super mom

Super MOM... These are very powerful words...

As a women with children I find myself battling with these equally powerful questions everyday...tights or no tights...do capes really make it easier to fly...what brand of milk should i buy...and where did Linda Carter get those amazing gold bracelets...
The thought of being able to round up naughty children with the help of a magical lasso is mind boggling...it takes me away to a place if only for a moment where mothers are caught between a two beer limit and a world of dreams... where toys place themselves back perfectly in order smallest to largest on the shelves of children... where the elusive words yes, thank you, and please magically appear within their daily conversations...and the power of spot removal from clothes and carpets alike with only the wave of a wand (does super mom have a wand?)to assist you brings on a euphoric feeling lost along ago with one's extra supply of energy and common sense which has been sucked out of one's body during child birth...

Out of all the arch enemies Super MOM must battle with in her day... there is one so powerful, so dreaded, so misunderstood...that it takes her complete arsenal of Super Mom's skills and cape wearing abilities to maneuver through the trenches and explosions of this mayhem called...BEDTIME.

The nightly ritual of bathing each child (with soap)... the delicate extraction of shampoo from the top of the little head... cup after cup of perfectly tempered water poured precisely over said little head... so as not to enter the child's eyes, this being the same child who moments earlier was showing off under water swimming tricks to you in the back yard while you cooked in the hot sun ... this (of course) all having been accomplished without soaking the floor...

Following the wet foot prints down the hall, bath towel in hand on a retrieval mission...leading the towel wrapped child back towards the bathroom for the nightly all too painful brushing of the teeth...

As all super moms are keenly aware... only a fruity flavored character toothpaste may accomplish this task...toothbrush in hand we hum through a rendition of the ABC's...spit and somehow miraculously miss the freakin sink...(again)

It is now time for lights out and the multiple tucking ins of the child to the child's bed...a story, water and the oh so popular "are their monsters under my bed"...a sweet kiss on the head and happy dreams whispered from the oh so triumphed Super Mom...
Super Mom has done it once again! (da da DAHHHH!)...bringing justice to all and clean underwear to the family...

Stay tune for the next chapter of...Super Mom

Growing up with my child

Camp Wood TX. was the small hill country town my grandparents retreated to and i spent every happy summer at...i remember the rivers being so clear that the giant catfish would seem to wink at you as they swam by...saying the waters fine jump on in...

every other Sunday after church we would load up my Grandparents car with a cooler and blanket and head south to Uvalde...this was market day...it took about an hour and the ride there and back was always my favorite part of the trip...

pillow in hand and only the clouds to keep me company i was free to daydream away the hour...to my liking i always had great stories lined up waiting at a moments notice to spring to life and become an everlasting part of my wildly overacted imagination...

cell phones,ipods,a ds,and all the other electronics so easy to carry around were no where to be found...my own daughters can not walk out of the house not even for a short ride without the attachment of a plastic box adhered somewhere to their body...

i truly believe that my own children are missing out on simple act and beauty of looking up towards the clouds and looking out to the horizons...taking a step outside... walking a pond the earth and not just through it should not be a distraction for all those blinking and beeping lights we are so accustomed to carrying around...

i find myself even now grown... sitting at a stop light looking towards the sky hoping to find even for a moment those pass daydreams that are ingraved in my still overacted imagination...and those happy summers spent as a child...

painting as a child

playful color... it makes no difference to me whether made in nature or made by man... big sweeping sunflowers flowing with the bright colors of yellow... tiny red and black lady bugs dot their petals...

temper paints lined up in front of a large sheet of butcher paper, waiting for their turn for the little round little fingers to dip into their silky hues and produce a finger painting masterpiece.

these were some of my first memories where i recognized the importance of color...
i love the way paint feels on my hands a rainbow of my very own tucked safely under my fingernails...the way a brush full of paint and color moves across the paper...as a child i could spend hours lost in the magic of my painting...stories to be told only for me...

i miss those quiet times creating...molding my personality into the artist i have become...i miss being a child and not knowing what may happen or the freedom i felt to dive into such an adventure...so this summer i will meet my old friends...open my paint box...and let my little round fingers explore what it is again to make a finger painting masterpiece...

surfing the unknown

there are days i feel brave...that surfing into the unknown wearing only a wetsuit and carrying only my surfboard will carry me across the waves into the ocean... into the unknown...today was such a day...i started looking into products i will need to start my art business...scanners, printer, color pencils in every huge...bright oranges and blues... shades of golden yellow so soft one can hardly see their effects a pond the page...i love art supplies...brushes to fill with thick rich paints...drawing pads with their glossy cream colored pages waiting for the charcoal of my green handle pencil to approach laying the first soft strokes of an outline...

this part is easy... shopping is easy... i have been drawing and painting for so many years it really comes quit natural to me...it's the show case of works that may take some time...comfort in others eyes...

i must be fearless if only for myself...i must paddle my surfboard through the waves turn...mount...and stand on top my board...feeling the rocking of the water under me... it's coolness lapping my feet i will watch for the shoreline...slowing riding back towards the sandy beach...into the unknown.



my mermaid
mixed art hand painted on canvas

love love love painting for my children...tooth fairy boxes,painting their bedroom walls,canvas works and these chairs that go with the Dogs do Rule table...

i lose myself in time and space when i paint...there is a calm easy place in my painting...a place all to my own...

three years to pot roast

i remember as a child spending summers at my grandparents home, some of the most heart warming foods on the planet being plated and set in front of me for dinner...for me, every mouthful was a safety net being carefully wrapped around me holding me in place lost in a moment of time....the foods of my childhood are closely tied to the happiness i feel today.

when i first tried to recreate my grandmothers pot roast i failed, with a great sigh,and mustered the willingness to try again. it took three years and plate after plate of half done meat, raw vegs and soupy stock to master what i know my grandmother would be proud of. (and my family begs for)

chuck roast lightly flour and brazed in veg oil
two cans of del monte diced tomatoes-garlic and onion
slow cook for 1 hour-add
potatoes
carrots
celery
garlic
salt and pepper
a bit of water to cover and simmer for three to four hours

warm bread and three years to pot roast...my grandparents are always with me.

spaghetti dinner

tonight we ate...spaghetti, the one meal my whole family will eat without question...
perfect pasta... dressed in a sweet red sauce... dancing with crusty garlic bread...600 cal all for me...prepared by my husband, what could be better. (not doing dishes)

i was born an artist, it's true...you may have heard this line before... my mother says i was coloring by six months making my own finger paints out of peas and carrots... drawing the faces of the people i saw around me out of mud, a stick as my brush and the sidewalk as my canvas.

i have used many forms to create my art as i have grown...many of these still involve food...i love the colors and textures of the food i fix for my own dinner...many of the shapes i use in my art.

there will be many projects ahead for you to read and become a part of...starting with a few paintings i have done just for me.