A new teleclass

You know I am a big fan of SARK.  Starting April 14, 2010
SARK is presenting her very first live teleclass series, called Dream Boogie with SARK: Dancing Your Way from DREAming to DOing!
So if you are a dreamer check it out! 

This kid really inspires me

Do you remember the days of free painting you did as a child? This is my son having so much fun! We have been reading The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown. My kids just love it. In case you don't know it the color kittens (Brush and Hush) mix all the colors in the world and have wonderful dreams in color. My son loves to mix colors and goes about it with such excitement. "Mom, what color will it make if I mix this one with this one?". I think it is so great to see him in action. He got a bit upset once the paper was thoroughly soaked and ripped. I told him I love it and I think it looks pretty cool with the rip in it and I will add it to the memory box.

He totally inspires me to be more free. To just try things. I love that about kids. They are pretty fearless sometimes!

Nathalie Lete Live Painting

I saw this video awhile back and I am still so inspired by it. Nathalie Lete Live Painting.

My Creative Space

It is a mess today! Working on a new painting and going to finish the larger one. Having fun though. The crocuses and the daffodils and some small blue purple flowers have bloomed. I feel like I want to paint purples. Purple was my favorite color for a long time. And at times it still is. Mine seems to change from day to day. What is your favorite color?

And don't forget to go over to kootoyoo to check out other creative spaces and to add yours!

A peek into yesterday

Outside sketching with my son...
And photo taken by him as well...
Blowing bubbles...

Simple Blogging

I read about simple blogging from Susan Tuttle in the Wishstudio. A short list of your day with a simple photo or two. I love it! I decided to give it a try.

morning pages, coffee, meditate, exercise, learning to ride a bike, swinging, feeling the warm sun, more coffee, cleaning, it's mine!, hugging, quick sketching, kisses, laughing, long walk, bath, book, snuggles, sleep

So far

So this is where I am at with my painting. It has been great getting used to the paints again. I think I may go back into it a bit and adjust some but I don't want to over work the thing and lose it. I am trying to not think to much when painting. I really liked working with these bright colors but yesterday I looked through a home decor magazine and fell in love with a soothing blue/green/white palette so I am feeling like I need to paint in that palette next.

I have a stack load of books on request from the library, some on creativity and some on techniques. I don't feel like I am adhering to any particular technique with my painting just going with the flow. Trying different things. I figure if I don't like it I can always gesso over it. I listened to this Craftcast podcast recently. It is with Mary Todd Beam. I really enjoyed her views about painting. Now her books are on my wish list. They didn't have them at the library.


In other news.. the sun is shining today and the temp is 67 F. The snow has just about melted and they are calling for much of the same through Sunday!! See you later winter. Hello Spring!

I hope your week has been great so far!

xo,
dana

My Creative Space

I am joining in the fun over on kootoyoo
with my creative space. Here is my beginnings of my acrylic painting. It feels a bit unsettling to share this and I debated over it. But here it is. It was a great way to end the day yesterday. I relaxed, played, and was free with the paint. I can't wait to go back to work on it!

I hope you will consider joining in the fun of My Creative Space and check out all of the links of all of the other creative spaces.

xo,
dana

Be kind. This painting was one of my first acrylic paintings. Most likely my first painting on a canvas. I did it back in either my sophomore or junior year of high school. We had just studied Georgia O'Keefe and our assignment was to paint a part of a flower as Georgia did, in a similar style. So I used the acrylic with a watercolor effect to simulate her beautiful blending of color. I remember that I loved painting this piece. I loved mixing the color and applying the paint. The way the brush felt on the canvas.
This one was done the same year. I didn't enjoy this one as much. Figures and faces aren't my thing. But even still there were some things about it that I did enjoy. I am not even sure why I had to have these paintings back and why I needed to show them here. Except that I said I would and maybe it is a full circle moment for me.
Acrylics are kind. In the way that if you "mess up" you can always paint over them. Oils do that, probably better since the drying time is so much slower and you just wipe it off. Watercolors aren't so forgiving.

I stretched my canvas and primed it over the weekend. It was staring at me so today I applied a very watery mix of burnt umber and cadmium yellow with a brush and took a wet paper towel and removed some of it. I have an idea of what I will do next but I don't want to have too much of an idea if you know what I mean.

