MERRY CHRISTMAS & BLESSINGS to YOU ALL !

My Storybook Portraits

It is my hope that these little pen and inks, with watercolors will be something that I will get to do more of. I call them" Storybook Portraits", the ideal is to do a portrait of your child in a storybook setting. They can be fairy's dressed in magical clothes or perhaps they can be having a pleasant time having tea with a bunny. Anything is possible! And I love doing them, I think they would look lovely, in a pretty frame in a childes room. I have even done them for grown up children and Mom found a photo she loved of them when they were little, one such portrait was given as a Graduation gift to a son. Amy xxxxxxx oh when will I learn to post pictures and writing in the correct order?

Guess its time to call on the help of my children!

My Little Fairys

learning

learning to relax and things will come. i have started this blog and when i read what i have written it feels all jumbled to me. so, i am going to slow down and have faith that i will learn to put my thoughts down and they will have meaning. i don't have to rush.
i have made so many changes in my life here lately. and this feeling of rush is something that has nestled itself into my soul. i don't want it. it is causing confusion for me and slowing me down, rather than speeding up what i am trying to do. it even brings things to a complete halt, making me unproductive. i have so much that i would like to do, no, that i must do, and my rushyness creates confusion.

so i will stop rushing, this new year.
i will have faith in myself
i will rid myself of fear
fear is a killer
fear kills creativity
fear kills the love of life

and i am a creative lover of life, so what does that tell you? i have not been myself, i have given into fear these past few months.
it stops now!

and with that i say to you " MERRY CHRISTMAS "
and have
" A HAPPY NEW YEAR"
with no fear
amy

Rambleing on

Oh Key, well, I don't seem to know how to publish pictures where I want them to be, so I just have to carry on. What I am trying to show you is the utter mess I created a few weeks ago, you see when we moved here 2 years ago, I was the very busy Master Scenic Artist of a very busy theatre. So, when we bought this home I really was not around much.
Now you have to know that before 2005, I was a stay at home Mom, an artist and a wife. My husband is a truly talented cabinetmaker. I did whatever art I could, mostly fuax finishing and of cause portrait painting, but mostly I was happily the Mom to 4 children. My oldest child a son, Gabriel is 17, Ian is 15, Hannah is 13, and Rowan is 7, I am 47, you do the math. I feel that I am dragging on, but just know and I will regress again in the future I am sure of that and tell more. The important thing to know at this point is that, we moved here with me having my first full time job in 17 years. At this point I would love to pop a picture of the first show I painted for at Theatre IV. I will try, IT DID NOT WORK!!!! I am upset, now the mess is below and the theatre shots are on top of this blog!!! Help! But I must carry on, I have faith that all who are reading will be able to understand. "It is harder for some people my age to get on in this age of tech." I am trying, WEll, let's just say that I had the best training ever as a scenic, I had the great pleasure of working with the masters and they tought me, I worked for a Scenic company called Sceana Studios, we painted for Disney On Ice, The Boston Ballet, The Washington Oprah, I even painted on the Universal Studio's King Kong Exebit, I AM DONE, BORING, BORING..........

But, that is allot of me, I AM SORRY, to have made you read all that, if you did !

Back to Christmas!

S

Rembrandt Pastels!!!!

I've been here and there, running around getting ready for Christmas!
But the big news is that last week, I spent my mornings being the Guest Artist at my son's High School. It is a wonderful school, all the high schools in my county have specialty areas and the one my son goes to happens to specialize in the arts, C.F.A., Center for the Fine Arts. Gabriel, my oldest child,17, is part of the C.F.A. program, thats how I met Ms. Dowdy, Gabriels art teacher from last year. Well I just love her, this year he is in her Advanced Art History Class, I am telling you these kids are so lucky to have this program, it is amazing! There are students who come for half days to his school from other schools in the county, for this art program and then return to their home school for their academics. Get the ideal? Well, they have theatre, dance and music and of the fine arts, all are filled with the most amazing energy!!! And I was so happy to be asked to be part of it, if only for a week. I was worried the weekend before, all the what ifs, but all was set aside once I started working with these kids, they were amazing. Most had not done a full self portrait in pastel, but they were all so beautiful in the end. I took them from the beginning to the end, starting with color like blues and greens for under color. I think at first they thought I was crazy, but I kept reminding them that pastels are true pigment, made with the same pigment that oils are made of minus the medium,s, so they could work in layers, and the under color was so important, because it would be there, making the portrait more real to the eye. I spoke of Degas work, who was the master of pastel art and Mary Casset, my hero, gave them history about pastels, they were working with pure pigment, and they, I believe got it! I was so excited! And the best part is they seemed to really enjoy it. I was giving them info that it took my many years to understand, just walking upto and getting as close as you are allowed to works in museums. My hope is that at least one of them will ask for a good set of Rembrandt Pastels for Christmas, not a cheep gift, but one that will keep on giving, better than an ipod.

Oh yes!

I almost forgot I wanted to show you some of my portrait work, since this an artist's blog and I want to be able to share the things that I am working on. Also please, go visit my shop at http://www.theheartofaseed.etsy.com/ and see what I have for sale. That would make me so Happy! I will be showing things here at this blog that I am making, I have alot planned!
So have a lovely day, I need to get busy! Merry, Merry! Amy

It is Time!

It is time to get into the Christmas Spirit, way over do! My daughter as you can see here has been making merry for quite some time. I on the other hand have some catching up to do! And I am willing. This weekend I chose to paint the living room, Why?, because it needed it, and I wanted to put the tree and all the lovely trimmings up and have everything fresh and pretty. It was a mess, but I did it and I am glad I did. As we decorate I will posts pics. Well off to Make Merry!

It Is Time!!!

I Love this Snowman, The artist is my 7 year old daughter Rowan, so it is time to get into the Christmas spirit! This weekend I chose to paint my living room, Why? Well it needed it and I couldn't stand the thought of putting up the tree and all the lovely trimmings, when I knew how much nicer it would all look, if the walls were painted, fresh, clean. They are a now a fresh pale green and I painted my book selves a cranberry called Spanish Tile. I had books all over the place, I took pictures