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...

when there are enough hours in a day...

We were supposed to be visiting my parents in Michigan this weekend but the excessive heat, violent storms and our recent travel led us to postpone our trip until later in August(thank you mom & dad) and it was a solid decision. This weekend was that unexpected one where you gain time and it magically unfolds in slow motion and you are able not only to do the hours of yard work that need to be done but also to visit the farmer's market, cook*, bake* and take time to enjoy it all. The past few days have been full of physical labor in my own garden and the elementary school's garden, time in the kitchen and time with board games, lots of time in the kitchen and time at the table, time in the studio and time reading the paper (and snipping bits here and there for new work) and at the end of each night a walk for the dog and a glass of wine in the chairs by the the coop with C as we watch the chicks enjoying their new digs.

This was a full circle weekend around here and I can only hope the same is true for you : )

*sweet and spicy bread and butter pickles

*blackberry buttermilk cake

(also made these which were awesome)

last week (or a few things that go too fast)....

time on the water & time to notice things

go karts & being seven

17 years & dusk at the beach

Time with family is one of those things that always goes by too quickly. After a few days together in a lovely house set up for twelve you kind of get into the rhythm of living large. There's lots of noise, someone always around, someone always cooking something or making plans to set off to the beach, go for a bike ride or walk and once we part ways I always feel a little melancholy (it's as if I instantly feel nostalgic about events that happened only days ago). We've done a handful of these trips thanks to the generosity of my in-laws over the past 12 years and they have become a treasured means of looking back for our family. But now we are home and settled in, unpacked and trying to stay cool as the temperature hovers around 115 : ( I am on a mission to keep the chickens cool now that they are living outside 24/7. So far today I have fed them frozen baby peas, cool cantaloupe and blueberries and misted them with the hose (they didn't like that last one). I have also set a small plastic tub on it's side in their run and put a few frozen ice packs in it so it it a bit like a cooling room. They haven't come around to lying inside the tub yet but I'm going to keep putting treats in until they get the idea. I'm so happy to say that the office is cleaned up and put back together and my studio is calling my name. I have a looming deadline ( ETA 10!) and nine boards prepped and ready to go. I didn't realize how much the chicks sharing my space would hinder my ability to work. The heat lamp, closed door and fine layer of dust that took over the room led to zero painting being done for a number of weeks but now life and painting go on. I'm hoping to share the foundations for these new pieces within a few days and am looking forward to working on a large family of pieces which is something I haven't done in a while. What are you up to during these dog days of summer?