New art and the closing of our gallery

I wanted to share with you some of the newer artwork that I've done lately. The first painting I actually did last summer, so it's not entirely new, but I love this painting. It just happened so easily and wonderfully. I was so happy with the way it turned out. The only problem though, was that I sold it two days after I finished painting it! That was great, but I really didn't get to enjoy it very much, so I miss it. Hopefully, I can do another painting like it some day.

The little doll I made recently. She's very funny, silly and odd. I love making little dolls and little people and creatures. She's like a grandmother, a quirky, funny grandmother. Doesn't everyone wish they had a grandmother who was fun and different?!

The following paintings are somewhat new. I was very happy with them as well. I love to paint. It seems like sometimes, though, I just cannot paint anything I like and then all of sudden, that goes away and I am able to do some wonderful paintings again. It's frustrating but I'm just glad that I am able to get out of my slumps after a while at least. Some of these are just parts of particular paintings, not the entire canvas. The one painting with the yellow cup was done with a lot of experimental materials. I used a kind of oily eye shadow, lipstick, shoe polish, acrylic, oil pastels and some other things I can't remember. It was wonderful trying out some different things; was really inspiring and fun.

The photographs I did recently.......just trying to do different things with setting up little scenes with the pretty things I have. I don't know how to use my camera very well, though. I like how some of these turned out. I should really take a class on photography; I love it but wish I knew more about it.

Some very sad news.......we are having to close our art gallery. We've been there a year and have just loved having such a wonderful, big space to work on our art and show it, too. It was our first real studio/gallery. We were part of the Gallery Strolls once a month in Salt Lake City and every month was great. In the warmer weather months, of course, we had tons of people and it was so very exciting to have so many people in our gallery. They loved our artwork and our space, the way we displayed everything and it was so motivating to hear their great comments and encouragement. We created so many great paintings and sculptures and little fairy houses, there, too. It is going to be really heartbreaking to leave. This Friday is our last day there. I have to go there today to get the boxes of materials (tons of boxes) and bring them back to our apartment. We're having to put all of our art and supplies in our apartment and it is getting so unbelieveably crowded. But it's also nice to have all of our art here where we live, too. So, I guesss there's always some positive things to an experience that might seem totally sad and disappointing. Something good will come up soon, too, I am sure; a new experience, a new part of our artist lives.

If you'd like to see video of our gallery, (which, by the way, was called "Marcel & Florette's Curious Menagerie"......a wonderful name, I think)......just go to our Youtube site......natureartists and you'll be able to see some great short clips of what our unusual gallery looked like. I will miss it so much!!! Some wonderful, cherished memories of our time there. What a blessing it was to have that space to use. We are so grateful that we had the chance to have our gallery there. I know now that we have the confidence and ability to have another gallery or shop some place else and even make it more unusual and wonderful.

Hope you are having a great day. It is snowing here, can you believe it?! Part rain, part snow and it's almost the end of April. The trees are blooming and everything is turning green. I guess we just need the moisture. It's wonderful, too.

Would love to hear from you. Keep smiling!!

Debbie

Treehouses, hobbit houses and amazing dwellings.......

lately i have found some of the most absolutely amazing sites and blogs......here are some pictures from those places. (i listed where you can find these pictures at the end of my post).

i always am drawn to anything having to do with nature. in my childhood, my family and i lived in many out of the way places. we lived at the beach for a long time, in the woods and in the moutains. i spent many hours and days walking in the woods, talking to the birds and the hidden animals and just feeling totally amazed at the world of nature. the ocean was mysterious to me, beautiful and so vast and powerful. the trees had a language i kept trying to understand, although i think i could hear the voices of the trees better than i realized. they speak to us, i am sure. the little forest animals are sweet and gentle and so often we frighten them with our insensitivity and cruelty. i wish so much that the world would realize how beautiful nature is. it is our closest voice to God, other than our spirits. we are so connected to nature; we need it. the older i get, the more i realize how even i am foolish sometimes about things that we have because of nature......like paper, for instance. how many times i crumple up a piece of paper that could be re-used or better used, not thinking enough about the trees that may have been sacrificed for that piece of paper. it is not all really renewable......nature. everything in it's finest, orginal state is meant to stay that way. how far we are from nurturing and cherishing the beautiful world of nature. there are many, many people who are doing wonderful things to live better with nature, though and i think the world is becoming more aware of our need to be more careful of the natural world, but i know that i, myself, could do a lot more to appreciate nature and use it wisely.

i wanted to share these pictures with you because i think they are some of the most wonderful photos i've found in a long time. i've posted pictures of lovely interiors, beautiful fashion, adorable pictures of children and animals, but to see these pictures of the most amazing houses and little dwellings truely touches my heart. it makes me miss the trees and the ferns and the moss so much that i used to see in Washington. it's a beautiful world we live in. we are so extremely blessed because of that. i hope we can each truely cherish this gift, the gift God gave us of the natural world.

debbie

(pictures found on these sites:)

end of march,

bloom magazine,

hardworking hippy,

kickcan & conkers,

the hermitage

verhext

So tired of unrelated, rude, awful comments!!

I am so tired of people commenting on my blog with unrelated, awful and even offensive comments!! I want to say that whoever has been commenting on my blog with these rude things, I would appreciate it if you would not visit my blog!! I try to share beautiful, inspiring things and it is so disturbing to check my comment box and find these horrible comments. Please only comment on my blog if you are someone nice; whoever trashes blogs by trying to bring people down should think about the negative energy you are putting out into the world. Try to find something good to do with your life instead!! To those who leave such kind and thoughtful comments, I am so grateful to you because you help me feel so much happier and part of the world. Thank you for your grace and goodness and for sharing such beauty in the world, too!! We need more people like you!! Debbie

The most beautiful clothes.......

I can't believe how breathtakingly beautiful these clothes are!!! I was so excited to find this blog and am now visiting it every day, without fail. So lovely and feminine and soft looking. I wish I could dress like this!! The blog is: atelier des ours, here is the link:

http://atelierdesours.canalblog.com

International Pillow Fight Day

did you know that tomorrow, April 3rd is International Pillow Fight Day?! I think that is so funny and so great!!! It just makes me feel giddy hearing about that. I read about it on the blog called Enhabiten. It is an awesome blog......so much fun and funny and just really fascinating. You've got to visit it. There's a huge worldwide movement called the "urban playground movement" that is so great......just people trying to get all of us to have more fun......get away from our televisions, computers, etc. Go to their website, it's really inspiring. When my husband and I were staying with some friends in San Francisco years ago (until we could find our own place), we would go back to their house after work and their 4 year old son was always waiting for us with a pillow for our daily pillow fight. Hearing about this hilarious "pillow fight day" just made me laugh so much, bringing back memories of little Steven laughing as we were all throwing pillows and just falling down with laughter. People definitely need to have more fun, like kids!!! So serious, the world has gotten too serious......laugh more. Be like kids, they have fun with their lives!!! How this has helped my day!!