My Art Cards have arrived and are selling very well, considering I haven't done to much as of yet. I plan on being more proactive in the new Year 2012.
Hope you had a great Christmas and/or time with your family over the holidays.
My cards sell for $5.00 each or 5 cards for $20.00.
I will attatch a photo of the ones I have available at present.
Please contact me if you are interested.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hugs and Best wishes for a Wonderful 2012.
Angela

Saturday, August 13, 2011
 
Finished my workshop Portrait Painting with the artist from Florence  Italy.

Wow, I certainly had my ups and downs in this workshop. As you  know from my previous
blog, I was definitly in a funk for part of it.

Reality Check! I have work to do to improve myself as an artist.

I needed to know that.


I need to take drawing lessons, my  drawing is not up to snuff. I knew it though. But when you paint other things,  it can be camoflaged. When you paint people however, it hides nothing and  certainly doesn't look like the person your supposed to be painting.

My  model liked my portrait as I have seemed to capture him (yes it was him) but I  captured his youth. My Model was 71 years old, and although he didn't look his  age, I made him much younger. 

I was quite hard on myself during this painting session. And  in hindsight, I didn't need to be so harsh. I wasn't as bad as I thought.  Everyone there was an amazing artist, let me make myself clear on that. I think  I fell somewhere in the middle, if I may say. Modesty be darned! 

For a  week's worth of painting, I think my portrait came along very nicely and guess  what!

I LEARNED SOMETHING.....yes a few things sunk into this hard head  of mine. So the course was a success!

I have to
thank the artist,  Martinho Correia. He was wonderful. Check out his work at
martinhoart.com/ 

He is an amazing artist and I  look forward to seeing him again.

Hugs to you My Friends!
Thanks for  all your encouragement. Without you I may have not persevered.

Love ya!

Angela 

Oh
woe is me....
yep that kind of day today. I have to say this is not like me...seriously it is not! I started out extremely positive and so happy to be in this art program with the artist from Florence Italy. I have hardly been able to  contain myself in waiting to start this class.
First day was great, truly was. Second day was a little intimidating, I had to draw. Drawing is not my favourite thing to do, but I can do it... Let me stress I CAN do it!
I was nervous and ended up finishing my drawing at home. 
I did get it.
This morning was the first time I have tried to draw from a real live model...this is intimidating. I can only say 'THANK YOU LORD FOR HIS HAVING CLOTHES!'
Yes, I am thankful...
Well, there is such a large class that we have one tiny room and one large room. I had been in the large one, but somehow have been placed in the tiny one for the rest of the workshop. That is fine, what is not fine is that the instructor RARELY comes into the room to give you guidance or support. He is monopolized in the other room. So if you start
off wrong, chances are you continue doing so and compounding the problem. 
This I did....
I tried and tried to fix it, but only got more frustrated and less done.
By the end I was almost in tears and thinking very negative
thoughts, about my never painting again (seriously) and thinking of walking out....ripping all my hard work to shreds (I didn't)....
Very, very negative....this is not me.
Granted I was frustrated and expecting more guidance than I received, but I should have been much more positive than that. I know how to do it, I just needed to focus.
There in was my problem... I was in a diabetic low....
It manifested itself into total negativity. 
This was not me; no this was my medical condition. It had snuck up on me and if
  I wasn't so focused on what I was doing wrong, I would have realized something
  WAS wrong.
I am resting tonight and will go in with fresh eyes tomorrow and
see.
Oh I pray tomorrow is better.
Hugs,
Angela

I  am back from our trip to Italy! 

Did surprisingly well with all the travel
and FOOD. I am learning to live with the lap band and make better choices. I  learn fast if I have chosen incorrectly and try not to do it again. Am having  problems with some breads and sometimes chicken. But enjoying how things are progressing. I am getting closer to Onederland, at least by my scale. LOL! I  find the clinic's scale a little more harsh. 

Not surprisingly I ate l like a PIG! The food was so good and that is an understatement! 
We had fresh lemons and oranges and other fruits right from my Aunt's garden. 
 
Yes, this was my first visit and we loved it so much. We would love to go again. 

We were mainly in Naples with little trips out to surrounding areas like the Amalfi Coast, Caserta, Positano, Sorrento, Pompeii... We stayed 2 nights in Rome & 1 night in Florence. We did a LOT! I have to go through my photos to organize and write what we did. I will add a few, but I took over 4000 pictures. May need to blog again about this just to add the tip of the iceberg to all we did. 

