I Made This...

In her new book "Living the Creative Life" by Rice Freeman -Zachary (which looks beautiful and feels so good to touch) she asks the question, 'What does creativity mean to you?' and follows with several artists giving their answers. All different, all valid. It's writing. Drawing. Arranging a vase of flowers. It's looking at everything as being full of possibilities. Instead of seeing what is, look for what could be. Instead of just making a cake, make it an artistic adventure! So, when we were invited to a 'dead of winter we need a break Mexican party', I saw an opportunity to try something new and impress my new friends. Not sure about the impress part but they sure did clean up this cake:

Tres Leches Cake

According to my friend Brenda, who knows all about things south of the border, this is a traditional dessert. It's dense white cake to begin with and when it's cooled you pour sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk mixed together all over the top and let it soak in. Then you cover the whole thing with whipped cream and decorate if you like. Straighter lines of fruit next time. Nevertheless, at the end of the day I felt creatively fulfilled! Sweet tooth satisfied, too.

Dog Days of Winter

I know, it's really the dog days of summer, Sirius the Dog Star rising and all, but as I was wandering around my clean house, looking at my very organized shelves and wondering what else I could do, I thought to myself "what's going on?" I could go work on the chickadees, but I needed one of those distance days from them. You know, overworking them and needing a break. I could go walking, but I already did an hour aerobic class and a 2 mile walk and the wind chill was dropping significantly. Where did all this TIME come from? Winter. Snowed in. No outside chores save shoveling. So, I've been lighting a fire in the afternoon and curling up with gardening catalogs and books. I have finished 3 I picked up at the library, (nothing great) and will soon start Loving Frank, a story about the woman who loved Frank Lloyd Wright (I think),
on loan from my sister. Next, from the newly formed China Village Book Group will be Three Cups of Tea.
and of course after having read Deborah's blog about The Invention of Hugo Cabrey and hearing the cheers from the audience when it won the Caldecott Medal I had to check it out. Winter stimulation. Hibernation. All good.

Chickadees

Take this:

and this:
and this:

put them all together, and that's what I've been working on. Things just magically come together during the creative process. They start to 'gel' without you consciously knowing what's happening. The pieces, like a puzzle, start to fit together and before you know it you're mind is saying, "hmmmmmmm". That's why I think the artist date is so important. And shopping. When I shop, it's not so much to buy things as to mine new ideas.

So, it started with a walk in the woods. You may remember this picture from a previous post.

The rows of trees, the solitude, the quiet, all made me wonder about where all the birds and other animals were hiding. Nothing moved, except me. Those trees stayed in my mind for days. And then I read an article about those little chickadees that make their way to my feeder at the same time every day for breakfast lunch and dinner. They must be constantly active during the day to maintain their body heat because every night they can lose up to 15% of their body weight. And they survive the long cold nights by bundling together. What a sight that would be. "Hmmmm."

The background is painted with acrylics, as are the little chickadees. As of now, I'm not sure enough about the whole composition so I don't want to put it out there quite yet. But at least
my mind is working again! Hooray for that!

Sorry, no blogging...

Lately I've been dealing with a lot of emotional stuff that's been a little overwhelming, as it can be, so any creative thoughts I may have had have been pushed out of the way. BUT, I still have enough energy left to appreciate the beauty and humor surrounding me. And I do see a light at the end of the tunnel...figuratively speaking, of course.

And what a little pig this pine grosbeak is, hanging upside down to eat! You should have seen all the apple parts he had covering his beak.

A Little...

I did manage to do a little crafting over the holidays. I saw these sweet owls on someone's blog, (sorry I can't remember who) but figured out how to put them together with some hand dyed wool I had in my stash.

Snowshoe-ing

It's what you do during winter in Maine when there's already 2 feet of snow on the ground. If you can't beat 'em and all that...

...and of course there's the beauty to enjoy. Happy New Year everyone.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 25

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 24

Friends...to share life with; friends who give great gifts.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 23

Wishing you...the joy of Christmas Greetings you'll be able to save from year to year

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 22

ANTICIPATION...it's not the presents under the tree that I'm waiting for; it's the little tushies that will sit in these chairs and draw beautiful pictures for their Nana and Papa!

Not to mention that today begins the long march toward SPRING!!! More light!

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 21

Feed your body and spirit with all good things this coming year...

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 20

notice the beauty of color

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 19

enjoy a little DECADENCE...ours is homemade peanut butter balls! YUM!

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 18

HOPE....springs eternal!

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 17

Many years ago my little brother Patrick made this ark for me. Some of the original animals have survived, and over the years I've added more. Nothing matches except the pairs, two by two. Some are hand carved, some are those great plastic ones you find in gift stores here and there. I love unpacking it at Christmastime. It always makes me smile, which I know happens in millions of other households as memories are carefully unwrapped. Take time to remember.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 16

...you better watch out...

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 15

Peace

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day 14

Recycle...It's a beautiful thing. We lost a great straight clean bark birch tree in the last wind storm that blew through and rather than chop it up, we brought it in and are using it (at least temporarily) for plant stands. Very festive.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Thirteen

...sparkling days. And this is the finished result:

It's like lying beneath a galaxy of stars to have your braces adjusted. It really looks stunning in real life.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Twelve

...add a little green to to your holiday.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Eleven

Portland Headlight...dressed for Christmas

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Ten

Jump...every chance you get. But of course, look before you leap!

