Wodie's Porch

Navigating, Exploring, and Finding Joy in Life Through Creativity

Welcome to my porch. Grab a cup of coffee and let's talk!

This blog is your invitation to sit for a while.  It is for talking together about the raw and uncut moments that make up life.  If you enjoy my unskilled acrylic and pastel paintings or snapshots from my phone, or if you gain some encouragement from anything I have written, then I will have done what I set out to do. 

I hope this becomes an organic, living space, for us, so please offer your comments, and we can all have a chat and navigate life together! 

Recent Posts

Hi!  Some of my little peeps gave me the nickname of  “Gwampa Wodie,” and it stuck.  I sit on my porch and think stuff, write about it, take pictures of it, and try to paint it.

What is this blog actually about? It's my look at life: Finding Joy, Cherishing Home, Life, Navigating Life, Enjoying Life, Loving, Creating, Serving, Appreciating, Simplicity, God, Beautiful Things, Encouraging. Maybe encouraging moms, peeps in middle age, or someone who just got diagnosed with a scary illness. Maybe it is for someone who needs a cheerleader to keep pressing on. Maybe I share my art and take my limited life experience and talk about it. And, if just one person gets encouragement or a chuckle out of it, it was worth it to say what I have to say. My focus, because I don't know how to be anything else, is to be real and transparent. I don't have time to filter and polish. But always with a coffee in hand!

Acrylic painting of a four seasons tree with a bright sun, Starry Night theme, and bright colors.
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness," #1 Acrylic on wood panel. This is my tribute to the faithfulness of the Lord through the seasons of my life. (1st painting of this title).

Art Ethics Statement:  All artwork, craft, and photography on this blog is my own work created by my own hands, and is my personal property. All writing in my blog is my own personal, original work, and is neither generated nor aided nor edited by AI, or copied from anyone else. If I have used something from another source, I will have cited this. I have no interest in personal gain through this blog, but please show respect and artistic etiquette by not copying or stealing my work without permission. I’d be flattered out of my mind if you liked something on here well enough to use it, but please contact me first: I’ll probably be very friendly about it!

"Dare to be Different," soft pastel on Uart paper. Gift for my fun friend.
"Precious," soft pastel on Mi Teintes Touch paper. This hangs in my office where I work with women at the Pregnancy Resource Center. My original purpose was to depict a rough sea, but, as I was painting, I noticed that the sea looked like it was protecting the seedling. Is the seedling an unborn child? Is it the heart of the mother? Is it the seed of the Gospel? Is it my heart or yours? It could be any of those things, and they are precious and protected by our powerful God.
"Rivendell," Soft pastel on Uart paper, 2020