"One of the most glorious messes in

the world is

the mess created in the

Living Room on

Christmas Day.

Don't clean it up too quickly." Andy Rooney

 

In a recent study of

American pet owners,

7 out of 10

buy their animals

Christmas Gifts.

 

A SOLDIER'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED! UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
! SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT." 

Let It Snow

Oh the weather outside is frightful,

 

But the fire is so delightful,

 

And since we've no place to go,

 

Let It Snow!

Let It Snow! 

Let It Snow!

 

"Not believe in Santa Claus!
You might as well not believe in fairies."

 

Editor New York Sun 1897

And the angel said unto her,
Fear not,
Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb,
and bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name
JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest:

and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever;

and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

 

"What if Christmas," he thought,

"doesn't come from a store.

What if CHRISTMAS 

means a little bit more."
The Grinch

 

Here We Come A-Caroling

Here we come a-caroling
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wand'ring,
So fair to be seen. Love and joy

come to you,

And to your wassail too And

God bless you

and send you a
Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars will never start,
And time will heal our hearts,
Every man will have a friend,
That right will always win,
And love will never end.
This is my GROWN-UP

Christmas List.

 

 

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other

But I wanted a . .

 

 "big, shiny

aluminum tree...

maybe

painted pink".

 

A diamond shines no brighter
than that lovely Christmas star.
It shines in all its brilliance;
it's seen from near or far.
A symbol of the Christ child
as He lay upon the hay,
It tells to all the waiting world
a King was born that day.
O Bethlehem Star keep shining -
give us faith and hope and love.
Keep our thoughts forever turning
to the Savior up above.
Give us strength and hope and courage
to do our best by far
And never falter in our faith
as we watch that Christmas star.

Author Unknown

 

 

You will get a sentimental

Feeling when you hear

Voices singing let's be jolly,

Deck the halls with boughs of holly


Rocking around the Christmas tree,


Have a happy holiday

Everyone dancing merrily

In the new old-fashioned way.

"Rocking Around the Christmas Tree"

Johnny Marks

1958

Johnny Marks ~ 1958

Rockin around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
Every couple tries to stop
Rocking around the Christmas tree,
Let the Christmas spirit ring
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie
And we'll do some caroling

 

 

I have a project to work on, actually two. Never fails, at Christmas, I start something new, when my time is drawn in so many directions - just like yours. So, in between shopping, decorating, planning, cleaning, parties, and trying to get to work in the snow and ice - I will be working on illustrations for two children's picture books. I won't be able to share my progress here as some of the property is not mine.

 

I'll fill my blog with archive Holiday Illustrations for your viewing pleasure.

 

I wish you and yours a fabulous Holiday! I hope your turkey is tasty, your cranberries juicy, your pumpkin pies perfect - and may your trash day be on Thursday

 

See you next year!!

Dedication

It's December, Christmas is breathing down my neck, and the dark days of winter are drawing me into the hibernation mode. I need a project, a goal, something to spark my creativity.

I should have started a project like Barbara Parker's blog - 365 Guitars. Barbara is an artist I met at a Robert Burridge workshop.  The beginning of this year she started a blog where everyday she would post a photo of something that looked like a guitar.

Parker - Create Each Day

http://createeachday.com
http://365guitars.wordpress.com/
http://upart.fineartstudioonline.com/

https://soundcloud.com/userbp4063578

You might ask, why a guitar? It didn't have to be a guitar, it could have been anything. The point is, she had a daily goal. Find something that looked like a guitar. Seems relatively simple. She was looking all around her all the time everyday for ideas. Don't you think her observation skills improved? Don't you think she found not only guitars but creative sparks for her painting and art?

That's what I need for Next Year. A daily goal.

A constant focus. A cattle prod.

Vacation is Over

I've taken a hiatis, a break, a breather.

Preparing for and hanging the exhibit was exhausting.

During that time, I, along with my daughter,

planned and hosted a surprise birthday party for

my husband. That was emotionally exhausting -

keeping secrets is really hard.

So - I took a well deserved break.

 

But when ART is in every fiber of your being,

it doesn't take long before it calls your name

and you have to go back to work - the work of creating.

My name was called . . .

nakedTRUTH Art Exhibit

We Rocked the Block!

 

 

 



The Dreaded Artist Statement

I hate the Artist Statement. I don't want to explain my art. It should speak for itself and the viewer should be able to have a personal conversation with my art that doesn't include any influence from me.

With that being said - I still wrote the dreadful thing. The statement after all is a powerful marketing tool. It should wet the whistle of the viewer making them want more.

Here are the guidelines I used to create my statement:

 Your 1st sentence should grab hold and make the reader want to continue. Start off with a bang! Be short and sweet, explain your painting style, subjects and themes. Use unique fascinating verbiage. Talk about what your art does for you not what it's supposed to do for them. Use "I" not "You", keep the tense active, using "is" and "are". What is the purpose of your art? Why you create what you do. Make a list of words that describe your art and use them in your statement.

Sound much easier than it is. It took me weeks to write this:

Judy Grupp Artist Statement

There is a box of 64 crayons in every one of my paintings. Those crayons are my first memory of making art, of going down the rabbit hole and giving life to my imagination. I've continued to maintain my studio in that rabbit hole, creating whimsical, colorful paintings that always tell a story, the yin and yang in every secret garden, and the wonder of whimsy.

 

I am a mixed media artist in the truest sense. My painting style is a blend of realism and abstract, with an illustrative quality. Acrylic paint, colored pencils, and collage ephemera are my favorite materials, but I am open to using anything from vintage door knobs to antique music paper and buttons.

 

My paintings are conceptual, coming from the ideas living in my head transformed into my art. Even though my paintings are planned and methodically created, it is still my imagination in the rabbit hole leading the way. My art is everything I wish I was in real life. I am the crayon box and my art is the magic that lives inside.

nakedTRUTH paintings

I decided these collage paintings needed some tweeking -

I was seeing FLOATING HEADS that required some anchoring. Star Man wasn't too bad, so I just added a few curly q's to hold his neck into the painting.

 

 Garden Lady however - she really is lost in that collage.

So I added some daisies at the bottom to pull her back into the painting. These are original ball point pen drawings, not copies,

and the green leaves are colored pencil.

The photography is deplorable and I apologize.

5:30 in the morning obviously

 is a bad time for me to take photos!!

nakedTRUTH Art Exhibit

DRAGONS 

 

These are the smallest paintings in my group,

but I think very striking.

 

Now for the hard part - bring all the paintings into the studio, and prepare them for hanging. Hammers and screwdrivers, I much prefer brushes and glue!!

nakedTRUTH Art Exhibit

Two more small collage paintings and I'm calling it quits.

Ball Point drawings of dragons - I love these - I insist they be in the show.

 

nakedTRUTH Art Exhibit

The Man Who Wished on a Star

 

Her Garden Was Her Life

Two more finished paintings for the exhibit. These are smaller, 10" x 10". I wanted these drawings to almost blend in with the other collage material. That way the viewer would have to get close to the collages to actually see the detail.
The element of surprise.

Now that I stand back and look at these collages, I think they're not done. They're not as good as they could be. Back to the studio . . .

 

 

naked TRUTH Art Exhibit

I need to create a few more paintings for this exhibit. Smaller ones. And still using my own drawings as the collage material to keep the paintings cohesive.

I've prepared a wooden box support, painted it black, and added collage papers - phone book pages, tissue paper, fabric and painted tissue paper.

 

These are the drawings I want to collage