'TIS THE SEASON...

HOLIDAY WISHES 
December 9, 2011 

Snowmen guarding homes

Silent night covers the sky...

Joyful songs drift on;

Twinkling lights sparkle

Lighting up winter's darkness

Sweetening bitter nights. 

 Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday season filled with good will, good friends, good food, and always...LOVE!

See you after the holidays...

Thank you for continuing to stop by my blog. I appreciate your support and interest.

Big Holiday Hugs,

abbyj

 

POST THANKSGIVING

LOOKING AHEAD TO CHRISTMAS 
December 2, 2011  

Future's eye sees peaceful fantasy world"

With the holidays upon us, I'd like to imagine a world filled with peace and good will...if everyone does just a few good deeds for others during this time, at least for a while, the world will be a better place for us all!

Winter is fast approaching...I welcome it as I always do. But for those who are less enthusiastic about it, challenge blog 4X4 FRIDAY invited artists to create a piece of art with the theme: WINTER BLESSINGS...I'm hoping that this will work...

Holiday time is often party time. In that spirit, CRAZY AMIGO's challenge was to create party-themed art:

INSPIRATION AVENUE chose a most unusual subject for their art challenge this week... English Literature. In keeping with the holiday spirit of good will to all, I chose Charles Dickens' OLIVER TWIST as my inspiration...

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART chose CANDLES for their weekly theme... I created a piece inspired by and in honor of the female religious community we met in China. There, they light candles to send messages to the spirits...

 I combined the themes of the PAPER TRADERS ART BLOG and TAKE A WORD even though they're totally different. For the PAPER TRADERS BLOG, our task was to create a piece of art about the vintage working woman...and TAKE A WORD's theme was simply, blue! I combined them into a blue working woman piece in the hopes that it'll satisfy both challenges...does it?

I guess it's not surprising that the vintage working woman I selected was a photographer working with a model for a music sheet ...loving photography and music as I do! I really enjoyed doing this one!



Finally, the last challenge has NOTHING to do with the holidays either... Issued by the challenge blog  THINK MONDAY-THINK ATC, another unusual theme request: FURNITURE!!! I remembered that in the capital city of Ethiopia... Addis Ababa... I noticed that many of the furniture shops had their furniture displayed outside, on Mother Earth!! THIS is what it looks like: 

Have fun as you prepare for the holidays...remember those good deeds...and please come back and visit me!

Holiday Hugs,
abbyj

CHALLENGES

ART BLOG INVITATIONS 
November 17, 2011 

"Rafters of turkeys in our backyard..."

I can't help but wonder why it is that we only see large rafters of wild turkeys throughout October and November... exactly when they're "in season" and should be making themselves scarce! Strange...don't you think? They are interesting creatures...always seem to be RUNNING. Are they running to or from somewhere?

"Coexistence... what the farmer does with the turkey...until Thanksgiving!"   Mike Connolly   

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Memories of summer are found in the SUNDAY POSTCARD ART  invitation to create an art piece about POPPIES...

"I am a being of Heaven and Earth,

                          of thunder and lightning,

of rain and wind,

of the galaxies."  

Eden Ahbe

Thoughts of our fast-approaching winter are found in 4X4 FRIDAY's art challenge... to create  a piece of art representative of a FROST QUEEN...

Frosty morning trees

start the day by promising

better things to come

It's usually during the winter months that all the carnivals and mardi gras occur... INSPIRATION AVENUE nudged artists into the mood with its call for HARLEQUIN-themed art...

Carnivale time...

evil and funny faces...

which of them are real

Finally, we learn about all this and more in school. I wonder what kind of teacher Albert Einstein would have been... The folks at the COLLAGE OBSESSION challenge blog really like the guy and invited artists to create a piece of art featuring THE MAN...  In a small tribute to him, I gave him a vase of POPPIES!

Thanks so much for checking in with Life...The Vivere. I hope you'll return for my next posting...

Happy Holidays...off for Thanksgiving!  Hope yours is wonderful and blessed!

xox,

abbyj

JUST THINKING...

About Things   
November 12, 2011 

 "Connect with friends old and new"

  

I'm in awe of the technology that enables me to find and reconnect with friends from long ago who may or may not be far away: people who were dear to me but have moved residence or those with whom I became friends after brief, fleeting meetings...friends with whom I've lost contact although they're still in my heart. My 6 word memoir today is a tribute to FACEBOOK and its co-creators. Through FACEBOOK, I have reconnected with friends from decades ago, friends with whom I grew up, friends in far away places, other countries...it's a brilliant means of keeping in touch with dear ones past and present, far and near...AMAZING!!