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Nine

Peace, and a small dose of humor to help us all get through this seemingly out of control world.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Eight

Perseverance-the hall walls at my Dad's house have handled the abuse from three generations of kids honing their "skills". But with determination the reward is sweet!

Holiday Wishes, Greetings and Thanks, Day Seven

Sisters- I have three, and we all have beautiful red earrings. Thanks, Trish.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and thanks, Day Six

Spontaneity- when the moment calls, answer! Day or night.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and thanks, Day Five

Recall the child within and enjoy!

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and Thanks, Day Four

...a good friend to share the wonder.

Holiday Greetings, Wishes and thanks, Day Three

Health (dark chocolate, the healthy kind)

Charlotte's Advent Calendar

Back in 2005 I made advent calendars for all my young nieces and nephews, and grandson Carey. Bruce and I filled them with little gifts picked up over the year. And every year since we still find and wrap 25 little gifts (thank goodness for the bins by the checkout at Joanne's and Michaels!) for 9 kids. Delivered by the first of December so parents can fill the pockets. Here are a few of them so you can see:
Katherine
Charlie
Carey

And now Charlotte. She was just a baby during the making of these, but now she's almost three and would certainly contemplate why her big brother can open a present a day, so, a new calendar for Charlotte. She has a delightful video story of a little girl who asks her daddy to get the moon for her, so this is based on that story. Besides, MOON might have been one of her very first words.

Off to deliver it today! Starting tomorrow I'm HOPING to have a holiday greeting and photo a day from now till christmas. Sort of an advent calendar for all my loyal readers (all 6 of you!) Stay tuned! In the meantime, stay warm.

Holiday Wishes, Greetings and Thanks, Day two

HOPE

Holiday Wishes,Greetings, and Thanks, Day One

Prosper

Happy Belated Thanksgiving Day

Turkey with all the fixin's and new this year, pomegranate martinis. We had a great day; hope you did too!

Guardian Angel

Done. And delivered. And here is the final result:

The response ran the gamut from tears to "creepy". This is a picture of my mother as a young girl. She died two years ago last month and never knew many of her grandchildren, (and great grandchildren) including Declan. As I said in the previous post, I wanted to try this technique of using photoshop and rearranging the image. This is what the original photograph looked like:

So I photoshopped out the dog. Of course I then had to figure out how to get Declan in and couldn't so I did it the old fashioned way...I sewed him in. The coloring is much better in the original photo, but somehow when it printed came out too blue. Looking at it now I think I would have tried harder to get the coloring right, but I thought I'd better quit while I was ahead and before my printer started to wig out on me as it often does when I use anything besides regular paper.

Fall Energy

For several years now I've been doing 'guardian angel' wall quilts as welcome gifts to new babies in our family. The first one was Ella Jane's done, well, I guess she's nine? I wish I had pictures of them all, but that was before digital. The last one, the one nearly finished is for Declan. Of course he's not a "new" baby anymore, just turning one. But that doesn't matter. I won't show the whole thing yet because Heidi (mom) and Bridget (big sister) read my blog occasionally and would probably rather be surprised. But I will show a little piece:

I have to admit I designed this not so much with Declan and his likes in mind (though it is reported he does like trucks and vintage trucks can be really cool,) but more with trying out some new techniques, having been inspired by Susan Lewis Storey and her work. The tiles are made of Fimo and stamped to spell out Declans Guardian Angel. They are my attempt at work similar to Laurie Mika.

I've also been putting gardens to bed, painting a new wall in our hall, which led to another wall that needed paint and a new laundry room that needed paint and making floor cloths on canvas as gifts and I continue to ask myself where this spurt of creative energy has come from. Like the bears getting ready for winter, could it be that soon I'll crash and wake up in the spring?! Or perhaps the level of energy that runs my friend Sarah Smith has finally rubbed off on me!

Being Green

Several years ago I gave my lifelong best friend Gretchen some big fabric shopping bags to carry her food home from the market. She was green before it was fashionable. When we first met, she and her first husband lived on a farm in Freedom with no running water or electricity. She reduced, reused, and recycled out of necessity. Last time we were together she asked me to make a few bags for her daughter and daughter in law for Christmas. They're big, but not so big as to be too heavy when full of the weeks provisions. Easy, easy, easy to make, and such a good idea. The really hard part for me is REMEMBERING to take mine into the grocery store, (along with my list)!




Life is speeding along in one big creative streak all of a sudden. I spend HOURS, happily, in my studio just making things. I work on the big quilt for a while and as soon as I finish a section I can't wait to start the next. It more than makes up for all the times I thought I'd never have another idea, or the desire to see another piece of fabric. Well, that last part might be a slight exaggeration.

Salamander

Been a little quiet on this blog lately due to this guy and the "big quilt". The challenge was 'salamanders' and this is what I came up with...not sure it looks like a salamander or a fish with legs, which now that I look at the picture (the legs) need to be highlighted with something dark to show up more.

Motherly Dedication

These guys are getting a little too big to be so clingy, I think. I went into the barn the other night to put the chickens to bed, and they were not to be found until I looked up and there they all were, on a crossbeam. Made me laugh. This will definitely be a piece of wall art someday.

I am working on the big one, but lost a day yesterday. Sometimes the stars don't line up right, or the atmosphere is too thick, which is what my head felt like. I was under the weather (where did that come from anyway?) and so I didn't get much accomplished. I'm optimistic for today and have a long list starting with my 7:30 dentist appt. Guess I'd better get movin'.