Filed under: artwork, blog pals, blog sistas, friends, gratitude, hybrid art, personal/family, seasonal | 1 Comment »
art heals
Posted on February 25, 2011 by firstborn
the sadness of letting go our beloved TJ still lingers… but, as they say, life (must) goes on. we have to take comfort knowing that we did the right, most loving and kind thing for him. he’s not suffering any longer now and i’d like to think that he is still with us in spirit. it will take some time getting used to not seeing him around… but time heals…
and for me, art does too. i have been more than ever wanting to draw and paint what i am feeling/ experiencing. i just have to make a more concerted effort to do so. otherwise, i will continue to be the stressed out, uber cranky yiatch that i’ve been lately. & omg, i so do not want to live my life like that. no friggin way.
lately, i’ve been admiring the fabulous works of teesha moore and tessa mcsorley. i revisited teesha moore’s work when i recently stumbled upon many of her youtube vids on art journaling. i had forgotten that she really pioneered many techniques/trends that you often see (& perhaps take for granted) now in the world of art journalling. i have an even better appreciation for her work after viewing her videos.
i came across tessa mcsorley’s work also by accident. and her wonderful sketches of girls and forest animals really struck a chord with me. i really love that she takes her artwork straight from her sketchbooks & then turns them into functional art via silkprinting onto tee-shirts, bags, small posters, etc. i totally LOVE that.
another bit of news that is lighting a spark under me to create more is that i just learned that my sketchbook for the sketchbook project is being viewed! wow, how’s that for a boost to the ol’ morale, eh?
so, i am hoping that in the days to come, i will be more diligent in my art-making & i’ll be sharing more of creations here… & i am really loving the idea of functional art… so who knows, i might dream up something along those lines 🙂
slowly but surely, i will get out of this funk i’m finding myself in and make the art that i know is within me…
& is waiting ever so patiently to come out.
Filed under: artwork, digiart, hybrid art, illustration/drawing, kitty tribe, personal/family, sketchbook project | 3 Comments »
OWOH winners and sad farewell
Posted on February 19, 2011 by firstborn
(a digi-collage that i made a while ago for a challenge in a flickr group i’m in)
sorry for the huge delay but it’s been a ROUGH week both at school and at home.
(this snap was taken in spring 2008)
my hub & i have made the very painful decision to put down our beloved TJ. he is our “patriarch” of our kitty tribe. He is 18 years old and for feline years, that is pretty old. and for the past year or two, we have seen TJ deteriorate. it’s been tortuous to see our TJ, who was once a big, strong, bear of a cat, become so weak, frail and senile. we have put down two beloved cats before and both the hub & i have decided “no heoric measures”…TJ has lost his appetite, lost so much weight, barely gets out of his cat bed and sleeps all the time, and he even has stopped purring. the last week has been brutal trying to put off the inevitable… the vet will be paying us a housecall (as we want to spare TJ any further trauma with taking him in the pet carrier & go for a bumpy car ride to the vet’s) this weekend and we’re both a wreck over this whole business. but we have to keep telling ourselves that we are doing the right thing for TJ, and that he has had a beautiful, full life with us and the other cats and that he won’t be suffering any longer. TJ has to know that he has received unconditional love from us and that he gave us his, plus so much joy & more as well.
while i still have the composure, i thought i’d better announce the winners of the OWOH giveaway NOW… because LORD knows, i will not be any shape soon…
sorry that i had to combine a happy event like OWOH with the extreme sadness that is happening with us right now, but i am forcing myself to do this because i don’t want to disappoint anybody or keep anyone waiting…
so without further ado, here are the randomly picked winners:
#1. micki butler, #33, wins the secret garden itty bitty book.
#2. carmen, #110, wins the atc block.
#3. gale varland, #58, wins the 4×4 mixed media canvas.
#4. pat, #6, wins recipe book w/ polka dots.
#5. sylvia smiser, #48, wins the recipe book w/ wavy stripes.
#6. holly j., #88, wins the set of magnets.
#7. michelle remy, #78, wins the set of pin-back buttons.
#8. gracie, #54, wins the crotcheted cuff.
