Merry and Bright

Once we got our Christmas tree up the decorating began in full force, along with some ginger bread fun which was clearly hard for some people to hold back from,

The kids and I had such a great time setting up this mini Christmas tree for all of the fairies and small animals who live on our family nature table,

We unwrapped the beloved wool Nativity made by my amazingly talented friend Nicole, and placed it in the middle of our living room where Carys gazes at and caresses the baby Jesus figure multiple times a day in the sweetest way.

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care,

Our stag head even got in on the decorating this year,

On our front door I hung a straw wreath from Ikea that we've had for a few years now and was such a great bargain as its simplicity goes with anything and it seems like it will last forever. This year I stuck some pieces of dried Hydrangea flowers in it to spice it up.

On either side of the door I placed small Lemon Cypress plants, which smell really amazing and make me happy every time I walk by.

Our front door has 6 window panes and as I was going through our Christmas decorations I found these six small gilded paper birds. I hung one in each pane, they hover there and move when the door opens,

they look great in silhouette too,

Finally,  I found the perfect spot for these hanging star garlands above our stairs. I bought them a while ago at the Union Square holiday market, which you should definitely visit for amazing creative gifts if you are ever in NYC during the holiday season. That holiday market is one of the things that I am missing about NYC as this season approaches, but we are heading north for the holidays and we've got a short visit to our old city worked in there! It will be our first time back since our move 6 months ago and I am a bit scared and nervous to go back since leaving was so hard, but mostly I'm excited to see old friends!

I enjoyed this post about holiday decorating on a design blog that I've been visiting lately

with some really great easy DIY ideas for holiday decorating, and this clever craft tutorial that would delight my kids for our family nature table.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

I just finished this new painting, I'm getting a lot of new work finished up for our show on May 7th. If you are in NYC we'd love for you to come, here is all of the info...

Painting of the week: Unfurling

Unfurling

Even though we had what I hope is our last snow of the season today I can feel it, spring fever is setting into my soul. Getting my hands into the dirt to plant last weekend awakened my hibernating spring self, now I'm wanting to wake up to sunshine and sandals each day!
All of that for now is being channeled into the studio where it manifested in this new painting about waking up, taking a deep stretch, and unfurling into all of the potential with in.


As we have been unfurling into our new selves, the ones who are moving from Brooklyn in less than 2 months, I've felt myself needing more times in which I can be deeply pensive. Also, there is a heaviness that I know many of us have been feeling for Japan recently. I have been isolating myself from much of the news coverage, but I have seen enough to haunt me. Following the tsunami just after Christmas in 2006, I remember feeling similarly helpless and deeply saddened, imagining my own children being torn away from me in a wave of water as I had heard interviews with parents who had lived that nightmare. The horror that people in Japan are living right now is too much to bear.
Besides donating to the Red Cross I also came across this site, The 1000 birds Project, which was just begun by a Japanese artist and blogger living in England. She is making 1000 ceramic (and cute!) birds that she will sell online, donating all proceeds to the relief effort in Japan. I'm looking forward to getting a few when her online shop is set up, which should be any day now.

Through the Darkness

::Winter's breath blows cold and swift,
while we sit together,
waiting patiently for the sun's return,
the earth's rebirth,
through the darkness::

I'm sneaking up on the 200th sale in my shop, only two sales to go, I'll send a special surprise "something" to the person who is the 200th sale!

I've just added this wintry painting, Through the Darkness, to my shop for the first time, right here. Sending you wishes for a warm wonderful weekend!

xo

New Postcard Sets

Thank you so much for all of your wonderfully supportive comments on my last two posts about our planned move! Your affirmations and responses are so special to me! Amidst all the goings on here I managed to list a few new things in my shop...

I'm crazy about these new postcard sets, they are the same great quality as my original postcard sets, but this time I thought I'd shake things up and offer them in themes, all in sets of six. There is the Deer Set that you see above (with a few wild horses thrown in!). And the Lotus Set,

and the Bird Set,

I don't think I can pick a favorite set, as I had so much fun choosing which images to use in each one, but all are perfect for saving, framing or sharing.

Did you all enjoy 1/11/11 yesterday? There was a moment when I looked at the digital clock in our bathroom and it read 11:11, and that felt very special.

Also, if you have not seen this short documentary about the man behind the amazing blog The Sartorialist, you must go watch it now, it is fantastic and inspiring!

Feeling, Holding, Waiting

Feeling, Holding, Waiting; acrylic on canvas

Yesterday was a very productive studio day for me, and I was able to put the finishing touches on a couple of paintings, including this little one that I worked on through out the summer, but it just did not feel resolved until yesterday. The details finally came together, and this post really is about details.

