I have had some great days. My days have been peppered with Eric Carle's Brown Bear Brown Bear and some Kevin Henkes Birds thrown into the mix with the little one. I have also been spending time with my oldest child and making art.
I love when I find the balance between being a mom and a working artist.
I took some time to spend with my oldest son sans the baby. My boy thanked me for it while at dinner and said the loveliest thing. “Mom I savor these moments, when it is just you and me.” Sweet kid. Just hearing this makes life so wonderful and joyous.
My heart, silent with love.
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Angie Lewin article in Handmade Living • Angie Lewin Linocut Card, Scarista on my desk
During our outing we made a magazine stop of course because my oxygen was running low, you know me and mags!
I picked up the latest issue of Handmade Living and Vogue Living Australia. Both never fail to inspire me.
my favorite artists was interviewed in it, her name is Angie Lewin. Angie is a printmaker from the UK.
Her linocut prints are so gorgeous.
Graphic yet softened by their setting in nature. Her plant forms are delightful. She has a fabric line that can be found at St.Jude's Fabric and her designs can be found in cards and noteboooks and pillow covers as well. She founded the St.Jude's Fabric company with her husband. I keep one of her cards at my desk, it just lights me up.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– • Letting some guilt go because I am a bit off schedule in posting. A self-imposed schedule of course. Still getting my feet wet. Took the art detour this week, making art is always a good idea. Worked on some Word Art, which I will be putting into my Etsy shop.
I have added some new magnets and owls, I hope you stop by.
We are into the first full week of school. It starts a bit later for us.
Those first few days of school always signify the end of summer days for me. With the school supplies bought, getting that first Halloween catalogue in the mail and the mums coming out in full force at the garden center, you know change is coming. A shift, a transition. I looked out the window and saw a few leaves floating through the air. Yup fall is coming.
Aquinnah Velásquez
Waving good-bye to summer…
last pickings from the garden,
the closing of the town lake,
saying goodbye to our summer friends,
late sunsets,
toasting marshmallows at the fire pit,
sleeping in, especially sleeping in,
drives to the beach,
blasting the ac,
singing our summer tunes,
putting on longer sleeved shirts,
grabbing a jacket as nights get cooler,
getting the big thick issue of September Vogue
packing the car and driving to the ferry
The Ferry Velásquez
Rituals change, the leaves change and we are forever changed with our summers. Good things happen, and not so good things happen, life happens.
All things nicely placed and packed in our suitcase of memories so we can learn, recollect and reminisce.
Getting on the ferry and saying goodbye to the Vineyard always means end of summer for me. Saying goodbye to that special place.
• Eight more days of summer. _________________________________________ Hello fall.
Is it hard to part with art you have made? It comes up for me every now and then.
I have three pieces; no actually four counting the one in a previous post titled Going in Circles named Vintage Velásquez.
That one I still have. I won’t ever let that one go. I have a friend who to this day still asks for it. Whenever she calls me she doesn’t say hello at the start of the conversation, she always says "how is my painting"?
The second and third are the circle paintings, pictured above. I sometimes visit the home where one of circle paintings hangs and I get a bit jealous that my painting lives there.
The fourth one is the this orange flower painting which I use as my avatar, which many of you have seen.
This one was really hard to let go.
Why am I so attached to them? Why when I see photos of the ones I sold I get tinges of remorse.
Why is it like a relationship? Am I their mother, their friend, their lover?
Is it easier for you to part with your creation? As an artist what is your relationship with your art?
Are you the mom, nurturing it every step of the way and saying goodbye breaks your heart? _____________________________________________________________________
Are you the friend, giving a pat on the back saying go on it’s okay? _____________________________________________________________________
Are you the lover, holding it in such a tight embrace that when you do let go your arms ache? _____________________________________________________________________ Are you the teacher, showing others how things are done, so you don’t mind sharing it ?
Are you the student, learning from it then letting it go to move on to the next thing? _____________________________________________________________________
Are you the storyteller wanting to pass on visions and illustrated stories? _____________________________________________________________________
Are you the pimp sending it off without care, with a just give me the cash attitude? _____________________________________________________________________
My belief is that your relationship with your art never ends. Our art is our treasure.
The more I thought about it I figured it might just be me. I have a hard time lending books and clothes as well. Is it because the book may have been a favorite growing up? Perhaps it is a new art book and I need to visit it everyday for inspiration and it has become a friend. The outfit or that dress, maybe it is because I wore it the day I heard news I had been waiting two years to hear. Perhaps I wore it at my most favorite place at one of the most favorite times of my life,
I don’t really know the answer but I do know that everything has a special place in “our” time, in “our” timeline. Therein lies our attachment. As artist don’t you feel that we see the world differently and just feel things and about things differently?
As I was running this post in my head I kept hearing songs. I was thinking, I am so tired I must be cracking up! I just ended cracking myself up! But I think I am normal and this happens to everyone right?
