More Shoes and a Mug!

Illustrated by Tracey Fletcher King

Last week I forgot to post the amazing illustration of my favorite mug done by my friend Tracey Fletcher King !!  I am such a fan of Tracey's humorous fun blog and always stunning visuals!  Tracey always deserves top billing, be sure to check in on her icad cuppa series of bloggers cups she's illustrated.

 This is my summer of color contribution for the purple and lime green theme. A digital edit of the following acrylic I did!! Unhappy with my last two SOC I'll be replacing them with colorful shoes too!!

When I was three, long before car seats,  mom enrolled me in ballet lessons. Another lady drove us to the studio since mom didn't drive.  Dressed in a black leotard, ballet slippers in hand  I opened the car door  and fell straight into a very deep ditch. I was full of muddy goo and very traumatized. I don't remember ever taking another ballet lesson after that!

original done in acrylics

During the seventies I bought a  pair of very high platform sandals. Proudly strutting  out of the store down Granville street  I fell flat on my face.... a grungy looking hippie stood stared down at my stunned self repeating," Hey Man, what's happening man, what's happening?"  Meanwhile a suited business man, twice my age ran to my aid, scooped me up making sure I was okay! I hung my head, hobbled to the bus,  with my bruised leg and ego!

 When my daughter was five we went on holidays with my perfectionist cousin and her family. All day we swam in the motel pool and dined out each evening. One night we  arrived at the restaurant where my cousin proceeded to tell the story of her previous visit. She had mispronounced the  Grand Prix Burger, ordering a Grand Pricks  instead. Causing quite a commotion  in the male dominated kitchen. All the servers came out to to put a face to  the awkward blunder.....Just as the tears were running down my face in laughter at her faux pas..I looked down at my shoes only to realize I had mismatched flip flops on my own feet....They were completely different colors  and style.  We laughed so hard I almost peed my pants!!  Seems like faux pas fox paws run in the family!!

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian Friends!

When I was young girl runners were about a dollar ninety nine with not much selection they were plain tie ups in either red, blue, black or white. I NEVER liked them. I pleaded with my mom to buy the stylish square toe five dollar runners. She balked. 
 After a lot of nagging and whining, (which normally never worked and resulted in a smack,)  she conceded! Every time I tried to wear those fancy runners she'd say "don't wear your five dollar runners" eventually I outgrew them in their near new state!   I have hated any kind of runners except Chuck Taylor converse runners ever since!!!  Which I have never worn either!

The only runners I ever bought Cupcake were a mock pair of high top pink chuck taylors, (now she has every color imaginable) but as we all know little kids get dirty. So I threw them in the wash and the navy blue stitching ran into the pink canvas, rendering them tie dyed. So I bought her an outfit  to match and she continued to wear the shoes anyway.  Everywhere  I went moms begged me to tell them  where I bought them.... now that's what I called a happy accident!!

When  Cupcake was a toddler she was obsessed with " My shoe book" She made me read it repeatedly. Not only was I a bad influence, buying her way too many cute shoes, she also had her own inbred affinity for them as well!! Yesterday she added two more to her obscene Chuck Taylor collection!!

Over the last five decades there is one comfortable shoe that I have probably worn the way people wear white runners, and that is the clog.... I loved clogs in the sixties and I still love them today!  Only now I wear a replica type clog in the form of a merrell! 

Cupcake was a baby who could crawl so fast I looked haggard chasing her!   One hot summer day her dad was sitting on the couch in his flip flops enjoying a television program when Cupcake motored up to his feet and munched down so hard on his toe he screamed. No toes were safe from that girl until she learned to walk!

Thanks to those who shared your shoe stories and preferences last week!! Do you remember anything you over indulged your child in that has continued  on over the years?

This is my contribution to Icad and Paint party Friday where you can find many more wonderful creatives!! 
 

Summer of color, Paint Party friday Icad

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Pink Trees SOC

 Paint Party Friday and Summer of Color week two, orange and Hot pink!

I'm Happy to say I am all caught up on my Icads/ Index Card Shoe Series! 

Although at times it can seem daunting to find the right words!

I hope you enjoy this rather long post!

On many occasions, unplanned, my friend, whose birthday is eight days after mine,  would be wearing the same color as me! One time we unknowingly bought the exact same shoes for a staff Christmas party.  So  I whipped up a couple of  bows to match my dress and  attached them to my shoes. No one was the wiser, and my friend and I still giggle about it 28 years later!    

 When my daughter was eight I bought her  purple doc martins, it was ridiculously extravagant. But we all enjoyed her wearing those treasures! One of the moms at the school asked if I was an artist because of the way my daughter dressed. I laughed an emphatic "NO"   ten years later I picked up my first paintbrush! 

My  dad only ever  wore black florsheim Imperial Oxfords when he dressed up. Once  they wore out he replaced them with the exact same style,  which he wore until he  died. Can you say boring!

For several years when I was a teen I wore mens leather sandals that crisscrossed a  certain way at the ankle. Wearing them with  bare feet, rain or shine from the beginning of spring right until it snowed.

  I wore flip flops all summer long when I was a little girl.

I constantly stubbed  my toes! 

