Friday, December 29, 2006

Wonderful Artist!

These incredible creations are by the wonderful artist Jo Lawrence. I found her on the internet quite a while ago. I think she is from England, but I am not positive. She is so imaginative and inventive!! Her work is just amazing! If anyone else knows about Jo Lawrence and knows where I can find more of her work, please let me know!! Have a wonderful and safe New Year's celebration! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Provence

These are incredible photos from a beautiful book about Provence that I bought for my mom for Christmas. I have a copy, too, but it is in storage. She absolutely loves beautiful things and I know she will really love this book. This is the way I love to decorate!!!! One thing I would love (almost more than anything) to do in my life is to be an interior decorator. This is the style I would want to use for people. I love European design, things that are old, weathered, elegant and rustic. Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Monday, December 18, 2006

Our son Matthew, a filmmaker

Several winters ago, when we lived in Bellingham, Washington, our son Matthew (who actually just graduated from college, majoring in filmmaking) came up to visit us for four days and spent the entire time filming us working on our art. We were so excited and loved spending this wonderful time with him, doing such a special project. Our older son, Michael also did the beautiful music for Matthew's documentary about our art, which is called "Married to Art". Michael's music is wonderful! So, it was a real family project and we were so excited to work with our sons in this way. (Descriptions of pictures above: 1. (left) Matthew filming the wonderful little chairs that the children made in the class we taught in Bellingham at a birthday party. (We actually have taught many, many art classes for children!) 2. Here I am passing out more materials for the children to use. 3. More materials...... 4. My husband Mike working on his art and Matthew in the background filming our Treehouse. All of the following pictures are of Matthew filming our Treehouse. It was so fun to see him filming our wonderful, magical house! If anyone is interested in purchasing copies of our DVD "Married to Art", let us know. We would be so excited to send you a copy. It is really wonderful! It is $15 and $2 for shipping. Take care and I hope you will be able to do something fun with your children, too!! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

I loved my little studio space.......

More pictures of my little furniture, our Treehouse and especially my work area.....that is, where I loved working on my art when we lived in Bellingham, Washington....several years ago. Does anyone know of Bellingham? It is such a pretty area, so green, so many beautiful trees and mountains and wildflowers. I loved it there. One winter when we were there, we lived with my husband's mother and took care of her. We lived in Sudden Valley, a wonderful vacation area outside of Bellingham. One winter afternoon, Mike and I went out to walk in the snow.....which was very high and the trees were bending under the weight of so much snow! It was a wonderland! We had so much fun, running and sliding on the road, watching branches suddenly drop their catches of snow and the many glistening flakes would fall delicately and ever so gently to the ground. We stopped quickly in awe of the little glittering, light filled snowflakes.....feeling as if they were speaking to us as they fell to the ground. We later rented an apartment right in the town of Bellingham and stayed there for over a year. Mike's mother had passed away and that was a very difficult thing for my husband and myself, too. He loved his mother. She was a very funny and very intelligent lady. She raised 9 children and was a wonderful mother and always so kind to me. We miss her. My little studio space, small as it was, made me so happy. Even a small work space can be precious when you fall into it's magic and begin to create wonders and gifts of childlike glee!! Our entire apartment was filled to overflowing with our artwork absolutely everywhere! It was a tiny apartment but had an enormous window that looked out onto the bay in Bellingham. We were amazed and delighted to watch huge ships and different kinds of amazing and odd vessels move slowly across our window view. We took many pictures of them as well as beautiful and memorable sunsets. We have good memories of our little home there. So, during that time, we also displayed our beautiful Treehouse (our Fairy Castle) at a beautiful shop in downtown Bellingham; a small town but filled with many artists and creative people and also people who loved nature. The other pictures here of our furniture were taken in that shop as well. The first picture is a funny one......I was watching a video I made of some of our furniture and decided to take a picture of the pieces as they were on t.v......makes an odd, dreamy kind of image, doesn't it? It is of just some of my little collections of tiny teapots and teacups, vases, etc. Nearly everyone of my little precious treasures are in our storage units.....sitting patiently and quietly in boxes stacked high to the ceiling......wondering why they are all left there in the dark. I miss all my things so much. We just don't have enough room where we live to have any of our things. Sometime, hopefully in the future, we can move to a bigger place. That will be a very happy day for me, indeed......to be able to unpack all my pretty things and feel like it is Christmas again and set about decorating and fitting out our pretty little place, wherever that turns out to be.......someday.......someday. The collage with the wonderfully cute dog is one I made last year. I love this one......it's so colourful and funny. Aren't collages wonderful??!!! The little scene with the woman's face in the background is a very different piece I made when we were living in Seaview, Washington, near Astoria, Oregon. We had moved there to help my mother who was 79 at the time; she just recently turned 80 (and is still writing music, directing operas, sewing, cooking and baking, walking her big beautiful black dog Ruben and also just moved into a 1918 "lodge" house by the ocean and is having a wonderful time decorating and fixing up her new home......at 80 years old! I should be so blessed to be so busy at 80)!! We rented a wonderful old house near the sea (in Seaview) and had so many good memories of doing our art there......Mike painting for hours and hours while I made little furniture and precious little creations out of branches and old fabric snippets, shells and tendrils......pretty ribbons and papers and so many other oddities and wonderful little finds. We had our cat Sasha with us, too and she loved it there. I miss her so much. We lost her last summer to a coyote, which haunts me still......I think about our lovely cat and pray that she is all right. So, here are some pretty things for you. I hope you will like them and also will enjoy reading all my ramblings and thoughts. I love hearing from anyone......if you care to write me back.....even just a little comment is wonderful for me to read and keep in my heart.....friends are so special!! Keep looking for the glittering beauty and softness of Christmas and the hope and love that surrounds this time and find someone to share this happiness with so they can enjoy Christmas, too! There are so many people who are lonely and sad at this time of year, too......who need to be shown love and kindness even more than ever!! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Some of my favorite pictures

