roots

Aaaack...I am so late....so sorry

I set my alarm and slept right through it.
well not really
but I did miss

Paint Party Friday

oh Eva and Kristen...please forgive me.

I am working on a landscape for you

I love how paint catches light

Just a whole lotta greens and blues right now

in the meantime ....

if you're at all  interested....


 can you guess which one is me?

   

Last week I shared a bit about my love of art and my belonging to the Art Club in middle school.

It was no different in high school. The photo above is from my freshman year.

 Art Club 

I spent all of my free time and all of my "study halls" and most of lunch in the art department.

I only wish I had more photos of my art from those days to show you.

I don't have photos of anything I did from high school until I was in my mid twenties.

I just didn't take pictures of anything back then.

Then I became a

Freelance Muralist

(starving artist)

I loved the title

But it irritated my family.

They just couldn't understand how I could be on my own with two kids

 and survive by painting for a living.

It defied the laws of logic and sense.

back to celebrating paint...

Here is another mural

I painted this one 

 for a big shot business woman who lived in a penthouse downtown.

I never liked people who thought they were better than everyone else

It is painted on a set of cabinet doors. The hinges and moulding are real.

This is one of my favorites.

and in case you missed it

I posted a few murals

here

SpringFever at RuffHaven

and

here

Susie asked...

I promise I won't drag you through the past in every Paint Party Friday post.

I just wanted to share a bit of my "roots"

I am in the process of Branching Out 

and you can't do that without tending to your  roots.

oh I almost forgot...

Were you able to guess?

I am  in the front row

I am 3rd from the right... 4th from the left.

The one wearing an owl pendant.

I wore a different owl pendant everyday.....I had a few...maybe ten...or twenty...

ok

I had a bunch of them

once people find out you like something....you get them as gifts

all the time

I had several owl figurines too 

but

An owl pendant was my thing. 

One day I told my friends that the Owl was a totem

 and was sent to the principals office.

They talked about suspending me for three days.

yes.... totem was a bad word

who knew?

If I would have told them I had seven personal totem animal spirit guides,

they probably would have had me committed....

or sent to a convent for Divine intervention.

They  told me I had to stop wearing the owls.

I didn't

                      

Today....

I spent today outside

 and the anemones popped up to say

hello

Spring 

but we are expecting snow tomorrow

                             

connections

come on in and have a cup of tea with me. 

I like my tea in mugs.

when the Lifeguard asks me  

" Why do you waste your time blogging? " 

or when he says  

"Blogging again? you have too much time on your hands"

it hurts a bit

because what he thinks about me matters

and because when he asks the question and

makes his remarks about how" bloggers have no lives"

(his words ...not mine)

it makes me question my actions

it makes me wonder why

why am I blogging

it wasn't so long ago that I thought blogging was a waste of time

I had a few friends who blogged and they always seemed to be writing about their blogs

or taking photos for their blogs

or tweeting about blogging and blogging about tweeting

makes anyone with any common sense say

why?

I'll tell you why

connections

yes

Connections

I have met some amazing women in this past year.
I love the link up parties and the challenges and the swaps.

I love giveaways and I had the best time hosting my own

 giveaway earlier this month.

The photos in this post are of a mug from a friend I would have never met if

I had not started blogging

Elizabeth   is an artist and  her art on the mug.

a mug that I won in her giveaway last summer.

(thank you again Elizabeth...I use it every day )

and I am always reminded to:

The mug says it all

the postcard is from Elizabeth too.

I love it

I received it as a part of a postcard swap hosted by another friend, Beth

I am so proud of both Elizabeth and Beth.

They have had huge success this past year.

I am so happy to have been able to watch them grow.

So here I am

a

 part of this huge community of bloggers

each of them bringing their own beauty to the party

I love that

and

I guess

 I just want to be a part of something big..

....by doing something small.

( I stole that line from my daughter...love her )

the blogging community is huge and I just want to be a part of it

I am not pursuing a career in art

I am not promoting a business

I just want to be a part of this wonderful artist community

as a

a cheerleader

perhaps

an inspiration

and

always

a friend

xo

                                  

Please come back next Tuesday and we'll sit down to another cup of tea. 

I'll introduce you to more friends I have met.

  

 I am linking to Art in Red Wagons' "Tea on Tuesdays"
go see who else is having tea this morning
now I need to go tweet about this blog post and add to to fb too

susie asked.....

Did you do any ceilings?
well...yes I did.

This was a "skylight " painted in the same house as the window in my last post.

