S Furner Fine Art

CHINESE CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART

2019-02-05T07:46:00.001-08:00

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI, 2019, LUNAR YEAR OF THE PIG

IT IS TRUE: I LOVE THE UNIQUENESS, COLOR AND PRIMITIVE DRAWING FOUND IN CHINESE FOLK ART, I WANTED TO REPOST FROM MANY YEARS BACK, WHAT I SHARED THEN. PLUS SHARING TWO NEW PIECES!

Many countries share a common love of folk art painting, sometimes known as primitive art.

The cultures hold many similarities in their art, but also enjoy distinct differences. Generally Folk Art illustrates a specific story concerning the ordinary, every day living of the average person.

Chinese Folk Art is more theme oriented, telling a specific story or moral.

The following contemporary folk art scenes are painted by both men and women.

Embroidery is a long established art form in China. It is mainly a female activity. The items embroidered are quite diverse and include robes, theatrical costumes, purses, shoes and alter cloths. Some are so finely stitched that it can take 5-6 women several years to complete a piece.

Usually a traditional Chinese medicine shop puts its medicines/ herbs in cupboards lined with tiny square drawers. A dispenser would pull open the drawers to take out medicine according to prescriptions provided by doctors.

Floating in metal tubs the women gather the seeds of the lotus blossom. The Lotus blossom is a very common folk art symbol.

In Asia many homes are self contained with their gardens, animals, shrines, cooking areas and living arrangements bound by walls. These wonderful primitive paintings preserve a way of life that is slowly changing.

A happy celebrating of a wedding in Shanghai.

The household goods are on barges to be taken to the new home.

Neighborhood gatherings watching films.

I don't think they are selling popcorn...but perhaps fried chicken feet! A true delicacy.

I love the clean, brightly painted, flat perspective of folk art.

No shading or highlights, just flat, bold colors with lots of tiny details. Usually the work is done on paper with paint similar to our gouache.

This is my modern take on Chinese Folk Art.

ANOTHER MORE RECENT

Heart Thought: you might enjoy sharing these images with your children or grandchildren. Let them make up their own stories, or try their hand at their own folk art incorporating their home and environment.

MAY YOUR NEW YEAR, 2019, GIFT YOU INNER PEACE, JOY IN NATURE, LOVE FOR OTHERS AND FULFILLING A LIFE LONG WISH.
SHARON

ONE WATERMELON AND THREE CHICKENS

2018-11-06T15:19:00.002-08:00

Part II

Last post we left not knowing why the Gardener up and disappeared, leaving her plants, seeds, pots and peat moss. I think I previously shared with you, that the goats and sheep in the next field (where no humans seem to be around) is Always empty. Oh, yes and the three chickens-----Well originally there were FIVE chickens, each with a distinct name and personality. So glad I have photos of them when they were sweet blobs of downy feathers, constantly in search of food.

Sad misfortune happened to two of the chicks. It was not a good day. Just like the vanishing Gardener, they were gone.
The months rolled on, and the hungry chicks just grew grew grew
grew!

MARY REED, LUCY AND ANNE BONNY

One day the "littles" came to play, feed and cuddle the now sizable chickens.

The "littles" favorite thing to do was to play in the Chicken Chalet that was draped with magenta-colored flowers; gather speckly brown eggs; and feed them food from the kitchen. Especially fruit.

And that is when it happened.

The Littles shared their watermelon, the good parts, the juicy sweet red parts.

Bedlam broke out as Lucy, Mary Reed and Anne Bonny, smelling the sweet fruit, jumped and climbed over one another to be the first to get the prize piece.

They definitely forgot their manners.

Now you wouldn't think I would miss this action and not take their picture and sketch the gobbling.

Of course that led to more sketches and way more photos.

This is a true tale with a "happy ever after" ending.

The M, L, and A became known as the

MLA Chooks.

They started a co-op egg business. They have so many eggs, that they are using the wood shed for storage,

far away from Mew Mew, the cat.

******************************************************

Oops forgot to give you the update on the vanishing Gardener.

She was last seen, flagging down an Uber, still dressed in her dusty gardening clothes and rubber bumper boots.

By good luck, I recently read a small article in the Washington Post.

The vanishing Gardener is now the head of Department of Agriculture.

Way to go ladies. Women rule.

THE MYSTERIOUS GREEN HOUSE AND THE VANISHING GARDENER.

2018-09-10T16:11:00.001-07:00

Each time we go back to DC, we marvel, how did we ever move away. WE LOVE DC!

Lucky us, we now have an incentive to return: our daughter and hubby, dogs Lemon and Dulcita, the cat Mew Mew, and 3 chickens, live in a quiet town just south of Washington, DC.

They rented a cottage-like home, which included acres and acres of property, ponds and pools of water. Beaver, frogs and who knows what else call this home. Gigantic trees, wild vines, bushes and dancing weeds rim the property. All quite charming, idyllic, old fashioned, nostalgic and a bit worn around the edges.

Surprises at every turn. Including the mystery of the missing gardener.

We decided to travel from NC to DC by train.

Daniel picked us up at the stately Union train station. After 9 + hours on the train, we were eager to see the whole family.

We pulled into the driveway, dogs barking "welcome," licking, racing all over wanting to show off their new "fields of freedom."

We weren't there long before something felt like it was watching us. Sheep/goat bleating caught our attention. Over the perimeter of their property was a really run down, derelict set of buildings and 20 or so goats.

They were our second welcoming committee. Cute and Curious.

Leaving the goats to entertain themselves, we headed for the white clapboard buildings scattered about the property. The dogs led the way, one building to the next.

Cute was a child's playhouse, roomy a wood storage, big garage for tractors and such, but the piece de resistance was the attached "green house." Oh, my, love the green house...yes I know, it does need a bit of tender care, but it is charming anyway.

This is where the mystery comes in.

Years ago, in early spring, a gardener was in the middle of potting her packets of seeds, and most likely dreaming of how beautiful and tall they would become, and obviously where they should be planted. She appeared to be quite content on a warmish spring day.

Suddenly she dropped her trowel, the tip of it knocking over seeds and egg shells, tripped on a rake carelessly left on the ground, over turned water buckets. She fled. Never to return.

A mystery for sure.

We don't know the ending.

Inside the building were long ago vacated hornet's nest.

Did the hornets flee at the same time as the gardener?

Will the mystery ever be solved. It is indeed a strange tale.

And so I leave you at this point in the story.

I will return to tell you about the chickens: Lucy, Mary Reed and Anne Bonny. Oh and maybe add a bit about Mew Mew who showed up on the doorstep at night, shivering, wet and cold.

One last thought. Just outside the green house is a deepish, slippery, frog filled pond.

Smiles: Sharon

WHEN IS QUEEN ANNE'S LACE A CARROT?

2018-08-21T12:09:00.001-07:00

Did you know that Queen Anne's Lace is said to have been named after Queen Anne of England, who was an expert lace maker. The story goes that she pricked her finger on the blossom, a single drop of blood fell onto the lace, leaving the dark purple floret, that is found on the flower's center.

