My "Very Cool Surprise"

Last Saturday, I was feeling so discouraged. I had been having a very crappy week and then my phone rang. It was my mom. She said, "Dad is on his way and he has a very cool surprise for you." The only thing she would tell me is that I needed to open the boxes in order, which only piqued my curiosity. When my dad arrived, he started unloading all of these boxes, 8 in all, and I recognized that they were from my most amazing friend Deb. When I opened box #1, I found this:Sorry the picture is not great, but inside the box were prints of 6 of my art. There were six 5x7 prints and one 8x10. Underneath was an entire box full of 8x10 prints of my "Follow Your Heart" painting. On the back of one of them was a note from Deb. Here's part of it: "So I was figuring the other day that I've been VERY fortunate to follow my heart and I think you should too! I took the liberty of printing your first run of prints." Each box after contained hundreds of 5x7 prints of the other paintings. I just sat there speechless (and if you have ever spent more than 5 minutes with me, you know the significance of that statement). I am still in a state of shock. Deb is my absolute idol. She finds a way to make everything she decides to do a success and no matter what, she always follows her heart. For instance, she recently felt she was supposed to be living in Portland, so she sold just about everything, closed her storefront in Idaho, and moved herself and her two sweet boys to Portland. I just think that is so cool. She's such an example to me of just taking the leap, when your heart says "leap". You can see more of her work HERE. She's pretty amazing! As a going away present, I made her a little Scrabble tile pendant. I painted a heart on a piece of a 1958 map of Portland. In my boxes of treasure that she sent, she included vinyl prints of her pendant and Scrabble tiles, so I could share them with others.Once again, not a great picture, but hopefully you can get the idea. Diamond Glaze is used on the top, which makes for a difficult picture, but it makes it a bit dimensional, which I love. Deb's purpose in having my art printed was to help me jumpstart my art business and so I have been working on legalizing my business so that I can finally open my Etsy store and realize that goal. It is such an amazing gift and I haven't even been able to find the words to adequately express my gratitude. Here's is my altered book art journal page.
I used the quote from Anais Nin because it accurately describes my art journey and inspires me as I continue on this path. I also thought that I was an accurate description on Deb's journey too, so I used it again to make a painting for her as a thank you.

"Blossom"

8x10 mixed media on watercolor paper

I started with a reference photo of one of my neighbor's roses. The photo was of a white rose but this one is much more colorful. I under painted it with turquoise, purple, orange, green and then finished it with a pinkish red. I think that I LOVE this painting. I really just went with the flow and overcame my desire to chuck it early on. After all of the layers of under painting, it was starting to look a mess, but I just reminded myself to trust in the process and keep going. I'm so glad I did. It very much reminds me of Deb and I hope she loves it too. She deserves it! Thank you Deb!

So with that long story being said, I feel like celebrating here on my blog, with my very first blog giveaway. I am going to give the "Follow Your Heart" Scrabble tile pendant (just like Deb's) to one lucky winner on Friday, Oct. 15. All you have to do is leave a comment here on this post before Thursday, Oct. 14, at 11:59 p.m. MST. You can also have a second chance if you post about this giveaway on your blog or Facebook page. Just leave another comment saying that you did so. The more the merrier! I want to celebrate my "very cool surprise" with everyone! Heck, I want to shout it from the rooftops! Good luck to all!