My Mommy and Her Brother

This is a special one. Last summer a friend and I went on an awesome vacation trip with my parents to Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. We had a great week and were preparing to travel on to Nashville and other great destinations. A late night phone call changed all of our plans. My mom's only sibling, my uncle had died suddenly back home in Oregon. He was only 66 years old. Through the confusion and grief, we changed our flights and returned home to plan a funeral.

My mom and her brother grew up on a dairy farm and their only family "vacation" was the four days of the local County Fair. They worked on the farm and saved their pennies all year for the fair. As they worked they dreamed of the rides they would ride and the goodies they would eat. I created this collage picturing them in their youth and entered it as a courtesy exhibit at the same County Fair that they always attended. It's a "magical" County Fair...I go every year and now my grown children go every year. And yes...my mom at age 71 still goes every year to the Tillamook County Fair, in Tillamook, Oregon.

Something for a Saturday

Such a sassy cowgirl! She's rootin' tootin' brassy and loves to be the center of attention! Maybe secretly she's a bit like me? I'll never tell. I had fun creating this one. Add a cutie pie vintage cowgirl, throw in a western comic book cover and play with other textures and viola...you have a bust 'em up digital collage! This one made the perfect gift for a friends new tack room wall! Yee-haw!

My Baby

Andy Warhol inspired design of my daughter. Fun way to highlight special portrait style photos.

Hello Trouble

I had a blast doing this project. I let myself wander and thought of a girl who probably lived in single-wides all of her life and frequented the road-side motels of old Route 66. She's a tough cookie and has "been there...done that." She knows she has the goods and knows how to use them. But who is she inside? Does she have a family? Is it all a put-on? What do you think?

She Will Go Far

Little red coat and tiny red shoes. Her hair combed and curled by a mommy who loved her. She stands by her red trike so proudly. She doesn't know that there will be days when she will cry and feel alone. She only knows what is. A sunny day to ride her trike.

The days unfold and show their colors. I pray for a rainbow...

I think I'm Finally Satisfied

OK...this blog thing has cost me a lot of sleep this week. I think I've finally decided on the right background. I'm a designer and I should have designed my own, right? Wrong! This blog is supposed to be separate from my job and is supposed to be for me to say what I want to say without stressing over work. So I've searched for the right background and found it. I want to be able to change quickly when I feel like it and not spend my own time designing the blog area.

Kind of like a cook that doesn't want to cook dinner, they want to go out to dinner...

Enough obsessing over the blog. I'm ready to go and am excited to be able to start posting!

It Might Be Spring

Ok...I'm obsessing. There. I said it. Half the battle is to admit, right? It's late and I have to work tomorrow and I should be in bed. Instead I'm working on this little piece of "internet heaven" and trying to make it look decent. I need to let it go. So I will...but before I do...

Beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. Best day of the year so far. Warm and blue skies...it may rain here a lot and we have tons of grey days, but when it's nice it's gorgeous! The green trees and the growing grass stand out against the bright yellow daffodils growing in the field. Tonight the frogs are singing and it feels like summer. But I'm too smart to be fooled, yes I am...I'm suspecting we will have some more colder weather before it slips into May weather.

The horses are losing their winter coats...they need to be brushed. One thing at a time...I've got to get some sleep!
Dreaming of warm sun and a comfortable lawn chair...