For Grandma...

Hello Readers,

This post is for our dear Grandma, but the rest of you can take a peak too. ;) Some of you know, but for those who don't, our Grandma is a wonderful painter and has passed some of her artistic passions on down to her grandchildren.

I know this post is a bit redundant to the last one, but since the cold and snow have prevented much outdoor activity, the paint brushes have yet to be laid to rest and so our pile of beautiful artwork continues to grow daily!

Here we go with Johnny's work. From left to right: a lightening storm, the northern lights over a lake, a goshawk (like one that we had trying to get a chicken recently) soaring above the mountain tops, a colorful abstract art and random planets out in our solar system. Pretty creative and colorful head, our little boy has!

Mike's northern lights and bird returning to her nest art. I love the free flow color that comes from a young head uninhibited by various art rules or structures. I think his colorful bird could be an album cover! 

Donna's little 4yr. art is among the most fascinating to study when it comes to an uninhabited mind! And this little sweetie loves to paint!! She's always making birthday presents for various family members, regardless of birth-dates. Last night, she talked Mom into baking a birthday cake with her for Annie and Theresa (haha, I think Mom's becoming a sucker to a cute face as she gets older!)!

Theresa painted this scene in a couple of days. You can stare at it for minutes and still not see all the details. If you can feel the energy of this one, then you'll have to agree with me when I say I think it sprung right out of our little country girl's heart!

And Lizzy! Geeze that girl... We can't keep up with her. Just took these pictures yesterday and already she has more beauties not captured here. I think her work really exceeds that of a 13yo and is a real voice for her quiet heart.

Lizzy has been in discussion with me about starting up her own blog as a space to share her artwork and stories. Pretty soon hopefully! It will be linked here, so you'll get to see it. I think she's also getting ready (confident enough) to post some of her work for sale in her own section of thatfamilyshop.com (coming soon!)

Standing at the sink washing dishes today, I was thinking about how I'm doing with my new years guidelines. I must admit, I fell out of the habit a bit around the week leading up to the grand opening of our new shop, and spent way more hours on the computer than I even care to tally, but overall, I was pleased to note that most of the guidelines are pretty habitual I think.

Today:
-A brisk walk and a romp in the snow with Kady (our dog) was my gift to myself.
-This blog post is my gift to someone else (Grandma; because I know how much you love seeing our art!) -Cleaning the floor was my effort at bettering our space.
-Listing products, conversing with customers and working on new items was my work in the shop.
-Lastly, for cultivating my creativity, I learned a new song on the guitar and now I'm off to finish writing chapter 40 in my book (can't wait to finish!).

I want to add more to the guidelines, but with the shortness of these winter days, it feels like a lot just to get those simple goals met, so I guess I'd better keep 'em easy.