More French Drawings...

Here are few more drawings... they are pretty 'doodly.' I don't know if they'll even make it into the shop because I'm not that happy with them. Maybe the sketchbook is a good place to go right now and hash out a few ideas.

It has been very warm here and the flowers are growing like crazy. There's nothing like checking the garden every morning to see how much growth there was. I like being that kind of 'busy' :) Thank you, summer, for finally arriving in our neck of the woods.

Morning Walk, Vallauris

Hooray, I actually finished a few pieces of new work (India ink drawing with gouache) this morning and posted them in the etsy shop. There are more in the works and I'm working on filling up the shop with new things for summer. Vallauris, France is in Provence and happens to be a little art town known for ceramics. Picasso famously did a lot of clay work there in the 1950's when he was with girlfriend, Francois Gilot. Maybe someday we'll make our way back there!

A Few New Drawings...

This drawing is on fabric... I'm thinking of experimenting with the 'French drawings' and doing them on fabric, quilting them and hanging 'em from a twig or something. Still not sure about that plan.

Now that it's summer and the air is warming... it gave me the urge to start drawing little French scenes. (thankfully I take tons of photos whenever we go on vacation!) The one above is my mom swimming in Arles. We stayed in a beautiful farm house there, right on a waterway in the middle of farmland. (but the mosquitoes at night were quite abundant scary... hence the reason for every window to have hefty screens.) How I wish we could all go back!

End of School Cupcakes

Just couldn't resist sharing these fabulous cupcakes with you. My friend and fellow kindergarten mommy invited me over to help frost these little puppies. (she is a fabulous baker and makes the most creative confections!) Most of them look just like the teacher's dachshund mix dog, Squeakers. The kids will love them :) Happy summer.

Bedtime Rituals by.....

Big brother in his room, putting on jammies while little sister takes a bath. Don't overlook the flushing toilet in the left upper corner... he thought that was pretty funny :) (by our 7 yr old son)

Here's happyface almost done!

Bedtime happy face in her fave color, purple... plus a night sky we drew togther... by 'baby girl' (3 1/2 yrs)

Well, everyone at our house got so excited about making an art quilt of our bedtime rituals... the kids and even dad wanted to draw and paint their own picture for the project! Here they are - didn't they do a great job? Of course, the drawing by Dad isn't done yet because he's always at work! We'll get him to finish :)

Painting Pottery

I have a secret wish to be a clay artist. But, without a kiln, a clay studio (at least a place to be messy with a sink) I'll be wishing for some time. (it could be in the stars someday though... and it would be primarily hand building because that's the most fun!!)

For now though, I'm happy to say our kids are finally old enough (just barely) to go paint pottery at those 'paint your own' places (oh joy!!) :) This is the latest creation of mine. The funniest thing is they are ready to leave way before I ever am.

Magic Tea Tree

Here is the latest quilt... this one is on a large panel of Kona cotton fabric. After ordering some 'Rub-a-Dub' laundry markers by Sharpie - I felt compelled to use them :) They are SO much better than the 'Tee Juice' ones... the black line is darker and a little thicker.

Anyway, I did paint a section at the top yesterday and hope to do more today. It's hard to paint in sections but I don't have a table large enough to lay the piece out. I'm used to painting at an easel or table where the whole composition is there to be worked on 'at the same time'... this is a totally different story! Since I don't use an airbrush, I can't really hang it up and paint. But, it'll work itself out. Besides, I love a challenge :)