I haven't shared a post in such a long time!

                                                  

it's been such a long time since I have posted anything here on my blog! life is just so full of complications sometimes and things that take up our time. I used to post on my blog so often, I really miss those times because I so enjoyed being on my blog and hearing from people sometimes. you wonder on social media if anyone is listening or following you. it's such a huge world and there's always so much going on. I am 73 now, still living in Provo, Utah. we have been here over six years. my husband Mike and I have a beautiful antique shop but it takes up so much of our time. there's so many things I would like to be doing besides running our shop, although I really love it. but I miss painting as often as I used to and writing my poetry and children's stories. I really wish I didn't have to work anymore, but although we are retired, we still need bring in an income to keep going. I have posted some of my paintings here, painting is one of my most favorite things to do. I would love to hear from you if you'd like to comment or share some thoughts. I hope you are happy and enjoying your life. thank you for visiting!

Some of my recent paintings......

The Wild Cat

The Dreams of Fairies

Travels to Paris

Quiet Walking

Quiet Walking

Modern Opera

Home

The Conversation

The Angel's Visit

The Princess

Summer

Hello everyone! I haven't posted anything on my blog for such a long time! I have mostly been sharing my art and the antiques from our shop and many other things on our Instagram page. But, I've really missed sharing things here on my own blog. Sometimes, it feels better to do something just for yourself, something that doesn't have anything to do with other people. I have been wanting to share some of my paintings recently and missed working on my blog, so I hope you will enjoy these paintings as they are some of my very favorites. Some of them are available on my Etsy shop, if you're interested in purchasing any of them. Just go to my Etsy shop at sunflowerhouse.

I hope you are all well and will have a very nice Thanksgiving. It has been such a very difficult few years and even now, the world seems to be falling apart. I find myself drawing away from all the negative and frightening things that are happening and just turning to using my creativity or taking time to appreciate the creativity of others. I am so thankful for inspiring art and beautiful music and the beauty and goodness in the world. I hope you are able to find peace in something in your life that will sustain you through these difficult times. There is always something good.

 

 This is a new video that I've been working on for the last week or so. It is a beautiful slide show of amazing photos from Instagram, some of my favorite photos! Everyone included in the video was so excited to be in it and loved how it turned out! It's an exciting compilation with incredible music, so I hope you like it!! Let me know what you think, would love to hear your comments! (Best to watch it on full screen or better yet, go to YouTube on your tv and view it as the photos are so gorgeous!!) Have fun!

Be sure to go to our YouTube channel to see the description of our video and the list of all the people included in the video, as well as where the music tracks are from. Thanks for watching!

Free Sample Class on How to Create Beautiful Fairy Furniture!!!

This is a free sample of one of our fun fairy furniture classes on our new website:

www.fairyartschool.com. You can watch the first part of this video to get an idea about what our classes are like. Then, if you'd like to sign up for the rest of the class, you can just click on this link to enroll in the class! 

https://www.fairyartschool.com/p/the-fairy-princess-bed

You'll have unlimited access to this and all of our other classes so you can go to our website anytime to see the class and follow along. Each of our online video courses come with downloadable step by step instructions with photos so you can refer to those too, along with our videos where we also show how to make each piece, step by step. 

We have lots of other classes available at Fairy Art School and will be adding many more soon!! Hope you'll visit and see how fun this amazing kind of art can me!

New Online Video Classes at Fairy Art School!!

 

Tinkerbell's Fairy Princess Throne Class

The Hobbit's Writing Desk & Chair w/ Accessories Class

The Fairy Princess Throne and Fairy Dresser Classes

And we have many other classes, too!

Hi everyone!

We wanted to let you know that we have several FREE online tutorials on our YouTube channel natureartists for learning how to make our fairy furniture! They're really fun and they will give you an idea what our classes are like.

