August 2012 Newsletter

What are Your Most Treasured Possessions?

July turned out to be a month of getting my mind wrapped around what is truly necessary and needed in my life. No one’s life is without difficulties. It seems that if money is no issue then there are problems concerning health, issues with family or relationships, problems at work or natural disasters. There are more but these came to mind as I am writing.

In early July 2012 nearly 350 families, whose homes hugged the side of the beautifully forested mountainside in Colorado Springs, found their homes and possessions completely destroyed, burned to the ground with only foundations and chimneys left standing. Personally I have not been exposed to such devastation before. The thundering roar of the C-120s flying overhead during that week was yet another unexpected occurrence that was disconcerting.

Have you given serious thought as to what you would do if you found you had 2-3 hours or less to evacuate your home not knowing if you would return. What would you take?

For me, besides family and pets my thoughts go to photographs, important papers, my computer backup, CD’s of clients work and some clothes. Would I miss anything else, you bet – lots of things. Operative word here “things”. Things can be replaced. Fortunately I was not evacuated. but many of my friends were – four of whom honored me with their company for up to a week. Unlike their 350 neighboring families those four friend’s lives have returned to normal, a blessing indeed.

Now I have a list of things I would pack in an emergency and I am scanning lots of pics into my computer so as not to loose them if something drastic should occur. My most important papers are in one folder and easily accessible should I need them in a hurry. This is very simplified but I feel better knowing I have a plan or the beginning of a plan. Do you have an emergency plan?

A New Look is Coming!

Just a sneak peek at the header for my new website. The new site will have much larger pics of each item and easier to navigate. Comments are welcome!

Santa’s House at the Broadmoor Resort

Well, at least during the holiday season. Christmas at the Broadmoor continues to evolve into even more splendid and delightful happenings. Last season a Christmas House with a treasure trove of delights was created. This year the children who visit will be able to see Santa in his special little house. If the opportunity should present itself one should book a stay for the holiday festivities at the Broadmoor, at least once. Just a personal opinion, of course.

My small part in their new adventure was to create signage for the property. The process of creating signs has changed immensely over the years. Each sign used to be hand painted. Now I hand paint the items independently, scan them, create the layout in Photoshop, email the client for approval then email the files to the sign shop, I proof them and they print and mount them to sign board. The design time is no shorter but if more than one of the same sign is needed or a replacement that is easy! This way I could do signs any place in the world without leaving my studio. Amazing.

Flower of the Month

It seems several flowers are honored to be the birth flower for August. The most popular being Gladiolas then poppies or Gallardia.

Gladiolas: I am sincere, strength of character

Red poppy: Pleasure, consolation

Gaillardia: Unable to find a meaning for this flower so here is the painting.

 

After the June Newsletter several people asked what the text was on the framed watercolor of the seascape: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all objections must be overcome first.”

Question from Sheryl: What was your most unusual mural request?

This took some thought but I came up with one. A few years ago I received a call from an artist asking if I would consider painting a mural that she had already sketched on her wall. After doing the sketch she made a few brushstrokes on the rough surface and realized (in her words) she had “bitten off more than she could chew.”

I drove to her home and saw that she had done a great job with her sketch. It just needed a few more embellishments and loosened up a bit, here was the result.

Bella’s Insight

Hi Everybody! Wow what an adventure at home. Talk about a lucky dog, that would be me, I have so many friends and four of them came to visit me. While my friends were here it was really smokey outside so I didn’t get my to walk outside. Instead I got to show them how very talented I am. Boy, I love entertaining.

One thing I like to do is play fetch. I fetch, toys, my favorite sock but the trickiest is my ball because mom gets pretty crafty. She throws it against a wall and as I’m going for it it bounce downstairs or into another room and I have to change directions really fast. Then there was the time mom threw the ball upstairs. Silly me, I ran into the kitchen because I thought it would come down there. How confusing, them mom said, “upstairs” and sure enough, after some searching I found it upstairs. She doesn’t fool me with that one any more.

The smoke is gone now and I miss my friends but mom says she is sure they will visit again soon. When it was smokey mom asked me if I thought I would like to live on a beach, she didn’t like the smoke much. But then she decided that on a beach there could be hurricanes, in other states there are tornadoes. Guess we’re staying for a while longer. I’m okay with that.

Life is an adventure,
Bella ~