And these were done in a basement playroom for a family in Monroeville, PA

Looking back on these old photos really brings back memories.   I did a few more ceilings too...but I'll save those for another day. 
It's spring and those weeds are already starting to grow...

see you soon
Marianne

Spring Fever at RuffHaven

I've been raking the twigs and stones and stuff out of the yard all weekend.

Spring Fever has set in and if I want
 to continue blogging I must move my computer to the sunroom. 

As I go through old photos (before digital) I occasionally come upon a few I'd like to share.

 Here's a faux window from my mural painting days in the '80s. 

This was done for a wonderful family in Pittsburgh in 1987.

Painting murals and decorative gifts was how I supported myself and

 my two children after my divorce.

Well this, and the help of child support too.

My ex was a good father.

Hope you are enjoying your first evening of Spring.

see you soon,

Marianne

by the light of the beautiful moon

Will you be watching the moonrise tonight?


We don't howl at the moon here at RuffHaven. But we do celebrate its beauty.

Today is the first day of Paint Party Friday
Eva and Kristen are the lovely hosts.

copied from Paint Party Friday blog
Acrylics, Oils, Watercolors or Mixed Media
Big Works or Small Pieces
Finished Paintings or Works In Progress
All Painting Accomplishments are Reason to Celebrate!

  I had a few paintings to show you but decided to show you this instead.
way back in 1974

This is a photo of a very very old newspaper clipping.

I was a member of the Art Club in middle school.

We were part of a school beautification project and we painted the trash cans
 that were at the end of each hall.
 I'm  in the middle of the back row beside the trash can I painted.

My can had five people from five different ethnic groups holding hands.
Which was kinda funny
because there were no other ethnic groups anywhere near where I lived.
It's also funny that my trash can was placed in a corner and the white girl was always facing out.
Do you think the school janitor had something to do with that.
anyway

My early love of paint has followed me through life,
 and each week I would like to share a bit of that with you.

I don't think I could have been able to express myself if it weren't for paint.
I was always quite shy.

now

Go to  Paint Party Friday  to see what everyone else is doing.
We're celebrating paint!

Come join us!

                                         

Reel Around the Sun

Happy St.Patricks Day !

We have a winner !

Well actually..... we have 6 winners !

Drum Roll Please

After carefully tracking all the entries

After creating spreadsheets to assign everyone numbers for each box

After assigning numbers in the order the posts came in.

After trying to use random . org  generator to  pick a winner.

Really???

did someone say that service was easy?

so on to

Plan B.....

After coloring those spreadsheets

after cutting them into itty bitty pieces all the while cursing random  . org

 because I am extremely late at this point

All itty bitty pieces were placed in a cup

one color at a time

Then using the back up plan:

random . husband .  hand

and he would NOT allow even a photo of his hand on my blog.
aarrrggghhh    men !

Yes after ALL that

We have 5 winners

Then just for an added twist

I dumped

ALL the itty bitties

back into the cup 

and

For the Grand Prize

oh I didn't tell you about the grand prize?

a mystery box

of equally wonderful and gifts

goes to



 Now it's your turn: 

Contact me ...by email....
And I too will send the winners an email to let them know they won.

I need the 6 winners  mailing addresses

by Monday March 14th , 2:00pm

( my time )

Eastern Standard Time  USA


I want to thank you all for playing along.
xo
Marianne

woyww # 92 - paper, ink and more

 It's time for woyww once again and I do have a few things to show you.  If you came from Julia's list you know what I am talking about. If you didn't then you need to pop over there to see what this is all about.

First,  I have been cleaning up my inks, pens and misc wall. Next week I'll  tackle paints and mediums.
The problem with having a large space is that while cleaning I always get distracted by the fun stuff and end up making a bigger mess,  instead of cleaning up the original mess....this problem keep multiplying until I can't move anymore and I end up on the dining room table.  My goal is to have the whole room clean at one time so I can show you the whole space. I would show you now ....but I really don't want to win an award for most clutter.

Second,  I have been making journals and gathered some paper and fabric on the dining room table ....because ... of course there's no room to work in the craft room.

And last,  The big project this week..... I have the boxes for my giveaway lined up and almost full. I have a few surprise gifts to put into each on then they will be sealed and ready for my giveaway drawing  this weekend.

and here's the database I am using to keep track of the entries.  It's actually five giveaways in one, and the way I am allowing the players to choose where their entries go takes a bit of organization.

Everyone gets three chances and can play them any way they want. So far I have 35 players, so that's 105 entries.  I am having fun with this.    There's still time to enter. Check out Life at RuffHaven to see if you might be interested in any of the goodies. Now off you go to see what everyone else has on their work space this week.