Artists Seek Peace....Find It.....and ROCK!!!

    In my life time, probably like most of you, I've made many purchases. Some I was not happy with after the fact, and some that just made me wonder: "What was I thinking when I bought that?!!" And then there are those purchases that make you so happy that you sit and smile, saying: "Wow!!"...Well, this last feeling is what the purchase of my girl from Cathy Bueti {her blog is Artsy Butterfly} is making me feel today! I can still see me in her face...even more so now!
   I knew she was a wonderful self-taught photographer a long time ago. In fact I featured her shop on this blog before. You can see it HERE.  But she has caught my eye in another medium now, her paintings. Particularly her mixed media pieces. Especially her girls!! (She even shared a gorgeous piece of blue and white abstract art that she did just recently on her blog.) Hopefully more of these will end up in her Etsy shop, cathymariecreations, as time goes by.
   When the package came last night...

    ...I got all giddy! It said: "Do Not Bend". There was no chance of that happening! I was being very careful. I didn't want anything to happen to her!

    When I finally got it out of the package, which was very nicely wrapped and smelled good I might add, it had this on the back of the painting...

   And this is also when I realized that it's painted on a board! A fabulously sturdy, beautifully finished board! I was so in a hurry to purchase her that these kind of details had escaped me. :-) And when I turned it over and looked at her up close and in person...

    ....she was even more beautiful than I thought she would be!!! Thank you Cathy!!...I love all of the small details too. Like the butterflies and words all over it.

    And the encouragement to "Seek peace around every turn".

   But I got another gift with this package. I'm not sure Cathy intended to give me TWO pieces of artwork, but she did!! It was the card she sent with it! Isn't it pretty?!

    It has these beautiful multi-colored painted hearts all over the front of it! I love this so much!! In fact, as I've been known to do with post cards and letters that were special to me, I'm going to frame this card and sit in in my bedroom so I can look at it all the time! :-) I like to be surrounded by love!
   The words inside the card were a gift too. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing.

    Part of what she says is:"...I hope you love her as much in person!..." Well Cathy, with this post I think that you can see that I absolutely do!!! And I'm glad to have met you in blogland too! I think you ROCK!!! ^_^
   In fact, I'm on a roll in my choices of people to follow in blogland and here at home! Let me show you what I mean with a couple of other artist's...their artistic photography!

    This one was taken by my very own hubby! Nice perspective, huh?!

     This one was taken by Kerri, of the blog A Little Piece Of Me. Every day on her blog is another beauty!
    This was one of the Memories Of Fall photos of Vicki Patino.

    And these were a couple of the Weekend in Photos done by Hollie on the blog And baby makes three.

     Awwwww! Peaceful...And I say it again, Artist's ROCK!! ^_^

Artist's ROCK!

Their eyes see what their heart sees,
and in colors on canvas or in yarn.
You can see it in their photographs of foliage,
or the red and brown that's painted on a barn.

Their heart says: "This bead color's perfect!"
Then you see the artist's work on jewelry stands.
They recycle, mix the media and show you,
and collect a lot of now adoring fans!

Whatever medium they work in,
Whether working with their hands or just their eyes,
you can be sure they'll get some oglers and lookers,
who, like me, will give them "Ahhhs" and "Ooooos" and sighs.

Is There Truly 'No Place Like Home'?!...No Place?!

   This was a photo on the blog Twenty-Ten Fotos the other day. Between this photo and a question that was asked of me yesterday, on the blog Honey from the Bee, I really got to thinking about places that I would love to visit or some day call home.
    This balcony is in downtown Croatia. (I think, anyway). I would love to go grocery shopping and then have to come back home to this! It looks like such a great place to live in. And I could see my hubby, just like Romeo in "Romeo and Juliette", yelling up at me from the street: "Where fore art thou, Puddles?!!" {Puddles is my nickname...Okay, so I cried at everything when we were first married. Puddles of tears,...even for commercials on T.V.!! ^_^}

     Just looking regularly at her photos of Croatia makes me think it would be a great place to live! The above photo is a little resting place a little ways away from the Roman ruins near Split Croatia, in Solin,...(I think). You can read the full blog post, which has lots of other photos on the blog Croatia-Motherhood and my daily adventures of living overseas. This got me to thinking...could I live overseas?!...I don't know about that. I'm the kind of girl that loves the familiar. Even though this certainly looks like a beautiful place! Her little daughter Beli certainly loves it!
     The question that Janet asked me was: "If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you want to see and/or experience?" You can go HERE, down in the comments section, and see my answer to this, and 3 other questions she asked me. But for sure wherever I called home would have to have good food, a good place to buy yarn or crochet thread, colorful flowers, and good music! Not to mention water and breath-taking scenery!
    And around this time of the year any place in the Northeast of the United States would probably be a good place to call home. You can see what I mean in this photo of the Bronx River, in New York, taken recently by Cathy of the blog Artsy Butterfly.

    She has some wonderful memories connected to this area and the Bronx Zoo. You can read the rest of the post HERE. I would love living here, I think. But maybe not all year round. Just in the Fall...My tastes as to dwelling places would have to be...what shall I say....comfortable. I need to have all of the comforts of home...and then some! Number one place to call home?!

    Hawaii!! What's not to love about this place?! Sunrises and sunsets to die for, food, the ocean, flowers, music, and friendly people!! I might have a bit of a problem with people needing crocheted items...but I can always ship them off to somewhere else!! ^_^
    And then again......I think the expression is true. There really is 'No Place like Home'. Especially for me. What would I do without the Connecticut river...

     ...and my backyard?! :-)

    Even in the dark there's always something going on around here! I bet Mr. Skunk is thinking just like me, that no matter how many places you can really love visiting or vacationing in, there's really 'No Place Like Home'!!...No Place!! ^_^

}Remember, tomorrow will be "Say What You Need To Say" Day! If you want to do it too, use the words 'Say What You Need To Say' in your blog post title. I'll link your blog letter to mine. Have fun! You can be honest, but nothing mean-spirited please! :-)

 Home

The place where I am at my best.
A place of calm and peace and rest.

The place from which I never roam.
'Cause it's in my heart, this place called home!