Rainbow and art

This was the beautiful rainbow that popped up friday afternoon. We had a very rainy day on friday, but by late afternoon the sun tried to pop out and this is what occurred. Daniel called me on the way home from work and told me to go outside and check it out. I love rainbows.
Friday night the wind really kicked up and all of the wet leaves were blowing around and finally settled into my yard. So guess what we will be doing today and tomorrow? Yep,,raking and blowing and mulching the leaves. I rake a lot of them into some of my flower beds that has bulbs that need protecting for the winter. Tonight we will build a bonfire in our firebowl and sit by the pond and enjoy Autumn's chill. I am hoping my kids will come out tonight, but week-ends are times to spend running around with their friends, so not sure they will make it out. I don't remember hanging with my parents on the week-ends too much at their age either, lol. Now that Kyle is working full time and Kalyn is in college full time, week-ends are for having fun. But I know the day will come when they will settle down with a family and I will see more of them then. They do call me a lot though, just to tell me they love me, so that works just fine for me.
Yesterday I stayed home with a slight stomach virus. I feel much better today. I was able to get several winter postcards done for a swap that I am in.
Also I got my dear friend, Maryellen's ATCs in the mail. She sent me some more and I love her art, very talented. Here are the ATCs that she sent me yesterday.

I Love all three of them. The cats are so sweet,,the look on the little gray striped one is so neat. I love the middle one because of the black and white background and then the colorful flowers, and I always love anything Asian. You did wonderful Maryellen,,,thanks again!
I sent out the Halloween ATCs from the swap I hosted. I mailed them out on Thursday, hoping every one will get theirs in time for Halloween. Here are some of the cards that were in the swap.

Are they not so cool? These are the artists who sent them, starting from top left-Judy D. Jane W., Jeanie C., Rosemary A., Vicci H., and Beth Mc. My Mom also participated but I had already sent hers to others so dummy me didn't get them scanned,,sorry Mom :-(
Below are some ATCs that I recently got back from an ATC Leaf themed swap.
Aren't they so colorful? I do love the Fall swaps! I also received my Formica chip sample swap back too. I received 2 lovely chips!

I Love these too! They are both so unique. I didn't know the artists that did these but they are truly talented!
So last of all I am going to post a pic of a project that I sent to a very special artist.
Her name is Bernie Berlin, and her blog is "A place to bark". She is pretty well known in the Altered Arts and Mixed Media world. But the best part of what Bernie does most of the time does not involve art. It involves animals. She is originally from Milwalkee and started rescuing animals in that state several years ago. Last year she moved to Tennessee, she lives a couple of counties north of where I live. Well when she moved here, boy, was her work cut out for her here. We have so many people here who do not believe in neutering or spaying their animals. They simply let them run loose and then when they have puppies or kittens, well they just take them and dump them. Also a lot of animals are abused here too. Its very sickening. But they do have a Angel when it comes to Bernie. She gets animals that are so abused or neglected, and she trys to heal them, physically and emotionally. Some she can save, unfortunately she gets some that she cannot save. The ones she saves, she finds homes for them. She will load up a truck and take them to various cities where other shelters have found people to adopt them. Its just amazing what all she does to help the animals.
She is going to have a fundraiser auction on November 5-15th on e-bay. With all the proceeds going to her animal rescues. She asked that art be donated to her and it weighed heavily on my heart to contribute.
My piece is no where near close to the wonderful pieces she will be receiving from some of her very famous artist friends such as Claudine Hellmuth, Michael DeMeng, and many, many more. But I wrote her a letter that I sent with the piece and told her even if she didn't get anything for it, maybe she could at least give to someone who helps her out a lot with the animals. I just wanted to do something to help. I am also going to try to bid on some of the pieces that she auctions off. I hope a lot of kind folks will do this too. Anyhoo, here is the piece that I did. Its not the best pic of it,,but maybe you can tell a little about it.

It looks a little bowed in the pic, but its not. It is on a 9 x 12 canvas panel. I love this picture. Its one of my favorites. I just wanted to post about this auction because it is dear to my heart. I know a lot of my blogger friends are animal lovers. So please, if you would, pass on the word about her auction on your blogs. Go look at her blog,"A place to bark" some of the pictures are heartbreaking , but you will fall in love with the precious babies that she rescues. She was involved in helping bust a puppy mill here last week-end. They found so many animals in very poor conditions, and they lady that was running it was arrested , thank God!
I guess I better get off of here now and go work on some more postcards and other projects. I am giving the leaves time to dry out a bit, then I will be on yard duty this afternoon, lol.
I hope every one has a wonderful week-end.