A Walk

This morning I went for a walk. Yep, I was surprised too. I dropped Chloe off at school and came home and wanted to go back to sleep. I thought I could read my Bible and pray...and drift off to sleep, because that is surely what would happen. Or I could take 45 minutes to myself and have a nice walk. It was 37 degrees but it was that cold that you know won't hang around. And it was crazy-foggy outside. So I headed off and noticed how very many dogs we have in our neighborhood; they're a noisy bunch. And I headed off to the picture-perfect-disney-esque neighborhood across the street.

White picket fences and all... I really love the style of homes they have there and I daydream of living in something like it one day. But they only have tiny little side yards and well, I want the kids to have room to play and I like to grow stuff so it would have to be something else that looks like this.

The forsythia is in full bloom. I don't know if this stuff grows in Florida. I love it.

And as I walked around their "lake" I noticed a few perfectly formed spider webs that had caught plenty of dew.

I really tried to catch the steam of the fog and dew being burned off by the sun. It was so nice and relaxing. The birds were singing again (I forget that we miss that all winter) and it was just wonderful. I'm thinking of doing it again tomorrow.

Still Working...

Well, I'm still working on it but this is what I have from this morning. I want to keep working but I need to let the paint dry and I have to get to the stuff I've been putting off- folding laundry, vacuuming, and taking a shower. I'm not done yet though...

Sunflowers

So, I did make a list yesterday and I found it quite helpful for keeping me on track. I worked faster and more efficiently. I did not get everything done, however. And one of the reasons is because I started on the painting you (hopefully) see here. I've had this canvas for a while now and I've had the artist acrylics but I didn't know what to paint and I was afraid to mess it up. Oh, and I've seriously lacked the inspiration to start anything. Since this is the first time I've used artist acrylics- as opposed to craft acrylics since they're sooo not the same thing- I was hoping I would like it. And I'm very happy to report that I LOVED it. I'll have to see how it goes but I think that painting with acrylics is going to almost rank up there with singing as something I truly love. In some respects I like painting more than music. I certainly like it better than writing music. I find writing music to be a chore- probably because my piano skills stink so badly that I can't get what's in my head onto paper and I quickly lose interest. But with painting it is so freeing. I love the way that the colors meld together to create something unexpected and yet still pleasing. I love it that if you screw it up you can either fix it or create something different.

So this is my sunflower and it may end up being more than one and I'm kind of questioning my placement of it to begin with but ultimately it will end up being what it is and I really hope I like it. I've filled out the bottom of the sunflower more since I took this photo but it takes about 5 different steps to get one picture in Picasa so I'll show you more later. There are also about 3 (or 7) other painting Ideas that I want to start- a couple being watercolor, gasp! So I think that the secret to staying inspired is to keep painting. Which I'll be able to do a little bit this morning but there are some things that I absolutely have to get done this morning before Mom and Dad get here. I guess I'd better get cracking!