Catching Up

Well, I've done some traveling, and I've been working a lot and raising a puppy, but no art. I hope to remedy that soon though!

Here's the guy who's pushed art right out of my life, temporarily anyway. This is him camping at Big Sur in late summer.

This is him a couple of weeks ago. Look at how that nose has grown!!

Look at this precious little art journal that my friend Diana from Velvet Moth Studio sent to me! Everything she does is exquisitely detailed, from the fabric she'll have made herself, to all the hand stitching and beading.

And look at the binding!  It involves some sort of complicated folding, and you can remove and replace pages just by folding back the tabs.  So clever, and as I told her, maybe I'll actually get myself to use it since I can always replace a page I hate!  For some much better, and detailed, pictures and info, see this link to her post about it. She's SUCH a better photographer than I.

My Mom and I flew back East to Massachusetts to visit my cousin and her wife. I'd never been back there before, and it was really amazing. We drove around Vermont leaf peeping as they call it, and we went to Cape Code, visited Provincetown, and in spite of a hurricane and delays, made it to Nantucket on the ferry. Loved the whaling museum there, loved everything really.

 I had some fun decorating my back patio for Fall.  I see it right out my kitchen window, so I love having it decorated.

 I'll spare you from pics of the Halloween explosion inside my house, I've done that enough times, but here are a couple of shots from my Halloween crazy neighborhood. I can never get good pictures of everything lit up at night that reflect how magical it is.

These guys made a peeing skeleton fountain.

This is a spooky bar to sidle up to for a drink...

Our neighborhood is so crazy on Halloween, people drive their kids into the neighborhood til there's nowhere to park. So they've started doing a party the Saturday before Halloween just for the neighborhood, they block off the streets, there's a band, tables set up and more food and drink than you would think possible. I love people with that much spirit, not to mention a warehouse somewhere that they can store everything in!

Maurice

Well, I'm a week and a half into new puppy ownership, and I'm surviving!  He's so precious, that it makes the lack of sleep and constant monitoring well worth it. Thank goodness there's 2 of us though!  And he's already growing so fast.

He loves his food!!

I did get a few things done in my fabric art journal before his arrival, not even a thought of anything since though!

This one I taped off the plastered page then rubbed charcoal all over it. Then I just erased, going back in after with a charcoal pencil to highlight some details. I really enjoyed it.

Puppy!!

Meet Maurice (I think that's his name, I'm not 100% committed yet). We got to pick him out Sunday, but we don't get to bring him home for a couple more weeks. I keep telling myself to just enjoy the peace and quiet while I have the chance!

In the meantime, I've been doing some work in my fabric journal, mostly inspired by an online class I took from Rebecca Sower. Trying to loosen up as always.

Dabbling

We went camping recently, to a vintage trailer rally. It was a small one, near Point Reyes with such lovely people, we enjoyed it thoroughly. Very low key, lots of good food and drink. Mario laid on the ground to try to capture the gorgeous sky with the full moon and our lit up trailer, and I love how it turned out.

I recently finished making a new fabric journal. I had actually made the inside of it a long time ago (It took me MUCH longer than anticipated to actually complete the first one I made).  But I just made the cover for it and I want to start working in it now.  This one was bound differently than the first one I made. 

And I even got one page done inside it!

This was me playing around, trying to be loose and playful. It doesn't come easy for me.

And last but not least, one of these cuties below is going to be ours in a little over a month. 

We lost our basset hound Claymore a couple years ago, and we're finally feeling ready for another one. I'm very excited, but nervous too. Am I up to a puppy again?  We'll find out!

Mish Mash

I've been working like crazy, but have tried to make myself take a little time for art here and there, and have actually managed to do it, for a change.  It's a good stress reliever once I get going!

This one below I have to confess that I did while spending most of a Sunday on the couch watching the entire 7th season of Game of Thrones, in preparation for the first episode of Season 8 (finally!)

My boy Claymore, from our favorite picture of him, playing around with scribble sketching.

 I did this while looking at a real star fish, and staring at the detail for as long as I had to for the white pen work gave me a true appreciation for the miracle that nature is.

I'm having surgery next week (sinus), so I wanted to finally get a post done before that. The good news is that my Mom is coming to be with me and I'll be off work, so totally worth it!!

Playing

I've been trying to develop an art habit again, just playing around and putting no pressure on myself. Trying to remind myself that I still know how to do some of this stuff, and that I actually enjoy it! When I'm not feeling inspired, or my job sucks too much out of me, approaching my studio starts feeling like a guilty chore, which is ridiculous. Once I actually start doing something I lose myself in it and enjoy it.  It's the STARTING that is often so hard for me. 

The piece below is done on wood covered in plaster.

I sort of took a scribble art online class (by this I mean I signed up for it and watched a couple of the  videos, which is about as long as my attention span ever lasts), in an attempt to loosen myself up, which is hard for me. But once I relax into doing it, after the first horrifying scribbles that I'm sure will have entirely ruined the piece already, I find it fun.

I can't explain this one...

 Trying to just be really loose and play with pastels.

This has been a blessedly wet winter for us, which unfortunately just makes me want to lie on the couch under a warm blanket and watch Harry Potter. Hopefully longer days and a little sunshine will help me want to start spending more time in the studio!

Christmas

Since I've done nothing really creative but decorate, I thought I'd share a few pictures as my way of wishing you all a Merry Christmas.  

I filled my lantern with Shiny Brites this year, I love it so much at night when it's lit. Not sure how I didn't think about doing this before now!

I also filled an old tool chest with them, and it also glows wonderfully in the evening with the little lights all reflecting. I saw something recently where someone had made ornament holders out of little old oil cans, so I immediately had to try it, as I have a few. I love how it lets me highlight my vintage bells.

My cocoa station moved and expanded this year.

This guy just makes me laugh. 

I wanted to do something with this precious old baby shoe.

A festive scene in my village

 A corner of my kitchen. The snowman usually hangs outside as he's a lantern, but I'm enjoying him inside this year.

Hubby and I went to the Napa Valley for the day Saturday, and there's a store in St. Helena with this T Rex skeleton taking up most of it. We assumed it was a reproduction they bought for god knows what reason, but no, it's REAL. And available for 3.9 million if any of you are in the market for one. 

His name is Roosevelt and he's sporting a sexy gold tooth. We were pretty tempted - if only our house were bigger.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season with your families.