Happy Birthday to Me & Other Milestones

I celebrated my thirty-sixth birthday over the weekend, and again was reminded of how uneventful birthdays can become once you're an adult, and especially a mother! I always sort of expect to have a day where I get to do anything I want. Well, I guess if cleaning up toys and taking care of cranky kids is what I want, then I got my wish! Ha ha!

No, I'm kidding (sort of...!). It was actually a pretty nice day. We went to the beach in the morning, my sisters and their families came over for cake in the evening, and my husband took care of the kids for a few hours so that I could do my annual birthday piece of art.

I'm real happy with the way it turned out. Each little "room" of the house signifies something about the last year of my life. The journaling reads, "It's been a year of trying to find BALANCE. Balancing my weight (I lost a bunch of weight after Noah was born), balancing my own time with the kids' time, balancing responsibility between Jason and myself. Sometimes up, sometimes down."

One thing I'm really pleased with is the little bear family. These were actually all separate images that I placed together and modified to form the grouping. They worked perfectly to represent me and the two kids, and my husband watching us.

Then, besides my birthday, we've also had some other small milestones in the house lately. The first is Noah learning to talk. He's been saying a couple words for several months now, but now all of the sudden he's talking up a storm, learning new words every day! So I figured I'd better do a spread in his book about it... Two of the first things he said were "bye-bye" and growling like a lion, so I illustrated those, then also listed several of the other words he's now saying.

And, how thrilled do you think I was to see this come out of Riley today??

I know the little labels I've written are probably too small to read, but we've got eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, hands, and shoes! For a few days, I've sort of suspected he was drawing "face-like" images, but everytime I'd notice them, he was already onto something else, so I wasn't sure if it was just a fluke. So today, I sat and watched him draw, and sure enough, he told me what each of the items were as he drew them! I'm just so excited, because now the fun begins with his art, instead of just scribbles and stickers!

I'll leave you with a laugh today. Here is where I found Noah a few days ago. Don't let his innocent little face fool you- he can be a real troublemaker sometimes!

Here's a piece I did yesterday. (I think you can see a larger version on my Flickr site.) I usually don't go into these pieces with the intention of using "personal imagery", but I guess I'm just drawn to certain themes, etc., so that's usually what ends up coming out. Here I started with the two little boys on the steps, then added the two bunnies on bikes. At that point, I was obviously representing my two boys, so I added the swimming pool and picnic table at the top, since those are what a good portion of our time consists of these days. And I'm just now noticing that the tree which wraps around the top of the house is separated into two sections, which could represent my husband and myself, protecting and nurturing the family...


See? Your art really does speak about you, even without that intention. For those of you who have seen my book, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about, especially in the section about analyzing your artwork. I constantly discover themes and imagery that I've used without "meaning to"...


Anyway, I hope all you mothers had a great Mother's Day on Sunday! We decided to go to the beach with the kids. It's amazing to me that I live 15 minutes from the beach now, yet we rarely go. It's just so difficult with babies, but now that Noah's walking, it's a lot easier, and I think I'll try to make it a more regular thing.


I took my camera, and got a lot of really great photos. The beach is such a great backdrop for photos! My kids are difficult to shoot these days because they never want to sit still for a photo, and ask them to smile? Forget it! So this was a perfect opportunity to get some shots while they were naturally having fun.

Journal Pages

Even though I have more fun doing the sort of art I showed in my last post, I still feel drawn to work in the boys' journals. I do have to admit that at times it feels like a "chore" to work in the journals when I'd rather be doing "fun" art, but every time I complete a spread, I'm glad I did it, because I know how much these journals will mean to me (and hopefully them!) as we get older.
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The first is in Riley's book, about his favorite color, yellow. He is really obsessed with it! I think it began with his favorite pacifier, which was yellow, and then progressed from there. Now, it is definitely his first preference if there's ever a choice between colors. The photo is of him standing in front of a wall with yellow pieces of paper on it, which resulted from a game we play about colors. As you can see in my journalling, he has a little trouble pronouncing it, so it comes out "yeyyow"!
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It's funny, because my plan was to do the whole spread in almost entirely yellow. Obviously, that didn't happen- I just couldn't seem to get things to work. But I still think it feels like a "yellow" piece for his sake!
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The second spread is about Noah's first haircut. There wasn't much to cut, but he was getting a pretty long curl in the back, so he was risking looking like a kid from the 80's (remember those "tails" people had? Yuck!). He was perfect throughout the haircut, just sat and watched. I kept a little bit of the curl from the back and glued it to the page here.
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It's staying consistently warm here, so we're getting some summer things set up, including a sprinkler. Noah had a fun time checking it out for the first time!
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And here's a photo of Riley painting. I'm really excited, because this week, I'm starting a toddler's art group, inspired by this blog. I'm not sure what to expect with this age kids-both my kids tend to lose interest in art projects pretty quickly, but I'm hoping that having other kids around will keep their attention a little better. If nothing else, it will be fun to watch them make messes of themselves!

