Art On the Run

Art on the Run!  More fun in DC!

 

We made it to the White House!!!  I still can't believe it!  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Lovely Michelle- but she wasn't doing any weeding at the moment...Then, I was going to do some Pushups in her honor...but the HUGE Secret Service Guy with the big Gun was kind of well...off putting....

 I'm having some tech difficulties so posting a pic from my phone requires several long Excrutiating steps...:)  So I'm posting my 29 Days of Faces here...I'm pretty behind, but had some time at the hotel last night to sketch a bit.  I just grabbed a the Coffee Table book from the Hotel and found an interesting face:)

 

Day 13

 

Here's another one- Yikes hands are Hard to do!

Day 14

 

Yesterday we took our own Bike Tour of the Washington DC Monument Area- strangely called "The Mall"   Here's Nick with his new Steed...

 

 

It was a Gorgeous day and we got to see just about Everything!

 

And I finally got to Touch something:)  God Bless our Veterans and their Families both Past and Present....

 

That's it for now!  

 

Love to all!

 

The Freibotts Take DC!

Road Trip!!! Ok...we flew- but still, it's kind of like a Road Trip!!!1

 

This is my First Ever "Blog from On Location"... I am writing from Washington DC!!!

Ok- is it weird that I think the Airport is one of the funnest parts of the trip?  Ya, ok it's weird....but I do!  Especially because you get to drink Coffee from Starbucks and pretend that you are World Travelers and do this everyday...Oh...and then there's Breakfast Paninis....

 

 

I was Crazy excited because we got to ride these "Star Wars Transports" from one side of Dulles Airports to the other...I told the guy driving that we were not the Droids he was looking for...

 

 

 

Then we proceeded to do what all Freibotts do best....EAT!

 

After a Long day of Travelling- we arrived in all of our Red Neck Glory...and were treated to some Fantastic, Fancy "We have Organic Trees growing in the middle of our tables" restaurant!

This is Vapianos:)

 

 

I had a Particulary Fancy Salad.....with Strawberries, Pine Nuts and Goat Cheese!  We are definitely not in Arizona anymore! 

 

 

Fortunately my DC Family is of the "Paleo" Tribe so I hopefully won't be gaining 20 lbs by eating out every meal!!  For all of you Paleo's- YES that's goat cheese...I didn't say I was a part of the tribe!

 

 

 

Here's Nick out front:)  Ya Ya, we wore plaid-and comfortable shoes... we're Tourists- we're allowed..

 

 

We are all Total History/Museum Geeks so we were SO excited to got to a Smithsonian Museum!

 

 

Ok now- there are 2 Museums apparently...and the one with the Weird Name- "Udvar-Hazy" is apparently the one to go to...it has....I can barely stand it.....The Space Shuttle!!!  The Actual Space Shuttle!!!  It's the "Discovery" and I went to see it land when I was little with my Grandparents- a Happy Happy Memory...I am a Closet Space Shuttle Geek.

 

I was so wrapped up in the other planes that when I saw it peeking threw I grabbed Nick and squealed! He was thrilled to have his Mother squealing and jumping in public...

 

Look at how they tease you with it...you peek through...the Angels start singing...the lights are all 'glowy'...

 

 

And then BOOM!  There it is!!!

 

 

 

You have to admit it's pretty Smexy!  Oh- and so is the Shuttle...:)

 

I can't believe it was the actual real one.  It has been in space for 365 days or more.  I SERIOUSLY wanted to touch it....I mean BAD!  Nick had to keep watch over me...I might have also tried to touch a Soviet Missile...But I didn't, darn it.

Ok- and the Most Bad-Ass of Planes Ever...

The Lockheed SR 71A Blackbird....

 

 

Check out this View from the Very point...

This was SERIOUSLY cool!

 

 

And for all My Creatives- Proof that Art Survives in even the Most Difficult Situations:

 

 

This is actual Art made from Bullet Casings during World War II, made while Literally 'in the Trenches'....Awesome!!

 

 

 

So here is Nick in front of an actual....ok....'pod thingee that the astronauts used to come down in'.  Can you imagine all the crazy stress of being blasted into space, then having to Re-enter...then drop to possibly your death in a tiny little elevator with no cables!  Then you have to wait, possibly upside down, for someone to come fish you out.  Hopefully Friendlies!

This Museum was Fantastic- I can't say enough about it.  We saw the Concord and the Actual Enola Gay, the one whose sad Mission it was to drop the Bomb on Hiroshima.  So much amazing History....I just wanted to Touch it!!!!  I am one of those 'Touchers' you see about in "Night at the Museum"...it's so embarrassing!

 

After a long day of Museum Hopping...we were back to another Fabulous Restaurant....Here Nick is eating an entire Gourmet Pepperoni and Spicy Sausage Mini Pizza...after texting a picture of it to his brother of course...:)

 

 

Tomorrow we are off to the "Mall".  I am very easy going and when the Family said "then we'll go to the Mall" I thought...well, Ok- we will go to the Mall- Soft Pretzels, Shoe stores, Merry go Rounds...Ya- apparently all the Really Important Monuments in DC are called "The Mall"...