#9. wendy w., #90, wins the owl brooch.
and last but not least,
#10. carolyn knight, #66, wins the handbound mini-zine book.
CONGRANTULATIONS you lucky winners!! i sincerely hope you will enjoy your goodies 🙂
and many thanks to lisa swifka for organizing and hosting OWOH as well as EVERYONE who has kindly dropped by and visited my humble blog!!! xoxo
to the 10 lucky winners: i will be in touch shortly via your blog or private email to notify you that you have won! i will need to get your particulars, so if you would kindly drop me an email of your full name & address to follow_your_bliss07@hotmail.com that would be greatly appreciated! i will plan to mail out your goodies tuesday 2/22 (as 2/21/11 is a holiday and so no mail service)…
to everyone else, have a good day and please send us some wishes of peace, healing and strength.
thank you for your patience and kind understanding, mary ann xoxo
Filed under: blog things, freebies, friends, owoh, personal/family | 8 Comments »
to my dear beautiful sis and brother-in-law…
Posted on September 17, 2010 by firstborn
my private speech practice is picking up now that school is back into full swing. & yesterday i met for the first time the principals of the 3 buildings i will be working in this year & i totally forgot to wish my sissy jo wedding anniversary greetings (& we talked on the phone too!!)! aaaack…i feel like an complete idiot.
😦
anyhoo, i made this photo collage to hopefully redeem myself with them…it was so unintentional. seriously….
i was her maid of honor at their wedding & it was one of the most beautifulweddings that i ever had the pleasure to stand up in. aren’t they a gorgeous couple? (omg, their two kids now are even more gorgeous!) we can’t wait to par-tay very soon & hey, since we’ll be all together, we can do a combo anniversary celebration…yay (theirs & ours, which if you may recall was last week)! 
woot, we can’t wait! 🙂
xoxo reya & joe
Filed under: personal/family | Leave a comment »
remembering bernie
Posted on September 10, 2010 by firstborn
this time last year, we were at my late father-in-law’s wake when my brother-in-law, bernie, had his fatal collapse…right there, among a mass of friends and family in the funeral home. it was a surreal, horribly shocking moment…a memory not easily forgotten. we were already mourning the loss of our beloved patriarch and then hours later, my husband’s eldest brother drops dead. literally. my nephew, who is an emt, and some other family members tried furtively to revive bernie. but after 3 attempts with cpr, nothing. the emts who arrived moments later weren’t successful either. it was, as you might imagine, a traumatic tragedy for all who bore witness to it.
i couldn’t help remembering this when i was going about my day today. it’s still incredulous that he is no longer with us. my memories of him are so vivid…i hear his voice in my head and he sounds so real, so alive, you know? freaky, i know…but i guess that is my brain trying to remember & make some kind of sense from his passing.
i know that my dh, his brother, feels the same as i do. bernie was a uniquely eccentric sort of person, who loved to talk a person’s ear off and most definitely followed the beat of his own drum when he was alive. but deep down, he loved his family and i know that he would be happy to know that we loved him right back too.
Filed under: personal/family | Leave a comment »
in loving memory
Posted on September 8, 2010 by firstborn
not a day goes by that you aren’t ever in our thoughts and prayers. it’s hard to believe that you are not with us any longer, even though there are many times when we still think you are here. well, i guess in a way, you are…in our hearts, minds & all our wonderful memories of you. you must know that we love you dad. we honor your memory and will forever cherish all the times we were privilleged to spend with you. xoxo joe & mary ann
Filed under: personal/family | 1 Comment »
happy anniversary to us
Posted on September 7, 2010 by firstborn
(photo courtesy of @Carol Miller photography, rockland, me…our dear friend & fave wedding photographer, taken on 9/7/2002).
can’t believe that it’s been 8 years today that we were married high above the sea on mount battie. i remember that special day with great joy & treasured fondness. it was truly a beautiful, glorious day & one that will always hold a special, cherished place in my heart. i love you my darling husband, always & forever. xoxo
Filed under: adventures w/ dh, personal/family | Tagged: our wedding anniversary | 2 Comments »
slow heal
Posted on September 17, 2009 by firstborn
these past couple of weeks have been unbelievably difficult. the pain & grief were & still are UNREAL. the sudden absences of our loved ones are starting to sink in…& i’m afraid it’s going to be a slow heal.
