starting again ....

that's me in the pic ...circa 1969 based on how big my baby brother is....so there i am in the big bow, itchy blouse, very short dress and patent leather mary janes .... i remember the outfit, the grapefruit tree, the how much i disliked the shirt under the jumper .... but i don't think i remember this specific event ... the photo shoot .... i loved the bow ... it was a long, long, sheer ribbon, maybe four inches wide ... with tiny blue dots on it ... i had another just like it with red dots .... on the fourth of july i wore them together for years and years... i wore them tied on top to the half ponytail i usually sported ..... i still like mary jane shoes ... though my daughters have both outgrown the style, i have them in black, brown, and orange ... though none of them are patent leather ....

so ... i've been remiss in my blogging habits ... but intend to get better .. right now ... here i am, fresh start .... maybe it's a spring thing ... or maybe cause i've had some big stuff that is done ... or maybe cause i have a small show in a few weeks that i need to gear up for (read: make more art fast) ... but anyway .... i hope to renew my blog efforts .... i'm well behind in stuff i could have been showing you in my weeks (eek, months) away .... so ... to new beginnings .... come back tomorrow for a pic of a painting i've done recently ... and pottery, i had a great pottery class this week .... and the wizard of oz .... i did some oz painting too ... so ... i'll catch you up ... then i'll try harder to stay caught up .... using the whole thing to get my art reinvigorated so that i'll have something interesting to show you ....

until tomorrow ...

craft vs. art vs. just going ahead and cleaning up the studio....

my artsy self has been busy doing exactly what i'm supposed to be doing ... but of course, i neglected to take any pics!!

on saturday, little.e.beck.artist and i totally cleaned up the basement .... that includes the art studio, the sitting room, the christmas wrapping paper, dress up clothes, and incredible amounts of mess ..... we even re covered the work tables with fresh paper .... and immediately felt compelled to deface it with doodles ....

i have two paintings started (nearly finished) ... one a commissioned piece, the other a donation for an auction .... and i have a couple at the beginning stages ....

and today? no art... just craft ... at sunday school this morning, my fourth graders made god's eyes ... do you remember those? did you make them at camp when you were little? the kids loved it ... loved it so much that it will probably be part of next week's lesson too ....

tomorrow i plan to finish one painting, maybe two .... with my plan being three completed this week ... do you have an artsy plan?

the ides of march ...

today is the ides of march ... depending on your era, that means we should either have a celebratory parade for our government, army and politics in general ... or we should be mourning the day of caesar's death ..... not particularly in the mood for either of those, i'd like to point you to the top(ish) of this blog page .... there are tabs(ish) at the top ... you are on the blog page ... if you click the last tab it says 2011 books .... earlier this week , in my daylight savings stupor**, i wrote out the books i've read thus far this year .....mostly for me to keep track ... but partly so that anyone who wants can browse for a good book .... so ... click on it .... and here's a link in case you can't figure what i'm talking about!

**daylight savings time messes me up .... it makes me feel so jet lagged.... and then you have to wake up in the dark .... where's the joy in that? i get that we'll have sunshine til later in the day, but just waiting for that natural progression seems much easier .... if anyone starts a B.D.S.T.group****, i am happy to join...

****ban daylight savings time

working ....

working, working, working .... but now it is friday ... hooray!

i've been working on sets for the middle school musical ...

i've been working on giving up caffeine and diet sodas .... (in my darkest moments i wonder why i would give it up ... i am truly addicted!)

i've been working on making (and following) a weekly meal plan ... come to find out zucchini is my new favorite vegetable .....

i've been working on keeping a hard (maybe too hard) exercise routine in spite of tennis elbow and a recurring ache in my back ....

i've been working on editing the book that i wrote a thousand years ago ... i can't believe i still haven't finished the edit .... i'm very bogged down but plodding along valiantly ....

i've been working on avoiding my art studio because it is such a disastrous mess ... i need to clean it before serious painting .... although, girl.beck.artist has been painting down there quite a bit, so it must not be that bad ....

i've been gloriously working on planning a trip for the summer ... i do believe it falls into "the anticipation of joy brings joy" category .... i've booked nothing but am turning into an authority from all my reading .... even if we don't make the trip, it feels like i've been there ...

what are you working on?

... doodle quotes ....

so ... as a collector of quotes, let me share some of my favorites ....

e.e.cummings is probably my favorite poet .... and you gotta love a good laughter quote ....

i love maya angelou too ...

i went through a french author phase (french minor in college ... started les mis in french ... lasted about a chapter, and read it in english ... ) ... this victor hugo quote is one i sometimes write our for friends who are going through troublesome things ....

this one is simple, from a not so simple writer and poet ... (kahlil gibran wrote the prophet .. my mom gave me that book when i was fifteen or sixteen)

and last but not least .. from a more entrepreneurial artist ...

do you have a favorite quote? favorite poet? favorite words of wisdom?

