Remembering Her Hands

"Remembering Her Hands"

Pen on paper

© anna m. rodriguez

Our Forests

"Forest"

..from the sketchbook...

©Anna M. Rodriguez

Christmas is done and gone! I am so relieved and ready to continue with my art. 

Choosing health insurance coverage

"Dead Rat"

© Anna M. Rodriguez

What comes out of me when having to choose health insurance coverage.

Rose Colored Glasses

"Rose Colored Glasses"

© Anna M. Rodriguez

From My Sketch Book

© Anna M. Rodriguez

Up with Gratitude

Good Morning! I got out of bed this morning at 5am because I heard the first bird singing. I was up before the bird’s song. Wide awake. I needed to hear its morning song to jump out of bed. This is my favorite time of day. I had to take a picture to capture my feeling of gratitude for a new day. Also, to show our new member of our home. Our Beautiful Comfy Green couch. 

We love you, Comfy Green Couch!

Warm and Tender Frijoles

This morning I am happy to say that I have time to work on some drawings in my sketchbook. I will be heating up a pot of frijoles while I work. I shall have warm and tender beans when the family gets home. 

I am also listening to Eve Ensler being interviewed by Kista Tippett on On Being.

Life is good. 

Arbol

"Arbol" 

©Anna M. Rodriguez

ink, opaque and transparent watercolor on paper

Family

"Family"

micro pen on paper

Listening to the podcast OnBeing "Gustavo Santaolalla" and painting this morning. 

Yesterday, I called my father and it's difficult to express all the thoughts I have after talking to him and seeing him. Since he is alone and my mother has passed I am constantly reminded that family will continue to change and we are all going to be gone one day. 

This awareness is the reason I am changing how I approach my days and interactions with everyone I see each day. It's a slow process, but every day I am given a chance to practice a new way of appreciating all that I experience myself and with others. 

Simple acts: eye contact when I cross someone when I'm walking. A smile. A thank you. Saying I'm sorry when I realize I made a mistake. 

Listening. 

Living and Creating

"Shadows" ©Anna M. Rodriguez
From my sketchbook. (Pen,markers,watercolors)

I have finished my studies in Child Development. 

I have turned 51.

In the next months I will be researching and looking for ways to open up shop again to sell my work. 

More will be revealed as I keep up with my passions. 

Preschool Traffic Signs

I am done with my Child Development classes and my internship. I will continue to volunteer some hours because I would like to donate my time to make some items for the children to use at the preschool on the campus. Here are some traffic signs that I made with reused materials. The images and lettering I made out of cut out paper that I purchased at the local 1$ store. 

 Before we went outside to play we read a book about traffic signs to the children. They applied what they learned from our circle time to hands on learning. Cognitive and Motor Development skills made into fun play! The Children had a good time and so did I. 

We created something similar to Kidspace and all made with reused items (except for the 4 sheets of paper I purchased for .69 cents). 

With yellow chalk we created two lanes and with a pink chalk I drew arrows (see below) so they would know what direction they had to go to avoid any collisions. 

We also drew a crosswalk for pedestrians! We taught them to look both ways before going into the street.  The Signal light was created by the teacher Diana C. which has sticks and white cards to uncover the red light, yellow light, and green light. It has lights on both sides of the box for traffic coming the opposite way. 

So this is where I've been the past year. I should mention that I got Student of the Month in October and I was the winner of the Merit Scholar Award in Family Consumer Science in May. I will get my Child Development Certificate in July. It was a wonderful experience going back to school and realizing that I love teaching preschoolers. Homeschooling my girl for 4 years was the spark to get me excited about teaching young children. I have learned so much these past 9 years with my girl and I am so grateful. At this point of my journey I feel free and open to so much more! 

The Place I Love

"Still" 

watercolor and black pen

This week I was off for a week from my child development classes. Thank you, spring break. Much needed time to draw finally came and left so quickly. This lovely lady was created on March 31st. 

Tension was released and peace took over me when I got in that place I love.