Up and Away

Have you ever wished you could just float away in a hot air balloon?  Leave behind all you worries and stress?  Even if it was just for a few moments?

  

I'm still not feeling 100% here, so when I was working on the hot air balloon I kept wishing I could just float away on this little balloon, maybe to a fun little dream land where meals never had to be cooked, bills were non-existent and no one had ever heard of cancer or global warming!  One can dream right?  When I look at this painting, I am taken away to that magical place, even if it is just for one small moment.

Hope you find some magic in your weekend!

Sick Day(s)

Our family has been whallopped this week with some nasty cold bug.  My husband went down Sunday evening, I went down on Monday,  Fischer started today, and time will tell if Amelia will get it too, she's starting with the cough, so my guess is the fever, headache and body aches will start tomorrow.  My husband is feeling better today, so I hope I will follow soon.



Nothing soothes a sick body quite like homemade chicken noodle soup, thank you Grandma Joanne!




Fischer had some quiet time on the couch with a nice cool washcloth on his forehead,




while Amelia made a huge mess in their playroom!



How could such a sweet little face make such a big mess?

On my table

I was hoping to finish this sweet little fairy painting last evening, but I'm not quite sure what I want to do with the background.  The fairy is closed to being finished except attaching her wings and a little line work.  I had went up into our attic the other day and saw this wood panel that I had started last fall.  The colors jumped out at me and I knew it would work well for a little fairy.  The original painting had bleeding heart flowers on it, but wasn't working and that's why it ended up in the attic.



Overall I like the background, but it just needs a little something yet.  Maybe a few butterflies?   It's definitely a very springy color palette with the nice robin egg blue.  Which by the way I saw my first robins on Wednesday!  Yeah, spring is on the way and the days are getting longer and warmer!

I've seen a few pictures of hot air balloons lately and can't seem to get them out of my head, so I started a new painting with one in it.  Not sure what direction it is going to go, but I'm excited.  My husband won a raffle for a hot air balloon ride this past year, so this spring or summer we are going to go on our first ever hot air balloon ride.  I'm excited, but definitely a little bit nervous and scared to go. 

We're headed to Madison today for Fischer's last hockey tournament of the season.  It's been a long season and he's definitely ready to be finished (and so are his parents!)but the weekend will be filled with fun, grandparents and friends!

Have a lovely weekend filled with your own kind of fun!

Some quick fixes

I love, love, love my new studio.  I find myself spending more time in it then I ever thought I would.  It's amazing how taking out the carpet and refinishing the floors can add so much to a room, both in look and in feel.  I was a little sad about moving everything out of our sunny kitchen, but I'm so much happier now that I don't spend almost my whole day in there!  At times I felt  like I never left that room, between cooking, eating and painting in there, yikes.  I didn't realize how much I really needed my own space.  It is so refreshing for me!

I just got back from my parents on Sunday afternoon, so yesterday was a day of laundry, unpacking and trying to get back into our rhythm.  After the kids were all tucked in, I was tired, but felt like I should do something with my time, but wasn't quite ready to dive into a new painting.  So instead I decided to do a few things to help spruce up my little space.

I keep my packaging and printing supplies in this beautiful hutch, and thought it was about time to put some fabric on the doors so everyone doesn't have to see all that stuff.  When I stepped back and had a look afterwards, I couldn't believe how something so simple made such a difference.  It really made me feel more calm and almost a sense of relief.




So with one simple task completed, I moved onto the ugly throw pillows that we have had for years.  They are a wonderful size, but not very attractive.  It's been on my to-do list for years to sew some covers for them.   Lately sewing has not been my favorite thing to do, so I really had to sweet talk myself into doing this last night.  It took a lot of convincing, but I got it done.




Much happier pillows don't you think?  The fabric choice isn't my favorite, but it was what I had in my stash.  I wanted a thicker fabric and lots of it, plus I already had it so I didn't have to buy anything.  There definitely not very fancy pillow covers, but they do the job.

Fischer said the most perfect thing this morning, while checking out the pillows in their reading corner, "These pillows look really comfy now, even though I know they are the same pillows."   

That was all that I needed to hear!

Honey bee

"To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, 
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few" 
          -Emily Dickinson

                                                                "Listen to the  bees"      Available here.


