waiting

this is what I saw out my car window while waiting for school to get out:

it looks like winter

trust

I was working on  this postcard sized piece of art and just getting more and more frustrated ... Overthinking things as usual ... Then I looked over to my little seashell of odd tea bag tags and found "trust creates peace." I draped the string and tag over the spot that was pestering me the most. Suddenly there was peace in this peace.

thankful - salamat

after having painted and sent out 34 stones this week

I am able to donate $170 to ShelterBox USA

... I have many stones left ...

you may participate in this effort with me HERE

***

After further research and consideration, I have decided to designate future donations to be made to the organization Doctors Without Borders. My reasoning is that in the coming months this terrible event will evolve into a major health crisis (much as it did in Haiti). In developing nations, care for the sick and injured is already a precarious enterprise - and a disaster like this one easily topples whatever basic system was in place.

thank you - salamat - for joining with me

Philippine Relief

overwhelmed by the images of the devastation from Typhoon Haiyan,

I took my desire to help to my work desk.

When things like this happen, we want to help.

my thoughts of the Filipino people go immediately to the most basic of human needs:

food, water and shelter

but I also think of:

calm after the storm

peace in the midst of chaos

trust when life is achingly uncertain

quiet in the clamor of confusion

hope when children are looking up to you

love that survives the very worst in life

each piece of beach glass has a Filipino word on one side 

and the corresponding English word on the reverse

they are available in my Etsy shop for $5 each and 100% will be donated to

ShelterBox USA

a reputable 501(c) organization I supported after the Japanese Tsunami in March 2011

I plan to paint at least 200 of these

and will have a weekly update of the funds raised - by you and me together - right here on my blog

color therapy

I uploaded these pictures this morning

the colors had me positively enraptured - I had to grab my camera to share it with you all

and here is this afternoon's work using that same watercolor sheet:

these are my two favorites:

(perhaps because there are faces in them)

thank you Kim at Queen of Arts for your inspiration in finding creatures and faces within splashes of color - I have borrowed your technique - and knowing your grace generosity, you are ok with that 

journal therapy

brooching

brooching definition:

busy making brooches

that was me today

... until I put on my "mom on the run" hat

now I have a song stuck in my head:

stuck inside these four walls

sent inside forever

never seeing no one, nice again,

like you, mama

you, mama, you

if I ever get out of here

thought of giving it all away

to a registered charity

all I need is a pint a day

if I ever get out of here

if I ever get out of here

-P McCartney Band on the Run

why

why do people leave stuff like this at the curb?

in the rain?

lady chair

... the beginnings of a new photo series on my iPhone ...

the family room

1990 tv room

free love seat

I have learned that using the zoom on the iPhone gives you terrible pixelation

I'm going to have to get out of my car and get up close for these

... will someone think I want this crap?

something I saw today

early november

the last of the autumn leaves are blowing off the trees today

here's one I caught in mid-air 

(look in the upper right)

 they're all caught in the vegetable patch

it seems like a good day to be at my work desk

I'm still making things with my grandmother's tattered quilt

(see earlier post here)

these are brooches for my Etsy shop made with glass and soldered copper

***

I've been a missing in action blogger - birthdays,  school conferences, band concerts, halloween

we all slept in this morning and most of us are still in our jammies

and the candy isn't helping

(I have a pile of snicker bars keeping me company as I type this)

hoping for a boring week ahead 

:)