Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Court of Honor

Tonight our grandson, Toby, had a Court of Honor. He was given the rank of Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class Scout, and First Class Scout. He also was given the six merit badges he has earned this past year. The scout troop he started with was a little unorganized and they never had a Court of Honor. We got him enrolled in another scout troop and he was honored for all the work he's done along with three other Boy Scouts in the new unit. It was a simple, but well-done meeting and we had a pot-luck dinner afterwards. About 24 people showed up to support our boys.

I started another fawn painting today which I will call "Peek-a-Boo." It's going to be another 8" X 10" in size and it will show a fawn peeking between the back legs of its mother. I went to Austin to visit my sister a few weeks ago. We were in a nice neighborhood visiting our mom and the deer were epidemic! They were literally everywhere. Gail drove slowly while I snapped away with my camera. I must have taken over 150 pictures, but it was worth it. With this material, I will be able to paint quite a few pictures. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I believe in taking a lot of photos. Usually, a few of them will be usable to work from for a painting. When you are working with animals, children, or anything else that moves you just never know exactly how the shots are going to turn out. By taking a lot of pictures, I usually get some that speak to my heart and that will make a great painting.

I also worked some more on the backside of the horse in "Singin' and Dancin'." I've been trying to figure out why it seems so difficult for me spend more time on this painting. Challenges come up in all of our lives. One thing that I struggle with is my fear that I won't be able to do well on my paintings. Now some of you that don't paint probably won't be able to relate to what I am saying, but painting new material and trying different techniques can be scary when you don't know how they will turn out. You are just hoping you can make it all work. You have this vision of a beautiful painting that will stir your heart and look oh so perfect. Sometimes my paintings accomplish that vision and sometimes they don't. The good thing is that you really can learn a lot even from the failures. I tend to be a perfectionist and really hate to have a failure, but I suppose most of us would like for all our efforts to be successes. Situations like this can help us learn that important quality called patience. I am convinced that patience is a virtue that Heavenly Father really wants us to learn. We seem to have so many opportunities to practice it! And I often think about how grateful I am that He is so patient with me. Some of the lessons of this life have been very slow in coming and there are probably many that I haven't figured out yet. It's a good thing we get to live so long, don't you think?

It was interesting to see how the voting turned out for your favorite paintings. Thanks to all of you who took the time to let me know which one you liked the best. Next month there will be another chance for you to share your opinions on your favorite piece, so be looking for that. Thank you, also, to those who have left comments for me. It is so good to hear from you.

Kindest regards,
Nancy

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