I'm trying pastels...I really like looking at paintings done in pastel, so thought I'd buy some & try. I bought oil pastels-a children's box of 12.
(Is this what is meant by painting in pastel?)
Not good. I'm so used to fine detail, & the pics'd start off ok then go to shambles. If all else fails- read the instructions, right?
SoI googled & found this free little tutorial at www.teachartathome.com
of falling pastel leaves. And I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
I mean, it's not much compared to their painting, but I like it. It's ACEO size, just 2.5" by 3.5". I dig miniatures.
I've ordered me a pastel book but i think it's lost in the mail.

Note- I CAN'T SEE VIDEOS or HEAR SOUND (so any art tutorials on YouTube etc are off limits to me) because I'm on the net via a tiny handheld mobile phone (I never use it for talking!) which is great coz I can do my emails, surf the blogosphere,& even pixel paint ALL WHILE RECLINING in my chair (I get dizzy & my back is crooked so I can't sit up at the computer very long)

Friends are God's way of apologising for relatives...

Ok, so I have a tendency to get a bit carried away... but it was a trying week.
So. No more wildflowers. No more shady trees. Garden has been pruned, poisoned, chopped down. Now it fits in with the idea of a garden as a commodity, groomed & clipped & ready for the highest bidder. Never mind the love & time we'd spent with our plants. Never mind we're still alive. Never mind it's our home. So I'm feeling pretty sad & angry. Where will the birds and animals play? Is it wrong to like trees bigger than ourselves? Is it wrong to like a shady, overgrown but well-tended & well-loved garden?

Grrrr.... I hope your chooks turn into emus & kick your dunny down!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I must try to smile, for it is a new day, and somewhere...
...there's a new wildflower drinking in the dew and reaching its arms to the dawning sun. I want to be like that new little bud & drink in the day. I think God is like that dawning morning sun, we only need to outstretch our arms and He will embrace us. His warmth and love will rain down to wash away our tears.

Wildflower ramblings...

This is my neighbours kitty checking out a little patch of wildflowers in my front yard.
Who wants a neat lawn? Not me! I'd rather cultivate a wild beauty instead.

I was watching 'East Of Everything' & I've been thinking about (the character)Lizzy. I reckon Lizzy's like one of those stickler plants or a bindi, the way she clings onto whoevers nearest. People tend to find her annoying, but if she's lucky they'll realize that even bindis have flowers in the summertime.
And these wildflowers are sweet. They change the very air with their fresh fragrance & unique beauty. They're carpeting the fields with colour, they're popping up between the trees, they're struggling out of cracks in the concrete, & redecorating abandoned city lots. These cheeky flowers provide unexpected hope & joy to those lonely, poor lost souls as they pass by, walking their road of troubles. I know they do for me. And these sweet wildflowers are waving in the breeze, dancing, delighting in being alive, if only for one more day.
Who are they? They are God's wildflowers. But they might be me and you. We are His children. And we are as precious to him as the wildflowers we call weeds.

Dolphin A' Leaping Into Moonlight

Here's another one of my pixel paintings. It's a pencil drawing of mine that I took a photo of & then painted using Art Palette Pro, a cool little art program on my mobile internet phone. This lets me pixel paint while reclining in my chair.
I'm very new to this...
(pixel painting and blogging)
...but I'm having fun.

Happy Patch

'please, please
can you...
Fix My Car?'

Meet Patch. He likes drives. A lot. He even has his own lil car. (Truth be told he spends more time chewin it than drivin)
Patch's other interests are: mealtimes, chewing, sleepin, sniffin other dog's butts & playin 'grr-wuff-tag chasey'.
He also offers unconditional love. Thankyou, God for man's best friend. And thankyou for loving me with all my faults. Unconditionally.

'Bunny In the Wildflowers'

'

Caption here





The little rabbit gazes spellbound and still
As God's beauty surrounds,
Be what will...He leaps to join the dance.'
~Banjo


'Bunny in the Wildflowers' is a photo I'm in the process of pixel painting via mobile phone. That's right, pixel by pixel. I love bunnies. I know this sounds really cheezy, but I wud love to sit awhile amongst wildflowers & watch the rabbits at play.

"Penguins Diggin the Aurora Borealis"

My painting 'Penguins Diggin the Aurora Borealis'

Random Acts of Kindness...

'Thankyou for yr kindness. What can I do to repay you?'
'You can pass it on.'

Kindness isn't meant to be 'repaid'. Kindness isn't meant to be done for the equal return. Maybe nexttime you find yourself helping someone out of the blue,& they say 'how can I thankyou?' you cud smile & say
'Please, just pass it on...'
...and who knows how far your kind deed will travel, if everyone just passed it on, your little bit cud go right round the world... and...? ...what do you think...?


There's a movie out there that I think is pretty terrific. It's called 'Pay It Forward'
And it's along the same lines.

A beautiful ole hymn

''When morning dawns, farewell to earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all the troubles of today!
They'll be no pain, no death in God's tomorrow,
When morning dawns & shadows flee away.
--
How then little these trials of life will seem,
How light the heavy burdens we have borne!
The deepest sorrow like a passing dream
Will be forgotten in that blessed morn!''
--

'BELIEVE'
Why I believe? Sometimes it's hard & I struggle a lot in my faith about 'when bad things happen to good people'. Chronic illness means every day is hard, it's hard losing my independence, its hard having to rely on others. I'm sick of being sick & tired & in pain. I get so mad at God, & say things I don't ought to & cursewords too. But u know what? It's ok coz He can handle it.
Psalm 62:8 says 'Pour out yr heart to God, He is a refuge for you.'

You gotta have faith, that's all I know. You have to believe in something. For me it's God.

'I do not seek to understand
so that I may believe,
but I believe so that I
may understand;
& what is more,
I believe that unless
I do believe I shall not understand.'
~StAnselm, Prayers & Meditations.