Pooh says . . . .

A gift from my husband . . . 

Other People's Words that I Love

I just love this lady and I agree with her words - 

strong as they may be, I feel the same way!

Let's Give Them Something to Talk About

My Movie Critique

Movies I Love to Share

Not so much this one!  1 Star!  Yup, just 1

My monthly movie group said this was a must see.  I missed movie day but decided to watch it last night on Comcast.  I struggled to sit still, squirming, wiggling, getting up and down from my comfy chair.  Yeah, and you know I love Jane Austen but this one  . . . . not so much.  

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TOMATOMETER 

98%

Average Rating: 8.3/10

Reviews Counted: 154

Fresh: 151

Rotten: 3

Critics Consensus: Love & Friendship finds director Whit Stillman bringing his talents to bear on a Jane Austen adaptation -- with a thoroughly delightful period drama as the result.

AUDIENCE SCORE 

66%

liked it

Average Rating: 3.6/5

User Ratings: 16,861

Artistic Pun . . . .

Artist Chit Chat

Reiki . . .

Just a reminder - Energy Healing W.O.R.K.S.

Received my Level 2 Reiki Certificate in October 2015. 

I practice most days, but when the pain shows up, I practice more intensely.  B.O.O.M  - the pain is gone.  I believe in energy work with my whole heart and soul.  Give it a try. 

Watercolors and Ink

Meet Blossom

My Hippie Giraffe

Watercolor and Ink on Multimedia paper

9 x 12
FOR SALE at any one of my shops!  Prints or fun stuff!

9 x12

Other People's Words that I love

"Even a broken clock gets to be right twice a day."

Anonymous

Zen Girl

Reworked this art piece and I am loving it more!

Zen Girl

Watercolors and Ink on Multimedia paper

9 x 12

FOR SALE at any one of my shops!  Prints or fun stuff!

Let's Give Them Something To Talk About . . .

Movie Critique

TAKING LIVES

5 Stars!

A female detective on the trail of a psychotic killer discovers love in a dangerous time in this thriller.   Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is a special agent with the FBI who has a reputation for using offbeat methods, but also boasts a strong record as a criminal profiler. Scott is called in by a former Quantico colleague (Tcheky Karyo) to assist two Canadian police detectives, Paquette (Olivier Martinez) and Duval (Jean-Hugues Anglade), who are on the trail of a serial killer who has been doing business in and around Montreal for close to two decades. The murderer has a history of assimilating many aspects of the lives of his victims after he kills them, but there's been a witness to his most recent crime. Art gallery owner James Costa (Ethan Hawke) saw the killer during an assault, and now finds himself working as an only marginally willing decoy for Scott. As Scott and Costa follow the killer's trail, they find themselves becoming attracted to one another, which is not necessarily a comfort to Scott as she finds her quarry moving closer and closer. Taking Lives also stars Kiefer Sutherland and Gena Rowlands.

How Successful People Think

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life 

(Resource: John C. Maxwell's "How Successful People Think")

Good thinkers are always in demand! (Introduction page).  Love this statement - so simple. 

It's hard to overstate the value of changing your thinking (pg x).

1. Changed thinking is not automatic
2. Changed thinking is difficult
3. Changed thinking is worth the investment.

How to become a better thinker:

1. Expose yourself to good input
2. Expose yourself to good thinkers
3. Choose to think good thoughts
4. Act on your good thoughts
5. Allow your emotions to create another good thought
6. Repeat the process.

More to come as I continue to read. . . . . . 

Book Binding

Took a Ribbon Book Binding Class

at Scrappnsavvy in Spring, TX  (scrappnsavvy.com)

L.O.O.K what I made!  

It's a Photo Album!

Front View 

 Side View

 Inside Cover and photo pages (sorry for the glare but the light just insisted on bouncing off the plastic photo holder pages)

Best Class Ever!!!  $30 ALL (yes ALL) supplies included!  We did get to choose our own paper for the outside and inside covers and the binding.  When we arrived at class our stations were ALL SET UP with all our supplies packaged neatly for us!  Plus and ladies this is a major plus - the book covers were already measured and cut for us! (And we all know what a difficult chore that is!).  What a deal!  Can hardly wait to take another class!  Oh My!

And kudos to the most patient and fun teacher ever: Jane Andrews!  

Come into my Rose Garden . . . .

Garden 

Won't you come into the Garden?

I would like my roses to meet you!

(Reference:  Richard Brinsley Sheridin).  

Decorating the Table for Fall Y'all!

I love changing things up when the seasons change!  Just a touch her and there makes quite a different look to your place. 

