead, we've had about 85-90 % humidity!    UGH!!    Can I tell y'all about "bad hair" days?    This is one of those days, but hey, I'm learning to just go with the flow.   WooHoo, bad hair and all.   I am just rockin' it out and proud to have hair and proud even more to be a part of this wonderful day.

Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the that LORD had made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

So, with that in mind, it kinda makes a bad hair day, still a great day!    When things are sometimes going wrong, I will sing this verse out loud over and over and over until I can rejoice and be glad.   It helps me to put things in perspective.   I have two choices.    Every day is filled with choices.   We have no idea how many choices we do make in a days time.   Because we make choices without even thinking about it.   So, back to the two choices, I can either choose to be grumpy or I can choose to be glad to be a part of the most spectacular day.   Makes no matter what day it is, or whats going on, or how bad we may think it is.    The LORD made the day, He opted for you and me to be a part of it, and we have to decide to rejoice and be glad in it.   Some times it just flat out ain't easy y'all, but if we will decide that we are going to rejoice and be glad in it, that decision alone will make rest of your day go better.    Try it y'all, it will.   There is always going to be obstacles and hurdles to overcome.   Overcoming them with a good and positive attitude will make the next one that comes along a little easier to face.    So, "This is the day the that LORD had made; I will rejoice and be glad in it."

Thank you Father, for this day, and help me to make the best of every opportunity You put before me.   Amen.

So, today was another pretty neat day for me.   We had to take hubby's truck in early this morning to have a sensor in it replaced.   When we got back from taking the truck in, I fixed breakfast for us and then headed off to my once a month activity.   Oil Painting!    I have to say that I am in love with it.   This is the second one I have done and I just can't say how much I truly enjoy it.   I did take step by step pics like I did in June when I took the first class.   I hope you enjoy the pics and watching my canvas come alive.

The lighting was not good, so my pics are not great at all plus I had to cover faces up, that's why there is some funny white spots on some of the pics.  This first pic is of the liquid white covering the whole canvas for the oil paint to float over and spread easily.   Then, we took our yellow and laid in some sky.

This one, we added a bit of red to the top of the canvas and then around  in the yellow to create a pinkish, orange sky in areas.

Next we used the blue to make our water.  I wanted mine to look like it was kinda choppy water.

Next we used black and white to create gray and we used it to make a far away, distant mountain range.   The smaller your mountain range looks, the farther away it is.   The farther away it is, the less detail the eyes can make out.

Next, we took two more colors, I think one was a dark green and a lighter green and mixed them together and started putting in our greenery and land mass on the right hand side of the canvas.

Then we took brown and white and used our little liner brush and twirled it and made a sharp point and drew in our dead trees and limbs.

Then we mixed some green and yellow and laid in a little of that all over just to give some highlights all over the greenery.   It really perks it up some.

In this pic we took a brush that we had wiped off and laid it at the bottom of our greenery and pulled down, just to blur the line and make shadows in the water.

Next we took out knife blade a got a line of the white and green and then laid it in the area at the water we had just blurred a bit to make the foamy look of lapping water.

Next, we took the really dark mixture and and made another land mass on the left hand side and took our brush and drew upward to make the look of grass on the knoll.

We took our liner brush and the brown and white paint and made more little dead twigs and weeds along the bank.   We took one of the larger brushes again and tapped it into the green and yellow and tapped that over our little land mass  and it makes the little trees and twigs look like that actually grew out of the soil.

This is my finished and framed picture.   I am so thrilled with it.    I am so thrilled with meeting new people and making new friends.    I wish you could have seen my husband when he seen it.   His face lit up like a Christmas tree.   And of course, that just made me tickled pink, y'all.

I have been the worlds worst person about not doing things, because I thought I had to be perfect.   Well, I'm not perfect, no one is, so I'm trying to get over that and just have fun.    I believe what ever we invest time in, we need to try to have fun doing it.   If we do, it will show in the end results. 