 

SO!  I am very glad that we aren't just going to see DC's version of Fast Food Chinese!

 

I may even get to see.....THE WHITEHOUSE!!!!!  The Real One!!!

 

Many of you are not aware of my "Fan Club President" style LOVE of all things Michelle Obama...

Anyone who will do Pushups with Ellen on National TV is Tops in my book! I'm hoping she just happens to be out on the front lawn watering something...it could happen!!!

 

Off to bed- Jet Lag is a real pain!

 

Love to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay Calm and Draw Faces

14 out of 29 Faces...I'm behind!! Yikes!

 

So, I've been working really hard behind the scenes on this whole Etsy shop thing and it's had me a bit Frazzled to say the least...(See My Etsy Shop Might Kill Me!)  So far I've got 7 Items entered and my totally Groovy friend Adrienne Rose is helping me out with the banner. She's crazy cool...

 

Check out her Blog Adreinne Rose...Love it!

 

Here's the Before:)

 

I'll post the after soon:)

 

I did realize today that I will be out all of next week, my Father is having Hip Surgery the first half and I'm flying out on another quick visit for the second half.  SO I am thinking I will work on it on the plane and in between Hospital Visits and I will Launch as soon as I get back next weekend.  Yay!  I think....I'm still pretty terrified!

 

So, I've decided to work on relaxing a bit, remembering why I am doing this...because I LOVE  IT...Oh yeah!!:)  I even have a reminder up on my wall... One of the first things I made:)

 

 I've been trying to keep the stress down by taking very frequent Sniffy walks with my Furry kids and taking time out to watch our Fave TV shows with the Family. 

 

 

 That and regular doses of Movie Theatre, Ultra, Extra, Super, Mega Butter Popcorn.  We like our Butter with a little Popcorn around here...none of that Light stuff here!

 

So here's what I've come up with between episodes of "Project Runway" and "Whose Line is it Anyway?":

 

Quick Sketch from a Magazine- I think she's a bit "Elvish"...Could be because I just started re-reading Lord of the Rings...Expect a lot of Pointy ears...

 

Did this one for my Neice's Bday and then stole it back!  Got to mail it back to her!  Sorry Ammie!

 

 

Yes- It's a guy!  I added the moustache just in case it wasn't obvious...

 

 

Here's "Weird Tree Face Lady" again... I did this one a while back...it's all "Artsy" and stuff...:)

 

And Finally...before you start thinking that all of this 'Weird' came out of my head... My Romulan Gal Pal here came from Edward Steichen's 1928 Photo of Louise Brooks.  Mine is Decidedly more Alien of course...

 

Edward Steichen's 1928 Photo of Louise Brooks at Denziger Projects, "The New Yorker", Oct 31, 2011

 

 It was in a old "New Yorker"  magazine, kind of 'Star Trek Strange"...that's why I liked it:)

 

So... the Question is... Consistency...Where are thou?  

 

 I look at these and I think that I must be a Schizophrenic...ok, I already new that, but at least I should be developing a 'style' soon.  One day it's Big Eyed Cartoon Fairies and then next day 1920's Romulan Flapper Girls...

 

Oh well!  I'm just going to Follow my Heart with this area of my Life:)

 

Maybe I'll try a Dwarf Girl...I hear they have Moustaches...

 

Love to All!

 

 

My Etsy Shop Just Might Kill Me...

 

 

My Etsy Shop Just Might Kill Me...

 

 

OMGosh! If I knew how Much I DIDN'T know- I would have..I would have....AEEEAHGHA!!

 

Ok- I feel better now.  Seriously- every time I click the Mouse I find a New 'App', 'Network', 'System' or 'Mad Voodoo Internet Magic' that I have to stop and learn.  Seriously???!!! Did I say 'seriously'  already?!

 

Sigh...so- I've read literally 15-20 books trying to get up to speed enough to Tackle the Online Wonder that is Etsy.  For some reason it has just seemed like "The Impossible Dream"....mostly to my Geektastic Family who can't believe Mom even knows how to Spell Instagram let alone Use it...

 

To put things in Perspective, only 2 years ago I had to have a team of three Geeks devote 2 days just to teach me to Text  and I couldn't figure out how to even 'Get On' Facebook- let alone 'Friend'  someone 3 months ago...

 

 Granted 6 years of chemo has not left a lot of time or Brain Cells available- but now that we are in the Clear- I have been working REALLY Hard to NOT be dependent on my Sweetie or my Boys for every single Tech thing that I needed to do.

 

My True Love and My 'Nerd Herd'...

 

 

And Sophie of Course...

