goodbye dear summer...

We sent summer off with some good old fashion fun at the Chelsea Fair. We attended the figure 8 demolition derby and tractor pull, saw a baby cow being born and visited lots of other farm animals in the five barns at the fairground, went on a few rides with the kids (yep, i went on that one), drank $1.00 lemonades and had many bags of fresh popcorn. We enjoyed time and meals with cousins and grandparents and got ourselves settled back in and ready for a new school year. Today the house is quiet and I am busy in the studio and out of the studio. It's only the 1st day but I welcome the routine, the quiet and the time. That, and I know we have a long weekend in Northern Michigan just around the corner : )

Make room for beauty...

Hi there. This is the commissioned piece I mentioned a few posts back. It is finally complete (except for a little paint around the edges) and it makes me really happy. It took me so very long time to complete this 16x20 inch piece but it found it's voice and taught me a few things along the way. The title is "Make room for beauty" and while it's hard to see the detail, the top is covered in silver leaf and the phrase "make room for..." is repeated many, many times with many different words (tears, joy, yourself, magic, etc...). It is for a special young woman and I hope she loves it : )

ps: we're off to my parents for the weekend so I'll see you back here monday on the 1st day of school!

new work x 7...

once she accessed a place of wildness (there was no turning back)

hindsight (she learned to treasure unexpected bits of wisdom

enormous tiny thing (a curious detail shifted her perspective)

the past drifted through her dreams (like a poem she used to know by heart)

magical thinking (or how ideas take shape)

she came upon a whisper (and it spoke a hundred truths)

elements of order (the sum of what is)

This collection of work is heading to New Hampshire and can be found on line here within the next day or two. A big high five to the amazing women who run Nahcotta for putting on 10 great shows filled with tiny goodness!

Happy Monday : )

early morning roasting...

As the last two weeks of summer begin to play out here they promise to be full of work time, play time, nothing time and everything time. I woke up today thinking about food (which is often the case around here) and realized we had not made use of the oh-so-gorgeous sun gold tomatoes we picked up at the farmer's market saturday so I set aside a handful for lunch today and then quickly tossed the rest in the oven with some olive oil, thyme and salt so they can be used in omelettes, pasta or on pizza later in the week. They smell divine and should be ready within the hour so I thought I would pop in here to say hello. We had visitors over the weekend who are now safely back home and yesterday as the weather took a autumnal turn I caught up on laundry, cleaning, marketing and still found time for knitting and sipping wine with friends. So this Monday I feel industrious and well rested and plan to get busy finishing up my pieces for ETA 10 as well as finishing up a last detail on a larger commisioned piece I created for the friend that visited. The self imposed pressure of creating something for a friend had tied me in a creative knot for some time but I worked through it and I'm happy to say that she loved the piece the minute she saw it. My soon to be high schooler has track practice twice every day, there are dentist and orthodontist appointments and school supplies to shop for as well as trip to my parents to enjoy a small town fair and a trip to Northern Michigan to Canoe, swim and fish and eek out one final hurrah as we kiss summer goodbye. I am looking forward to all of these things and am looking forward to sharing new work here as well as I get my creative mojo back in full swing. Sometimes I can get pulled under by the energy shifts that occur with the seasons and sometimes they wash over me and I feel renewed. So what's on your plate as summer winds down?

pieces of the puzzle...

After weeks of filling my days with summer follies I made time to get into my studio and get to work on my pieces for ETA 10. I've had the boards for quite some time but had put off getting started while I slowly accumulated snippets of newsprint and bits of color that inspire and scribbled titles and ideas in my notebook. Yesterday (when rain cancelled our plans for the beach) I went to work putting together the pieces of the puzzle I had gathered and I'm so happy with the way things are coming together. For me the real work is in the gathering and getting started, after that it's just working the pieces until they sing and that's the part I love. My parents were in last weekend to see my 13 year old perform shakespeare in the park (an adaptation of twelfth night which was fabulous) and a dear friend and her son are coming to visit and explore Chicago this weekend so I may not be back here until early next but these pieces should be ready to share as my 8/21 deadline is just around the corner!

Have a great week and thank you for stopping in...