Like I said earlier, this is my second painting.   The first one I done was on June 16th.   If you missed it, look on the right hand side of my blog and go to June and then scroll till you see "A Special Day" and you will see it.   It is so much fun and relaxing.

So, this is another "fun little piece" of life.    Hope y'all enjoyed it and I hope y'all will come back again real soon.    Have a great rest of the day.

God Bless Y'all!!!    Remember, God loves y'all and so do I!  hugs, Patty

Cultural Arts

Good morning y'all!!!     This is a blessed and happy day before each one of us.   What are we gonna do with today?     Well, for me, I thought I would share a bit of it with y'all by sharing a bit of yesterday, today.    ggg    Yesterday was another sweltering hot day.    You know what I'm talking about.    One of those days where the use of a curling iron or a flat iron is a waste of good electricity!    Oh yes, you've been there!    When you work and work and work to get your hair just like you want it only to go outside into the humidity and it causes your hair to pop up all over your head, some of looks like ink pen springs, some of it looks just like the cow licks on your head that you worked so hard to get tamed, and then still more of it just doesn't even look like your hair at all!    And then you get to thinking, I just don't remember fixin' "that" head of hair.    hahaha    I have come to the conclusion that on days like yesterday, I'm just gonna take a spray bottle with water in it and instead of styling my hair before I go out, I'll just spray it with water, sling my head around till it looks like my head has been in a tornado and hit the door with my sloppy, tousled hair and head held high.    Then when people look at me funny, I'll politely say, "Yes, I sure did mean to leave the house with my hair looking like this, really, I did."     Otherwise, there's no excuse for my hair looking like it did yesterday!!!    hahahaha    Oh well, what are ya gonna do?    I'm just happy I have a head of hair.   I just might have to start wearing my fedora hat that I got at the Dollar Tree here back.    We'll see.      Anyway.......

Yesterday was Cultural Arts Day and Taste and Tell Day for the FCE groups in Robertson County.    June is Dairy Month and all the dishes had to have a dairy product in them.    For the taste and tell, everything is cut, sliced, served in bite size portions.     You also receive a cookbook with all the recipes in it.    It is fun, and when you finally get through the line and sat down, your plate is rounded with single bites of all this delicious food.    It is really fun.    There is always a bunch of 4-H'ers there also serving water or milk to drink.   They are really nice and polite kids, the future of our county.    There used to be many more people that would show up, but as with all things, there are a lot of other things competing with our time, so hopefully, at some point in time, people will start coming back to the Cultural Arts and Taste and Tell day.

For the Cultural Arts side of it, everyone brings their items to enter and one of the county groups will be in charge of getting everything displayed and then the judges will look at all the items and rank them 1st or 2nd place and then everyone gets participation ribbons for the items that doesn't place.    I entered 7 items this time.    I ended up with 4-1st (blue) place, 1-2nd (red) place and then 2 (green) participation ribbons.    I took pics while at the event.    My pics are not great at all.    So after I got home, I took some better pics, still not all that great, though.    hahaha

The crocheted purple ombre scarf was mine, and it got a green participation ribbon.    As well, it should have, because there was some beautiful baby blankets that won, and they should have won.

Ok y'all, you remember how excited I was to share my first ever oil painting with y'all, it won 1st place.    Everyone loved it. 

This is my Crucifixion Diorama that I made at Easter with a file from Doodling Deb.    It won 1st place in Holiday Decorations.     Some of the ladies said that the judges wanted to give it 2 blue ribbons.    I said, "hey, gimme my other ribbon!"   hahahaha    After the judging took place and people started coming in to eat and sample the food, there was quite a few smaller children there, around 4 to 6 years of age.    Their moms let them look but not touch.    I just so happened to look up at the tables where the items were displayed, and the diorama was at the perfect level for the children to look into and see it.    I heard some of the kids saying, "Hey, come here, (to their buddies) you can see Jesus in this one, Jesus is here, Jesus is on the cross, come, see!"    I almost started crying at the sheer excitement of the children seeing Jesus on the cross.    One of the little fellers stood there for the longest time, elbows on the table, and his head resting in his hands, just staring into the diorama, looking at Jesus.    I would really love to know what was going through his little mind.    I do believe he was contemplating what he has learned in Sunday School about Jesus.