Aren't these pictures beautiful? They are different cards that I've collected and they are some of my real favorites! Here's a little information about them for you: The first picture is so beautiful. I just found it in a book but unfortunately didn't write down the photographer's name. The second picture is of a painting by the artist Raymond Peynet. I found a website with more of his work and his paintings are so charming!. The third picture (on left) is so adorable. It's a photograph by Susinn Weiss (Ecolagecards.com). I love this card! It is so cute! The fourth picture is so precious. All it said on the back of the card was J and J from Sheepshead Bay. I tried to find a website of her work, but couldn't find anything. If anyone is able to find more of her work, please let me know! I love this sweet painting! The fifth picture is so utterly beautiful! This is the kind of life I would like to have......gentle, delicate and pretty! This painting is by the artist Thomas W. Hogate (who lived from 1899 to 1910). I would love to see more of his incredible work. The last picture is utterly so beautiful and precious! It is a painting done by the artist Bernardino Luini (who lived 1480 to 1532). I want to find more of his work, too! Hope you enjoyed this beautiful pictures! I will be adding more soon! Would love to know where more pictures like these can be found if anyone knows! Have a beautiful Christmas Season! Would love to hear from you! Debbie (My own art website: www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Grateful for friends.......

Hello friends....... I haven't heard from anyone in quite a while, except for Ulla. She is so wonderful about writing to me so often. I have started to look forward so much to reading people's comments each day. I've been wondering if for some reason people can't get through to my blog or are unable to leave comments. If anyone does read this blog and you have trouble getting through to me, let me know at: debbieschramer@yahoo.com. I am so happy since I have been blogging......I've met so many people through blogs, it's wonderful! There are so many kind and wonderful people in the world. I am so grateful for all of you. I appreciate all that you do to share the thing that make you happy and to have beauty in your lives. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season. Hope you enjoy the pictures I've posted recently! Would love to hear from you!! Debbie www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer

Saturday, December 09, 2006

More beautiful photographs......for Cards and Prints!

Here are some more of my pretty photographs for you to see....... If you'd like to purchase my photo- graphs as Cards or Prints, the Cards are $3.00 each and the Prints are $35.00 each (matted). They would be wonderful for Christmas gifts!! The pictures are called......(from left to right, starting at the top): The Sun The Rabbit Millner The Dance of the Flowers Tea at Night Sleeping Tea Shadow Flower Poem's Window Poem Pink at Night Pink and Pearl Mouse and Rabbit Life has many treasures......one of the most precious things we have is our ability to appreciate beauty!! Debbie www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer

Friday, December 08, 2006

Beautiful photographs.....available as Cards and Prints!

Here are some of my wonderful little photographs.......I thought you would enjoy! I love doing photography......there are so many beautiful things to take pictures of. My father passed away several years ago and I told my mother that I really wanted to have something of my Dad's that was special to him.....to help me remember him. She gave me his digital camera. I was so touched because he loved taking pictures. So, now I have the joy of using his camera to make beautiful photography. Every time I use his camera, I think of him. It's really special to me. My father was a musician......he was a wonderful man, quiet but very sensitive and kind. He had polio when he was in his early twenties, before I was born. It was a long recovery for him but he got through it. He was also a wonderful composer and taught music in many different schools for years and years. I loved to hear him play the piano. He was a great musician. I miss him so much. I try to talk to him as often as I can. I do believe that you can talk to your loved ones who gone on before you......spirit to spirit. I hope you enjoy my photographs. I would love to hear from you!! I love your wonderful comments. Isn't blogging great?! Debbie www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer