Barefoot Wanderings

Arting Time

Today is the first day back at school, the house is quiet and I miss my little munchkins.
I have been fortunate enough to spend a little time with my son, just the two of us, these holidays and one of the things he wanted to do was some Arting in my studio.... bliss!

The previous day we had gone to our local art shop as I needed some new brushes and he was given an old Art Gallery Guide book for free.... to give inspiration. I flicked through the book with him and showed him lots of things that I thought he could easily do. Here is the result....

He used Acrylic paint and a charcoal pencil, and it measures 8 x 10 inches.

The image on the right is the piece that inspired his creation by Angony, Did we forget something?

After completing his picture he declared that he thought his was better! How wonderful, I hope this confidence and certainty remains with him. And yes, of course, I too thought his was better and now have to decided where to hang it!

Whilst he was creating his work of art, I was putting the finishing touches on my second entry to the Artistic Journey Monthly Mixed Media Challenge. I have included another little snippet.
This face is smaller than any I have done to date, and it is also the first time I have done my backgound first and painted the image on top.

Some Reading

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Last night I finished reading this book. It was such a beautifully written book, telling a very moving story. In a backdrop of ugliness and sorrow there is love, strength, hope and goodness. It shows that when there is nothing, how much there is to give. It is a story about the power of words, told with such beautiful words. Even though this book is 584 pages long I read it slowly, over time as I wanted to spend as much time within this story, with these characters, as I could. A book I would highly recommend.

In between reading this book and Brida there have been others, I seem to be on a bit of a reading frenzy!

Any book I finish I will always say is a good book because any that aren't I don't finish. Obviously some are better than others.

Addition by Toni Jordan is a wonderfully witty and well written book. There is one part in this book that seemed 'sluggish' but then I realised that it was just as the character was...amazing! I absolutely LOVED this book. It is a light and easy read but a book that has substance. Another I would highly recommend.

Breath is another fabulous story by Tim Winton. I found this a good story and easy to read. I really like the way he writes. His books are all different yet similar, I could understand someone either loving all his work or liking one and not another.

Tuvalu by Andrew O'Connor was an interesting read. I did enjoy reading this book but every time I think about it I want to add a 'but' at the end, my problem is is that I can't define what the but is. Perhaps it is just that I didn't connect with it like I have with other books.

The Pilgrimage and The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho - are nothing like The Alchemist but I did enjoy reading them. I know there are people who would like to debate as to whether or not the events actually took place or could in fact ever be real but I don't get caught up in that. I think they are great stories, and can fit into what ever you believe in as long as you remain open. I liked reading these one after the other.

And on the Seventh Day by Paulo Coelho contains By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Veronika Decides to Die and The Devil and Miss Prim. Each story happens over one week, which is what the Author believes is all you need to change your life. I would have to say that The River Piedra.. has been my least favourite Coelho book but I did finish it! I did really enjoy the other two though.

The Long and Winding Road

We returned last night from a week down south spent with my parents.
I wanted to see what images would look like taken from the car (and no, I wasn't driving at the time!).

My parents live a couple of hours from the snowfields so we took the kids for the day.

Five

I have had quite a busy couple of weeks and have once again neglected my blog, well pretty much the internet in general!
One of the biggest events was that my youngest turned 5!
There are times where I feel all that time that has passed, and other moments when I wonder where has the time gone, but each day I love her a little more and am amazed by her.
Just cupcakes on the day as the Ninja Turtle Chocolate Mud Cake was to be had at her Ten Pin Bowling party (just like her brother had). It was only a small group of friends but a big lot of fun was had! Soon after my Hubby celebrated the 20th anniversary of his 21st birthday. And we are now in School Holidays.

I have been doing some art, mostly in some books for an Artist Book Round Robin I am in. I have also been doing some more faces.
This little snippet / sneak peak is for the Artistic Journey  Monthly Mixed Media Challenge, (entries close at the end of the month).

This was my first attempted at a mouth opened, OK it is only slightly opened but it is a start and I am rather pleased with it.
Little steps forward, certainly better than going backwards!