THIS is why I never get accepted

So, I got this letter from the Church Art Competition people saying "thank you for entering...blah blah ... lots of entrants....we regret to inform you..." I don't remember what else because my sister in law was reading it to me over the phone. I actually didn't receive the letter as all my mail that has my maiden name on it goes to my brother in Cali. It's just as well, I was so busy with my son coming home and Christmas I just couldn't be bothered with packing up a painting and shipping it anywhere, anyways.

AND I never can get a good photo as you can see here. I wouldn't accept this painting if I were on the committee, either.

I swore last time I would get Sarah, the best art teacher ever, to do a scan for me but as usual I painted at the last minute and had wet paint and excuses, excuses. But in reality it wasn't a very good painting. It was painted well but it doesn't mean anything to anyone. I even showed this to some relatives of Louisa Sheen and they were unimpressed. There are two things to great art.

1. How to paint
2. What to paint

I got the first part, I just can't seem to get the last part. Maybe if I took a college illustration class I might learn something. I am open to ideas. If any of you have an idea of something meaningful to paint then I would love to hear it - I might even paint it.

Here is a link to Emily Mc Phie who knows "what to paint" even though some of her stuff creeps me out just a teeny bit, (like tree branches growing out of heads) you cannot deny her work definately has meaning. The link will take you to her Church art competition painting and I'm the one who told her she should enter! The painting is really good and has loads of meaning. It could be that she is a professional artist and knows what she is doing , or something. She really is good. I love her work. Enjoy her site.

Perfect landscape

It isn't hard to take a good photograph when you have a great place to shoot. I don't want to make you all jealous, but the midwest is full of inspiring locations and beautiful light. Okay, I'm jealous too, because I don't live in the midwest. But I went there. And I took these.

This is a hill in Iowa. Is that the cutest thing ever? Art Girl thought she couldn't be photographed in a field without a piece of grass in her mouth.

Married kids found a cute little barn and some golden sunset light. Aren't they sweet?

This is a little creek on the farm. It doesn't look like it but it is about 7 feet deep. All this cool atmosphere makes monkeys pose all artsy. I think they should be Ralph Lauren models or something, don't you think? I actually took some pictures even better than these but I deleted them on accident. Of course, they were the best ones I took the whole trip. Isn't that the rule?

Even fallen leaves make a great backdrop. My kids went crazy in the leaves after this shot. We don't have deciduous trees where we live. The heartland is where it's at, baby.

He's Home!

Well, my first born man-child has come home at last! We were so excited to see him that we made these adorable posters. One arriving passenger said, " thanks for the sign but my name is not Howard."

I think he looks the same but with more whiskers. Everyone else says he is a little skinny. I think he is perfect.

This is one happy Papa. I got hugged first, but since I was holding the camera at the time there is no picture of me getting a big ol' bear hug.

He hugged everyone and then he picked up Bee and twirled her around. She was the only one he missed. Look how happy he is to see her. She is so big he almost couldn't pick her up. I know I can't.

Here we are in front of the house. It was pouring rain when we left and we didn't get a sign made, so my amazing friend Julie made this sign and put it up after the rain stopped and before we got back from the airport. I think I saw a tear from Homeboy's eyes. That was totally sweet of her. Thank you, Julie. Pay no attention to the weeds or the hose. Please.

Here he is. My College Boy. My life is complete. I love him with all my heart.

Romantic Living

There is a new online magazine called Romantic Living. Here is their website. I think it is cool that we can use the web to get out ideas and have some fun. They will enter you in a drawing for a beautiful Christie Repasy print if you mention their website on your blog. So I'm mentioning it. I actually met Christie in the summer of 2007. She is sooooooo talented and so very nice. Her originals are amazing and she just cranks them out. She even painted on the walls of her little shop in Laguna Beach. She gave me advice (basically to stick to portraits) and gave me tickets to an art fair and was very generous with her time. I would love to get a free Repasy print even though I already have like 5 or 6. My girls love them, too. So go check out Romantic Living online.

Nauvoo in a Nutshell

Here we are at the Nauvoo Temple. I thought I would be clever and bring a tripod and shoot ourselves with the timer button. But, what I didn't know was my new camera doesn't have a timer button so My Man got a temple worker to come out and take our family pictures. No lie. He's a smart one, he is. Since I am in bed with a bad cold I am too tired to go into the kitchen where my PS is to edit these. Sorry for the bad pics.

This is one of the reasons I call my offspring monkeys. She did this in our house, too.

While the older people went into the temple I watched the little ones and took some lovely shots. This is a replica log home where you wait for your carriage ride. So sweet.

We went into this place called the family living center where they show you how the settlers lived and made stuff. Here is a demo on how they made candles. I know, you are thinking they are just wax but they are really made from animal fat. EEWwwww, gross. Think how their houses would have smelled.

After we went to dinner at a little local diner, we saw a darling play put on by the senior missionaries. It was so cute and funny. Rex didn't want to go see it, being a 16 year old boy and all but I think he laughed the most. Here we are with some of the actors/missionaries. (Yeah, it was cold- like 27 degrees.)

Sorry this photo is unedited but I thought it would be cute to see our little married couple by an old stable. I believe this is an original structure.

We don't have leaves on the ground where we live. This is quite a phenomenon to my monkeys and they proceeded to do the natural thing when one sees leaves on the ground... scoop them up and throw them at each other. Even cute little Fifi is getting in on the action. Where is Mini Me? She is doing what I would be doing and she is video taping the scene off to the side. How very smart of her.

Here we are at a real oxen ride. The wagon is a replica of the wagons they used to cross the plains in. You can tell how narrow the wagon is compared to the Holstein oxen. These oxen were HUGE, about 2500 pounds. The pioneer's oxen were only about 1200 pounds. Which is about how much I weigh. Shhh... don't tell anyone I said that.

After the oxen ride we went over to old Brigham Young's barn and took some more pictures. That is his original house behind us. It was really small. Low ceilings and about 900 square feet. I absolutely love Nauvoo. It was so romantic and picturesque. The missionaries told us that a lot of couples travel to get married here. I can see why.