pieces of my heart

i feel like pieces of my heart are in another place...a large city at that, for this country girl who calls Montana home.

a few weeks ago i was asked to join my dear friends in the most amazing trip for a week to New York City!!  it truly was a dream-time journey into 'another world' i've never before experienced.

i have so many amazing photos and stories, but will share with you a few, just a 'taste' of the flavors of this incredible journey.

we stayed in the most magnificent of the New York hotels...the renown St. Regis.  each detail of the elegant decor and service in this place made you feel as if you were royalty! getting out of our limo the first night and seeing elton john in the doorway, and terri spelling in the elevator, let you know you were in for delightful surprises, let alone the magnificent fresh spring floral displays everywhere, and original maxfield parrish art lining the walls

the streets amazed me with the most mesmerizing architecture, and window displays filled my artistic pallet with new inspiration and awe.

we dined on some of the most ethnic, authentic, delicious cuisine, awakening taste buds i never knew were there!!  from the most elegant french restaurants (our fav is la grenoille), to quaint side street bistros, even dining at the incredible italian restaurant 'joanne's trattoria', named after lady gaga's mother, which she gifted to her parents.

one of the most wonderful of days was spent at the magnificent metropolitan museum of art.  it was hard to grasp that we were standing in the presence of the original works of william adoulf bougereau, and klimt here pictured, european paintings from 1230 to 1800 (like boticelli, rubens, rembrandt, vermeer, goya, etc.), 19th-early 20th century paintings  of picasso, matisse, degas, cezanne, renoir, monet, van gogh, gauguin...and so many more of the master's works... room after room of the greatest art in the world!  i could have spent a week there alone!

we walked from the hotel many blocks away to central park, as the misty rain was falling, which made the park seem even more enchanted and mysterious. 

 trees were budding and flowers blooming everywhere as the fresh, fragrant scents of spring wafted through the air, drawing through a maze of pathways where we got lost for hours!

we ended up at in strawberry fields...the memorial for john lennon donated by yoko.

then it was amazing to attend the longest running Broadway musical ever (of 23 yrs!)...the phantom of the opera!   words cannot describe the powerful special effects and elegance of this production!

next we so enjoyed the delightful production 'anything goes'...where we visited with my host's friend and actor in the play, robert creighton, who took us backstage afterwards, then we enjoyed dinner together with him in an elegant italian courtyard of the Barbetta. i think my favorite performance was War Horse at the Lincoln Center. what a majestic work of imagination, capturing the love of a boy and his horse, in a historical setting, with the magic of puppetry.  what an unforgetable, inspirational, deeply moving experience it was to witness this heartfelt production!

then it came....one of the highlights of this trip...attending 10th annual celebration of 'poetry and the creative mind.' many celebrities gathered to read their favorite poetry and to share personal experiences in their lives.  in this photo you see the most lovely meryl streep reading, and seated is claire danes, john wesley harding & brooke shields. what a special event this was to be apart of!

 to spend such an eventful week with my beloved friends, allison, doug & brooke, who so graciously 'showed me the town' with all their love & generosity, i couldn't have been more blessed! we spent wonderful moments with many of their friends, and even got to see my niece who lives in soho, and an old classmate from highschool. it couldn't have been a more wonderful first visit to the big apple! 

all too soon we were in flight back homeward, with the last beams of a full moon dipping over the city.

back to the wide open spaces where the buffalo and antelope roam.

back to the little town of less than 6,000 people in the NW corner of Montana, where the one main street of town is for the most part, free from the hustle and bustle of the fast lane.

our little town at the base of 'big mountain' ski resort with towering views of God's creation,

is considered by many to be the last-best place.

big sky country

home, sweet home!

blessed be the works of her hands

last year, during the blogging event "one world one heart" i 'met' the most wonderful woman who was the winner of my art piece offered in this event. this loving lady~ suzy quaife, creator of suzyqusthreadworks blog, has become a dear part of my life. her heart and hands are gifted with so much love, overflowing into every fibre and fabric in which she creates the most luscious pieces of inspiration that could be imagined. and on her blog she often takes one on walks on her enchanted grounds, through flower and vegetable gardens, and pathways leading into pieces of paradise. suzy surrounds her home in the far southern coast of new south wales with beauty, and beauty is the fabric of her life.

recently i received a wonderful package from her, allowing me to feel and smell her fragrance...her heart and soul. this journal is layered with treasured pieces she has collected, inspiring me too, to add my treasures. i love how a rainbow appeared on the forehead on the face of the lovely lady on it's cover as it was photographed! blessed be the works of her hands.

if this beautiful journal were not enough, suzy gifted me with more pieces of old which could be used in further embellishing it's contents or other projects. her cup overflows into mine. how blessed i am to have such a special friend, who has shared so much of her heart offering in gifts, letters and continual support and love.

