Alma y Corazon

My second finished piece for our Tree of Life show: Alma y Corazon

The spanish translation is "Heart and Soul." It is a bit of a play on words as the idea comes from a Book of Mormon prophet named Alma. He spoke of faith being like a seed, planted in your heart. If you give it continual nourishment, it will sprout and grow into a tree with roots and branches that will bring forth fruit. Then, Alma wrote, "by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure." As a reward for your patience, diligence, and long-suffering, it is yours to feast on and yours to share.

(Alma chapter 32)

Bound

I just finished a slew of paintings and can't wait to share.  (A "slew" meaning 4)  Here is the first finished painting:Bound

When just a drawing, I wrote a poem about it.

Bound by a duty
That feels a little tight
Bound by love so strong
It holds me day and night
Bound and determined
Not to choke or suffocate
Bound to a promise
I cannot abdicate
Bound for eternity
Wrapped up in an embrace

Sunday Drawing

Painting (Summer Part Final)

I've met my deadline for my first Tree of Life painting. I cranked this out in my dad's studio in Utah. He pushed me to soften edges and refine bits. As I always do, I learned a lot from his and Cass' input.  I love watching my dad and my sister paint.  I'm sure we have more similarities than we realize, but we do things so differently.  

From her faith and desire for goodness,

A tree with fruit of the purest love sprouted atop her head.

She willed them to partake.

If she could squeeze every drop of love from her soul,

Could it be untainted, so clean and white?

They will partake, they will be safe, good and eternally hers.

Activities (Summer Part Three)

Yet again, I was not on the winning team. Six years and I have yet to get my name on the trophy. The plaque on the trophy will be full in a couple years. Maybe it is time to shoot the moon. The Fourth of July games were super fun this year. My team may not have won, but we were for sure the coolest. 

Don't forget about Fire Girls 550 South!  That was so dang fun.  I love to dance!

One of my favorite parts of my trip was biking early in the morning with my dad and my sister.  We are seriously sick bikers.The whole family, including my fun cousins, took a nostalgic hike up to Timpanogos Caves.  I hadn't been there since grade school.  It's quite a hike (especially with an extra 25lb on your back), but the caves are definitely worth it.On our way home we had a new adventure.  We detoured to southern Colorado and went to Mesa Verde to see the Pueblo peoples' ancient cave dwellings.  The girls loved it.  A perfect ending to our adventurous summer vacash.

Projects (Summer Part Deux)

We crafted up a storm this summer. I already posted about making little books with Sari. A group of us made paper flowers one steamy afternoon. Boy did we make us mess. They'll be picking up wads of tissue paper out of the nooks and crannies of the patio for years to come. (Sorry mom) Cass has become obsessed with paper flowers - from funeral decorations to a spring sprinkling throughout her house. They make a lovely garland. We also made some goofy little dolls and animals using black fabric, bleach pens, a little ric-rac and embroidery floss. We had big aspirations, but only came out with a handful - that is a super funky handful. I love bouncing off both of my sisters' creativity. I love crafternoonin'! Projects just aren't as much fun when you are alone... ping goes the tear drop.

Home Sweet Home (Summer Part One)

Our Utah trip was wonderful. It was sad to leave loved ones and the constant party, but we are happy to be home. We had so much fun, the entire month! So much fun, in fact, that I will have to break up my report into a series of posts. I'll start way back at the beginning (June seems so long ago) with the Thanksgiving Point Plein Air Painting Festival. My sister, Cass, put together a youtube video to chronicle the event. I never know what to say when she is filming, so I just make goofy faces. I'm a dork. Enjoy, it's a lovely film.

Wee Little Books

My sister, Sari, our friend, Laura, and I had a craft night. We make these cute little books.Sari let us dig into her exquisite paper supply, some of which she brought back from Italy.We used a simple figure eight stitch with waxed linen and tied it off in the middle of the signature (that's book speak for the paper folded in half that makes the pages of the book).Cute, eh?

Fire Girls 550 South

OK, I've been working on this post for days and can't seem to get it together. So, I will refer you to my sister, Cass', Independence Day post. Good times. For further participation, check out this trailer for a movie one of the regular contestants is making of the Cul-de-sac of Fire et cetera. Hope you had a great holiday season and may every day be like the Fourth of July
.