My Art

Texcyn suggested I post my art on my blog and honestly it never occurred to me…well duh! I have the link on the sidebar to my website jjohnsdesigns.com, but never posted any pics here. I thought I could put one or two on the sidebar but haven’t figured that out either, so I’ll post a few here. I’m kind of known for my angels, but I do a lot of other stuff too. They are mostly wall plaques that are pretty large. These angels are part of my Serenity Prayer Series…

WISDOM ANGEL

 

SERENITY ANGEL

 

ACCEPTANCE ANGEL

I have a Serenity Prayer Plaque that goes with these, but don’t have a picture yet since I just finished it. The next piece I will complete is my Courage Angel.

These are all my original sculptures and I make molds of them and then cast them in Hydrostone which is a super strong plaster. Then I paint them. You can click on the link for J. Johns Designs to see more stuff and the full story behind each piece, as well as the size, etc.

This is a bunch of stuff I make from other folks molds. They just go with my stuff so I include them…usually because someone says “do you have such n such?” so I buy a mold to make it for them because it takes a long time to sculpt something and make a mold of it.

FLEUR DE LIS PLAQUE

NOUVEAU FACE PLAQUE

LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I make coasters as well so here are a few of those…

LEAF COASTERS

 

FLORENTINE COASTER

PEAR COASTER

 

 

There’s a lot more stuff on my website, but this gives you an idea of what I do.

I also like to make small polymer clay pendants and pins and am working on a Women of Spirit Series of small sculptures as well.

I also paint and am trying to get a portrait of my son and his bride finished. Boy what an undertaking. I’ll post it when I’m done.

So that’s what I do! Hope you like it!

 

 

Read Full Post »

Leesburg Part 3

5/18/12

Back in Leesburg and Carolyn of amigoingsomewhere gave me an idea or two so I drive around and it turns out there is a wonderful community center here with a pool or several and all sorts of fun stuff. So I jump in the therapy pool and splash around and do a few laps for awhile. Lovely warm water feels so good. There’s another lady in there with a bad shoulder so we discuss water therapy for aches and pains for awhile. I know it helped me a lot when I used to swim every day, and my friend Katherine actually cured her sever back problem by swimming daily.

Some poor teenage boy is in the lifeguard chair watching the two of us paddle around in 4′ water. Wonder who he pissed off to get old lady duty. There’s a screaming bunch of teenage girls at the other big pool and I’m sure he’d rather be there.

Got a lovely long shower and it felt so good. The best thing is that it only cost $5 for a day pass. Taking a shower at Flying J or the likes costs $10 and I just feel icky doing that. Besides, I got to swim as a bonus and if I’d felt like it I coulda worked out as well. Still not finding YMCA’s where I travel so this is a viable alternative in a pinch.

Took Carolyn’s advice again and stayed in the Hospital Parking lot this time and it was nice and peaceful. Boy Leesburg is crowded today though. Just tried to get into Sheetz or McD’s and it was a nightmare of cars going every which way so I’ve gone south at Ashburn. Not sure if there is a downtown or not, but it’s wealthy that’s for sure. The lady at the campground told me they nicknamed it Cashburn. We’ll see.

Read Full Post »

Purcellville VA

5/15/2012

Didn’t plan to stop here on my way to Leesburg but it looked interesting so I headed through town. Horse country doncha know! Beautiful little downtown also and a couple shops look promising. I stopped at one that is in a beautiful old house on the Highway with a barn behind it selling just my kind of stuff. I talked to one of the owners and they really like my things but no need for anything until fall. They will keep my info…blah, blah.

Another store across the road looks promising, but the owner isn’t in…I get her card to call later. there is another store a ways down the road looks like just the ticket. Closed. What is it around here? maybe I’ll come back this way, maybe I won’t. Getting pretty discouraged, but Leesburg is ahead a few miles and I’m sure they have some stores for me. I really want to go further up to the mountains, maybe Harper’s Ferry, but I may have to head south to the likes of Alexandria to get any sales out of this trip. We’ll see.

5/17/2012

Back in Purcellville. Went to the biker’s dinner and met a great group of men and women and went on to the meeting with them. Seems like HP was taking me along where I needed to go cause that’s the   best meeting  I’ve been to in a long time. Lots of long term sobriety and articulate insightful funny people. Best line heard…”my wife moved in with her boyfriend so that has put quite a strain on our relationship” LOL

Jesse found me a good place to stay behind the 7-11 and got me settled in. We talked again for a couple hours then I hit the sack. Unfortunately they got real busy about 5:30 so I thought I’d better move on. Went inside to get some coffee and an eclair. Used to eat these things every morning on my beltway commute..man! No wonder I no longer weigh 95 pounds soaking wet.

Moved on over to a shopping center to sleep some more and woke up about 9 to head over to McD’s to write this.

