I've got a play list for everything, but the other day I realized I didn't have one for Keratoconus, or KC, as all the cool kids call it. Now that's a shame, as there are so many great songs about eyes and seeing. Of course, KC is it's own unique beast and doesn't fit neatly in to one category. Let's see, we've got double, triple, quadruple images, blurring, light sensitivity, dry eye, excessive tearing, pain, discomfort, contacts, eye doctors and relatives who don't understand, cornea transp... Continue reading ...
We all handle grief in different ways. Most of us get to the point, after wading through our shock, anger, disbelief, sadness, where we feel the need to DO something to put away our feelings. They never really go away, but we end up doing something that has meaning to us to help us kind of wrap the experience up and put it on a shelf so we can stand to live with it. Some people plant a tree or maybe go on a trip, listen to a special song, make a photo album, write. I've found that art has bee... Continue reading ...
Most of my artwork is kind of personal, including lots of portraits and self-portraits so I've never thought much about doing prints. I can't imagine someone wanting a living room full of me's, or if there is such a person it's probably better that I NOT enable them.
I have, however, received many requests for prints from the Celestial Chickens series. So if anyone is wanting a print, I've set it up with Fine Art America. You can go to their site, choose your image, choose your size and canv... Continue reading ...
I'm excited to be a home studio artist in the Arts To Zion Studio Tour for 2013! In preparation I've scrubbed my front porch, which was looking pretty white trash, cleaned the chicken coop, and completed four new Celestial Chickens and four new paintings for the Mask series.
The "Arts to Zion" Artists Studio Tour/ Washington County, Utah is a self-guided art adventure though our beautiful, mountainous, breathtaking countryside. This annual event, will be held over the Martin Luther King we... Continue reading ...
You know the story of Chicken Little, and how, when an acorn hits him on the head, he decides the sky is falling and gets everyone all freaked out? Chickens really are like that. If one of my ladies decides that something is bothering her, she clucks and postures until the whole flock is freaking out, even if nothing is really happening. It's pretty funny to watch. Aren't you glad you're not a chicken? Then again, it seems that the sky is always falling for someone, somewhere. There is always... Continue reading ...
With my love for Pre-Renaissance religious art feed by my recent trip to the LACMA and The Getty which both featured 100's of delicious icons, altar pieces, and illuminated manuscripts, you know that the inevitable result would be similar pieces. Of course, most of my pieces feature chickens. I'm not trying to be sacrilegious or anything. I just really like painting chickens.  Here's my nod to the venerable subject matter of the Madonna and Child with a chicken lovers twist, "Mother and Child... Continue reading ...
Here's a little painting from the Celestial Chickens series to help get you in the Christmas mood!
"Three Candy Canes" by Kirsten Beitler watercolor and gold leaf 12"X12" Continue reading ...
I love Thanksgiving. It's all about the best things in life--family, food, and gratitude.
What's the best thing about Thanksgiving in Southern Utah? Dixie Salad.
This is just a small post to clarify a few things.
What is Dixie Salad? Apples, pomegranates, raisins, walnuts,and whipped cream. AND THAT IS ALL.
If you add anything else it is just a fruit salad with pomegranates. I just needed to say that.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Continue reading ...
As the date of my eye procedures drew closer, I was filled
with anxiety. The feelings were so intense, I was a little afraid I might have
a heart attack. I could not relax, I could not calm down, and I could not get
my body to respond to what my mind knew, that everything was going to be okay.
I doused myself with calming oils, took long, hot showers, read fantasy novels,
wasted time on Pinterest, but nothing helped me calm down. Finally the Sunday
before we left, I was able to enjoy a church... Continue reading ...
There are certain things you hear a lot when you have
adopted children. How did you know you could love someone else’s kids? Do you
love them like you love your kids? Isn’t it weird that they don’t look like
you? Are you worried about problems they might have that you might not know
about? Does is feel the same as your own kids? You’re friends with their birth
moms? Isn’t that weird?
Now, every one’s experiences are unique and I can only speak
to my own, but I thought I’d share... Continue reading ...
I love dressing up. Maybe it's because I'm an introvert who wishes she was an extrovert, maybe it's because I'm an artist and love creating the costumes, maybe it's because my BFF was a drama freak who grew up to be a costume designer, who knows. Who knows? Making the costumes is probably my favorite part. It's gotten even more fun for me since I married a someone who is a straight-laced, by the numbers kind of guy all year round, but on Halloween if I say, "Your costume involves tights", he... Continue reading ...
Here's my latest Celestial Chicken. She's number six in the series. Isn't she a beauty? This is watercolor and silver leaf. 12 X 12"
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Well, this has been a crazy month! I have been so touched by the generosity of my friends. I wish people would stop doing things anonymously. The joke in our house is that now we have to be nice to everybody, since we don't know who some of the people are who have given so generously to the fund set up to help with my diagnosis of the eye disease, Keratoconus. The good news is that so far we have raised about $3,500. The bad news is that we have lost our substantial donor. This probably means... Continue reading ...
Have you noticed America is practically painting itself pink? That's right, it's October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I don't need an presidential decree to help me pay attention this year. In fact, I'm considering all the hoopla one giant party for my mom, who just finished up a long ten months of treatment for breast cancer. I've talked about my feelings for her and how brave she's been in an earlier post "What Makes A Woman" so I won't go in to that again. I'd really like to do a more se... Continue reading ...
Something I hear a lot, “Sooooo, what’s up with your thing about chickens?”
Hey, don’t get me started! A family pet that produces
healthy food, provides relaxation, good work ethic, amusement, artistic
inspiration and even affection. That’s my ladies, my chickens.  ... Continue reading ...
What an amazing week. It’s times like these that almost
(almost) make me glad for the struggles of life. It’s times like these that
reaffirm my belief in love, friendship, the basic goodness of humanity. I
struggle a bit with being on the receiving end of such generosity and I have to
take a deep breath and kind of distance myself from the experience. I think if
I really let myself be completely in the moment of what is going on in my life
right now, I would be so overwhelmed that I would... Continue reading ...
I just got this email in regards to my eye condition, Keratoconus.
“Dr. Boxer Wachler reviewed your records, and thinks that you
would be a good candidate for the following: Holcomb C3-R® Crosslinking
System in both eyes to help halt the progression of Keratoconus;
this is anticipated to be a one-time treatment. However, approximately 1% of
the patients will have a second treatment for full benefit. This procedure will
help save your eyesight, and help prevent the need for a corneal trans... Continue reading ...
School is back in session. With all those new supplies, new classes, and new clothes comes exposure to new germs. As a mom, I don't want to leave my kids health totally in the hands of busy teachers. I can be proactive when it comes to protecting my family from unwanted germs. How do I do this? By using
dōTERRA®'s protective blend, On Guard.
On Guard is dōTERRA®'s unique, proprietary blend formulated to support healthy immune function. Wild orange essential oil, combined with clove,... Continue reading ...
Passing on some great information from the recent DoTerra Living Magazine. I wish I would have had these oils when my kids were babies. Oh well. I'm going to have some super natural, healthy, organic grand babies in about, uhhh, no less than 10 years. Click here to see the larger graphic and the rest of the fall issue. Continue reading ...
I have a confession to make. My boys, all four of them from
the age of 14 to 4, are bronies. What’s that you might say if you’re not up on
the super hip new stuff? Well, a brony is a guy who likes My Little Pony. That’s right, I said My Little Pony. Now if you’re old school like me, you’re thinking,
what has this woman done to her children?! You’re thinking sickly sweet little
horsies with flowing manes and tails that you can brush and curl, right?
Oh no. This is not your mother... Continue reading ...
Someone on Facebook made a snarky comment the other week about
all the drama that has occurred in my life lately and how I kept posting about
it, and how they were a little sick of hearing about it all. My first thought
was hey sunshine, no one is sicker of the drama then the person it is happening
to. Then I thought of those people,
you know you have some too, those who are forever complaining, forever a victim, seem
to not really want to get better. Was I being one of those? Gosh, I hope no... Continue reading ...
Having a body that I would call sensitive, I've been so happy with the results I've gotten from using the Deep Blue blend of essential oils from doTERRA. For years I've used a lot of over-the-counter things to try and control my various aches. My stomach has really payed the price. I've tried many different rubs and creams, but found only temporary relief until I started using Deep Blue. I now use Deep Blue for any discomfort I have as a first line defense. I have cut my use of other OTC dram... Continue reading ...
I thought ya'll might like to see a bit of the "process" that goes in to my painting. Those are snarky air quotes because it's honestly nothing spectacular. I don't have a lot of great theory to back up my work, nor do I take it too seriously,maybe I'd be a better artist if I did. Who knows. One of my hens died so I thought I'd add her to my Celestial Chickens series. The Celestial Chickens are just fun to paint. It's not a portrait of a person, so the stress of a true likeness is gone and chi...
Even though adoption has changed a lot in the last few
years, even though I belong to a church that celebrates families, eternal
connections through generations and even has a past of *gasp* women sharing a
husband, people still get freaked out when they find out we have two open
adoptions. This means that both our younger boys’ birth families are involved
in their lives, included in our family events, and are treated as extended
family. It’s not always easy, but then again, what family
r... Continue reading ...
My blog is not much of a real blog. I’m not signed up with
one of the cool blogging sights, I don’t have any advertisements, and I don’t
even have a comment thingy besides facebook link. I do it as a place to share
thoughts with friends and anyone who cares to know more about me, why I act the
way I do, why I think the way I do, why I paint what I do.
I’ve been told that to have a successful blog you need lots
of followers, you need to post at least once a week, you need to create a... Continue reading ...
Sight. Sometimes we don’t notice when our spiritual sight is
dimming, but we always notice when our physical eye sight grows worse. Our
spiritual vision can dim very slowly. It can happen so slowly, we might not
realize how we don’t take time to do the things we need to fill our soul
anymore; how we let the things of the world come between us and things of
eternal value, until we are figuratively blind. Then we sit there and wonder
how things got so bad in our lives.
I started having pro... Continue reading ...
I’ve been surrounded by music my whole life. My dad is a
band teacher and a piano tuner, my grandpa wrote music, played the guitar and
harmonica Dylan style before there was a Dylan. The highlight of every
Christmas Eve was the family talent show and sing-along. All of this naturally
led me to become….an artist. Right, I know. But you have to understand, as much as
I love music, I also have a pretty serious problem with performance anxiety.
Piano lessons were fine, but since I never figur... Continue reading ...
I’ve been here before. When I woke up in the ICU after
having my son, Nathan, and found out that I no longer had a uterus I went
through a long process of dealing with the fact that my reproductive powers
were no longer under my control. And, hey, if you don’t have a uterus any more,
well, you think about what it means to be a woman.
This brings up the question; who decides what it means to be
a woman? Society and my religious views have very divergent thoughts on what it
means to be a... Continue reading ...
It's that time of year again. Valentine's Day. First of all, I have a problem with all the candy now associated with every holiday. When I was a kid, candy was a big deal. If you got candy in your valentine, the kid that gave it to you was probably rich. If my family was feeling splurgy we'd get a bag of candy hearts to add to our valentine cards. I would painstakingly go through each heart, making sure that the right message went to the right person. Couldn't have that kid with the sweaty ha... Continue reading ...
 If you're a "creative" of any sort, you know. People are always asking you to do things for them. Create something, sing something, sew something, paint something--for free.Maybe people think that creating is such a bliss that I'd better be glad to do it any time for any one for any amount? How many surgeons get asked on a regular basis to perform a boob job, "just to be nice and help a girl out"? Probably not very many. Now I'm a pretty nice person, and I'm always glad to help frie... Continue reading ...
  So it took me about 2 weeks to spiff up the studio for this tour. I tend to be a bit of a hoarder and messy when in the midst of a project. I went through stacks of papers, stowed things in closets and placed my junk on shelves in artistic arrangements. I vacuumed eraser dust, charcoal, gold leaf flakes and spider webs out from behind the desk, scrubbed the floor and the baseboards.The bathroom in the studio is the only place in our house ... Continue reading ...
 My studio has been chosen to be part of the Arts To Zion Studio Tour! This is something new and exciting for artists and art appreciators in the southern Utah area. It's like a parade of homes kind of tour, but with the opportunity to peek in the private home studio of ten artists and ten public galleries. With their ticket ($10.00) attendees will receive a numbered map of the private and public locations. After enjoying their tour, tickets with at least five home studios and five g... Continue reading ...
Here's the latest from my celestial chickens series, Three Candy Canes. Watercolor, acrylic, gold pigment and gold leaf on 150 lb cold press watercolor paper. Merry Christmas!
Continue reading ...
Our family was built like this, two older boys, the old fashioned, biological way and two younger boys the new fangled, open, transracial adoption way. As one laughing observer put it, "you've got one of every color", so pretty much every where we go, everyone knows that we're a little different. It's been almost 5 years since our first adoption, so you think by now I'd be used to all the unwanted attention, the stares and the questions. For the most part I have found that people are just cur... Continue reading ...
 Ancient ritual usage and modern research confirm that frankincense has relaxing effects on the human body including uplifting mood and heightening awareness. These antidepressant properties can be achieved through various diffusion techniques and topical application including various forms of massage. This oil is also well suited to help with skin conditions. It is a mild oil that in most instances can be applied directly, if necessary. Help with acne to wrinkles, cuts and wounds to reduc... Continue reading ...
I used to be a writer. I kept a journal, I wrote poems, I filled notebooks with thoughts, dreams, and rants. And then I stopped.
I think life just got to be a little bit too much. Things became too hard to write about, it took too much energy to translate the feeling into words, and I just stopped.
Every so often I'll be sharing some bit of my life with a friend and they'll say, "Kirsten, you should write a book about that." I'm still not keeping a journal any more, and I often regret that. A... Continue reading ...
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