don't go fishing today!

how's your New Year starting out?  ours is starting out a bit rough, lots of coughing, runny noses and even a bit of throwing up yesterday for Fischer, but it still feels good to have a fresh new year ahead of us.

i had to share this calendar that we got from my mom,  she got it for free at her local hardware store and my husband and i ooohed and aaahed over it so much that she really had to give it to us.  it's one of those old fashioned calendars that i remember hanging at my grandparents house.  it doesn't have beautiful artwork gracing every month, but it is loaded with so much useful information.  did you know that yesterday was the new moon? or that today is not a good day to go fishing, or that the moon is in the sign of the goat and your knees will be more sensitive today?  our old calendar didn't even tell us when the full moon was!  this one tells us when the moon and sun rises and sets and the day length.  we gain over 40 minutes of day light this month!  yeah!  my dad said he remembers his grandma planting and harvesting during certain phases or signs of the moon.  this year i'm going to try to garden more with the signs of the moon and zodiac and see what happens.  my carrots never came up last year maybe it was because i planted them under a wet sign such as Pisces.  did you know that if you pick apples and pears in the old of the moon the bruised spots will dry up and if they were picked in the new moon, the spots  will rot?  i just love this calendar!  some day when i have my own studio, i'll have a beautiful calendar filled with inspirational artwork, but for now this is the calendar that is getting my attention.  i'll have to keep you informed through the year to see how it all works, but i think it has a lot of information that has been lost over the last few generations.



this is a collage/painting that i did a few weeks ago, but haven't finished.    the little tents were meant for a background, but i loved how they looked and couldn't imagine covering most of it up, but now i'm not sure what to do with it.   maybe little dragons peaking around the corners, or little princess girls with pointy hats with ribbons, i'm not sure, i feel stuck with this one and can't come up with anything that inspires me.

while writing this blog post, miss amelia was busy painting and sipping on her tea.  it's so much fun watching her do things that i also enjoy.

Happy New Year!

out with the old and in with the new.  new year's eve has always been a bit of mixed emotions for me.  i'm always a little sad  when i have to say goodbye to the old year, but it's also exciting to greet the new year and all of its possibilities.

right before Christmas i filled up my old art journal/sketchbook and began my new one.  it's always fun to start a new art journal/sketchbook.    a blank slate, endless opportunities and ideas just waiting to be put to paper!   a little intimidating, but always exciting.  it took me just over a year to fill my last journal/sketchbook.  this seems like kind of a long time to fill it up, so one of my new year's resolutions will be to draw more. my art journals are just like the old year, it's always fun to look back on them and see what has happened over the year.  the pages of my old journal are mostly filled up with pictures of girls, lots and lots of them.  the first page of my old journal started with many sketches of girls faces and  while getting the photos ready for this blog post, i realized that i did the same thing on the first page of my new journal.  hmmm, what does that mean?  i'm not really sure, but i wanted to practice drawing faces from different angles and it just happened to be the first page of the journal.   i can't say that i see much of an improvement in my drawings, but i think i'm starting to see my own style start to emerge which is exciting.  all of this only reinforces my resolution to draw more.



i welcome this new year and all that it has to offer.  it's time to bring on those new year resolutions and new goals.  it's time to open up an etsy shop,  it's time to be more confident and brave with my artwork,  it's time to become a better writer and blogger, while still finding time to create, and with time i hope to become a better listener, a more patient mother and wife and organize my time better and finally it's time to open myself up to more friends.  

knowing when to stop

do you ever reach a point in a painting, drawing or creative project where you just have to stop working on it for fear of reaching the point of no return and ruining it completely?   i've reached that point with this painting, hopefully i'm not too late.    something still doesn't feel right with it and i'm not sure what, but i know if i keep adding things to it that i'll just ruin it.   sometimes when i think a painting is done, but i'm not quite sure,  i'll put it in a spot where i have to walk past it at different angles throughout the day until i can figure out what it does or doesn't need.   i'm going to give that a try tomorrow, and if i'm still not sure, i'm going to put it away for a few weeks and pull it back out and see how i feel about it.  sometimes a little time and space is all that is needed to give a fresh perspective on things. 

our birthday boy

fischer turned 6 today!  i can't believe it has already been  6 years since our sweet little boy  came into our lives and changed it forever.  today was fischer's day from the moment he woke up.    grandma took him out to lunch to the restaurant of his choice and to the book store.  for supper he wanted chicken and dumplings which is his absolute favorite.
i wanted to make cupcakes and put dinosaur sprinkles on them, but he wanted a cake with either a t-rex on it or a velicoraptor, i went with the t-rex.  it wasn't  the greatest looking t-rex, but fischer liked it, especially when he added some dinosaur sprinkles to it.  i think it's  kind of hard having a birthday so close to Christmas, but it didn't seem to bother him at all, especially knowing that in a few weeks we will be having his birthday party with his friends.  (he wants  a dinosaur party)
all day there was such sweetness and joy on his little face, along with a  sparkle in his eyes!  i have so much to be thankful for.