Thank you so much friends for your response to my interview over at Dana's blog. I see that the question,"How do you get your creative work done when you are responsible for a home and for kids?", deeply resonates with so many of us, and just hearing how we all make it work in our own way is like getting a resounding "Yes" from the universe! Yes, it is possible, look we are doing it and see all of the goodness that is spreading through our making time for the work that we need to make!

In my thinking and journaling about this topic there is something else that I only really touched on in the interview but I think that it needs more attention.
One of my biggest hurdles to getting my work done
 is that it is easier for me to see the interruptions and the care-giving as obstacles, harder for me to remember that these "obstacles" are my life. But sometimes, when my mind and heart have the right focus I see that the interruptions ARE what drives me.
I remember that these things that are happening around me are the art, this is what I am painting about, those bath times, playground times, meal times, story times...they are all adding up to relationships that are so full and rich that they teach me more about love and joy than I could ever learn another way. They are the meat of my life. The heart of everything lies right there, right now.
What if our creative life and our practical life aren't separate?

I am trying not to separate my art and my life, and the integration is hard, and the rewards are boundless.
I just know that I can not put off making my art until everything is perfect, when there are no interruptions, it is too easy to put it off and think that, "I'll get back to this at a better time."
There is no better time.
And so, I do the work to be present in the "now", to notice the details and develop a practice of mindfulness because it is the little things, swirling around me as I work, that hold immense inspiration.

Across the Sky

 Across the Sky

 As a freelance decorative painter Frank's work schedule is quite variable, sometimes he is around a lot and we can share child care equally, while each having time to do our art. Other times he works long hours leaving the house before the kids or I wake. For the past few weeks he has been working on an outdoor mural job in New Jersey, one of those jobs where he leaves early, which leaves me practically no time to myself, let alone time to work in the studio.
But.
I am always amazed at how even during these times when I am most busy and constantly caring for my children if I allow myself to stay open to it...inspiration finds me. I always have my pen and paper near so that I can harness the ideas when they come and these days have been full of them. So full in fact that when Frank took the kids out this weekend so that I could have a solid few hours to paint, I dove in quickly and was so satisfied. I painted with a fire that left me feeling deeply refreshed!
I've got 5 paintings in progress right now, and I finished this one in one day.
The birds are soaring and they are taking me with them, Across the Sky. I worked on it quickly and deliberately, then took the painting out to our front stoop where I sat and watched the kids have a water fight with the neighbor children.

I'm looking forward to sharing the other pieces that I have in progress with a few other sneak peeks as I'll be wrap things up in my studio at the end of this week, in preparation for a couple of trips that we'll be taking. We'll be traveling for most of August, first visiting family in Asheville, North Carolina and then our big trip to England to visit my brother and his family (and meet his new baby!!). I'm always excited for the change of perspective that travel brings!

Road Trip!

We are in the middle of packing for a road trip! Yeah! We leave tomorrow for two weeks away in which we'll be driving down to Charleston, South Carolina then back up through Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, visiting family and camping along the way. We've been making preparations all weekend, but we had time to fit in a little fun to celebrate the holiday, grilling with friends and visiting the Bronx Zoo one of Jasper's favorite places. We saw quite a display there,

the Peacocks who wander the grounds of the zoo were out in full force, I had never seen so many of them making displays at once, it was gorgeous...

So inspiring!

I'm really looking forward to traveling for the next couple of weeks. I love the feeling of simplicity that comes with a good road trip, and camping, paring everything down to the minimum of possessions and necessities helps me to pare down my thoughts as well.

I have my summer reading all ready to go too, here is what I'm very excited to jump into...

 Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

The Double Comfort Safari Club: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel

Along with some books on tape for the kids for the long car ride! I think that we'll be doing lots of small stops and side trips to take the edge of those hours in the car along the way.

Grace and peace to you friends, I'll be back soon with many stories to share!

xo

Fauna

Being blessed with an animal obsessed son has some big advantages, the biggest one being that where ever we go there is absolutely no way to avoid going to all of the animal attractions around. I love it!
Our Florida adventure continues here, where the other day we visited a place called Parrot Jungle. I didn't know so many varieties of parrots existed, and I was completely captivated by their beauty.
We were so close to them, feeding them from our hands on their perches. Their feathers were like velvet...and oh those colors.

Just beyond imagining!

Photo shoot

I have been having visions and ideas for a shop and blog banner for a few months now. So many great ideas swimming in my head. Since I absolutely do not know how to do any web design on my own and would not even begin to know how to create an image on my computer, I decided to create a banner the old fashioned way. I set up a photo shoot using different fonts and much loved objects to create the look that I was going for. What fun!
I'm pretty pleased with the results, and I am loving the look of my blog and shop as they come together! What do you think?

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.