Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! 

Peace and joy to all of our hearts, no matter what we celebrate! 

❧ Silke

A Couple of Bigger Pieces

With all the small pieces I have painted this year, I have missed working on more of the larger canvases. I have a stack of blank ones just waiting for my paint brush and can't wait to get going.

These here are a couple of larger paintings I recently completed. Both of them have already found new homes. Yeah!!

I loved painting the elephant - they always turn out rather playful for me. Incidentally, I sold my other big elephant painting just a couple of weeks ago as well. Must be the season for ellies!

The beautiful dog below belongs to our nephew and his wife. So much fun to paint! I love the colors. Actually both of those paintings use more muted colors than is "normal" for me.

Painting Sasha, the dog, has gotten me a few commissions, two of which I finished this week. I'll share them soon! Both were fun, fun, fun to do!

Last, but certainly not least, do you remember this koala painting from earlier this year? Well, it has now been published by Thames & Hudson Australia in a beautiful little book featuring 60 works by artists from around the world. Part of the proceeds benefit the Australian Koala Foundation.

Considering that eight years ago I had never done any art at all, this is almost unbelievable to me. It just goes to show that it's never too late to start something new! And how very important it can be to listen to that inner voice when it suggests you try something you never thought you could do!

Eight years ago, I would have assured you that I had no talent for painting at all! None! And now I get to have this life of color and paint. I am beyond grateful that I didn't ignore the nudge!

How are you faring this week? So close to Christmas (if you celebrate)? Do you enjoy the spirit of the season or do you feel pulled in a million different directions?

No matter what, I send you love and joy and peace!

❧ Silke
P.S. I'm linking again to Paint Party Friday, where I hope to visit more frequently this week! It is such a source of inspiration!! Go visit! 

A Little Art and Some Thoughts

Dear friends, I hope you have been well! I haven't posted in a while, which means I have a good bit of art to show you. So much, in fact, that I'm dividing it into a few posts. 

This morning I was thinking about my blog and how I have gotten away from it. It made me feel a little wistful. You know I like change. I like how life progresses, how I change (otherwise I would have never started painting), how nothing ever stays the same, how there are seasons for everything.

And at the same time, there are some things I used to love to do that don't come easily anymore, friends we used to hang out with a lot who now live far away from us,  places we used to live and love, which we now don't get back to much anymore, places we used to travel to a lot, which we now don't anymore. It fills me with a bittersweet melancholy.

And there's my blog, which I used to love. I looked forward to posting every day, to connecting every day and to discover new things for all of my readers. Everything that delighted me, I'd think: "Oh, I have to share that on my blog." Where has that excitement gone?

There was a period of great loss in my small blogging world. Two of my earliest and dear, dear blogging friends passed away and it took the levity and fun out of blogging for me. And I think I've never quite gotten it back after that. Maybe it's time!

As I write this, I realize it's the birthday today of one of those two dear friends and I believe she is giving me a nudge! I need to blog again! I need to connect again!

I miss it. I miss being in touch with you all. I am very active on Facebook, which is really fun in its own way, but it's not the same. I don't really share my thoughts on Facebook. Mostly photos and definitely my art. Still, I love how I can be connected to family and old and new friends in such an easy way. It's also how I sell most of my art and I am very grateful for that. But it's not the same as sharing my life and my thoughts on my blog.

Ok, that decided it. It's time! I have changed and I need to write about it.

I miss you all! And I love you!

❧ Silke 
P.S. Linking to the always inspiring Paint Party Friday! I'm so grateful for their unfailing weekly inspiration!