Ocean Dreams. . .

This is a piece I originally created for a potential book cover, however another cover was chosen. A beautiful piece, full of imagination & oceanic atmosphere. This piece is 16x20 oil on canvas panel. Available on etsy.

Itty Bitty Cottages. . .

In the bathroom, hall, or above the kitchen sink...or any other nook & cranny you can think of! Available on etsy.

Who Doesn't LoVe Hydrangea?...Painting in OIL by LARA

 

I had so much fun creating this piece...a little bit of everything I love, hydrangea, a robin's nest, vintage plant mister, transferware plate, and some old books yearning to be read. I need to get a better shot of this piece tomorrow... available on etsy. (*Kind of funny to think that the painting above comes outta this crazy mess below :)

 (**Linking to Between Naps on the Porch 
Metamorphosis Monday :) Be sure to enter my ART giveaway here, and the giveaway at My Domestic Bliss!) Both are part of the month-long giveaway extravaganza going on at My Cottage Charm...don't miss out! :)
**Linking to: 

 

A Stroll Thru Life

My Return to Houghton Lake...

On our way home from a week-long vacation up north in Michigan, my husband and I stopped by a familiar 'friend'...my childhood cottage at Houghton Lake. It has since been updated with new siding, windows, a new deck, but I recognized it just the same. It was where my family spent each summer before my parent's divorce. I loved those summers at the lake. As a young girl all I cared about was swimming for hours on end, fishing with my Dad, and walking up to the local party store with summertime friends. I felt such a mix of emotions as I looked around the cottage grounds, so much has changed, and it is so hard to believe it was some twenty years or so since I had been there. I looked at the grouping of three trees where I used to play kick-the-can, out at the lake where we used to have our favorite fishing spot, along the shoreline where there used to be a beautiful, sandy beach, now replaced with a concrete retaining wall...it all seemed so familiar and yet I was looking at these things not thru the eyes of young girl, but of a grown woman. I will admit, quite a few tears were shed that day. I loved our cottage at Houghton Lake, summers spent with family & friends, peace and serenity...what I'd give to get some of that time back.
As we prepared to leave I looked around one last time and realized that this place has indeed changed, it is no longer the 'friend' I once knew, it belongs to a new family...the place I remember is in my heart, and that is where it will always remain. And someday, if I am so blessed, I hope to have another cottage in which new memories can be made...laughter among friends, crackling bonfires, waves lapping against the shore...the simple beauty of life.