Mount Oberlin, a Waterfall, and a Sketch

It's time to be realistic here.  

I feel like I chickened out...in more than one way.  

Have you ever felt that way?  Gosh, that's how I have been feeling and I'm needing to re-train my brain.

I've had the best experience over these summer months.

It felt completely different than before, like I could make some real progress.  Sometime during the second week of August, the Indian Paintbrush paintings were complete.  Those three paintings brought my summer total to nine paintings in less than three months.  It wasn't easy but nothing worth doing ever is, right?  The time had come to clean up and start again.

The great amount of progress I had made during the summer months must have gone to my head.  Or the heat or both?

I say this because I was really feeling ambitious.  Maybe too ambitious?  Okay, my point is this...there's this breath taking view in Glacier National Park that I have wanted to paint for many years.  Each time we drive over the road, known as Going To The Sun, which leads to Logan Pass Visitor's Center, it draws me to take it in the great expanses and massive peaks.  From what I can gather, I believe the peak in this favorite view is Mount Oberlin.  Correct me in the comments if I'm wrong, please.

Off to the right is a small parking area with boardwalk and the mountain goats often graze here.  There are very few parking areas on the Going To The Sun Road and during the peak season, it's really hard to score a parking space.  I took these photos quite a few years ago and it's been on my list of someday paintings.  If it was possible,

I would park myself at the base of this waterfall 

and just soak it up for the whole day.  

Tea, Hollyhocks, and Kittens

I'm a little quirky...it sounds so much better than weird.  

So maybe today's rambling will make you feel a little more normal.  My topic for today is to share a few things about me that most people wouldn't know.  I've loved tea for many years now but just recently began enjoying iced green tea.  When I'm in my usual routine, I'm drinking a smoothie in the late morning.  After lunch, I often switch to iced green tea.  Sometimes I add a little stevia to give it a bit of sweetness.  It took me a while to develop a taste for green tea.  It's got so many health benefits that I didn't give up and now I enjoy it.  Did you know there's flavored green tea?

In Great Falls, Montana there's a little shop on Central Ave.  In Cahoots For Tea (the shop's name)  sells loose tea and all the tea accessories you could wish for.  You can buy the teas by the ounce and the flavors are wonderful.  It's just a great little splurge to pick up a few ounces of a favorite like Picasso Blue or a new one like White Raspberry Champagne.  The green teas I have enjoyed most are peach and pomegranate.  I transfer the tea leaves from the little zip top bag to glass jars.  I store the jars in a cupboard away from light and heat.  It's easy to remove the label from the plastic bag and place it on the jar.  The little metal infuser holds quite a bit of tea but only a teaspoon makes quite a bit of tea.  When I make my tea, it's super concentrated so I just need to add a little to the top of a glass of iced water.  So the concentrated tea is kept in a glass jar in the fridge.  It takes up less space, no need for a full pitcher.  It's quick and easy to add to a glass without all the prep every time.

My other favorite drink this summer has been iced water with mint leaves and a squirt of lemon juice.  The fruit and herb infused waters are popular now as an alternative to carbonated soda.  Just one or two mint leaves, given a gentle twist, give the water fresh mint flavor.  If you decide to add mint to your garden, note that it spreads like a weed!  I'm going to need to plan how to bring some live herbs in over the winter.  Fresh herbs are worth it!  So for a spin on drinking more water, try lemon (or lime) and mint!  I've also tried cucumber slices and that's surprisingly delish, too.  These combinations are easy to do and I feel so much better without soda.  While I'm working on drawings or paintings, it's too easy to pull out the snacks and candy...I've got quite a sweet tooth.  Sometimes I forget to drink my water and keeping these drinks close at hand helps so much.  

Changing topics... I've got to get this out there...

I stalk other people's flowers.  

There.  I said it.  I feel a little creepy about it and hope other people don't bat an eye BUT I think I'd be suspicious of someone walking around the neighborhood with a camera like I do.  (Click on Continue Reading below left...)

Painting the Crocus

The Crocus trio of paintings were completed yesterday.  This marks six weeks of my adventures in painting on a regular basis.  I am treating this as a real job.  Funny, huh.  That's not sad and depressing at all.  I've spent years putting my artistic ventures last because I love my husband and children.  That's what we women do...we set our interest aside to focus on our family.  It's easy to resist saying no to someone else while saying no to myself.  In the past, when attending art show exhibits, I'd sheepishly say, "I paint watercolors."  Not, "I'm an artist on hiatus while I raise a family."  It was like this, because I was not actively busy with watercolors or any other kind of art, I felt like I wasn't really an artist anymore.  

The Long Pause (AKA The Lost Post)

I just completed the March 2013 post The Intermission is Over...only to find...I told you I don't know what I'm doing...the lost post from December 2012.  So I am posting it today.  Two at once!  Wow, I'm feeling a sense of accomplishment today.  I'm not going to spend any time editing it...you get it just as it is.  Bear with me, please.  And if you are reading and following, please add a comment.  What a boost to know whether anyone has been here.  I may be more encouraged to post more often.  hint. hint.

The Long Pause. 

It's been longer than a year since the last post.  This has been on my mind often and now I find myself rusty at posting today.  Why does this matter?  Why shouldn't I give up?  There's this nagging feeling that I've been beaten and/or I've quit.  I love reading blogs and for some crazy reason I can't put my finger on I want to record my own art related ventures.  My desire to write a blog began as a desire to be more than a wife, mother, homemaker, crafty person, Sunday School teacher, and on and on.  I felt like the artist part of me was very much lost.  She was pushed off to the side because there was no time.  It was a sad frustration that this core part of me was fading away.  I made a conscious decision to begin weaving my artistic self into everyday life.

Great times on the back roads of New Mexico.

Nature is such bliss.

"It is not the language of painters but

the language of nature which one should listen to,

the feeling for the things themselves, for reality

is more important than the feeling for pictures."   

                                   -Vincent VanGogh

There's just something about nature that can soothe the soul.  I feel myself aching for the mountains' rugged beauty in every season.  We live in northern Montana with its spacious cerulean skies that never seem to end.  Glacier National Park is just a few hours away from home here on the plains. 



St. Mary's Lake

The winters can seem like eternity...first snow arrives in October and spring doesn't really arrive until late May.  So do the counting.  That's four months for green grass, leaves, flowers and fully thawed streams.  Oh, and there is no promise we won't see snow from June through September.  I've become very attached to my Fujifilm FinePix S700 camera.  I know it's an older camera and there are better ones to be had.