Rainbow House & Springtime Fun

I've been in a little bit of an art funk lately. Because I'm in the midst of trying to expand myself and move in a different direction, it's a little intimidating to sit down in my studio and create. Every day, when nap-time comes, I must make the decision: Art-time or Relax-in-front-of-TV-time? I have to admit that on most days recently, the TV has been the winner. But the other day, I decided to force myself up into the studio and just create, regardless of whether I was feeling inspired or not. Well, I'm so glad I did, because I love what came out!


I'm not sure where these little pod houses and rainbows are coming from, but they just feel so "innate" to me, if that makes sense. They remind me of when I was young, and I used to draw countless little mushroom houses for little mouse families. I guess I'm all grown up now, and this is my grown-up version. As you can see in this particular painting, there's a representation of Riley and one of Noah, both asleep in their rooms. In Riley's side of the house is a semi truck and the alphabet, both current obsessions of his. And on Noah's side is his giraffe lovey and a shopping cart, again, current faves of his.


I'm not sure where this theme will lead, but for now, I think I'm content to keep doing little houses and their inhabitants!


And just for fun, here are a few photos of how we're spending this beautiful spring, before the Florida heat hits. Noah has learned how to go down the slide by himself, and he loves it! And Riley is loving playing with his bubble machine...

Yummy Goodies and a Cute Tummy!

Hi Everyone, I hope you're all having a wonderful spring thus far! It's been beautiful down here in Florida, although I can't get over feeling somewhat of a sense of dread at the hot weather that is right around the corner. I'm still learning to change my mindset about the seasons here-whereas most parts of the country are looking forward to a wonderful spring and summer, in Florida summer is the difficult season, for me at least! But I guess playing outside all winter long in shorts makes up for that!

So I participated in ArtsyMama's vintage party swap, and was lucky enough to get Kari herself as my partner! Since I don't really have a birthday party coming up until October, I told her that any non-party vintage kid's stuff would be great, too. Well, she really loaded me up! Look at all the fantastic goodies she sent! And this isn't even all of it- I forgot to take a photo before I started putting everything away, so I just pulled back out my favorite things for the photo.


This vintage doll trunk is my absolute favorite item! Can you believe she was willing to part with it? I absolutely adore it- it has got to be one of my top ten favorite possessions right now!

And this book is wonderful- I love the cover, and the text and illustrations inside are great as well!

Also love this little paper doll! He has lots of clothes, all outfits from fairy tales. It's so difficult to find nice boy paper dolls, and this guy's wonderful!

Of course I forgot to take a photo of what I sent Kari, so hopefully she'll post photos on her blog once she receives her box.

Here is the only piece of art I've had time to do lately. It's a spread in Noah's book. Lately I've been feeling a bit nostalgic about all the "baby-ness", since he's so quickly turning into a little boy. We haven't decided whether we'll have another baby or not, so the thought that these may be my last baby moments is a little sad.

These pages are about two of my favorite baby parts- his tummy and the small of his back. He's a fairly skinny guy in his arms and legs, but he has got this big belly that pokes out and I find so cute, since I know he'll thin out soon. And I love the small of his back, you know that spot that is just above the diaper and just below the shirt, that shows when a baby is sleeping with his butt in the air? So cute, but I know also fleeting, since he'll soon be sleeping sprawled out like his brother. Anyway, I wanted to do pages about these things just so that I myself could remember them.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Some Art & Some Easter Pics!

Here's some artwork that I've fit in between dr.'s visits, two kids' completely opposite nap schedules (argh, I'll be glad when Noah has successfully transitioned to one afternoon nap, so that they can be on the same schedule...), and other miscellaneous life events!

This is a piece I did yesterday:

I've discovered another artist who completely inspires me. Teesha Moore wrote about him in her latest issue of Art & Life. He's from Tokyo, and honestly, I can't even really find his real name, other than Hal, but here's his website. I am just blown away by some of his stuff, and it just seems to really fit into where I'm trying to go with my art right now. So the piece above is what I did after looking at his stuff. To see it in more detail, you can enlarge it on my Flickr site.

I've also done a spread in Riley's book:

In the past few weeks, he's become really obsessed with the alphabet, which is really fun for me. I've been teaching him all the letters, and in the matter of about two weeks, he's learned the whole alphabet. He LOVES the letter "W", with "M", "X", and "O" following close behind!

The last piece I've done is for Somerset Life:

I'll only show a portion of it, since it's going to be published. I honestly don't know which issue it will be in, but the theme was about self-portraits.

And then I thought I'd show some funny Easter photos. We went to a little Easter egg hunt at a park near our house. I wasn't sure what Riley would think, since he hasn't ever really done a hunt before. There were eggs scattered all over the lawn of the park, and we had to wait along the perimeter until they blew a whistle to start. As you can see, he seemed excited to go out and pick them up:

Then the whistle blew, and he hurriedly ran out to grab the first egg:

About five feet in, he saw the chaos of all the kids also running out, and here was the sight:

Poor Riley! He was completely scared, and wouldn't go back out... Oh well, I guess we'll try again next year!

Hitting My Stride...

I'm really starting to feel more comfortable with my latest shift in creativity. I really love this piece that I did the other day- it feels the most natural of the newest pieces I've done. I just love these enclosing pod-like shapes that keep appearing- they resonate so deeply with me. You can see it in more detail on my Flickr page.

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I need to take a break from these newest pieces though, and update the kids' books. And I've also got a piece to do for Somerset. It will be interesting to see how my new artistic mindset transfers over to my other work...

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Not much else to add. I'm dealing with crankiness all around these days-seems as if one (or two, or three) of us has been sick nonstop for the past two months-we just keep passing the same thing around, I guess. I'm ready for us all to be well again!

Some Art

Just a quick post to show what I've done recently. Again, I'm trying to work differently... I've got mixed feelings about this bunch, maybe just because I'm still deciding whether they feel like "me" or not. As you can see, I tried doing some illustration with the bunny face in the first one. I don't know if I really like this or if I really don't like this??!! I'm confused right now...sigh.... Overall, I think I like them, but I'm just not sure if this is the direction I was aiming for or not. I just need to keep working and see what develops, I guess...



Thank you everyone for all the encouragement you gave me in the last post. You guys are the greatest, and it's nice to know there are others out there who understand what being a dissatisfied artist is like!

By the way, I was interviewed for MyCraftivity.com (a new website created by North Light Books). Check it out if you're interested!

A Shift in Thinking

Hi again, well, I'm back from Jamaica and feeling somewhat refreshed. It's funny though how easily all the same things that irritated you before a vacation still irritate you as soon as you come back. I really thought that a week away from the house and kids would renew me, and I'd come back easy-going and carefree, and that toys all over the floor wouldn't bother me a bit....think again! Oh well, if nothing else, it was a really relaxing week while I was there, and I think everyone needs that once in a while!

I haven't had a lot of art time lately, with the trip and various other naptime problems that have arisen since (since naptime is my main source of art time), but I have managed a couple pieces. I don't know if it's been apparent here, but I've been struggling a bit with my art lately. I feel like I'm on the verge of some sort of shift, but I just can't quite figure out what that shift is. My art feels stagnant lately, like I'm not pushing myself and not growing, and that bothers me. I'm very inspired by a couple different artists these days (matirose, betsy walton) for the freeness and "messiness" in their art, and I'd love to somehow move in that direction, while still being true to my own artistic vision.

I think that the first step for me is to change my thinking while I work, which I've tried to begin doing. While I always have tried to "let what happens happen" when I create, I'm going to really push myself in this way, since the artwork I like seems to come from a sort of subconscious level. Even though it sounds somewhat contradictory, I'm going to make a concerted effort to "not think" while I create, and see what comes out.

Since I've made that decision, here is what I've done:

This one sort of evolved into a piece about some of the naptime/bedtime struggles I've been dealing with with the kids. There's something about it that doesn't feel true to my own vision. I think I was trying too hard, which is exactly what I'm not supposed to be doing! But I have a feeling there will be many pieces I'm not happy with during this period of transition...

This one I've very happy with. It came about very naturally, which is what I'm striving for, and I feel like it's still "me".

And this is a spread in Riley's journal that I did this morning. I overthought it a little bit while I was working, but overall, I think I was able to let go fairly well. It's about him giving up his pacifier, which is bittersweet for me. This kid was so tied to his pacifier until about a month ago. Then one day, it developed a crack in it, and that was it! No more pacifier, by his own decision. I was just shocked that he would so easily give it up, but I guess kids work in mysterious ways! It's sort of nice that I won't have that struggle down the road, but it's just another bit of proof that he's growing up....sigh.

