Watercolor Sunday and Saturday's Color: May 2017

So quickly has summer come this year, even before its time!  Whether it's climate change or whatever else, we've already had some of our hottest days yet on record for this time of the year.  But I digress....

My Watercolor Sunday posts on Facebook for May 2017:

May 7 (photo manipulation):

"The difference between school and life?  In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test.

In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson." --Tom Bodett
[the voice behind "I'm Tom Bodett for Motel 6, and we'll leave the light on for you."]

May 14 (photo manipulation):

"People are like stained-glass windows.  They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

--Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

Happy Mothers Day to all mothers everywhere who shine from within and out.

May 21 (photo manipulation):

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be,

and not building bridges, is not Christian.  This is not the gospel." --Pope Francis

May 28 (photo manipulation):

"Only the dead have seen the end of war." --Plato

"They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this nation." --Henry Ward Beecher

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

My Saturday's Color posts on Facebook for May 2017:

(finished 4 May, posted on FB 6 May 2017)

There's a sobering connect-the-dots story to this design finished this week, following the (Dot #1) 6-part series Astrid and I just watched on "Hitler:  The Definitive Guide" (from the Discovery Channel and which I highly recommend).  I'm embarrassed to say how much I did NOT know about how Hitler started and masterminded WWII.  Besides the 6 million Jews, he's responsible for the deaths of millions of others, including 4.3 million of his own soldiers whom he would not allow to surrender under any circumstance.

Dot #2: This past Thursday, May 4th, was the annual Dutch Remembrance Day in observance of all those who have died in war and peace-keeping operations. Each year, at 8 p.m., everyone around the country stops for 2 minutes of silence, no matter what they’re doing. Even traffic pulls off the road, whenever possible. That in and of itself is sobering. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Every year! The next day, May 5th (yesterday) was the Dutch Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the Nazi occupation during WWII.

Dot #3: Astrid’s father, while living in Amsterdam during WWII, age 23, hid in the rafters of his house in order not to be conscripted by the Germans to help fight their war. Though not a Jew, he nonetheless feared for his life, refusing to work in their war factories.

Dot #4: When I looked for a new design to color this week and found this one in my Color Me Fearless book, I grabbed it. Though a simple design, I knew immediately what colors I would choose and why I would post it today. Hitler, btw, was an artist and adopted the ancient, religious Indian swastika as the symbol for his Nazi Party. Because of what it now represents, Hitler will be forever deemed “The most hated man in history!”

God have mercy on us all.

(finished 10 May, posted on FB 13 May 2017)

I saw FOUR GENERATIONS in this Color Me Happy design.

Circles of life...mothers begetting mothers, like my sister, Susan, who is the mother

of a mother of a mother who has a daughter (another potential mother).

Happy Mother's Day weekend to all mothers everywhere,

especially to those of us with mothers no longer with us.

(finished 30 April, posted on FB 20 May 2017)

Before I color a Celtic design (this one from my Book of Kells Painting Book), 

I almost always trace it with my finger to figure out where it's going!

In this case, I quickly discovered that one "animal" slithered from point A to point B 

in pretty much a "straight line," while the other went all over tarnation to get to where he was going.

Kinda like many people in Life, right?

(finished 4 March, posted on FB 27 May 2017)

To all my American family and friends, happy Memorial Day weekend.

I've chosen this wee 5 x 7 design because it's from my Mindfulness book.

I'm calling it a Memorial Quilt, honoring all who have died in service to their country,

whether the war was just or unjust.  (sigh)

And now we officially face the summer with this new month of June.

Let's hope we can all stay cool...regardless of what Trump decides about the Paris Agreement!