I went to turn off the sprinklers this morning and found these ice sculptures. How cool is this ?

What have I been doing lately? Several things-

I have been working. Unfortunately, I have not yet won a lotto drawing so I have to go to work. Just three days a week. Sounds as if it is part time, right? No, I work 12+ hour days so it is full time. I like to work fewer days, more hours, but sometimes it is difficult. My work day is just that ... a work day. The whole day is consumed by work, thinking of work, running around taking care of patients, from waking until bedtime. I wish I could just stay there in the hospital for those days - it would save a bit of time and gas from having to drive home -sleep, change clothes and go back. I am not whining... not exactly... I am grateful I am able to work and grateful my phone is ringing off the hook with people begging me to go to work, but there are reasons there is a nursing shortage..... whoops, different blog.

I also have been shopping.... no, not normal going to the mall and shops shopping. But good ol' agoraphobic shopping from my computer. I am trying to find beads to make a necklace. I like to look at jewelry and collecting things to make jewelry. NOTE: repeat .... collecting stuff to make jewelry. I haven't really made anything yet . It is kind of odd too... I don't even wear a lot of jewelry. Right now I am wearing none... most days I wear none. But I am attracted to it - to little shiny, pretty objects, but I don't actually wear it. Ok, rarely wear it. I will wear this necklace though, once it is made. For now I am still collecting all of the supplies. I am now waiting for the boro beads to made...I will post a photo when done. Maybe, not a promise, even of me wearing it.. ohhhhh.

I have been working on a painting. Well, three paintings. One horse painting on canvas and two other smaller abstracts. A small altered-art metal box, mixed media thing is floating in my head. Maybe it will come out soon. It involves dog tags and color... not sure where it will go, but... .ahhh....that is the journey. Tomorrow is my last free day - then on to three days of intense patient care. pfft-

Stay warm because even in Florida it is supposed to be very cold tonight

In my profile I had mentioned that it took a trip to the local art festival AND an image to spark my foray into expressing myself with paint. I have tried to find the online image of that painting. I have found others by that artist but not that painting. Duh- it finally occurred to me I have the poster hanging on the wall - so down it came and I took a photo of it - please excuse the reflection! The artist is a Florida artist named Trish Thompson. The painting is named "Riverside Park Palms" I believe it is referring to a small park on the north shore of Lake Monroe.

Well, off to try a slightly different technique -I am going to try to paint on a big canvas- I have tried to paint on other canvases, but it is such a different feel - it is springy- as well as the cost issue - my problem of overcoming my feeling that I am "wasting"- HAH! I say to the universe! I am wasting and I don't care- maw-ha-ha. Ok, I do care a little bit.

This is a photo of half of this painting. It doesn't quite show the depth of color variations, especially since the original is about 12x22 inches. I may try to get a better photo tomorrow. This photo was taken just as it was getting dark outside. I cannot take a flash photo as the light causes a funky reflection.

This is the painting I am trying to get an objective opinion of... would you mind taking the poll? Or if you prefer, please leave a comment -

What do you think? This is what I have been experimenting with lately....

Wild Sunset

Here is a sunset from last week- What colors! I love this pine tree and have used it for a model in some artwork.

I am beginning to develop a more focused idea as to the purpose of this blog. I will try to take photos of some of my art work and hopefully Linda's as well. She is such a techno-phobe... it will be difficult to convince her to participate... but I'll work on her to soften her up. She has many beautiful ideas to spread around. She loves to talk - I can't imagine why it is so difficult to get her to post a blog.

For better or worse, I begin a new job on Monday so I may have a bit less time to be creative. I have also found it is more difficult for my brain to make the "shift" from left brained work to right brain creativity. Another challenge!