A bit of luck on this Friday the 13th.
There's a five-leaf in there. It's there on the bottom right, I promise, though in the image one leaf seems to be in hiding. Olivia found that one. I read that five is for long life. When I was a little girl I had photo albums full of clover, my prize clover being an eight-leaf.

The Quiet Room

Our area's new library has a quiet room. It is awesome. Actually, the whole library is awesome with it's wooden ceiling and curvy shelves, new tables, and upholstered chairs with lovely fabrics and design. Everything is new and crisp. But I love the quiet room the best. Super-comfy chairs. Lamps with a perfect glow. There is even a gas log fireplace in there!  What more could a girl ask for? Oh, did I mention there's a coffee shop on the first level. *sigh* It's on the other side of town from us so not terribly convenient but I'm already thinking of how to tweek our route so that we wind up close by once a week at least. Olivia says her favorite part is the teen room. She was dazzled by the shiny new Macs, I think. If you are local, please go and visit, sit in the quiet room, and take a deep breath for me.

beginning the journey

"One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice - - - though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. 'Mend my life!' each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations - - - though their melancholy was terrible.It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice, which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do - - - determined to save the only life you could save." - Mary Oliver

Happy wishes to you...

this holiday season.

Isn't this a neat idea? I think it's so clever. We don't usually buy soda but this makes me want to. We spotted it at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art gift store.

"I have loved the stars too fondly..."

Wanna see what became of the wee wooden man of a few posts back?In the last few months constellations have been showing up in my work. When it came time to paint my nutcracker, it seemed only right to give a nod to the "father of astronomy", Galielo Galilei (1564-1642).
Meet Galileo Nutcracker. He has a telescope made of part pencil, part lollipop stick and part toothpick so he can see the stars. I imagine that the real Galileo lived and breathed the night sky so I put a constellation near my wooden man's heart. It's Orion, the Hunter. Stars on his shoes and on his hat; Galileo thinks of the heavens as he walks. He discovered four of the largest moons of Jupiter, you know. The hares are there to ground him to the earth. Thinking of the heavens as much as he did, it's a wonder he didn't just rise on up in the night. And I read once how in numerous ancient cultures the hare and rabbit were associated with the moon. We see a man in the moon; they saw a hare. In Egyptian myth the rabbit is closely linked to the cycles of the moon. I've named one Virgina and the other Livia, after his two daughters. Galileo has vintage lace at his wrists; being a guest at the Nutcracker Ball meant I would have to make sure he looked his finest.

Favorite Galileo quote:

“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."

This is on the back of the nutcracker base. I like the think the winner of the silent auction (who happens to be a mom friend at dance---yay, K.H!) will see these words and smile as I did, for it is yet another one of those beloved quotes that lights a fire in my soul.

Here are some of the nutcrackers at a gallery downtown. There were others that didn't appear until the ball but I get sick with a yucky cold and didn't get to go. I tried so hard to get a photograph without glare but alas, it was not to be. I really love them all, how unique they are, how we were all given the same pieces of wood and came up with such different visions. Go art!

Kitty Kisses

 

Meet Penelope.

I couldn't resist posting these on my blog. You may have already seen them on FB but the part of me that loves how my blog can serve as a bit of a time capsule for my family needed the photos here as well. My heart does a little jump each time I see them.

Penelope isn't home with us yet as she is still being bottle fed at a vet's office until she is big enough to be adopted. Olivia is embroidering her a special quiltie.

She still has a brother that needs a home. He's a black and white cutie pie. If you want to know more about him, just email me.

june 26

Local Love+Book Love

I’ve never pulled into the parking lot at the Hollins University campus without an accompanying sense of excitement and gratitude. The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum is there with the occasional workshop (I've enjoyed myself immensely at each one) and constant spectacular exhibits (Goodnight, Hush: Classic Children's Illustrations is there now), the theater where my hubby Kelly had a great time playing guitar in the play “Violet” is there and when Olivia was at Community School (we are back to being a home schooling family now) there were celebrations and plays on the grounds. I feel extremely blessed to live close to such a wealth of creative goodness.

Yesterday was the last day of the Children’s Literature Association event and it was an insightful, inspiring time. I did not get to attend the two previous days but wish I had.

At events like these, I take notes, jotting down anything and everything that triggers some sort of spark, snippets and wisdom that I think I may be able to pull from later to aid in a piece of writing or in a painting. I'm looking forward to looking those over this morning while nursing a cup of tea and see if any connections remain. But first, I have a few links to share with you lovelies.

A few things from yesterday stand out in my mind:

* Hearing Meg Medina read the opening of her book, “Milagros, The Girl From Away.” I am going to pick this one up as soon as I can. Magical realism=Love.