 

I've kind of been in Survival Mode for quite a while so I've only used as much Tech as I absolutely needed.  I knew that somewhere in the last few years I was SERIOUSLY becoming an Out Dated-"I'm fine with my Flip Phone" Mom...

 

NO MORE my Friends!!!....I shall Conquer this or Consume enough Diet Pepsi and Nuttella to Die Trying!

 

 

After reading "How to Open an Etsy Shop for Dummies" for the Third Time- I took a Deep Breath and actually STARTED the Process....then spent 6 hours trying to figure out how to make a Cup-Caking Banner in Picassa! 

 

Turns out I need to learn ANOTHER App to Size my Pics Correctly...Ugh...something with "Monkey" in the name- I'm too exhausted to order the e-book!  My Kindle is already smoking...

 

Here's what it looks like so far...

 

 

Not too bad eh?-  If it actually looked like that on Etsy-  Can't get it to Resize right!....SIGH...

 

Then there was researching how to ship, how to bill, how the heck to work Paypal...how to figure out what the heck to write in a "Welcome"...you get the picture:)

 

So I am going with the "DONE is better than Perfect" Philosophy and doing my Best knowing that I can always go back and Pay someone a Lot of Money to Fix it...

 

 

 

Fortunately, I have found some amazing Artists and Creatives who I call my "Examples of Excellence" to learn from.  I will be sharing all of  those with you as I bump slowly along the Road to Etsy.

 

For now- I will Consume Mass Quanties of Caffeine...Stay Calm and Carry On!

 

 

Love to All!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Beginnings and Simple Things

Simple Things 

 

Time to start Running Again...

 

It's Officially Fall, the temperature is Finally Dropping and the Calendar says it's time to start Marathon Training again.  I got my first run in a yesterday and I forget sometimes how Blessed I am to live here!  I get to run by a Real Actual Farm...Cornfields, Turkeys and the Occasional stray Cow. 

 

 

 

Even the Weeds are Beautiful:)

 

It reminds me to Enjoy the Things that really matter....Like Family, Running,  Doggies....

 

 

 

 

 

And Diet Pepsi....

 

 

WAIT!!!!!

 

 

Relax everyone- you know I have an 'Emergency' one Hidden in the Back of the 'Beer Fridge'...the World will continue to spin another day...

 

Stay Thirsty my Friends!

 

Love to All....

Making Art when it Hurts

Working through Painful Times- Making Art when it Hurts...

 

 

So I started this Blog to Focus on all things Wonderful, Colorful and Fun.   It is both my Passion and my Therapy:)    I really want this to be the Positive Uplifting Fantastic Part of my life on display for ME to see- so that I can Remember how Blessed I really am.

 

BUT- as we all know, tough times come to us all.  And at the other end of the Spectrum, Art and Art Journaling have been such a Therapeutic Influence that I think sometimes it has kept me from Going 'Crazier':)

 

 

 

This week I've been working through some Issues that kind of hit me like a Wave from behind.  I was really Stuck in it for a while.  It's my experience that Pain can paralyze us sometimes and keep us from even constructively dealing with it.

 

 

So when I could finally take a Breath and could do Anything More than 'Emergency Praying", I forced myself to do some Journaling.  Lo and behold what started  out as One Index Cared ended up 10:)  I ended up with a "Pile of Processing" that I wanted to Honor, but also Release..

 

 

SoI took all the Index Cards, wrote as Many Descriptive Words as I could over them, Covered them with a layer of Gesso and then tore them up.  They became the Backdrop for this weeks Art Journaling Endevours.

 

I committed myself to Prayer and Study over the things that I am dealing with and wanted a Place to keep Scripture Verses, Notes and 'Discoverings'  Because a lot of them had to do with Anger...I decided to 'Mail' them to myself...Figuratively Speaking:)  Thus the Dragon Mail Envelope.

 

 

Again the background being my Journaling and the Dragon Tail was from a previous Piece I did this week.  Now it holds not only my Heartbreak, but also my Hope:)

 

It's just Big Enough to Hold my 4 x 6 Index Cards that I've been using to Journal and add Scripture to.

 

Finally,  I used all the rest of the Scraps for this Page.  I made a few 'Suprising Discoveries'.  I think the Most Important of which is that Anger is sometimes actually Unbearable Pain...

 

 

It doesn't excuse it, but it Does need to be Acknowledged and Released.

 

The Lord is Good and Loving and So Forgiving and I am trying to  Focus on that this week.  Again I am reminded of this Verse:

 

Finally, brothers and sisters..."Whatever is True, whatever is Noble, whatever is Right, whatever is Pure, whatever is Lovely, whatever is Admirable- if anything is Excellent or Praiseworthy- Think (And Create about, enjoy, make much over) these things...Phillipians 4:8

 

Parenthesis added is mine:)

 

I'm off to draw Fairies and Make Little Houses:)  Hope you'll join me in Focusing on the "Lovely"...

 

Love to all!