Feasting with the Family

This is how our Thanksgiving Feast Day went. Justin and I are so thankful for our family and we love to hang out with them. We went to my mom and dad's house for the main part of the day and we got to hang out with family that we don't get to see often enough, which was fun.

Here is Jo Jo slapping Justin's face before the feast.

Mmmm. Love this girl.

I caught the paparazzi in action. They all happen to be siblings.

Our cousin Andy with grandma and grandpa Ricker. Andy just finished  his tours in Iraq recently and now he's going to school. Very thankful that he is safe and doing Great!

Our cousin's Amy and Kai with their cutey kids! It was great to catch up with them. Wish we lived closer to each other.

Josh and Krysta on the phone... taking away from family bonding time. They happen to be siblings too.

Oh yes, and I messed up dessert for the family this year. I forgot and botched a couple things.

So, I made a special trip to get dessert plates and napkins. Forgot them at home. 

Casey told me to bring vanilla icecream. Forgot to buy it. 

See these lovely steaming pies... they turned out to be a bust!

These are Apple Tarte Tatin pies. They are supposed to be French upside down caramel apple pies. When I flipped them, caleb said, "It looks like apple sauce". Yes, and it tasted like apple sauce too. Last year these pies turned out great, so I was very sad to botch them this year.

Dessert was still had by all, but no thanks to me.

So, The end of the day was great at Justin's parents house. We ate leftovers and toasted with some great wine. Here is Justin's Thanksgiving snack. Chips dipped in fudge. Didn't try it myself, but he sure enjoyed it.

What Happened at Art Fusion

Art Fusion was Great!

It was at Back to the Grind Coffee shop in Downtown Riverside. There was live music while Abe and I painted on both sides of the stage. It was a fun, casual atmosphere with lots of friends coming to hang out.

This was one of the more relaxing live painting  events I have done. I could walk away and examine my work at anytime while chating with people and enjoying a delicious latte. Painting in front of Sandals church a few years ago was fun, but also nerve racking because thousands of eyes were silently watching me and I was on what seemed like a little island separated from the audience. I enjoyed that whole experience, however it is nice to be free to saunter away from painting, talk to people, and not have so much attention on me.

Justin Kowalski did a great job putting this event together. He was the director of the show and kept things running smoothly. He also made many... many references to purchasing great coffee from this fine community coffee shop :)

This is Abe painting on the other side of the stage. We were both interpreting the concept of "The Fall of Man". His painting was beautifully detailed with black/ white and colored sections.

These are some of my awesome friends who came to check out the scene.

This is the finished product. I troweled purple up and cream down into the purple. Troweling is my favorite. It is so beautiful.

I was inspired by Romans 1:25. "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator..." To me, the fall of man means a broken relationship with God. I used the contrast of the cream and purple to show the separation between God and man. 

The image of the wings comes from another section in Romans 1:22 that says, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." The bird wings symbolize us worshiping the things on earth rather than the one who created those things on earth. All of us know what it's like to put God in the background while placing his creation in high position in our lives. It's seems so silly that we do this because all things on earth are temporary and God is forever. This verse is a great reminder that we need to put the right things in first priority in our lives. 

This is a detail shot of  the lower half. I added the curve of the earth and a dead twiggy tree coming up from it. This symbolizes how the things of the earth have no life when it is separated from God. 

I usually don't write words on my paintings that give away all of it's metaphorical secrets, but I decided to add the words "Broken Relationship" to the side. The word "Broken" sits on the purple side of the world. This shows that the broken part of our relationship with God is because of us and something that we caused. The word "Relationship" sits on God's side, which shows that God invented and is a master of relationship.

This painting makes me very happy and I am glad I was able to be a part of this cool event. 

The Spud Buster

Like I said in my previous blog, I wasn't the only one being crafty at the cabin. Justin also spent most of the evening creating his masterpiece. 

He sawed, he cemented, he drilled. He was very serious.

The following photos show all the work he put in

These are videos of Justin trying out his creation. The first video is at 7:30 in the morning because he couldn't wait any longer to see if it worked. I love his reaction. The other video shows how far it goes. By the way, Aquanet hairspray is the fuel of this operation and a potato is what is being launched.

Art Fusion

If you are in the area on Saturday night, come over to Back to the Grind in Downtown Riverside for some live Music and Painting!

Sandals church is putting on a event that is cool and unusual and I get to be a part of it. As live music plays I will be one of two artists painting live. You and your friends can hangout, listen to great music and get coffee while you watch two paintings come to life before your eyes. It's going to be fun!

Us artists have a theme we are trying to embrace which is "Fall of Man". This has a spiritual and seasonal reference. I am excited to interpret this idea into my art.

So, Bring a friend and join us around 8:00 pm this Saturday night @ Back to the Grind. It is located near the 91 fwy on University Ave. 

Hope to see you there!

Getting Crafty At The Cabin

Justin and I went to his parents cabin for the weekend. 

We both got some crafting done. I only have pictures of one of the crafts that happened there this weekend. One craft deserves it's own post which will come shortly (with a video too) and the other is a gift for someone who could read this post and see their gift before Christmas.

I can't wait to post pictures of all the gifts I have made and will make this Christmas. I will have an after Christmas posting of all my creations!

So, here is my green jacket. It's nice and it's warm... it just has a few problems. The sleeve buttons keep falling off and they are a bit ugly anyway so I left them off.

Joanns was having a sale. 50% off buttons and I took advantage. I bought some new buttons for this jacket and put them on at the cabin. It took me about an hour and the jacket looked like new. And much more hip.

Detail shot of the nice buttons on the sleeves.

When I see this, I laugh

This is Caleb and Bartholomew. 

Bartholomew is a blue marrionette that Justin has owned since he was 14 years old. Justin was ok with selling him at our recent yard sale, but he had to play with him one more time.

Caleb saw Bartholomew and had to hang out with him a bit too.

Bart is hard to control sometimes. I can't look at this picture without cracking up!

Caleb back to his charming self.

Best Buds on a Warm November Night

Justin and I hung out with some of our best buds on Saturday night.

We went to Case and Josh's house. Blythe and Kirby got dropped off to have a little seasonal November hangout time. Blythe and I had plans to stoke the fire and have everyone get snuggly warm with the spiced cider.

It turned out to be a bit warm for that especially after eating Casey's delicious chicken soup. We were all fanning ourselves and sweating a bit in our attempt to celebrate the change of season. We had a great time though! We had great conversation and hung out with the kids and babies. It was fun!

Blythe on her way to the trash can. (You can read her blog on the link)

Caleb and Hero playing. Hero has a classic Hensley smile in this picture. She just looks like her grandpa!

Blythe and I taking a picture in the bathroom doorway.

Blythe and Hero changing the toilet paper for Case and Josh.

Beijing for Halloween!!!

We went to Beijing for Halloween!

Sandals had a big Trunk or Treat thing in the church office parking lot. And we went all out! Justin became the famous olympic althelete... Michael Phelps. I couldn't help, but become a Michael Phelps super fan.

Justin got out the Gorilla tape and my dad's painter plastic and transformed the back of his truck into an Olympic swimming pool. He filled it with water and showed off his swimming skills for the trick o' treaters, all while passing out candy.

I also got out the shoe polish and went crazy on the truck (The sides looked pretty cool too, but I didn't get a pic)

This is me getting a picture with Michael Phelps!!

A couple other Michael Phelps Phans showed up. I was nice to them even though Michael only has one real fan... Me! I even wear my homemade shirt so much it's fading (actually the iron-ons failed in their duty to transfer his face)

Here is Michael swimming for the kids. 

Here he is appreciating some of his many metals from the Olympics.