Random Winners

 The big big huge gigantic rip roaring task has begun.
Stay tuned for  the-rest-of-the-story.
Another Day.

Pay no attention to the picture.  It has nothing to do with announcing the WINNERS of my CELEBRATION.

I did the Random Number Generator thing and you know that I don't know how to put the evidence on my blog.  Furthermore, I didn't want to learn.

But first of all, let me tell you that I am exploding with all the goodness that you left me in comments.  You give me joy.  You give me confidence, You give me smiles, You give me happiness and so much more.

Second, I am sorry that I kept you hanging on the Winner Announcement.

So here is what I did.  I went to Random.org and punched in the Min # 1 and the Max # 116 and that little box generated the # 14.  That was fun so I did it again...Min #1 and Max # 116 and hoop-tee-do, it generated the # 68.  Whoa! this is so fun so I did it again...Min #1 and Max # 116 and hallelujah, # 21 came up.  About this time I had the crazy thought that if I generated a number, that meant that I would want to give a prize to every number generated.  I just wouldn't be fair not to.  I really started to keep going ........but I thought I best not.

THE WINNERS:
# 14  will get the big Found In My Tree Print.
Gill M said...

Oh Glorious, I would love the chance to win her! She would make any room a delight to be in.

JUNE 24, 2011 3:48 PM

#68 will get a different print

Lizzie said...

I am so happy Sharon, to have the opportunity to own artwork created by your hands; especially a creation so wonderful. I have only begun my journey with you and your blessings of wonderful talents.

I signed up for your Technicolor Faces class and then I had to go out of state a while to help my daughter with her art studio/shop in Florida. I am back home and ordering all of my paint supplies online tonight. I have watched your videos so many times that I may not have to watch them to paint the faces :) I actually already feel like I painted them :) I'm excited to take more of your classes.

Please continue to use your God-given talents so we can all benefit. I love you for it.

JUNE 24, 2011 9:36 PM

#21 will get a different print

Sunny Carvalho said...

No, pick me (holding Carol's hand down)!!! LOL Seriously, I totally love that painting.

JUNE 24, 2011 4:16 PM

Congratulations to Gill M, Lizzie, and Sunny.  email me your street address so I can get your prints in the mail.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO SIGNED UP FOR MY EMAIL.  IT WAS VERY WELL RECEIVED AND ALSO THANK YOU FOR THE dvd ORDERS. i ♥ YOU ALL.

Behind Curtain # 1

 Old bedroom curtains that I made about 25 years ago.

Still loved them. 

But.................................

 I'm feeling such a need for ♦ Change ♦ Simplicity ♦ Lightness ♦ and ♦ Darkness

As you can see the old curtains didn't close.
No need.
I'm in the country.
Now, I'm ready to be able to drop the curtains to close.

One thing leads to another.

I had to recover the window seat pad.

The next thing on the bedroom make-over list is to repaint the bedroom furniture.

That my friends is going to be a big big huge gigantic rip roaring task!

I'm up for it though.

♦♦♦♦♦

We have a winner on the Celebration giveaway.

Comments have been closed on that post.

If you got my newsletter this morning, you got a little clue who. 

I will give that news in another blog post. 

But not before I say Thank You all from the bottom of my heart for signing up for the newsletter and also for dropping your name in the hat for the giveaway. 

I ♥ you all

Sharon

A Celebration Give Away

I'm celebrating!  
♦  My First Newsletter is just about ready to send.   It has only taken me one year to manage and I'm thinking the hard part is just doing it the first time.  I was just dreading all the new learning curves one has to conquer and navigate around.

♦ I'm holding the "send" button a couple of days to give you a chance to sign up if you haven't already because there is a "special offer" for newsletter recipients.

Scroll down my side bar for the newsletter sign up link.


I'm celebrating!
♦ I will start listing my little stack of Original mixed media canvases soon.....maybe this weekend.

I'm celebrating!
♦ I will also be listing prints.  Prints of my new larger pieces will be large format prints as shown above.

I'm celebrating with a print giveaway!
♦ Do you see the front print above that is way on the side of the paper?   Well it is a good print except I was messing with the placement and messed up!  Large format prints are a lot more expensive to produce and mail for obvious reasons and this print is too good to discard.  It is suitable for framing.
♦ Sooooooooo, I'm going to have a comment drawing for this very print.

♦ You don't have to jump through any hoops.  Just leave me a comment on this post and I will draw a name next week.  

Thank you for celebrating with me!

Inspiration and Me Today

Me Today

I am new to the blog White Hot Truth,

written by Danielle LaPorte.

In  today's witty post she made the following statement,

"Insight may come in a flash, but it's the result of accumulated noticing--whether you notice it or not."

Danielle, in her witty and truthful way goes on into more detail resulting in a great post you will want to read. 

