Thursday, July 29, 2021

Thursday Art Date With Rain ... Musical




Musical


When it comes to music, my taste is all over the place so I am inserting several different YouTube Videos of some of my favorite music performers :)  My family was very musical.    My mother played the piano, my father played the harmonica and my sister and I both took piano lessons as children.  In addition I learned the violin through a program in our grade school.  Sadly, I didn't keep up on any of my musical talents unless you include dancing ... as for dancing, my mother taught Modern Dance (so you can be sure I learned it) and she also performed in the Faculty Orchesis Modern Dance Group at the University.  My parents were marvelous ball room dancers ... and, they taught me.  I love ball room dancing, but rarely get an opportunity to do it.  My FH played the Saxophone and Clarinet and My son played the organ and was in Glee Club.  So, though none of us use our talents today, we get our music fix by watching the bands we like on YouTube.  


Riverdance

A pastel done of a Ballet Dancer by my mother years ago ... Yes, I wish I had inherited her talents ... she was also a wonderful artist and I have several of her paintings on my wall.


Muse
Alternate Rock 


My Mother (L) in Orchesis ...


Hungarian Rhapsody 




Phantom of the Opera


My father playing his Harmonica ....




David Garrett on Violin


Still Love Led Zeppelin even as old poops :)


And, YES,
also old poops ...


My finale is Bugs (per Rain's tutorial) as a ballerina ... Not as good as Rain's, but a start in the right direction.
 
"That's All Folks"

Andrea @ From the Sol


Thursday, July 22, 2021

Thursday Art Date With Rain ... Favorite Decade

(click to enlarge for the best results ...)

 Wow, this is a hard one.  I don't think there is a decade that I wouldn't love to relive (except maybe the end of the last decade which we won't even discuss).  I decided to pick the 1960's because that was the decade that launched me into my adult life (which I am still living, thankfully). So what was going on in the 60's .... Well,

There was the election of President Kennedy, who I followed and even heard him speak on our campus ... yes, I was in college at the University of Illinois.



The top picture is the Union Building.  I would go there whenever I didn't have a class and meet with my friends  over a cup of coffee and the best ever home made sweet rolls.  I was there, in fact, when I heard about the assassination of President Kennedy.  What a heart breaking experience ...😢


College life was wonderful and the best part of it was that I met my husband there.  Life is full of surprises ... he was the roommate of a friend and we met briefly, but didn't really take an interest in each other until a year later.  Once we started dating it was a given that we had a future together.

When finally out of college, there were weddings ... not only ours, but many of our friends :)


The picture on the bottom is my friend that I grew up with.  Our Mothers were best friends and so we had known each other since grade school.  Our birthdays are on the same day which has always been fun.  She lives far from me now, but we never forget each other on our birthdays.  Two things about the wedding picture of her on the wall ... first, it was painted by my sister and second if you look closely, you will note that her vail is the same as mine :) That is because it was the "something borrowed" in my wedding.


The 1960's were certainly not all about me ... there were many things going on, both good and bad,  that made the decade memorable.In 1965 the United States entered the Viet Nam War between the Communist North and the Democratic South.  This spurred an outbreak of anti war demonstrations often on college campuses.  Thankfully I was no longer a student so I wasn't involved, but I did lose a few high school friends in the war.

Civil Rights were also being protested in the 60's led by 
Martin Luther King ... but it took the murder of three young men who were registering black voters to stir the congress to pass the Voter's Rights bill in 1965.
And Martin Luther King was also against the war in
 Viet Nam.  Sadly he was assassinated in 1968.  

  Mohammad Ali also declared himself a  conscientious objector to avoid the draft and was sentenced to a short time in jail and banned from boxing for 3 years.  
 
And not to be left out of the picture , women's rights were being pursued ...
So it was a tumultuous time, but as a new wife with my loving husband in our first home with a German Shepard (which had been a life long dream ... (ever since RinTinTin was on TV :) I was on the outside looking in and enjoying life.  Music had always been a big part of my life and the 60's bands were awesome! Just to name a few:


And, of course ...
My first attempt at the Rain method from her new channel :)

Needless to say there are many more bands I could mention, but not nearly enough space to include them all.

To wind this up because it has the potential of being way too long ...
Two more things:

My first Child was born in 1969

and the Moon landing took place a short time later in the same year.


So those are the highlights of my chosen decade.  Mind you there were others I considered, but I had to start somewhere.
Hope you enjoyed ... I revealed a lot of personal info here which I don't generally do, so let's just keep it between us :)

Andrea @ From the Sol




Thursday, July 15, 2021

Thursday Art Date With Rain ... Morning




Mornings on our lake ... our house faced east so our mornings could be spectacular ...














Mornings in our current land locked location ... not as dramatic, but still beautiful ...







Two Digitally doctored mornings ...



And one miscellaneous (on our way to Switzerland) morning:) 

And then Mornings as they are at my house every day ...




A slide show I made way back when ...


Happy Days my friends ...

Andrea @ From The Sol










Thursday, July 8, 2021

Thursday Art Date With Rain ... CrissCross


 














My boys (we refer to them as Da Boyz) are the masters of crisscross as you can see. 



And, of course, Izzi can't be left out ...

Then there is my gymnast granddaughter at about age 6 or 7






A few pieces from our antique collections (which we sold when we moved so that our son wouldn't be left with trying to figure out what to do with them)
























And finally a few miscellaneous photos ...
 

oops, I lied ... two pieces of crisscrossy art :)

Andrea @ From the Sol

Rain Frances Creations ... Excuses, Excuses ...

Excuses, Excuses ... I post this picture every Christmas because every Christmas I seem to be overwhelmed with all there is to do to be read...