from my desk this morning: sad tulips in front of a new painting…..

Of Monsters and Men

Searching For Sugarman.  We watched it this past weekend and I can’t get it out of my mind.  The story of this man is beyond unbelievable (you couldn’t write this) and inspirational.  That a man could have such a huge impact on the world and never be aware of it really struck me.  See it, now!

via this pin

Beauty is Embarrassing

found via Danielle

I just added three new originals in my etsy shop.  They each come beautifully framed and ready to hang!

working on….

listening to…

Or in this case, a canvas my dad no longer wanted that still has the beginnings of one of his paintings.  I almost want to just hang it up as is.  It is a huge (this is just a corner of it) canvas, 48″x78″ and I am so scared to start and at the same time can’t wait.  I’m hoping to leave some of the markings my dad made peaking through in spots, I’ll let you know….

I finally got these two pieces scanned to show you.  They are on the small side, each measuring 8″x8″ will be available tomorrow in my etsy shop (both originals and prints).

I have the makings for a good weekend.  A new book to sit down with (discovered via Victoria), and some nice new brushes.

I’m still here!  Still catching up/recovering/plotting.  Here are a few pics of late…

1.  a study for a new painting   2.  a favorite corner in our home   3.  heading home over the bridge at night

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up & get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part & a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you.”

I came across this Chuck Close quote on pinterest and thought it was a great inspiration for the new year.  I can get distracted with so many ideas of what I want to make, that I don’t stop and actually ‘make.’  This is good kick in the pants reminder to just stop and do.  Sounds simple, but one of my new year’s resolutions is to hold myself to painting every single day.

P.S. a veritable treasure of inspiration at Wisdom

(photo for Wisdom by Andrew Zuckerman)

via

Here are a few little bits from around here.  See you in the new year!

top: a table cloth I ‘made’ (ie I painted a drop cloth), new art supplies, goofing around the tree

bottom: macaroons, one of my favorite gifts, homemade crackers

I am signing off for a little bit to enjoy this week with with family and come down off the crazy that are my days leading up to Christmas.   I hope you and yours have a safe and warm season!

image via

my heart is broken…

Just a little heads up that I added some little original paintings to my etsy shop, along with two new limited edition prints!

It still doesn’t feel like winter to me yet, maybe I’m in denial?  Perhaps we need to get our holiday tree, maybe that would help.  Anyhow, have a wonderful weekend!  (I want these socks)

image here, via 

It is upon us, the season of crazy.  It’s my busiest work season and the kids schedules seem to get busier with age.  So maybe that’s why every year, our house gets a little, well, less.  If it were up to me, our tree would wear nothing but white lights (every year I try to convince them, isn’t it pretty with just the lights?!!).  They’re not having it.  So, I try in other ways.  Here are a few of my favorites this year…

1.   2.   3.   4.

this quote from Georgia O’Keeffe this sunny Monday morning…

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” -Georgia O’Keeffe

found via