Gallery Stroll in Park City

Friday night my husband an I finally got a chance to go out together. We went to the Gallery stroll in Park City. It was raining, but warm so it was great. I love going from gallery to gallery. I love Scott Richardson's art at the . I found out he had just left two minutes earlier. His demo was still wet.

At the last gallery I was excited to find the painting I showed on my blog from the Springville Spring Salon. The artist is Douglas Aagard from Pason, Utah. His work is so amazing and vibrant. I got a chance to talk to him and his wife and was so encouraged to know that the only art education he had was about a year of watercolor classes. There's hope! He encouraged me to just keep painting. I felt so excited for the rest of the night. No more excuses. If he can do it why can't I? Thanks for the inspiration Douglas.

Take a look at one of his masterpieces. You can also see the rest of his work on his website

Restoring Honor

Yesterday was Glen Beck's Rally in Washington DC. It's theme was Restoring Honor. I hope to get another chance to hear the whole thing but I love so much of what was said and was so excited to hear so much talk of inviting people to believe in Christ. I wish I could have been there.

Something that I loved that Glen Beck said was that we need to be honest in all that we do and to have charity - especially in our homes. I think our home are the most difficult place to show charity sometimes, but it's also the most important place to do it. It's were our children learn if we're just talking about charity or really showing charity. Do we really want them to do what we're doing or just what we're telling them to do?

Even the smallest child can detect a hypocryte. Do we treat them with respect? Do we help them to love themselves? Do we keep our promises to them? Do we put on a church face on Sunday and take it off the minute we come home?

I know I'm guilty of these things at times and I want to be better. I want to be a true follower of Christ - no matter what the circumstance. I want to always speak softly and lovingly. To help others see the greatness in them and to see the greatness in myself.

A sister spoke in church today and she said that all of Heavenly Father's creations were perfect. He doesn't make mistakes. He created us just the way he wanted us to be, including our weaknesses. We know from the scriptures that He gives us weaknesses so that we will turn to Him for help and He will help us make them our strengths. We need Him and He wants to help us. I'm thankful that He loves me as I am. I know he planted in all of us dreams and desires to be more, to be better, not to be satisfied with our weaknesses. This desire pushes us forward and on to better things and a happier life - that is if Satan's tools: fear, laziness, pride and discouragement don't prevent us.

Loving Art

Painting oil paintings and having a toddler can be a bit of a challenge. The other day when I used a q-tip to remove a little paint that I didn't want he grabbed his own and began is own paint removal. I leave everything out in the open and have been pretty lucky at him leaving them alone.

I'm really enjoying Jared's appreciation of my art. He's only 2 and tells me pretty and the names of the people in the paintings. That's been great but he likes my current painting I'm working on so much that he's started to give them kisses. That's very sweet, but scary since it's an oil based paint and some of the colors have a health warning. After explaining that he can't kiss a wet painting, I showed him that he can blow kisses at it. So my sweet little Jared is loving my art and I feel wonderful.

Still waiting on my camera to show you my most recent paintings.

I Love School!

This week has been very exciting! The kids met their teachers on Monday and started school on Wednesday. No more sleeping in, but the structure is worth it.

The kids were so excited to start on Wednesday. I was glad to get quite a bit done early in the morning and then Jared and I went for a walk. It was such a beautiful morning and as we were walking a guy in his truck started to back up as we were walking but then noticed us. As soon as we crossed he backed out really fast and took off. What he didn't notice was that he hit a cat - I think it may have been sleeping under his truck. It was so awful. I wanted to see if I could help the cat but then I don't even want to describe what happened. It was so horrible. I turned the stroller around so that Jared wouldn't see, but he kept turning around to see.

I finally left and went back the other way. I told some neighbors a cat was hit and they thought they knew who the owners were. I started to cry. It ruined my first day of school mood. I realized that some kids were probably coming home from their first day of school to find out their cat was killed. All day Jared kept saying, "Kitty, ouie, nightnight". I felt even worse knowing he saw that.

I wondered why did that have to happen right in front of us. If we had been there 10 seconds earlier we wouldn't have seen anything. It's almost like we were meant to be there at that moment. But why? This has disturbed me since then.

Yesterday, I decided it would be good for us to just walk the same route again and see that everything is ok. When we reached the house where it happened their dog came after me, lunging and barking. This happened one time before and he doesn't give up easily. What the heck? I wondered if there's something evil about that house. Maybe I sound superstitious, but isn't that strange. Next time I'm bringing a stick - or mace would be nice.

But last night was great. It was 98 degrees yesterday. We went over to the creek and swam in the icey water. It was wonderful! That's our place to cool off and have fun for free. We've been going there a lot this summer. Next week is going to be cooling off, so it may be our last time this summer, but I love fall even more that summer, so I'm never sad when it's over. I love cool nights and bright colorful days. I'm so thankful for seasons. I think the Heavenly Father knew we needed change and different seasons to look forward to. To me it would be depressing to live somewhere where it's always the same weather. I get really tired of sun here in Utah. I love rain and clouds. Today we'll have a great thunder storm though. That's always exciting - especially if the power goes out.
Jared walks around saying, "boom! boom!" and his mouth drops open when he hears one. We all laugh!

