Hearts of Prayer Series

There is a really cool event coming up at the end of this month. Not only are we beginning a new sermon series at The Stirring based on prayer and questions around it, but we're doing a big art show to go along with it. The opening reception is on September 27th at 5pm to 8:30, we'll have special musicians Kate Black and Valerie June playing during. We'll also have food and The Stirring service starts at 5:30 so you can check out our guest artist, Arian Armstrong while she creates art live on stage with our resident artist, Richard Fudge! Here are three of my pieces that will be up during the show. They'll be for sale :)

This is "Burn" (acrylic, ink, paper, canvas, chalk pastel)

detail of "Burn":
This is Damaged:(acrylic, ink, paper, canvas, chalk pastel, thread)detail of "Damaged":
This is Worn:(acrylic, ink, paper, canvas, chalk pastel, twine)here is a detail of "Worn":

and here is the postcard!

Yep, there we go :)

Finally, I'm back with new artwork!

It has been busy with a capital BUSY lately! I've barely had downtime so I'm very sorry that I put you lovelies on the back burner, but, it boils down to you guys don't pay me! So, speaking of that, here is the artwork for the next sermon series we're doing at our church. I'm pretty psyched because I'm forcing myself to use more Photoshop these days and I think this turned out quite nice. So, here's the logo:

and the teaser slide that displays before the service:

and here is the background for the sermon series.


I'm pretty excited about it :) I still have a postcard to do but I'll post that when it's finished, waiting on some finalizations in the copy. As always, please don't use my work! Thanks!

Wow, it's been a while

I've been very, very, very busy. Sorry! I promise to blog more later but for now, this is what I'm excited about:I know it's only the 1st of August (and the start of the hottest month in Memphis) but something in me at this time of year always gets excited about the upcoming season! What about you? Are there any special things you like to do in the Fall? Hay rides? Corn mazes? County fairs?

Love and Happiness...

So, today was a rough day. The transitioning back into reality mode, singing at a funeral, dog being sick all day and things just not going the way I wanted them to.

After the funeral, my coworker, Brenda and I decided it had been a long time since we had gone to Red Lobster so we drove on over to the Southaven RL and hung out. B and I spotted one of our friends leaving the restaurant so we buzzed her phone to say hi. She walked back in the place with her step-daughter and informed us that they had just met Al Green!

I was so very enthralled because Al Green happens to be one of my favorite musicians. Whenever I'm having a bad day or anything I tend to put on "Love and Happiness" and just put it on repeat. It makes me feel soooo much better.

So I hopped out of my chair with my phone and the one piece of paper I had left in my wallet (part of my boarding pass from my flight) and walked over. Normally when I meet/see famous people I am very shy. Actually, most of the time I won't go bug them because I figure they don't want to be bothered. But, c'mon...this is THE Al Green!

I said, "Excuse me, I don't mean to intrude but, are you who I think you are?" to which he replied "I'm Elvis Presley"...too funny. He was nice enough to sign my paper and pose for a snapshot with my phone. Very sweet man and just awesome! So, here's the snapshot and a photo of the laminated autograph (we have a laminator at work - I didn't pay to get that done). I have to say, it definitely made my day!

Home is where the lake is...

(my amazing Nana showing off her
"Top Ten Reasons I've Had a Great 80 Years"
t-shirt I helped design!)

It seems like we really didn't spend much time in Indiana...but the time we did spend was amazing. Not only were 24 out of 25 of my family members there (missed ya Keith!), the weather was phenomenal and the fireworks were so good they made me cry!

When people ask me "Where are you from?", and I get this question quite often because, after living here for 14 years, I still sound like a Northerner, I always answer "Syracuse, Indiana." This kind of makes me chuckle because I only lived there for a year growing up, but being an Air Force kid, you kinda have to pick a place that "feels" like home and stick with it. It's not that my family moved a whole heckuva lot (we are so thankful for that!) but we almost always came back to Syracuse for Christmas and the summer holidays. Most of my favorite childhood memories come from two places; Yakota, Japan and Syracuse, Indiana. There is just something about that little Northern (Mid-Western technically) town that just resonates with my heart and soul.

(the aunts, uncles and nana - all wearing the shirts I helped design!)

It's hard to explain it but when we landed I just felt calm, more relaxed, of course the fact that I had to put on a sweatshirt at the airport didn't hurt that feeling! The feeling of "coming home" to Syracuse was definitely amplified this past week by the fact that the fam was there, but it still has all the joys of childhood for me even when it's quiet.(my bro and his lovely wife!)

So, after riding on the boat quite a few times, swimming at the Wawassee Sandbar, eating at the Frog and the Tiki Bar and generally chillin' like the Knudsens only know how, we're back in our Southern home. Leaving Memphis and returning to Memphis definitely kicks my love/hate relationship into high gear (love = the loud cicadas and bullfrongs, hate = heat, crime, school district). But at least I have memories, lots of photos and the promise that we'll all meet up again sometime soon. I just hope it's not as long of a time between!

(my awesome cousin and her awesome boyfriend)

(me and my lovely family...heehee)

Ding Dong the King is Dead...

Oh yes, our tax dollars hard at work...
Who can forget this publicity stunt?
Photo cred: BullyRook

Well, not dead. But those of us in Memphis who have grown insanely tired of the reign of our Mayor (c'mon...5 terms with this guy!?) may actually see light at the end of the tunnel. But I'm not holding my breath. I'm praying that it's true this time but last year he said he was resigning to pursue the office of Superintendent of the Memphis City Schools. Yeah...cause we really need him further messing up our schools like he messed up our city. He never stepped down last year, of course. He's saying that his resignation will take effect on July 10th...lets just hope we get there without him taking it back!

For those of you who aren't familiar with "King Willie" here are a few of his more notable "contributions" to Memphis:

• Failed to ensure sound fiscal management of the City of Memphis
• Fraud allegations involving national money for the building of the FedEx Forum
• Failed to communicate effectively with the City Council
• Failed to address multiple allegations of improprieties regarding Memphis Light Gas and Water
• Served as the prime target and catalyst for the City Charter rewrite
• Angered citizens to the point of becoming a target of a (failed) citizen recall effort
• Proposed raising property taxes by 17% while taxes on his personal home were delinquent.
• Called for a halt to early voting due to alleged "irregularities". The Shelby County Election Commission stated that early voting would continue.
• Done little in response to the significant rise in crime under his leadership, he stated that "No mayor in any American City can solve the crime problem."
• Appointed new leadership of the Memphis Public Library over the objections of the Tennessee Library Association.
• Failed to address criticism in the way that cases and patients were being handled by the Memphis Sexual Assault Resource Center, and caused a racially-charged argument in the council meeting where he accused the city councilman of being a racist.

(source: Wikipedia)

So, you can see he's a real keeper. The scary thing is that he's resigning to run for the 9th Senate Seat against Steve Cohen. I really, really, really, really hope that the people around here (and the rest of the state) have learned from past mistakes! If he gets elected to represent TN, I might have to move.

Probably my "favorite" thing about Willie is when his campaign was based on the slogan of "Shake the Haters Off" - when I heard about it, it literally made my mouth drop and my eyes roll back. Read more about it and a humorous contest of suggested replacements for the stupid tag here: "Herenton's 'haters' slogan gives readers Willies"

Makes me proud to say I'm a hater! Sorry for the political rant, just had to celebrate!