You may or may not realize this about me, but.... I enjoy apples... obsessively. They are my essentials and I would praise you forever if you were to hand me a crisp, cool apple anytime of the year. Literally, one time, after coming home from college one weekend and having a really rough experience, my mother presented me with a fruit basket, filled with apples, pineapples, and fresh fruit of a-plenty. Love ya mom! :) I ask for apples for my birthday but I don't think anyone takes me seriously when I say that. I don't think they understand how much I love apples! Needless to say, they are delicious and filling- my healthy and guilty pleasure. This is one of my super foods that help me to get through my day, and I love how they are so easy to take around. They are certainly a food that influences my life a lot, and maybe that's a bad thing, but for an artist, whatever is influencing their lives the most, they paint. Any other artists out there agree? After finishing this piece above, I have been digging to figure out what I should paint next. I do have other projects going on at the moment as well but.... the apples keep calling back to me. I loved the fun colors I used for the gala apples I painted, and I keep wanting to do another piece of fruit, maybe watermelon (or any other fruit that I have in my kitchen for that matter...) As I was contemplating, during lunch, what I should paint, I picked an apple from my crisper, and put it on my blue plate, and noticed what a beautiful color combination it was. I quickly grabbed my camera to capture such a beautiful sight (here I am, talking about how food is beautiful- which doggone it IT IS BEAUTIFUL!) and quickly snapped some pictures of the apple before I ate it (because I was very impatient and yes very hungry) So the question is, what composition should I do my next apple piece? Want to help me? Below are the picture compositions I would do for my apple piece, then sketch it out and paint it. I m curious to see what others think about the compositions. Any suggestions? Any tips you want to offer? Please speak up! Thanks for helping out this apple-obsessed artist. Man... I need to get a life! The survey button is after the photos! Thanks again! one. two. three. four. five.
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Morning one and all! What a beautiful day to be alive! This is another irrelevant post concerning my artwork- but then again, it isn't. But if you do want to see a post concerning my artwork progress, head to this blog post that I posted yesterday. It's been crazy busy at the O'Neill home- after finishing up our final reunions we would be attending for the summer and getting back to work, there is a great feeling about settling back in and getting back into a routine. Is that just me or is that a thing most of us can agree on? Even little-little enjoys it! .... I swear she does, the camera is saying lies, that's all. Getting back into a running routine feels so good. One main reason why I enjoy running so much is because it is the hour that I can become a little bit more in tune with my 'spiritual' side. Being a mom, it is a juggling act, trying to do so many things in a day that you want to. But there is an incredible blessing that mothers have- is that they can multitask! ;D Just kidding... but I try to! However, when people may say that you don't put full heart and mind into both things that you may be multitasking, I believe I can when I go running. Whenever I go running, I enjoy listening to LDS General Conference talks or BYU speeches (also BYU-Idaho and BYU- Hawaii) to get me through my run. I contemplate the purpose of my life as a mother and a wife and what I am to do here since I have moved to Montana. Already I have seen the mighty had of my Heavenly Father take control and place me in fields I have never thought that I would be in. Ever since moving to Montana, I have had a sense of full confidence in my Heavenly Father, in His plan for me, and in my Savior, Jesus Christ. It's quite the experience, seeing Heavenly Father bless my tenderly, knowing my heart is sensitive to moving and change. It leads me to believing that my Heavenly Father does love me and knows my situation completely. He knows of my desires and how I want to be closer to him, how I want to know him more. There are days when I certainly feel like I haven't done enough- that I didn't fulfill my calling as a mother or a wife, or calling of serving another in a day. I lack confidence in myself, and fail to remember what the Atonement is all about. I lack motivation, and become depressed, thinking that I may not have done any good in a day. There is a BYU Speech that I listened to concerning confidence, however. It is titled "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence," and is by LDS leader, Elder Jeffery R. Holland, from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He gave this speech to the students at BYU back in March 1999, when the prophet of the church was President Gordon B. Hinkley, and is most applicable to everyone and is worth the listen. But to quote what he said in his talk, he says: Then came this tremendous counsel, which is at the heart of my counsel to you and the title of my remarks this morning: What does this quote mean to me? It means that my God knows that I am weak and have the tendency to fall short, but if I put confidence in him, my future is bright. The feelings of love and trust in my Heavenly Father will ignite once more in my soul, and the same God who lead the children out of the hands of their enemy is the same God today, who will let me know, quite visibly, that he is guiding me every step of the way. Member of the First Presidency of the LDS Church, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf once said as well: What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside. I absolutely LOVE this quote! It's certainly a quote all mother's can fall back on! How easy it is to have the voices around us- even our own- paralyze us. That is not God's message to us as His children. Instead, He is excited when we humbly acknowledge the gifts He has graciously given us and exercise faith and love in Him and His gifts to us every day!
I love my Heavenly Father, and I love being a mother. I know that the more confidence I have in my Heavenly Father, the more confidence I have in His plan and the life I am supposed to lead here in Montana. What gives you confidence? In yourself or in another field of your life? Please share your feelings if you wish! I hope you all have a peachy day! GO |
Gretchen O'NeillFixated About My Husband Archives//
October 2020
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