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The holidays are almost over. Four of my five boys were here with their various wives and girlfriends, and puppy dogs. Some for a few days, some longer. It was so nice to see them together. They are growing into such fine men. Each so different yet the core is so alike.

We ate and drank a lot, every year we pick a country and try their wines and beer, I try to make some of their foods, it is like a little trip yet with the comforts of home. We talked a lot, looked through old picture albums and laughed more than I think I have ever. I even got them all to pick up some oil pastels and do self portraits and portraits of each other. We spent a lot of time around various tables - kitchen, dining, and coffee - sharing moments. As the last one left yesterday I realized how much I have to be thankful for. We all missed the one who was not here. Although we did have an extended phone conversation with him, we felt his absence. He is where he wants to be and is happy, what more can you ask for?

All in all it was a great holiday. It was relaxed and full of the people I love. That was the greatest gift I could ever receive. I did slip in a little art early in the mornings before everyone was up. Lots and lots of journal pages for my online class. I will share them soon.

Pattern Paper for You

Today when I went to do the Theme Thursday Challenge I started playing around with pre patterned paper. I went in my paper stash and scanned a few I liked. I took three that seemed relatively different. Then, I combined them digitally and tweaked the colors, posterized, added some noise, etc. I think cut up this would make good background for ATC's and depending on how big you printed you could do some twinchies and inchies. Any way this just goes to show you that it doesn't take much to turn something into your own.

Theme Thursday Challenge - Favorite Colors

This week for the Theme Thursday Challenge we were to use our favorite color[s] in a piece of art work. Now that is a hard one because I have rarely found a color I didn't like. I can't wear all the colors but I enjoy painting with them or seeing them out in the universe. My favorites change according to time of day, emotions, and whatever my current "thing" is.

One constant is the blue family. Blue makes everything look good. The other is red. Everyone looks good in red. All the different variations are just fun. Orange is a favorite highlight color. I find I use more and more of it. Tonight I felt like the blue family. I love the turquoise blue. I collect turquoise colored glass. It just looks so beautiful with the sun steaming through it. I guess that would be my inspiration.

I chose an image of Maud Fealy and digitally manipulated a rather plain background I slapped together with a few colors of paint and scanned. I tried to surround her with all the rich reds and pinks and then added a little purple to top it off. These are the colors I am feeling today.