flying with friends

i hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas.  we've been laying low around here after all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  i finished this painting right before all the family descended upon us and our household was turned upside down in festivities.   i do all of my  painting on our kitchen table so all of my art supplies were put away for the last week, but they are back in their familiar places, the counter top, table, and the floor.  i really need to figure something else out, but the kitchen is the coziest room in the house, it gets good light and i can do some quick painting or drawing while i'm waiting for things to cook!  the kitchen gets kind of messy when i'm in the middle of a project and it gets to be a bit of a drag to have to clean up before each meal and when i go to bed, but maybe that's  a good thing!

around here

yesterday i woke up to the most beautiful winter sky.  the sun was just coming up and the sky was glowing pink,  everything appeared so still and cold, and indeed it was, the thermometer read -10!  these last few days have seen a lot of indoor activity, mostly of the Christmas kind. 
everyday this week amelia has been asking,  "mama are you going to paint?"  she has been enjoying her watercolors and has figured out how to use them and not make the colors all muddy. 




it always amazes me at  how much they are always watching and learning from us.  i guess i put my paint brush in my mouth sometimes, especially if i'm doing a collage, because amelia will put her brush in her mouth when she is painting and then say, "you do like this mommy?"  and i say "yes honey, i do like that!"



i made the most wonderfully delicious  peppermint bark yesterday, which the recipe came  from Amanda Blake Soule of  Soule Mama.  it's three layers of chocolate with crushed peppermint in between.   i started with just one batch in the morning and it turned out so beautiful and yummy that i went back to the store for more chocolate and did two more batches in the afternoon.  this stuff is soo good, it just melts in your mouth  and is going to make fabulous gifts for neighbors and friends.  my family has already eaten up all the little nibblets and are hoping for more.  it just looks so pretty in their little jars!



i finally got my Christmas cards out today!  yeah!  in between all this Christmas activity i've still been able to sneak a little painting time in here and there.  hopefully i'll be able to finish this one tomorrow.

running behind

hopefully i can get my Christmas cards out in the mail tomorrow, i decided to go with the reindeer painting for the print.  i'm not totally happy with how they look, but since time is short, this is what i'm sending out.  it's not unusual for me to be running behind on getting my cards out,  at least  everyone always seems to get their card before the holidays, even the year my husband tried to send them with out stamps on them!    i wish i could use the excuse that i'm always behind because they are handmade, but i'm just a procrastinator and time moves much to fast for me these days.
every Christmas since Amelia was born, the holiday photo has been in front of the Christmas tree. i wanted to try something else this year, but guess what, i ran out of time, so here they are in front of the tree.  maybe it will become the traditional holiday photo spot as they grow through the years.

a little fairy goodness

 
here's a sweet little fairy that i finished up today.  i'm really happy with the results.  i've noticed that a lot of my paintings have turquoise in them, so i tried to use a different color palette.  the little butterflies in her hair were a complete accident.  i used painted coffee filters for her hair and after it dried,  some of the darker pieces formed a little butterfly on the left side in the most perfect spot, so i then repeated it for the right side.  don't you just love it when accidents like that happen?

have a wonderful weekend!  i know ours is going to be a snowy one! 

chickadee

chicka-dee-dee-dee, chicka-dee-dee-dee,  i love these little birds and their sweet little song.  they are one of the few birds that stick it out here in Wisconsin for the winter.  what brave little guys.    i'm thinking Santa will be bringing some yummy bird seed to fit in  this stocking.

a butterfly for christmas

i started this painting back in august or september.  i can't even remember what the original painting started as or what i was trying to do, i remember not liking where it was going so i  just kept adding more paint and eventually i got so frustrated with it that it went into a corner for a few months.   occasionally it would catch my eye but i would quickly look away with a little "hmmmph".  about a month ago  it caught my eye again and this time i felt the urge to add a few quick touches  to it, but then it when right back to its corner.   i did this several times over the past month and now i reached a point where i can say that it is finished, and i think i actually like the end results.
this painting is going to a friend of mine for her Christmas present.  she had come over and seen it hiding in its little corner awhile back and said she really liked it and my immediate response was " you can have it".  i think i told her it would be her Christmas present, if not, she knows now!