Mixed Media Cross Art

It's been way too long since I've been in the studio. I decided it was time to pull myself up by the bootstraps and start fresh again. If you try and fail just get up and try again. Life is too short to entertain self pity and feel sorry for yourself. YOU are the only person who can make a change and make things better. Life isn't going to just fall out of the sky and into your lap. We have to actively pursue it!!

The first in my redesigned cross series...Mixed Media Cross on canvas 8x10-$25, 11x14-$30. These are available in several colors. Heavily textured design created with papers, acrylic, sculpturing paste.
The pictures don't show the full depth of the heavy texturing in the background. I created this design by using layers of acrylic, paper and sculpturing paste. I love the freedom in creating mixed media pieces. I plan to have these listed on Etsy over the weekend or you can email me directly.

Have a happy weekend!!

~Sherri

Blog Update

I haven't blogged in FOR-EVAH!!! I thought I would dust off the cobwebs and start blogging again. I will be sharing my artwork, random thoughts and coupon and freebie offers. I always welcome new blog followers...just click the link on the right and enter your info to receive my updates straight to your email inbox.
A little inspiration to pull out the paintbrushes!! Follow the link below to sign up for a FREE sample of Winsor & Newton acrylic paint.



http://acrylics.winsornewton.com/en/samples/requestsamples/

Personalized Teacher's Christmas Gift

Polka dot apple wall hanger or door hanger on a 7"x9" flat canvas panel...hand painted with ribbon attached for hanging.
$15.00
These make great teacher's gifts for Christmas or "just because." Personalized for Free!!

Autumn Blessings

This fall pumpkin themed design is hand painted on an 11x14 gallery wrapped canvas with attached ribbon for hanging and will be personalized with your family name or quote. (Happy Fall, Autumn Blessings, Happy Fall Y'all...quote or name is your choice.)

Feel free to message me with any questions or for purchasing. I accept credit/debit cards through Pay Pal and cash. Local delivery is available!! I also ship anywhere in the US and Canada.

Peace ~ Mixed Media on Canvas

This mixed media artwork entitled "Peace" is done on a 10"x10" gallery wrapped canvas. This piece is SOLD but this design is available as a custom work using your color choices, quote, family name or favorite scripture. I have many other sizing options as well. Feel free to message me with any questions or for purchasing. I accept credit/debit cards through Pay Pal and cash. Local delivery is available!! I also ship anywhere in the US & Canada. If you want this particular design let me know....they usually go fast!! SOLD I can always re-create a similar design for you.

Trust

This mixed media artwork entitled "Trust" is done on 10"x12" wood with framed edges. Featuring scripture from Proverbs 3:5. This piece is also available as a custom work using your color choices, quote, family name or favorite scripture. I have many other sizing options as well. Feel free to message me with any questions or for purchasing. I accept credit/debit cards through Pay Pal and cash. Local delivery is available!! If you want this particular design let me know....they usually go fast!!

I will also ship to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for those of you who are not local to West Tennessee. I ship via USPS.

Home

I'm back!! What a journey to get back to the heart of what God has for me. Why do we search in vain for our purpose when it's always been right there in our heart all along?! We try to figure things out on our own. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might...Ecclesiastes 9:10.

I've been busy in the studio creating new art and have lots of new ideas that I can't wait to share with you!
10x12 Mixed Media on wood with attached hanger on back. This piece is also available as a custom work using your color choices, quote, family name or favorite scripture. I have many other sizing options as well. Feel free to message me with any questions or for purchasing. I accept credit/debit cards through Pay Pal and cash. Local delivery is available!! SOLD (I can re-create similar design for you)

27 Christmas Questions

27 CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper but this year gift bags and LOTS of them!!

2. Real or artificial tree? Artificial. I haven't had a real tree since I was a kid and I'm not quite sure why.

3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving week or the first of December.

4. When do you take the tree down? The first week of the New Year. I love to leave it up an extra week..so sad taking down the tree.

5. Do you like egg nog? EWWWWWW. No.

6. Favorite gift as a child? Chatty Cathy doll, Mrs. Beasley that talked when you pulled the string, bright red apple that made music when you shook it, Cabbage Patch doll way back in the early 80s.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I have a small nativity but would love a large scene for the yard.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad definitely.

9. Easiest person to buy for? The kiddos.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? Probably a fruit cake.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? It's A Wonderful Life...the best ever.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Some time around October.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mom's homemade fudge, punchbowl cake and ham.

16. Clear lights or colored? Both.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I can't choose just one! I love Christmas music.

18. Travel or stay at home for Christmas? We are on the road a big part of Christmas day visiting family.

19. Can you name Santa’s reindeer? Yes, thanks to a screensaver at work on Pam's computer that periodically yells out their names...ha.

20. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Both...since we travel to family on Christmas morning, we do our gifts on Christmas Eve but with our parents and extended families on Christmas Day.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas and when people call CHRISTMAS trees holiday trees.