Driving on very dusty, rural roads, when I happen to see Queen Anne's Lace gracefully dancing along the side of the road, I pull over, cut bouquets of this favorite delicate flower. Hmmmm many think of it as a weed. I beg to differ. More recently

I ran across an article claiming that Queen Anne's Lace is related to the carrot.

I like to imagine, if I had plucked out the roots along with the flower and its stem, I would have found a plump carrot dangling from its end!

(a blue and cream Swedish Dalarna Horse pitcher)

In our smallish town of Matthews, we have a great Saturday Market. Loads of fun stuff: French pastries to pottery; starter plants to bouquets of fresh cut flowers in Mason jars half filled with water; every day, ordinary veggies, to the "exotic" varieties.

The Matthew's Market is where I saw my first colorful, rainbow hued carrots. I was quite smitten.

Not too concerned as to how they would taste, I was eager to whisk them off to take photos.

Spending several days photographing, the poor things grew quite limp and soft.

I was quite curious about carrots that looked like they had tumbled from a rainbow, must taste!
Due to the hours of photography, the carrots became a bit pale and limp! Nevertheless, I scrubbed them and cut some up for tasting. Yuck! first bites, I wasn't immediately sure what I thought. They didn't taste ORANGE. They were.......Well, I decided I better buy fresh ones before I came to any hasty conclusions.

I decided to brush up on the history of today's "modern" carrot...you know, as in, Carrot-Genealogy? I headed for Google: I quickly learned that these colorful carrots are NOW officially known as
Heirloom Carrots.

Further rummaging around Google, I discovered the WORLD CARROT MUSEUM.

You got to be kidding, a real museum....dedicated to carrots. Who knew?
Pretty interesting where a bit of curiosity and reading can take you. Soon I had a new found respect for carrots of all stripes, colors and sizes, limp or not.

The Carrot Museum is located in
the UK, but a smaller museum, just for fun, in Belgium.

If you are really curious about the emergence of ORANGE carrots, well any color carrot,

here is a link.

Just to give you a heads up, the article is quiet interesting and colorful but it is also LONG and detailed.

Grab a few facts, invite guests to dinner, prepare carrot soup and carrot-nut-raisin muffins and casually insert a bit of genealogy to impress your guests.

Hey you might even entertain writing a cookbook...
Carrots One Thousand Ways or Less.

Thanks for visiting and may you never look at the lowly carrot the same way again. Sharon

THERE IS NO RULE BOOK ON LIFE

2018-07-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Finger painting. Big brush painting. Losing one's self in self expression.

Childhood Imagination.

There are no rules as to what can make us happier, more cheerful, optimistic and content.

But one place that puts me in that frame of mind...is our front porch. Not too wide, not too long. Just right. Room for potted plants, palm tree, hanging ferns, containers of seashells and some comfy chairs. Our tall trees dapple and shade this entire area. Just like youthful Big Brush painting, sitting amongst the blooms, the shade, the fragrance, (and yes bees) is relaxing letting the imagination run wherever it takes you.

Simple little sketches.

Try some Big Brush or Finger painting,
you will surprised where it takes you.

Smiles: Sharon

WHERE DO I GO NOW?

2018-07-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

In a past-post, I wrote about my experimental journey into abstract design and painting. And how it took years, to slowly emerge. As can happen I became a lazy-daisy, and drifted off thinking of water. You know: lake, river, ocean kind of water, not dishwater.

Through all these years, one of my muses has been the ocean, the beach, the hot shifting sand, the never ending fascination with seashells, the savory taste of salt and sand in my hair (not in my eyes), the casual viewing of children and adult-children; play, dive, swim, casting all cares aside. Just being their rascally, free selves. The words and feelings are universally the same.

Splashing around water is better than yoga for me, but then I wasn't a yoga prodigy.

...a bit of history...

Born in San Francisco, my parents and I lived on a tiny houseboat in the bay. How about that for lullabying to sleep. A few years later we moved inland, to a mountain shelter community. We had mountain streams and lakes to explore. An aunt had an old wooden cabin near Silver Lake...that's when I was brave or naive enough to get in icy cold mountain water.

Over the decades of loading and unloading moving vans there was Chicago and the Great Lakes,

Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay.

Travels to near and far away places.

So many experiences to draw from.

My first real experience in trying to capture water came through a series of trips to Europe. Captivated by the colorful shops and boats, my camera capturing what I saw.

From that came many paintings based partly in realism but mostly imagination.

And so the painting of water based subjects continues. However rather than being specific, place oriented, there is now the desire to peal back the unnecessary, the superfluous, and open up to the internalized feelings that "all waters" bring to me.

I am making my way forward, painting by painting. Looking for the essence of place.

"She liked the sharp salty smell of the air, and the vastness of the horizons, bounded only by a vault of azure sky above. It made her feel small, but free as well." George Martin

Smiles: Sharon

WHERE COMETH INSPIRATION

2017-08-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago, via mail, a box of striped white and gray stones arrived from a most talented artist: Elizabeth Bunsen.
Little could I guess, that slowly, ever so slowly I would gain an interest in the abstract..the linear...the non-representational...from a handful of rocks and some left over paint.
About this time, on a lazy day with no direction, I scooped up left over paint from muffin tin and finger painted neglected cheap white canvas boards ... childhood revisited. Plus the old nagging adage "Waste Not Want Not."

Running parallel to painting is my second creative outlet.
PHOTOGRAPHY

Much of what I paint, is reflected in those places, people and cultures I capture with my camera.

Spending time in Cambodia, photographing

mysterious stone-faced towers, Banyon trees, temples, elaborately chiseled monuments, mountain loads of strewn rock with ancient carvings, tumbling cairns, kept the concept of abstraction at the forefront.

Angkor Vat, Cambodia

The many piles of Cairns caught my attention and memory of seeing Elizabeth's beautiful tributes to stones, rocks and shells.

So the branching of my artistic journey began. Slowly.

First scribbles with crayon and pastel.

Eventually I tackled the first of my semi-abstract paintings. (36x36) And I sent it out into the world on the web and in a gallery.
-------------------------------------------------------------
A few more years pass, again I slowly work on abstract design. It is hard. I never seem to know what I am doing? I see other artists' work, who make it look so easy. It is not, for me that is. I wanted to refine the process from ROCKS TO VISTAS.
I recalled the last area we lived in, Havre de Grace, MD with its sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay, rolling farm land, forests, state park, quaint village, galleries....and then it came....
tumbling out, softer versions of earth, soil, villages, hillsides, trees, lakes...

RiverView Gallery in HDG is showing these last three paintings...fitting that this is where they are, over looking the bay, that served as inspiration.

Inspiration is a humbling gift...a handful of rocks, a pot of left over paint, a photo or two and memories, lots of memories.
Smiles: Sharon

Heirloom Tomatoes

2017-08-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Oh, do we LOVE vine ripened tomatoes.

There was a time, long long ago, before the invention of squirrels, that we grew our own tomatoes.

I still dream of those huge, plump, sweet, juicy, flavor with a punch, tomatoes.

Now we rely on a great Farmer's Stand down the road.

Toasted sourdough bread, warm, a bit of butter and mayo, top with thick, luscious tomato slices.