i wanted to thank you all again for all the wonderfully kind & comforting words, thoughts and prayers. please know that we very much appreciate them. i especially wanted to thank my sister jo & her husband tim for taking care of us (i.e., sharing their beautiful home with us, feeding not only us, but the many friends & family members —& there were a lot of them!—that we have seen over the past couple of weeks & for being there for us). we couldn’t have gotten thru all this without their love, compassion and support.
we’ve got one more hurdle to go…the private burial service we’re having for my bil this saturday. it’s been helpful to have been around as many family members and friends during this very stressful time. i cannot even begin to explain the extreme sadness we’ve been feeling these days. i’ve never quite experienced this before. & i am afraid that this won’t be the last time either…
haven’t been doing much work in the studio. things kinda took a backseat when stuff started to hit the fan. i had a couple of works in progress when we first got the news about dad…then when i was up to it, i worked on my art wips a little a time, in between bouts of tears.
it’s been hard lately to write something cheerful these days because i’ve been so overwhelmed with grief. but i think i need to force myself to get back into my art-making. a friend mentioned that perhaps my art can be like therapy? i think that might be a good idea (thanks pamela for the suggestion!).
so here are some little things i’ve worked on:
these are for red lead’s september atc swap. the theme was, what red lead image are you? i was in the middle of making these when we learned that dad had fallen & broken his hip…anyway, i finally finished them. i used a set of rubber stamps that i had bought a few years ago from red lead. & just cut out copies of my baby pix. it’s kind of a dark-ish palette than i am used to using, but i wanted to use the papers & embellishments that i already had in my personal stash.
when i made these atcs, i didn’t know that the text i assembled here would hold so much weight for me now:
never forget…today’s joys
what matters most…today’s joys
loving life…today’s joys
then i made these because i had a conversation with my little niece & nephew a few days ago about dying & how they believed that people became angels in heaven. i saw that lorri’s september atc theme was angels, so i started to think of something…here’s what came up:
cherish the memories…especially the happy times with loved ones.
have courage to survive through the pain & heartache & most of all,
to carry on.
have hope, comfort & peace that time will heal our grief & that memories will live on in our hearts.
i realized after i made these that i couldn’t part with them…so back to the drawing board & made these for lorri’s swap instead.
here are a couple of close ups:
this is the most that i’ve shared/written since everything happened two weeks ago. i’ve not had much energy or desire these days. each day has been a struggle, but both the dh & i are hanging in there. we’ve got one more final goodbye to do for my bil.
so please bear with me/us as i/we try to get through the next couple of days.
as always, thanks for stopping by.
xo mary ann & joe
Filed under: artwork, atcs, personal/family, swaps | 1 Comment »
sadness, part II
Posted on September 14, 2009 by firstborn
two funerals in less than a week…UNREAL.
we will be there for you bernie, we will be there for you.
Filed under: personal/family | 2 Comments »
can’t seem to catch a break
Posted on September 12, 2009 by firstborn
we buried my beloved fil yesterday. it was gut-wrenching hard. but he is finally laid to rest. i can’t believe that he is gone. but both my dh & i take great comfort in knowing that he is no longer suffering & he is in a better place.
now, we are mourning the unexpected & shocking loss of one of my many brother-in-laws. it happened during my fil’s wake this past thursday. it was so UNREAL/SURREAL. no one could believe it. he was my fil’s eldest son. all throughout the wake, my bil was talking to everyone & i mean, EVERYONE. then he suddenly collapsed mid-sentence while talking to someone. it was HORRIBLE. just shows us that LIFE IS SHORT & you can be taken at any moment in a flash!
so we are still in chi-town, awaiting the final arrangements for my bil. idk if we can endure another wake & funeral so soon after dad’s.
here we go again.
the pain & grief is UNREAL.
this past week has been an insanely stressful time for my family. please LORD, give us the strength to get through this very difficult time.
bernard w., jr., eldest child of bernard h., sr. (february 8, 1950-september 10, 2009). may he rest in peace. we love you bernie, as quirky & eccentric as you were, we love you.
Filed under: personal/family | 7 Comments »
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