* Julia Mickenburg and Philip Nel’s lecture on radical children’s literature. You can get the entire book list on the blog. This is great as I think I missed a few in my notes, especially near the end when I thought my hand was going to fall off from all the frenzied scribbling. Ideas for home school lessons were foremost in my mind during this talk and the mommy/teacher in me was getting a healthy dose of motivation and ideas for group activities with friends. This lecture was also filmed and will eventually be available on the CHLA site.

* Thacher Hurd, son of Clement Hurd who was the illustrator for “Goodnight Moon,” and author/illustrator in his own right, was entertaining with his anecdotes about Margaret Wise Brown that left me wanting to know more about this beautiful genius who seemed to enchant all she encountered.

* Seeing up close the wonderful art of Ruth Sanderson and Ashley Wolff.

*The session on writing and illustrating fantasy: Charle Vess, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, and Amie Rose Rotruck –oh, the passion and excitement they have for what they do! That's always wonderful to see and to be around. Meeting Kathleen Foucart Walker, a local writer and friend of a dear friend.

*Chatting with Becky Mushko, another local writer. I purchased her new middle grade book, a paranormal tale titled “Stuck” and can’t wait to dive into it.

*Spending the day with another dear friend, definitely one of the highlights. Where would we all be without our friends? I used to have a quote painted on the panel in the hallway. I have since painted over it but recall the words well. “Friends are flowers in the garden of life.” So true, dontcha think?

In the art room:

* I’ve been gesso-ing panels and organizing, getting ready for an art show at the Oddfellas Cantina in Floyd. I'll have my art hanging there the months of September and October. Very excited about that!

* Fabric took over for a few days. Doing some mending and also making an eye pillow. I had to measure and pin---shew! SO not strengths of this impatient girl but I am proud of the end result. It’s weight felt good in my hand, filled with flax seeds and lavender, and smell was delicious.

sweeping away the bloggy cobwebs...

Hello friends.
When I logged onto my blog tonight I was surprised at how awfully long it’s
been since my last post. Sometimes I just get so lost in the creating and the
everyday happenings away from the computer that I honestly forget, for weeks at
a time, my little space here. A few days ago, a new FB friend sent kinder-than-kind words regarding my blogging and I felt a longing to set life’s happenings down again, to renew the connection. I pinkie-promised myself to make more of an effort to keep track of the days here instead of putting everything onto Facebook as I find myself almost automatically doing. Facebook’s just so easy, yanno?

But my absence wasn’t solely due to FB love.

My grandmother, Ida Belle, passed away a few days after my last post. I grew very
quiet for a bit, turning inward and to the written word journal. After that,
I fell blindly into preparation for a wee exhibit at a local coffee shop, The Mojo Cafe, (still ongoing for a few weeks more) and two short stories followed that. Add a few fieldtrips and two ballets. A bit of subbing at a local middle school, after-school art. A
broken dish washer and hours of time hand washing. Days passed. The blog was neglected. But now, the cobwebs have been swept away and the good intentions are plentiful.

As I write this, there’s a little girl by my side, anxious and bouncing, pleading to take a walk around the neighborhood. I know more it's more about being out when the ice cream truck drives by and less about the exercise but I’m not saying a word…believe me, I’m all for a fudgcicle on this hot evening.)

Before I run I want to share two pics. The image at the top is called A LEAP OF FAITH. Below is the sign outside the coffeeshop.

XO,

 

a congrats, a parade, SoulCollage and some book love

 

Over the weekend:

Congratulations to talented and kind, Gina Louthian-Stanley!!! Here is Carter Foster, curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, saying lovely and true things about Gina's piece, Caged Window #2, chosen to be part of the Olin Gallery's Biennial Exhibition.

Some pics from Roanoke's Marginal Arts Parade on Saturday. It was a day of misting rain but that didn't stop the fun! Next year I want to walk in the parade. Maybe I'll ask friend, Katherine, about that. She's below with the super cool puppet. Do you see it? It has the beautiful blue face and thread legs. Love it! There was even bubble wrap on the ground at the end near where I was standing. Everyone was jumping and popping. Simple but good entertainment. I've quieted all my talk on the homefront about moving west; I'm really loving Roanoke these days.

Just after the parade, I attended my first SoulCollage workshop with sweet friend and workshop facilitator, Lisa Plummer. It was held downtown at the Seeds of Light store.

I took the above image when we were just getting going with our scissors and then became so engrossed in the intuitive process that I didn't take another photo the entire time. To say I had a great time would be an understatement. Thank you, Lisa! (Please contact Lisa if you are interested in attending one of her monthly workshops.)

You can learn more about SoulCollage here. And visit the SoulCollage Gallery here.

