Works in progress...

The wheels are in motion, the balls are in the air and the train has left the station.  Any way you put it, things are happening in these parts.  I started packing over the weekend, figuring if I can manage a box or two per day it won't seem like such an overwhelming task.  I have just over three weeks to pack everything up and knowing I have a good start allows me the breathing room to do other things (like paint and cook).  In fact, as I write this post that pot of onions (shown above) is entering it's 2nd hour of cooking down to become French Onion Soup for dinner tonight and the smell is soooo amazing.  The recipe is pretty simple and much less greasy than the version you find in most restaurants.  It will be a special treat alongside a simple salad on this snowy day.  In addition walking from room to room, making mental lists and chopping onions I also spent some time in the studio working on a new encaustic piece.  That is exactly where I want to be the rest of the week and I hope to share a few more creative works in progress soon.  What are you working on these days?

State of Grace

State of Grace

4.25"x4.5"

Hiding in plain site, that's kind of what I've been doing.  I've been here but not really been here. I've been in the studio way too little but when I'm in there it's been good.  There have been many ups and downs over the past 6 months but now things are moving forward.  I am happy (and sad) to say that we have sold our gorgeous old house by the lake and will be moving out at the end of March.  We sold our home by owner to a private buyer and the process has been very open and personal which make handing over the keys a tiny bit easier.   We are planning a move back to Ann Arbor, Michigan which is where we lived before we lived here.  We have friends and family in the area and are still searching for a new old home with a little bit of land on which to plant ourselves.  Trying to secure a short term rental here that allows dogs took many, many calls and emails but I'm so happy (and relieved) to say that we just signed a lease that will give us a place to call home until the end of the school year.  Now that things are set in motion and many loose ends have been wrapped up I plan to spend the next two weeks painting before I have to start packing. So, I'll be back soon, sharing new work and more on what comes next, but for now I'm enjoying a brief state of grace where all is calm before the storm.  

Found...

Found

3" x 3.5"

Just wanted to share this new little piece. The secrets this tiny bit of metal may have locked away and the treasure it may have kept safe will always be a mystery but the powerful image of the key (and all it represents) speaks to me today.   

What hope looks like...

What Hope Looks Like

7.5" x 8"

The Company I Keep

6.5" x 8.5"

Hi there.  I finished up these two pieces over the weekend but had a bit of trouble photographing the black backgrounds over the past few warm, grey and stormy days.  This morning the sky is clear and blue and the sun is reflecting off the sparkly white snow that is now covering everything.  I am totally loving black backgrounds right now but they are tricky to photograph because a flash tends to create a glare on the surface and so the natural light has to be bright enough to capture the detail.  Anyways, these pictures I took this morning are pretty good but in person the paintings are slightly less milky looking and read a bit darker. I played around with the skin tones in both of these pieces and really like the depth and life the bits of color give to these women. I think it adds a warmth and energy which plays off the pink dress and the grey and white dresses equally well.  I have been thinking about hope a lot these days and the butterflies in the top painting seem to capture exactly what hope feels like to me.  Hope can be breathtaking, beautiful and delicate, fleeting and often appears when it is least expected.  That's really all I have for today...thanks for reading and have a lovely rest of the week and weekend.

keeping on and keeping busy...

keeping on and keeping busy over this past week 

new pattern and yarn given to me for Christmas

commissioned work (In and Out of Years)

thunder, lightening and torrential rain

sixty-five degrees here today

nineteen tomorrow

and Snow

::

Off to sea...

A rare evening post to share a bit of new work that has me smiling.  A friend from my son's school recently contacted me about creating a special piece of art for her upcoming anniversary. I agreed to meet with her to discuss some possibilities and today she stopped by with these amazing shells that she and her husband had collected on a recent family vacation.  All three shells are absolutely gorgeous and rather than picking one I decided to incorporate all three in a larger piece.  I'm thinking that they will really shine on a black background but they are so perfectly perfect next to my mermaids that I am already thinking up ways to do a little shell seeking myself  : )

oh and...made this for dinner and it was sooo good!

shimmery new work

These lovely ladies are the shimmery stuff of dreams.  I didn't go into the studio planning to paint a mermaid (in fact i'm not sure i've ever thought about painting a mermaid) but last week, early one morning, I picked up the long block in the center, noticed a scrap of white in my stash, saw an image in my head and started to paint.  With the 1st mermaid as my muse I created two more over the next couple of days (while I should have been working on many other things...ahem.).   I love the black background, the bit of shimmer and the 2" thick wood blocks.  I plan to create a few more mermaids and have another image from the sea in mind too...stay tuned.  Wishing you a week full of unexpected inspiration : )