Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

FINALLY, the first glorious day of my favorite season has arrived.... FALL!

There is nothing better than crisp Autumn air, cinnamon, pumpkin spice latte's, pumpkin muffins, vibrantly colored leaves, and Halloween Candy. This weekend I've been haunted by more advertisements for pumpkin spice lattes. After searching 4 stores, there is no pumpkin coffee creamer out yet! Come on International Delight and Coffeemate, get with the new season, I beg you!

Anyway, I couldn't be happier to welcome in this new season. Especially after this draining summer, I'm ready for a change!
So in honor of our first Fall weekend, I bring you the first official Lisscat Creations Halloween decoration.
Check em out and let me know what you think!

SPOOKS! - Two 4" x 4" hand painted wooden plaques. Acrylic on wood, shiny clear varnish. With decorative ribbon for hanging. ($31.50 for the set).

These are available now so email me (melissa@lisscatcreations.com) or comment below if interested!

The Ecstatic Joy of Heaven

This is my card 'studio' (aka the corner of my bedroom). It's been a pretty lonely place lately. It's been just over a month since my sweet little kitty, Bliss, lost his battle to cancer.
Every Friday, we had a tradition to sit on my floor together and bust out some new Lisscat Creations cards. Well, thinking back, I did most of the work, while Bliss would oh so helpfully chew on paper, ribbons, paint brushes, and whatever else was necessary in the making of that card.
In Bliss' absence,  I taped a picture of us to the wall in the corner. The only problem was, it didn't help inspire me, but only reminded me of how much I missed him.

So, needless to say, the card 'studio' has been quite neglected. For those of you who have received cards in the past month, its miraculous those ever got done!

Whats funny, er, not funny, but ironic is.... The night before Bliss died i started writing a blog (it was never posted). I was grieving, but was ready. I was ready to let him go, and ready to let his constant playful joy in life inspire me to keep actively following my passions. But as soon as he was gone, any joy I thought I would have was overshadowed by grief, loneliness, anger... all those feelings no one likes to feel. So sadly, I confess, I let myself grieve, and ignored my art that I had wanted to create inspire others.

Then on Wednesday I received a text from a friend. The preview of the text read "In memory of Bliss".
When I opened the message, I saw this....

My dear sweet friend and her amazingly talented husband thought to draw this out for me. I was floored! Aren't you? Its so freaking amazing and beautiful!
For the first time in a month, I was reminded of how a little drawing (made with a little love) could evoke such joy. When i opened the text, i smiled. Really smiled, like one of those big cheesy grins that make your face sore. :-)
So.... THANK YOU so much to Laura  and Marco Garcia for the beautiful picture, and for digging out a part of me that needed to breathe.

On a final note: Since he was young, Bliss endured so many surgeries, procedures, medications, etc. But he was a fighter, and he chose joy. Despite all the pain and sickness, he was always playing and NONSTOP purring. I want to be like that. I want to ignore the circumstances, and CHOOSE JOY.

bliss  (blɪs)
— n
1.	perfect happiness; serene joy
2.	the ecstatic joy of heaven

Glow

I feel like I have 1000 thoughts buzzing through my mind. They all want to explode out onto this blog as one massive deep thought...BUT all of those thoughts must have bottle necked because that one massive, deep thought is not here yet!

I've spent alot of my free time lately trying to nurse Bliss back to health. When he's sleeping I am finding time to paint or read or pray. All the things I need to and love to do, but dont seem to find just enough time for.

I just finished a book called "Heaven is for Real". It is about a 4 year old boy who went to heaven during surgery, and later tells his parents everything he saw. There were so many parallels in this book that mirrored my situation with Bliss. Just from the stress and struggles of caring for a sick one, to the unknown, to  the miraculous outpouring of emotional and financial love from friends and family. Somehow this book acted as a comforting reminder of God's love for me.

The book also talked about how many colors there are in Heaven. It sounds AMAZING! So I was inspired with this weeks painting. In the midst of life there are always gonna be dark days. Things we dont understand. But like a cooling summer breeze, God's presence is weaving its way in and around us while we  struggle to stand on our darkest days.
This is a mixed media painting on canvas with everything from spraypaint to latex paint, acrylic and watercolor. The dark texture in the back was back from layers of spraypaint and droplets of acetone.
I then layered vibrant strokes of watercolor over the top to give off the colorful glowing effect.
This painting is titled "GLOW" - 7" x  9" and is available for $35 (free shipping). If its for you, send an email to melissa@lisscatcreations.com.

Also, thank you to all of you who helped with Bliss. He was doing better, but now is not feeling quite him self again. Healing prayers are still appreciated! :-) Hope you all got your cards that "he" sent out out this week too!

