The center of the home is where our heart lies, so they say. And in our home the kitchen is truly where all the action is. Since we spend so much time there, I always make sure it is dressed festively for the season because it lifts our spirits. Here are my creative twists on… Continue reading Decking the halls and the walls and the tiniest of places. PART FOUR: The center of the home.
The living room. Where we live? Actually we spend most of our time in our studios & kitchen but this room is where we live with some of our favorite collections while cozying up with a movie. This year I brought out new collections and Christmassized some of the older ones. Although I try… Continue reading Decking the halls and the walls and the tiniest of places. PART THREE: The living room
The Keeping Room. A term from the 18th century that refers to the room nearest the warmth of the cook-in fireplace where the family activities took place. Visit my Christmassy fireplace Keeping Room so see where we share our deepest conversations and keep our family memories warm and alive. With everything we all have gone… Continue reading Decking the halls and the walls and the tiniest of places. PART TWO: The keeping room
Magic. Its what we all want with winter holidays. And this year more than ever we need it! So follow my decorating journey this month to see what I can come up with to make this life of isolation a month of joy. Todays post; outside of my home during a snow storm. My chosen… Continue reading Decking the halls and walls and the tiniest of places. PART ONE: Outside
This time of year is my favorite for representational fabric painting. With my love of nature there is simply so much around me begging my brushes to mimic it. Normally I am teaching classes but since I have not opened up my studio for that yet, I thought you might enjoy a simple tutorial here.… Continue reading Painting fabric tutorial; autumn apples
On this day of commercialized romantic love I want to encourage the idea of self-love, of appreciating and embracing our own unique self. As a creative, when I am in my full self I can be quite quirky so am often dismissed. How about you? Enjoy this poem I wrote around this time in 2014… Continue reading Heart yourself!
Nature is art and art mimics nature. Never more so than in the ever-popular Art in Bloom concept presented in galleries and museums. Last night, The Concord Garden Club worked in tandem with the League of NH Craftsmen to create a beautiful reprieve from the winter chill with a colorful and fragrant display of art… Continue reading Art and Flowers
Analytical thought vs perceptual intuition. Linear vs abstract. Bookkeeping/emails vs art making. Because these opposites require the use of different sides of the brain to formulate, it has always been a tug of war for me managing the “responsible” activities in my artist’s life while keeping the creative juices flowing. It literally feels like I… Continue reading Switching Gears: left brain/right brain
I know of no other group of people that are more giving than quilters. On November 8th my sister Niña called me from her car as she and her boyfriend drove out of Paradise, California through the flames of the now infamous Camp Fire, leaving behind her home to burn to the ground. The horror and… Continue reading The Quilters Christmas Gift
It's all about the brushes and scissors and glue. But the what they don’t tell you about in “creative school” is your hands and neck and back. Conversation with myself: ME: Yes, yes, yes…color swirling, this way, blend, right-angles, numeric calculations, cut here, scrunch there… MYSELF: Ouch, no, dang it thumbs, ugh, no, bad neck… Continue reading The Ergonomics of being Creative
As David said, it wasn't cold enough in New Hampshire so we headed north to Montreal, Canada last week for a few days of snowy Christmas-y-ness in the historic old city. Cold it was—2º one morning—but walking in it added to the charm, invigorated one's spirits and burnt off a lot of calories! Let me… Continue reading Art and light of Christmas Montreal
I finally sat down, exhausted, and looked around me. Piles on the floor creeping towards me, carefully engineered desktop “filing” teetering, bags exploding over boxes, one inspiration after another layered on work surfaces…. I have done it again. I creatived myself into a mountain of mess. My mind never really stops. The creative ideas come… Continue reading In the mind of a creative
I haven't written much about my gardens this year. It has been a rough, slow start for most of them. My breast cancer slowed me down in the spring when I should have been tending to their new growth, the continual sprummer rain and darkness on beds that were planted for dryness and sun mooshed,… Continue reading End of summer gardens; lessons in life
Breast cancer; in case you were afraid to ask. It was sixteen days of radiation after a successful surgery…just in case. During a season when I had little time to be in the art studio, I just had to do something artistically expressive so I turned my daily shoes and accessory choices into an art… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. RECAP: lessons in art and life
Confetti falling from the sky, the roar of cheering crowds, bands playing... Not really but that is what it felt like on my last day of treatment. All my techs—past and present—were there, the nurses, the office staff and my doctor were there. And so were my shoes. Walking in past the clerical station.... Office… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. DAY 16
Frisky feet. Feelin' a little Italian yesterday, like kicking up some heels. It was my second to the last treatment. A friend who had just visited Italy once told me how amazed she was that the women there could manage walking on cobblestone streets in really high-heeled shoes. I thought I would channel the likes of Sophia.… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. DAY 15
Bitter-sweet today. Excited about the 3-day week-end marking my third-to-the-last treatment and also finding out that this was the last time I would see one of my techs. I hadn't anticipated the feeling of loss...these gals have become comrades. Bonds have formed; like being in the trenches together at DSW. But back to the story....… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. DAY 14
I felt like I was getting a cat-scan. Flat on my back, all eyes moving up and down my body from head to toe and back again. Tech: You kind of have a metallic thing going on today. Me in my head: Oh, is that what it is? I was just playing off the texture… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. DAY 13
Not-so-casual work day for me seeing clients. Decided to pull out the dashing cruel shoes that make a statement despite the pinching of older toes. It was worth it. New tech: Those are AWESOME! Old tech: Wow, those are awesome! Feeling very satisfied and accomplished I was magnanimously able to change the subject steering the… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. DAY 12
A day on the run for me—figuratively not literally. Have you seen me running on the road? I think not. My version of running; up and down the freeway, up and down the stairs, standing for hours, bending, lifting... I thought for sure someone would comment on my ergonomic asymetrical sneakers but apparently most everyone else besides… Continue reading 16 ways, sixteen days. DAY 11
