A colorful version of the Rhinoceros I recently did in ink.  I colored this one for a friend.  She is so sweet I think! :-)  

Another Foxy animal :) I am enjoying all of these animal pieces immensely!  I've been trying to come up with several pieces to use in my portfolio as I get ready to apply for my art major, and I think I will be able to use a few of these animal pieces.  They make me smile!


Smiles   Julia    

'It was raining when she fell down the well."

A short mini chapter from a writing challenge my daughter and I are sharing.  We came up with a single sentence and have decided to each come up with a short chapter based on that sentence.

The sentence was:

"It was raining when she fell down the well."


So here is my mini chapter.  Love to hear what you think as always.

Smiles
Julia

 

 

It was raining when she fell down the well.  I saw it all so clearly.  The rain had caused the whole south pasture to become a large puddle of impassable mud. We always kept the animals out of that pasture during the winter.  I wondered at the time if she’d just gotten confused because she was running erratically though that very pasture and it was dark and storming like crazy too. 

At first I thought she was just in a damned hurry to get back into the house, afraid of the weather same as she’d always been.  But as the intermittent lightening lit her up sporadically, I saw that her pace seemed frenzied, almost as if she was running from something.  When she finally got close to the back yard, just about 10 yards from the well, she suddenly stopped and turned around to look behind her.  As she turned back to continue quickly towards the house, another strike of lightening lit up her whole figure, bringing her face into sharp relief. I drew back as if I’d been physically struck.  The expression of horror and fear that I saw there, on that beautiful, oh so familiar face, her full mouth contorted as she worked to let out a scream, will never leave me. 

Whatever pursued her, she was obviously terrorized out of her mind.  It took no more than a few moments for her to cover the rest of the gap between where she had stood and where the well opened, a gaping hole in the ground that she must have known was there.  I swear, if I did not know better, I would say that it looked almost as if she’d jumped into the well instead of fallen.  As she fell over the large opening and vanished from sight, the sound of her shrill scream, finally erupting from her like an unstoppable reverberation from her soul, pierced my very being.

 

¤   ¤   ¤   ¤   ¤

 

I sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, and tried to get my breath.  My hand fumbled feebly at the side table and finally settled on my inhaler.  I quickly took a couple puffs and tried to calm my breathing the way the doctors had been telling me to since I was a very little girl.  In and out.  In….and…out.  My chest still heaved in and out at a crazy heavy pace.  Years of practice and still the breathing techniques never worked after one of my ‘dreams’.  I’d lately found that meditation was helpful in calming my breathing, so I’d been practicing that on a regular basis.  But this dream had me so freaked out that I weakly debated going through the house to find my cell phone and calling my sister Phoebe. 

I finally decided to try to get on top of it myself.  After about twenty minutes, I was able to lay back and rest on my pillows again, my breathing eased by the medicine and the meditation.  And then I did call Phoebe.  Because the woman I’d just ‘seen’ fall in the well, the same well that I’d grown up with my whole life, was me.

Another animal drawing ~ playing around with a fanciful rhinoceros and a lovely dove...


It's stormy as all get out here in the Pacific Northwest and we had a monster lightening storm last night! We Cosied up and watched the show out the window. Most amazing display we'd seen in our lifetime!

How is the weather where you are? Warm still or are you too headed straight into Fall?

Warmest smiles,
Julia

Girraffes...

Doodling again tonight...


This sweet baby girraffe found her way ontoy sketch pad.


I'm enjoying my evening doodle time...



What have you been drawing?

S M I L E S
Julia

Doodling elephants ...

Having fun with ink again...







Doodling elephants in bed...




...I find is very relaxing 😊








Hope you are all well and joyful!
💗
S M I L E S
Julia

Changes...

So many things going on since my last post! Lots of changes...

I finally opened up an etsy shop and actually listed some items ~ Yikes!  This is really nervewracking for me, but I am excited at the same time! (link is at the top of this page on the right)

I'm off this fall to study ART at Western Washington University!  Aside from the fact that EVERYONE I came across while registering for classes thought I was a students' parent (lol!) the whole process of going back to school has been super smooth!  I am very very excited about going back to school!

My little men are also going back to school and we are thinking they will be going to the Waldorf School right by my University this year.  Part of putting my art in the etsy shop is in an effort to fund all this schooling, so fingers crossed it will take off and I will sell some more art :)

We have had a busy busy summer, and I am now in 'frantically get ready for the return to school' mode. There is even more to do since I am getting ready for school too.  Seems like the days are just flying by and I'm not sure how we will get everything ready in time, but things are flowing and that feels great!

 

My new backpack - Bright Orange of course! :)  And I got a rain shield too as it rains most of the school year here!

 

 

I'm still sewing for my little men and have just completed these cute waistcoats ~

 

Liam is turning into such a little Mister ~ I Love his new cap with his new waistcoat.  He is losing teeth, reading like crazy, and just growing into such a sweet young man. 6 years old here.

Eamonn proud as punch in his new waistcoat!  Love the shorts with the shirt :)  Eamonn continues to be our highwire act, jumping off any and everything!  He is very agile, but boy does he scare me sometimes!  He is almost 5!  My how they are growing!

 

Today I will be starting on the pyjamas for them that I need to get done before I start school. 

I will post pics of them as soon as they are done!

 

And had to post this years trip to the woods to gather some wood for this winter.  We went up to the state park where my sister is a ranger again.  Laraby state park.  The arborist crew had just gone through and downed several dangerous or diseased trees, so we were able to swoop in and saw them into rounds, roll them into the box van, and take them home...

