Art by Nancy Lee

One of Europe’s beautiful Butterflies. Watercolors pencil

The picture in the yellow circle on the wall of the Lehi post Office is me! And it is not a wanted poster. Ha ha

This is in Martinstown. And the cheese is awesome!

I met a fellow artist today who paints on cake!

New blog post on papier-mâché.

https://www.artbynancylee.com/post/the-art-of-paper-mache-papier-mâché

This one will give her big brother a run for his money.

I have lost count of all the portraits I’ve done. Today a little girl did one of me.

I painted this for our friends President and Sister Liddicott here in Weymouth Branch England

“My daughter handed me her school progress report. Although it displayed a steady stream of positive check marks, there was one check mark standing dejectedly alone from the rest.
“How am I doing, Mom?” my child asked with a level of maturity that did not match the small disheveled person gazing up at me with smudged eyeglasses that teetered on the tip of her nose. With her small finger, she pointed to her teacher’s neatly printed words next to the lone check mark.
It read: "Distracted in large groups." But I already knew this. I knew this long before it was written on an official report card. Since she was a toddler, this child has offered astute observations of the world around her.
After pointing out all the positives on the progress report, I told her what was written. Upon hearing the news, she gave a tiny, uncertain smile and shyly admitted, “I do look around a lot.”
But before my child could feel one ounce of shame, one iota of failure, I came down on bended knee and looked her straight in the eye. I didn’t want her to just hear these words, I wanted her to feel them. This is what I said:
“Yes. You do look around a lot. You noticed Sam sitting off by himself with a skinned knee on the field trip, and you comforted him."
"You noticed Banjo had a running nose, and the vet said it was a good thing we brought him in when we did."
"You noticed our waitress was working really hard and suggested we leave an extra good tip. You noticed Grandpa was walking slower than the rest of us so you waited for him."
"You notice the beautiful view every time we cross the bridge to go to swim practice."
"And you know what? I don’t ever want you to stop noticing because that is your gift. It is your gift that you give to the world.”
As I watched my daughter beam with the glow of acceptance, I realized her approach to life had the power to change the world.
You see, we are all just waiting for someone to notice—notice our pain, notice our scars, notice our fear, notice our joy, notice our triumphs, notice our courage.
And the one who notices is a rare and beautiful gift.
****
~Rachel Macy Stafford, author of "Hands Free Life."

Colored pencils

I was working with different paint than I usually use. But it turned out nice.

Just finished today.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's a*s came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' as*es.)  Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's a*s. And you thought being a horse's a*s wasn't important? Ancient horse's as*es control almost everything. 😁
Also read 👇
https://levelup-flow.com/postman-brings-cheer-to-people-with-funny-costumes-during-lockdown/

My first watercolor bird. European Robyn we met at a garden

Elder Marshal wanted a Mary Poppins picture. This is what I painted for him.

”Last night, while waiting to board our plane, Carter Jean was being her usual inquisitive self wanting to meet and say “hi” to everyone she could, until she walked up on this man.
He reached out and asked if she wanted to sit with him.
He pulled out his tablet and showed her how to draw with it, they watched cartoons together, and she offered him snacks.
This wasn’t a short little exchange, this was 45 minutes.
Watching them in that moment, I couldn’t help but think, different genders, different races, different generations, and the best of friends.
This is the world I want for her.
In a country that is so deeply divided by beliefs, I want her life to be filled with moments like this... not liberal or conservative republican or democrat, socialist or capitalist, just HUMAN.
Joseph from Samsungus in Oklahoma, if this should happen to find you.
Thank you for showing my daughter what kindness and compassion looks like.
Continue to shine your light in the world.”
Credit: Kevin Armentrout
Also read 👇
https://levelup-flow.com/coworkers-rally-together-to-buy-a-brand-new-car-for-janitor-who-walks-miles-to-work-to-his-knees/

I feel like I have to share this cuz it works so well for us! I’m sure I’m not the only one who goes crazy from their kids asking for every single thing they see in a grocery store. I tell them no lots but I think naturally kids just see and ask. Well to distract them from this I started letting them pick out one can for the food bank any can they choose every time we go to the store and they love it! They put so much thought into what can, they carry the can to the till, hand it to the cashier and then put it in the food bank bin. My daughter likes to explain to people what the food bank is for. We have done this for our last 5 trips to the store and not once have they asked for something! And they are helping the food bank in the process. I know this won’t last forever but if anyone has a 2 or 4 year old like me I recommend trying it! Maybe when they get older I can turn it into a challenge (find a can that starts with the letter c or find a vegetable)
Credit: Candice Bell
Also read 👇
https://levelup-flow.com/postman-brings-cheer-to-people-with-funny-costumes-during-lockdown/