A touch of avocado is nice also and a twist of Himalayan Pink Salt.

Squish together, wrap in a napkin, and let the juices flow.

Heaven, Heaven I say.

The opening sketch is all about

Linguine a la Olives.

(Sorry I don't make my own pasta, I just draw or photograph it.)

And for the sauce, it is beyond easy.

Heirloom tomatoes or plum, olive oil, garlic, Pink Salt, big pinch of parsley, small dash of dried chili pepper

finally, slice up those Kalamata olives and plunk them in.

If your pasta went missing in the cupboard, toast sourdough bread and

lather it on.

I cook just about the same way I paint...just go for it. More fun seeing how it all turns out!

I don't have a particularly great track record, but do have fun!

OLIVE TREES AND VAN GOGH

2017-05-01T17:46:00.001-07:00

My plane jostles and bumps, playing dodge ball between the mounding clouds. Flying low over New York, my vision is diffused; amorphous rectangles, squares, triangle, dots and dashes form abstract patterns distracting my rising queasiness. Threading in and out of the landscape are carefully stitched perimeters, irregular outlines of bushes, trees, rivers, highways and country roads. From my vantage point there is a certain surrealism to the landscape. These are images that remain embedded in one’s mind.

As our plane slowly descends, my thoughts drift back in time, when again, standing high upon a mountain, had a breathtaking view.

The limestone Alpilles Mountain range at les Baux-de-Provence dominates as far as the eye can see. The castle of les Baux was built in the Middle Ages, on one of the most beautiful sites in France.

The castle, billowing like a royal cloak beneath the rugged mountain range spreading an exquisite design, including a magnificent pattern of shimmering-silver OLIVE TREES.

OLIVE GROVES fascinated van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, continuing with today’s contemporary painter.

What pulls the artist’s eye to these weathered-gray, gnarled, twisted ancient trees; with their contrasting smooth, shiny leaves that change color in the passing breeze, lifting, ruffling to its white downy under side? Texture, color, form, and contour all qualities an artist desires for a successful painting.

Standing from my high vantage point, soaking in the panorama I am reminded of the SPIRITUALITY and SYMBOLISM the OLIVE TREE has represented throughout generations of time.

Symbol of Peace and Reconciliation: The story of Noah who released a dove into the sky, only to have it return holding an olive branch in its beak.

Symbol of Victory: In ancient times the forehead of winners were circled by a crown of olive leaves.

Symbol of Faithfulness: Friends of Jesus entering Jerusalem strewed the ground with olive branches.

Symbol of Sacrifice: Passion on the Mount of Olives, Christ’s cross was made of the olive tree.

Symbol of the Olympics: The torch that lights the way to the opening ceremony touches a cauldron filled with olive wood.

It is said about the olive tree that it is everlasting; when the trunk dies, vital living shoots spring up regenerating the dying tree. Looking down on the Baux Valley many of the orchards were decimate by a severe freeze in 1956. With time many of these once dead groves regenerated and sprung forth with life.

Van Gogh produced no less than ten paintings of olive trees when staying in St.-Remy. He believed olive trees were destined to become an important artistic theme. Vincent believed in the power of transformation/regeneration. He saw the olive tree as a powerful metaphor for his own body of work. His own life was transformed-regenerated from art dealer to preacher to ultimately a painter. Like the olive tree, his roots brought forth new branches, he was continually striving to be born again within his artistic vision.

We can capture this same metaphor in our own artistic careers, be it painting, writing, music, sculpture, whatever ones passion; we need but let new green shoots spring from withering and unfruitful roots. Our personal transformation-regeneration comes when we use new eyes with which to see; break open our perspective and outlook; slip out of comfort zones taking courageous strides; broaden our learning and open our hearts; and live with vitality and energy. Through our own deep roots we can move from the ordinary to the extra-ordinary. Just as I experienced the transforming panoramic view of the Les Baux Valley and its endless acres of olive groves, we, too, can take the panoramic path of our own unique genius and destiny.

Olives in a Red Jar

Thank you for allowing me to share some of my thoughts.

Smiles: Sharon

LOFTY CLOUDS SOLITARY BEACHES

2017-04-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

... returned from the beaches near Wilmington, NC.

... had beautiful weather, lofty clouds, cooling breezes

... solitary beaches.

The white-hot sun of day was slowly falling when we arrived at Shell Beach.

Shell Beach --- the perfect name.

Mounds of shells crushed to tiny fragments, the beginnings of new sand.

Hand size half shells of alabaster and sandstone,

piled like drift wood along the shoreline.

The evening sun split blades of sea grass

into thin ribbons of warm light,
shooting above split rails.

The most spectacular surprise were a dozen or so cactus, in amazing colors. Bulb upon bulb, crimson, violet, purple, fuchsia,
theo-violet....all balanced by greens, blended into blue.

Too quickly, the plummeting sun was at an oblique slant, flooding everything in golden light.

Then our evening diminished into darkness and the rush of the ocean waves.

...on the wings of wind
...we closed the day with a sherbet sky
...and a sand bucket of memories.

...smiles: sharon

WHEW, NEARLY MISSED IT !

2017-04-15T19:01:00.001-07:00

Four hours until Easter.

If I don't make too many typo's this will get "published" before midnight.

This has been a great week. (In another post I will share our visit to Roanoke, VA. A very fun town to visit, especially when meeting one's daughter. Yep, overnight stay, amazing food, shopping and the most amazing and FAMOUS salvage store ever.

Will share that soon.)

Yesterday, made another trip to garden shop and bought amazing PINK geraniums and more lavender plants. Just had to poke a few E.E in them.

Last years lavender didn't make it. Sad. I have a friend who planted her entire front lawn in small sprigs of lavender. A test of patience and strong back. Within a few years, she had a Provence Field of Lavender. Can you imagine walking up to her front door, in knee high lavender?????

While I am out in the yard, one more short story.

While attempting to HOIST upright a very large outdoor umbrella, unexpectedly, a huge bird nest tumbled out, landing on my head!

( Fortunately, no tiny bird eggs.) Haven't a clue how Mrs. Bird, built it while umbrella is prostrate on the cement patio floor!

Being a collector of empty NESTS, I was thrilled, despite the debris in my hair. Perhaps it is apropos, my hair does somewhat resemble a bird's nest.

A treasure trove always lies inside a vacated nest. This one had cellophane candy wrappers. Receipt. Laundry lint. Berries and sticks. Skeleton leaves.

Paying homage to the mother bird who built this abode.

Despite being large, it is now fragile after landing on my head. It cautiously rests in a pottery pot, with a "fake" egg tucked inside.

FINALLY I made time to do some spring-y, Easter-y sketches.

If you read the last post, you know that I was berating myself for not filling a sketchbook before starting another.

OKAY, made a good start.

Hong Kong has many parks, but a real favorite is the Bird Park, where men stroll the grounds with their "pet" bird in a beautiful cage or a simple bamboo. (Rather like going out for ice cream or a coffee with friends.) The men linger and mingle the afternoon away, discussing the merits of one's bird. A bit of a competitive air.