So I start in my dining room with the table.  This table has given my family and friends so much joy as we shared so many birthdays, holidays, Christmas, and any other special occasion meals.  I love to cook and I love to feed people!  I share my new recipes and home baked goods not only with family but neighbors too!  Someone once said "hang at Theresa's home for an hour and she will be feeding you!"  I love that!

So first I started with some inexpensive burlap.  Cut the four edges and fray them.  I actually saw this done at Pottery Barn years ago and of course - instead of buying their product - made my version of it myself!  A DIY project!

Next I folded a full size table cloth that I purchased at Target in three's, and then ran it down the center to work as a runner. 

Now to go into the storage area and get my Fall decorations!  Will post finished table!

Watercolors . . . .

Messy?  Not really!  Loving this!

How To Work Better

I am going to apply these rules to my art work. 

Saw this sign at my local neighborhood museum shop:

Let's Give Them Something To Talk About . . .

Movie Critique

4 stars!  

Five seemingly unconnected lifelines intersect in the San Fernando Valley: Detective Kathy Farber arrives at a crime scene to find that the corpse is that of her old friend Carmen; Elaine battle her mother and waits for a male colleague to call; Rebecca finds out that she is pregnant, Rose develops a comedic obsession with her new neighbor; and Kathy's sister, Carol, speculates on what might have driven Carmen to suicide.

Gilda Radner says "The Story of My (Her) Life.

I love this. 

I read it on a friend's Face Book post.

I decided to share it with y'all. (You. Lucky. Readers.)!

Story of my life!

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.

- Gilda Radner

Needle Felting - Zombie

Needle Felting 

My Latest Addiction

Now that I have completed a book cover to work on a book binding project, I decided it was time for something more challenging.  I want to do a doll . . .type . . . thingie . . .

My Zoombie!

Not finished

Head Shot #1

Head Shot #2

I did have a body on it, but was not satisfied with it so I pulled it apart!  Back to the creation table!

Go to Hobby Lobby and pick up your Needle Felting Supplies (see early post) and some styrofoam balls (for the shape of the head).

Start pulling the roving to fit around the head, punching/stabbing it into place.  Make sure there are no 'see thru' areas and that you are not stingy with the roving.  Then must pull your roving apart and shape into a nose, mouth and eyeballs.  I found that when i needed a rounded shape, I would slightly wet the palm of my hand and roll the roving in it.  The dampness made the roving form the round shape better.  

Go.  Have Fun!

Needle Felting - Book Cover

Needle Felting

My New Addiction (like I need one!).

Needle Felting is really quite easy after you watch a few You Tube videos explaining the supplies you will need and how to go about working the felt. 

I watched a couple of those videos - supply list in hand headed out to Hobby Lobby.   Totally surprised that they carried everything I needed.

Go to the yarn/cross stitch area.  You will see a bunch of Needle Felting Supplies.  To start you will need:

• Needles (extra because you will break them!) 
• finger protectors (because you will stab yourself!)
• a piece of wool
• styrofoam (lay your work piece on this when you are punching/stabbing)
• roving (you will see these in packages of different colors)

Note: Roving is wool that you can pull from the end to make as thick or thin as you want in order to create your design.  

So here are a few photos of my first book cover - or a piece of felt that I am going to use to cover a book I bind myself.  Not sure if I will use plain paper, lined paper, or naturally dyed paper.  But, atlas, the book cover is made.  

So here I am - fully concentrated being very careful not to stab myself since I did that right away.  Decided to put on one of those finger protectors I purchased at the last minute - and now so glad that I did.  (Ignore all the other supplies laying around). 

Here you see me stabbing or punching the felt into the felt square.  Important:  it is a 100% wool felt square, and the wool I am needling or pounding in is called roving. 

Note the very important finger protector. 

I am doing a random design. 

Working it . . . 

It is a lot of fun!

A different angle of working it . . . 

Have added more roving and making it a fuller design. 

The finished piece!  Yay!  So once you have added all the you want in your design - you flip it over and iron it with the setting of your iron on wool.  This helps in "setting" the punches.   I am really proud of this first piece and ready to tackle something a little more challenging!

I'm thinking I may run a zig zag stich around the outer edges for a more a finished look in one of the colors within the design.  

Yay!  Happy Day!

Muffin Tins for Artists

You Don't have to Bake to Love this Muffin Tin!

Support your local thrift store!

Way too cool!

Tools of My Trade - Sew Easy!

Sew Easy!

Sew Simple To Sew!

Take a well loved paint rag - fold up the botton to meet half way up.  Sew columns for each paint brush you want to hold. Sew easy, sew simple to sew!

Colors and Books . . .

Colors and Books 

Be Still my Heart!

(From Benjamin Moore Paint Store selection cards).  

Did you know . . .

Did you know 

that there are 5 elements in every painting?