***

Today:

Today was the kind of productive day I just love. I walked, I painted and I wrote 1,222 words on the beloved (fictional) WIP that I can't seem to give up on, made notes for an article idea and notes for a short story idea. I even made some headway on the emails I can never seem to catch up on and then I made list after list and those lists made me so happy. Lists never fail to help my shoulders relax and my breathing deepen and at least give me the feeling, however fleeting, of being organized and on top of my life.

Inspiring me today:

1-Terri Windling's "On Your Desk" Series

2-Treehouses. I wanted one, begged for one, as a child and I still believe that one of these days I will be the proud owner of one...though a lowish one or one with a very sturdy ladder as I have grown somewhat afraid of heights. Olivia would love it too. Must find way to make this happen... Did you have a treehouse as a child? Don't you think that they are just pure magic and the ultimate place for daydreaming?

3-Just finished reading: Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother and Daughter Journey to the Sacred Places of Greece, Turkey, and France by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor--(inspiring all manner of pomegranate art and Persephone/Demeter themes in my sketchbook over the weekend) and FLASH BURNOUT by LK Madigan and tonight will start either a book about Houdini or a book about Opal Whiteley. Still undecided. Both look equally attractive and have both been on the nightstand forever (truly, over a year)along with Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Madapple by Christina Meldrum. So many books, so little time. What are you reading now?

blessings,

ps---thank you for your visit here today. :)

 

fun with tar gel and more than a bit of serendipity

I love the way the word skips off the tongue. serenDIPity. It's a word that's been coming up a lot lately, in my conversations, in overheard conversations and in song, making me smile every single time.

The above image was made with two inks, two stamps, onto tissue paper. Often, between projects, I will spend a few hours or even days preparing new papers to have at the ready. (The super-talented Laura Lein-Svencner has some excellent tutorials on her site.) Sometimes the papers end up in a collage, sometimes on a journal page. I like having access to a lot of different colors and patterns when I am on a roll at my art table. I don't know about you, but I don't want to stop the creative flow to paint the "perfect" paper. Working spontaneously (another fun word) and intuitively seem to best suit my Muse. Grabbing a paper scrap, trying it out on piece, seeing if it works, discarding it and moving on to another if needed, are all a part of being in the flow. I'm discovering though that this way of working leads to enormous messes. Please tell me I'm not the only one! My artroom can fall into such incredible states of disaster at times that even I am mortified and it forever surprises me at what a fast rate this can occur. It's the subject matter of much teasing in our home. But I truly don't mind the straightening up of the art room as it seems that ideas come freely and fast in that time. A paper scrap will land on the floor or table next to another paper scrap I would never have paired it with but the combination works and again there is that word...Serendipity.

Another word that I like to say a lot, especially when it is related to art, is "play." I think often of the quote by Picasso: "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." It's a good thing to remember. In fact, it couldn't hurt to print that out and paste it somewhere near where I work or better yet, on the door, so that I must read it before I enter my art space. I do try and approach my time at the art table as playtime; I'm not always successful but most times. It's getting easier the more I do it. Music helps. Letting go of end results help. Red shoes help as do deep breaths and iced tea with a swirly straw.

A workshop with Suzanna Fields at Hollins University over the weekend turned out to be a glorious afternoon of play. Adding to the already perfect loveliness of hanging out with two of my favorite souls, artists Gina Louthian-Stanley and Dreama Kattenbraker, there was the bonus of meeting new folks if only briefly, Tif Robinette and Eric Fitzpatrick, local artists also taking the class. And then there was the great class itself during which we were all encouraged to channel our inner child and experiment. Play! Good stuff! Suzanna was super-sweet, fun, high-energy and passionate about acrylic paints and mediums.

Suzanna's work is amazing and if you are local I encourage you to see her work at Hollins before it comes down. Here is Suzanna generously demonstrating some fun you can have with tar gel and ink:



Julia Cameron in her book, "The Artist's Way," encourages artist's dates and I took myself on one yesterday. My dear friend and fellow artist, Sonia Hancock, was sweet enough to join me. Our destination was the Olin Gallery at another nearby school, Roanoke College. I had been going crazy wanting to check out Kurt Steger's work ever since hearing other friends talk about one of the pieces called the Burden Boat. It's a breathtaking piece. You can read about it below. Just click on the image if you need to enlarge.



I wrote a burden and placed it inside. (if you would like to mail in a burden to be placed in the boat, the address is there on the paper in the photo.) The entire exhibit had this special magical and mythical feel. I am thinking now of the walk through the Pearl Gate and the rustle of the paper as it touched my sleeve.