 Blog challenge site, THREE MUSES invited artists to explore their thoughts about WINDOWS. My thoughts turned to two of my favorite art subjects...trains (above) and graffiti...

Two of my favorite challenge blogs, the COLLAGE OBSESSION and THINK MONDAY-THINK ATC, both had artists thinking about black cats...STILL! The particular cat in my picture has a fascination and curiosity with graffiti... just as I do. She especially loves the window sill overlooking the alley with a huge crow. She can be found there just gazing out (or sleeping) for hours at a time! It's her "go to" place!

Yet another of my favorite art subjects is the Roma or Traveler population found throughout Eastern and Central Europe... the Gypsies. Happily for me, Gypsy Spirit is the subject for this week's blog...  SOARTFUL CHALLENGES.

Thanks so much for stopping by for this short posting...hope to see you for my next!

xox,

abbyj

SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE

MUSIC I LIVE BY... 
November 8, 2011  
 

My life's soundtrack defines and soothes...

FIRST: PAPER TRADERS' art blog challenges... the first task was to create a luggage tag, boarding pass or shipping label for a shipboard voyage. Su Lin Chang, a young, inexperienced, naive and traditional Chinese  woman from Shanghai was embarking on a long voyage to New York to join her sister. Emigrating was a big decision, but she was looking forward to making the United States her new home. She knew it wouldn't be easy leaving all her family members and her ancestral home, but this was an opportunity of a lifetime. It was a long, difficult trip...she had to take two different ships to make it all the way to New York! Here is one of Su Lin's  BOARDING PASSES...

and here is her luggage tag...she only had one bag with all her worldly belongings!

At the other side of the world, in our neck of the woods, Paper Traders' art blog requested artists to create something Native American...I was all over THAT request! Here's my gentle native Faithkeeper...

NOW, my life's soundtrack. The music that speaks to me with the loudest voice has to do with feelings and ideals. John Lennon's IMAGINE beautifully expresses my hopes and dreams for a peaceful world...

"...Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world..."

Michael Jackson's WE ARE THE WORLD struck a powerful chord in my heart... 

Our daughter is the subject of my next piece. It expresses my hopes and wishes for her...even now that she's a wife and mother of two. Lee Ann Womack's I HOPE YOU DANCE...

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE from the hit Broadway musical and award winning movie The Lion King is very powerful for me, combining music and words that I love as well as my love for all things African...

"From the day we arrive on the planet

And blinking, step into the sun

There's more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done...

***

It's the Circle of Life

And it moves us all

Through despair and hope

Through faith and love

Till we find our place

On the path unwinding

In the Circle

The Circle of Life"

The Broadway show, Rent  (as well as the movie) introduced the marvelous and tender song, SEASONS OF LOVE. This speaks to me more as I age...

"525,600 minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets,

In midnights, in cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

In 525,600

How do you measure a year in the life?"

I'll bet that Carole King's song, TAPESTRY, is part of the soundtrack in the lives of many people...it's certainly one of my all-time favorites...

"My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue,

An everlasting vision of the ever changing view

A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold...

A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold"

Audrey is a Clan Mother...one of the leaders of the Onondaga Nation (one of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.)  She's also one of my longtime friends and someone who has had a tremendous influence on who I am! Among the most important lessons I've learned throughout my 25 year friendship with her is the value of giving thanks daily for the many blessings in life. Further, I now believe, as do all indigenous people, that we are ALL brothers...all connected in this thing called LIFE, no matter where we are. I'm fortunate to call Audrey my friend. There's a song in the Broadway show, Wicked, called FOR GOOD, that expresses my feelings of friendship and gratefulness...

"I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return.

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you..." 

 I love rainy days! Eddie Rabbit wrote a song entitled I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT... it's perfect!

"Well, I love a rainy night

I love a rainy night

I love to hear the thunder

Watch the lightning 

When it lights up the sky

You know it makes me feel good..."

 Dire Straits' BROTHERS IN ARMS is another one of those songs that screams what I believe...what about you?

Finally, there's a new song by Josh Groban called HIGHER WINDOW that plays a chord in my heart...

"...because there's a light from a higher window

Shining down on us tonight

And the music floats on the breeze

From an easier time..."

This has certainly been a glimpse into who I am...I hope you enjoy the art and can identify as I have with some of the music.

Thanks for stopping by...

'Til the next time,

xox,

abbyj