No Chocolate bunnies for us this year. Mr. H and I are by ourselves for the first time ever in our marriage at Easter. I guess that is one reason why I managed the sketches this week. smile.

Treated myself to three small grocery store bouquets of flowers.

You can tell I was excited by them as they are in many of my photos!

In Roanoke I saw this large, enamel mug. I loved the words. Six dollars well spent. I didn't think about the fact that I can't use it in the microwave. Oh, well it makes a great vase, or paintbrush holder.

Bavarian papier mache eggs.

Decades ago, (wow that sounds old), I had opportunities to travel to German speaking countries. Besides everything else, I fell in love with the authentic Bavarian folk painting...Easter...Christmas...Spring...

each season has its own quaint and colorful look.

The photo below shows a few of our eggs. They nestle inside one another. Lace-like doilies separate the eggs. The interior has delicately printed paper that indicates where it was made...

The small bowl is my attempt at paper-clay sculpting.

So that's about it.

If you have stayed with me to the end, I want to share a fun website.

No doubt many of you will be aware of it, but if you aren't and you love all things French. French sketches. French pastry. French open markets. French flair. Then this is for you.

PARIS BREAKFASTS is written by the very talented Carole Gillott.

You can even subscribe to her Paris Letters and bi-monthly received a beautiful, large, watercolor from Paris. I will share photos of mine if someone reminds me!

Click here..

You will see her post I enjoyed today, via email (you can subscribe to email/no cost.) I love the last photo in her posting...my all time favorite spring blossom, which you never see in the south.

LILAC

And with that, I say adieu, have a beautiful April.

And for those who celebrate Easter, a prayer for Peace in this struggling world. Actually whether you celebrate Easter or not.

smiles: Sharon

APRIL HAS ARRIVED

2017-04-10T18:42:00.003-07:00

I wish I could feel and look this serene right now. I had such good intentions.

Hours ago I had determined to write a blog post.

I even had an idea of what to share.

When I opened up Blogger, I discovered that MUCH HAD BEEN CHANGED !!!

And no one asked my opinion, or warned me.

Sweet simple Blogger became a maze of decisions and choices.

So here I sit HOURS later, yes HOURS.

Someone must have been feeling a bit sad for me, as things are sort of...well kinda...working out.

Not that I get "rattled" or anything, but for some reason I don't recall what I wanted to share.

But I do think that sketchbooks was part of it.

You see, I have been lingering, loitering, loving my sketchbooks.

Tonight while I was hysterically lost in blog woes, some in this family needed to be fed.

I cajoled Mr. H. to prepare the corn-on-cob while I sliced up some pretty good looking tomatoes (and it isn't even summer.)

Zippity-do corn on the cob and tomato and bacon sandwiches with lots of mayonnaise.

But I digress.

A while back, I pulled out every book that had at least ONE sketch. There were piles of books of every size and persuasion. Book shelves are now sagging!

I got pretty irritated with myself for not having more discipline and filling at least half of the pages of a book before moving on.

But life doesn't work like that. Probably for you, but not me.

It is time for an out loud commitment to fill at least one sketchbook this month.

Right now I Pinky Promise to fill in all of those blank sheets.

No more scooting around from hither to yon...going to be disciplined.

Life is indeed in bloom here in North Carolina.

Green, green, green everywhere, blossoms popping out, wasps and jumbo bees are buzzing all around our front porch looking for a way in, cardinals and robins are boasting their red feathers, ants are forming trails to somewhere, time to collect the vacated bird nests and wasp hives, three neighbors' cats are sunbathing on our front porch because we have soft cushions on the chairs and I only needed one sweater in the morning!

Ah life is looking good.

Smiles: Sharon

YEAR OF THE ROOSTER

2017-01-29T17:14:00.001-08:00

Hey, did you say, "Year of the ROOSTER?"
That's me.
"I volunteer!!! I am getting tired of hanging out with the hens."

Can you see those numbers at the top? If the year is listed that you were born in, then, great, you are also a ROOSTER. You are in good company with men! Come along with me.

If you ever get to China, be prepared. Lanterns are everywhere...I mean everywhere. You would think it was Mardi Gras or something. Sadly, I have yet to find a perfect ROOSTER lantern....I guess I will have to design one. But I do LOVE the Moon Cakes and tea.

This year, Sharon got rather carried away sketching bits and bobs of Chinese culture. Sadly much of the old, traditional culture is being replaced by gigantic sky walk buildings, cities within cities.

The colorful cards poking out of the sketchbook, are painted by Chinese folk artists. In an unique way, they visually portray stories of old Chinese traditions and ways of living, especially rural life.

Chinese children are BEAUTIFUL...I wish we ROOSTER'S had round faces, deep brown/black eyes, inky-black hair, and rosy cheeks. Heck, why am I complaining, I got feathers to CROW about. I am okay. I am glad to be ME.

I think that Sharon is infatuated with China and Asia in general. I was scrolling through her older posts. She seems to write about Chinese New Year, every year. I think she is waiting for her year, 19___, to pop up, then brag about it. No she won't fill in the missing numbers.

I found this blog (below) and I loved it. Imagine eating fish eyeballs. Yup, that is what her family did.

If you want to keep reading, be my guest. At least it isn't

Rooster Soup!

EVERY YEAR WE TAKE AN IMAGINARY TRIP TO ASIA

TO CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR--A TRADITION THAT GIVES MUCH HAPPINESS AND JOY TO THE CHINESE CULTURE AND OTHERS.

THEY INSPIRE US WITH OUR AMERICAN VERSION OF CNY !

CHEF DANIEL PREPARING FRESH FISH FOR OUR FEAST

FISH TASTED AS GOOD AS THEY LOOK....NOTE THE BEAUTIFUL EYEBALLS !

NOW THE CHALLENGE PLACED IN FRONT OF THE AMERICAN GRAND KIDDIES WAS......

TO EAT THE FISH EYEBALL IS A CHINESE TRADITION, ONLY BESTOWED UPON GUESTS OF HONOR.
TWO GK'S DECIDED TO EACH EAT AN EYEBALL, BEING TOLD THAT THEY ARE INDEED, VERY SPECIAL.

"DON'T THINK ABOUT IT. JUST PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH AND SWALLOW."

THEY DID IT!!! YOU CAN SEE BY THEIR FACES THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO TRY A DELICIOUS EYEBALL WHEN YOU ARE A GUEST OF HONOR.

TIME TO STRING LUCKY ORANGES AND LUCKY DOLLARS ON TO STURDY STRING.
A WISH FOR THE YEAR IS WRITTEN ON THE BEAUTIFUL RED AND GOLD JOSS PAPER.

OUTSIDE WE WENT TO MAKE WISHES AND THROW OUR ORANGES HIGH INTO THE TREES.
AND THERE THEY STILL HANG TODAY.

WE ALREADY ARE A VERY LUCKY FAMILY !

THANKS SHARON FOR LETTING ME WRITE THIS YEAR'S CNY POST. I WILL SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, SAME TIME.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.

ROOSTER AND SHARON

Sugar and Vitamin C

2017-01-05T17:15:00.002-08:00

What did you do in December when family and friends gathered around?