Old Farts are now discussing whether Cuban cigars were that big because they were the size of their penises. The one who called the other a bigot has realized I’m listening in and apologizes but I’m laughing so hard I guess he knows I’m not really offended. One of them was at Blair House in DC when Castro came to town and he  was part of the staff and Castro shook all their hands and gave them each a cigar so that’s what started it all.

Alright…that shop I wanted to talk to will be open now so I’d better get busy. Aw darn…not the right place for my stuff after all. Back to Leesburg I guess.

Purcellville Train Station

Read Full Post »

Winchester VA

Well Winchester is a really cool little place. Wonderful Historic architecture. Not only did George Washington get his start here as a surveyor – see pics below – but Patsy Cline is from here!! Didn’t go to her museum though.

It has been raining cats and dogs since I arrived and I wandered up and down the pedestrian mall for their main street but it was Monday, so nothing was open. Spent some quality time in the Daily Grind Coffee shop there and tried to catch up on things.

Winchester VA

Tried to go spend time at the library which is the most magnificent piece of architecture you would ever want to see, but they only let card holders use wifi so I moved on. Found a park to lie down and read in and it rained all night at the local Walmart.

Beautiful day so I go back downtown to see some stores I found yesterday and they are still closed! Rats! I guess I will move on to Leesburg and come back down this way. Seems like I have more places to come back to than I have called on.

Read Full Post »

Leesburg VA

5/15/2012

I’m here in Leesburg now and it’s been a little frustrating. The town is beautiful but I’ve had the hardest time getting around. The streets seem to be too narrow to drive where I want to go, the parking lots don’t have spaces to turn around if there is no space…and my gps is taking me in circles lately and not getting me anywhere. I found a commuter lot that backs up on a lovely meadow with trees so I spent the afternoon there finishing my book and napping.

Off to find Walmart and it is impossible. It’s there and my gps says so but there is no sign. I appreciate these lovely towns don’t want a lot of clutter but I keep looking and there is no sign anywhere and it’s back behind a lot of other stuff so I never would have found it if I hadn’t had gps. So now that I found it I go to the Burger King next door for some food and wifi. After I am halfway thru my food I find out there is no wifi, so I drive over to see if I can get it outside Panera so I don’t have to buy something else to eat.

No Luck, but my son calls and we have a nice visit, so by then it’s time for bed. Trudge back over to WM but there’s a lot of teens hanging about and I don’t feel real safe. No other rv’s so I move back to the park I was in earlier. There are lots of cars left there over night so I’m not obvious and I have a very peaceful night’s sleep.

Old Converted Mill

Off to the Visitor’s center to see what Leesburg is about and get a map. It’s in a wonderful old mill that’s been converted to restaurants and offices. Got a map and I’m on my way…lost again…can’t seem to maneuver these roads here…ah finally made it to the library. I would have gone downtown to sell…even had on makeup and everything, but by the time I got there it was lunchtime and very busy…not good for selling, so I’m waiting it out. Nice and quiet here and view of the park. Getting charged up and ready to go again.

Read Full Post »

Old Farts Club

5/18/12

Old Fart’s Coffee Club at the next table at McD’s arguing about whether a “cross dresser is a queer” my oh my! Stay in  your seat and shut up Jenny. That guy left and another said “boy for a Christian that guy sure is a bigot. Calling that guy a queer could ruin his life.” Alright guys you’re moving in the right direction. Not much pc in that age group. Oh no they are starting in on Obama!

Reminds me of the days the old farts met at my dad’s lake house when I was there taking care of him. He was too sick to go out any more for coffee every morning so I invited them to come to our house…every morning at 7am for about 2 years.

Being from Nebraska, they were all staunch conservatives and me being a liberal I would just go in my office and try not to jump out of my seat and start arguing with them about the foolishness of their views. What a way to learn tolerance! But I loved them all and you couldn’t find a better group of guys who would move heaven and earth to help me take care of Dad. Miss those old farts. That’s why I sat down next to them this morning. Hope I can see some of them when I make it back to Nebraska if they aren’t all dead by then.

Read Full Post »

Leesburg VA Part 2

After my trip to the library and Downtown Leesburg, I decided to head back to my parking lot, read my email and eat something. As I went through my email I found one from Jesse who had been on the vandweller forum saying he was in Northern VA so I had said let’s get together for a cuppa. I didn’t know from his emails whether he was a man or woman, coulda been either, or what age he was. Turns out he’s a guy about my age…very nice and we had a good time chatting about van dwelling life, and all sorts of things for a couple hours. We coulda chatted longer, but it was starting to get dark and neither of us like the idea of night driving any more.

