Michel LeRoux ~ Pacific Ocean ~ New Traditions

Fall of 1995 saw both my husband and I in Vancouver, British Columbia. But, we weren't together. Actually, we had yet to even meet!

When we did meet in the spring of '97, began dating a year later, got engaged and later married, it was quite an easy decision for us to head back to the Pacific Northwest & British Columbia for our honeymoon.

Many new traditions began while honeymooning. One, was to forgo individual wedding presents, and later anniversary presents, in favor of picking out a piece of original art to enjoy together in our home.

Only one hardfast rule applies this tradition: the piece of art we choose has to "speak" to both of us. You see, we have quite different aesthetics, so initially, we thought this one guideline would be a challenge for us.

Out early, we walked the nearly deserted streets before the galleries opened (you could say we were a wee bit anxious to get out and enjoy the city we loved so much!). Low in one gallery's window sat a stunning Michel LeRoux painting. We stopped to look and moved on.

Gallery after gallery, a restaurant for lunch, a pub my husband had stopped in at when he was there years earlier with his best friend for a pint, more galleries, a little shopping, and we returned to the gallery with the painting sitting low in the window.

They gladly pulled the piece that looked as if it were colored in strokes of light, rather than paint, into the middle of the gallery for a better look.

We looked at it. We kept looking at it. I was distracted for a bit by a gorgeous Marcelle Dube painting that I can still see inside my head to this day.  But, my gaze kept returning to the Michel LeRoux painting that we first set our eyes upon, hours earlier.

What we initially thought would be challenging - our rule - was quite simple for us.  We had found an original piece of art that captured, raptured, us both.  It needed to be in our home for us to enjoy for many more years to come...and for over a decade now, everyday we see it hanging on our wall, we've enjoyed it.

I found this video on YouTube filled with his art.  I don't know anything about where it came from and while our painting is not in there, it is a good representation of his work.

Our honeymoon destinations included Seattle, Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, and led to another favorite tradition to celebrate each year of marriage near the water.  Happily, Fort Bragg, California most frequently finds us on our anniversaries.

We look forward to the day we can return to the waterside locales, stocked full with smile worthy moments.  Until we can, we look up at our Michel LeRoux painting, remember, and smile.

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In Lost Edens, author Jamie Patterson struggles to save her marriage which may or may not be already over. Keeping her attempts a secret from her family, she attempts to mold herself into the wife her husband wants her to be.

As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a copy of this book for review (book links are affiliate links, all other links I'm sharing are purely informational).  You can read other members posts inspired by Lost Edens by Jamie Patterson on book club day, October 27 at From Left to Write.

Brush Away Boredom

Rollin' & writing along with Mama Kat's third prompt today:  share a favorite craft or game that will keep your kids busy for at least 20 minutes.

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Somehow, the phrases, "I'm bored." and "I don't know what to do." have sauntered into our home within the last year and they kind of make me a wee bit batty.  Each time, I take a deep breath and rattle off at least a couple dozen suggestions.  Sometimes one will spark an idea in their sweet heads and other times, not a one will do.

There are however, a couple of activities that will keep them self entertained for much longer than twenty minutes.  My boy will fly with a few of his thousands of Lego bricks or a good book or a Star Wars board game or an adventure outside.  It all depends on what mood is striking at the moment.

My girl, however, can be in any kind of mood for one particular activity and it will keep her busy for far longer than twenty minutes (more like hours).  What is that magic activity?  Why, it's painting!

If I'm pulling out acrylic paints and the mood is right, my boy will hop in and paint along side his li'l sis, but lately she's had an itch for watercolors and apparently, that's not his style.

So, with an inexpensive pad of watercolor paper from Walmart and the little Crayola paint set Santa left in her stocking last Christmas, she has been painting away.  It costs pennies and provides so much in return.

And in all honesty, watching her paint - sticking the tip of her tongue out as she concentrates, singing a song when the colors are flowing just right, gasping out loud when she discovers a new way to pull the brush - ends up giving those around her as much joy as she's experiencing in the process.

Sometimes, I get stuff done while she's painting (or both of them, if her brother joins in), but it's even better when I pick up my own brush and lay some color on canvas, right along side them.  It is most definitely smile worthy!

What keeps your kids busy?  What do you do to stave off your own boredom?

Can You Handle a Little Playtime? {Wordful Wednesday}

Can you?  Can you handle a little playtime?

We can & we did.

Did you play with me for one Wordful Wednesday back in October when I cropped in on the photo?  Well, I was editing photos for another post, when I cropped in and saw this:

(These are more fun, if you don't scroll down right away! :>)

What do you see?

What do you see besides a boat load of pink? 

Do you have any idea what it is?

?

?

?

?

Truthfully, if I didn't participate in the process & take the pic, I wouldn't know.  But, I did still enjoy seeing something else entirely once the photo was cropped down. :> 

The red looks something like a cross between a road runner, a turkey, and an alpaca running to me!  But, its really a part of this:

Wee girl & I had some fun with acrylic paints, our hands & making hand prints!  Just before I washed this already drying paint off, I snapped a pic.  Thankfully, acrylic paint comes off easy peasy in the sink and I'm no longer sporting a pink mitt!