Some go to movies, some go out to eat, others it is shopping, and I imagine that there are those who go for manicures and such delights.

What did we do?

WE CREATED BIG MESSES !!!

For example, four kiddos and one Grandpa, making MARSHMALLOWS.

Have you ever prepared "homemade" marshmallows? Let's say that the fun part is licking the spoons, as opposed to washing the pan.

Then there is...

Finding an area conducive to FORMING and EMBELLISHING the set marshmallow (it takes at least 6 hours!) was next. Plastic table cloth, move chairs with cushions AWAY, set out plates of powdered cocoa, sprinkles, mint chips, powdered sugar, cookie cutters...nothing MESSY, mind you.

We started out nice and tidy...?? No dustings of powder sugar on noses and such.

The marshmallow, after resting in a pan, forms a soft, yummy sheet of mallow heaven.

Squeeeeeez the cookie cutters to maximize number of marshmallows...yes, they got to keep what they made. This became a serious, almost mathematical, equation.

Okay things are getting interesting...flip flop one's marshmallow into "topping" of choice. Of course one little boy who will remain nameless, THREW, with his baseball arm, his marshmallows into the powdered cocoa...coating everyone and everything with brown freckles.

Creations go into plastic sacks...

No that isn't MUD on her hands, just a creative mix of cocoa and powder sugar with sprinkles stuck into the mix.

And on one's face.

She promises she didn't lick anything !!!

Messy it is, but so much fun licking fingers coated with sprinkles, mint chips and powder sugar.

YUM.

And that is where VITAMIN C comes into the story.

A few days later we visited our local Asian Market...

Upon entering, there was a huge wooden bin of oranges. A sign made note that these oranges were sold with attached leaves!!!

Brilliant orange with glossy green leaves, bumpy skin, and a name I can't spell.

We filled a bag with the oranges with the prettiest leaves.

Chinese New Year is approaching very soon. This year it is the Rooster's turn.

We were redeemed, after all that sugary fun, we could indulge in VITAMIN C.

And yes the oranges were delicious, in fact SUPER SWEET !!!

WELCOME TO 2017, or YEAR OF THE ROOSTER.

May this particular year bring you inner happiness, connectedness with others and those experiences that bring you contentment and joy.

And may we in America be aware of those with less, being supportive of their needs.

And seek freedom from tyranny about the World.

smiles: sharon

WHERE DID IT GO?

2016-12-30T17:26:00.001-08:00

Welcome 2017 !

Have you ever wondered aloud? Where have the years gone?

This painting is in remembrance of my Grandmother Rhoda, enjoying an evening with one of her lady friends.

The ladies never went out in public without

proper hats and cotton gloves.

Luncheon dates were de rigueur. Chatting and gossiping, black coffee with cream and sugar, thin sliced spam on crackers.

Tall ice cream floats, in the deep heat of summer.

The pièce de résistance was the monthly ladies' bridge club. Bridge was played with concentrated seriousness.

Card tables were set up in the living room surrounded by chintz slip covered chairs.

Delicate crystal dishes filled with pink mints, mingled with crisp new playing cards,

on the tatted ecru linen table cloth .

My mind is filled with memories.

I miss my Grandma Rhoda.

She lived a few months shy of 100.

Where do the Years Go?

Are you ever overwhelmed by the fleeting essence of TIME?

May your New Year be filled with warm friendships, harmonious family relationships, meaningful work, spontaneous fun, compassion for all, a time to nurture one's self and a sense of inward peace.

Smiles: Sharon

So Much to Express.......HAVE

2016-12-23T18:05:00.001-08:00

a giving-Christmas, a joyful-Hanukkah, a spirited-Kwanzaa....and blessed traditions that you hold dear to your heart.

This is a Season to include ALL. To want the very best for each and every human being.

And that means You and You and You.

Our Chicago, daughter and her daughter drove two days to come celebrate Christmas in our home.

Today there is much visiting, cooking, baking and time to see the movie, Moana.

Maryland daughter and hubby had to stay behind, as their lovable dog, Dulcita had surgery two days ago. All are doing well, but sadly can't travel.

Charlotte, daughter and family live around the corner, easy peasy to celebrate any day of the year.

Utah, son and family...get to enjoy SNOW and icicles, preparing meals for others, taking Swedish Oven pancakes to family and friends...yep, they ran out of eggs a few times. Borrowed from a neighbor and found that they were spoiled! Crazy-daisy experience.

And right now, waiting for a face time call from Shanghai, from son and family who are celebrating Christmas early.

We will watch them open gifts, chat, laugh and giggle, all thanks to the wonder of the internet.

Aren't we blessed? Indeed we are.

It has been an over flowing week, with such wondrous happenings.

Sweet friends full of kindness and good cheer visited, bringing their violins, keyboard and gifts to share the Christmas spirit.

There just had to be hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and peppermint sticks for stirring, topped off with German Lebkuchen heart shaped cookies and biscotti. No "sugar highs" in our home!

Hmmm, in fact, they do look a bit "sugared-out."

For those who love to bake, this month's edition of SIFT is crazy-daisy good. Even if you just look at it. The cooky tin I painted decades ago, seriously. I bring it out every Christmas.

Swedish embroidery, German cookies, Swedish Dala horse and a sketchbook of colorful traditions. The candlestick to the left, was a gift from a dear friend to me...she brought it from her recent trip to Denmark.

Painting surprise presents for moms and dad in my studio. We were busy busy busy creating ornaments and accompanying gift boxes. Then one cutie boy, decided he wanted to draw dinosaurs...Anything goes in this room.

Christmas tree elves pop up in the most unexpected places...we caught him before he ate the last of the lebkuchen cookies. Brazen elf.

Another gift, the Swedish braided heart from daughter and hubby...and the gift of a music program in Washington, DC, The Christmas Revels. An all Nordic, annual Christmas program of dance and song. (We took a train to DC last week and spent time with them, Dulcita and Lemon..(the pups.) They treated us to this program that is a 20 plus year tradition at Lester Auditorium in DC.

Last week was Santa Lucia, and I have already posted about this Furner tradition. My sister-in-law sent me this beautiful snowflake ornament, resembling a German cooky that is iced! Just had to put them all together: Sweden and Germany.

Tomptes can be rather mischievous, but they are less likely to do quirky tricks if stuck on a page !!!

Sending you all a happy heartfelt December.

One of my favorite passages set to music by John Rutter. Seems so appropriate today.

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred...let me sow love

Where there is injury...pardon

Where there is doubt...faith

Where there is despair...hope

Where there is darkness...light

Where there is sadness...joy

Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled...as to console

To be understood...as to understand,

To be loved...as to love

For it is in giving...that we receive,

It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,

It is in dying..that we are born to eternal life.

If you research John Rutter /this piece of music and word, you will weep with me, and your heart will be filled.

With love, Sharon

MEMORIES THAT LAST A LIFE TIME

2016-12-11T06:32:00.000-08:00

It is a time of JOY when our grown up children, with children of their own, choose to celebrate traditions formed in their childhood. One in particular originates in Sweden

Here is our story.

