Monday

My Mom

My beautiful mother, Joan Audrey Blatt, went to be with the Lord today. I was honored to be holding her in my arms in my home as she left this world, surrounded by my husband and daughter. This past 2 weeks has been full of joy and heartache, but I have been so filled with the 'peace that passes understanding'.  The presence of the Lord has been SO strong in all that has taken place, seeing many little miracles take place that only He could have arranged. I look so much like my mom that I only have to look in the mirror to see her face looking back at me. Thank you to every one of you who have taken the time to write or comment with your kind expressions of sympathy. It means a great deal to me.

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Saturday

Collage Workshop and Bad News :(

 "Surf Side", 12 x 12", mixed media
I had the final day of my collage workshop on Nov 22nd, but unfortunately I have been having a family crisis -my Mother, and best friend, was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer on the 24th, and we have been living through some very tough times since. She is now feeling much better after an 8 day hospital stay, and is living with me for the time being. So needless to say, I won't be getting much time to paint any time soon. So I thought I should post these final photos from the workshop. (I do have some work that was done prior that I can post until I can get back to work, so you will be hearing from me!)

This is the first stage in the collage, just pasting on the various transparent papers I had made in the shape of a 'T'.

 This is the next stage. I have added some transitional papers around the edges to bridge the positive and negative shapes, and have added some decorated papers  to add interest.

More papers have been added to get a directional flow going, and the focal point is being developed. In the final (so far) version at the top, you can see how I decided to play with a focal point and its repeat. I painted the background with a pale peach colour to establish the orange as the dominant colour. I also incorporated some line work to move the eye around. My son Evan (the actor) who is home to visit Grandma decided that there was a sea feeling to the painting, and hence the title.

Here are some of my students in my lovely large workshop space.

And here we all are holding our masterpieces! It was a wonderful workshop and I think we all had fun and learned a lot.
Enjoy!

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