Dress up...

bird in progress 

&

She Often Found Herself In A Place Of Deep Magic

Many of my subjects dress up from time time and these two are no different.  Once I snapped this photo I realized that it appears each one is trying to be a part of the other's world.  The bird with the party hat and poetry and the female figure with her antlers longing for the time in the woods.  I'm not sure exactly what to make of it but they fit right into this day of disguises and trick and treats.

Happy Halloween!

Monday share....

new bits::new work

Greetings from the beginning of a week full of promise.  This week, college apps are being checked and rechecked and submitted (yikes!).  Tech week for one play is upon us and rehearsals for another have started (so fun).  Sports and practices have ended for the season(just in time). The power tools are put away and the incredibly loud growl of the air compressor hasn't been heard in two days and the floors are in....so happy.

Details are being taken care of for this show (necessary paperwork, packaging, business cards etc...).  It seems overwhelming if I think about it all together so I am checking off one box at a time and carving out time to create each day.   I think I'm on top of things and in pretty good shape but if anyone reading this post has done an art fair and has any advice or tips please feel free to share. 

Of course, I'm sure things will come up, (like they always do) but right now this week looks like a week where things will get done. It appears to be a week full of promise laid out in front of me like a long open road...time to see where it takes me.  

The start of something...

Three Magic Letters

5" x 2.5"

Carried Away

5.25" x 3.5"

Saying yes to more color this week and wondering where it will lead...

She longed to move the stars...

She longed to move the stars...

7.5"w x 9.5"h

“...as if the fullness of the soul did not sometimes overflow in the emptiest metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows; and since human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars.”

― Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

Happy Weekend!

New work...

If I Had A Hammer

7.5" x 10.5"

Greetings from the middle of a gorgeous week.  The mix of foggy, rainy days and muted blue autumn skies against the golden fall foliage are my perfect kind of days.  I've been in the studio at all hours and have many pieces in progress which I hope to share soon.  It feels so good to be back in a creative groove. I keep finding wee bits of inspiration in my massive pile of bits and scraps and am afraid I am getting a little ahead of myself but for now I'm just going with it.  Some bits are new but some like 'if i had a hammer' have been hiding in the pile for a couple of years, waiting for the right scraps of print and color to come along and give it context.  I love all the color in this piece and I love the process of taking a little block of color and turning it into a house, a home, an abode, a haven and here I've taken many blocks of color and built a whole neighborhood.  I know which house is my favorite (blue w/red dot roof) but if you were my neighbor which house would you live in?

Busy B-

almost complete & just started

A quick hello between projects and travel.  

I spent last weekend in Pittsburg with my 3 best friends from high school. Yes Pittsburg, who knew how great it would be?  If you haven't been there, and you live within driving distance or it's on your way to somewhere else, I would highly recommend spending a night or two.  The city setting is beautiful, the people were super friendly, the food scene is great and The Andy Warhol Museum is there and it is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Here at home, I have continued to carve out time in the studio each day and am really grooving on new color combinations and a new playlist (which includes lots of this).  It feels great to be working so much and the energy in the studio is spilling over into the latest house project too.  We have ripped out the variety of flooring in the three remaining rooms on the main floor and will start installing the quarter sawn white oak this weekend.  We had to wait almost 10 months for our supplier to find enough sustainably harvest wood to complete the remaining rooms but it was worth the wait.  Outside my studio door it is a construction zone with furniture and power tools piled everywhere but the end is in site and that makes me happy (of course these things are never really done but we will have the illusion of doneness once the rest of the flooring is in).  I just need to get one more coat of paint in the entryway before the weekend and then I can paint all the trim after the flooring goes down.

So, it's kinda crazy here but it's a creative-energy-messy-transformative-kind-of-big-picture-crazy and for right now it is good.   In fact, it's really good.  Next week I'll check in and share some of my new work.  Until then, wishing you a lovely rest of the week and weekend.

oh and- 

I have to throw in a tiny shout out to mama nature for the weather these days which is just spectacular :)