There was also work in the adjoining room. Right away, both Sonia and I really connected with the amazing work of Billy Bob Beamer. And in the way of serendipitous things, Billy Bob happened to be there in the gallery. We got to talk with him a bit about his work, about meditation and music, about the fibromyalgia he lives with and the workshops in which he helps others use drawing as a way to enter into a trance-like state to manage pain. He was such a nice man. You can get a glimpse of his work and read about him here and here. Or better yet, make it out to the gallery before the exhibit closes on the 20th of this month. I hope to gather a group together for a workshop led by Mr. Beamer. If you are local and interested, please comment or email me.

And I will wrap up this lengthy post with a quote. Perhaps another I should post in daily view.

"The position of the artist is humble. Essentially he is a channel."~ Piet Mondrian

I'm grateful today for simple things like cozy socks and a car with a heater that works, for my favorite mug and the tea that went inside, for crock pot aromas and fresh baked bread and butter to go on top.

Olivia says she is grateful for "good friends helping me when I fell at school today, for kitty cats, and Halloween candy." (I'm grateful for those things, too. :)  )

More gratitude here.

serendipity

Serendipity: discovery of something fortunate: the accidental discovery of something pleasant, valuable, or useful

It was a day this summer when I was feeling blue, unsure of myself, my inner critic being more of a chatterbox than ever. I was at a local coffeeshop, Olivia was at dance camp. This particular coffeeshop is my favorite place to write outside my home. (No, wait, I take that back, it ties with Mill Mtn. Coffee downtown. That place has good mojo too.) Words flow easy there so I was surprised to run up against such a different experience from the usual. At first I tried to ignore this loud-mouthed, nasty beastie and kept writing though after two hours the pencil wasn't much more than dead weight in my hand. I was working on a scene in TPS (a fiction novel I've been playing with for a while now), the scene where my MC (main character) hears the love interest play the fiddle for the first time. It's at a funeral, it's an important scene, and I wasn't capturing even a fraction of the feeling I needed. I told myself to keep going, cause you can fix bad, but you can't fix blank, right? But the more I wrote, the more discouraged I became. Now, that's not a typical reaction for me, I tend to stay fairly upbeat, but in that moment it was all there was. "Wow, this scene really stinks" snowballed into "wow, this entire project really stinks." Packing up my pencil and legal pad, I wondered if perhaps I shouldn't put the writing away for a while, a long while.

I was in the parking lot, beside my car, fumbling for the keys when I happened to look down and spot something shiny at my feet. Being the magpie that I am, I investigated. A necklace. And not just any necklace. A silver fiddle and bow. I went numb, my entire body frozen into one big goosebump, no more surprised than if a chunk of sky had fallen at my feet. Like the double rainbow guy, I wanted to shout, "What does this mean?"

Could it be coincidence? I really haven't tried to explain it to myself. That would take the magic away and I like this magic; this feeling of being watched over, guided. I read the serendipitous finding of the necklace as a sign to keep writing and since then, I've been writing every chance I can, which explains the long blog absenses.

Has something like this happened to you? I'd love to hear about it.

Blessings,

Views

 The internet detox was lovely and I'm having a bit of a hard time getting back into my groove. As the days go on I will share some more pics from the time away. The above is from our Outer Banks excursion. The ocean always seems to have messages and inspirations in the air. I walk with a notebook in my pocket. It's a magical place for me and I am guessing, for so many of you. I count on this time every year for a charging of my creative batteries and it did happen, but to a lesser extent, thanks to blasted Hurricane Earl coming along and running us off to higher ground.

Still, I am grateful for the two full, amazing days of sun before getting the evacuation notice Wednesday before last. And thank goodness, we had the chance to spend time with our dear friend, Tiffany, the night before and Olivia and Kelly were able to do a last minute climb of the lighthouse as was tradition or I would have felt even more crushed driving off the island. It wasn't easy leaving. I'm a sentimental girl- there may have been a tear or two when I turned to catch one last look at the water and the golden dunes. I've written before how the sea has my heart and I would move to the Outer Banks or somewhere like it (maybe even west coast) in a heartbeat. I have pictures of a little white house by the ocean on my vision board. Someday...

So, we traded our view of the ocean for one of our favorite local mountains. The Peaks of Otter. There's a lodge there, complete with a lake out front and more hiking than we could do in the few days we had. It was just as beautiful and peaceful as the ocean had been, and happily, every bit as recharging. We even ran into beloved friends we hadn't seen for a long time at the top of the mountain. Serendipity!

***This post has been sitting, waiting to be completed, for over a week now. I'm trying desperately to get into a routine of some sort, getting in my art-making groove. I'm finished with the list-making and into the doing of the things now. It feels good. Hands covered in gesso and glue kind of good. :)

xo