We all have that song whether it drives us mad because we cant get it out of head or it takes us to that place in our memory or our hearts where it took on special meaning. We all have that song, the one that signifies summer. You know the one we listen loudly in the car to with the warm wind blowing through our hair. I always think of Will Smith's "Summertime". We have our wedding song. Our bad break-up song. And so it goes. Our art is our song.
These songs were floating around in my head because of the thoughts on parting, and leaving.
Never can say goodbye-Michael Jackson
Never, never gonna give you up-Barry White
Never gonna give you up-Rick Astley
Love will tear us apart again-Joy Division
In the end-Linkin Park
The Scientist-Coldplay
You don’t have to say you love me-Dusty Springfield (reminds me of my mom) Feel free to share your song and add to the list......
So I decided to pick one and leave you with it. I had a good laugh watching it. Sharing some laughter.....
Oh come on I dare you to have a listen go ahead press play!
Trying to write about something else today.
Trying all week to sit and write! To be honest my time was stolen and or lost.
I do want to stay true to the artistic conversation in this blog but the storm and what came from it kept gnawing at me, so I am sharing this.
Fury at the front door
New England was in Irene’s path on Sunday and as you can see from the photos, quite scary. We are back to normal now and have power. The water quickly receded once the rain seized.
Back to calm
This week I have been trying to get back on track back and on schedule. I was thrown off my game, thrown off center. When you lose a few days, as know, the to do list moves to the next day and so on. The best-laid plans are tossed up in the air. I am here to say that in the end it was a great experience. It was right up there with a snow day. We stayed put for part of the time and enjoyed the quiet time and the silence of not being plugged in.
We had friends up from NY because parts of Brooklyn had a mandatory evacuation. I felt awful because they came up to our place only to witness flooding and downed trees. For future reference my house is not the go to house during storms. In spite of it all we had a great time. The kids played, we read mags ( favorite pastime for my friends and myself) had a few glasses of wine, enjoyed a nice meal and just relaxed. I just love that sometimes it takes a hurricane!
So, gift wrapped in chaos and uncertainty came an expected surprise to slow you down and witness joy and a few more things:
Glad to be back at the desk, my new writing spot….
I plan on giving you some artistic food for thought next week and plan to share more art. I am also working on introducing a fun Friday concept centered around words and the paths they take. So stop back in.
Have a Superb Weekend • Stay Creative • Make lots of Art
Hoping you had a lovely weekend. I spent some "relaxed quiet time" with the kids after a week of trying to find balance between home, art and my heart (family). Looking for my rhythm as we all do when we add new but welcomed challenges in our day, in our lives. I posted this picture on my Facebook page last week. I wanted to share it here because I know some of you who are stopping in do not have a Facebook page.
Going into this week with a plan, enthusiasm and an open mind. Did some workspace organizing because my studio and writing area do not share the same real estate.
The studio is out in the barn and the writing area sits in our family living space with
our books. Books and magazines are my other oxygen besides coffee, as you soon will find out as we get to know each other better. I am not a writer but I thought I should have a spot to do so without ink, paint, brushes, etc…
Some of you know and some do not… I am taking this incredible online class with Kelly Rae Roberts not just for the sole purpose of starting an online presence with this blog, opening an Etsy store and establishing a website. While they are definitely on my list of goals I want this class to be the foundation. The foundation where all the pieces come together and are strongly tied together with a sense of self, the artist self to form a solid foundation. Kelly Rae is an incredible force.
As I put my toe into the waters of blogging, my hope is to pause. I believe blogging keeps you in the moment of what is important. I say this because it does make you pause, reflect and take stock. I suppose it is like a camera or a journal where you pause to capture moments. No matter which one makes you slow down to have a look and at times you crack a smile, that’s a good thing. I figure there is no right way. There is no wrong way to this. I just plan to find my way.
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When I started to write this morning all this conversation was not my intention.
I had other thoughts but somehow this is where the words led so I followed.
Vintage Velásquez
Now back to where I thought I would be going today. In getting to know and meet my classmates from my online class I am spending time looking their blogs, websites and I have visited their Facebook pages. It had me thinking about art, other artists, why we paint, draw, design, write, sew or make what we do. What defines our styles, our artistic hand.
Is there an icon or a symbol that comes up in your work either consciously or subconsciously?
When you doodle, draw or put inspiration in your sketchbook.
What shows up all the time?
Possibly it is:
Birds
Water
Trees
Color
Animals
Symbols
Circles
People
Shapes
Clouds
Nature
Time
And so on…
What is your icon? Look back at your older works. Interesting isn't it. Sketchbooks are very telling as well. The same can be said about attraction. What attracts you to that pattern, to that artist, to their work?
I figured my icon to be the circle. When I paint, it is circular and confident in motion. I am attracted to the letters e and o, especially “e”, the moon, smooth beach stones, snowball hydrangeas, the eyes of an owl, artists Calder and Miró. I see a pattern here. I can go on with my list but I won’t. I would love for you to share and join in on the conversation.
