It has been a while since I painted. I am working hard creating fiber art and began missing the feeling I get when I am immersed in my paint and just playing.. I received new lessons from Life Book 2015 and the first lesson inspired me to play with paint. Do you like my “Beacon of Light?”
She makes me smile and gives me hope there is light surrounding me every day; a beacon of light to lead me to make the right decisions, gain confidence, be happy and make others happy as well.
I hope she does the same for you. All my best dear friends.
A Mother does know what her child does not say, it is called mother’s instinct. I had a very strong mother’s instinct. I knew when my son Michael was sick, depressed, upset or tired. I looked into his eyes and they told me everything I needed to know. He is now an adult with children of his own but I can still read his eyes. I will always have the mother’s instinct no matter how old he is.
For Jason, however, he was unable to communicate. I understood very early in his life how to communicate with him and how he communicated with me. For example, he was diagnosed to have apnea as an infant. This means he stopped breathing. When Jason finally came home after five months in the hospital, I used my mother’s instinct on him as well. After observing his apnea spells, I realized he was using it to get attention. He was holding his breath. Unfortunately for Jason, he held his breath so long, he was unable to start breathing again until he turned blue and fainted. When he reached this point he then started breathing again. He would recover and look at me. He got the attention he wanted.
When he was older, I was able to read his facial expressions along with his eyes. I would ask him a question and he would respond with either a smile, pout, frown, or tears, depending on what the situation was.
After a surgical procedure, I was invited to see him in the recovery room. I would ask him if he was in pain and he would look at me with tears in his eyes and a pout that extended down to his neck. This very clearly meant he was scared and was experiencing pain. The nurses would give him pain medication, and after a few minutes, he smiled at me and fell asleep.
Jason and I had a special connection with communication. He depended on me even more because I was able to understand him. It was the greatest gift I could give him and I was honored to be his communicator.
I only wished he could have found a way to tell me he was leaving me for a better place. I had a hard time accepting his decision to enter heaven’s door without saying goodbye. I finally realized he needed to do it his way.
The story of my life is an appropriate song for this blog post and the painting about friends. Ever since I was a young girl I wanted to have friends. However, I was shy and was only comfortable with one friend at a time. When another girl began to compete with our friendship, I always gave up and walked away. That is basically the story of my life.
I wanted to be the girl with a lot of friends but did not know how. I met a young girl back in grade school who, for some reason, clung onto me and never let go. We still see each other periodically and she will never cease to tell me how much she misses me and loves me. I feel the same way. We are totally different in personalities but we are life long friends.
After graduating from high school and I began to attend USO dances during the Vietnam War, I met two life long friends who are very dear to me. Even during a long period of my life when I had no contact with anyone because of my son, they never left me. We reconnected again and I cherish their friendship very much.
During the years taking care of my son I met a very dear friend who also had a special needs child. We needed each other’s friendship through the years for support and socialization. We are still very close and she will always be very important in my life.
Because of Facebook my life changed dramatically. I now have many friends who I communicate with on a regular basis. Many of them are from my high school days when I thought nobody cared. I now know that wasn’t so. I reconnected and I am surrounded by wonderful, compassionate men and woman who care about me and my welfare. I learned a very important lesson and it took 60 some years to realize it. Oh well…I hope to have many more years to enjoy them. LOL
I am busy this fall showing at local craft shows. I have three this month, two in November and two in December so far. In addition to the above I received the proof of my book which needs to be proofread again before it is finalized. With that being said I also visit the gym three days a week and babysit my grandchildren on Tuesday for 14 hours. Wooo….I am tired just thinking about it. Don’t let me fool you…I love every minute I spend with all my activities, especially my grandchildren.
Below are two completed paintings. I tried a new technique using tracing paper. I trace either a found image or an image from my sketch book and trace them. I collage the tracing paper with the image on the painting. What is cool about this technique is the tracing paper is so thin that when it is placed on the painting you can see the mixed media background through it. I really like how it turned out and definitely will be using this technique again.
I do not like my handwriting and I am always looking for a way to print my quotes without typing them. By using the tracing paper I can trace over the letters and it appears like I printed it. It also allows me to overlap images that really gives it a cool look.
Disability AwarenessDisability Awareness
Cool isn’t it?
I am hoping this fall will be a positive experience for me. I really want to spread the word about my inspiration paintings and the positive effects they can make in my community. Disability awareness is my priority along with equality and peace. Of course it would be nice to sell a painting or two. My inner critic needs to “shut up” and only one sale will do the job. 🙂
Do you all like my new design. I was getting tired of the old one and needed something new. I like it until it gets old and I will change it again.
I was painting today and it feels so good. Besides loving the creative side, it is so relaxing to dig into my supplies and just go for it. If I took a picture of myself, which I will not, my husband says I have paint on my face and neck. I also have paint on my hands. I love it. It is a sign of an artist and it honors me to be covered with my paint.
I plan on painting all weekend because I have been accepted to participate in my first fine art sale. I believe I told you I was waiting for a response and I received it yesterday and he gave me the okay. My very first Fine Art Craft Show. WOW!!!
Below you will see my class project from Life Book 2014 – Week 20 – Honoring My Inner Soul.
Life Book 2014 – Week 20
I hope you enjoy my music selection. Barbara Streisand – Avinu Malkeinu in Hebrew. How appropriate for the above painting.
My post will not be complete without a music selection so here is my selection for today. Enjoy!
Hallelujah song by Jeff Gutt from the X Factor A good choice for Inspirational Thursday!
To all mothers….isn’t this so true? My son who is now 35 years old and will always be in my heart. I can hear him now…oh Mom!!! Don’t be so sensitive! I am sorry but he will always be my little boy.
I hope you all are having a good day. It is absolutely beautiful here in Pennsylvania and I will be sitting outside soon to enjoy this gorgious day on my deck.
It is Inspirational Thursday and time to share another quote with you all.Jason
This is one of my favorite quotes. I created the painting as well. Yes…that boy was my son Jason. I blurred his picture a little in Photoshop because I currently have this painting in my etsy shop for sale (http://www.etsy.com/shop/Scrapperjudedesigns and it is in my art show at http://www.shopflipper.com.
I changed my Thursday blog post. Rather than posting what I am thankful for (I am running out of thankfulness
:-), I changed it to “Inspirational Thursday Quotes by Jude”.
I will be sharing my quotes from my very large stash I collected through the years.
I am very grateful to many bloggers who post about world events,inefficiencies in our government and current world news worthy events. I read many blogs about current news and find them very well written and informative. I will leave all this to you since you do it very well.
Inspiration is what I am about and this is what I will continue to do with each of my posts. I also talk about myself and my life which in itself is inspiring, especially my book which will be published soon.
I am thinking about adding another weekly post about healthy recipes I found and tried. If my husband and I both agree the recipe is a keeper, I am thinking about doing a weekly post and sharing the recipe with all of you. They are not my recipes. I am a good cook and can follow recipes only. I am not that good to create my own I would love to hear your opinions about a weekly healthy recipe share I find on the internet. The other night I made swordfish grilled with mango salsa to die for!!!
Judith Iris Quate, CZT, CAP 