New Beginnings ONE Year Later

March 2014

 

Since Spring may be just around the corner in our area I decided I needed to get back to something a little 'More Normal' - I realize 1 year has past and this Blog has been neglected -...

LIFE as most of Know It Has been so changed-  A Mutual friend published a Book a few years ago titled "NORMAL Doesn't  Live Here Anymore"-In this last year that  has become my new motto- Barb Owens wrote this book after losing both of her Parents - This book was so parallel to the story of my Father's Life-Little did I know that at the time of her publication how much her Story would actually impact my life....

 

 

Since August of 2012 My LIFE (and my Family's) has been turned upside down - due to tremendous losses of several close family members - I Have a HUGE family; but a DEATH of any member of that family is sometimes overwhelming....

How can you get over the sudden death of a future Great nephew when God called this precious child to join Him in Heaven at the age of 6 months into a pregnancy -When his two  amazing parents had tried for so long to add this precious child to their family...

 

How do you help your Sister ,the grandmother , get over this tragedy only to have her lose her Precious, fun-loving  35 year old Daughter ( my niece)  2 months later??? I had  NO ANSWERS~

 

Regretfully  both of these sudden losses were just the beginning of my ' Normal Life Not being There Anymore'. As  I may  have posted back in the late fall of 2012  in a matter of 6 weeks I lost 4 other family members  & friends too. It seemed like  my/our  Life was spent either at a hospital visiting an ill relative Or attending a funeral ~   But more than anything else I was trying to prepare myself for the impending death of my very ill, elderly father. I'm so Thankful to have had the limited time to prepare for that occurrence  4 months later (Feb 2013).

 

During this whole period of time me & my  Family kept Hoping some sort of "Normalcy " would return to our Lives. But helping both my Mother & Sister deal with their losses of the Precious Loved ones was just overwhelming at times; therefore My Little part in the   world Changed FOREVER! 

My art  & friends took a back seat~ I have not been able to get my MOJO back since....

 

In all of Our LOST we did have a Bright Shining Moment - My nephew & his wife were able to add a  most  precious Baby added to their Family -Quentin arrived in August-{After many prayers & set backs} He IS the light in ALL OUR LIVES.  By the end of summer I tired to get back to things that I used to cherish so much like doing random photography ,scrapbooking, art journaling , going to the my friend's Lake house, taking random drives and walks,  and such. When I did start to  get some of the ' MOJO' back late last summer/fall ; TRADEGY hit my family again - Eight months  losing my father & 13 months since my niece's death; my Beloved Brother suddenly was taken away from us ....  :(

 

This was the most unexpected and unprepared death of all ! - How could "Our creator " Do this to my Family again?? How could someone so upbeat  be gone so quickly? Why was my Brother  out driving around  at 1:30 am in a neighborhood he did not belong in ?? Why did he need to be in such a hurry to be with My Dad & niece in Heaven??  These answers will never be answered ; but I know I must go on and try to change my LIFE somehow  for the better. I NEED to get back to the "NEW NORMAL" and move forward...

 

One way that I'm going to devote to move forward is by getting back to my Art, Friends and add FUN times to my LIFE &  Keep My Blog Up to date.  

 

             Thanks to ALL of You that have supported me in this transition period -

                                                I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!

 

  A NEW BEGINNING WILL START TODAY!!!



 

SUPER AWESOMENESS

Well I know it has been a long time since I posted  anything -In that time span I have tried to keep my "Creative Juices Flowing" but after losing 7 family members & friends (Including My BELOVED Father) ART  took a back seat. I did manage to take a basic drawing class  [ it did improve my shading] :(  But I continued to struggle to find the passion to CreAte any significant ART!-

So 11 days ago I was presented this great opportunity (Thanks  my BFF's for making all the arrangements on such short notice) -to attend an

 Awesome  Art Retreat.

(Still think this is an Aprils Fool's Joke)

 

 I HOPE this event will JUMP Start my Arting Process  and I 'll get back to posting soon!

 

 

TEXAS SEEING YOU SOON!

WEEK 47 PC Challenge~JAMAICA

Yep I did IT! I stayed on track this week and even posted the post card challenge on a Friday!

The delightful country we visited this week  was Jamaica - The land of rum, Margaritaville, dreadlocks, bobsled teams , beautiful turquoise water, amazing beaches, and Yes something called Reggae.
 But not all of Jamaica is beautiful, it is a very  poor&  improvised country. BUT a PROUD Country; and  do they love to have a good time, by partying late into the morning with lots of food and  wonderful music. Majority of their income is based on tourist flocking to the beaches.

Picking a subject for my card wasn't so easy, (because I kept thinking of so many things to use); so I just did a bunch of   uniquely Jamaican  things on my page. 


FRONT of CARD

FIRST of All -I must Confess I LOVE BUTTERFLIES!

So when I kept seeing

 this  butterfly on Jamaican souvenir  clothing -

I knew I had to use that theme for my card.

First of sprayed 3 colors of Dylusional Spray on watercolor paper.

Then I drew the outline of the butterfly & outlined  it in Pitt marker.

To get  the coloring of  the Jamaica flag more pronounced ,

I painted certain areas with more Dylusional Spray;

directly from the bottle with a paint brush.

 

 

BACK of CARD

 

Correspondence :

 

"My Loving Alexander,

Since we last meet in Monaco,

I went to Jamaica to soak up some sun before heading

home to Greece. I miss You so much; but knowing "WE"

will be together once Reuben & Pierre are

punished for their crimes, brings me much PEACE!

You know the locals in Jamaica really know how

to relax and party. I bought you a dreadlocks hat-

Can't wait to see you in it-

Do you think we can spend Christmas together?

