I'm Still Here

It has been way too long since my last post!  I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still here, and to thank each and everyone of you who have emailed me and contacted me wanting to know how I am doing or just to let me know that you are thinking of me.  I really appreciate each and every one of you!

We finally got moved down here to Stephenville on the 4th of July.  It was soooooo hot - if I remember right, it got up to 105 the day we moved in.  What I didn't count on was the move taking such a toll on me physically.  I have been in and out of the hospital 3 different times since moving down here.  The last visit, I ended up being in the hospital for 3 days because I had gotten a sepsis infection in my intestines caused by another new diagnosis of Chron's disease and diverticulitis.  I am finally getting over it and trying to build myself back up strength wise as much as possible.

Because I have basically been sick since moving down here, I still haven't finished unpacking my studio yet.  I miss it terribly because it is always comforting to do artwork, but I am getting there.  I hope to have it all done soon.  I kept thinking I would get it done so that I could make new things to add to the blog, but I promise I will soon.

Besides all of that, we really do love it here. It is a totally different dynamic than living in the big city area.  Things are slower paced here, and I like it that way.  I was raised in a small town just an hour away from here, and it feels much more like home.  They girls absolutely love their school and are just thriving here. They have made so many new friends that it is like they never missed a beat.  I'm glad we did this move while they are still young, because it is so much easier on them.  Doug really loves working for the University, and is well underway with his Master's. He hopes to have it soon so that he can get his Doctorate started.  I love it as well, and am really happy here.  I am already making some wonderful friends here as well.

My girls are 7 and 8 now and I can't believe it!  Ashlyn's birthday was Sunday, and Megan's is today.  They are growing up way too fast!

I promise to get some pieces of art done soon and get them posted here.  I am having withdraws from not being able to create, so I have to do something soon!   Thank you again everyone for your prayers and concerns, and for checking in on me.  I will be replying to each and everyone of you over the next couple of days.

Finding Inspiration

I have been waiting to update my blog in hopes that inspiration would strike and I would have new artwork to share. Unfortunately, I have been stuck in an artist block, writer's block, and blogger block. I think this is one of the longest periods of time that I have gone since I can even remember without creating something. I kept thinking that if I just waited another couple of days, something would strike, but to no avail. I think the pressures of moving and selling our house and basically being a single Mom while my husband works so far away has just put a damper on my creativity lately.

Fortunately, things are now looking up - our house will be on the market this week, my parents are coming to help me with the final touches, the school year is almost over in which the girls and I will be able to move to Stephenville as well, and life will be much more like normal. Just the thought of all of those things I just listed leveling out seems to lift just about all of that dark stress cloud that has been looming over my head and preventing me from being my creative self.

I have started on a new painting, but have been slow on getting it finished. I am hoping to be able to finish it this week. Until then, I thought since I didn't have any of my artwork to share, I would share a couple more collage sheets for you to use in your artwork.

Ascension

The definition for ascension is "rise up", "move upward from a lower level." I thought this title and what I call "power words" that I use in my work was very fitting not only for what is going on in my life currently, but for the new Spring and the true reason for Easter. I have been all by my lonesome this week. It is Spring Break here, and my girls have been staying with my parents for the week so that I can work on packing up the house, and my Husband is in Stephenville (we moved him to a temporary apartment last weekend to live in during the week until we find a house for all of us to move there as well.

While I was packing this week I was thinking about how we are taking a huge risk with all of this. But, the more I thought about it the more I realized that sometimes life is about taking risks in order to rise up or move ahead. I have been working on this painting during my breaks and the word "ascension" came to me, and I thought it would be a perfect power word and title.

It is up in my Etsy shop. I will be adding a couple other things over the weekend.




Have a great weekend!

My Topsy Turvey World....

I am finding that this whole moving thing is turning my world upside down it seems like. Last Monday, my husband started his new job. He called me that morning and said that he forgot to bring his social security card, and since this is a federal job, he could not start or do anything without it. They couldn't even give him a computer. So, I frantically call my parents if they could come stay with the girls and pick them up from school so that I could make the 160 mile trip to Stephenville to take him his card. While there, I decided to stay an extra day and start looking for places for us to rent until our house sells. Next thing you know, I'm there the entire week, and still had not found anything by Friday. We finally decided to rent him a small apartment until we find something there rather than rushing into anything and ending up being stuck under a contract if we ended up not being happy with it.