Back 2 Bliss

Well, as most of  you know, one of our very own "LissCATS" just had a very serious surgery. Bliss had a tumor removed the size of my fist, and the Dr's had to physically remove and then rebuild the entire side of his abdomen. The poor little guy is recovering slowly, but thank God he is still here with us, and fighting!
This procedure ended up costing us a pretty penny, or... however many pennies are in $1000 dollars!
Anyone who knows me, knows my pets are my babies! If they have a chance to be happy and healthy, I just can't let money stand in the way of that. So, I've been selling my artwork in hopes to raise money for Bliss' surgery.
Thanks to all of you, we have raised about $600 within a matter of days! Your love and support mean the world to us!
I am going to post some of the artwork that is available. If you are interested, please drop me a line at melissa@lisscatcreations.com
All proceeds will go to support Bliss' surgery and recovery.

WOLVES - 9" x 12" linocut print ($30.00)

HAND OF GOD - 36" x 24" Mixed media on canvas ($125.00)

ANOTHER WORLD - 7" x 15" mixed media on paper ($35.00)

GOOD LIFE - 7" x 9" mixed media on canvas ($35.00)

SOLO ROJO - 30" x 24" Mixed media on canvas ($100.00)

MASKS - 14" x 18" Original painted screen print ($55.00)

A Little Look....

I usually get through the week having given everybody and everything more time than I give to my art. I made an effort this week after work to take some time to CREATE. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with what came out, and it felt so GOOD to paint!
This week's post is more pictures than words, but hey, I am an artist, not a writer so maybe this is for the better!

"Sprouted Dream" 7" x 9" acrylic on canvas. AVAILABLE for $35

"Solo Rojo" - Currently the center piece to my living room.

Behind the Scenes - Water color drying....feel the excitement! ;-)

Behind the Scenes - Drawing in the clouds and cityscape.

Behind the Scenes - Laying out and positioning the cityscape.

Completed "Wind of Hope" card! Remember, $5 of every card sold is donated to storm victims in the south! (Think floods, tornados, etc)  Each hand painted card is only $15 (FREE shipping) and can be purchased at HERE

Wind of Hope

Today is the one year anniversary of the historic and devastating flooding that overtook Nashville last year.
It's crazy to think that almost one year later, our neighbors to the south are suffering their own devastation thanks in part to last week's tornadic storms.
I am so humbly blessed for our safety (the storms passed right by us) but heart broken for those effected in Alabama, Eastern Tennessee, and elsewhere. We have all seen the footage of once bustling towns, now flattened after the EF 4 tornadoes ripped through them. Heartbreaking.


Today a friend told me a story about a woman who had just adopted twp german shepherds. They were older dogs, and had just retired from the police force. During the storm, the dogs were separated from their owner. Later the dogs were returned to her, but not without their own heart warming story. After the tornados struck, the dogs kicked into action. Their training from the police force and searching for people, came as a natural instinct. Thanks to these dogs, 80 people were found and pulled from the rubble!
As an animal lover, I think this story is one of hope, and shows how God works in all ways, even through our furry friends!
This week's image is my new hand painted card "Wind of Hope".
$5 of each card purchased will be donated to help the tornado victims in Alabama.
The card resembles our classic "River of Hope" card for Nashville, but was created with Alabama in mind (notice the red).
Please support this effort!

get art. give hope.


Cards can be purchased here: www.lisscatcreations.com/cards

Pursuit

Welcome back to Lisscat Creations Blog....as you can see, we got a make-over. Hope you like! :-D

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

The holiday this weekend really got me thinking....how amazing that Jesus did what he did for us out of love. It truly is a miracle and one that is so hard to conceive the idea of. 

But my hope for you is that this Easter filled you with hope and inspiration, too. If Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to be beaten and killed for our sins, its nice to think that he really does care about all the little details of our daily lives too.

It is nice to know that the creator of the universe really cares about our dreams and desires. We just have to have 'faith the size of a mustard seed (which is really small, by the way!). 

So lift up your dreams and goals right now. Thank God for putting them in your heart, and lift them up with faith, thanking Him for helping you to achieve them!

I was going through old artwork today. The first picture posted is a piece from my college days. Its an Indian miniature painting titled "Pursuit". 

The second picture is a signed poster from Monsieur Matisse. You are all familiar with the famous french painter, Henri Matisse. Well this is from his grandson of the same name, who is also a great painter. A friend of mine in college knew him, showed him my artwork, and in return he sent me the signed poster and a very personally encouraging note. The note complimented my work and reminded me to keep doing my stuff. 

I received this note about 7 years ago, and who knew all this time later it would be just the encouragement I would need. 

I know I preach this alot, but always try to encourage others and don't take uplifting words for granted. You never know when even your own smile may turn someone else's day around.

Blessings to you in this last week of April! Hope its a great one!