He knows some bikers who go to a meeting tonight in Purcellville and have dinner first, so I just texted Jena that I’m going to hang with the bikers tonight…hahahaha…got to go get my Attitude Adjusted. Jesse hasn’t gotten his van ready to go yet but it’s kinda like Jena’s so I’m encouraging him to just go with it like she did and see what you need as you go along.

Jena just sent word that she made it to Omaha. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

Problem with getting a cuppa in the evening is I neglected to get decaf and was awake half the night. I came back to my nice little parking lot and spent the night, but it was just too hot…need to get back to the mountains and stay there til fall I think. Tossed and turned, read a book, turned on the van and ran the ac for awhile…thank god I got that fixed…used the loo…tossed and turned. Finally went to sleep about 4, but forgot I told a friend to call me at 9 so that was the end of that…tried to go back to sleep but no luck.

Had a brilliant idea tho about fixing my clothes hanging rod which is really just a bungee cord strung across the hanger hooks in back, so I took off for Home Depot to get me some conduit. Stopped for some breakfast at Sheetz – free hot water for my oatmeal and coffee – and checked email and had a hilarious joke sent me by old boss about what men wear to Home Depot in their 20’s thru 90’s.

I was wearing the clothes I slept in and threw on a sweater to hide the fact I didn’t want to bother with a bra today and let it go at that. Sheetz has nice bathrooms so I fussed with my hair a bit and brushed my teeth and that was about as good as it got today. Home Depot here I come, ready or not!

Clothes Rod

I came back to my little parking lot and the clothes hanger works great! Started reading a book while I ate my lunch and then couldn’t put it down. The worst thing was, it had some sad parts and after all my weeping and wailing, I didn’t want to take my bleary red eyes downtown to sell stuff, so I’m just sitting here, listening to the birds sing and watching a family of foxes crawl out from under a bush to go explore.

Can’t see the foxes in the shadows but they are there…about 5 -6 of them.

Foxes in the shadows

Cool breeze…loving it. Need to get back to work some day…maybe tomorrow.

Uh oh, had the back door open for breeze…I guess that little overhead light takes more juice that I thought. Maybe someone will come to the lot soon to jump me. Maybe I should carry an extra car battery with me as well as my spare laptop one.

While I’m waiting I decide to clean up and get dressed…I got some small packets of Clorox wipes to clean the loo today and guess what I mistakenly used on my pits? HAHAHA..life is just too funny some days when you’re old.

What’s that old poem…I cannot see, I cannot pee…can’t remember the rest. Jesse and I were laughing last night cause I was trying to remember the Senility Prayer but I just couldn’t…oh well. You can either cry about it or laugh about it and I just choose today to laugh about it. Glad my kids aren’t close enough to have me committed. I’ll be long gone before they can read this. Hahahahaha…she cackles maniacally!

Leesburg Train Station

Oops! Laptop is dying now too…have to go!

Read Full Post »

Front Royal Va

Not  a lot going on in Front Royal for me. No stores to sell to. Cute Train Station Visitors Center and even a room to sit in a comfy chair and have a cuppa tea with wi-fi, so I stayed there a while.  Kinda dreary day. Walking down the street to see what I could see and tried to take a pic with my phone…dropped it in the street and shattered the screen, so off to the Verizon store to see what I can do. The sweet girl Carolyn there kinda post dates my renewal…I was supposed to get a new one in June…so I can get a new one cheap now. It’s nice to have a bigger screen for reading books in bed without a lite and a lot of other cool things, but boy the learning curve is steep with me. Guess I’ll do what I did last time and stop by a store every week or so to ask how to do the next thing until I learn it. They sent me a link to some videos but I couldn’t figure it out. Old dog, new tricks yadayadayada…do people still say that? oh well. Don’t know how to download the pics from my phone to this so I’ll just post them another time.

Read Full Post »

Matthew’s Arm Skyline Drive Shenandoah National Park

My Mother’s Day treat to myself is to stay on Skyline Drive. I used to bring the kids up here when they were teenagers and camp out. Jena couldn’t stand the fact that she couldn’t plug in her hair dryer and curling iron and shampoo her hair every hour on the hour. Boy times have changed and now she’s a van dweller..I think she still has to be spiffed up more than me on a regular basis though…I’m just too old to care. I had hoped for a shower though, but the campgrounds with showers were full up so I will have to wait until I come down off the mountain I guess. Thank God for wet wipes and dry shampoo! Shoulda sneaked into the shower at the KOA. Damn!

Made it up the mountain just before dark thankfully and used my Golden Age Pass which lets me go to Nat’l Parks for half off and cost me $10 for a lifetime Pass. Much nicer surroundings than the KOA and only $7.50 for the night…what a deal! I wasn’t exactly prepared for actual camping on this trip…didn’t even have anything to light a fire, although I could have asked a neighbor, but it was late so I just crawled into the sack and read a good book and went to sleep.

