©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 17
Today is a very difficult day. It’s my Dad’s birthday. He would have been 78. He passed away from cancer December 18, 2014.
A year ago today, we celebrated Dad’s last birthday at his home. My Dad sat up in his hospital bed opening cards as we all sat with him in the living room. He opened my Mom’s card and she had written “wishing you a happy birthday and many more”. His eyes filled with tears and he looked at her and said, “I hope so”.
The grief is still so fresh. His absence in our lives has been overwhelming. Not a day goes by I don’t see his face and I say out loud, “I love and miss you, Dad”.
I suppose today’s sketch may have been more appropriate to have been a drawing of a father and daughter but I’m not very good at drawing men. Also, my Mom and I, even though we’ve always been close, we are even closer now. We lean on each other more now with Dad gone.
Through my Dad’s illness and after his passing, I’ve tried to be strong for my Mom. At first I didn’t cry too often around her because when I’d cry, she’d cry and I knew she cried enough on her own. However, one day a few months after Dad was gone, I shared a memory of him and the tears just flowed. Mom hugged me and said, “I thought I was the only one that still cried over your Dad”. That was an eye opener for me. By trying to be strong and hiding my tears from her, she thought I was over it and life just moved on and everything was back to normal…which is not the case. I didn’t realize by trying to protect her, I was making it harder on her.
So now, we share stories of Dad and just let the tears fall. It’s good. It’s healing. It’s ok.
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 16
I love how this sketch came out! She looks so peaceful. Her serene expression was the inspiration for the saying.
When I say my prayers, I always pray for my family to have peace in their hearts, minds and homes. I’m blessed to have a peaceful home. I believe peace comes from within, therefore, if we have peace within us, we will infuse our homes with that peace.
Unfortunately, there are too many homes in the world with turmoil, anger and drama. I am the anti-drama queen. I seriously don’t like drama in my life and especially in my home. I remember when Kyle was in middle school he had dreams of becoming a rock star and living life on the road. He said to me one day, “Mom, I don’t mean to be rude, but you and Dad’s life is so boring.” I still giggle when I think back on that statement. I responded, “Well, honey, we like our lives just the way it is. To you it may seem boring, but we are happy with the life we’ve built together.” Even more funny is now that Kyle is a young man of 22 he has settled into wanting a quiet peaceful life as well! He wants a home with land where he can have animals and work on cars. Funny how things change.
Wishing you a peaceful life and home,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 15
Today I was inspired by spring. I know, I know, it’s only fall and spring in Michigan is far far away. But as I sat on the couch wondering what to sketch, my hands and feet were freezing so I started day dreaming about spring, summer, sunshine, long days, warm nights, birds singing, bees buzzing and flowers blooming. This sketch was the result of those day dreams.
Happy Saturday! Enjoy the weekend.
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 14
I love sketching faces. It is still a big challenge! The eyes are the hardest for me. They have to be perfect. I usually get one lower than the other or one bigger than the other…..my eraser gets a good workout when I’m sketching faces. I added the birds because, to me, her hair reminded me of flames and I didn’t want it to look like her hair was on fire.
Hope you enjoy your weekend and for pete’s sake, dust off that sketchbook and play a little!
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 13
Well….after yesterday’s sketch, I just had to sketch my favorite; teddy bears. I could sketch them all day 
Hope you have a fantastic Thursday!
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 12
I dedicate this sketch to Abbey. I met Abbey a few years ago at a show I was vending. She is the granddaughter of my friends, Dick and Dawn Rossell, the shop owners of Holly Hills Primitives in Holly Michigan. Abbey is an energetic, fun-loving, helpful, sweet, confident young girl who LOVES bunnies. She enjoys traveling with her family across the country to show her bunnies at county fairs and other competitions. She’s won prestigious awards for her excellent showing of bunnies. Abbey is the proud “mama” of MANY bunnies (I can’t remember how many but it’s impressive). She takes care of all her bunnies herself. She told me when I first met her at the age of 12 that instead of sitting in front of the TV or playing video games, she prefers to be outdoors tending to her sweet lil’ fur babies.
Dawn and I have talked about how Abbey is an “old soul”. She’s mature beyond her years. She has so much self-discipline and BEST OF ALL, she has a heart of gold. She loves to help others and make people smile. So here’s to you, Abbey!
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 11
I can’t put my finger on it, but this angel’s face looks odd to me! I worked it and worked it. Sometimes it’s a struggle. I thought about scrapping it and starting over, but no…..I want this 365 challenge to be real and authentic. What I sketch, is just that…what I sketch, whether it turns out good or bad! Some days a drawing will flow out of the end of my pencil as if God is guiding my hand and other days it’s very forced and overworked.
The funny thing is, I will still probably still paint her. The paintings NEVER look exactly like the sketch anyway. I think by painting her face, I will discover what it is that’s bothering me and fix it.
Happy Tuesday,
Teresa
Whimsy 365: Day 10
©Teresa Kogut, all right reserved
I am getting back to painting my sweet angels again soon. Even though I have many sketches already done in other sketchbooks that I haven’t painted yet, I was inspired to sketch one anyway. I love the braid on this one. I don’t believe I’ve ever painted one with a braid yet, so I am excited to try it!
Hope you are having an inspirational Monday!
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 9
I was sitting on the couch pondering what to sketch…waiting for a creative whim to inspire me. I happened to look at my corner cupboard and saw a piece of handmade pottery that was given to me by one of my best friends.
The piece is a long rectangular shape with a hand-painted star, sunflower, crow and sheep. My friend special ordered four of these pieces of pottery from an artist in Michigan one year for Christmas gifts. The star represents Linda, the sunflower represents Debbie, the sheep represents me and the crow represents Jann. Us four our very close friends. For the past 25 years, we’ve taken a 5-7 day road trip to Ohio for shopping and antiquing. So many wonderful memories have been made through the years.
Today’s sketch is the result of taking those four symbols that represent our friendship and creating a design that I absolutely LOVE! This is another sketch I will be making into a punchneedle pattern as well as a hook rug pattern.
Blessings,
Teresa
©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved
Whimsy 365: Day 8
Today’s inspiration came to me because I needed a new design for punchneedle. I haven’t designed a punchneedle pattern where a tree is the focal point. This would also make a great rug pattern. Now to decide on colors…. I’m thinking about keeping the colors rather muted like the old vintage hooked rugs. What are your thoughts?
Blessings,
Teresa