I hope you had a great weekend! We spotted our bulbs we planted in the fall peeking up through the dirt and surrounded by snow. I couldn't have been more excited!

Stretching

All of my supplies I need to start stretching the canvas and painting have arrived!
My husband is going to pick up my easel from my parents house this weekend. I may just end up using a table top one. It may be easier. Today I asked my mom for some of my first acrylic paintings from high school. They were pretty neat to see after all of these years. I will share them soon.





Before the storm I borrowed a few books from the library on painting. I have been practicing techniques in my art book. I will share those soon too.


I am really, really loving the art created by Line Juhl Hansen. I love her blog and her new site. Her studio and home were recently featured on Decor8. Truly lovely and inspiring!! Here is the link to the Decor8 piece. Please check it out and tell me how much you would love to create in that space??

And talented artist Louise Gale is having a solo show that opens tonight in NYC at the Klimat showing her new art series, Grey life or Green life? Check this blog post to read more and see her video she made while creating one of her favorite pieces from the show! It is a great video and a great piece of art.

Just

Photo taken last spring

For YOU, as well as myself.

*If you are striving, just for today stop.
*If you feel less than, just know you are enough.
*If you are stressed, just let go.
*If you made a mistake, just forgive yourself.
*If you feel lonely, just know you are not alone.
*If you feel helpless, just know you are doing all you can.
*If you feel uninspired, just know it will pass.
*If you feel outdated, just....well, I am not sure about this one.

________________________________________

***Please stop by HEARTWINGSISTERS and offer a kind word or prayer, a family member is missing.

***Concetta from Glittering Shards is going to run a race to raise money for children. Read more here.

Disconnected

Two storms here in the northeast US brought us about 2 ft. of snow (some places had as much as 50") and a total of 17 hrs. of electricity since Tuesday night. There were lots of broken tree limbs and fallen trees. We were forced to disconnect. In many ways it was hard, in many other ways good.
Neighbors pulled together helping each other as much as they could. There was lots of focused family time. Reading by flashlight. Taking photos. Listening to a battery run radio. Singing. Eating by candlelight. My husband spent many hours digging us out and setting up a generator. So thankfully we had heat and hot water and refrigerated food. We are so thankful to be fully restored. All of the utility workers worked (are working) so hard to get everyone running again. I am feeling extra grateful today for all of the blessings we have been given. And so happy to have my coffee maker working again. :)

The Artistic Mother

Shona Cole is an artist and mom to five. She wrote the new book The Artistic Mother : A Practical Guide to Fitting Creativity into Your Busy Life. And if you are a mom you know how hard this can be. I haven't read the book yet but it has gotten great reviews on Amazon. It is on my wish list!

Here is a link to Shona's beautiful blog, An Artful Life. She is giving away a copy so go check it out! And here is a link to where her book can be purchased.

Around here

* I got to meditate today with this cd while my daughter napped and my husband took my son out. This is only my 2nd time trying this and it was great.

*I am anxiously awaiting the rest of my painting supplies. I am going to stretch my own canvas. I really enjoy that part of the process.

* I sketched with colored pencils last night. Flowers and thoughts of growing things are keeping me going through the end of winter. We bought some bulbs yesterday. I have to restrain myself from starting any seeds indoors because last year I did it way too early and the basil and tomato plants were so big, so fast.




*This is a sketch from artist Susan Abbott. She does beautiful watercolor paintings. She travels and teaches and posts daily paintings to her blog.



*Another daily painter, Carol Marine. This piece is titled "Cherryguards".
She has been doing one small oil painting a day since 2006! I love her pieces! Don't you? Wouldn't it be great to do a painting a day? She says it takes her anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hrs. to complete a piece and 15 minutes to post her paintings to ebay and her blog. Here is a link to a demo of her painting.

*Have you seen the Crafting an MBA blog? It is blog devoted to business for designers and makers. A wealth of info.

I hope your weekend was great!
xo,
Dana

I heart you!

Happy Valentines Day! Who doesn't love hearts?

I will never tire of found heart images. I love this one by Rick Ruggles. He was my first intro to found hearts way back when. I love his work.

