beautiful times

isn't it just wonderful when Spring makes it's enterance? not that i ever complained about Winter, not like 99% of the people i know lol, i don't mind Winter, i love snow, ok, driving in snow and on icey roads not so much but it's part of it and can't be changed ... so why complain?

anyway, Winter seems to behind us and Spring has made it's enterance, i see purple sticking up out of the soil, the goldfish in the pond are pretty active and before long there will be thousands of tadpoles appearing.

Even my doggy knows it's Spring, he ran away last week, off to find himself a woman jack russell lol! he had no luck!!!! i found him first and my neighbour found the new tiny gap he managed to find to escape the garden ... it's fixed!

My last two orchids are in bloom again, last year i must have brought home an orchid with a desease, (white sticky fluffy bugs!!!) i did all i could to save my 18 orchids but sadly i only managed to save two and yes!!!! they are blooming, i am over the moon! like a proud mommy :)

i've been painting:

this one is on canvas, i hardly ever work on canvas because i need to work gentle and i'm not such a gentle worker :) i love to rub, scratch, scrub,... not so gentle!

This one is called Alice's Angel and was inspired by what other that Alice in Wonderland! i went to see the film in 3D, i hate those stupid little glasses over my own glasses, they just don't fit!!

but the film i liked very much! i loved this version, Tim Burton doesn't usually appeal to me that much but Alice was great!

The saying on it i already used before but i like it and i like opening doors and windows...

now i am working on a really small piece 6X12inch and there are plans to make her big!!! i will show and tell once it is done.

my foot is bad! terrible even, i wish wish wish i could say otherwise! i dream of the day i can tell you all my foot is healed and i can jump and dance like the crazy lunatic i am ...

but due to the beautiful L4 L5 hernia i have the nerves to my left leg and foot are even worse off than they already were, i mean come onnnnnn!!!! f*!!!!

i hope the epidural treatment next week helps some.

my left foot is now starting to turn inwards, the muscles aren't getting the correct information and are giving up on me :(( no matter how hard i try my foot will not stay flat, doc says if it gets any worse i will have to wear a brace to correct my foot position, this really made me want to cry...

but!!!! life is beautiful, there is more to it than my stupid foot!!!

i am enjoying all that can and have loads to be grateful for.

on the bright side: due to the pain i haven't been able to eat well so i am losing weight!

hey!!! losing weight is a good thing :))

see always a silver lining!!! always!!!!!

have a great day! i' m off to paint and sing, i can't dance but i can softly headbang to Metallica wohaha!!! Spring is in the air!!!

all my doors are open!!

xxx

love & peace

yes! here they are! tag 11 & 12 of Xmas

still feeling a bit under the weather but i managed to get these two finished. working in my living room where it is nice warm and i didn't want to drag all my supplies there so my last two tags have the same colour scheme lol... just so you know why.

tag 11!

of couse i had to improvise on the button but i wanted to make it look a bit like it cos i like the concept of the covered brads!!! so i covered a button with stickyback

canvas, imitating the pattern Tim used, pretty easy to draw really. i painted it with dab of yellow CH studio paint, stamped with archival black and adhered to the flower with matte accents ' yes that glues just as good as the gloss lol)

instead of the cute reindeer that i haven't got! i got some harlequin grungeboard letters, rubbed them in places with distress embossing ink and embossed with fine back embossingpowder, inked with fired brick! i love this combo!!!! going to use it again for sure!! bold! i love it! keeping in the same colour i did my tag with fired brick, black soot and aged mahogany, splashed, dried and stamped snowflakes with fired brick.

added the black flower and leaf and a little word on the button, voila!

tag 12

the grungepaper flower!!!!

well i have done so many of tem that i really felt like trying a new thing here! i had the stickback canvas at hand remember! soooo i hand-cut the flowers from the canvas, painted with dab of yellow and dash of red, both CH studio paints, watered down just a little.

colour looks way stronger cos of the flash on my camera, dark day again... sorry

i think this flower has room for improvement, needs to be done a little differently than with grungepaper but i am going to perfect it cos it looks really neat and so different with the canvas look, pretty pleased with myself :)

done!!! all twelve done! what am i going to blog about now????

it was been fun though, more blogging, more response, sharing, visiting blogs! intense but nice.

now i need to get all the tags on one pic to send to Tim

and give myself the chance to win his big prize :)

but first...i'm going to take a little nap before the kids get home!

thanks all for joining me on my twist on the magnificant 12 tags of Christmas by Tim Holtz!

xxxx

no Tag 11 yet

hello hello, no! no tag today! owwwwww untthinkable nearly! but you know what? i had a bit of me-time in the city with a friend today, hanging out, drinking coffee, bit of shopping, lunch, you know just ahhhhhhhhh relaxing time. no time to make tags or anything else, didn't even cook!!! got pizza instead. so a lovely lazy day alllll day! so proud of myself.

i did finish an angel painting last night, the light was really bad today but i took a picture anyway, doesn't really show the true colours, the ochre in her face is really very very subtle in real life, strange how it is so hard in this pic, ah well here it is anyway.

she is an adorable red head angel, apparently i do a lot of red heads... now where does my inspiration for that come from i wonder... i had a nice time painting her, lovely new golden fluids mixed with my studio paints by Ranger of course and i have some wonderful Sterward Gill paints on their way from Scotland, can't wait to get them in !! they are sooooo beautiful, can't even describe them, you need to see them for yourself!

ah the flowers on the windowsill inside are dead! i know, i should throw them out huh!

but see how my geraniums are still flowering strong outside!!! December i might add! see this is where the ochre in her face is harsh but not in real life i promise you :)

the wings are very textured so i didn't beeswax them,

all the rest of this 60X30cm painting was waxed

bit too dark picture to see the lettering at the bottom! it says EMBRACE in nice bright red really ( i might have to take a better pic tomorrow of the weather decides i can)

she is telling me to embrace love,she is holding my heart, she is reminding me to embrace all the love around me, the love in my heart even if i don't realize it at times, there are so many things to love, it is not always about romance now is it? lol i am in love with my paints for example, i enjoy painting so much, it just feels right and makes me happy and carefree., i love my children of course, goes without saying that! i love my doggy, did you notice him in the background, too lazy to be bothered about me painting pretty angels.

ok tags, cos there is a fat chance you came to see my take on Tim's 11th Xmas tag!

