experiment

Another little experiment playing with watercolor collage and paint chips.

collage experiment

Playing with watercolor, collage and paint chips tonight. Wish the lighting was better, sorry about that.

This is what happens when you are sleeping so soundly you fall out of your bed. And yes that is the really crappy window sill in my office, I took out the trim to put new trim in and have not done it yet.

A few months ago I bought myself a new trim saw and I'm going to de-do all the trim in my house. Eventually.

Well I am going to have to get myself motivated because son #2 is coming home in less than nine months and I want EVERYTHING done around here.

Since this is my work space you can see why I always say my medium is watercolor etc. and a liberal sprinkling of cat hair.

porcelain

More of the beautiful pieces from Pat.
Nearly paper thin porcelain and lusterware too.....makes my heart beat a little faster.

Beautiful

Just the other day a friend called and asked if I would like to have some of her china pieces and plates. HOLY COW!!!!
Darn right I'd like it!
These are beautiful things and I will love and cherish them.
So here is a photo of some of the most charming ones.

Whoo Hoo! Love these!

Thanks Pat, yer the best.


P.S. Violets are my favorite flower, and nothing smells sweeter than a cluster of half-wilted violets clutched in a small childs hand.

New Prints for Etsy shop

Here is a group of new large prints for the Etsy shop.

There is a Etsy link to the right side of this page.

Hope you all enjoy these.

Thanks!!!

Robins egg blue

Wonder how many butt-hours this seat has seen.

This is the most wonderful color.

Love this color. We have all seen the ubiquitous green ones (tractors) but robins-egg blue? Fabulous. Wish the sun had been shining on it. The color would have been even better.

Hmm. Maybe I should paint this.

This is the painting I am supposed to be working on today and have been too lazy to do anything. Sigh.


Alex took the reference photo for me when he was in Brazil.
Perhaps this painting should be named "Ode to a Brazilian Mamma".


And this is the little stinker on my desk and sometimes I wish she would move so I could actually have some room on said desk. Sigh.

As I sit here in my office there is a cat on my desk, three dogs at my feet, a bird on her perch and a toothless cat staring at me 'cause I have not given him his soft food yet.

Again, Sigh.

Tonight as I took the chihuahuas out for a "stroll", the sky was the most magnificent Maxfield Parrish blue. My camera cannot capture the color and peace of it unfortunately. Thank God for my eyes, my hands, my heart. I am so grateful.

Lately this heart has been particularly tender and I don't know why. As I was sorting through papers the other day in a vain attempt to organize, I found a copy of my brothers eulogy at my mothers funeral, as I read through it tears streamed down my face and I wept as I have not done for ages. My mother. How I loved her and how much, for all my life I tried for her approval.

Because I believe so intensely that life goes on and there is life after death, I know my mother lives on as does my dad. They are aware of us and how we feel about them. They know we love them and they continue to love us and work for our benefit.

Though I wish intensely that my parents could see my wonderful sons here in this plane, I know they see them and are aware of how good and strong and clean and decent and righteous they are, what magnificent young men they have become.

My parents would be filled with pride and love for them just like I am.

Yesterday, in the grocery store there was a young man about the same age as my sons. He was a large kid there with his parents. They were obviously doting, loving parents and they were trying to keep their exuberant son just a little more quiet. He was not an average young man, he expressed child-like joy in a special treat promised by his father, his laughter and boisterous skipping was infectious. He laughed loudly, smiled ear to ear, skipped with enthusiasm, hugged his dad constantly, and as I watched him, I wept. There in the cold cereal aisle, tears streamed down my face as I was utterly filled with love for this wonderful young man.

Some people would call him handicapped, some, handi-capable which ever label one prefers, it does not matter, his innocence and absolute love and joy stands as an example to all. We spend so much time and energy is angst about what others think of us or what we have compared to others. We waste our lives in the consumption and acquiring of things, the constant quest for status and wealth. When was the last time any of us skipped? How many of us would dare? What would people think? What would they say? Perhaps the biggest question would be, what would it matter?

Joy. It is the simplest of things and yet the most elusive. Love. Even more elusive, at least the kind of love that requires nothing in return, and yet this young man who so many would consider lacking had both in abundance. My love and admiration goes out to his parents, they have a hard job. Despite what their son has and gives so abundantly this world has little appreciation for his gifts and life is difficult at best for those with a special needs child.

God bless his parents and him. God bless my sons. And God bless all of us who will never know that kind of unadulterated joy in this life. May we have it in the next.

Heartsease

Every spring these little faces bring a smile to mine.

We pass in the nursery or outside the grocery store and I nod and smile in familar recognition, each little face structured the same and yet so different and unique. No wonder they are called "heartsease".

They are simply happy. Just happy. We all need to remember, happiness is a state of mine and not of condition. If only I could remember myself, to be happy regardless of the situation.

Spring is coming, really it is. The hens are laying like crazy and a laying hen never lies;)

Years ago I did a pansy fabric for Kings Road. Perhaps I need to dig it out of the stash and start a pansy quilt this weekend. Yup. Sounds like a project.

pics around the house

Today when I was supposed to be cleaning, I took some pics around the house. This one is of the tiny gouache painting of my good boys hanging on my bedroom door.

This is in my dining room. The sign was from my grandpa's glass shop. He and his brother ran this shop for many years until they had a falling out then he changed his name spelling to Larsen. Kinda sad they never got together again. I am so grateful, through a series of serendipitous events, I got the old sign. It was a miracle.

When my kids were little I made this ship for them. In the hold there are little sailors and bags of food, a treasure chest and a map. There is a small bird cage and silverware, pots and pans, all kinds of fun stuff.

The piece of salvage trim hanging on my living room wall, and the vintage plates I love. Wish I had more of them! There are some more pretty ones put away, if I had tons of them they would be all over my walls.

