Sometimes I will see a face and have no choice but to pull it out of my pen and put it in my doodle moleskin book. It arrests me, calls me, demands that I acknowledge it for its rare qualities or its vague sadness or its normal mundane beauty. This guy was like that. He was very demanding with that gaze.
trying to step back into the groove
after spending a couple days here
relaxing with my people
and lots of beautiful creatures
this little guy was awesome.
this
he was very talkative
the snow leopard reminded us of our kitty by rubbing his face secretively on the grass
all that glitters is not gold, in this case it's a piranha
now it is time for repose.
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. - Cecil Beaton.
I say just be yourself.
five flowers
lots of my friends know about my obsession with the number five. it's my favorite number and shows up in lots of ways throughout my art and life. but now i am loving it even more. five years ago, on my birthday, february 24th, i had a mastectomy. i didn't want to have the surgery, obviously, and especially not on my birthday. but when i was scheduling the appointment that was the first date available. and, at the time it was better to HAVE a birthday to celebrate for the next several years than to fret over that particular one. $%#* cancer.
the general angle
and each year on my birthday i remember that day. i remember that surgery. i remember the room i was in. the cold colors of the walls. the metal trolley holding my i.v. bag and its tube into my body. i remember wheeling it into the bathroom in the dark while loopy and talking to mija on the phone. that was one of the few moments when i didn't feel completely out of my body. i remember the doctors being unable to find a pain med that would work. nothing seemed to help and they kept calling late into the night to get him on the phone to try something else. i remember wishing i were anywhere but in that cold room.
i remember my amazing friends and family visiting me in the hospital. i remember them lined up at the foot of my bed like sweet surprises in a row. lisa brought me a birthday crown. i wear it around the house still. that was lovely to see them all through my post surgery haze.
forgotten
but, let me tell you, having a mastectomy on your birthday sucks. don't do it if you can help it. pick a different day. you will remember it when you would rather move on and forget it. and yet, you can never forget it. no amount of life is going to take the scars away,inside or out. SO - get your mammograms. don't put it off. do self-checks every month. be smart, people! ok, climbing off my pink beribboned soap box now.
escape
and, luckily, this year, tomorrow, on my birthday, i get to celebrate with enormous JOY being five years cancer free. that is huge to me. five years out is the first time the oncologist will consider me cancer free. so it is quite a succulent milestone. i've been waiting to exhale a little since that day i thwacked myself in the boob with a mop and found a lump. five years out from surgery feels like a wonderful, amazing, happy, magnificent relief. life is made up of so many moments all strung together like sparkling gems. tiny and shining. this one moment sums up so much happiness hanging off of worry, love, bravery, sadness, expectation, adjustment, fear, and on and on. right now five equals rocket to the moon happy. so...
take time to live your life in this moment. the little stuff truly isn't worth worrying about, well, not much is worth worrying about. don't be so serious. love big. laugh loud. and dance every chance you get. that's what i'm doing. mwah!
I love my iron door stop in the shape of a Scottie I got for Christmas.
It reminds me of my first dog I had on my own, Simon. I miss that little wild man.
It is important for practical objects to be made with beauty and style. I particularly enjoy the whimsical and pretty pottery made by Jonathan Adler. Click on his heart vase to visit his site. His double faced mugs are my favorite.
all but one seed.
This week in my book club we were talking about magic in every day life. How many of us spend time in the land of the Fae? It was quickly regarded by my friends that I might daily be visiting that magical land.
And it is true. I believe in the magic of every day things. I see life with dreamy eyes.
Today when walking, I came across these vines which reminded me of the hand of the Earth reaching out from the land to touch the air. Or the hand of God, reaching up to us. Of course it is a vine. But it is also the hand of God, reminding me that He is in everything, He is everywhere, He is in me. And it is the magical hand of Earth telling me to be mindful of how I treat this place where I've been given to live. And to teach my children to do the same.
When I see the vines stretching and crossing over one another I think of how we as people collide and combine and work together to live this life. Sometimes we are the support, strong but supple, holding up the others. Other days we are attacked by outside forces and need a stronger aid to lift us up.
Magic is everywhere and serves us well as we walk along. Some might say this is stopping to smell the flowers. I think it is stopping to take the hand of God wherever we might find it. And then dancing together inside.
Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.
Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 71-74
Happy Valentine's Day!!
Please enjoy all the gorgeous Valentines I received from my lovely friends in our Valentine Banner Exchange. I hope your day is full of love!
from Theresa Martin and Tanya Peacock
Thank you, friends! I love you so!
I made a few more hearts to fill out my Valentine banner...
Old book pages burned and sewn to cardstock with ghost paper hearts down the front.
Chipboard letters above a drawing of hands holding.
A couple years back I was in a Valentine exchange where I painted faces onto heart-shaped puzzles. I made laser copies of them before I sent them off. So these are some of the copies glued to cardstock for a rebirth on my banner.
I also made several of these long strands of hearts using a big heart-shaped paper punch. It was nice to have a different shape to break up the banner. These are longer than the other hearts and as these are strung like beads they have a lot of movement. They're super easy. Just punch your hearts, use a glue stick to attach two so you have a front and back side. Punch holes in the top and bottom of each heart then string them onto rope or ribbon and hang. My kid's love paper punches. If you are looking for a Valentine craft for your little ones, this could do it.
This was some paper I had previously painted. It was super thick and painted on both sides already so I just cut it out into the heart shape. The large white shape was painted on there by using a fabric flower as a stencil of sorts. Sometimes I would put the flower onto the paper and then paint over it, leaving the negative space of the flower below. And then, as in this particular heart, I used the flower after it was painted as a stamp by pressing it onto the paper. It's a fun and kind of abstract way to get flower shapes into your artwork.
I've had these little letter tiles for YEARS. I was so happy to finally find a place for them.
This was another thick piece of paper that I painted some time ago. I popped it into my sewing machine and practically disintegrated it. After that I colored the stitches with caran d'ache because I felt like it. :)
It's kind of crazy but I like it. Love is like that, too, no?
Come on people, make some heart art and tell me about it!