Yes, a revery or a dream alone will do.  Isn't that what gets us through the day sometimes?  A little daydreaming?  But you never know where those dreams might take you!

I've been using more patterns in my backgrounds (I'm having so much fun doing this) and right away thought about the little honey bee and their sweet sweet honey.     Bees are truly amazing aren't they.  Such a vital little creature for our existence, these wonderful little pollinators!

I'm off to my parents again today.  My mom starts her second round of chemotherapy on Thursday and I know it helps her in so many ways to have Amelia and I there.  I'll be back next week.  Have a wonderful week.

(I think I need to change my blog header, it just doesn't look right with all of these spring paintings I've been posting!)

Spring/Winter

I  just love these cheery cherry blossoms with their little polka dot friends.  It makes me so happy when I look at it.  It took me close to 3 hours to cut out all the little flower petals from my painted tea bags, but the results are worth it.  I just love working with tea bags!

























These little birdies match perfectly with my lime green walls in my studio.  These little guys look like they are in the middle of a conversation, or are sharing a little secret with each other. 




So even though I've been busy painting away at all things spring and totally enjoying it,  Amelia and I have still been able to have some fun in our recent snowfall.  Yesterday she kept hugging the little snowman that we built.  I even overheard her saying "I love you little snowman" and then she gave him a kiss.  It was the sweetest thing! 

 

Unfortunately as the day progressed and the temperatures warmed up his poor little head fell off and she cried and cried for her little snowman.   It was pretty sad, but luckily her sadness didn't last for too long and we have this picture to remember him with.

Spring blooms

                                                                    "Spring Blooms"  Print available here.

This piece was inspired by all the spring photography that I've started to see pop up.  These little blooms are just starting to burst out.  We've had some wonderful weather here in Wisconsin and am really looking forward to spring.  We're expecting a little bit of snow tonight but I feel like we are coming out winters strong grasp.  We've had so much wonderful sunshine here lately that I can't complain. 

Playing around

I love reusing tea bags in my artwork.   Fortunately for me there seems to be no shortage of them at our house.  I love the look, transparency, the feel and their durability.  Sometimes the color of them can be a challenge.  In my head I wanted these flowers to be a brighter pink, but many times with the tea bags you get a darker color.  Of course it depends too on what kind of tea was in the bag.  My morning Chai makes for a darker tea bag, while my afternoon  green tea is usually very light colored.

When I want a truer color I choose the lightest tea bags as possible.  These flowers were painted with watercolors and then I used acrylic paint and white ink for the stripes.  Usually I paint them with a very watered down acrylic, like the brown circles in the painting.  When you use acrylics though you loose a lot of the transparency. 


 
                                                                            Print available here.


My goal for this painting was to just play around a little bit with the tea bags and  especially with patterns.  It started out feeling very rigid and tight, but I feel like I got over that and I'm feeling happy with the results.

Speaking of Love

I was paging through one of my old sketchbooks and came across a quick little sketch/idea that I had last year at this time.  I don't even remember drawing it or what inspired it, but it caught my eye and I immediately went to work on it.  What a  perfect little collage with Valentine's Day right around the corner! 


                            Title:   "Speaking of Love"         Print available in my shop!


I'll be away from this little space of mine for the next week.   Amelia and I arrived at my parents house this evening.  My mom has an appointment tomorrow where they will be discussing all of the medications she will be on for her cancer and the side effects of it all.  She will start her first chemo treatment on Thursday, where she will be getting it through her IV and through her abdomen all on the first day, after that they will stagger it, but the schedule for the first week and a half is pretty grueling.  Chemo, shots, IV fluids, more shots and then more chemo.   It's all rather frightening.    Amelia and I are here to provide lots of love and support for my Mom and Dad during these stressful days. 

Needing a little color?

Here's a colorful little collage I worked on over the last few days.   I usually try to paint with the seasons, but I'm totally not inspired by anything to do with winter.  The skiing has been poor, they were never able to make any ice for the outdoor rink due to unseasonably warm temperatures, and the snow that we finally did get is already melting.  Argghh.  I'm ready to move on to spring!  I know, I know, it's February and I'm in Wisconsin, so I shouldn't be getting too dreamy right? 

                                         "In Flight"  Available in my shop.

Here's to a Happy and Colorful Weekend!