 

Lumberjack!

Amira worked really hard and practiced her deep lunge kicks at the same time!

Rayne was feeling under the weather so she did a lot of directing. 

 

Eamonn and I pushing a big round up the ramp into the truck!  Notice the earplugs sticking out of his ears ~ we all wore them as the saw was LOUD!

Liam and Mama working together.

Dal Dal working it :)      The boys on the stump goofing off :)

 

Tired Mama!  We worked so hard!

 

Young woodsman Vidal 'Dal dal'

 

Papa really worked that chainsaw!  Whew! But we have wood for at least this year and most likely into the following year as well! Yeah!

 

Life is as ever busy, and changing.  Change is good, but scary sometimes.  I am  embracing and celebrating all the great things coming our way.

 

Wishing you all a peaceful end to your summers ~ I hope yours have been filled with lots of adventures and great family memories as well.  Grab those moments as you find them ~ these little ones grow soooo fast!

 

Smiles and hugs

xo

 

Julia

 

Playing with paint :)

I'm playing around with metallic and glitter paints- fun!!!



I think this lovely has turned out to be a mermaid although I'm not sure that's what I was thinking when I started her- still lots of fun playing with different paints - trying to paint a face instead of draw it with my pencils is very challenging!
I can see I need lots of practice!



Still I am having fun and that's what making art is all about~

Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer! Here are a few snaps from ours:0



We woke up a couple of days ago to these two beauties just hanging out in the front yard!


We had twins born in our yard a couple years ago and we all wondered if these two young bucks were those twins returning...


Enjoying snuggles in mama and papa's bed early in the morning- Liam and eamonn are best buds:)


And these are a couple of pieces of art the boys and I did for Father's Day using Liam's hand and eamonns feet ~ I love how they turned out!


It's time! Fresh raspberry scones are rolling out of the oven a couple times a week:) YUM!!!

May you all be happy and well.
Summer smiles,
Julia Christie

Enchanted...

'Enchanted'
3'x4'
sold!

So much time has passed since my last post and a friend reminded me that there are some folks that may wonder where exactly I went when I dropped of the face of the earth.  :0)
Do any of you ever just need to take a break from social media?

I do it pretty regularly, take a break and recharge, focusing on my family and local friendships and all the many demands of life here. 

So what's been going on with me?  I sold this piece above to a friend of mine.  If you've followed my blog for any time you will remember how many MONTHS it took me to finish this piece.  The original mediums were colored pencils and ink.  I then had it printed on a canvas and spent many more HOURS painting and embellishing it.  It's a pretty massive piece.  I wish you could see the canvas with all the painted background details and tons of painting on the flowers in the tree.  It really turned out so wonderfully. 
So I hung it on my wall and enjoyed it for the winter and then my friend has decided she would like it for her own.

I took it over to her house and installed it and it just was supposed to be there!  Now that is the most wonderful thing to see a piece of art that you have literally poured your whole artistic self into over such a long time find the home it was meant for.  I just feel so good about it!

How do all of you artists feel about it when your creations find a good home?  Isn't it so satisfying and special?

Other than that, I have been just enjoying my family and working like crazy on the business we own as we stretch our wings a tiny bit and expand.  That part is fun.
I'm itching to get back to writing so I may have something new to share of that nature soon too.

I hope you all are enjoying a sweet start to 2013.  Spring was here in full force today and it was so lovely to see the sun and all of the flowers and leaves on the trees.  Still pretty chilly here, but oh the light - I love the light!

Smiles to you all

xxoo
Julia

Another Sewing project complete!

Aren't these lovely!  I just finished these pretty pjs for a friend as a surprise!

I'm afraid these will be my last pair for a bit as I knuckle under and finishe the two other sewing projects I've undertaken, a quilt and some curtains,

 but I had to get these done to send off to my friend!

 

Thank you 'sew' much to Kelli at Fabrics Plus here in town for helping me pick out this sweet trim!  Totally made these just that much prettier.

 

My art, these days, seems to be in the form of fabric, and I think that may continue for a good bit longer....Ah well, the creative juices are flowing and I am happy and enjoying myself!  Isn't that what it's all about?! :-)

 

Wishing you all the best that Autumn has to offer and may you be enjoying this special season with those you love!

 

Smiles!

 

Julia

Fall Baking and punkin' ramblings...

It is most definitely Autumn here and I am enjoying the crisp air and cosy evenings with the family.  I have been simply taken over with the 'homemaking' bug and have been sewing and baking to beat the band!  This lovely dish is an apple dumpling that I made for the family's dessert last night.  I am pretty proud of my skills baking apple pies, but thought I'd try these since I hadn't baked them for years and years...Oh my did they turn out delicious!  Served with Vanilla bean ice cream there was a lot of ooohs and ahhhs at our dinner table last night.  My how I love to bake!!

I Love the weather this time of year.  We started the morning dark and cloudy and now we are being treated to the most beautiful sunbursts and warm balmy weather. 

 I picked up these absolutely stunning flowers yesterday when we were at the local punkin' farm picking up the boys punkins and going on a hayride.  They got to wade out into the field and pick their own punkin' out!  This is a tradition in our home and they look forward to it every year.  Tomorrow we have a big group coming over to carve punkins so that should be fun!

Little Buddies, measuring themselves to see how much they've grown since last year!

Eamonn, who just turned 4, pleased as punch with his punkin'!

Silly Boys...

Liam, now 5, happy with his pick too!

 

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful time of year! 

 

Happy Autumn :-)

 

Smiles

Julia