Progress on the painting from the previous post.

Did I ever tell you I love patchwork? Crazy quilts, the quilts of Gee's Bend., Denise Schmidt quilts. I don't quilt. I hope to learn one day. For now I play with paper quilts.

Happy Memorial Day to all who celebrate. We are going strawberry picking and to a picnic. I am heading to a flea market. We are eating lots of watermelon, making fresh lemonade and wearing flip flops. I love this unofficial start to summer! 

My Creative Space

My space today. Feeling very out of sorts. So many thoughts rolling through my head.

Dreams

"Butterfly Dream"-20"x30" Acrylic on canvas

I have been thinking alot about dreams lately. It may be because Dream Boogie with Sark is about to end and all of the wonderful words of wisdom she has given are swirling around in my head. I don't know.

Dreams are always important. Especially on the days that they don't seem possible. 

Some of the little nuggets on dreams that Sark has passed along.....

- Delight yourself first and in doing so you will delight others.

-We are all in stages of being stuck and feeling resistance to our dreams. KEEP MOVING!

-Living your dream should allow you to live a great life as well. Our dreams are made to fit into our actual lives.

-If you live your dream who else will be able to live theirs?

-Support is key.

-What makes you feel real joy? 

Does your answer surprise you?

Are you making time for more of this in your life?

Dreams LOVE joy!  Make time for more!

I have really enjoyed all that Sark has taught. It has taught me alot about myself and my dreams. It has made some things feel uncomfortable and hard to face but it also made that o.k. The amount of information and support given is huge and I appreciate all she has done.

Inspiration

A vintage milk bottle graphic, number 2 on an old crock, my Paperchase notebook that I love, a vintage Stangl plate.

Sometimes inspiration is so elusive and other times it is all over the place. Sometimes things that are always with you can sometimes appear inspiring. I guess it just comes down to your frame of mind. If you are open to inspiration it will come. Here a few things that I have been feeling a bit inspired by.

-I love the old milk bottle and the orange is great. I put fresh flowers in it quite a bit.
-The number 2 is from an old stoneware crock that had belonged to my husband's grandfather. Looks similar to this one. I have no idea what to put in it but I love it!
-My small kraft paper sketchbook from Paperchase. I love the dots!
-My vintage plate from Stangl. Love the colors and graphics!

The weather here has suddenly turned very warm! We have been outside alot. It is hard to be in when the feeling of summer hits.

I have been playing (with paint and gesso) and stretching (canvases). I am getting very excited for Sunday when Flying Lessons start. And I signed up for this entirely free e-course. Creativity Boot Camp. It runs two weeks and you work in one medium. Starts June 8.

I wish you all a very happy week!

xo,
dana

Thank you all so much for the well wishes. I am SO THANKFUL  to be feeling well again. I never knew a sinus infection could leave you feeling so crummy. Fevers, chills, exhaustion. I feel I am so blessed to be healthy. There are people who wake up every day and struggle to get through their day with no relief in sight. You don't quite appreciate your health until you aren't feeling your best.

On Sunday I went with my sis and mom to Beacon. A little city along the Hudson river that has reinvented itself as a haven for art. It really has reinvented itself. Lots of cute restaurants, shops, and galleries. They participate in Art Along the Hudson; each month a participating town along the Hudson celebrates art with art shows, events and open studio tours.

We stopped in Hudson Beach Glass. Absolutely stunning glass collections!

 Stopped in at the Van Brunt Gallery.  As well at Riverwinds and Marion Royael Galleries.

We stopped into Morphicism. This store sold the art of Jay Palefsky. He paints on small rectangles of plexiglass and inserts them into his notched wood frames that allow them to slide around and make any combo of images you would like. These were very cool and the artist was very excited about his work which was nice to see.

We had a relaxing time and it was great to see some interesting art.

I hope you had a great start to your week.
xo,
dana

This week....

  sinus infection kicking my butt. never had one of these. not fun.
  piles of laundry + all of the other stuff that piled up.
  learning to make peace with the mess. 
  kindergarten open house. so cute and he is so excited!
  won a great print by artist Lisa Ferrante via Louise's First Friday giveaway :)
  excited to go here with my mom and sis for a late mother's day lunch on Sunday
  catching up with Dream Boogie. will share some of the highlights so far soon.
  embracing this.. you are enough, you do enough, you have enough... such a great mantra

I hope your week was great. Have a great weekend! 
 
 

Works in progress

 Sketchbook page, watercolor and pencil

Do you ever have so many ideas that you wish you could connect a printer to your brain? I do. It isn't always that way and I guess it occurs in a creative high. I watched this 20 minute video on fostering creativity from
Maegan Beishline she talks about managing your creative cycle. The highs and lows we all go through and ways to keep the lows from going so low. She is super sweet!

A painting I am working on based on the above sketchbook page. I am not sure where I am going to go with it.

Another painting in progress. Changing a bit.

Trying to take my 3D paper flower wreaths into a 2D collage. Also, some cut paper collages in progress.

The 2D flowers up close.

Letting the light shine through.

Vision Board

1. Susy Pilgrim Waters,

2. bring.your.baby.to.work.day.is.everyday,

3. studio.,

4. printmaking*table,

 5. Mati Rose Studio

6. Mati Rose


I have been grabbing images of some great studios for my vision board. I LOVE seeing other artists work spaces. Don't you?

P.S. The dinner out alone was truly wonderful! We hadn't been out to dinner alone in 5 YEARS!!

10 Years

Today we celebrate 10 years of marriage. Here we are on that really HOT day in early May. Younger, thinner, more well rested, completely in love and ready to take on anything life would bring us. Different in so many ways, alike in all of the important ways.

In those 10 years we have had 4 homes. 2 kids. 1 pet. 7 different cars and trucks. We have yelled, we have laughed, we have cried. We have faced health scares, financial difficulties, college loans, and car accidents. We have given each other our best and our worst. Through it all we are here, completely in love and ready to take on anything life will bring us.

And tonight we get to go out alone (sans kids) for dinner!! I am happy to say the weather isn't so hot this year. Thank you Mom!
__________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you so much for all of the kind words you left in response to my previous post. It means so much. I am happy to report we are all healthy again and saying good bye to someone is never easy but we celebrated the life he lived and the man that he was to so many.

I heard it on Monday afternoon when my little girl woke from her nap, "Mommy, HOT!". Her brother had just had a fever two days before so I knew what she meant right away. 3 days later she was fever free. Very exhausted and still so sick. It spread to me and my husband. It has been wearing us down but now I believe we are on the down slope of the cold. My little girl is still so sick but is getting better every day. So we have been sort of laying low. As much as you can with two little ones. :)

Last evening we lost a family member. My husbands grandfather. It was expected. He was 98 and up until just very recently he led a truly wonderful life in good health. We should all be so lucky. Still there is sadness of course.

So the services will begin in a few days and end on the evening before of our 10th wedding anniversary. So many ups and downs. Which is what life always is right?

So I did want to leave on a positive note by announcing the winners of my little giveaway.

The ABC collage goes to Kolleen
The Coneflower collage goes to Beverly
And the Strawberry and Butterfly collage goes to Amy.
Congratulations!

Thank you all who left me a kind word. It is appreciated! Winners can you please contact me with your addresses and I will get your art out to you shortly.

xo,
dana