1.  drawing

2.  value

3.  color

4.  composition (or design)

5.  edges

1. Drawing:  good drawing skills are fundamental.  This consists of patient observation, good training, & LOTS of practice!
2. Value:  is relative lightness or darkness of an object, 
3. Color:  hues and intensity, and of course, temperature,
4. Composition:  satisfy with good balance, enter from the left of the right, create an eye path, consider the form of composition such at 'thirds' or 'crucible', 
5. Edges:  these occur whenever shapes meet such as subject hair with the background. The eye fixes to sharp edges, but coasts gently over soft ones.  Place your hardest edges near the center of interst.  Also sharp edges that have strong value shifts works even better!

(Reference:  Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color and Light:  Chris Saper).

Pastel Painting - Bird: Goldcrest

First I did a bird study to make sure I could draw a Goldcrest.

Then I drew it on navy Daler Rowney Pastel paper.  This paper has only a small tooth in which the pastels will stick to - so not the best paper out there, but great for a practice piece.

I drew the entire picture with a soft white pastel for a basic outline.

After choosing my palette . . . . the results. I am pleased with it and may decide I would like to do it on a much higher grade paper.   A higher grade paper would let my feathery strokes show up clearer and the entire painting would be more brilliant.  

My on-line Shop!

ArtWorksbyTheresa.com

I am very excited about this new adventure.  If it is successful - great!  If it is not success - then no regrets, I tried it!

My Home Art Studio

Many are asking for pics of my home art studio - where my creativity happens. 

I will share!

Here is the hallway leading to my art studio (room) and as you can see it is my gallery wall!  But, truthfully - my art is hanging all over the house!  

In my opinion (mine only) a true artist will paint anywhere and on anything!  Yes, I did paint this ivy plant on the wall - well, stenciled it way back in the day when I was first getting interested in painting.  It will lead you into my studio.

Entering into my studio.  I do hang my work everywhere!  Please take note in the lower left corner of this photo!  Yes, my kitty Mozart spends a good part of his day in here with me while I work. 

Work table - of course - I picked up and cleaned up the best I could before taking a photo.  Usually, although I am a very neat working artist.  The small easel that you see there on my work table is from Daley Rowney and I use it for my watercolors.  Main reason is that the flat part (where you put your paper) sits on a ball that you can manipulate to create water movement in your art work.  

Another shot - man - I just love my space! The book shelf holds and keeps organized many of my supplies.  I like order! Of course, the drawers are full and the botton cabinets are full of more art books, videos and supplies!

DVD player only - no TV - sometimes I like to watch instructional art videos or just a video about art.  Or maybe just a romantic comedy to help lighten things up since I seem to get really intense at times. Oh and yes, those are a few of my counted cross stitches I did way way back in the day!  Funny!

This is my easel that I use to do my pastel work.  I am trying to figure out how to put wheels on it so I can move it around the room!  I can keep most of my pastels in the drawer and the lip catches most of the dust from the pastels.  I pull up the blind and I have more light than I need.  

Here are my books shelves that hold art books, hand made sketch books, store bought sketch books, and many other books that give me inspiration! Also I keep my portfolios here, too!

I will hang my art anywhere! And I do use this door as an "idea" area . . . .

More of the above!  

This little rolling table holds all my watercolor and acrylic supplies.  Plus, oh yeah, don't miss more of my wall hangings!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

Thought For This Day . . . .

Think about this . . . .

I take charge of my life and turn up the intensity of goodness.  I set my dials on harmony, abundance, perfect health, loving relationships, wonderful opportunities, and everything else that my heart desires.  I follow my guidance and keep my arms open to receive.  

(by Doreen Virtue/Daily Guidance from Your Angels)

Let's Give Them Something To Talk About . . . .

Movie Critique

Lady In The Van

4 Stars

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TOMATOMETER 

91%

Average Rating: 7.2/10

Reviews Counted: 127

Fresh: 116

Rotten: 11

Interesting enough to keep me watching to the end but . . . seriously Maggie Smith from Downton Abbey was the leading lady, so of course I watched it to the end!

The movie is based on the true story of Miss Shepherd (played by the awesome Maggie Smith).  She plays a woman of uncertain origins who 'temporarily' parks her van in Alan Bennett's (play write) London driveway and proceeds to live there for 15 years! What begins as a questionable and strained relationship become a relationship that will change both their lives.

Ab

Whimsical Watercolor Birds

A Whimsical Bird Study

Watercolors in Multimedia Sketch Book

Another Zentangle

Zentangle 

A Zentangle is a different form of art than a Mandela.  Zentangles open you up to being creative, while, I believe that a Mandela opens you up spiritually.  I enjoy doing both styles. 

Here's Your Sign!

From the Austin Visitor's Center

It just touched me . . . .