Here is the link to see the free sample of our class on how to make "The Fairy Princess Bed":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s66u8hKn7Q

This video shows the first part of "The Fairy Princess Bed" class to help you see how fun and easy it is!! If you'd like to take the rest of the class, just click on the link below to enroll in the class:

https://www.fairyartschool.com/p/the-fairy-princess-bed

Here is another one of our free tutorials for making a little fairy chair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlMwIQ1GozE

We've just listed six new online video classes recently!! So, we hope you'll visit Fairy Art School and see what new classes we have available! One of the classes is "The Hobbit's Writing Desk and Chair with Accessories". It's an amazing piece that Mike made that is really detailed and a very unique set. Here is the link to the class on our website:

https://www.fairyartschool.com/.../the-hobbit-s-writing...

We are also offering all of the pieces in "The Six Piece Fairy Bedroom Set" course as individual courses now, so if you want to learn how to make these pieces separately, you can. We're still offering the six pieces as a set, too.

Also, we've updated our website at Fairy Art School and it's looking really beautiful, so we hope you'll visit and see the wonderful new changes and all the lovely pictures of our nature art!! Here is the link to our website along with links to our other sites: I just added a wonderful new video on our YouTube channel with a story I wrote called "The Storyteller". Hope you enjoy it!

www.fairyartschool.com

http://www.instagram.com/fairyartschool

http://www.instagram.com/fairyhousebook

http://www.youtube.com/natureartists

http://www.sunflowerhouse.etsy.com

http://www.fairyhousethebook.etsy.com

http://www.mycyclesart.etsy.com

"The Attic", a story

The room was a magical place. As soon as you got to the landing at the top of the stairs, you could feel something different. It was like walking into a storybook. Your eyes fell from one tiny object to another, everything placed so deliberately and carefully about the room. Beautiful framed pictures of princesses in lovely elegant dresses adorned the walls, pictures of pretty soft cats and flowers, handwritten music and villages in France. The walls were filled with pictures and paintings, old postcards of fields of lavender and bouquets of lilacs in pretty vases. It was a place of beauty and quietness. A place to dream and sleep and feel at peace. 

One wall had a long table with a wondrous collection of small old wooden dressers and even a tiny child's piano, the keys sounding as old as the wood itself, but charming and sweet. The girl who lived upstairs had a cat. His name was Duffy, an Irish name that held the history of the family within him as he quietly and stealthfully walked about the house. He was grey and black and had long fur. He loved to chase shadows in the sunlight in the kitchen downstairs and often would run madly about the house at night when everyone was sleeping, tearing up and down the stairs as if to get his nightly exercise without anyone noticing. But the girl noticed and giggled to herself. She thought Duffy was a funny cat and quite the character. He had beautiful dark green eyes and a very faint meow. 

Sometimes, you could find Duffy sprawled about on the carpet up in the attic room, laying on his back with all four paws up in the air. His eyes closed, the world far away from him, as he dreamt of fields of flowers and warm sunshine. The girl wondered if he ever noticed all the things she had collected and set about everywhere in the attic room. Did he notice the little dolls and animals she had made, all grouped together in a basket shelf on the wall? Did he ever wonder what that tiny little gold box was filled with, always set about on the desk with the other small treasures? Duffy saw the girl open the box sometimes and look inside, a small smile coming to her face as her eyes lit up and a glow seemed to overtake her as she held the small box so gently in her hands. She was like that often. Carefully picking up different objects in the attic room, as if holding them for the very first time. They were cherished things to her, objects that held a precious feeling for her. This room was a magical place, a place of softness and memories of childhood.

As the girl walked slowly about the room, she marveled at the small glass shelves filled with tiny tea cups and porcelain vases with embellished flowers. Tiny glass horses, papier mache teapots and golden candelabras adorned the room. A row of small baskets draped across the wall above the closet doors filled her with amazement and delight. She tried to count them, but then just looked at the tiny beauty of them all, strung on an old cord, nearly a hundred of them, each one different. Boxes of treasures waited to be opened as they sat patiently under the long table. What amazing finds will be brought out when the girl finally opens the boxes?

