'I'll fly away'

...back from what a trip home to NC and what seemed like the longest week ever.  A week ago today my granny passed in her sleep after almost a ten year battle with Alzheimer's.  The wake and funeral services were on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, and they were just like she would've have wanted them.

Two things that are very much the core of who I am came from my granny- my love being creative, working with my hands and my love for jewelry and sparkly things.  I know that these things are a direct influence of her, and I am proud of that.

...an angel granny made me many years ago...

And I will keep doing those things...creating and being sparkly.

Granny throughout the years.

I continued to make my daily art while I was back home.  It can be tough to keep up with it when I am on the road but luckily the materials I am using this month (watercolor and black colored pencil) travel pretty easily.  Here are the daily pieces from this week; 

Making my daily art in a hotel in Jacksonville...on my nephews bed while my niece yelled gibberish at me (and ran off with my ring)...at my father-in-law's house while watching Italian TV (and later getting a nice Italian dinner with sauce made from scratch!)...and on the road back to Florida. It was a busy week.

In addition to my daily art, I wanted to make something special in memory of my granny.  On the morning of her funeral, I woke up at around 8:30 and started working.  I made 36 angel paintings for a special #AngelDropArt at the service (...actually going to make more this weekend...) and I also painted two portraits of granny from scratch.  I wasn't sure that I could get all of this accomplished- but I did.  Thirty-six angels and two pics of heaven's newest angel- Julia Deaton, aka 'Miss Flossie'.

In-progress angels...and my niece again...she tricked me into giving her yogurt...

Portraits of granny in her teens and in her eighties, gift to my mom and sister.

Earlier this summer, John and I went to see Willie Nelson.  I remember Willie playing the song, 'I'll Fly Away' and it brought me to tears because it made me think of my granny, and I felt that she would be flying away.  That was this summer.  And she did, on September 16, 2016 at the age of 86.  I will miss her, but I do feel like she is free now and that brings me peace.