This is of my color photo, but it's not a good shot.      Sorry.

Neither is this one of my black and white.    They both won 1st place.

This is my little dog wood sculpture, and it won 2nd place.

This is a better shot of what I entered.   My oil painting and blue ribbon, in front of that is my wood beaded necklace with a green ribbon, beside that is my dogwood sculpture with a red ribbon and then purple ombre scarf with a green ribbon.

This is my Crucifixion Diorama with the blue ribbon.    Thanks Debbie!!!!!

This is my color photo.   This is of the ice storm from March of this year.    I called this "Frozen Fireworks" because that's what it looks like to me.

This is my black and white photo and it was made the same time as the color photo.     I called this one "Fat Bird".    hahaha    He was so fat, I don't know how he sat on the fence.     But you, my little feathered friend, garnered me a blue ribbon.   Thanks, little birdie!

That was a little bit of my day yesterday.    It was really fun and then to put icing on the cake, one of my friends called and we got together for a bit and a bite at Burdette's Tea Room.    Perfect end to a perfect day, all except the hair deal.    hahahaha

Matthew 6:33 says:   "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

These were words straight from the Masters mouth.    Jesus spoke these words to His disciples at the same time He spoke about the Beatitudes starting in Chapter 5.    He had spoken to them about various things from the Beatitudes to this point here.    He was teaching them about "worry" now.  

Do you have an issue with worry?    I have to be the first one to pop my hand up in the air, because I worry!    I have to go back every once in a while and check myself about the worry condition.    I try not to, and when I find myself blatantly worrying about something, I try to stop it, drop it, and roll on along with good thoughts and prayer.    You noticed I used a terminology that fire fighters use in teaching people how to put out fires that may be on their clothes, with the "stop, drop and roll" technique.    The same technique works when we have a fire of worry going on.

Jesus said if we "seek first the Kingdom of God"....   What does that mean?    Putting God in the first place of our lives in all that we do.    If God is in the proper place, we will be less likely to worry about anything, because we know God is in control of everything.   Yes, there will still be problems that arise in the lives every one of us.    But when we know that God is before us working it out, then it is easier for us to walk it out.   With God first place in our lives we won't be worrying about the trivial things in life.    Sometimes we worry about food and clothing and a roof over our heads, but Jesus used the illustration of the birds and flowers.   God takes care of them, will He not do more for us?

Then Jesus added, "and all these things will be added to you".   Put God in His rightful place and everything else will be put into it's proper place.    God provides for the birds of the air and flowers of the field.   He feeds them and clothes them.    Guess what, He'll do the same for us.    God instilled in his most prized creation, us; human beings, the desire to work.   Now, I realize that some people can't work through no fault of their own.   For me, I can't work like I once did and my job at home is being caretaker of what my husband brings home each week.    I ask God to help me spend wisely and choose wisely and I also ask Him to help me find the best prices on what ever I do need to buy for us.   Clothes and groceries, and anything else we spend money on has been prayed over before we purchase it.

In a previous verse, verse 24, Jesus said we can't serve two masters.    We serve God or we serve money.    We can't serve both.   We must choose which one we will serve.   Put God first place in your life!    It may not be easy to do so.    People may laugh at you and make fun of you.    That's ok, you know why that's ok?    Because Christ died for them, also!    When we live faithful, obedient lives to the Father, others will see Jesus in us.    Keep up the faith and seek God first!!!!

Ladybug, I hope you have a great day today.   Praying fervently for the upcoming days.   Sweetpea loves you bunches and can't wait to see you again!!!

I pray y'all enjoyed your visit today and do come back again!   God loves y'all and so do I.    Have a blessed day!   hugs, Patty