Today we are baking brownies in my heart shaped pan from Bennington Potters. The kids made some decorations and we are going to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

I hope your day is great. Thanks to all that come by to read, to say hello or more. I heart you! There are so many reasons I love this blogland but the baby is crying and I will save it for another post.

xo,
Dana

ART BOOK-Page 4

This week has been a bit topsy turvy.

A stomach bug, a mouse in the house, a hospital trip, 2 drs. visits, a couple of snow days and a birthday.

I am hoping we are back to "normal". And thankfully the mouse has been caught!

I know those things aren't inspiring but this post from Wini of ARTLOVEJOY was. She did a great post on Kim Parker. I believe I have heard of her but not to this extent. She has a book for 2 bucks!! So I had to get it of course! She sparked something in me. Maybe it is her dealings in textiles, her color sense, her loose and beautiful flowers. Maybe it was all of that and more. She got me excited. So I ordered some paint. Acrylic. I have some but not enough and mine are very old. It has been so long since I painted in acrylics. I started with acrylics way back in high school and I can't wait to try again. I am having trying to decide if I want to just buy a pre-made canvas or stretch my own. I really enjoy stretching my own and I think it is more economical then pre-made canvases. So I think I will order the gesso, stretcher bars and canvas. I am going to create a piece for our home.

The photo above is a page from my ART BOOK. It is just a bit of play with stamping with erasers using gouache and ink. Be back soon!

This week and next are a bit busy. Lots of pleasant things and a couple unpleasant. It is o.k. though.Everyone has a life filled with ups and downs, and mine is no exception.

So I had the feeling that I wanted to play. I made a scrappy collage. I have LOTS of scraps. And for some reason I can't through them away. I played around with them, glued them down. I wanted to try and sew them so they would stay more textural but I didn't. Maybe I will for the next one. I bought some acrylic ink. Still not sure about it. I want to order some Shiva Paintstiks. Kelly Rae demonstrates them in her book. They look like alot of fun to play with. I think I need a night to just play. Couldn't we all just use a night for this?

So I just saw this you tube video,mom 2.0:defining a movement. If you are a mom or know a mom. Watch it! It is really great! I saw this on wishstudio. I really love this blog!

Also, I started a page in my ART BOOK. It has been so long but I am feeling like I want to play so this is a great place to. I hope to share soon.

I just found this site, Art Wall Online. Did you already know about it? It looks so great. Go check it out. I may have to add this to my vision board.

Inspiration:Bottles

I have always loved bottles... old ones and some new ones. Blue, brown, green, pink, clear. I have just a tiny collection of old bottles and some newer ones, more then shown here. I love the shapes, colors, and textures.



I find them inspiring and I love to put little flowers and branches in them. My husband found the brown and large clear one in the woods. Some I have bought, some were given to me.




I have decided, or at least it occurred to me that my word is going to be clarity. I know I am a bit late in finding but really I think it found me.

Some definitions found around the web:
Clarity-
Clearness of appearance: the clarity of the mountain air.
Clearness of thought or style; lucidity: writes with clarity and perception.
Clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.
The state or quality of being clear or transparent to the eye; pellucidity: the clarity of pure water.

So this word I think will be good for me. In many ways. I hope. I am still painting and still waiting. Waiting to love the process AND the outcome.

I am also thoroughly enjoying my books. So many aha moments and feeling like yes!! This is me!

Because I can't wait

I know it is still just January but I can't wait for warmer days. Lovely colors and shapes!


1. unikot (poppy), 2. Ranunculus, 3. Tulips from my garden, 4. Multicolored Ranunculus, 5. Iceland White Poppy (Papaver nudicaule), 6. Topinambur (Helianthus tuberosus), 7. Allium giganteum, 8. Ranunculus #1, 9. Digitalis Purpurea

birthday roses

My birthday was great. There was a small party at my mom's with lunch and this Hershey chocolate cake. I also received some wonderful gifts. In the evening we had pizza and a carrot cake made my my husband and two muchkins. The bug that has been making the rounds in my family grabbed a hold of me that day. I am feeling a bit better today. I haven't been up to speed, just resting. I watched Project Runway last night. I am so happy it is back on and back in NY again. Aren't you excited?