However, "in a flash" I mentally changed the word insight to Inspiration and read the statement again. And again. 

Because it took me back to Sunday morning when "in a flash", I had a burst of inspiration concerning my next online face painting class.  It was one of those moments that builds and builds until I'm feeling that stirring and swirling in my heart and soul.  Until I know that I must act NOW. Until I can't do anything else.  Until that one moment changes the rest of my day.  I hope you know that feeling.

And the thing is,  Sunday morning, as I was deep in thought I realized the inspiration was a "result of accumulated noticing". 

That is to say I had been studying hard on the what, where, when, etc etc each morning while walking in beauty.  

It was the flash of inspiration that connected all the studying that I had accumulated.

I knew I was feeling a passion build and I knew I would need to act on it now while the passion is at its peek. 

I am and I show you Me Today

xo

BoHo Peek BoHo Bliss

My friend Deryn's new class is just about to start.  She offers this little BoHo Peek for your viewing pleasure.

Go here to read all about the class. 

Here is a little sample:

Or how about this......

Can you believe it?

BoHo Bliss!!!!

Honoring My Father

I would much rather remain in the back of the room quietly watching and listening and learning.  Because I think that’s where I come from.  But I step forward today to tell you….honoring my Father

I COME FROM
By me, Sharon Tomlinson


I Come From parents of the depression.
I am a baby boomer.
I come from poor middle class although I didn‘t know it.
I am frugal.
I come from a Father who always had extra jobs.
And taught me to measure twice and cut once.
I am a carpenter.
I come from a stay at home Mother
Who taught me to sew, cook, clean, and play with baby dolls.
I am a Wife and Mother.
I come from a Father who thought I could do anything
And taught me that I could.
I am a dreamer. 
I come from peanut butter and banana sandwiches
Jello
Polly Pop
Fried potato sandwiches and 
Home made fudge on Sunday afternoons.
I come from hide and go seek and chasing fireflies after dark.
I come from climbing trees, swimming in the stock tank and
Driving a tractor before a car.
I come from riding bicycles on gravel roads.
Push mowers and cloth lines.
I come from sadness and grief from sister loss 
Not once but twice.
I come with guilt.
I come with two brothers. 
I come from Sunday dinners at Granny’s with fried chicken
Gravy 
Corn on the cob
Fried okra
Hot rolls and chocolate cake with powdered sugar frosting.
I come from peach tree switches.
I am good.
I come from honesty. 
I come from Love.
I  am loved.

Photo from the internet.  It is a Texas rat snake.

Dear Mr Snake in my garden,
I did not enjoy sharing my path with you this morning and cannot thank you this time for showing up.  Why did you do that?  Why were you stretched out across my path with your head raised?  Why didn't you just slither off into the tall native grasses?  That is where you are suppose to be.  You are in charge of rat control. I have the path reserved all the minutes between the 7th and 8th hour of each morning.  You do not need to be there. I was OK to stop and wait for you to leave.  But you didn't.  I had nothing more than a few straw like sticks to toss at you.  You never flinched.  I talked to you. You never flinched. I found another little stick and I found my courage too.  I started to turn back  but I know you are harmless and so I passed by you with my head held as high as yours Mr Snake in my garden. I held that flimsy dead stick in my hand and again you never flinched.  I turned and looked back and you had slightly changed positions.  You gave me a lot to think about as I circled the path.  And I was glad you were gone when I came around again. I wondered  if the encounter was about finding courage or being brave or slowing down, or being thankful or just walking in beauty.  Please remember my schedule and if we should cross paths again, please go.

My laps went by quickly this morning with all this thinking I had to do.  I'm looking forward to the weekend....as usual but this weekend I will be in the Sewing Studio.  I've already finished my weekend laundry and  I am making new curtains for my bedroom.  I started them this morning and I don't expect them to take very long to finish.

 I believe I haven't done a good job of telling you about my

  Inktense Faces on Fabric Mini Class

Did you buy a set of Inktense when they first became the rage? 

And then did you set them aside not knowing just how to use them? 

Or why they were so great?

I'm guilty too. 

I think I had them two years before I realized the one thing that set them aside from all other water soluble pencils. 

The secret the hold is they become permanent when dry!!!

 Of course Inktense was not put out there to use primarily on fabric. 

But, what fun I discovered when playing with them. 

This is a "mini" class because all the face painting videos are from the 

Tree Castle Apron Class

which is still available. 

There is no sewing in this "mini" class.  

And even though my technique is for fabric, I can think of several fun ways to use your fabric art.

I'm hoping to have time to make a textile wall hanging and incorporate a piece.

I'm going to incorporate some faces in quilts I'm working on.

And what about the Tree Flags?

Do you remember the Tree Flags? 

I'm going to make some of those too. 

Why is this a "MINI" class?