Cozy in my van these days and even in the mountains, it’s getting a little warm. I’ll have to figure out something for the rest of the summer since I’ll probably be on lower ground until I get moved.

I set up on the picnic table to paint some coasters. I was so agitated when I left home, I didn’t pack things as well as I should have, so lots of my things needed touching up. A little girl named Ava, maybe 10 y.o. stopped by my site so I let her paint a leaf coaster to give her Mother, since she didn’t have a gift for her. Sweet little girl and very pretty.

Another next door stopped by and visited. She had recently lost a brother and a niece and was grieving a lot and loved my angels. One of them got her nose broken on the trip and I couldn’t sell her, so I gave it to her and then she bought another one. I painted the names of her loved ones on them and she was happy to have a symbol of them to place in her yard, so I was very pleased to help her out. The hardest part about selling wholesale now, is not knowing the stories of the people who buy my angels and how it touches their lives.

It turned out I had to leave the site by noon…dang! I was hoping to spend the day there…oh, well. I headed north on Skyline Drive and this car ahead of me was stopped in the road and I realized he was taking a picture of a deer. The other car went on and the deer just stood there and posed for me too. So cool!

Deer Posing on Skyline Drive

If you haven’t driven on Skyline Drive it is quite a treat if you don’t have to be anywhere in a hurry. It was built in the 30’s by the WPA and has magnificent views and campgounds and lodges. Here are some views of a storm coming over the mountains. I was trying to get to the end before the storm hit because it is just one long 2 lane 30 mph hairpin turn across the top of the Blue Ridge from VA to NC. Love this place.

Storm Brewing over the Blue Ridge

Blue Ridge Mountains

Read Full Post »

Luray VA

Drove on to Luray VA Friday for the RVWomen Rally…didn’t visit the caverns, cause I’m cheap and I’ve seen them years ago. If you haven’t, then you should go …they are pretty amazing.

Cute little town…drove on to the campground where the rally was..it’s a KOA which I’ve never wanted to stay at… so I drive thru to look at the layout…typical space on top of space with few trees and very sterile…I drove back to the registration office and asked about prices. $50 a night but for a tent space they would go down to $28…jeezz I could stay in a motel for that price and watch tv and be cool…so I tell the owner I can’t really do that for 2 nights so I left and she followed me out and seemed really rude that I didn’t want to stay when she was being so generous with me. I asked if I could go back in to see what the plans were for the rally and if I could participate without staying there and she didn’t want me to unless I was staying there, but when I started tearing up in frustration, she relented and let me go in.

Have I mentioned that now that I don’t want to take my anti-depressants that I get weepy over a broken finger nail? I especially cry when I’m pissed off…left over PTSD from an abusive husband…lot’s safer to cry than try to fight back…anyway I went in and found a couple early arrivals and they said I could come as their guest and just go back and forth for the meals and such, which the campground owner finally agreed to.

So I explored Luray a bit and went back for the dinner with everyone. What a great group of women! I did feel a little strange though since they don’t really do the van dwelling thing…biiigggg rigs OMG…can’t imagine wanting to drag my house with me around the country and stay in ugly KOA’s but they seem to like it.

I went home to Walmart that night and againnnnnnnnn left my key in accessory mode and ran down the battery…don’t sigh Jena, I know…found a guy in the parking lot to jump me…well my battery anyway…and he had also lived in Annapolis and Fredericksburg so we chatted about that awhile as the car was charging.

There was a nice breakfast with the ladies and then off to a craft show downtown. Not much of interest, more of a flea market, but I did have a long chat with a stewardess who was selling handcrafted items she buys in Bali that were exquisite and I couldn’t afford any of them. She is using that as her retirement plan…not much younger than me… so she travels the world and picks things up and sells them…she just got back from Kuwait…what an interesting woman. Anyway walked back up the hill to a new shop that had only been open a week called Hunt and Peck…kind of a thrift shop with all sorts of interesting things and score! found a beautiful Coldwater Creek orange linen jacket for $2.50…don’t need any more clothes, but really! could I pass that up? of course not! Picked up a homemade carrot cake for the potluck that night and headed down the road.

The festival had downtown streets blocked off so I detoured and drove back to this wonderful park area beside the creek, so I got out of my car and set up my stuff at a picnic table and worked for awhile. Beautiful peaceful place until some middle school kids came along to swim in the creek…not too bad except they were practicing how many times they could fit the f word into a sentence so I eventually moved on to another section of the park, had some lunch and watched the ducks swim around and read my book…lovely.

Luray Hawksbill Greenway

I guess the rvwomen stayed in their rv’s and took naps in the air conditioning…we had a great pot luck…omg the food these women cooked in those big rv’s… and I decided to head up to Skyline drive and camp out.

Read Full Post »