In the meantime, the girls and I are staying here in Wylie getting the house ready to be put up on the market while my husband stays in Stephenville during the week and comes home on the weekends. Everything seems so surreal, and topsy turvey. I feel like a single Mom, and it is difficult at times because I also have a lot to do with the house. The girls have both been sick and home from school which has really thrown a wrench in my plans of getting things done. I already felt out of sorts after last week's unexpected "vacation." Even through all of this though, it is still really exciting because we get to start a whole new life closer to our families and in a town that we love. Just getting there is the hard part, but it can be done!

Now for some art work...first of all these two paintings will be up in my Etsy shop sometime tomorrow morning...hopefully.

This past weekend I made this painting for a friend of mine who once told me that she loved Celtic things, so I thought I would surprise her with this Celtic knot. I first printed off the design and then cut it out on a stencil sheet with my Xacto knife. Then I applied modeling paste over the stencil onto the canvas to create the raised effect of the knot itself. I'm not real pleased with how grainy the picture turned out because my camera is not wanting to cooperate with me lately.

Finally, here's a peak at some of the art journal pages I have been working on lately. I still haven't finished a few of them. I will be posting more of them later in the week.

Have a great week!

More Free Collage Sheets

Well, I thought I would add a couple more free collage sheets for your artwork. My paintings for the NY exhibit have made it there and ready for the show. I had to pick 5 out of the 6 that I made, and will posting a picture of the ones chosen and the one that didn't I will be adding to my Etsy shop over the weekend. I will post all of that over the next couple of days. For now, I have to get busy packing. My husband starts his new job on Monday, and the girls and I will be ready to go as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend!

Two More...

As you can see, I went ahead and did two more paintings so that I could have a few to pick from for the gallery exhibit. I have a pretty good idea of which ones I will send, but I will post my choices as soon as I make them.

Now, I have a huge announcement to make. We are moving to Stephenville, which is about 146 miles from here. My head is spinning because this has happened so fast. My husband was approached by Tarleton State University for a director position in their mathematical research and IT department in conjunction with the USDA. He wasn't really looking although he was probably going to have to pretty soon. Being in the IT industry right now is a very unstable thing. The company he works for is doing what lots of other big companies are doing by replacing all of their IT employees with off shore companies. Not a very good thing - especially right now. With literally thousands of these people losing their jobs every day around here that are in this particular field, finding another job is next to impossible.

I just think that God was watching out for us. We have talked about wanting to get out of the busy metroplex/busy city life and return more to our roots of small town living. We just weren't sure how that was going to happen until they offered him this job. This is the same University he graduated from, and so he is already familiar with the town. As for me, well it is only about 45 miles from where I grew up and where all of my family lives. I have been to Stephenville many times growing up. We will both now be closer to our families as well as getting to live in a small town. It will be better for all of us in the long run, but getting there is going to be a challenge. Selling our house with the market the way it is right now might be difficult, but hopefully it won't take too long to sell. Doug starts his new job on March 1, so he will go during the week and the girls and I will stay here until we get the house ready to sell and then we will go with him.

I will try to keep up with my blog as much as possible during all of this, but if you don't hear much from me until we get settled, you now know why.

Now on to my next project....

Four Down & One to Go (I Think)

I finally finished painting number 4 after starting over 3 different times. I guess for some reason, I hit a block and just couldn't get past a certain point, and once I did do that, I HATED the way it turned out, and so I would start over. Any way, I finally got it to where I kindof like it. I'm just still not that sure, maybe it's because it's not what I first intended, or maybe it's just that I'm my own worst critic. Either way, I think I miss counted on my post of my previous painting saying that it was number four, but this one actually is. I will post some pics of a few of my art journal pages tomorrow.

Have a good evening!
Stacy

Free Collage Sheets

I have been taking Pam Carriker's wonderful Visual Journalism 101 class. I have to admit, I have never kept up with an art journal like I should. I have started and stopped I don't know how many times, but not ever consistently. After taking Pam's class, I am totally hooked! I work in my art journal a lot now - daily, sometimes even several times daily. I see now how important keeping an art journal is as an artist, and just for myself. I have always been an artist for as long as I can remember, and my background from college is "Professional Writing and Literature." As you can see with all of that put together, it's really ridiculous that I have not embraced this concept until now. I have already made several discoveries and future artistic plans in the few short weeks that I have been doing this.

Since this has all been going on, I have been creating lots of collage sheets for my journals and work instead of just printing things off as I need them. I thought I would share a couple of them with you today for everyone in the class as well as you wonderful readers of my blog. I will also be sharing these from time to time, so check back often, as I am sure I will do this quite a bit.