One time my mom bought shoes for herself but told the cashier they were for me. Frightened she may make me wear them  I yelled out "those aren't for me,". Mom   kicked my leg as a terse warning to shut up. Instead I yelled out "Why did you kick me?" The shoes were cheaper if you were under fourteen, and I was a big girl with a little mom!

 At ten my mom bought me a pair of really sturdy ugly shoes that refused to wear out no matter how much I abused them by jumping in puddles, scuffing my feet, and bending them in half!  All the kids got new shoes at the six month point. I was so disappointed that mine lasted the whole school year!

 When I was eight I had a pair of patent leather shoes.  My friend had saddle shoes, we wanted to be the same so we traded  one shoe. As soon as I left the house I'd be wearing one saddle shoe and one patent leather!

 At eleven I got my first pair of pointed shoes. I was so excited, they were one of my favorite pairs of shoes ever! When I proudly showed my dad, he said I looked like a duck!

When Cupcake was little I once dove to the bottom of a bin digging to find the match for the perfect little lime green jellies. This week, Twenty three years later a trendy young woman just bought the very same shoes in black!

 I have never liked white runners. As a proud twenty four year old I bought a pair of fancy netted pink canvas shoes so I could pitch on a company baseball team. I was embarassed when a young man I admired from afar noticed my inappropriate shoes the moment I hit the field. They were filthy by the end of the game. I tried to wash them  and they shrunk!

Cupcake had the only pair of size twelve  red Fluvogs  shoes shipped across Canada as a wedding gift for Beardo. They both wore red shoes when they said their vows!  He reveres those  red shoes and only wears them for special occasions!

Have my shoe stories sparked any of your own?
Please share!

Summer of color, Paint party Friday, ICAD

This is my contribution for paint party friday and 
the summer of color over 
at Kristins blog!

This weeks combination is Citron Green and Turquoise.
I used acrylic paint, then digitally added words and 
turquoise lines  for some pop to my whimsical flowers!

I decided to do a series of shoes for ICAD. 

Although the shoes I've done so far are all from imagination

a few pairs are a bit of an amalgamation of ones I own or

ones I'd want! Some painted I don't even like!

I can't believe I wore a pair of shoes similar to these 

when I was a teen. Back in the day they were called

Wallabees.  Probably the only pair of brown shoes I 

have ever owned!

I love shoes but I'm restricted to comfortable shoes now!

The days of sexy heels are gone for me.
I hate socks and can be found all year around with bare feet!
 
Unless it snows then I will cave and wear a sock.
Even though I have several  colorful slip on wedge style
shoes I tend to gravitate to  my really comfortable
 black wedge style thongs flip flops
with a lots of bling on them.

 I would buy these pink shoes for sure...they're my style

along with the above purple ones!

 Instead I live vicariously through my daughter 
who on special occasions wears heels. 
For the most part she likes only comfy flats 
and owns several pairs of very nice comfy boots. 
 Even though she was five when mom passed,
 she still manages to buy the exact style my mom wore!

When my daughter was a toddler I cleaned her shoes daily!

I also washed my huge kitchen floor every night before bed....

what was I thinking??.....can't even believe I was that anal!!

Beardo would love a pair of kelly green shoes!

He now owns pink,red, purple, green,yellow,

shoes and converse runners that scream Artist/Musician!

What do your shoes say about you and what are your favorites????

Thanks to everyone who left loving kind comments last week. 
I appreciate all your wonderful support. It seems to smooth
out those rough patches...thank you so much!!

Paint party Friday Tone of Voice

Sharing this for Paint Party Friday

I'm having a bit of a rough tired week.

I just recently found  " The Tone of Voice" poem
that was once pinned to my fridge 
for over a decade. 
I never experienced enough of a kind voice
as a child. Thankfully my daughter did!

The Tone of Voice

(Author unknown)

It's not so much what you say

As the manner in which you say it;

It's not so much the language you use

As the tone in which you convey it.

 "Come here!" I sharply said--

And the child cowered and wept

"Come here," I said---

He looked and smiled

And straight to my lap he crept.

Words may be mild and fair

But the tone may pierce like a dart;

Words may be soft as the Summer air

But the tone may break my heart;

For words come from the mind

Grow by study and art---

But tone leaps for the inner self,

Revealing the state of the heart

Whether you know it or not ,

Whether you mean or care

Gentleness, kindness, love and hate

Envy, anger are there.

Then,would you quarrels avoid

And peace and love rejoice?

Keep anger not only out of your words---

Keep it out of your voice. 

 I'm pretty sure this poem is one of the reasons my family is intimately
 able to share their emotions whether opposing or not!
I believe your home should always be a safe place to fall!!

This week my favorite neck chain that holds all my silver pendants broke, 
I dropped a large heavy gesso container on my notebook computer and busted the "T" key off it, then I dropped a huge mug of tea all over some of my art supplies and books. Forcing me to clean and sort that mess, which I had been wanting to do for sometime  now anyway......just not late at night!

I was going to attempt to do the icad project and purchased some
index cards...I think I've been living in a cave the last decade....because I was
shocked at how thin the paper was.  I prepped a whole bunch of them but the paper turned me off!! What ever happened to thick index cards?

On a good note I had a wonderful lunch with a dear old friend
 and we had so much fun reminiscing about the old days 
when we were naughty girls!!

Do you ever regret how you've spoken to someone?