Love,

Melite"

 

 

PAGE in BOOK

 

Process of the page:

First I had to figure out where to place PC on page.(top)

Next I drew the Country name, divided it out

 to represent the Jamaica flag and colored with Pitt markers.

I drew the frog next-(remembered seeing one on-line

wearing a Beret with dreadlocks) and he was colored with Pitt markers.

Colored the background with 3 shades of yellow & green

PanPastelles. Stenciled geometric shapes with orange pastelle.

Found the image of Bob Marley and palm trees  online-

The last image is a DOCTOR BIRD-  the national bird.

He was drawn and painted with twinkling H2O's-

such a gorgeous iridescent bird so he really

is very iridescent & shiny (pic bad).

 

 COMPLETED PAGE

 

 

 

Well this week, it felt SO GOOD to stay on track

and get some colorful art work done. Gonna work on finishing a few of missed

postcards yet this weekend so Check back!

 

HAPPY CREATING !

 

Fotojoy/Joyce







THANKFULNESS

 By now we  should have  celebrated our  Thanksgiving -went shopping  for those "buys" of Black Friday. NOT ME!!

 I have been taking it easy today - just being THANKFUL for spending all of yesterday with my parents & family. (even though many tears flowed during grace; given the events of the last 2  1/2 months) The food was great (ate way to much!) and as a Family we have all changed so much- We have always been close family; BUT now we show it much more. Even the young nieces and nephews hugged everyone yesterday and told  All of us how much they loved us as they departed. My father's health  has continued to decline; but he was able to speak for brief periods throughout the day, and he LOVED the mashed up pumpkin pie! My Brother was able to attend , he looked weak ,but his appetite was good. (Considering 2 weeks ago it was touch and go with him)- He has a long way to go in his recovery - we just have to make sure he takes the prescribed medications so his kidneys do not decline again.{ he would be described as a non-compliant patient in the medical world}

So as life goes on; I  have realized a cornucopia of issues occur in every one's life.

BUT I'm finally realizing in OUR darkest hours ; peace,

 love and Joyful memories are possible-

the pain  is  easing  as the days pass...

 We just need to ask for help when we need it,

reach out to our Loved Ones,

keep our Faith in our maker ,

and we can Be BLESSED in the mist of such horrific tragedies.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

and I wish You a Start to a

BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON!

 

FOTOJOY

 

 

Week 46 PC Challenge ~TIBET

Well the last month of this challenge  is just around the corner.  So I'm working hard to get caught up.

 This week  the country was  Tibet. Such a struggling country- much political unrest but yet a country of such Colorfulness- Religion is so important to the country, many beautiful monasteries and monks  that wear such plain but colorful outfits-the religious ceremonies are also bright. Many people hang colorful flags for spiritual reasons around  shrines and up in the mountains. The Himalaya mountains are so amazing and a source of tourist  income  Now lets get to my card.

FRONT of CARD

This card is based on Sand paintings that many Monks make-

This is textured with  glass bead gel but can not tell it on this view.

Underneath the gel medium  was colored with colored pencils.

 

 

 BACK of CARD

Correspondence:

" My Dearest Melite,

   I'm on my way home. I stopped in Tibet to attend

to some work related projects.

This country is so colorful, with all the flags flying, native costumes,

and the Monks in their colorful garb.

The Monasteries and Himalaya Mountains are so striking!

As beautiful as they are  I sense turmoil from the political unrest... 

 No updates from my Detectives.

 

Love You & Miss You!!

Alexander"

 

PAGE in BOOK

Images included  is a Shakyamuni Buddha.

Mount Everest of the Himalaya Mountains

The corner image is Tibet in native language and

it symbolizes the bloodshed occurring there currently.

 

Happy Creating!

Fotojoy/Joyce

 

WEEK 45 PC Challenge ~~MONACO

Well I'm back on track -well sorta-This last 2 months have been unbearable at times; but I promised myself I would complete this challenge. - This posting has been delayed because my oldest brother had emergency surgery Sat evening for strangulated bowel and perforation. He is starting to recover with some issues of kidney failure  and pneumonia, but  otherwise he is  stablizing.

Now lets get to the PC Challenge- This week our 2 lovers have FINALLY meet up in Monaco. They  went there originally hoping to find and prosecute "Reuben" related to the events  that occurred in Austria. Keeping with the multiple twists in this story; they were unable to locate "Reuben" ; but they shared some 'time' together.


FRONT of CARD

This is a colored pencil drawing of the Palace casino in Monaco.

Based from an old 1950's postcard  done in Prismacolor CP and

detailing done with Copic pens. 

 

BACK of CARD

   Correspondence:

"My Dearest Melite,

By now you should be home. Oh how I wish we

could be together now!! My LOVE for you grows more daily!

I still can't believe we were able to spend these last few weeks together!

Just wish we had Found Rueben, so he could be prosecuted for

what he did to You!! My detectives are following a new clue-

hopefully they can find  him soon! In the mean time we

have new Happy Memories of the Casino Place in Monaco!

Love Always,

Alexander

xxoxx"

 

PAGE in BOOK





I wanted a subdued look for this page- The PC was to be my main

topic. Monaco had so many thing to offer, but I'm a "Royalty Fan"

and knewn I had to include Princess Grace in the challenge somehow-

Background is scrapbbok paper with a light gesso wash over it.

Inmages include a casino, Grad Prix race car, and a

very expensive sailboat (some of the pricest boats are sold there)

 

 COMPLETED PAGE

So after many delays I HOPE to stay on track and get pages completed and updated quickly!

 

HAPPY CREATING!

 

Fotojoy/Joyce A.



 

WEEK 44 PC Challenge~~ SLOVENIA

MIA