It's strange how all three of these have the same color palette, which was not intentional. So, there you have it- the workings of my strange artistic mind. I know that the pieces themselves may not look that different from my other work, but in my mind, I've begun a journey down a new path. We'll see where I end up!

And I wanted to say thank you to all of you who complimented me on my portraits of the boys in my last post. I love realistic painting, but it's stressful, so I just don't do it often. However, I'd love to somehow combine it with my collage at some point. Maybe that will be in the forefront as well...

What I've Been Doing...

Hi all, I just wanted to show some photos of projects I've worked on in the past month since I last posted. I have to say I'm enjoying the lighter computer usage that I've imposed upon myself lately. It's given me a chance to spend more time with the kids, on my art, and also, just relaxing! So, here's what I've been up to...

A spread for Riley:

This is about his most favorite toy, a tricycle/big wheel sort of bike. He is on that thing constantly- a very good $4 Goodwill purchase!

Paintings of the boys:

I've wanted to do this for quite a while. Riley's is 11x14, just for size reference. Portraits are so hard, because you really have to capture that certain "something" that makes the person who they are, and I really struggled with these. But I think I've finally gotten them to a point I'm happy with, and I know I'll treasure them in the future, when those baby faces have grown into young boys!

A birthday gift for Noah:

A fabric house "bag" with soft block-like things that go inside. This has got to qualify for the "most time ever spent on a sewing project because everything that could go wrong did" award! Boy, it was really a labor of love, but in the end it turned out cute. I guess that's what happens when you just make something up as you go along...

A birthday for Noah:

The little guy turned one this week!

A birthday spread for Noah:

The birthday hat on his head is from the card Jason and I gave him, and the strip of paper down the center is a piece of wrapping paper from one of his gifts.

A project for the future:

I picked this up at Goodwill for $20 yesterday. I just love the detail and styling on it. It's pretty dirty right now, but with a nice distressed paint finish, I think it will be gorgeous!

And that's about it! We've got our Jamaica trip coming up, and I can't wait! We are really in need of some rest and relaxation! I just hope I don't miss the kids too much...but I'm sure they won't even realize we're gone, since they've got grandparents to keep them busy!

A New Year, New Outlook

As you may have noticed, I've been frequenting the blog less often lately. I've been struggling with balancing my computer life with my "real" life, as I think many of you can relate to! As the kids are getting older, my free time is dwindling, and many days I have none at all (depending on how they cooperate with their naptimes). When I am able to grab a few minutes, I try to answer emails, update the blog, etc., but even so, I'm often not able to keep up on it as I'd like to... And that's not even considering trying to find time to do artwork!

Anyway, all this to say that you may be seeing a little less of me, as I'm going to cut back on a lot of the computer work for a while, and try to concentrate a little more on spending time with the kids and doing artwork. I will still post photos of new work on my Flickr site for sure, and I'll try to squeeze in a blog entry every so often as well. So, please be patient with me! I promise I won't drop completely out of view, I just may be a little harder to see!

But before I go for now, I'll share a couple projects I've been working on. The first is pretty self-explanatory- a journal spread for Noah. The little guy is learning to walk! It's so fun to witness this process- we can literally see him improving every day. I can't say I'm 100% pleased with these pages, but they're good enough...

The other project is something that's been brewing in my head for a while, and yesterday I decided to go ahead with it. I've been wanting to take some nude self-portraits. I'm not sure how I'll use them, but it just felt like something that needed to be done. So, while Noah was taking a nap and Riley was playing in his room, I set up the camera and went for it! I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I didn't want to post them here, since this is too easy a place for just anyone to copy them, but if you'd like to see some of them, you can go to my Picturetrail site. At the bottom of the page is an album that is password-protected. The password is "blog".

One series is on our family room floor. I decided to leave everything as it was- kid's toys, etc., since that's what my life consists of these days! And the other series was taken in an arched niche in our dining room-turns out it's the perfect size for a human!

I used some of the neat editing tools in my camera to blur and darken areas, which I think creates a really nice effect. Plus it doesn't hurt to soften up those stretch marks either! The shots on my other site are larger than these. I cropped in on these so as not too show too much, but I rather like the cropped images, too! I'll have to play around with some cropping on the others.

Thank you, everyone, for bearing with me while I try and re-prioritize my life. I hope you all are having a wonderful new year!