H E R O E S of W W II were honored at the 75th Anniversary of D – Day and we were honored to be present at the ceremony. It was a fabulous, fast paced trip through Europe with our friend who is a high school history teacher and several students who are history buffs. We merely came along with some other adults, no chaperone duties involved, just soaking up the history and sights of Europe. It was memorable and our hearts swelled with pride and emotion as the survivors of Normandy were honored and those who had died. God bless them!
Normandy France…we attended the 75th Anniversary of D Day and here is a vintage photo of the heroes from that day long ago.
Saw the Queen in London, she is beautiful!!!
A coach and a creative..seated on a bench in Covent Gardens on a cloudy day in London…
Saw this Van Gogh painting while at the National Gallery in London, yes it is amazing in real life.
Stopped by the Rijksmuseum in The Netherlands, snapped this photo in the outdoor garden.
My Aqua LOVE journal which I shared on my first ever FACEBOOK Live during Playful Experiments, an online forum where I was an instructor, part of 21 SECRETS studio.
C O L O R A D O S K Y
The view from our tent while camping at Chatfield Reservoir
Our grandson camped with us..his first time sleeping in a tent!
The Mountain That Loved A Bird
My Gifted and Talented Art students created the illustrations for this production at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. It was a very special opportunity and performance.
The Mountain That Loved A Bird
I took a summer art workshop and created my first ever pastel painting. Thank goodness the instructor lent me his pastels because my big box store brand paled in comparison to his Sommeliers. It was a productive workshop and moved me out of my comfort zone!
Flowers in my garden
And as the end of August nears, the blossoms are fading. Already the shadows are getting longer, sunsets are earlier and there is a slight chill in the evening air. Time to start lighting our chiminea.
The view from our friend’s lovely mountain-home deck. We spent a week-end here and also saw the B-52 band at the Dillon amphitheater. It is one of my favorite places to visit during the summer. We walked the streets of Breckenridge, rode our bikes along the Blue River, and enjoyed delicious eats at Sauce on The Blue restaurant.
And during the summer weeks I took care of this precious one, my granddaughter Ella Leigh. We are grateful for her little life and the blessing she has received. Ella has recovered wonderfully from being sick for many months and now at 7 months, she is thriving, happy, and strong.
Big brother is a joy also and spending time with my son and his family warms my heart. Landon’s cousins sent him face paints for his birthday. Woohoo..and, grandma – a.k.a. Mimi, had a ball painting his cute little face. Moments like this are ones I truly treasure.
During the in-between time I found time to sketch. This is in preparation for my upcoming Southwest Landscapes class that starts in September. With Labor Day week-end coming up, schools already in session, the days of summer are behind us. I hope you had some special moments creating art, spending time making memories with your families, looking up at the sky, and keeping your eyes open to see the wonderful gifts of our natural world.
Sometimes a beautiful opportunity shows up on your doorstep and you grab it with gusto. That’s what happened when I was invited to be part of this amazing forum for learning art journaling techniques online. This was a first for me so I was out of my comfort zone with regard to the technology requirements for this kind of undertaking. But I listened to my own words…moving out of our comfort zone is when the magic happens… and indeed this is exactly what occurred. Using an iphone to film my work, editing, re-filming parts, keeping my words succinct, thinking, creating within a time limit, consulting with the amazing Tonia Jenny who helped me out immensly every step of the way, and uploading the finished videos. This process forced me learn new skills and I am glad that I did! 21 SECRETS has been a huge part of my creative journey and I have enjoyed learning online with some incredibly talented mixed media artists. Now I am part of the team and bringing to you the opportunity for creating at your own leisure; whenever the muse strikes you, in your jammies or even while on vacation, no hassel with parking and toting all of your supplies to a classroom, oh no….just turn on your computer and voila…you can see it all in living color with ease! I hope you will join me for AQUA LOVE, creating an art journal spread in a grid using the yummy color aqua, and the photo image transfer technique. It is a combination spread, the photos provide representational images, and watery aqua hues create complementing layers. It was a lot of playing and experimenting, which by the way is the intent of this summer studio session entitled – 