Gotta add my little "disclaimer" ~
All that I ask is that you use these for your personal artwork. Just please don't sell these in your own collage sheets or as single images.

Enjoy~If you create anything with any of these images, I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

I will be posting some of my pages this week. My camera is giving me problems right now, and even Photoshop can't fix it. I may have to revert to just scanning them in. I've about got my husband ready to buy me a new camera! WhooHoo!!

Happy Creating!
Stacy

I Really Did Do It....

I have now finished the 4th of 5 paintings that I have to finish for an upcoming gallery show. I was actually in an "artist block" mode and decided to look to my favorite artist for some inspiration. I have loved Monet's work since I was a little girl and I can always look at some of his paintings and immediately feel inspired. I love his water lilly paintings and I owe him credit for giving me the inspiration for this piece.

Onward on to my announcement of what "I really did do".... Earlier in January, I made a promise to myself and everyone else that I was going to have my Etsy shop up and running by the end of the month of January. Well, I did - I actually got it up earlier last week, but just haven't had a chance to make the announcement here until today. I still have some tweaking to do, but it is up and going, and I made my first sale within a few minutes of having the store up! You can click on my link on the sidebar if you'd like to take a look. If you do, let me know what you think.

I am in the middle of finishing my 4th painting and as soon as I am finished I will upload it as well.

Cheers~
Stacy

Passage of Time

I have been very busy working on my paintings for an upcoming gallery exhibit. This is my latest creation that I finished last night. I have already started the next one - getting closer and closer to having them all completed way ahead of schedule. I have several other projects that I need and want to work on as well but for some reason, I just can't seem to let myself start anything else until I get all of these paintings completed. Normally, it's not uncommon for me to have several projects going at once so that I can move around to each one as I feel inspired. This is different for me. I think it is partly because lately I have been on an artistic high - meaning I haven't hit any artist's blocks in the last few days. That tends to happen to me from time to time, but I might as well "make hay while the sun shines." Can you tell I'm a Texas girl? How much more yee haw can you get? I grew up in a small town and my grandparents owned a large dairy where my Papaw always said that phrase - especially when he really was working in his hay field!

Tuscan Sunset

This is a piece that I finished yesterday. Although I have never been to Italy (it is my husband and I's dream vacation) this is how I imagine it. In my "dream" of looking out of a beautiful Tuscan balcony, the golden sunset casts a warm glow on the landscape around me. O.K. back to reality - this is one of several paintings that I am making for a gallery exhibit coming up soon.

Finding Strength

This is a painting of an oak tree I just finished for my brother who just got home from the hospital recovering from septic pneumonia. Like I have said before, I love trees. They have always intrigued me with their natural beauty and the way that, to me, they have always had special meaning and felt like a sense of strength. The oak tree is actually considered the symbol of strength. My favorite thing about the fall and winter months is that I get to observe God's beautiful trees, and their amazing branches are there for the world to see without their leaves covering them up. These are just some of the many reasons that I love painting trees so much.

My Plan

I have been thinking about doing something for the past several months, and because of my health issues and just life being it's normal, busy self, I haven't done it. I am planning on getting my Etsy shop up and running. I figured if I documented it in writing, then I would be much more likely to get it done, so I have made a promise to myself to have it ready by the end of January. Since things seem to be getting better, I don't have any excuses. Believe it or not, it looks like I may actually have it ready much sooner.

There...I said it, now I have to do it! Here is a peak at some of the things I have finished over the last few days. Seems like I have been on a roll of creativity lately!

I created this second Santa for a very special person as a Christmas present as well as a thank you. I post the story behind this probably tomorrow. It is somewhat of a long story, and I have my hands full with Ashlyn being home sick today with tonsillitis.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It has been a whirlwind for us traveling to see family and just the normal hustle and bustle of the season. I always hate it when New Year's is over because that means it's time to take down the Christmas decorations for another year.

There has been a lot happening around hear over the last few days, so I have been on a creating frenzy I guess from nervous energy. I will have a lot more to post over the next few days once I get all of the pictures taken.

These are what I made for my girls' teachers for Christmas presents. The pictures turned out a little blurry so it's hard to see that these ornaments are actually 3D on the inside. I cut out different parts of the pictures and raised them as well as added other embellishments too.

This is a mixed media assemblage that I finished yesterday. I have not created many assemblage pieces, but this is very addicting! I'm sure I will be making more. I have all kinds of ideas for more running through my head...maybe I should sketch them out in my sketch book before I forget!