Lucia, Child of Light, Sweden's beautiful Christmas tide celebration.

Santa Lucia Day holds for our family a true place in our hearts and family traditions. Grandmother Mimi Sorensen's ancestors came from Sweden. And perhaps that is one reason why this special day is loved by our family. Celebrated in Sweden on December 13th (and in many homes around the worl,) this is a day of honor and remembrance of a young woman, who was said to be born 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ. It is a story of truth, legend and mystery.

For our family, it provides us an unique opportunity to create our own family tradition.

Early in the morning mom would awaken Mindy, dress her in a long white dress with a red sash. On her head was placed a wreath of candles. Real candles were used until melted wax was a bit of nuisance. Carrying a tray of buns, our Santa Lucia would awaken her brothers and sisters. They would put on their cone shaped hats decorated with stars, paint and glitter and wear pastel colored gowns. Each was given a lit candle to care over.

This was a MAGICAL moment.

Mindy would lead the little blurry-eyed troup about the upstairs hall into dad's bedroom. Sweet voices singing, each would hold a candle and hoping that wax wouldn't drip onto their fingers, they sang their daddy awake.

Dad would wake up to the surprise and join them.

The Second Magical Moment

Slowly, carefully, our little family would wind through our festively decorated home, which for some strange reason was lit only with candles and soft Christmas lights that gave off halos.

Before each of our lovely Christmas decorations: the creche holding baby Jesus, the dancing music boxes, the hand painted wooden crate that held Advent surprises, the fireplace with its faux manger scene complete with baby Jesus laying on real straw, the Swedish goat and tomptes, and the dining room table set with blue and white china, and dishes of delectable foods, by each of these lovely areas we would sing a joyful Christmas carol.

We SANG our way through our Magical Home

...and we hoped nothing would catch on fire.

Each Santa Lucia Celebration was culminated with a wonderful breakfast of sausage, bacon and Swedish Oven Pancakes, hot chocolate and marshmallows...oh, and whipping cream and fresh berries piled on top of the pancake.

One Year I painted the tile (shown at the top) for each family. However, the original recipe comes from a 1974 Sunset cookbook, Scandinavian Cook Book. Seeing is believing...the condition of this book is a testament of sorts, to how often we made these oven pancakes. In fact we had them last week to celebrate our daughter's birthday.

Smiles: Sharon

A LONG TIME AGO....

2016-12-04T11:42:00.005-08:00

It seems like yesterday, we were walking the cobbled streets of quaint Bavarian villages acting like children given too much candy to eat. Indeed eye candy abounds from magnificent storybook paintings embellishing stuccoed walls, Hansel and Gretel cottages, crooked chimneys spewing real wood smoke, geraniums popping up like dandelions, feather comforters hanging over timbered railings basking in the sun, bratwurst with German mustard, thick pretzels and lebkuchen cookies, centuries old store fronts beckoning us to enter and indeed we did way too many times.

Each Christmas I pull out my precious little cache of card size German Christmas books. Can't read a single word of German, but the paintings tell their story on the walls of my mind. I am so delighted to share the covers of these little tiny pieces of art and see what your mind conjures up. There was a time in my art career when I painted these types of scenes, but that was so long ago I haven't a single photo to share.

I wish I could take you inside one of these books and share each wondrous watercolor.

Take Joy in your own Holiday Traditions.

For those so inclinded, sketchbooks are a super way to preserve those snippets of life that we love.

A beautiful December to All

Smiles: Sharon

OOPS I MISSED A HALLOWEEN POST

2016-11-02T07:33:00.001-07:00

OOPS I MISSED A HALLOWEEN POST, I sure did. So I will attempt a 30 minute catch up. that means mostly photos...throwing in a few family ones for posterity...fewer words...impossible...and no proof reading...that heads this toward disaster. so here goes.

it is true...one childhood is not enough...especially for halloween. we saw so many adults dressed up, and i mean dressed up. old to young to youngest, all join the fun.

anyway this is my little attempt to bring painting into the picture.

i never got the left side finished, anyway it tells a story of my scariest halloween as a child...story saved for another day.

i took sooo many photos of our yard and porch, now i can't find them so obviously they are still in the camera and haven't been downloaded...such is life around here. but at least my sketchbook got a touch of ORANGE...i love orange in the fall but other times of the year not so much..orange and black were our junior high school colors and i really disliked them at that age...so juvenile.

Good ol' harry was soooo popular....every other kid was a character from this fantastic series of books...this red robed harry is our grandson...doesn't he look like harry, or am i prejudiced and below next to the scarecrow is his sister...the littlest was Anna from Frozen...she disappeared (probably to refreshment table) so didn't get a picture.

we are still foraging for leaves, dried berries and acorns...but the pumpkin patch was the real find...we took a car full of tiny to tall, fat to skinny, smooth to lumpy pumpkins home with us.

the kids grandparents from "out west"came for a two week stay...what a fun time for everyone...they were a big part of our october excursions...

somehow i managed to get a bit of painting done with an autumn palette...have a show next week so under a bit of pressure to paint and play around with the fun-sters!

kids and art just go together like cocoa and marshmallows...sweet, fun and sticky. here we are studiously, painstakingly working on pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. no messing around, this is serious stuff to get it just right.

across the atlantic or pacific depending which way you fly are the kiddos that live in china...this is a serious holiday for the ex-pats who live there and none get into it more than their papa...

papa is concentrating on carving while YiYi sits in her princess dress amidst the seeds and pulp. note the type of pumpkin they have....pretty cute. then it is off to the most amazing clay...love the colors. lots of cute characters made by 12 hands.

back to north carolina, the kiddos made lunches for some lovely women who find themselves without a home and staying at the salvation army. they were guests of a local church who give them respite, a warm place to sleep, and three meals a day. lots of volunteers are needed for such an undertaking, so our family did lunches and a breakfast.

bags were decorated...sandwiches made...brownies...chips...and personally chosen tiny candy bars filled them to the top. we drove them down to the church and met the ladies who are having their most beautiful weeks in a long time. so friendly and welcoming. we left with new friends.

well if you made it this far, let me just wish you a very giving, creative, loving november. there is always time to think of another. i know that you are finding your own ways of sharing.

smiles, sharon

ps...30 minutes turned to 60 but it was worth it.

A TIME TO FORAGE

2016-10-25T19:00:00.001-07:00

The sun slants earlier and rises later, sending slivers of golden orange and red

across the horizon.

settling-in

mellowing

reminiscing

The last cuttings of hydrangeas are drying in baskets

along side pods, acorns, fading roses and sunflowers.

The joy is in the finding, the foraging, the digging.

Berries are my favorite to find...purples, brown, red, green. They dry beautifully. I use inexpensive baskets, line with dish towel or paper towels. Cut off the really large or decaying leaves. Lay gently in basket, allow air to circulate. Then the fun begins: photographing, sketching or using in still life arrangements.

Have you ever held Magnolia branches with their glossy-green leaves with velvety brown undersides, in your hands? Honestly they are the texture of, well, velvet!

We are fortunate to have two trees at the back of our yard. Year long they give us offerings of beauty.

