A New Print and Remembering That Strength Surrounds Us

This is a new print which will be put into The Shop today. The print is from a coloured pencil which I did last year specifically for my greeting card line.

This print is called "The Harvest You Reap", head over to view it in the shop for details. It seems funny to write this post now feeling so much better, positive and more focused, after the other day's post which was on the more negative side. I think Monday's post was an accumulation of what I've been feeling these past few weeks with things just building and building to a crescendo...which was when I let it out and wrote about it...which in turn helped me get back on track and to my more positive and usual sense of self.

Being around my adopted grandpa and beloved fellow artist Arlie Hoffman, has been very therapeutic and soothing to me. I love our conversation as we work on the horse together, some sessions we just touch on everyday and simple things. Other days, and more often than not now it seems we have good chats about all kinds of stuff and well they are just conservations that I never got to have with my real grandparents and I just feel like I am soaking up and basking in this lovely relationship. Also I have to thank my Jonathan...my forever supportive and unflinching Jonathan. How lucky I am to have this remarkable guy as my partner...well 'wow' is all I can say because any other words I write will just seem inadequate. Jonathan has been saying "Do what feels right to you...go for what you want..." but he always finishes off his pep talk with 'no it's not time to quit, it will never be time to quit..." or last night when I was complaining of one thing after the other falling through, he simply said '...then your going to just have to try a hundred more times than aren't you...". I need these quick little reminders and he always offers them with such simplicity and belief that I can't help but feel better and that's exactly his plan...to pass along his concrete belief in me, back to me. Also I can't forget Maria. My lovely and beautiful and special forever friend Maria. All artists, whether they admit it or not, need a strong support system...well everyone, not just artists need that of course. Over the last year my support circle has increased with some amazing people and Maria is one of them. We met through an unhappy circumstance, but the old adage 'every cloud has a silver lining...' well that was true in this case and Maria was my silver lining. As a writer and reporter for our local newspaper, she came to my studio to interview me and we became fast friends. Anyhow, this Friday, Maria came out to visit with me and Arlie as we painted the horse...in she walked with a beaming smile holding a big plate of goodies. She brought cookies and chocolate, crackers and cheese and strawberries and grapes...what a treat this wast not only to our taste buds and slightly hungry bellies but to my heart as well. I think Maria ended up staying with us for over 2 hours and I just loved her company. Maria is a writer and I am an illustrator, both of us avid aunties, both with a love for rabbits and all things cute and quirky , so we are cooking up a project together. I think with our talents intermingling will make it a fantastic project indeed, if perhaps but a bit slow in coming. I am very excited about it. Maria...if you read this..thank you oodles and oodles, your visit and sweet treat the other day was the tonic I needed. and I can't help but show everyone the awesome napkins Maria brought with the snack... So I think this past Friday was just a really great day and it was a reminder that strength and good people surround us constantly. We just have to lift our heads and hearts enough to reach out to them if we're feeling alone. Because the true friends, despite their own dramas and hardships will reach right back out to you. I needed this reminder...Arlie, Jonathan and Maria....thank you thank you thank you, I love you guys. So my dear readers, thanks for stopping by...I hope you are all well and that your enjoying what I am doing here. I know some bloggers are tuned out right now and taking some mental space from other blogs, etc...we need to do this once in awhile for sure...but I hope that you do come back to me soon. Till tomorrow...Be Well and Happy Creating.