Frank's sunsets

My husband and I love to travel, so, even after having kids we have continued to do it often. We have always been of the opinion that if you start traveling with them when they are young then they will get used to it and become good travelers...even growing to love it with us.
After five years we are getting pretty good at the whole traveling with kids thing, but, while on our recent trip to New Mexico, we encountered one of our biggest traveling hurdles with kids so far. Our two year old daughter refused to fall asleep in our rented house.
Our solution? My amazing husband Frank decided that he would drive her around in the car every night so that she would fall asleep. He did this all 14 nights that we were there. He is amazing.
As an artist, and not one to loose out on a good opportunity, Frank would park in a beautiful stop every night after she was asleep, and do a watercolor of the sunset. Many, many sunsets. Each of them is lovely and a perfect snapshot of the place, time of day, light and atmosphere. I love looking through them and thought that I'd share a selection of my favorites with you here.
Call it a father/daughter colaboration of sorts.

Birthday

Two birthday self portraits.
Focusing today on this quote:
Life is the classroom. Love is the lesson

Right now....

I am loving...

These little hands sorting buttons,

this summer scarf,

wearing our matching sandals everywhere,

this new bag that I got in Santa Fe and the way it dresses up my stroller,

water play at the playground,

and Hydrangeas from our garden all over the house!

Message

Message

I was in the studio a lot this past week! Finishing this painting in 2 days. It came together so easily and almost seemed to be painting itself...well almost. I love it when that happens, it is as if the painting is telling me what it needs in each layer. I am thrilled to be getting back into the studio after a few weeks off for travel, with a mind that is bursting with ideas that have been percolating. In all 4 paintings that I've been working on since Santa Fe the blue of that sky (its there!) and the brown earth are working themselves in as the dominant color schemes. From vision to thought to canvas.

Oh That Sky

Vast

Rhythmic

Ever changing

Humbling

One of my favorite things about New Mexico is the sky. Oh that sky, it is the sky of my dreams, the sky of my fantasies, feeding my imagination. Out there on the high desert in Santa Fe, at 7000 feet, there are some places where you can actually have a hundred mile view. Its true, but I didn't believe it until a local confirmed it for me. We stood on a ridge during a hike and watched the play of lightening in clouds far away as storms moved across the plains. I love the lack of visual clutter out there, there are plains of sage and dirt and sky...Brown and Blue: those predominate and create a rhythmic whole. Resting my mind, refreshing my eyes from the daily assault of input and constant pace of New York City.

We went out there with the intent of meeting people, and had the good fortune to connect with quite a few. Over breakfast one morning, a new friend told us that the sky out there is like their ocean. I loved this analogy because at once its truth struck me! All of the descriptions that I would use for the ocean fit their sky, even down to the feeling that I had at the end of the day after we had spent the whole day out under that sky...I felt tired in the best way, as if I had spent the day at the beach.

Vast, rhythmic, ever changing, humbling, awe inspiring, soothing. Breaking things down into their textures and colors.

It is still on my mind and in my dreams. And oh, the sunsets.

Slowing Down

"There is more to life than increasing it's speed."
Mahatma Gandi

Walking past the above bench I was struck by the fact that while we were out in New Mexico I began receiving direct signs that I need to slow down and let myself feel things. Basically, I felt like I was being told to: Get Calm and Listen.
This is hard for me to do in my daily life as I try to balance everything, but it became especially clear to me as we were in Santa Fe, trying to decide if we could see ourselves living there...and I couldn't figure out how I felt about it! I was confused by my own lack of direction and then I realised that I was so caught up in "doing" that I could not sense my own intuition. Once I actually let go of the constantly nagging question of, "are we going to move here??", I began to relax and enjoy our time...and actually begin to envision a possible life for us there.



When we returned home last week I began my much anticipated e-course In The Fishbowl with the vibrant and amazing Marisa of Creative Thursday.
Imagine my surprise when in the first class she said this:
"We do not know how to take action from our intuition, because most of us don't know how to listen to our intuition."
As a person who has always felt very connected to my own inner voice and self, this was a real wake up! I know that I have been fooling myself into thinking that I am being deliberate and slow in my actions and decisions, when really I have been pushing myself into a place where I am just functioning. I am getting it all done, while really still struggling to try a new recipe or complete one of the 5 projects I have going on at once!

Get calm and Listen.

Marisa encouraged us to do just that this week as we start the e-course and I am ready. I am joyful to have the encouragement to do just that right now.

My favorite quote from her talk last week was this:
"Be very clear and pure of heart and fully embracing and believing in that which is YOU."

This is my manta for this summer!

travel inspiration

mati + lisa collaboration #2, originally uploaded by Bird in the Hand.

We just returned from our time away in New Mexico, and my body is home in NYC but my head is still spinning with thoughts, ideas and questions, making it hard to even do the laundry! So many beautiful sights delighted us in our travels, and I can't wait to blog about them and let them filter through into my paintings. One of the most astounding sights of our trip was the spotting of my first ever complete DOUBLE rainbow. It took my breath away. I was surprised and tickled to find this image on Flickr by Mati Rose, an artist whose blog I follow. For me it captures the moment of the rainbow, so captivating but fleeting all the same. It is full of depth and whimsy at once, a combination that I am often looking for in my work.

Flight

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for two weeks in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is one of the places that inspires my husband and I...and by extension our whole family, the most! We are so excited to be out there in the high desert, exploring new places and visiting old favorites from previous trips. Traveling is like a rebirth for me. When I return home I am always changed, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in large ones. Last year after 10 days in Santa Fe, we returned home with the full intention of moving there within the year. The place felt so right to us, and after a few visits we felt that the time to act on our gut instinct and "at home" feeling that we got there. For various reasons the timing has not been right for such a move, perhaps this trip will give us new insight. We are ready and open, surely much new inspiration will come to us!
I can't wait to feel the excitement of travel, not knowing what a day holds when you wake up and feeling the sun and air at 6000 feet.