This afternoon it was sunny and bright outside. The light through the stained glass shutters in my living room always makes my happy. I made these years ago and though it took me a while to complete them, it sure was worth it!!! I love these. For years I was afraid one of my kids would put a lacrosse stick through them but so far so good. Thank heavens, I'd have a heart attack if anything happened to these things.

Well back to pretending to clean stuff......

Mr. Tinky, sticks out his tongue when he is happy, and sitting on my lap having a good tummy rub makes him very happy.

Tigger in my bed this morning. Naughty dog. Happy dog. We sure lucked out when somebody dumped him over our fence. What a great little dog.

knitting, unfinished objects

There are so many things I need to finish and here are some of them jammed into my favorite bowl.

The rich brown merino will be a shawl. Alex gave me the wool for Christmas. The raspberry and grey stripe is a handdyed merino but I'm going to rip it out and re-do it in a Estonian lace pattern. The dark red in the back is a pair of socks in progress.

This is the most wonderful big bowl. Transferware is gorgeous anyway but this brown one is my favorite. I have several pieces that are beautiful there is an 1840's chocolate pot in black transferware which is fantastic and I love it. Of course as with all my really good stuff it is put away because in this house a kid will break it or a cat will pee on it. Sigh. It would be so nice to have all my lovely things out where they could be enjoyed but not in this house!!!!.

It's okay though. If the house was empty and perfect it would be lifeless.

Now back to the knitting and the quilting and the art-ing.

Life is good.

mud season

Last weeks pic of mud season. These birds actually enjoy the mud, not the chickens but the ducks sure do.

Mud makes them very happy and if there is not mud available they will make some!

Mud with a sprinkling of cat food, what fun, it's their favorite.

journal

When I was in St. George, I picked a pansy from the beds outside the Red Lobster. It dried between two napkins and notebook pages. Yesterday I placed it on one of my journal pages along with cutouts from vintage paper, my own scribbles and some gold leaf.

The journal pages are primed with gesso. It is just an old hymn book from a thrift store, the gesso covers everything and I can elaborate as I wish.

Rescue dogs

Thursday evening my sons and I picked up two elderly chihuahua's from Four Paws Rescue. We will be fostering them until we can find a suitable home. They were dumped in a cemetery along with twelve other little dogs and left to freeze to death. These two little ones are so darling, quiet and practically invisible. The dark one is the tiniest dog I have ever seen. They are so bonded to each other, they are practically two halves of the same body.

Tigger has made himself at home here. He sleeps behind my butt in the office chair all day and hogs the pillows in our bed at night. He is a good little guy. Very young dog, his permanent canine teeth are just barely starting to poke through his gums. He got some new toys yesterday and spent the afternoon playing and trying to get everyone else to play too. He got a new pillow for a bed under my desk but Yoda has taken it as her own.

I purchased some old books to start an altered book project. I have been gessoing the pages and messing with that project. Messing is the operative word here. Always a mess. Geez.

Today the silk dyes I ordered arrived. Now for another messy project. Silk painting. I am so excited about it. Concerned a little about the fumes from the gutta percha, it might bother the cockatoo but I think if I do it in another room and crack a window it should be okay.

This is going to be fun!!!!!

screenprint

As you can see my office is in it's usual state of mess. Maybe I'll clean the shelf off this week.

But also you can see the screen print by Steven Henry. Really neat and I love it. Again, the matte inks are to die for!

I may have to find a way to use these inks in paintings and bypass the screen process entirely.

It is the rich color, the flat ink and no brush strokes that intrigue me so much.

Computer art is often great stuff but nothing can match the effect of the hand.

I wish we could have an arts and crafts revolution again
and maybe we will or are, where the mark of the hand is again visible and the process of the mind can be traced within the art itself. William Morris, we need you again.

Also while yer lookin, check out the pic of my friend Michelle's hairless rat. He is so cute, his name is Harry.

Isn't this pathetic. Tim found this little soul stuck in our fence on Sunday. We think he was dumped at our house. He is so cute. But what a bawl baby. He crys if I am out of sight and he has to be touching me all the time. He is just so darn cute. He looks like a cross between a Dachshund and a Beagle, kinda low to the ground and long with an exceptionally long tail. I think I'll call him Tigger since he is so full of bounce. Maybe he should be called Velcro, can't decide. Maybe I should let someone else adopt him. He is awfully cute though, I have been wanting a little dog for a while now.

On Thursday I went with a friend (dear Nancy) to St. George for a Utah Art Educators conference. We had a good time and the classes were very good.

The cactus and palm trees were a nice change from the cold and mud we are having up North.

Isn't the purple tint on this cactus gorgeous?

The beautiful St. George Temple.....wish I could have got a better photo but perhaps this will become a painting.

One of the classes I took was a printmaking class by the talented and excellent teacher Steven Henry. The rich matte inks he used sent me over the edge. He used a silk screen reduction process and was kind enough to give many of us a print from the edition. Mine now has pride of place in my office and when the light is better I will post a photo of it.

If my studio was bigger this would be my new obsession. I simply don't have the room to start something like this. Charles Harper is one of my favorite artists and I have a serigraph limited edition print of his. The color and matte ink is just l like what Mr. Henry was using and I just love it. It is like gouache but without any brush stokes at all. Love it, love it.

Whatever High School kids get Mr. Henry as a teacher are very lucky kids. Nancy is an enthusiastic teacher too. What a pity the school systems don't have more of these kind of teachers.

Two of the educators there were also really involved with altered books projects with their students. Some of their students are really producing great stuff and it is amazingly beneficial to the kids especially the toubled ones.

That was interesting also. Maybe I'll start painting in old books too. There was some very creative stuff.

Well, gotta go draw something......