SOME FREAKING NEWS...

Well folks I joined "Freaking News.com" this week...just for fun and to learn more and give me practice on my Photoshop. However it has become an addiction...ahhhh!

Here are my latest entries for this weeks contests...fun huh.

WHY-O-WHY WYSOCKI...

I adore Charles Wysocki and his wonderful paintings of cats...love, love, love that detail. I've used his paintings to make wonderful collages.

Of course Mr. Wysocki also does fantastic scenes of Americana...I'll save those for another day.
I think I like his cats the best.

PAINT ME SOPHIE...

Had I been born 150 years ago...and wanted my portrait painted I think I would call Sophie Anderson. Sophie had a way of capturing the underlying beauty in even a plain subject. Her portraits are gentle and graceful and feminine. Just beautiful Sophie.

MICHELLE MY BELLE...

Another wonderful fascinating artist Michelle Dodd. Don't you just love how we all see and express our vision of the world differently...or maybe even make up our own world...utterly delightful! What is better then individuality and imagination?

EXPECTING TO FLY...

This is my new Photoshop collage it's called "Expecting to fly..."
Working on the computer is an on going learning experience but I really enjoy the way pictures work together to form something entirely different.

OH MY OCTAIVO...

Another unique and wonderful artist Octaivo Ocampo I am fascinated with his object within an object style...very creative and imaginative.

A WEE BIT -O- IRISH LOVE ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY...

Wherever you go and whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish be there with you.
Health and a long life to you.
Land without rent to you.
A child every year to you.
And if you can't go to heaven,
May you at least die in Ireland.

THE LOVELY IRISH ART OF MARTIN DRISCOLE...

I wanted to share with you a treasure I found...the fine Irish art of Martin Driscole. I love how he captures all that is special about the homeland that is so obviously dear to his heart.

A BIT 'O' IRISH FUN...

God made the Italians for their beauty. The French for fine food. The Swedes for intelligence. The Jews for religion. And on and on until he looked at what he had created and said, "This is all very fine but no one is having fun. I guess I'll have to make me an Irishman."

~

No stereotyping here folks...but you have to admit the Irish really do know how to have a good time and spin a good tale...so party on Pattie me boy.

TO IRISHMEN...

An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth.

~
Irish proverb

THE TOASTS OF IRELAND...

May you die in bed at 95 years,
Shot by a jealous wife!

~
A toast to your coffin.
May it be made of 100 year old oak.
And may we plant the tree together, tomorrow.

~
Here's to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking.
If you cheat, may you cheat death.
If you steal, may you steal a woman's heart.
If you fight, may you fight for a brother.
And if you drink, may you drink with me.

~
May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

~
May misfortune follow you the rest of your life,
but never catch up.

~
Bless your little Irish heart -- and every other Irish part.

A GOOD OLD IRISH CURSE...

May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope.

~
The things I love most about the Irish are their wit and humor and their belief in the Fae and magic fancies of life. They are ever a delight to me for I dance to the same wee tunes inside my head...left there I think by my Irish kin.

A YEAR IN ART PART 3...

November
October

September

June

Here are the last four pictures I did for Jaime & Kalen for Christmas...okay so I cheated and reprinted Grannie Annies Logo for October...but that's what Jaime wanted.

BUILDING OUTSIDE THE BOX...

As most of you know I am a great fan of "out of the box" thinking. I would like to share with you some architecture that I think is spectacular...by building sculptor and architect Frank Gehry who not only has stepped outside the box but seems to have abandoned the boring old box completely.

Doesn't it just make you wonder what it looks like inside the box???

IDOL HANDS...

I was busy while you were gone...with no one to talk to I had to do something...and as they say idol hands are the devils tool. Beth you have seen your picture before but in my mind it is the perfect picture to express your spirit.

Clytie girlfriend...well finding paintings from this point of view isn't easy but I think this one is pretty good.

I would be more then happy to work with your beautiful face if you would just turn around.

HALLELUJAH!!!...

IT WORKS!!!

HAPPY VALENTINES LOVER...

Between me and the world
You are a bay, a sail
The faithful ends of a rope
You are a fountain, a wind
A shrill childhood cry

Between me and the world
You are a picture frame, a window
A field covered with wild flowers
You are a breath, a bed
A night that keeps the stars company

Between me and the world
You are a calendar, a compass
A ray of light that slips through the gloom
You are a biographical sketch, a bookmark
A preface that comes at the end

Between me and the world
You are a gauze curtain, a mist
A lamp shining into my dreams
You are a bamboo flute, a song without words
A closed eyelid carved in stone
~
by Bei Dao

~

This poem is dedicated to my dear sweet husband...my best friend and lover for over forty years. We are truly Yin and Yang. It's like they said in Jerry Maguire "You complete me."

HAPPY VALENTINES DENN

Your still the one

and I Love you more...

DREAM ON...

“…He had no breath or being but hers,
She was his voice; he did not speak to her.
But tremble on her words; she was his sight.
For his eyes followed hers, and saw hers,
Which colored all his objects - he had ceased
To live within himself; she was his life,
The ocean to the river of his thoughts….”

~
The Dream by Lord Byron

~

The guy was a scallywag but mercy he could write the verse couldn't he.

GIVE ME TRUE LOVE...

Have I Given you a Valentine Lately

~

I don't believe in Valentines,

they are young and vulnerable

and hopelessly old fashion.

Valentines are for

sentimental sentimentalists,

romantic romantics,

and those who still believe in

happy endings

I am at the point in life where

I know how the story ends

And when the nights grow cold,

and so I do not expect

Lace slips,

Surprise trips,

Cherry flips,

or tender little poems

because it is That day.

Instead I want my Valentines

at unexpected times.

I want to know what you think of me in

Mid-May, March, and June.

For I believe,

My dear,

One day a year is not enough for love.

~

Lois Wyse

~

My sentiments exactly...I find holidays like Valentines Day and Mothers Day annoying because I don't enjoy receiving obligatory gifts. That is exactly what holidays have been turned in to by retail and advertising...occasions where the men in our lives feel obligated to buy us gifts...(through fear and coercion LOL) I would much rather receive a heartfelt dandelion on any day of the year then the mandatory dozen red roses for Valentines...tell me how you feel.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY...

art by Walter Crane


She walks in beauty,
Like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.
~
by Lord Byron
~

How would it be to inspire such a beautiful expression of love...

Of course if Byron were around today he'd probably belong to some rap group...yo mama mama cutetay...I love your boottay...so get it on and do your dootay.

Ahh so romantic be still my beating heart.