we shall look forward to more opportunities to connect with other friends afar in blogland, through lisa swifka's international blogwide event upcoming...our world~our art. thank you lisa for creating such an event to bring artists & bloggers together. thank you suzy-q for your beautiful love.

sweet swaps

today i received a lovely little envelope from the UK...from micki wilde of the secret hermit, who began the sweetest art swap last month, in which all who signed up would make a piece of art and micki in turn would send off one of her lovelies, which i am so blessed to receive:
this beautiful piece resonates within, and inscribes....in the solitude of the night she whispers her secrets. oh how i love this....and it's true in my many nights of praying in faith and hope! thank you so much micki for this treasured piece!!!

my swapped piece was this small, framed painting entitled 'finding feathers' which i'm so glad has winged it's way to it's new home with micki!! blessings be!

art abounding!

recently my daughters and i were asked to be apart of a Winter Solstice art display, and now we have been asked to display our work for a Winter carnival art walk in our quaint little town of Whitefish, Montana. i am amazed at what my girls are doing (all self-taught), and they are all busy now on more paintings every moment they can steal away! how they inspire me!! (these paintings are from the 3 girls who live here...the other 3 are amazing artists as well!!)

This maasii boy and 'raw sugar' (sold) below are done by miriam- soon to be 23 yrs.

the graphite piece below is amazing...almost photographic work, done by mikaelah, 20 yrs.

my youngest mariyah is 17 years, and has only been doing art for the past year. she (and we) were amazed at what she has done! the paintings below of john lennon and jimi hendrix (sold) are fabulous! and the scratch board art of her sister zionah & wolf dog shaveya she just finished...a belated christmas gift for her sister! incredible detail!!!

the 3 below are some mixed media pieces i have recently done...experimenting with different papers and mediums! what fun!! so much art abounding from our family these Winter days!

curried myrrh

i am so excited to present my beloved friend elizabeth michelsen jonas' most wonderful creations and new blog 'curried myrrh.' she is a master craftswoman and artist, who has found a most beautiful way of creating headdresses and accessories for the 'modern tribe', made of reclaimed fabrics, vintage jewels, beads and feathers. recently she was discovered by 'free people' and was featured in their catalog and online.

in a few days i will be hosting a studio show and open house in my home featuring her many lovely varieties of headdresses. if you can't make it to our showing, please visit elizabeth's blog~ curriedmyrrh.blogspot.com and website~ www.curriedmyrrh.com

some time ago i did a photoshoot of some of the headdresses...here my daughter miriam wears a lovely one. she is now the official 'face' of curried myrrh.

the most lovely diem-q models another beauty. diem-q ( yim-q) is also my 'adopted' daughter and dear friend...apart of our family with her love marco and their beautiful daughter carmela.

miriam & diem-q model a few of the head-pieces in the wedding line...stunning!!!

miriam and her wolf-malamute 'lomasi' (pretty flower).

such lovely ladies!!!

i am the very blessed owner of a few of these headdresses for summer and winter, and as elizabeth so rightly says in her blog..."truly a powerful symbol mirroring the beauty and complex creativity of the indigenous people of the world." a portion of the proceeds benefit "rahab's rope", an organization providing hope and help for women and girls that are victims of human trafficking.

celebrations

we just returned from a great celebration of the birthday of a dear friend and

'angel dad' (doug), for whom i made this script and framed it in an antique swivel frame to remind him daily in his office, how each day comes bearing it's own gifts for us to untie the ribbon and behold blessings of newness...fresh beginnings.

the celebrations have abounded recently with birthdays also for 2 of my 6 daughters, and i've pulled out of the volumes of old photos some favorites, along with so many precious memories of their childhood, growing up in the hills and hollers of rural tennessee.

these first two are of mariyah, my youngest 'baby'...riding on the golden hay pulled out of a stuffed mattress we found in the loft of the old barn in the 100 yr. old homestead house, where the creek flowed below the front porch that the girl's daily played in and hunted crawdads and frogs. mariyah is now 17 and a beautiful young lady, still loving the simple life in montana.

and then, mikaelah is above mariyah in birth order, who just turned 20 yrs. and also lives nearby on the land in montana these days...and is also an amazing artist (check out her charcoal drawing of the old gypsy woman in my etsy!). these 2 photos were taken of mikaelah when we lived on a 300 acre cotton farm, in an old 6 bedroom plantation home built in 1887 in tennessee. mikaelah was born in that old house and loved to hunt arrowheads and relics in the fields and elk river on the property. she is still a collector of very select old treasures, and hopes to study classical realism in florence, italy someday.

my youngest girls, mikaelah & mariyah...growing into beautiful young women...who i hope and pray will always aspire to all the highest and best that their Father-God has designed for their lives.