Newest piece

I love my art room - it's a three-season room built onto what used to be the upstairs patio. But we're currently in the fourth season, so my old farmhouse oil painting is going to have to wait. I don't like bringing my easel into the kitchen and oh...ok fine--I've grown tired of it and need to work on something else before I go back and finish it. Yah, that's how I roll. But I WILL finish it. And I will post it when I do.

But anyway, I've been rolling this idea for an illustration around in my head for awhile now and I've sketched and sketched but cannot come up with a good composition (where to place figures, what angle and perspective the background is going, what direction the guestures are pointing and how they relate to each other - all things that dictate how someone viewing a piece of artwork moves their eye about the piece - it's all very dilebrate.) My inspiration comes from a story told by a man that I am currently doing the film editing on for his filmed autobiography. His great-great Grandfather was 19 and living in England, joined the LDS church, decided to come to America and cross the plains with the Willy Handcart Company to live in UT. His girlfriend also joined and wanted to come to America, so their parents said "Well, you might as well get married." So these kids got married, got on the boat together and started out on their adventure. The only thing he brought with him was his violin and the only thing she brought was her wedding dress, which she wore crossing the ocean. When I heard this story, an image of them dancing on a ship instantly came to mind - he: playing his violin and she: dancing in her wedding dress. Two crazy kids in love out on the open sea, gearing up to face the unknown. I related to this young woman - young, happy and naive, with tons of scary things ahead, things she didn't even know were out there waiting for her to experice, go through and learn from. So anyway, the story really touched me, as did the image but I haven't been able to come up with anything yet - the direction of his violin bow always looks like it's going to stab her and I don't want it pointing the other way or it just shoots your eye right off the page. I'll let you know when I come up with something and I'll post my initial sketches if you're interested in the process. If not, well, don't read it.

Top Ten Reasons Why I Get a Complete Kick Out of My Husband

10. He had longer hair than I did on our wedding day.
9. He uses old man phrases like "That's hogwash!"
8. He keeps his things in their original packaging.
7. He has made himself the exact same breakfast everyday for the past 5 years.
6. He will NOT watch a movie twice.
5. He has superhuman concentration and focus when he reads and when he's not reading, he's observing every single thing about everything and everyone around him. He misses nothing.
4. He washes the windshield while the gas is pumping, no matter how frigidly cold it is outside.
3. His favorite pair of gloves have no fingers.
2. As a child, he hid all of his baby teeth in a little bag behind a framed painting that hung in his room. He finally unearthed them while we were visiting there this summer.
1. I thought he was going to propose to me all over again when I brought THESE home from the grocery store for him:

One girl show

I believe my daughter has found her calling in life. Her composition is edgy and asymetrical, her subject matter chillingly domestic and her use of both vivid and pastel hues complement her techniques of movement and over-exposing, which brands her work as ethereal, innovative and inspirational. Raw and fresh - typical of children's artwork, these photos have the capability of breathing young life into old souls.

ART

I am an artist. I've had trouble with saying that sentence my whole life but I've finally decided that that's what I am and I shouldn't down play it. I have always said "I was an art major in college" and just brush it off like it's not part of my life anymore but it is. I'd like it to become even more a part of my life and I think I would be more likely to do things if I knew people would see them; I'd start being accountable for my artwork, so this blog will now be featuring my work in hopes that it will motivate me to start up again. I've taken a break for the past couple of months and have started doing more "crafty" things but it's time to get back to "real" artwork and I'm hoping by putting myself out there that it will motivate me - the more I do it, the better I will get and I'd really like to get better. So here are somethings I've done/been working on during the past year: paintings, drawings, sketches, etc.

So here is a painting I started about a month ago. Obviously, it's not done yet. I have also included the photo that I'm painting it from. It's 24"X36". I will post pictures of this painting for any of you interested in the process. If you're not interested, well then, don't look at it. Simple as that.



I get stuck on things sometimes and they don't get out of my system until I do something with it. For a long time it was oranges. Then it was circles inside of circles. Right now it's chairs.


Here is a bunch of drawings/sketches from my sketch book.

Home decor makeover

I was trying to think of something clever to say about all this but I've failed, so here's our new couch and our new pot racks - our pots were hanging from nails before due to our limited cupboard space, so we're excited. Also, note the new paint color, which looks different in this photo than in real life but you get the idea. This color can now be found throughout our house. Goodbye light green kitchen and light tourquoise entry/stairway/hallway. You were good to us for a six months but it was time for a change to a warmer color. PA might be cold, but our walls are now glowy and warm.

Our budding photographer

Here are a couple of pictures that Ruby took with her new digital camera that she got for Christmas. (Thanks Papa Tommy for standing in line for hours to get it for her.) I'm pretty sure these were all taken at a friend's little beach house we hung out in Newport while we were down in CA over Christmas.

Christmas

There are three people in this photograph. Only one is wearing pants and thank your lucky stars that it is me.

Freaks and Geeks. After this picture was taken, I left the Benihana dining/cooking area and took May to the bathroom to change her diaper. Guess who followed me out? Kobe Bryant. Did I know he was behind me at the time? No. Did I feel super cool anyway after my brother told me when I got back to the table? Yes.

Princess May-Bone.

The loveliness that is my brother, John Thomas. He's single, ladies...

May May and Daddy.

Papa Tommy.

Rubes and Uncle Joe.

Comments!

Sorry guys - for some reason the commenting feature my blog was all messed up and there were like 20 unposted comments out there just floating around. But they are there now. Not like you're going to look back through every single one of my posts to read all the missing-but-now-found comments...who has that kind of time? Certainly not "Mrs. Here I Come" right down there. She's too busy polishing the silver.
But seriously, some of those comments were dang funny, ya'll.

My constant conundrum

I collect illustrated books. My grandma is great about supplying me with the old ones. When we were moving into our house, I was putting my books onto our shelves and out fell this loose leaf page from on old Dick and Jane book. I found it so hilarious and a bit haunting that I stuck it on the fridge and there it has hung ever since. I don't know why it struck me like it did but the words "Here I come" instantly had two different meanings for me. First, (read this with a tone of hope and excitement:) "Here I come (exclamation point)" - like, "Wow - isn't she amazing? If only I could be like that!" and then second, (read this with a tone of dread:) "Here I come" like "Whoa, watch out or you'll become just like her. That would stink." Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with being a "house wife" or "stay-at-home-Mom" (I am one) - it includes the two most important things in my life - being a wife and being a mother. It's just those labels have stigmas and that's not all I want to be - some dolled up chick who mops her floors all day while she shoos the kids out to play and rushes to put on lipstick before her husband walks in the door. I want to also learn things and do things and create things. But I also aspire to having a spic-and-span organized home and happy, well adjusted children and I find myself being caught between all those things and trying to balance not becoming lopsided either way.
So anyway, some days I look at this on my fridge with hope and some days I look at it with dread. I just hope that some day I can find a happy medium between the two.

Wintertime in CA

This is where we have spent the last couple of days while back in CA. Oh, and for anyone who wants to know, this is what heaven looks like.