To be continued.......

 

My thoughts about this last year.....

Hello everyone, 

I wanted to take a few moments to talk about this last year, 2020. Sometimes I can't even remember things that happened in 2020, it went by so fast and was so traumatic......parts of it remain a blur when I really think about what a unprecedented year it was. I'm sure my life wasn't as sad as many others have experienced though. Who knew a worldwide pandemic would turn everything upside down? We have all kept going and have been doing the best we can, but it is still a very difficult time. My husband and I watch the news and are so saddened by the terrible things that have been happening in the world. We pray constantly that people will be well and that the virus will end. We pray also that people will calm down and feel kindness for one another again. The world is such a beautiful place. It is very sad to see so much anger and hatred and fighting. I hope and pray everyone will realize how short our lives are in the bigger perspective of things and how beautiful life could be for all of us, if we could just get along with one another and be kind and patient. Maybe it just takes a few minutes to get away from something that is toxic or negative and breathe and think to oneself quietly to get your bearings again. How far have we gotten from a good place where things were more normal? I would say the world is pretty close to the edge right now. But, we can back up, walk away, breathe and look around us for something that calms and comforts our spirits and our minds.

I even have to stop sometimes and make myself realize that I need to be calm, too, and not get upset. We all have struggles and hardships, but we are all on this Earth together. The only way we can get through life is by being patient with one another and show love and kindness to each other. How beautiful the world and life would be if more kindness was shared with one another.

Especially with the virus having overtaken the entire world, it is so important to help each other and stop fighting against what needs to be done. There are so many wonderful people who have reached out to others to help them and show thoughtfulness. I am so grateful for those people who are so kind and caring. They are such an inspiration and such a blessing to so many people and even to me, though they weren't helping me directly. It is just their spirit of kindness that touches my heart and helps me want to be a better person. 

This year, my husband and I personally had many difficult times. We closed our antique shop because of Covid. We are both in our early 70's and have some health concerns, so we decided it would be safer to close our shop. It was very sad for us, but we have been alright. We decided to start doing online art classes and have been excited to work on doing a new website to teach how to make our fairy furniture and other works of art from nature.

Also, my mother, who was 93 at the time, fell and broke her hip and needed help. She was unable to care for her home any longer, so we helped her move, which was definitely traumatic for her, but she bravely got through it. I was actually quite amazed that she was able to move from the home she loved and settle in a new home without going through a lot of emotional trauma. It's been very hard for me to see my mother age the way she has, as she was always a very busy, accomplished, vibrant person. I know however that many families experience these difficult things. It makes me think how aging is a very important part of our lives to think about: how we can be healthier and more aware of what's happening to us and how we can be more patient with ourselves and others.

With the pandemic, my husband and I have stayed at home a great deal of the time. We miss how life used to be, as I'm sure everyone does. We are very careful about seeing friends and family. It has been so hopeful that there are vaccines now, so we are very grateful for that. I hope people will be more patient though in waiting for the vaccines. I'm sure it is an extremely difficult challenge to vacinate everyone, so I hope we can be patient and cooperative as these things are worked out. 

I have just wanted to share some of my feelings. With what we are all going through, I think it is good to talk about how we are and what we are going through. I hope you will share your thoughts with us and I hope and pray you are well and finding ways to stay happy and hopeful. There are so many good people in the world and beautiful things to experience and see. I hope you will still find happiness and closeness with the ones you care about and that you will be blessed.

Here are some beautiful photos to help you feel comforted and uplifted.

More of my paintings.....

I find such happiness in painting. All of these paintings gave me such peace and comfort. I hope you enjoy them. Some of them are available on my Etsy shop. Some I have sold but could possibly paint again. I would love to hear from you with any comments about my paintings if you would like to share them. Take care and be well and safe! It is such a difficult time for everyone right now. I hope you are able to keep well and find happiness somehow. We must hold onto faith and hope.