Our home

We are officially back in Maple Valley, Washington!

This small community is in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, with some spectacular views of Mount Rainier.

 

 

(I like the how I captured the sunlight streaming through the trees...I will reflect on that photo when the sun gets covered up by clouds sooner that I want to think about...)





We have live in a quiet neighborhood on 1/3 of an acre, nestled up to 80 acres of forest and trails. The kids LOVE the forest. So much to explore...so much to build forts in...and so many blackberries to ward off with their landscaping machetes.  

                                                                  

We are settling in...with many boxes and artwork still in the garage or under the stairs. I want to paint the interior of the house, but that won't happen until September when the kids are back in school.

So nothing is up until that little beauty--of a job is done.

 

 

 

The yard looks pretty good this time of year.  Unlike many of our neighbors, I value my plants and so I water my lawn and garden.  Occasionally in the summer, you will see signs in a few yards with brown grass that say

--I am dormant, it's ok!--

 

I don't buy it. My yard is a huge canvas that I can put color here or there and move it around --any time I want to.  So we water...

May the sun keep shining on us!!!

 

 

 

 



{Less is More}

I have mentioned before that my High School Art class was probably one of the best classes I took.  I had really no idea what I was doing when I stepped into class as a Sophomore.



 My teacher didn't really lecture us about much.  She would show us techniques --like contour drawing-- and then let us go try it out on our own.  Carolyn Johnson had the best hair for loosing pencils in! She tended to have a couple stashed away behind her ear or in her bun. I remember this because as she circled the classroom, she'd fish for a pencil in her hair and if she didn't have one, she'd take yours and then demonstrate the technique for you for a time and then give it back to you. I liked this approach.  I like visual learning and to see her do it, pulled it all together. Contour drawing is unique because, you look at shapes and draw them, not looking at your paper, only the line of the object you are drawing. If you do it correctly, and not look at your paper or pull your pencil, the beginning line and ending line don't always match. You draw what you actually see, not what your brain thinks it should look like. It is an awesome drawing technique!



Another significant principle I learned was that when you make a 3D drawing, you need shadow. However, the shadow is not black. Black is not a primary color, or a color of the rainbow and if you look at a shadow, say on the backside of a leaf or something, more than likely it has read and blue in it.  Black is flat, adding other colors gives it depth.

Last, {Less is More}. Don't overdo things, let your natural eye fill in the gaps. Too much, creates confusion and doesn't let your eye rest on the painting/drawing.

So what?  From these three lessons I have found myself looking at life differently. When situations arise, I find myself pausing to look and trying to see it differently. To see color in the shadows. To not take my eye off the subject or my direction, no matter if I can't quite see the end result. To not clutter my life with stuff and with activities that keep me crazy busy. To look at the scriptures and lessons of life and see the color or meaning found in them.

The next time your kids ask you why they have to take music or do art...and they say they are no good in it. Tell them that is OK. You don't have to be good at it. You just have to do it and something may stick with you for the rest of your life. 

{Art} it has become part of my character and I wouldn't want it any other way.

comes to a close

Our year of {Colorado Adventures} has come to a close. We have moved back to the land of the green, Maple Valley, Washington.  It was a very difficult decision to make! Through prayer and a lot of faith, we feel like this is right place for us right now. 

 I LOVED the sunny days!

The wild, red, rocky terrain is amazing!

The big cerulean blue skies are  AWEsome!

I loved the thunder and lighten storms and the dry heat. 

Keno says I am solar heated, so I really liked feeling warm the vast majority of the time. 

I liked having snow and then liked when it melted.

I really liked the open feeling of the place. Probably because you could see the distant Rocky Mountains from just about anywhere.

 I caught a rainbow on one of my runs. I love it!

Beautiful!


We'll see you again at another time, Colorado!