.... whole ...

happy valentine's day ... i hope you have a happy one ... don't forget to do something kind for someone who is important to you ... or, even better, the someones who are important to you .....

of mermaid tails, celery sprigs and orange crush ....

i had the good fortune of going to lowe's with two ten year old, giddy, happy, swirly, twirly girls .... as we passed the paint chips on our way to get three cans of spray foam adhesive number 78 we couldn't resist ... we each pulled our favorite color .... i, e, picked spring meadow .... little.e.beck.artist picked mermaids tail ... and our friend,a, who luckily is a vowel too, picked celery sprig ...or green pear, i can't remember which ... but the third color on her card was almost aloe ... she got the trifecta of paint chips .. all good color names ... my card had the loser name antique green, and mermaid tail was brought down by the boring jewel green ... so then we shopped for our spray foam adhesive number seventy eight .... what a disappointment ... they only had numbers 77 and 90 .... we bought a poor substitute of spray adhesive that said it worked on foam ... but it was woefully numberless ... and it's ability to adhere foam to foam has yet to be proven .... time will tell ...

on the way out of lowe's with our unnumbered spray adhesive, we stopped at another batch of color chips ... the rule was you couldn't pick a chip in the color family you arleady had ... i picked spring azalea ... philosophically a grand color but not that thrilling a name ... little.e.beck.artist picked lilac 4 ... as opposed to lilac 1 , lilac 2, and lilac 3 ... weak effort on the naming there ... an little.a. picked orange crush ... we all took turns saying orange crush like we were actually crushing something ... great name .....

i am in the job market looking for the job where i get to name paint colors ... or lipstick colors ... or nail polish colors ... or ... i want to be on the consumer panel where i can tell them what works ....lilac 4, really?

... a good day to be an artist ... or at least shadow one ...

girl.beck.artist had a "professional shadow day" ... she had a half day at school and was supposed to spend the afternoon shadowing someone in a profession that she finds interesting .... so ... she picked my pal allison ... and spent the afternoon at her studio learning the art trade in general .. and making magnets in particular ....

boy.beck.artist is shadowing an electrical engineer ...

someone is shadowing an orthopedist ...

someone is shadowing a baker ...

someone is shadowing a surgeon!!! ...

if you were in eighth grade, who would you want to shadow?

...sold ....

... today i have been working on editing some writing .....and not painting ... so for the art blog, i have to show you another of last week's art effort ... because with writing? there's just nothing to show you? post it notes with scribbles is about as good as it gets ... when my youngest was tiny, she adored post it notes ... she'd fill up hundreds of them and attach to the to a door or a wall ... we called them her art installations ... sometimes they were interactive and in paths through the house ... let's follow the blue post it notes ... oh my, now they are yellow .. oh, they are leading to the front door ... look, hundreds of pink ones on the door ... and they all have a tiny face .... hundreds of tiny faces on pink post it notes .. what does it mean? ....

alas, i have small scribbles of things i want to remember ... like, uh-oh, what was that character's name? ..... or onomatopoeia? .... you know ... writey things ... so ... to take a break from my writing ... i'm , um, writing my blog .... and eating my weight in grapefruit .... my new favorite thing (edamame? so last year ... hearts o' palm? so last summer ... cashews? last week) ... so ... be kind, be careful, be happy, be helpful, be honest ... or just get back to work ....

.. great ....

this is a recent six inch square canvas ... made to give to someone that you think is amazing ... i was thinking i might give it to a pal for valentine's ... but am i even giving out valentine's to pals? probably not ... or maybe ... i guess ....

i picked up my art from the trinity show today ... they sold 12 pieces for me ... most ever for that sale ... and i think this is my fourth year ...

that's so great, huh? i'm happy about it ... my art wall is looking a bit bare ... gotta get on that ....

super bowl time ... i'm in it for the commercials .... how 'bout you? who are you rooting for?

.... joy ... even on a rainy day ....

yesterday i drove another batch of paintings to the trinity art show ... since they'd sold bunches already .... i had five almost done .... i just needed to paint the edges, sign them, give them another coat of mat medium, write on the back, and attach hanging hardware ... and i also did one new one .... including all the finishing touches ....

here's one of the newly finished and delivered ...
spread joy is always a good sentiment ....

especially on a day like today ...

most of the country is covered in snow ... but we just have 33 degrees and rain .....
the rain is not a joy to my little dog .... she's quite put out by it actually .... but seeing her in her raincoat makes me so happy .... and the joy is greater when i take the raincoat off and she starts frantically and spastically rolling around on the rug near the front door ..... it's the little things that count ... especially on rainy days ....

... i am now a believer in the economic recovery ....

based on my sales at the trinity art show this week, i believe that the economic recovery might just be real ... i read an article this week (in time mag., i think..or online? npr? wsj? not sure!) ...

so maybe it's just that folks are tired of worrying about money .... they've had an empty spot above their couch for two years and they are ready to fill it .... either way, my newest extra large canvas has sold this week at the trinity art show ... it makes me happy that the painting made someone else happy enough to buy it ... rah! i have a couple more paintings started that i will try to finish first thing tomorrow, and go restock at the show, since they seem to have sold many... hip hooray for economic recoveries .... it's great for an artist's hibernating/wounded art ego ....