♦ It only cost $40.00

♦  The supply list (shown below) is minimal

♦  It will travel with you on summer vacation very easily.

and

♦ The big class, Tree Castle Apron included a whole lot more sewing and pattern instruction video and fun PDF patterns.

I look forward to you joining the class. 

♥ Sharon

p.s.     I have DVDs ready to go.  Order now and they will ship today.

p.s.s.  thank you to all who have ordered already.  

p.s.s.s.  thank you to all who encourage me with your words. xoxo

Found In My Tree

Found In My Tree

12 X 24 canvas

is finished

It took me more than 24 hours to go ahead and listen to Norah'S

suggestion to put the bling in the tree.

The simplicity of the unadorned tree appealed to me.

She won, so this morning I added the bling to the tree. 

Then, and only then, did I realize it was part of their story.

I think it would be fun to hear "the rest of their story" from you. 

xo

Sharon

WIP Morning Art

I've started another and I tell you I wish I could have stayed at home with this one today. I think I could get lost in it. I'm very excited with how I left her.  She will draw me out of the chair zone for sure.

I share the work in progress because it seems that I mostly want to share my art here and when I wait for the finished piece, well, who knows how long between post that becomes.

I must tell you how very appreciative I am from the bottom of my heart and middle of my soul for your comments and support of my last piece.  I confess that I love it and still need to just stare at it so I will be ready to part with her when the time comes.

Also, want to thank you for buying my lesson on DVD.
Big hugs,
Sharon

My Pretty

There is no doubt that I was inspired by the decorative paintings of Gustav Klimt.  It was intentional from the beginning to study his work.  I especially enjoy studying his unfinished pieces. All the time that lapsed between the beginning of the piece and this past weekend when I actually sat for more than 15 minutes gave me the feeling of being ever so tired of the piece.  While I didn't work on it I was tired of it.  I couldn't seem to pick it up and start.

This is what I learned:
♦ I wasn't tired of the painting, I just needed to have the unlimited time to sit and paint.  I am tired of not having that unlimited time.  It is a bit disturbing to have the feeling of being tired of a painting.
♦ I learned what fun it is to use dip pens and ink.  I used the dip pen as a tool with the Lumiere.  I wanted the line width to be uneven. The pen worked great for this as it wasn't really loading with Lumiere.   After that I remembered that I had some gold ink and I also used black and  brown ink.
♦ The best thing I learned was that it is OK to paint a decorative bird.  In the past, I always felt awkward about painting a bird that wasn't from real life.  Thank you Mr Klimt for showing me this.
♦ I learned that I could have gone on and on and on and on........you can probably see that.
I hope you like it as much as I love it.

My Pretty

(working title)

12 X 24 wrapped canvas

Today's Mission

My Big Mission today is to spend hours and hours on the think-tank outside going around and around after spending a couple of hours with that nifty weed-eater.

My mission for showing you this is:

• a stalling tactic for the Big Mission
• to show you what I am doing at this moment because I gave myself a little time to feed my soul
• to show a little progress on this painting
• to inspire you to get your dip pen out
• to show that I'm using a lot of gold on this painting
• to say hello
• and thank you

It's in the mail

On my holiday day off Monday, I enjoyed a bit of cutting and pasting and ended with these three mail art postcards.  They are magazine faces and some I scanned and printed copies. Others I just used the magazine image.  I liked that they are all different sizes and that inspires me.

I forgot to bring them with me today so they didn't get in with this batch of DVDs that left ....or will be on the 5 o'clock truck out of my little town today.

Thanks so much to all of you who purchased a DVD.  That thrills me and gives me such a great feeling going into this weekend.

As always, I have more planned to do than I will get done.  But I'm OK with that.

Have a great one!

Sharon

DVD ready to go

I am so very proud of this!  And excited to share it with you, my dear sweet beautiful captive audience.

Pansies In My Garden is my first Morning Face lesson on DVD.  This is a lesson painting this face and her hair.  Unfortunately, due to the time element, I did not video the background painting.

This is a great lesson in painting a profile with a fun hair-do.  My style of teaching on video is basically talking myself through the painting process and sharing many great tips and techniques along with my do-overs.  Yes inevitably, I need do-overs and I share them to encourage and show that you can have do-overs too.

Morning Faces is a series of paintings that I work on during my early morning art period.  Earlier this year I shared one painting from start to finish for your viewing pleasure. You can watch those online by clicking on the tab above named "Morning ART Videos".

The DVD will arrive in a bubble-pack envelope and because it fit, I am enclosing a small print of the original Pansies In My Garden piece.

Cost is $37.00 which includes postage and handling.

How do you order?  Well,  if you click on the tab above named DVD Shop or click on the DVD in the top sidebar, you will find the paypal button there.

Other post about this project: The Lesson on DVD

Thank you all for being out there in the WWW.  I appreciate your following so much.
Sharon