I do ask for as many prayers for my brother as possible right now. He is in ICU fighting for his life with severe pneumonia and sepsis. He was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday with what they thought was just severe pneumonia, but shortly after they got there he began having seizures and they quickly determined that he was in septic shock. He put off going to the doctor because he didn't realize how sick he was. It is really hard for me because of my health and immune system the way that it is I can't go to the hospital or even in the house at my parents' where he has been. I just sit an wait between their visiting hours every 2 hours for updates and word for the slightest improvement. Anyways, he (as well as my parents) can use all of the prayers they can get right now.

My Favorite Time of the Year

I love this time of year. There is something about the Christmas season that tends to bring out the best in people. You see more people smiling and sharing during this time more than any other time of the year. The Christmas music is another one of my favorite things. I LOVE listening to Christmas music while I do things around the house and in my art studio. The best part of all, though is watching the excitement in my girls. Just seeing how what may be simple things to us are just amazing to them. It is easy to remember the special parts of Christmas and the Reason why we have Christmas by watching them. They truly are inspiring, and they make everyone enjoy this time even more.

I do dread the day that they no longer believe in Santa. There are several reasons for this as well. The first is something that I used to never understand why my parents said this, but now being a parent myself I totally understand: I enjoy "being" Santa as much, if not more than how I loved it when I was a little girl that believed in Santa. The other reason, well let's just say I might be put on Santa's naughty list for this one: I use it as my weapon on the girls (shame on me). I have them believing that Santa is always watching and that he has special ways of watching them when they are at home through the Christmas trees in the house and their advent calendar, and that we have a conference call with Santa every night to talk about how good they have been each day. Believe me, they are on their very best of behavior for the month of December, and all I have to say is that he is watching and they quickly straighten up. I am sure one of these days that will come back to bite me when they realize that all of that is not true, but as for now, it helps! This is also the first year that I have pictures of them with Santa when at least one of them is not either terrified and crying, or trying to escape as quicly as possible, or both!



I have been able to spend more time in my art studio lately, and have several things to show pictures of, but for now, these are my two latest creations.



Several people have asked about what is going on with my possible leukemia, and to make it as short as possible, the doctors have determined that I do not have leukemia "....yet." What this means is that the tests and biopsies all came back showing that it is currently negative, but could turn to leukemia at any time. I have all of the things in my blood that apparently shows all of the signs of it, but aren't quite high enough to be considered leukemia just yet. We just have to hope and pray that it never turns into that, but as for now they have determined that I have advanced Lupus and Vasculitis. I go back this week to get the final results on all of that and to begin a treatment plan that will hopefullly, start getting me back on track to feel at least a little better.

Seeking Answers

You would think as much waiting for answers as we have had to do lately that I would be getting better at this waiting game, but I am starting to run out of patience. I know it takes a while to determine a serious diagnosis, but my gosh! this is ridiculous! Every time I turn around I am having to do another blood test, ct scan, and x-ray then waiting in between for answers and just news of more tests. I did have a bone marrow biopsy yesterday (ouch!), and we are hoping that this will finally give us some answers. They are telling me it should be some time Monday or Tuesday before we have any kind of preliminary results. I am anxious and scared, but also just ready for some sort of answer and treatment. I am at the point where all I want is to just figure this out so that I can get some form of treatment and to get on with my life. Anyways, as soon as I know something I will try to post it.

I am still on "house rest" so I am not really supposed to leave the house and get into public places besides going to the doctor, but sometimes I get cabin fever and have to get out a little. I am very weak however, and do have to rest a lot. I try to spend time in my studio when I feel like it, but it is getting to where I feel like it less and less now. I do have a couple pictures of some paintings that I have made that are in this post, and I have several other projects that I have ready to take pictures to upload, but have not had a chance yet.



On a much lighter note - aren't my two little trick-or-treaters adorable!? Ashlyn is a car hop, Megan is a soda pop girl, and Memphis was an angel for about 2 minutes until we just had to put on her light up t shirt!






Hugs!
Stacy

Waiting and Hoping...

Once again, it's been a while since I have posted. I have had quite a bit going on since my last post, and mine and my family's lives right now are turned upside down. I have a lot of family and friends out there that would like to know how everything is going, and I was hoping to know more before I posted.

