I was a new mom, and it was just three months after major surgery. I was tired and happy. I had taken a leave of absence from my government job, and I had a feeling inside that I wouldn't be going back. At that time I wasn't sure what I'd be doing instead, but I was open to finding out.

Well when my little one was sleeping and I wasn't so tired, I decided to watch Bob Ross. My heart sang, and I thought, "I can do that!"

After watching a few Bob Ross shows, I went out and purchased some paints. I wanted something that would be safe around a young one, so I bought some non-toxic acrylic paints, some brushes, and some canvas. I was set, or so I thought.

My paintings looked like mud, but I hadn't set out to paint mud. Well lo and behold, I found out that acrylic paints did not behave like the oil paints that Bob Ross was using. He could blend ten and twenty minutes later. Mine was already drying or dried. Ugh!

But I didn't give up. I then read books from the library on painting with acrylics, purchased books from the bookstore on painting with acrylics, and joined a book club for artists, and purchased even more books on painting with acrylics. And lo and behold, with practice and learning, my paintings started looking better.

My husband wanted a colorful painting for his office at work. We decided on colorful cows. I received permission from a local dairy farm to take pictures of their cows; they were most cooperative.

Then I was further inspired by the ice cream socials that were held at my daughter's elementary school, so I decided to also make Ice Cream Cows into a party invitation. Each cow is the same color of their favorite ice cream.

Click on the picture to see a larger image and ordering information. There are matching stamps too.

Love Is For All was inspired by a practice that I used to do and from time to time now, where I talked to God, reached my hands up into the air, and said, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." And I felt shivers come down through my body. And I knew that this love was for everybody.

The bible says that God is the spirit that connects us, surrounds us, is in all, and through all.

In my adult life, I ended up having to replace a lot of my childhood misconceptions by using and applying affirmations. And then I thought pictures would be nice.

So I made pictures to go with my affirmations. They were definitely more fun to look at and read instead of just the words. Since I liked the picture affirmations and found them helpful, I thought others probably would too. Affirmation Art was born:

I've always loved cats. I got my first cat when I was two and she lived for over twenty years. Out of my 50+ years, over 46 of them I've had at least one cat, sometimes two. I find them to be great inspirations as well as a fun time out for some feather chase or bat the ball.

I did some gardening work for a friend of mine and decided to paint some instead of just plant them. Painting flowers is fun; they come in so many shapes and colors, and I can even create some of my own!

I like to encourage the creativity in kids. So in addition to tie dyed shirts, they can also now have color in or paint in shirts and aprons. They can be "colored in" with fabric paint markers. (((Coming soon is also paint in shoes! Wow, their creativity can soar!)))