Cotton Candy Pastels and Candy Apple Red




Me and Shirley Lane- friends for 22 years!

 



Meet me at the Rocket!
























Nyree and Mia




me and Mia





Rock Star

 












My favorite piece from the art- this is absolutely marvelous graphite!





I can't believe this is painted, it looks so real!








My second favorite art piece

 



Nyree's lion, Mia's Sonic and my bat pumpkins



    Fair weekend! October 20, 2012. I have not been to the SC State Fair in, like, 11 years! And, good thing, too, because of fair FOOD!!!!!! OMG! I had the Philly cheese mega-dripping-and-falling-apart sandwich and (a couple of hours later) the BIGGEST bavarian creme elephant ear EVER!

     I began my wonderful weekend that Friday about noon at the Grecian Garden Restaurant where I met up with Shirley for lunch. This is her autumn jaunt stateside to visit her girls, and we missed each other this past spring "whilst" she helped Rockie,her older daughter, plan her wedding which is taking place this coming spring, 2013. As always, it's sheer joy to spend time with her. After talking non-stop for about 3 1/2 hours, it was time to continue on to my original stop, which was at Nyree's place.

     A chance to talk about art, the Universe, web sites, laugh, bounce ideas off one another and revel in each other's company. We've decided bestest friends can be soul mates. Her daughter, Mia, is now 5 yo and is so very bright and imaginative (tho' lazy when it comes to learning things like reading= frustrating) and talks 10,000 miles a minute. In other words, an absolute delight! I can't wait for us to start showing her the world! It was hard to decide which pics of the fair to use. If you've seen one picture of a fair...but I settled on what I deemed representative of the excursion. The photo of the rocket is one of nostalgia. Used to be....all day and all night long, you'd hear announcements for people to "meet your party at the rocket!" I didn't hear it once while there. Why, you might ask? Because everyone, today, has a cell phone.....

    Lastly, an art project by all 3 of us ladies. Nyree has, wisely, decided that instead of carving pumpkins (messy) and ending up with mushy, rotten jack-o-lanterns (even messier), that painting and otherwise decorating our pumpkins was the way to go. It seems that such decorating is all the rage, or shall we say, trending, right now. Mia did her part (painting), but the bulk of Sonic was Nyree. Love her lion!!!! And, I ended up doing what I know best - painting an animal portrait. I do love bats! It was an absolutley fantastic weekend. I'm not quite sure when we'll visit again (the New Year after all the holidays?), but I got Nyree on Skype, so maybe we'll get to visit that way till we get to in person.





True Blue Friendship





North Myrtle Beach



Sunset






Sunrise





Bi-valves on the shore- and they're alive!










Me and Jerri

49 years. That's a helluva long time to know somebody. But, Jerri McCabe Menefee and I have been friends since 5th grade (which would make us 59 yr old= YIKES!!!) It's funny how some people, ultimately those that are really important , stay in our lives. It was 10 years ago when we last saw and spoke to each other, but it could have been yesterday. I wondered if Jerri had changed, if we'd have anything in common, if she were suddenly wild, being given new freedom courtesy of a recent divorce. But, no, she was the same sweet, beautiful person she has always been. And, as for something in common, we have both been on a spirtual path, looking to change our lives for the better, and happier, so what fun to unabashedly speak of meditating, and people like Chopra and Wayne Dyer and the Universe. Whoo-hoo! She and her delightful friend, Liz, had come to North Myrtle Beach for a vacation. How lucky that I only live a couple of hours away. How lucky to get to reconnect and rekindle our friendship. But, they say there are no coincidences. "Trust the process- the Universe knows". So, now we can visit more frequently via Skype and plan some more concrete visits in person. And, look! See how in sync we are- unplanned, we both wore orange- haha!

Sky Blue With Nary a Cloud...



Nyree checking out the rings



After days and days of rain, Saturday, August 25, 2012 blossomed into the most gorgeous of days = a cloudless, blue, blue sky with mild temps. And, what timing! My bestest friend from Columbia, Nyree, came down to visit for a couple of days before her refresher course on Sunday. We checked out the Farmers' Market in downtown Charleston at Marion Square. Entertainment, food, artisans and , yeah, some produce from farmers as well- haha! She found a beautiful ring, silver with an inlaid piece of broken pottery. And, such a surprise- the woman behind the table went to high school with Nyree! Talk about a small world. I purchased a garua plant- fingers crossed that it survives! Our birthdays are only 2 days apart, so we celebrated during her visit. Nyree had painted a tall, ceramic glass travelling mug at one of those places for me and besides cute little windows and a door on it were the words "Calvin's Artwork Emporium." I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Further proof that it WILL happen!  My gift to Nyree was my friend, Puja Desai, who spent 2 hours with her aligning her chakras. Then that evening, we ventured over to Cork Neighborhood Bistro located on Montague Avenue in North Charleston for dinner. I had gotten one of those Living Social deals on line and it turned out to be very much worth it. We both had the pan-seared salmon- the BEST we've ever tasted , with the vegetables and some kind of tomatoey sauce. It was quite up-scale. And, the weather, continuing to cooperate, allowed us to dine al fresco. We had a fantastic time and underscored just how much I miss spending time with my friend. Wished she lived closer.......

Pewter charms and silver wings

My first art doll!!!!! I took an art doll class on line- they were pretty, & antiqued. But, it seemed from all the pics that other students sent in, that nobody really followed that style, For some reason, I was totally enamored with them. Drawn in. Slightly obsessed. I plan on creating personal ones and I'd like to do animal totems. That's what I want to do- no rhyme or reason, I just feel compelled. To practice, I've begun by doing some personal ones. Puja Desai is the first. She's my energy healer friend, who has aligned my chakras, got rid of that scattered feeling and awakend my creativity. She had to be first. And, she loved it! Trav and Em had to be next.  I've learned that I prefer making transfers as opposed to opaque paintings. Discovered, thru many trials & errors, which print and size is best. For the totems (first one is in the works), I'm learning that using digital transfers is okay and not cheating. It all comes together best when I totally am "in the now" = completely focused on what I am doing during the creative process, from the intial planning to choosing the words and the layout. That is when God's conciousness is supposed to come and be. In the now. Hopefully others will be drawn to them as well. We will see.  Meanwhile, let's take a look at the others:

So Happy to See That Dark Brown Hair, those Pretty Green Eyes of Our Beautiful Kids!

It was the last Thursday in July and I couldn't have been happier. Jeff and I were over at Jack and Page's home for a dinner celebrating the arrival of our kids, Travis and Emory, for the weekend. Trav's computer has been broken for months, which means I haven't been able to see him for our Skype get-togethers. But, those viewings were nothing in comparison to actually being with the two of them- then it hits home just how much I miss them. We all had a grand time, and T & E are very gracious with the large amount of time they spend with their respective parents before whisking off to spend time with their friends. I eagerly await the time when we are all in close proximity to each other!