For those of you who don't know, my doctors seem to think that I have leukemia. They have been watching my blood work over the past few years, and my numbers keep climbing higher and higher. I have started showing a lot of symptoms of it, and they are running tons of tests on me. We just have to keep waiting and waiting for results, each time getting reports back that are pointing to leukemia. There is a small glimmer of hope that it could be something else related to medications that they have had me on, but not that likely because the numbers started climbing before those were given to me. More than likely, if I do have it, it will hopefully be the chronic kind and not the acute form. The "chronic" form of leukemia is easier to treat with a higher life expectancy rate, which is good. Not to fret, I am a survivor and have been through a lot of medical things the last few years, and I can handle whatever comes my way. That's what I have to keep telling myself. I have two beautiful girls, a wonderful husband, and an amazing family to live for and to fight for. We just keep holding on to that small glimmer of hope that it is something else.

During all of this, I don't know what we would have done without my parents. Like my Father-in-law said, "they are the angel wings" holding our family together right now. They stay with us during the week and do everything for me - cooking, cleaning, laundry, getting the girls to and from school, grocery shopping, etc. I have been confined to "house rest" meaning I can't do anything at all except rest and cannot leave the house except to go to the doctor so as not to put myself at risk for any form of infection. I don't know what we would do without them, and it is so hard and frustrating to me to have to let go of the reigns and let these two wonderful people who are twice my age handle everything for me. It is such an amazing act of love and selfless thing to do to give up their lives for me during this time. Hopefully we will know something for sure soon so that I can get on with my treatment and work on getting well. They just have to do every test possible so as to make an accurate diagnosis, and we just have to be patient. That's the hard part...I'm running out of patience. I want to find out what it is and get on with it. This waiting is hard...very hard.

On a lighter note, because of all of this I have been spending a lot of time in my studio, and have done quite a few pieces. I will be posting them as I get the pictures taken. It is interesting to step back and look at what I've done and how the current situation affects my work. It is much deeper than before, and you can see my form of expression without me even realizing at the time that I am doing it. I have always said that my art is my release, my therapy, and my form of expressing my deepest feelings, and this is definitely true right now. I'm so glad I can turn to it right now and to be able to forget about what's going on around me while I am in the "create mode." I have run into artist block several times, but am usually able to get past it by browsing through my books, magazines, and internet for inspiration. It doesn't take long before I am back in there creating.

I will try to keep everyone posted as much as possible through my blog, I know a lot of family and friends visit often to see if I have posted anything that I have learned, and I promise I will keep you updated as I get results back.

These are ATC's that I created for the "A Little Birdie Told Me" swap from one of my Yahoo ATC groups.

Trying to Catch Up

Wow, I am having the hardest time catching up! As I mentioned before, I ended up getting really sick with severe bronchitis, and finally after 3 weeks, I am finally getting better. I am just trying to get my strength back while fighting this flare, and it has really put me behind on things - especially my blog. I have only painted just a few things during this time, and am so ready to get back into my studio! Since my last post, my girls have both started school - now my baby is in kindergarten! sniff..sniff... They have also started gymnastics. I decided it was time after I tried to show them a straight somersault, and I swear I heard every bone in my body crack! I just laid there for a while doing a system check - o.k. my toes move, now my legs move, etc. To sum it up - it's best to leave that stuff to the professionals to teach my girls. I officially think I am too old.
This is a picture of the girls on their first day of school. They looked so cute! Although, I'm not sure how much longer they are going to let me dress them alike. They let me occasionally, but it is getting fewer and farther between. The only thing different about what they were wearing, is that Ashlyn absolutely refuses to wear bows anymore. "First graders do NOT wear bows, Mommy!"

Here are a few paintings that I did manage to finish over the last couple of weeks. I have to explain how my very creative daughter had a part in the "Bird on a Tree" painting. The girls had been down at my parents for a few days. Both of them are extremely creative, and good little artists in their own right. They both are fully aware of how I am always on the lookout for something to put in my art. They love to help me look through old books for pages for backgrounds and looking at different ephemera. Well, while they were all supposed to be getting ready to leave to come back home, and Ashlyn slipped off and collected several pieces of the prettiest thin bark pieces for me to use in my art. She put them in a little gift sack and wrote my name on it. She managed to get in their car with it, and make it all the way home without anyone noticing her precious little gift. Everyone was just amazed when she presented it to me that she for one, was so sneaky about it, but mainly that she put that much creative thought into finding me something that I could use in my paintings. I was just so touched and amazed that she did this. So, the first painting I did after that, I incorporated into the bird painting. She is very pleased and just tickled pink that I used something that she found in my painting!

Big Journey

As promised here are the pictures of the large Journey painting I did. Luckily, the customers were very happy with it, and I have to admit it is probably my favorite painting that I have created so far. The pictures don't really show the true colors too good. They appear more blue but there is a lot of green, pink, and yellow as well.