Elena Nuez, from Spain, paints amazing designs on leaves, stones, paper. Click here to visit her website. Bicocacolors.com She does amazing, diverse paintings on foraged and found objects in nature, as pictured below.

Have been on a roll painting in gouache. LOVE IT ! Filling sketchbooks and pads of watercolor paper.

In the South, BBQ is a BIG DEAL. We went to a nifty BBQ restaurant with our daughter, husband and three Funny Bunnies. While others had Barbie ribs, etc. I opted for BBQ tacos...yep, tacos.

They were fabulous!

We ate outside enjoying the sweater weather temperatures, blue skies and grass for the kids to play on.

Kayla, who had been exploring, ran up to me with a handful of HUGE acorns. Wow, what a find.

We wrapped them in a paper napkin to take home. But that wasn't good enough, she led me to a magnificent old Oak tree, laden, totally laden with thousands of acorns. Shaking a branch they rained down on us. Hard knocks on the head!

Okay, this was serious foraging.

I left adults and tacos, to get plastic bags from the car, to fill up, of course. You would think we had found gold! Cheers for exploring.

Are these not amazing? This is a sampling. We filled jars and bowls with their nutty brown goodness.

And not once did we see a squirrel...they don't know what they are missing.

Did you see the HUNTER MOON a week or so ago? We were pretty excited to see it, the Funny Bunnies and I. Unfortunately the the kids had to go to bed before it was really high enough to see.

I kept running outside with my camera. This particular night was a bit cloudy, my camera couldn't focus the distance, but did get one shot. The entire bright spot is the moon.

This morning, at 5:30 AM, I was driving to a church to help serve breakfast to some women.

I drove STRAIGHT into sight of an enormous Crescent Moon, stark and brilliantly shining.

A perfect way to start the day...gifts from the heavens and sharing a meal with some lovely southern ladies, in need of a hands up.

This is the season of wanderlust. A time to be in touch with nature as she settles into a new season.

I hope that you are finding some moments in your day to fill your senses with Mother Nature's free gifts to all.

Smiles: Sharon

TIM BURTON POPS INTO SHANGHAI, CHINA

2016-09-30T09:25:00.002-07:00

Welcome to the World of Tim Burton !!

In Shanghai, China, no less.

And guess who was there to enjoy the colossal art of one of the most creative artists/filmmakers ever?

The Furner Family

(papa and "littlest" furner were absent)

Let us entertain you.

Mama Sarah and her young one's spent the day meandering the "yellow brick road" through oddities, sculptures, drawings, murals and all sorts of non-sensical fun, that only Tim Burton can conceive.

Nothing is the "last of its kind" in Burton's mind, only the beginning of another adventure. So lets follow along while four kids have the best day trip ever.
IMAGINATION STATION DELUX

Where does the zaniness start? Daydreaming, Mind-Drifting, Sketching, Paper, Pencil, Watercolors and OODLES of IMAGINATION. I bet that some of the world's problems could be fixed with an imagination like his....
(original sketches)

From this mural do you recognize any emblems, themes, designs in his public works/films?

MY FAVORITE
Hansel and Gretel never had it so good.

Next time your child scribbly-scrawls on your freshly washed walls, run for the plasticine and cover it for posterity. One never knows where the next Tim Burton might come from.

I do believe I will make sure the Grand-Kiddies have oodles of Play doh, air clay and paper clay to mess around with. Anything goes, freeform style...with lots of doo-dads for interest.

Have you found a wall in your home to paint with blackboard paint? So much fun for kids and adults alike.

Office supply stores carry clear plastic envelopes that you can clip to a clipboard. Insert a paper design, or just make up your own art with White Board Colored Markers. Cheaper than white boards. So much fun.

Lots of potential Tim Burtons out there...young and old.

The exhibit is several levels, hours of brain-tickling fun.
But what about something to just "hang around" on?

Now that is what I call "hanging on."

Or sliding...

Need a new friend with "eye-appeal?"

Or maybe you are more into "group activities."

...visions of sugar plums danced in their heads....

By now the young explorers were ready to let their own imaginations burst forth just like Tim.

Been to your local art or science museum lately. Total inspiration where ever we live. Most have interactive areas for kids to play and play and play....while mom's check their phones for messages...Just Kidding.

Time to say goodbye to our Shanghai Imagination Explorers. This has been a family outing to share with Candy Grammy.

Off to play with chopsticks and eat dim sum.
Now who will be the first to create a chopstick collage.

Loads of love and appreciation to Mama Sarah who lovingly shares all of their adventures with me via text, email and photos. Aren't I fortunate?
All photos by Mama-Sarah

Video Player

THE BEHIND THE SCENES SCOOP

2016-09-25T17:59:00.001-07:00

I don't know how much social media you visit, but I do love Instagram. On IG I can choose what I enjoy seeing, being inspired by and interacting with. I limit my choices: A few family and friends; photographers..specifically still life, food and travel; and art related, like painting and sketching. I have found some pretty awesome folk out there who make me want to try new things.

SO WHAT IS THE SCOOP? If you have followed me for awhile you know I am quite smitten with photography. Many photographers inspire me to try my hand at that which appeals to me. Combine IG inspiration and online photography classes and I am ready to GO GO GO! KIM KLASSEN is my online mentor, if you will. Her passing of technical knowledge nudges me in a direction I want to aspire to, Story-line Photography.

OKAY THE SCOOP: Since it is approaching autumn one of my favorite still life "styles" are the darker, moodier, more mellow, slightly secretive images...think: walking into your dark kitchen in the middle of the night, but the moon is radiantly-shining through a window onto your vase of fresh flowers...AWE ! Last week I was determined to create my own version.

Photographers know that the behind the scenes work and experimenting is to be kept just that "behind the scenes." Just present the final gorgeous, inspiring image. Then accept with graciousness the applause. (sorry overly dramatic)

INSTAGRAM PROJECT: mellow, darkish, moody evening-tide serving of my favorite Chai tea made with full bodied spices, milk and sugar. Definitely deep, rich and darkish like moonlight over a lake.

Well my friends, it "tain't" always what it appears to be on IG, magazines, periodicals, ads, etc.

First decision, PROPS, we all know props are V.V.Very. important, they move the story along.

Kitchen counter, lots of interesting wood textures, shiny but spotty copper tea pot, celadon green tea cup from Hong Kong

Move them around..play..set the scene..balance..line..composition

That is the easy part, the fun, creative part. But what about that dullish gray background with crazy metal heart? Or the sterile edge of the stove peeking into our little scenario?

Here in lies the SECRET. Lighting.

Which means (if you don't have a studio) making do with whatever one can find to manipulate the light source.

Look closely and you will see the light is everywhere, so how to STOP and SHINE light.

More props. Black plastic (clean) shutter to block the wall and stove. Wedged-in white foam-core board to bounce light on to the scene.

Now that was a challenge.

Next making the Chai Tea...if I had only done it first...

First good shot, pouring the thick tea laden with spices into cup. Hand shot, cool. So far so good.

(more behind-the scenes)

I didn't have enough tea (due to sampling) so decided to make more to fill the cup up.

