Sapphire Falls ~ This was originally a photo of the Drakes Creek in Kentucky but I did some digital magic to it.

More Surreal Tree ACEO's ~ I've been doing more of my little trees and listed them in e-bay today. Each tree has a story, emotion, or tale to tell. These are so much fun to do! I guess I'll keep doing trees for now till I get inspired by something else. Well the third one has more wildflowers and a birdhouse, but there are twisty tree branches on the ground down there. These are acrylics on canva-paper.

Willow Tree and the Circle of Life ~ Recently some of my on-line friends have mentioned circles and 'the circle of life'. It got me to thinking that life really does seem to go in a circle. My daughter has grown up, become an adult and moved out and my mother is 80 and more like a child every day because of the alzheimers disease. It seems that life is ever-changing and you can't stop the circle no matter how hard you would like to sometimes!

I finished up this one last night and it's ACEO size and acrylics on Canson canva-paper. It's going for auction in e-bay today. I'm really happy that I've sold 2 of my little trees in there this week! I love this new Canson paper I recently bought, it's nice and thick and smooth with a nice canvas texture, wonderful to paint on. I also bought some heavy gloss gel medium which I used in this one to give it a rich shiny appearance, love this stuff also! Well my Michaels gift certificate is all used up now, but I got some nice art supplies this week!

EXQUISITE!! ~ That's the best word to describe what was in the letter I got from Janet today. She recently opened up her own Etsy store and has made a wonderful new web site too. Read the news about her new site, Etsy store, and free notecard offer in her blog: http://aplanetnamedjanet.blogspot.com/ Janet currently has a promotion going on to give away (for free!) some of her beautiful art on printed notecards. OK, I've been dying for her to start selling some of those gorgeous fish designs she does and to get one as part of her free promotion was just awesome! Thanks Janet!! I am not mailing this beauty out, I'm keeping it and framing it and it's going on the wall in my art room! Thank you also for the smaller little aceo size freebie, it's gorgeous too and also going in the frame along with the notecard. The colors and print quality are just fantastic and the red envelope makes a wonderful mat behind the card!! BTW, this is a photo I actually took of her cards today! I layed them on a sheet of white watercolor paper, took them out on the back deck and got a digital photo of them. I seem to have gotten the photo a little crooked though but you can see how gorgeous the colors and detail are!

TREE TRIO ~ Of ACEO's. (from right to left, The Secret Tree of Mirth, The Little Tree Picker, and The Tree of Hearts. I had already finished and listed the one on the left on e-bay last week but I finished up 2 more last night and today to list. I've been having lots of fun doing these and the tiny details were painted with a pointy toothpick and little sliver of paper because my smallest brush was too big! Yes, The Little Tree Picker is one that I cut off from a larger work (posted below) because I wanted an odd number of trees in there plus, it made for the 3rd one in the trio!

The Secret Tree of Mirth ~ I don't even know what that title means but it came to me as I was finishing painting this one last night. It's an ACEO and it's acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper. I'll be putting it up for auction soon on either artbyus or ebay. Did you ever have a strange title pop into your head while you are painting something and you weren't sure why or how it came into your mind, but you knew it was perfect for what you were working on? This one is currently listed on e-bay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=010&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=200067157337&rd=1&rd=1

Rocky Mountain Sun Shaman ~ This is a digital painting dedicated to my friends who live out west near Denver, Colorado. It's a sun shaman to melt some of the many, many inches and feet of snow on the ground out there! It's just unbelievable how much snow has fallen out near Denver and I read on the internet news the other day that there was an avalanche which injured some and buried the highway. Hurry up spring! Wishing good thoughts and sunny days for you out west!

My daughter, myself ~

I'm feeling sentimental tonight because I feel like such an empty nester...my daughter has moved out and is living with her boyfriend for the last couple of months. I hope they have many, many years of love and happiness together, and possibly even marriage in the future. I had one old photo from my High School graduation and I put my daughter's senior year photo with mine in a picture frame. I had always thought that she looked like my husband, but the older she gets I can see that she really takes after me! :D Anyways, my husband and I love and miss her a lot! I told her I am going to use her empty room for storing the Christmas stuff I just took down and hey, I can see a room to place all my art stuff in! I guess time marches on and this is just a part of life to see your children grow up and make their own homes and ways in life.

Southern Lights ~ Digital painting I did tonight. I took most of my Christmas decorations down tonight...it's a relief to get some of the clutter out of the house, but kind of depressing too. It's time to look forward to a new year!