We stayed at My Zia's home It is the original homestead of my Great Grandparents from the farm they once had. My Dad  was born here. 

We did our washing in this 40+ year old washing machine and hung to dry in the sun. We had great weather with an average of 25*C, rain the first day only. 

The streets are narrow, virtually one way and you travel them on foot or in car at your own risk. The drivers do as they please! No stopping at stop signs, and rarely at traffic lights; only the ones willing to take risks get anywhere. Parking is where you feel like it. On
Sidewalks, double or triple parked. We have it good here at home! 

Everyone had a dog, more for guarding thehome inside iron gates. But there were a lot of homeless dogs that broke our hearts. Running the streets looking for food or affection, some were aggressive, others not.

We walked virtually everywhere. And not my usual walk! Oh No! My Dad was on a mission to show us as much as possible in the short time we had. My sister has long legs as does my son. Not me. I am the short one. My husband kindly walked my pace, although sometimes I was waiting for him with hisbum knee. I am not kidding when I say I think I jogged Italy. I am enjoying looking at the sites from the pictures I took, as all the time I had was to snap and run to catch up. We will go back one day and take it all in more leisurely, but I am so glad I was able to see this through my father's eyes. It has been a
dream of his and mine, actually all of ours to one day go see where he lived and grew up. I am thankful for that opportunity.

Well, a result of all this walking was blisters. I mean blisters on blisters. I had brought my good shoes with my orthopaedic inserts, so should have had no problem. BUT...it was hot so my shoe liner slipped and folded; refusing to stay in place. The result = Blisters. Ouch. But I was a trooper and carried on at the same frantic pace. 
 
Walked to the top of the mountain at Caserta, the King's Palace...and back again. 

I ate like crazy and walked even more. Was going to track all my food, but we were
all disappointed to find that WI-FI is virtually unaccessable. I think my Husband and Dad took it hard. By the end of the trip the rest of us were getting tired of them whining and trying to find the WI-FI. Good news though! Came home and had lost a couple pounds which certainly made my day. 

Because we were meeting so many people, there were bound to be blunders. What with me not speaking Italian and being so tired from all the walking, etc, I did a doosy! 

I kissed the waitress.... Oopps! 

I mean it was an honest mistake! First of all you greet everyone by the double cheek kiss; second of all we were entering a restaurant to meet family, some I had met, some I hadn't. Then I was ahead of my Dad whose lead I usually follow, but behind a cousin. So out of the corner of my eye, I see the cousin saying good evening and greeting the waitress (whom I didn't know was the waitress).
  So I come up and do the usual Italian greeting when my Dad pipes up behind me  "What are you doing??" Oh my did I feel like 2 inches tall when I realized my error. But we were able to laugh it off, after he told her we were from out of the country and just so very friendly where we came from. I think he may have  told her I was 'touched in the head' for all I know! 

I am sure I made more bloopers, but that  was the biggest one and one my son won't let me forget! 

The Vatican was amazing!! 
As was...


Florence 


Yes, I saw all 3 David's. Awesome!

I  still have to upload some more photos. So will post again later.

Met a lot of family, most for the first time. It was wonderful. My Dad and Sister
joined the 3 of us and we were able to see where My Dad grew up; went to school;
ran each year for the Madonna D'Larco; went to the cemetery for my Uncle, Nonna,
& Nonno, as well as other relatives... A lot done.
A truly terrific trip!

Hugs,
Angela 

Life is good. It throws the unexpected curve ball, but amazes you at it's resiliency. I am able to again paint and manipulate my brush better each day. I am working on a project that is soon to be done, and amazes me yet again at life's beauty. I have finished a portrait (which you can view in my gallery) of a child's joy in his ice cream cone after enjoying the hot Hawaiian sun.
This was such a hit, that I have been teaching this as a workshop to a few talented artists. Keeps me busy and out of trouble! Kidding.
I have also begun a journey of my own. A journey of health. I am finally trying a more successful route in gaining the edge on my diabetes and losing the weight that hinders my efforts. Thankfully I have the resources to help me with this, and most importantly... I have art to offer me a mental oasis. A retreat from the pressures that surround us each day and in different forms for each individual.
As my health improves, my brush works more. So hopefully you will see more artwork on these pages as we progress.
Next time I write I will tell you of my immersion into the old Masters of the Renaissance. My journey to Italy and personal experiences.
Looking forward to all that comes.
Hugs & Happy Painting!
Angela