Last Minute Painting

Well, I'll be dropping off my art tomorrow night for the show so I've made a last minute effort to try to finish a few boxes... I get obsessed when I'm hurrying to finish something. In reality, only 2-3 of them will be done in time... factoring in the Mama part of my life - it's just the way it is! Hopefully I will get a chunk of time tonight after the baby goes to bed. Wish me luck.

Train Box for Little Mr.

A project I've been meaning to make for a long time... a pencil box for my son! He loves trains, so when I was at Oblation in Portland, I found these fabulous letterpress papers with trains on them. I knew right then and there they had to be for Little Mr.'s box. So, this am, I put them down with some paper tracks and plan to paint around them... we'll see how it evolves.

Oblation is a magnificent letterpress business that also has a boutique filled with paper, ribbons and other 'stuff' of the highest quality. Visit Oblation here: www.oblationpapers.com

Sauvie Island Beach

Warm, sandy beaches in summer, what could be better??! Growing up near the beach with a water view... I really miss it, so coming back to the beach is like a pilgrimage in a way. Here we are on Sauvie Island, a farming community island on the outskirts of Portland, OR. It's a perfect place for bike riding since it's flat (I hate those hills!) But this time, we just drove around to admire the farm land and went to the beach :) Happy days.

Back from the Beach!

Here is Odette a hand colored woodblock print. She is one of my new prints that will be featured the Christmas in July show this weekend. (Whew, I've got a lot of work to do by Thurs afternoon !)

Ahhh what a great trip we had in Portland and then to Cannon Beach. It was warm, sunny and breezy... if only we could've stayed longer! The drive home was the only real rough part for the kids. I took a lot of great photos that I'm planning on using for new work, so excited to dive into that!!!

Christmas in July and Lavender Harvesting

(sorry about the fuzziness!)

A big bundle of lavender hung near my bed

A bundle in my son's room

I was hand coloring some of my prints with Lyra and Prismacolor pencils (love 'em) and realized my lavender was already flowering. So, I ran outside on a whim and cut all the lavender that was ready. Then, I tied them all and hung them around the house!

Martha Miller has some fabulous Christmas ornaments she made here: http://www.marthamillerart.blogspot.com/ . It got me thinking about Christmas in July... so here are some 'snow globe' ornaments (hence the shape) I made last year. They are all wool felt, needle felted on my matchine and embellished with brass letters, beads and other fluff.

On another note... I will be vacationing this coming week and will be back blogging on Bastille Day, July 14th. Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

New Shapes

Dreaming of the beach! Here's the start of a Jewel Box painting. (Maybe I should call them something else... any suggestions?) I'm going to the beach soon to soak up the ocean waves and smells. I hope to build some sand forts and castles with our kids and -my favorite- look for beach glass and shells. They are so excited and have their new pails and shovels in the car in anticipation of the trip.

Garden of Ovals

Here's a flower painting on wood .... I'm experimenting with new shapes and spontaneity. I already knew the colors I wanted to use but gave myself permission to just paint and not think too much. It was so exciting to do... now I want to do more but maybe something other than flowers? Not sure yet.

Petite Painted Boxes

Looking Down on Posies

Posies II

I had a great painting session yesterday! My husband came home early (! this never happens) and took our son swimming.... the baby went down for her nap and I disappeared to the painting studio!! With a little good music and a glass of wine well into the session, it was a great mix - I could have stayed there all day and night.