A Special Thanks to Dean!

I was especially pleased to find I was awarded this "I Care" Keepsake by Dean Haven aka Deano's Den this week. This Keepsake was created by James Parker to show his appreciation of fellow bloggers. Here is the poem James wrote to accompany the Keepsake:

I had some folks come visit, my humble little blog
And leave a thoughtful comment, 'bout the painting I had
logged.
I don't know how to tell them, or even where to start,
Of the wondrous gift they gave me, bringing joy to my heart
Some days are dark and lonely...I feel that life's a bore
But those simple words of kindness, have brought sunshine
to my door.

As many of you know Dean is wonderful oil painter - I admire his work so much. Every day I have a new favorite. I also love the fact that at the end of every post Dean makes he includes a verse from the Bible - reading his blog is a true joy in more ways than one. Thank you Dean!

Now it is my honor to pass this Keepsake along to two deserving artists who make the blogosphere a brighter place. My choices are:

Deborah Secor

I admire Deborah not only because she creates the most beautiful pastels, and has written several how to books on pastels, and she now has her own workshop DVDs out, but because she declares her love of Jesus Christ right up front. I find that very beautiful and inspiring. Thank you Deborah!

Toni Kelly

Toni is another one of those multi-talented artists. She works mostly in watercolor and is an outstanding calligrapher, author, and she does some incredible mixed media pieces. She has a true love of nature, takes awesome photographs of butterflies and birds and then to see the pictures of the garden she keeps - WOW. I truly relish reading her blog and quite frankly I don't know where she finds the time to do all that she does. She is an inspiring artist to the "nth" degree and just a person that you really like knowing even via the blogosphere. Thank you Toni!