We've been having a lot of creative fun since her big brother returned to school last week from Winter Break.  There's been acrylic paint (a lot o' pink), watercolors, construction paper, scissors, glue sticks, and more Inspiration Everywhere projects, which I will continue to share as I complete them (including the page that painted hand stamped itself upon).

Thanks for stopping by today!  What has the New Year brought your way?


Linking up with:
Parenting By Dummies
Seven Clown Circus
A Beautiful Mess
Live and Love...Out Loud
5 Minutes for Mom

Frame it up!

Over the summer, the kidlets got their paint on.  I had held these two paintings aside as not only were the kidlets quite proud of their artwork, but their joint painting experience was a very pleasant summer memory of all of ours. 

Yes, they've painted many a time before, but this particular experience was unique in that my sweet boy attacked his blank piece of paper with a plan (to create a spaceship) and wee girl, who I believe was simply in that 'lay down color' mode changed her painting to share her experience with her brother and suddenly began painting space ships and asteroids.

And now they are hanging at the beginning of our hallway, still visible from the living & dining rooms and they make all of us smile to see those bright pops of color and sweet summer memories.

Do you have your kidlets art up on your walls?  Do you have your own creative pursuits up or out to share?

(Speaking of creative pursuits, the next page in the art journal started for the Inspiration Everywhere class by Jessica Sprague will be posted tomorrow, so come back & see where a pair of Levi's took me!)

Linking up for Wordful Wednesday at:

Parenting By Dummies

Seven Clown Circus

Get Your Paint On!

Get your paint on, get your paint on, yea, yea.  Show 'em how you do it now. 

As I was uploading the pics of the kidlets' art, I couldn't get Peaches and Herb's discolicious "Shake Your Groove Thing" out of my head and since its still playing itself over and over and over (so much so that I just had to pull up the whole thing, so that the kidlets could get their groove thing on while I put the pics of them getting their paint on onto the computer!), it just had to work its way into this post! :>

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In our backyard, the kidlets went from loud play, to very quiet - a few whispers could be made out, to a space full of giggles.  And that would be my cue to check up on them.  Yup, yup, they were getting their creative on.....they were full of excitement as they were painting...on the picnic table...with mud. 

Before I needed to pull the hose out, I offered them up a more colorful, but just as creative option that I knew they would jump at.  I offered up my dozens of craft acrylic paints and yes, they were thrilled!  My wee girl asks me to paint almost every day...water colors or acrylics, just give that girl a brush, paint & paper and she's a very happy camper.

My boy slathered on the orange, used two whole pours onto the paper plate, palette and then moved on to the other colors he had chosen. 

Turns out he was creating a space ship....see the windows?  The red on the left would be the thrusters and on the bottom is either more thrusters or landing gear.....he had quite an elaborate story to share and I might be missing a detail or two.  I do remember that the green on the top is a video camera though and I have no doubt that his elaborate story was being played out on the big screen in his head.  Now, that's a movie I'd pay to see!

Wee girl had many colors dancing on her canvas right away, but after her big brother's announcement that he was painting a ship, suddenly she was too.  She even made windows for her main ship, "just like brother".  Apparently, they are all ships, except the brown spot on the right side.  She tells me that's a rock. 

Whatever it all may be, I love watching both of them paint.  He focuses so closely, literally, that his nose almost ends up a tool as he leans in close to put down color, just as he wants it.  And as she concentrates, the sweet little tip of her tongue slips out and tells me how totally involved she is in her process.

My favorite moment of this particular kidlet creative session was my son's exclamation to his sister, "Man, we're really artists!"

Mama's side note:  Yes, you both are.  Live with your hearts, live with color, live with play, live with expression, and may you love it.

I hope you all can find time to live with a little creative fun too!  While they were painting, I painted right along side of them and added more paint to the canvas I'm working on.  What creativity is playing in your life right now?

Here's where I'm going to click my way to some inspiration:

       

Acrylic Play

Singing in my ear, a muse led me to a paint brush and canvas. Wanting to try painting for a couple of years now, I picked up a few canvases at half price some time back. So, with a picture in my head, an assortment of acrylic paints from my scrapbooking supplies (just plain ol' Delta Ceramcoat & Making Memories acrylics), and a couple of paint brushes, I sat down to play. The canvas is 5x7"....I have several sizes, but somehow, smaller was less intimidating to me! The only other 'tool' I used was for the right side. Do you know what I used? Before I started, I knew what effect I wanted and thought I would run to the hardware store to get something to help me create it. Remembering my abundant craft supply stash, I brought out...............Magic Mesh!!! A happy dance is always in order when lonely and forgotten supplies are freed and allowed to play.

I have to admit, I loved it! Smiling the entire time and feeling almost energized by the whole process. Now, I have never painted before. So, please go easy on me....what do you think?