Our Souls Need A Little Ray of Sunshine

With all the craziness happening in our lives right now, we all share the same aching souls. Many of us are at home, hopefully not watching the news as it will only make us ache even more!

I thought it would be a great time to add new content to our newsletter and fill it up for you with nothing but love and a ray of sunshine! Yup…we all need an extra hug, a prayer, some good food, and lots of inspiration to keep us in a good frame of mind.

First… ****** HUGS****** to everybody!!!
Second – I love Gaelic Blessings, this is for All Of You!

May you always have walls for the winds,a roof for the rain,tea beside the fire,laughter to cheer you,

those you love near you,

and all your heart might desire.

May joy and peace surround you,

Contentment latch your door,

And happiness be with you now,

And bless you evermore.

Bless you and yours

As well as the cottage you live in.

May the roof overhead be well thatched

And those inside be well matched.

May your neighbors respect you,

Trouble neglect you,

The angels protect you,

And heaven accept you.

I fed my soul today with watercolor. I had one idea of what I wanted to do, scratched that, then thought that it would be fun and relaxing to finally paint this awesome canoe of a photo that Brenny took and shared with me. We collaborated as to what the end result would be and she put together this amazing poem as she always does. She has magical words that flow from her mind and creates a mental image about the painting and takes you to another place! So here is how I went about creating this painting.

First off, I am a computer geek…I have photoshop, but I also have a ton of plugins that go along with it, one brand in particular is called Topaz. Now, Topaz had a variety of plugins that enhance your images. Many of my photos are enhanced using these plug ins. Once I got the idea of the canoe, I knew I needed to use Topaz Styles plug in because you can change the colors to anything you want. You have mood type styles such as fashion, architecture, landscape, and others that you can play with. I made 6 different varieties and picked my favorite to go by.

I didnt make a video, but I do want to put one together and put it in the classroom. But for now, you can keep this copy of the finished print as a special THANK YOU for being our friends. To download, right click, save as…and the rest is up to you 🙂

Here is a video I cant stop watching! Its uplifting, a little funny, and takes ones mind off of life for nearly 5 minutes. The music says it all, just close your eyes and listen. But if you want to keep them open I totally get that! LOL I love their music and can listen to them all day! Enjoy

NEW FREEBIE!!!!

Yes, I finally got some time to whip up a fun video for you today. It may sound simple, but the reality is…it aint all that easy!..LOL What takes up the most time is editing the dang video. The reason why I edit my videos, which Im sure every artist does, is to remove the bloopers..I have many, and to fast forward on areas that can become quite boring..who wants to watch a person paint lines for 5 minutes??? NOT ME!! so I speed those kind of things up…anyway…to the fun part…

This video is part of a new series I’m working on..yup! I love to mix colors. In the past, when I bought cheaper paints…I would get all the colors I could find…then I’ve learned that I dont use all those colors…and they get old..and dry out..and next thing I know..5 years later I have this lovely drawer full of nasty wasted paints.. NO MORE!!!

I have learned my lesson and trust me…by the time you buy 30 different colors of cheaper paint, you can have 10 to 15 tubes of professional paint.. you use less paint because of the pigments being stronger, and you can mix your own colors…less waste..unless you mix too much..hehehe…Soo..that is my spill on paints!!!

Now, go check out the video…let me know what you think…share your ideas! Im all eyes… 🙂