More Ring Around the Moon Photos~

1. This one turned out OK with the moon halo showing faintly.

2. Orbs showed up in this one but the halo didn't?!

3. I moved the camera when I took this one but got some interesting light effects.

Ring around the moon ~ Tonight I stepped out on the deck and there it was...this huge ring up there around the moon. I had read that ice crystals up in the atmosphere are what create these halos. I grabbed my little digital camera and snapped some pictures of it. This is kind of fuzzy but I was happy that I actually captured this beautiful sight! My husband wasn't feeling well tonight but he came out and looked at it too. One of nature's amazing sights! They mentioned the moon halo on the local news tonight too. Here's NASA's lovely photo and explanation: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000515.html

The Tree Harvesters ~ Those little tiny people down there by the ladder are harvesting trees. I don't know exactly what it means but the trees seem to be a combination of Christmas trees and trees with fall foilage. I stayed up late last night painting on this and had so much fun! It's acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper and it's 7 1/2 X 11 inches. I'm going to put it up for auction in either artbyus or ebay.

Bridge of Sighs ~ I got an e-mail advertising an ebay special listing fee of .15 for today only so I listed this one for 24 hours. Hmmm, it's funny how .15 can turn into a $2.50 fee so easily though. I have this one hanging in my living room right now, and I'll be very happy if it sells but also OK if it doesn't. (acrylics on stretched canvas 16 x 20 inches)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=010&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=200062951313&rd=1&rd=1

Bright Window with Red Drapes ~ I just finished this painting and it's acrylics on cardstock yupo paper. I was doing an abstract (non representational painting) and this window and red drapery appeared so I went with it! It's 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

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Well I am now using the NEW blogger! It was much easier to do than I thought it would be. I just clicked on the upgrade button, logged in my google account and then waited...and waited...and waited. I got an E-mail telling me that I had succesfully upgraded. yea, I'm glad that is over, I have been putting it on my 'to do' list for a couple of weeks now.

Testing...Testing ~ For some strange reason my whole blog seems to have disappeared so I'm making this test post. Also I was going to upgrade to the new blogger version (not beta anymore) but still can't find the link to do so and I used to see it every darn time I logged into my blog! arrrrrgh!! [:(

Lost River Cave ~ I grew up in Kentucky, not far from where the longest cave system in the world is located, Mammoth Cave. It has over 300 miles of mapped passageways and multiple levels with underground rivers. It's an amazing place to visit if you're into spelunking! In Bowling Green there is also a place called the Lost River Cave . Don't take the boat ride if you have claustrophobia! The boat glides over the murky green water and up under a solid rock ceiling which you can almost touch if you raise up your arms. Back in the 30's and 40's there was a big room in the Lost River Cave that was actually turned into a nightclub (check out the cool pics in this link!). It used to draw big name bands and must have been one neat place to party!! My Father used to tell us tales of how him and his friends would hang out in there. Another cool fact: legend has it that Jesse James hid out in this cave for a while after robbing a bank in a nearby town! The above is actually a quick painting I did last weekend but I manipped it into a digital work because it is still a WIP. I just had to try out the tiny bottle of flouresent orange acrylics that my husband bought to paint on his gun site for the turkey shoot but that's another story LOL!

Immunity Necklance and/or Immunity Idol ~ For those who may need one of these items to present in the event they are one of those 'tagged' in blogland!! My dear dear friend and fantastic artist Cheri (Ladywolf1 in wc) http://digisbycheri.com/, who I met in the Quickie Digi thread in wetcanvas, gave me this idea when she presented one to me when I tagged her once upon a time! :D

Tag you're it! ~ I've been tagged by Lisa (asil-art) http://asil-art.blogspot.com/ and I have to name 6 weird things about myself (LOL that should be easy). OK here goes:

6 weird things about myself

1. I've been a night owl all my life. I find myself more awake at 3 a.m. than 3 p.m.
2. You'de think at 53 I would be in to easy listening music but not me, I'm like listening to hard rock (Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.)
3. I can write upside down and backwards.
4. I can remember my phone number and address from when I was a small child.
5. My fingers are pretty long but double jointed (one thumb is). I can turn my hand into a claw looking thing when I want to LOL.

OK so now I have to tag 6 people (insert evil laugh here!) unless you present the immunity necklace like one of my friends did when I tagged them hehe! :D

I pick:

Alfreda (Jafabrit)
W.J. (art 166)
Cynthia
Janet (A Planet Named Janet)
Florence Artur
Nina Kuriloff

Genesis ~ This is a new digital work I did recently. I am woefully behind on keeping up with my painting/art the last couple of weeks but I'm looking forward to catching up once the holidays are over. arrrgh, I just remembered I was going to finish addressing my Christmas cards tonight so I can get them in the mail.

Has anyone upgraded to Internet Explorer 7 yet? I did the other day but I seem to having some strange bugs with it so far...things such as overlapping type on some web pages, posts that appear, then disappear??? . I do like the darker type font though.

Trees of Surreality ~ I finished this one today and it's acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper and 11 x 15 inches. Brrrr it is getting cold outside and it's going to go down in the 20's tonight! I can hear the wind from the cold front hitting the windows outside. It's a good night to stay inside and drink hot chocolate or something!