Monday! i will post the last two tags on Monday, i am having a friend over this weekend and we will be working on a personal item for her to remember her father by, so no time for tags.

you understand.

hope you all have a great weekend, see you on Monday! xxx

still time to start following my blog!

talking in pictures

blinged my laptop! silver Paintdabber, uhu Ranger of course! used the hammered metal effect which is so easy, you just take the dabber and gently "hammer" it onto the surface, you get this really neat pattern that resembles hammered metal, once dry i rubbed platinum Stickles over it using my trusty finger! i think it is really neat! some think i am a little crazy! ahhhh who cares!

this heart-shaped bread bun kind of reminded me love can be found in places least expected

made a canvas as a birth gift for my son's boss at work

i love making these Wendy Vecci type grungepaper flowers, i make my own version of them but the idea is Wendy's, they are so cool!

Emiel welcome to this crazy wonderful world

been beeswaxing, i love it! very relaxing... i need relaxing

Barcelona! i am soooooooo impressed by Gaudi! it will be noticable in my art soon i'm sure

LOVE, made as a birthday pressie for my wonderful friend J!

passed all his pilot exams! now looking for a job... anyone got a plane to be flown??

i love these letters, about 5 inch big if my eyeballing is correct, these i gessoed, painted with Claudine's paints, added Grungeboard and Tim's embellishments.

this pic was taken on my bookshelf, not the best shot...

they looked really good in there new home! xxx

Bart and me in Spain, he has just turned 20 my son! he's a stunner i think, but of course i am his mum... but he is, isn't he? :)

Lisa Mitchell and me and a really great but scarey street artist on the Rambla in barcelona!

there were a lot more wonderful street artists! really cool to see.

it was a good day!

Sue and me in one of our more normal pics...haha

we had such a good week!!

Sue is coming to Belgium in Februari! bring a good coat sue, the temps are nowhere near as good as in your part of the world!!!

thanks again for having us!xxx

oh and this!!

sneak peek for you Evelien!

and OLIVIA! Evelien's newborn little girl!

Welcome to this beautiful crazy world too!

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not in the mood for many words, the painmeds are giving me loads of side effects but the painrelief seems to have worn off! so i'm kind of pretty much back to being always in pain!

to give you an idea of the pain: i burned my inner fore arm with my hot glue gun! it's hot! , skin went straight off, third degree burn! no pain, none what so ever, the morfine is good! yet my foot i still feel like hell. imagine? trying not to whine on though.

i have come to the conclusion once again that i am not superwoman and even if it means dissapointing people, i have decided to take more time off for myself.

hope to blog soon but i'm not promising to :)

have a good weekend xxx

art is healing

My mother passed away yesterday.

a short and hard statement and the reality of life and death.

her suffering has come to an end and for that i am relieved for her

my dreams of ever having a mum have passed away along with her.

where does that leave me? i really do not know at this point in time.

and the totally sad thing is that the family is so divided by all this, my eldest brother is not coping with the way i am coping with it, my second brother showed up after 17 years of not knowing where he was an expected way too much of me, my youngest brother seems to be the wisest of the three of them and can at least talk calmly and with thought. i guess grief does weird things to people so i am trying my best not to take offence and to understand that they are simply not being themselves.

it is making the whole ordeal very stressful and more painful than it already is.

you know what? you get to know who your true friends are in times like these and that is heart warming and helps more than i will ever be able to put into words.

but i breathe, i look at my kids and i breathe, my Estée came into the kitchen this evening, i was peeling potatoes for dinner, she stood there blinking her eyes at me and i asked what she was doing, i am showing you my love she said! ohhhh do i even have to tell you that i had to fight back tears??? i am so glad to be a mum! makes me even sadder that my mother never took that opportunity, such a waste. but okay, it is past, tanya it is past!

yesterday my two youngest kids ran the cross country school run,

i am not saying they won prizes but i was proud of their effort and everyone got a medal and my little girl was over the moon with hers! and of course she was not going to run in a plain white t-shirt! tssss what was i thinking! pink necklace and purple top made it a stylish event.

i realize just how blessed i am in this life even though i did not have the conventional youth growing up with a mum and dad, happy family and all that... i still am a whole person and i am happy with who i am and i do not care if there are some people (family) who would like to see me be different and more like them.

i am me and i am proud of that, i have kind of realized that in this whole ordeal.

i am a true believer of every cloud having a silver lining and here my youngest brother has turned out to be the silver lining! so little bro, if you read this, know that i appreciate all your kind words and the respect you have shown me and know that the feeling is mutual!

art... i have been drawing, here is just one of my girls, the background is not finished but there is no rush; her face is far from symmetrical but you know what? i like her, she has wisdom to her

wishing you all a lovely weekend, enjoy your family and loved ones

love is life!!! xxxx

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini was the inspiration for this painting