on the banks of the great grey-green greasy Limpopo

watercolor
ATC


...and before [the Elephant's Child] thought what he was doing 
he schlooped up 
a schloooop of mud 
from the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo, 
and slapped it on his head, 
where it made a cool 
schlooopy-sloshy 
mud-cap 
all trickly behind his ears.
~Rudyard Kipling, Just so Stories:The Elephant's Child


Sharing at PPF

The Teacher

watercolor

"Who are you?"
"A teacher."
[His] sigh was longing.   I wish you were my teacher."
"I am." 
The cello-like voice was calm, slightly amused.
~Madeleine L'Engle, A Wind in the Door.


Sharing at APR: magnify

thoughts

watercolor
ATC

"Life does not consist mainly, 

or even largely, 

of facts or happenings. 

It consist mainly 

of the storm of thoughts 

that is forever flowing through one's head."

~ Mark Twain

read!

 watercolor and ink bookmark

“The man who does not read 

has no advantage over 

the man who cannot read.”  

~ Mark Twain 

sharing at APR

do count the failures

watercolor

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” 

~ C.S. Lewis

sharing at PPF

well mixed

“I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed.”  

~ Robert Frost

watercolor


“I asked the Zebra, 
are you black with white stripes? 
Or white with black stripes? 
And the zebra asked me, 
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times? 
Or are you quiet with noisy times? 
Are you happy with some sad days? 
Or are you sad with some happy days? 
Are you neat with some sloppy ways? 
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways? 
And on and on and on and on and on and on he went.
I’ll never ask a zebra about stripes...again.”
~Shel Silverstein 

for ppf

words

expressions in ink

flow of laughter, love and loss

syllables of life

"When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things Word(s)

And then I don't feel so bad"

 - Maria

from The Sound of Music Soundtrack

for APR

favorite things

The Oliphaunt

watercolor

(by minnemie)

a handwritten note for mother's day
by Devan (8)

journey

watercolor

"And so my prayer is that your story

will have involved some leaving and some coming home, 

some summer and some winter... 

My hope is your story will be about changing,

about getting something beautiful born inside of you

about learning to love a woman or a man,

about learning to love a child,

about moving yourself around water,

around mountains, around friends,

about learning to love others more than we love ourselves,

about learning oneness as a way of understanding God...

It might be time for you to go.

It might be time to change..."

~Donald Miller

Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the open Road


for ppf

vitamin T

watercolor

My grandma used to plant tomato seedlings 
in tin cans from tomato sauce & puree & crushed tomatoes...

but she always soaked the labels off first. 

"I don't want them to be anxious about the future,"she said. 

"It's not healthy. "
~Brian Andreas

For APR: food

unfunny clown

I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown

Who worked in a circus that came through town.

His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,

But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.

One day he said, "I'll tell this town

How it feels to be an unfunny clown.

And he told them all why he looked so sad,

And he told them all why he felt so bad.

He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,

He told of Darkness in his soul,

And after he finished his tale of woe,

Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees...

      And while the world laughed outside.

Cloony the Clown 
                            sat down 
                                           and 
                                                       cried.

~Shel Silverstein

A Light in the Attic


swirly frisket pants inspired by CindyD
 visit her outrageously fun Slumbering Herd!

scarred

watercolor

“There is no glory 

in being a featherbed soldier, 

a man bedecked with gorgeous medals, 

but never beautified by a scar, 

or ennobled by a wound. 

~Charles H. Spurgeon

“To be alive at all 

is to have scars. ” 

~ John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent


for ppf

The King's Return

watercolor

The King beneath the mountains,

The King of carven stone,

The lord of silver fountains

Shall come into his own!

His crown shall be upholden,

His harp shall be restrung,

His halls shall echo golden

To songs of yore re-sung.

The woods shall wave on mountains

And grass beneath the sun;

His wealth shall flow in fountains

And the rivers golden run.

The streams shall run in gladness,

The lakes shall shine and burn,

All sorrow fail and sadness

At the Mountain-king’s return!

~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

knight of paradox

watercolor

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. 

I believe and I doubt, 

I hope and get discouraged, 

I love and I hate, 

I feel bad about feeling good, 

I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. 

I am trusting and suspicious.

 I am honest and I still play games. 

Aristotle said I am a rational animal; 

I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, 

the light side and the dark. 