Have a great stormy day. I have to paint a little before Jared wakes up.

Follow My Dream

About a week ago I was out walking which gives me a little time to think and clear my head of all the noise of my life. I've been questioning for such a long time what I can do to make money. I really want to paint but with such little experience I wonder if it could ever lead to making enough money to really help us out. It seems unrealistic, but then I know other people have done it. I think about a quote that says, "Do what you love and the money will follow". Painting is what I love. Shouldn't we be doing what we love?

I just decided "that's it!" I'm just going to do what I love. I'm not going to question anymore if I'm good enough, if it's the right thing, I'm just going to follow my passion and not worry about the rest. I thought of a quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that I love,

"Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait".

A scripture came to my mind too, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men...(2 Nephi 31:20). I felt so good, so excited. I made up my mind to do it. I knew I wouldn't always feel this confident and excited so I promised to just go through the motions to do it no matter how I feel.

I love Sarah Ban Breathnach's book Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. She says, Dreams are gifts of Spirit meant to alter us. Trust that the same Power that gifted you with your dream knows how to help you make it come true".

About a week later, yesterday, I went to a job interview and knew it was something I didn't want. I didn't want a full time job. I'm not going to work where I can't see my kids. This led to a big argument with my husband about money. I felt so discouraged and depressed. It seems like I'm just being foolish to try to sell paintings. But then I wonder why would Heavenly Father plant such a passionate dream in me if He didn't intend me to pursue it? Yes we need money now. Is there ever a good safe time to pursue your dreams? I think that's the exact thing that prevents us from going after what we want. It's not safe. It doesn't feel secure. It's plain scary! Why? Maybe the Lord wants us to trust Him in helping us make our dreams come true. And why do we hesitate to trust in the Lord? We would rather trust ourselves and our own judgement.

This morning I finished a little 5 x 7 landscape of a view up our street that I love. I feel so happy and peaceful. Whether painting makes me money or not, I need it. I feel so energized and excited when I see something that I know I want to paint. It's just a moment, but it's like magic. The light, the colors, the shapes, bring feelings of being so alive. Next time I will try to post a picture of the paintings I've done, but right now my camera is in the shop. I would love to convey what I feel in my paintings to someone else's heart. To bring them the same sense of awe that I feel in nature and in the beauty of human beings.

I would love to hear your comments and feelings on the pursuit of your dreams or on the pursuit of my dreams. Do you think it's good to be a dreamer? What about in these economic times? Please share!

Some favorite paintings

This is a painting by Sorolla. He is a new favorite artist of mine. I'd heard about him before but it wasn't until this summer that I've seen his work and it's amazing. The brightness of his colors and the warmth and light speak right to my heart.

This is how I would paint in my dreams.

The Working Woman

Remember I was talking about how I needed to make some money. Well, one Tuesday last month I went to LDS Employment and started looking for a job. It didn't look like there was much out there. I talked to a couple of the workers and I told one man I thought it would be fun to work for the census, but he said it was almost over. Then, after awhile I realized I hadn't told the woman helping me I could speak Spanish. As I was looking through a book with job listings, wondering if they were all filled anyway and I was wasting my time, the woman brought me a paper. It was a temporary position working as a Spanish Speaking Customer Service Representative. The pay was $15.78 hr. I felt excited and it seemed like this was meant for me. I went home and called and by the next day I was talking to a guy on the phone who told me they need me and asked if I could come in right away. My husband was home taking a nap with our two year old. It felt unreal as I was driving to the place - leaving all my children at home. I've been home with them for 11 years now. Hardly ever even get away from home. Now I'm planning to be gone a lot. I didn't feel very happy. My husband asked if I was nervous. I said I was just nervous to be away from the kids.

Well, I was hired and have been working for three weeks now. Today is my last day. It seems like it was meant to be since the first week my parents were here to help watch the kids and the following two weeks my husband was on vacation. I was excited to let my husband see what it's like to be a stay home mom. After three weeks I think we both have a better appreciation of eachother. The time at work seemed much easier to me than being home, but after work I felt rushed, tired and unmotivated to do all the things I felt like I needed to do.

The part that makes me both happy and sad is the other night in the night my two year old cried out, "Daddy". My husband said they've gotten really close which I'm thankful for, but I'm used to being #1. Every day when I get ready to go to work, Jared will say, "Mommy!" and motion for me to lay down with him in my bed. It's so sweet and I hate to leave. I decided that since we women spend so many days of so many years miserable because of our capacity to bear children and it's prerequisites, we go through the pains of pregnancy and birth, we nurse, we love to a degree than cannot be compared that WE deserve to be the ones to stay home while the fathers provide us with the things we need. Some may think this is old fashioned, I think it has always been and will always be the truth. Of course, I understand it's not always possible, and life isn't always fair, but if it's possible I believe God sent me my children for ME to take care of and raise, with my husband - not some stranger who you could never pay enough to love and really care for what's best for that child.

I know this isn't the end of what I'm going to have to do to help us make it, and I don't mind working, but I hope I can still figure out something that allows me to be close to home doing what I believe matters most.