For Renee - some words of comfort I found on the internet today

A Prayer for the Dying

Time has passed, the Wheel has turned.
It is time for me to move on.
I will walk hand in hand with the Ancient Ones,
and with my ancestors who came before me.

Great Mother, welcome me back into your womb,
I come to you and know I am blessed,
for my life has been one I am proud of.
As I enter your world, wrap me in your loving arms,
and welcome me.

Lord of Death, I wait for you to take me,
I come to you willingly, with eyes wide open,
as my last moment approaches on the horizon.
May I look upon you without fear, without pain,
and knowing that those who walked before me,
await me on the other side.

O Ancient Ones, give me strength to take these final steps,
and allow me to do so with peace and dignity.
Let my family mourn my passing but not my loss,
and let them heal knowing I will see them again.
Time has passed and the Wheel has turned.
It is time for me to move on.


(I'm sorry, I don't know who wrote these beautiful words.)

For Renee

Our dear Renee, beloved by so many, is dying. Her daughter has told us it is the beginning of the end. There are no words to express my sadness. I only hope her passage is peaceful and painless, since she has suffered so much, especially in recent months.

I am honored to have been called her friend. She has found a place in my heart forever.

One More Family Face

Way back in history, about a year ago, I did a series of paintings that featured family faces.
http://biddybrain.blogspot.com/2009/01/third-victim-in-family-faces-series.html

This is the latest, perhaps last, of the Family Faces Series. This one's for Ben.
And that's Ben's face in the driver's seat!

He loves rhinos! He also loves Formula 1 auto racing. His favorite driver, Michael Schumacher, will be driving a Mercedes this race season, hence Ben is in a Mercedes with a rhino!

Ben also loves ice hockey! When I present this to Ben, I'll ask if he'd like a hockey stick sticking out of the backseat. I have a feeling I may be painting a bit more on Sunday. ; )

Every once in a blue moon I will become so entranced by another artist's style that I can't stand it until I give that style a try. Ben's painting is the result of discovering Ed van der Hoek, an artist from the Netherlands.
I fell head over heels for Ed's whimsical happy art.
Find out why! Enjoy Ed's art here >>>> http://www.edart.nl/new/


To view my initial sketch and beginnings of Ben's painting see my previous post... http://biddybrain.blogspot.com/2010/02/something-for-special-boy.html

Have a super duper weekend, bloggers!

LOve,
Ronnie

Something for a Special Boy

I'm hoping to have this finished today.

I'll post the finished product tomorrow!

Have an exceptional day,
Ronnie

Portrait of Katrina

"Katrina"
acrylic on canvas

I've had four 16x20 gallery wrapped canvases sitting in the dining room for a while now, just waiting for me to paint portraits of the four of us. My little family. When I came upon this Modigliani portrait last week, I finally knew where to begin.

Modigliani
portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne
1919

It reminded me instantly of this webcam shot my daughter took of herself a few months ago:

When I looked online for a photo of Modigliani's common-law wife, Jeanne, it was so fascinating to see her photos compared to her portraits.

Jeanne Hebuterne

Katrina

I love portraits that contain the essence of a person, without looking exactly like the person. I like to see clear evidence of the hand of the artist interpreting reality.

It was a real challenge not to add too much detail to this painting. I really had to hold myself back from adding more realistic details, like I did many years ago when I did this charcoal sketch of Beethoven. I did this sketch for my daughter when she was about 8, had just started taking piano lessons and loved classical music, especially Beethoven and Mozart.

So my next challenge is to paint my husband and son. I have no idea how those will turn out, but I'm excited to get started!

You can't imagine how significant this series of portraits is to me. I'm actually going to hang these on our walls. For my whole life I've been surrounded by original art, but it's been the oils and watercolors my father did. He was a design engineer by profession, but art has been his life-long hobby. Our home is filled with his art, and I'm finally ready to add my art to our home in a significant way.

Having my father's art around me my whole life has been both a blessing and a curse, as one of my favorite TV characters, Adrian Monk, likes to say. It's been a blessing to be surrounded by so much creativity and art. And it's been a curse in that it kept me from pursuing art seriously, until now. But maybe it's not too late, after all.
:0)

Our 29th St. Valentine's Day together

Me and JOe
the young version.

Me and JOe
the old version!

Or is it the 30th? Time flies when you're having fun!
Here's wishing you a happy Valentine's Day.
Love and all good things,
Ronnie
aka JOe's stove operator

I woof U!

I'm still feeling terribly under the weather, but I wanted to express my appreciation for you all! So I'm re-posting the little Inktense valentine I sketched last year.

There's Beau, looking embarrassed, as he often does.

And Skitzi, in all her beloved grumpiness.

They join me is wishing you a Happy Valentines' Day! We really do woof you all!

Thank you so much for sticking with me these last few weeks while I haven't been posting or visiting you nearly as much as I'd have liked. I plan to get things back on track by next week.

This last week I've been working on a portrait, which I'll show you in a few days. It's part of a set, and I'm really excited about it, since it' something I've wanted to do for a long time.

See you then!
:0)

I Made Shoes with my ART

I know this is shameless self promotion, but I can't help myself. Making these was plan ole fun. You do it in parts. This is made from chunks of my painting called "Champion"

"Wiener National Faceoff " When you wear them the dachshunds face each other.

"Chicks Night Out" The original was a 30" x 40" canvas.

"Dad's Garden" A mandala I did for my dad. He loved gardening.

"Go Shoes!" From a painting I did for Auto racing friends.

"Just Bee" shoes.

And "Snake Boy Racer".

Now, who else has shoes like this?!
I wonder what they'd say on "What not to Wear"!??!
I don't care. I'm waiting patiently for my Wiener National shoes to arrive.
Actually, I CAN'T WAIT!!!
Get 'em while they're hot!  
http://www.zazzle.com/biddybrain*
Later,
Ronnie

Tea bags

my first painted teabag

This will just be a quick post today, since I've got my annual monster of a chest cold and I can't stop coughing. Thanks to my cold, though, I've been drinking lots and lots of tea, and I've been saving the used tea bags. Have you ever done this? The tea stains the tea bags in the most beautiful way, and each type of tea leaves a different shade of stain.

In South Africa, artisans use these tea bags to create the most beautiful art. The result has the look of ethnic textiles, don't you think?

Below are a few examples I found on-line, showing what beautiful things can be created by decorating a used tea bag.

from originaltbagdesigns.com

from fairtrademarketplace.com

found in the New York Times Blog

Aren't they fabulous?

I'll be back to more regular blogging and visits to your blogs soon. In the mean time, I hope you have a great weekend.