Irish Recipes For St. Patrick's Day

Recently I created a new Squidoo lens as a "quest" project to earn extra points on Squidoo.  The quest was to make a lens about some type of Irish recipe for St. Patrick's Day.  Instead of just one recipe, I made my lens about a variety of Irish recipes and cooking ideas.  Also included are several Irish blessings, videos, and more.  This lens was one of the more fun ones I have created.  You can see it if you click here. I hope you enjoy it and also find something good to cook for St. Patrick's Day.

Pretending to Be an Artiste

A couple of weeks ago I found a new local business for local artists when they created a Facebook page.  It inspired me to pick up my paint brush, dig out my acrylics that I haven't used in years, and see if I could do anything worthwhile...at least to me that is.  Ever since I saw paintings that one of my cousins created when I was still in my teens I have loved blending the paints to see what kinds of magic that could be made.  I've always loved drawing and doodling with colored pens, pencils and anything else I could find to use.  I'd never tried acrylics before seeing his paintings.  After that I also tried creating pictures with colored chalk which I found easier to control than paints and brush.  Abstracts seem to be more my style although I am rarely satisfied with anything I paint.  I don't draw very well, and am such a perfectionist that my self-criticism outweighs the enjoyment of just creating something and having fun doing it.  But this past couple of weeks it has been different.  Maybe age has caused me to be less critical and to allow myself to just paint and see what happens.  

With the internet available and people putting how-to videos on YouTube, it is possible to find instructional videos on just about any subject you want to find.  This gave me the opportunity to watch videos about painting as well as videos on using other media such as oil pastels, and even crayons!  I've also found quite a variety of Squidoo lenses on the topic of art, painting, acrylics, and other creative subjects.  

I don't consider myself to be very good at artwork.  For me it is just fun and a creative outlet.  I have no idea what to do with anything I've painted once I am finished with it.  I've got collections of sketches, paintings, and chalk art that I've done over the years and this past week or so have added a lot more to the pile.  The most fun thing is sharing painting with my daughter and grandson.  I wish my son and his wife and kids had more time to join in, but they are a full house with lots of activities to keep them busy.  It would also be nice to have a special location where the kids and I could paint, or use chalk, or whatever we feel like using without the worry of making a mess.  Ha!  That must be the child inside of me talking.  I remember seeing artists on television in the distant past setting up studios with big draping sheets of plastic, huge canvases, and lots of paints.  Then they would take their brushes and load paint on them and literally throw the paint at the canvas.  To me that would be such fun...as long as I don't have to deal with the cleaning up afterwards.  

I would like to share some videos that I have enjoyed watching, and maybe some Squidoo lenses that have inspired me to dig out my paints.  Maybe I will even share some of the paintings here as well.  One question though:  even if it is not very good, is it still called art and are they still called paintings???  Maybe this is why so many of the famous artists of the world lived as starving artists.  I know I could never make a living from what I paint.  Honestly I don't care if anyone ever considers what I've done artistic after I am gone either.  I'm better with a camera than a paint brush.  But it's still fun.  It's also been very soothing to do this painting so I hope to keep at it instead of putting away the paints and brushes again and forgetting them for years at a time.

This was the first video I watched and really enjoyed painting my own version of the flowers, especially scratching texture into the painting with the other end of the paint brush.  I'd never seen that before.  I've found Karrie's paintings fun to look at and her style fun to try myself.  Here is another of her videos I enjoyed watching.

Here are some of the Squidoo pages that I found on art and really enjoyed.  If you like to dabble in painting or chalk or any other kind of artwork, you may enjoy these.

How To Use Oil Pastels 

Artists That Paint on Stone 

Easy Acrylic Painting Projects 

Acrylic Painting: Two Secrets 

Those are just a few of many Squidoo lenses I found on art, painting, and letting your creative side flow. 

These are a few of the paintings I have done over the past week or so.  Sharing my own art is difficult for me because I judge myself so harshly and I figure others will judge me just as harshly.  But again, maybe age has changed me so that I can share more of myself than I used to.

 This week after watching a video of an artist creating a painting with odds and ends, objects instead of brushes, I did a little experimenting of my own.  I don't have photos of those results to share yet, but it was fun to do.  Ask yourself this:  If you have ever painted with sponges before, have you ever tried to use a copper scratcher that you use for cleaning pots and pans?  Now that was interesting.  Maybe I will share those next time.