But I was distracted on the right side of the board fiddling around.

Out of no where, the acrid smell and singe-ing sound of milk caught my attention.

The pan of beautiful dancing spice, milk and sugar double-bubbled, EVERYWHERE. The white foam-core board slipped next to the hot burner, with no hot pad in sight.

Yes a mess was born from the "behind the scenes" chaos!!!!!

It didn't take much for me to be no longer interested in sipping tea.

Moving away from the behind the scenes disaster.

TA-DA

Persistance and NO FIRE won out.

Love the last line on the script...All is well.

Obviously I did a bit of post photo processing after the work of cleaning up scorched sugar, milk and spices.

And now it is one week later and I am still cleaning the stove. Still taking pictures.

Another IG posting, letting the light peek in through fern. NO carrots cooking on the stove.

********************************************************************************

Perhaps you noticed that some of the above photos have a different look, coloring, lighting to them. That was done in post-editing in Lightroom using Kim Klassen's amazing Presets.

Kim has a beautiful website, many on-line classes that are beautifully instructed and inspiring.

If you are into photography you might like to checkout this amazing resource.

I used the following KK presets: Caramel and Mood Swing.

October is chasing us...may your part of the hemispheres be filled with glorious slanting light, deep shadows and the brisk air that awaits us in Autumn.

Thanks for following along with me.

Smiles: Sharon

The Girl with the Olive Complexion

2016-09-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Once upon a lifetime there was a little girl with a olive complexion, eyes like her Grandmother Rhoda...dark brown, pigtails, scrawny legs and arms and rag-a-muffin dresses made of tiny prints and eyelet trim.

Who lived in a remodeled OLD Swedish Church with STEEP stairs, smack dab in the middle of a farm.

This little girl didn't have other little girls to play with, rather there were only boys who liked to climb haystacks, jump from sloping metal roofs into piles of hay, and splash through irrigation ditches.

She went along with WHATEVER....

But alone in her bedroom she lived in another world....no BOYS, no ANIMALS, no HAY STACKS,

no ICY COLD IRRIGATION WATER.

Alone....not for long...as there was her constant IMAGINATION to entertain her.

Crayola Crayons for Katy Keene paper dolls with daring bosoms, (they were dressed cowgirl style),

old Victorian storybooks her Aunt L. gave to her...full of amazing black and white illustrations

a deep dark closet to hide out in

and pasture grass to lay flat on her back, dream on the clouds and whistle away dandelion tufts.

Pretty good childhood.

But one day, the girl with the olive complexion had somehow managed to get a package of CLOVE chewing gum. AH, the aroma, the spicy chew...yum. She fell asleep daydreaming, no less.

She awoke to her undone pigtails glued together with tasteless dull gray sticky GUM.

Into the deep tub.

Out with the soap, the oil, nothing budged that gum.

Scissors

Chop chop chop

no more pigtails.

The little girl with the olive complexion grew up to have children of her own, a husband, grandchildren, a home, a lovely life

and there was more.

She loved to draw, paint and make things.

And out of her past tumbled images of playing in a big bathtub, her hair grown back and siblings to play with.

Smiles: Sharon

ON MY BESIDE TABLE...

2016-09-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

Would you be brave enough to share a photo of your bedside table, publicly?

Horrors I wouldn't.

Truth be told, until two weeks ago I had two bedside tables next to one another!

When I finally acknowledged that it was out of control, I cleaned up my "act."

What is left on my tidy table? There is the ubiquitous box of tissues, cups of pencils, pens, paper clips, Post-it notes, practical-utilitarian lamp, odds and ends of notebooks, forgotten to-do lists, several magazines and a stack of books. Yes, on one table.

Of course, my tablet and phone are on top of everything !

Now why in the world would I share this...nothing cool or sophisticated, unique or clever, just every nightstand stuff.

I wanted to share one item on my table: my MAGAZINES. (Actually I don't subscribe to magazines, that gives me the excuse/reason to go to the bookstore and pick up my favorites. HMMM and maybe see something else.)

So in no order, here are my CURRENT favorites:

Click on name of magazine to go to main website, if interested.

SWEET PAUL: what can I say. This is simply a divinely fun magazine. It captures one's imagination with inventive recipes, crafts, flowers, articles and interviews. I believe Barnes and Noble is going to be carrying it soon. Anthropology does. I order on the website. The covers are delightful. Extensive website and fun blog, instagram, etc.

BELLA GRACE: this magazine has caught the photography world by storm. I should subscribe, it can sell out quickly. Again the theme of this beautiful magazine is thoughtful, sensitive, meaningful photography and writing. Interactive pages where you can write you own responses to their theme. Love the feel of the paper! Quarterly. Digital back copies.

CLICK: this photography magazine focuses mostly on photography of family, friends..people in general. Featured photographers, how-to's, online classes, blog, instagram...lots to look at.

MARIE CLAIRE IDEES: a favorite French magazine. Marie Clair has many magazines, but this is my very very very favorite. Full of creativity, like none other, gorgeous photography, recipes, painting, stitching, knitting, funky furniture etc. No, unfortunately, I don't read French, but I can figure out most things from a photograph and guess work. Quarterly, so I look for it at Barnes and Noble. I am lucky if I find 2 in a year. I found a link on Zinio, you can see magazine there and subscribe!!!! Hmmm I think I just might subscribe.

WHERE WOMEN CREATE: same format as Where Women Cook, only these particular talented ladies create with all sorts of imagination, products, handmade goods/with panache and flair. Very creative are these ladies.

WHERE WOMEN COOK: ah, here we can meet the blog world's cooking stars. Love reading about cooking entrepreneurs, their recipes, imaginative photography. It should a scratch and smell magazine.

Through the years I have enjoyed most of Somerset Studio magazines: Somerset Studio, Artful Blogging, Altered Couture, Art Journaling. But with time, tastes change and we move on to other reading materials. Certainly all of the printed media coupled with thoughtful writing and gorgeous photography has influenced me.

Leave a note, love to know what you are reading.

Thank you for sharing my current favorite magazines. Won't even start on books.

Smiles: Sharon

PAINTING IN A NEW DIRECTION

2016-05-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

Something new is exploding forth.

Time to do a bit of paint-exploration.

Actually I have been all over the place trying new techniques and color combinations.

This painting has been so much fun.

TAKING JOY, 24x30

Photos just don't show the details, however, this painting is based on an underneath abstract design. The yumminess comes with all of the mediums used. Acrylic for all base work, charcoal sketching (messy), overlays of soft pastel (the coolest part), crayon (just to be kid-like), graphite scribbles (hidden messages?) and splotches of ink (being clumsy).

REPEAT, over and over with the various mediums until I had to say, ENOUGH!

WILD FLOWERS, 24x30, Gallery wrap

One more in a similar style, but more bold and unusual color combination. This one goes a step further with the use of an abstract stencil. The background pink is a bit lighter, and I love the play of red against the pink. This is a very fun, expressionist way of painting. More on the easel...

Enjoy all the fresh berries at the open air markets or at your favorite grocery store.

Smiles: Sharon
sdsfurner@yahoo.com