Bittersweet

The end of the school year is always bittersweet -- even now, when most of my kids aren't in school any more.  Today my quilt group has its final meeting of the year, and that always makes me a bit sad.  My quilting friends are the nicest, most creative and giving group of women anywhere, and the thought that I won't see them for three months always makes me feel like I'm being cast adrift.  This year, though, there is some consolation in the fact that my wonderful online community never takes a break!

In that slightly woeful vein, here is my submission for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday link party.  The task today is to use text on your image:

I used Kim's "warm sun," "pour vous," and "grey slate" textures on a photo I took of my daughter Sam in Rome several years ago.  I have been teaching myself to use photoshop elements over the last year, and am now at the stage where I can use layers and textures pretty easily.  The trick is to do so artfully, and I'm still working on that part.

Of my three children, two are passionate about the arts.  One is a singer and actress and the other is a visual artist.  When they are both at home, life is a pure joy.  Ali never stops singing, and Sam is always drawing.  I have to admit that there are moments when it can be aggravating, as in when the songs are so loud I can't focus on paying my bills, or when my best pens mysteriously go missing, but that is small price to pay for the energy and creativity they surround us with.

Here is Sam's latest painting.  I love how she focuses on the eye, and the whole piece looks so abstract until you come closer.  Bittersweet is the word here, too. Sam is going away for the summer to study art at an artists' dream school.  She went there last summer, too, and had a secret wish that we would just forget to pick her up so she could stay there forever.  I'm happy Sam can live the life of an artist for a few months, but if truth be told, I'm also very jealous!

Here is the latest finished page in my art journal -- it just about sums up how I'm feeling these days...: