fresh tulips in November

Recently I had a wonderful opportunity to share some of my art at an appreciation breakfast for Kids On The Move.  It was beautiful.  I will share all the details in another post.  For now, I just want to share this little painting.  They had fresh tulips on all the tables, and I asked if I could take some home to paint, my request was granted and this is what I have so far.  

I am so grateful for the whole opportunity.

While I was there, I met our Mayor, Jim Evans.  He mentioned me in his blog post about it.  I am so honored and grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sotos Syndrome Fundraiser at all California Pizza Kitchen locations in Utah

If you have seen us the past couple of weeks you probably already know that

Lucy loves to hand out fliers

for the Sotos Fundraiser we are having at all three locations of the California Pizza Kitchen in Utah.

And if you haven't seen us, 

just consider yourself personally invited by Lucy herself.

You don't have to have a flier to support the cause, you can just go and say you are  there for the fundraiser, read the post below for all the details.

Thank you for your support!

Sotos Syndrome FUNdraiser at California Pizza Kitchen

We have felt the love, support and prayers of so many as we have been through these past couple of years.  Many of you have asked if there was anything you could do, and here is something you can do:

Please enjoy some food at any California Pizza Kitchen in Utah on November 7th and 8th 2012 and mention that you are there to support Sotos Syndrome.  20% of the proceeds will go to the Sotos Syndrome Support Association.

Sotos is very rare affecting an estimated 1 in every 15,000 -20,000 births, so the chances of interacting with others with Sotos are very slim.  This also means that most of Lucy's doctors have never even heard of Sotos, let alone ever dealt with a patient who has Sotos.

When Lucy was diagnosed, her geneticists told me about the Sotos Syndrome Support Association, and as luck would have it, their annual conference was just two short weeks later... in Vancouver Canada.  It was a whirlwind getting all the arrangements made to get there.   I am so incredibly grateful that we got everything together and made the trip.  There are so many things you can learn from doctors, nurses and hospital staff and there are so many things you can learn from the internet, but being able to learn from other individuals with Sotos and their families and the doctors who have dedicated themselves to studying Sotos is something else.  

When I walked into the conference, all of a sudden, we belonged, the other kids even looked like Lucy.  Many of the other moms would stop and gasp and then want to hold her, it was like we had turned back time and they were looking at their own baby.  They have shared their baby photos and it is fascinating how much they look alike.  

As I attended the classes and met with the doctors and socialized with the other families, so many things started to fall into place and make more sense, the whole picture became more clear.

Needless to say, I love being part of this network.

I feel so much more prepared and supported.  By supporting the SSSA they will be able to continue to provide these services.  

Deseret Book Gospel Vision of the Arts Scholarship Program

Last Spring I was featured at a "Lunch and Learn"  at the Deseret Book Flagship Store at City Creek.  My daughter sent one of her paintings with me and everyone loved it so much that they asked both of us to paint blocks for the Gospel Vision of the Arts Scholarship Program auction. 

We had so much fun working on these in my studio together.  I love how simple and sweet Grace's turned out.  I kept looking at hers and it made me keep working and working on mine because I wanted it to feel more like hers!  I love how they both turned out, you really ought to go see them in person.

There are many wonderful little paintings that will be auctioned off from many great artists.  I feel honored to be among them.

Participating Scholarship Bock Artists:

Annie Henrie Cristall Harper

James Christensen Brian kershisnik

Ben Behunin Howard Lyon

Amy Tolk Richards J. Kirk Richards

Sarah Samuelson Grace Samuelson

Linda Curly Christensen Robert A. Boyd

Scott Sumner Robert T. Barrett

Jenny Elizabeth Shirley McKay Britsch

Justin Kunz Julie Rogers

Christopher Young Mary Summerhays

Sandra Rast Cassandra Barney

Elandra Garbett Glenda Gleave

Rose Datoc Dall           Jennifer Thompson

Liz Lemon Swindle

I told my daughter that it is amazing for her to be included in such a list as a five year old, to which she replied, "I was a four year old when I painted it"  She makes me smile.  I am glad we got to do this.

The auction runs from October 26th through December 10th.  100% of the proceeds will go to the 2012 Gospel Vision of the Arts Scholarship program.

To bid contact Linda Howard: 801-328-8191

lindarubyhoward@gmail.com.

tiny shiny tulips

Here is a tiny painting I recently did, interestingly, painting little doesn't necessarily mean painting faster, sometimes I spend more time on a little one than I do on a bigger one.

This one has metallic gold and silver and some glitter too.

Lucy's Birthday Gift to Primary Children's Medical Center

When Lucy turned one, she didn't celebrate like most one year olds do, she has a g tube.  I suppose I could have pureed a cupcake and put it in her tummy.  One of the things we did to celebrate was donate some of my art to Primary Children's Hospital on Lucy's behalf.  I loved that Lucy got excited about exploring it before we delivered it.

This is a  giclee print on canvas of my painting called "Not Arrayed Like One Of These".  The original is an oil painting on panel and it is about 4 feet by 8 feet.  This giclee is about half the size of the original.  

My kids love to wear the sick masks at the hospital every time they go (whether they need to or not).  We had such a fun time delivering it.  The girls couldn't believe we got to go to the hospital just for fun and not for any appointments.

I signed it:  Lucy's Mom (Sarah)

Here it is in it's final spot- the Dental Clinic (3rd floor, south end).  I was initially hoping it could go somewhere where we actually spend time in the hospital, and this wasn't one of the clinics that Lucy visited.  Ironically, she has now visited them a few times, and it looks like we will spend plenty of time here in the future.  It looks great here and everyone who works in the office loves it.  I am so glad we could do this for Lucy.

An Update on Lucy, Sotos Syndrome Diagnosis

It was a year ago that Lucy was first seen by a geneticists.  She had been hospitalized at Primary Children's and we begin working with an incredible team of doctors who have trained us and loved us.  We have learned so much.  Lucy has been amazing through it all and so have her big sisters.  I know many prayers have been offered in our behalf, I am so grateful for the love and support we have received, your prayers have sustained us.

Her  geneticists was very diligent, exploring so many different ideas, then this spring, he was moved into a different area in his department, and Lucy was assigned a new geneticists.  Lucy had started to make some great progress, she passed her swallow study, she started to get more mobile... so I wondered if we even needed to go meet the new geneticists.  We did go, and the minute our new doctor saw Lucy, he said she reminded him of another baby he knew 11 years ago, and he thought she had Sotos Syndrome.  The test results came back a couple of weeks ago confirming what he had suspected.  So many things make sense, I understand better so many of the struggles that Lucy has been working on.  It feels like we have met so many of the doctors and therapists right at the right times we needed to.

The timing of the testing sent us into a whirlwind adventure.  Each year the Sotos Syndrome Support Association has a conference, this year's happened to be in Vancouver Canada.  With the encouragement of our doctors Lucy and I got our passports and headed to Canada to attend.   We were able to meet with Dr Shaefer, the leading authority on Sotos Syndrome in the US (who Lucy has wrapped around her little finger, by the way). We were also able to meet with about 50 other families from around the world who have a child with Sotos Syndrome.  It was very informative.   I fell in love with the other children, and they fell in love with Lucy.  The look of Sotos is so strong and common between these children, that they felt like they were seeing themselves as a baby when they saw Lucy.  One darling girl would always come and smile at Lucy and say, "That's me when I was a baby!"   The other parents would caress my sweet baby and see their own baby in her.  We are part of a family with great support.  I am so grateful we got to go.

I am so grateful I get to be Lucy's mom.  She is a blessing and a miracle.  I am excited for what lies ahead and grateful for all we have been through.  I would do anything for this little girl.

It looks like I have another little artist.

Lulu and Nie Nie

A few weeks ago we were out celebrating my sweet baby Lucy's first birthday.  I felt that more than any other birthday, this one had been earned.  It has been a year full of struggle, but this little one has fought so hard and been so sweet through it all.   

Her big sister said, "Mom, how come Lucy always smiles even though she has so many hard things?  And how come I sometimes have a hard time smiling even if things aren't that hard?  I am kind of jealous of her smile." 

I thought it was especially nice that we happened to run into Stephanie Nielson (nieniedialogues)that night.  It was the week before her baby was due, and maybe it was because she was almost to have another little girl, or maybe because she could sense that Lucy knows about fighting to live and being happy in the process, or maybe she is just super nice.  At any rate, she could not have been any sweeter or more interested in little Lulu and all that she has been through in her first year.  I am glad to have this photo as a memento of that sweet little time we spent.  She was so sweet talking to Lucy and playing with her and loving her smiles.  I will love to get to show it to Lucy when she is big.  

I also want to read Stephanie's new book, Heaven is Here, actually, I am not really much of a reader, so I looked it up on i tunes to see if I could listen instead, and guess what, it's there, and she reads it herself.  I really want to get it and hear her tell her story in her own voice.

I just checked her blog and she is in New York City right now.  She has posted a schedule of the shows she will be appearing on this upcoming week.

lunch and learn at Deseret Book

Last Friday I was the featured artist at The Deseret Book Flagship Store at City Creek.  Richard Paul Evans was there as the featured writer.  He was signing copies of his new book, "The Road to Grace".  He was very nice.  

The City Creek shopping area is open now, and the weather was so nice, so there was a good amount of traffic in the store.  I always love getting to get out and talk to people about my art.  It is always a great opportunity to be invited to Deseret Book.

I am also excited about the new products Deseret Book is working on for me.  They are trying to get a couple of different options of my Noah's Ark painting into some frames that will work great for children's rooms.  I had a couple good title options for that at one time and I am trying to remember what they were, something about hope that referenced the tulips and rainbow... I should have written them down in a better spot.

My 4 year old daughter loves to paint

I love that my daughters get so excited about painting.
My 4 year old got so excited after seeing me at BYU last week that she started her own painting once we got home.  I came in to take some photos, and she said she preferred to make a video.  I love it.  It is the first time I have heard her use the word "opportunity".  I love watching her create, I love that she loves art.  I am excited to get to watch what she will create, what she will become.  She is amazing.

Purple Tulips unveiled

I unveiled this painting yesterday at the BYU Women's Conference.

It has been a fun couple of days, mingling with artists, seeing old friends, making new friends and signing prints.  My 4 year old daughter visited and she went up to a group of ladies and handed them each bookmarks and said, " You should go buy some of my mom's art."  She did it all on her own, and they did come buy some.  I am glad she is so proud of me.  I am so proud of her.

BYU Women's Conference Art Unveiling

My daughters love to come join me in my studio- they have their own paintings, but they especially love to get to paint a little on what I am working on.  Sometimes it creates a little extra problem solving for me, and sometimes it gives me precious little bits of paint that end up being some of my favorite spots in the end.  My daughter helped me out a little on this one, and so did my baby.  

You can come see how all our efforts turned out tomorrow when I unveil the finished painting at the BYU Women's Conference

at noon tomorrow, Thursday the 26th at noon.

I will have many different prints to purchase (and for me to sign for you) including prints of this new painting.  I will also have many other images  available as giclees, framed giclees, loose prints and even bookmarks.

Come visit me at The BYU Bookstore.

I will be there both on Thursday and Friday from 10 -2 and 3-6.  I will be in the basement, just down the stairs by the infamous candy counter.

And I promise my daughter will get a cut when I sell this original.

"Untitled" at The Rio Grande Gallery

"Untitled" Exhibition from April 6- May 3, 2012
(click for details)

I think it is kind of entertaining that every time I have a painting in a show, my daughter likes to touch it a little while it is hanging there, she knows we shouldn't- but she knows that it is mine, so it is a little privilege she can't resist indulging in.  It cracks me up every time.

This is a great exhibit at the Rio Grande Gallery right now, it is a fun concept- the public is invited to come and "title" the "untitled".  They have cards and pencils on there for you to write your suggestions, and a little hook beside each painting to hang your suggestions on.  Naming paintings is a difficult task, so this should be fun to collect some great titles.  Usually that is one of the hardest parts of the whole process for me.  Occasionally I will have a title all ready even before I start the painting, other than that, I go with pretty obvious descriptions (although I am really running out of those when it comes to red tulips)  sometimes my brother will work on names for me- and he does a great job.

At the opening of this show, my oldest daughter wrote : "Sarah Lily of the Tulip Painter" as her suggestion, it makes me smile.  She was asking me to help her spell each word, and I was eager to hear what each next word would be.  It was suspenseful because it was a slow process, (lollipops in one hand, pencil in the other) but I love what she came up with.

painting with my baby

I have always painted with my babies, my oldest daughter seemed most content to just watch, she liked it, and she never interfered when she was a baby, she never even reached for my brush.  It worked really well, as you can see here and here and here.

My second was almost as easy to paint with as you can see here, here, here, here or my favorite, here.  She did start grabbing my brush, and things got a little messy a couple of times.

This little one is proving to be much more active during our painting sessions.  I still love it.  I treasure it.  It makes me happy.

Welcome to Holland

I remember coming across this story years ago, I was googling Holland on the internet, dreaming of visiting someday.  I saw the title "Welcome to Holland" and it looked the the perfect place for me to daydream.  I clicked on it, and quickly found that it was not what I had anticipated, but rather a heart warming analogy.  I was touched, but moved on searching for photos of tulips and windmills and museums.  

This past year, I have thought of that story I read long ago, and I finally searched it out again.  It has new meaning.  It makes me love tulips even more than I did before.  I have always dreamed of going to Italy too, but maybe there's a reason I love tulips so much... and Van Gogh.

Welcome To Holland
copyright 1987, by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.  After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and  says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy!  I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.  The important  thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease.  It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.  It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less   flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you  begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful  time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go.   That's  what I had planned."  And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream  is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very  special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.