The computer is becoming a little friendy to me.

The computer is becoming a little friendly to me.  Maybe it likes this little old grey headed woman taking her time at the keys instead of beating them to death in a frantic, must get this done in a hurry mode.    It takes me time to think and then even more time to make certain that I am making sense, Thencomes the black keys, waiting in throws of "wil l she possibly get it right the first time,  or is this an all nighter? "Oh my aching mechanasim,I'll just throw magic stumbling blocks in her way".
  The good thing for today is becoming more computer friendly.  I learned how to  edit and crop a pictruree (all og my kids work) and then print them 2 to a page and THERE IT IS, it works. The prints of their acrylic paintings  go into their portfolio we're making along with their original drawings.  I just sat here browsing through their prints, and they're good, they should be proud of themselves  You should see their faces when Mom or Dad exclames, "What YOU did this, it's great, you give MS Jo Ellen a big hug and thank you."  That's when my day is made!
   Next I learned how to scale an image (my paintings) so that they're 999 pixcels, or something like that, what ever it is.  Anyhow the next step is learning how to transfer them to my ETSY account.  That will have to be another day, my brain is tired, and I doubt I could think of anything creative to say..
  There was no class yesterday as the kids had things to do at school for Halloween.  My husband and I spent the entire day sorting through paintings, working on the Etsy acccount.  I put on   four packages of pictures from my origial drawings of the windows of the Alamo and doors of three of the missions.  Most people never notice the barracks in front of the Alamo.  Each window is different.  I guess whoever was going to be in that room designed their on. Anyhow I did some drawings in pen and ink of those and then put them on note cards.  My big dream several years ago was to  put my cards all over Houston and surrounding towns., then just sit back and watch the money come in.  Guess I'm still waiting, only put them at one place, went to check the ccount and 36 were missing., and of course the owner said they were stoloen.  THIRTY SIX, maybe one or two.  However, you never know what someone will steal..  Many Many years ago I wa doing a wax sculpture of my Great Aunt's head.  NOw the thing is, I don't even chew gum ever since the sescond world war.  That's another story I'll tell you some times.  Anyhow the directions to the wax was to chew until soft and then mold the head.  I wss almost finished, it looked pretty good. You guessed it.  Someone broke into my apartment and stold the thing.  I had a sore, tired jaw, and nothing to show for it, and they didn't take anything else.  Of course I was newly divorced, so didn't have anythin to steal.
  Nothing interesting to talk about, so will go pick up my crochet, adjust my glassess and watch a little TV.  I hate my hearing aids, so they stay safely placed on a glass shelf with my hand painted wine glasses
  Oh just thought of an Alamo story.  About thirty five years ago  my first husband , young daughter and I went to the Alamo.  We were taking pictures and having a good time.   I sat down by a tree in the back of the Alamo to do some drawing, my husband had my daughter by the hand, and they both walked off.  About an hour later I felt little hands slip around my neck and my daughter very quitely said, in a worried voice, "Mom, Daddy's lost."  I'll leave it to your imagination to write the script for the following conversation, when my husband came walking around the building. Let me just say, I was raiseds a construction brat and moved all over the states and my vocabulary can be a little  crusty or maybe salty.
  Yep, then there was the time we lost my son.  He was about two also and we'd gone to the State Fair in Dallas, TX..  That's really a big happening, or was 48 years ago. At any rate, we each thought the other had my son and when we met up outside of the area we were in, everyone hurrying to the next event, guess what ? No son.  The oldest was with his Dad and the youngest was out doing his thing somewhere in the crowd!  I believe my hair turned grey at that moment!  AT ANY RATE,  as the crowd cleared out, there was my son with his sweet little hand being held very safely in the hand of a policeman.  
  Hopefully my daughter will help me Wed. night when she comes over.  I kinow there's more to blogging than just writing.  Of course I love to write, and talk, and paint, and love my grandkids and kids.  At any rate, my goal is to reach out to ya'll.  Hope you'll retaliate by bloggin with me.

Birthday Party

What a wonderful day I had yesterday. My grandson turned two years of age. Yep, he's a handful.  I spent the day at his house, with my daughter, son-in-law and grandaughter  What a treat!!  Not only that but my two sons were there also and it's always nice to get the "kids" together.  Its' fun to just sit back and watch the conversation flow between them, and to know that they genuinly care about each other.  That's almost a rarity in this day and age. My other grandsone is away at college.  What a bright person he is.
  This gave me a chance to meet some really wonderful people who are Karen's friends, and what a collection of original thinking, creative people. 
  I'm not really compuer friendly (that's probably the understatement of the  year), however Karen says I should blog, so you always do what your kids say...or not.
At any rate, I intend to do this with an open mind and look forward to meeting some wonderful people. 
  The other bit of learning is the fact that I've opened an etsy account to display my art work.  I've been teaching and studying for the last forty years and have at last decided to sell my work. I would love for you to puruse my store.  It's etsy dot com, then go to paintings / then to joellenart.  Now I realize that most of  you know how to make your way through a computer program, but not me, so I'll do it my way and go step by step.  Actually that's what I call my theme song."I'll do it my way".  When I finally "pop off" the kids should throw a party, have a few drinks, sing my song, and remember that Mom was whatever they think.  I'm certain they have very definite ideas, I've not exactly been a shrinking violet in my adult years.  My left hand is a little weak, with a mind of its own, so if you see lots of mistakes, primarily "S" and "E", just know my hand was doing its thing
  My art mind is calling me, I've things to do, so have a great day and know that life is beautiful, some days it doesn't seem that, but the great thing about a bad day is the thought that it can only get better.  Believe me, I've been there.

Hi, I'm Jo Ellen

At age 10 when my parents moved from southern Miss. to Washington State, I saw my first mountains, different colors  green, snow,  water falls and instantly decided I wanted to be an artist. Eighteen years later, I painted my first picture and was told, "you need to take art lessons".  Two of my friends liked the idea, so every Tue. evening we piled into the car, got a babysitter for the kids and tried our hand at being artistic.  I was a misarable failure, however, after four  years of study, lessons, trial and error it finally happend.  Other people in the class were asking me for help.  My teacher asked me to quit taking class and just come paint with her as a friend.  I did, and also started teaching at her suggestion.   I still teach two classes of 6 kids on Sat. and it makes my week! They're creative, not afraid to try my crazy ideas, and keep me on my toes always searching for new ideas, methods, product and ways to teach. Their parents are always  proud of them and you should see the kids glow with pride.