In admitting my shadow side 

I learn who I am 

and what God's grace means. 

As Thomas Merton put it, 

"A saint is not someone who is good 

but who experiences the goodness of God."

 - Brennan Manning,

The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good news for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

artist's play room: darkness and light

true colors

watercolor

“My skin is kind of sort of brownish pinkish yellowish white. 

My eyes are greyish blueish green, but I'm told they look orange in the night. 

My hair is reddish blondish brown, but its silver when its wet, 

and all the colors I am inside have not been invented yet.” 
-Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends


for APR: rainbow

old-fashioned

watercolor and ink

“They say I'm old-fashioned, 

and live in the past, 

but sometimes I think progress 

progresses too fast!” 
― Dr. Seuss

cup of bliss

pen and ink

"You can never get 

a cup of tea 

large enough 

or a book long enough to suit me." 

— C.S. Lewis

"What on earth could be more luxurious than 

a sofa, a book, 

and 

a cup of coffee?

— Anthony Trollope

for APR

complex puzzle

watercolor

“A woman's heart is such a complex problem - 

the owner thereof is often 

most incompetent 

to find the solution to this puzzle.” 

― Emmuska Orczy

For Illustration Friday

Prompt: puzzle.

the hesitant, expectant season

“...it was the season of light,
it was the season of darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair.” 
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“Spring is the time of year 

when it is summer in the sun 

and winter in the shade.” 

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

watercolor

For Artist's Playroom

Topic: new season

Mrs. G.

watercolor

Mrs. G. Camelo-Pardalis
has been biting her tongue for a long time,
ruminating rather irritably over the chit-chat 
rustling through the jungle.
(Entering into such yakking is far beneath her, of course.)

But the breeze has been shooting concerning rumors...
and Mrs. G is about to become very vocal!


For Illustration Friday
Topic: Vocal

into Light

watercolor

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart!

I have overcome...[!]
-Jesus
John16:33

galumphing frabjously

mixed media

He took his vorpal sword in hand; 

...

One, two! One, two! And through and through 
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! 
He left it dead, and with its head 
He went galumphing back. 
...
O frabjous day[s]! Callooh! Callay!" 

― Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky

For Artist's Playroom#3

who?

watercolor 

"Who in the world am I? 

Ah, that's the great puzzle." 
— Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

- Emily Dickinson

come...

watercolor

formless, empty soul

darkness over my surface

come, oh Light, redeem
based on Gen1:2&3

dragons can be beaten

pen and ink

Fairy Tales are more than true;

not because they tell us that dragons exist,

but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

 - G. K. Chesterton

return

watercolor

every turn 

a calculated re-turn 

fibonacci

"I sit beside the fire and think 

Of all that I have seen 

Of meadow flowers and butterflies 

In summers that have been 

Of yellow leaves and gossamer 

In autumns that there were 

With morning mist and silver sun 

And wind upon my hair 

I sit beside the fire and think 

Of how the world will be 

When winter comes without a spring 

That I shall ever see 

For still there are so many things 

That I have never seen 

In every wood in every spring 

There is a different green 

I sit beside the fire and think 

Of people long ago 

And people that will see a world 

That I shall never know 

But all the while I sit and think 

Of times there were before 

I listen for returning feet 

And voices at the door" 

— J.R.R. Tolkien

For Illustration Friday

Topic: Return

tangled name

pen and ink

entangled in a 

name doodles of laughter and

pain: your story told

 "...we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories 

but our stories in God's. 

God is the larger context and plot 

in which our stories find themselves. " 

— Eugene H. Peterson

For ArtistPlayRoom

Topic: Doodle your name

pea(ce), please!

 

watercolor

"Peace, please!" 

the exasperated mother exclaimed,

after bountiful bullet-peas

at brother and back were aimed.

shades of emotion

watercolor

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;

Behind the clouds the sun is shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary."

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For Illustration Friday

Topic: Shades

crust of self

watercolor collage

With every morn my life afresh must break

The crust of self, gathered about me fresh.

 George McDonald

Dairy of an Old Soul, October 10

unfortunate yield

watercolor

far below, sweet drink
sigh the stiff arthritic neck:
unfortunate yield.

For Illustration Friday

Topic: Yield

sound core

Watercolor and ink

"The more slowly trees grow first, the sounder they are at the core, 

and I think the same is true for human beings." 

Henry David Thoreau