22. Do you have an angel on top or a star? Neither.

23. Ugliest Christmas decoration ever invented? Wal-mart's inflatable Santa, reindeer and snowman that's shaped like an egg.

24. Which looks best; theme trees or homey trees? I love them both!

25. Gingerbread or sugar cookies? Sugar with icing and Christmas sprinkles.

26. Favorite kind of Christmas cookie? See question 25.

27. Do you like fruitcake? Most definitely NOT.

Revelation in Lenox

This is an unusual post for me but I feel I have to share this. I feel like there is someone reading this who may feel hopeless or like God isn't listening. I want to assure you that there is hope even when it seems out of your grasp and God is listening and hears every prayer you've whispered to him.

I'm just going to be open and real and share my raw emotions with you. I stepped away from blogging for a season as I just felt like I had lost my inspiration and my joy. I found myself in a place where I didn't wish to stay. I prayed and sought the Lord for answers and felt like there were none to be found for me. Sometimes when we least expect it, the sun breaks behind the silver clouds and the overcast sky is chased away by the intensity of the light.

One of my favorite things to do is get in my car and just drive the backroads with my camera and my music...especially on sunny, warm days with my windows down. This particular day, the sun was out and I felt riding would lift my spirits. I ended up in a very small community on the edge of the Mississippi river called Lenox. As I rounded the corner toward the river's side of the bluffs, I saw a tree that was stripped and bare and like a flood God's presence overtook me with revelation in the form of words in my soul that wouldn't stop. I knew I had to pull over and write them down so I pulled into a church parking lot and began to write. These are the words God gave me:

2-27-09
Like an Oak tree in the dead of winter,stripped down and bare for all to see, revealing what's underneath the layers that so often hide the core. They hide the innermost core of who we are. What makes us who we are? Who are we really? What makes us happy? What do the peeled back layers of our souls reveal? Are we really what onlookers see on the outside?

This season of winter that's gripped my soul and stripped off the layers has revealed to me that I am not always what I appear to be.

I struggle, I fall, I hurt, I cry, I feel. I smile even though I'm not always happy. I smile.

Revelation....maybe not new, but new again to my soul is that it's not in the things of this world that I find my joy, my peace or my future...but it's only in that closeness with my Heavenly Father, the creator of all things, that I truly know who I am, that I feel, that I live, that I am, that I know and that I love.

HE is the smile that you see. He is the joy that I seek. If only for a season I forgot where my happiness came from...it is THAT revelation of HIM that reminds me HE is all I need to "just be." It is God who makes me "me" and I love the me that I am in Him and despise the me I am when I build the walls and hide from the sun(SON).

He is my life force. My very being is from his Grace. I revel today in the revelation that regardless of what I feel or what you see...I am HIS child, made perfect in His love. SPJ


I must have sat in that church parking lot for half an hour with tears flowing. It was as if God was washing away the sadness and heaviness that had settled upon me. I felt hope again. I felt renewed. One week to the day, God answered a huge prayer for my family and sent the right job across my path. Thank you Lord for answered prayer and renewed hope. Don't stop praying....never give in to the despair or hopelessness that tries to settle in your spirit. Keep looking up and know that you are HIS child, made perfect in his LOVE. He has a plan for you and didn't bring you this far to let go of your hand.

I pray blessings over everyone who reads this and finds themselves in a similar place. Just remember, in one single moment God can change everything. (....and then SUDDENLY) Pray for your "suddenly" moment. It will come.

Many blessings,
Sherri

Blog Slacker & Tennessee Ice Storm 2009

Oh me, what else can I say? I've been seriously blog slacking over the last few weeks. We've had one of those crazy months where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. A lady from our church said we should write a book about all of our mishaps...ha. It's been very trying to say the least. We've had both cars in the shop, Stevie was in a 4-car pile up on the ice covered Mississippi River bridge on the way to work, etc. It just goes on and on but....we are still smiling.

Sometimes a lot of smaller things pile up on you and can become so overwhelming. We are still blessed though. We have our health and our family. We know it could always be worse so we've just thanked God for our blessings. You just hafta' praise him in the good times AND in the bad times.

Photos I took during the ice storm of 2009. We fared much better here in Dyer County than my family and friends just north of us in Obion County and also over in Southeast Missouri and Southwestern Kentucky. My brother and his family were without power for almost 2 weeks. It literally looked like a tornado had come through in the winter. The weight of the ice broke branches and tree tops, power lines and even entire trees and thousands of power poles just snapped in half. I don't remember ever seeing anything quite like it here in Tennessee. We had an ice storm when I was a kid but NOTHING at all like this. Our kids missed so much school here they are talking about taking away part of their spring break. Keeping our fingers crossed that they don't lose their break!
I loved the contrast of the pop of red against the ice. I nearly froze but it was worth it to capture these shots.

This photo was taken last weekend....what an amazing contrast from the ice and snow the week before. It was 72 here yesterday and is supposed to be the same today. Tomorrow they are calling for severe storms and a change of tornados...UGH! The weather here is crazy!

Have a happy and blessed Monday!

~Sherri