Holiday Season?

Yes....I'm one of those people who sells during the holiday season and hopes for a really good one season. For me, these little sales supplement my retirement...for others, their life for the coming year is dependent upon it. This has not been the best year for online sales but I keep hoping things will pick up.

I have not seen the madness begin...the whipping by of cars on the streets and the overfull parking areas outside the stores. It always brings a special feeling...one of seeing humanity on a good mission for a change. People wandering the stores with the same look of concentration. Once can almost hear their thoughts: "is this something Jane would like?" "I hope this is the right size for Jim." I know people love to talk about the commercialism and forgetting the true meaning of Christmas...but let's face it, not all are religiously inclined but almost everyone feels that spirit of giving to loved ones that starts right around this time of year. This is the one season when people are united in one cause, that being a display of love and caring for someone else just by remembering them with a gift. I love it...so much so that in my younger years I thought nothing of going out shopping on Christmas Eve - diving in to the mass of people and waiting patiently in long lines at checkouts. I struck up some of the most interesting conversations in those lines. I know it sounds crazy but I enjoyed the mass of people who were feeling that holiday spirit. Its a wonderful aspect of our lives and should never be pounded on by calling it "commercialized".

I Know Why Dracula Covers His Mirrors!

I lead a fairly busy, though kind of isolated, existence. I'm a painter and often get caught up in long days of painting. I sometimes paint 10 to 12 hours a day and just about every day. The few times I do go out I'm kind of shocked. I'll purchase a hamburger and automatically be given the senior discount. I'll come out of the market with bags and someone will ask to help me to my car. Why all this attention? I don't feel any older than 30 and I can probably help that nice lady with HER bags to her car. Well, when you take a close look in the mirror and the face beaming back at you is one of a tiny, gray haired and slightly wrinkled senior well past 60 it is quite a shock! Like "who is that"? "can't be me"....."oh...it IS me". :-(

So, I can kind of see why old Dracula covers his mirrors. Your outside should always be neat and presentable to the public....but your INSIDE has to stay young and fun-loving and caring. War paint will only go so far...then its personality that counts! I've seen some absolutely gorgeous people - beautiful on the outside but very old and very very ugly on the inside. Think about it and I bet you can come up with a few names of people you know who fit that description.

Happy September everyone :-)

Life's Little Wonders

As an artist, form, contrast and color always attracts me. I can find beauty in the smallest things and even in the ugliest things. One day I was sitting on my patio enjoying the evening breeze and watching the setting sun. I turned and spotted this:





I ran in the house, got my camera and captured the sun setting on this pale lavender rose. It was so breathtaking in person. Since then, I've painted this image many times, even in pastel, watercolor and acrylics. Everyone who bought one was happy with it...but I retain the original of it in my memory. A quiet evening with the sun setting on a pale lavender rose and yet another pleasant memory filed away for future rememberance... Don't just glance and quickly forget. Some things are worth saving and savoring over and over again.

Grannygoodpaints Place

Grannygoodpaints Place



What a wonderful world! Have you ever stopped and just breathed in the air and enjoyed the fact that you live here on earth? I know, I know, the world is full of worries and troubles and horrible things...its totally depressing! BUT, do you ever stop and breathe and revel in life itself. We only have so many days here on earth and nobody (no matter what your religion) really truly knows what comes next...if anything. I figure that we need to count our benefits once in awhile and just plain enjoy the earth around us and the fact that we are alive. At times like this, I love to sit on my patio but you can go to a park a church or wherever you feel comfort and just think about the basest things you own. The most basic is your life itself. Don't go thru it without even an acknowledgement of it now and then. Someone put it perfectly: "Stop and smell the roses."