"reclaimed"

Lindsay came in town yesterday afternoon, and we loaded all our art in the back of Andrew's truck--first sign that this is a country art show! (We only had a couple blocks to drive from my studio to the Cultural Center, so it was not too risky.) Everything is all hung and completely finished. We are both pleased with the final result, and more pleased that it is finished!

The title of our show is "reclaimed". After we were both well on our way with our artworks, Lindsay and I discovered that we were both using lots of recycled materials in our paintings. We thought this idea of reclaiming something old (old wood, paper, artwork, etc.) and turning it into something new was a theme we were both focusing on. This idea also goes along with our natural/botanical subject matter also. Nature is constantly "reclaiming": going through cycles of rest and renewal.

The opening of the show is this next Saturday, October 4th from 1-4 pm at the Farmland Cultural Center. Come early and check out Farmland's Chili Cookoff! Click here for more information. Please stop by and check everything out if you are in town!

genius

I am currently way behind with Max's scrapbooks. I want to make a neat scrapbook for his first year (at least!) with pictures, notes, etc. Well, it is hard to find time to do that, plus I have such a perfectionist nature with projects like this that is it is hard to get much done. Every day he does something new and I think to myself: "I at least need to write this down so I don't forget this time/moment/day!" Then I have to dig in my purse (some of you are laughing because you know what my purse usually looks like!) and find my sketchbook/journal...

By the time I find my sketchbook I forgot what I was going to write!

Well, in the latest issue of Cookie magazine there was this idea:

Create an e-mail account for your child. E-mail this account with little memories, funny things, etc. that you want to remember, and want to keep for your child. The date is already on the note, and they are all held in cyberspace in an organized way. No messy sketchbook! It is really quick to do this because I am checking and writing e-mail at least a couple times a day. I think this is such an awesome idea!! Plus, not only can I send him notes and memories, but Andrew and other people can too. (Hint, hint grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles!!)

If the only thing I ever do is print off these little memories I think it will be a wonderful treasure for Max to have later.

Here's the address if anyone has little notes for Max:

memoriesformax@yahoo.com

that time again

Harvest time has officially arrived. This time of year has always been my favorite. I love the crisper temperatures (which we haven't seen yet, because it is still warm!) and changing leaves and all that good stuff. We don't get to see much of Andrew during this time of year, but instead of getting grumpy about it I have decided to look for the good things: I get to watch whatever I want on TV, I can start tackling my huge list of projects, etc.

Max seems to like going to the field--check out that picture from last year! So bald and little! It is something to see the whole process of collecting crops--even though I have been around it my whole life I find it interesting.

The last picture is from this spring, planting time. (Note the lack of crops in the ground.) I love this picture--the ground, the sky and my boys of course.

Switching gears:
On the art front I am almost all ready for the show! (I am ahead of schedule which is very rare and refreshing!) All the paintings are framed and ready to be hung on Sunday. Soon I will post more about the opening, so if you are interested you can swing by.

right in the eye!

The laundry detergent I use has a handy little pump on it. It is super convenient--each load gets one pump. Love it. Today I was doing the laundry and I did the usual one pump of the soap and when the little pump came up it flung a drop of detergent right in my left eye. I couldn't see after that (because when something is flung in your eye it tends to shut very tightly) and I barely made it the bathroom to (unsuccessfully) rinse the soap out.

ON upon further inspection, the bottle of detergent said: CAUTION, EYE IRRITANT. FLUSH EYES WITH WATER. Super. I wasn't sure how to flush your eye. Remember in high school chemistry class how they have those things that look like double drinking fountains? Those were eye flushers. We don't have one at home. My mom suggested filling a little bowl with water and then sticking my eye in it and blinking a bunch. This seemed to help.

Why am I telling you this eye story? Not sure, really. I thought you might get a kick out of it. At least now you know how to flush your eye if you need to.

a full mind

Do you every feel like your mind is so full of stuff you're working on, want to work on, need to remember, to do lists, that it physically wears you out? That's about where I am today.

I don't want to sound like I am complaining, because it is all good stuff: art shows, we're busy with auctions, etc, but there is a lot of things that need to fit in my brain and I feel like I am just barely getting it all done! It always gets done, (usually in the eleventh hour!) but it always does. I'm not sure how to combat this full mind feeling, but I'm sure that lots of Diet Coke helps.

The picture above is from Lindsay and I's little meeting last Saturday. Note: Her paintings are the ones that are beautifully finished, in their frames. Mine are the little pieces of paper that are laying around, some still attached to their little painting board. Like I said in the last post, it is very much "go time" for me!

The little paintings are coming along good, it's the big ones that are always a struggle for me. I tend to freeze up on the big ones, and make them much harder than they need to be. I have three big ones that are ready for the show, but I may try to squeeze out one more before the end of the month. I think that if I add one more then they will all work together more nicely.

To end this rambling post for the day I have a list of random things:

1. Last night Andrew and I watched 3:10 to Yuma. I think that it had the most gunshots I have ever seen in a single movie. When I made this comment Andrew looked at me and said: "It is a Western. Westerns are supposed to have tons of guns!" Should have known. Despite all the guns, I did think it was a good movie.

2. On Tuesday Max got his first haircut. He sat up in the chair all by himself like a big boy. No tears or anything!

3. Max's cute little self made another blog!

a new favorite, "go time"

A New Favorite:
I think this is my new favorite picture. We were out on the reservoir over Labor Day weekend and I got this shot of Max and Andrew. Love it.

"Go Time":
I like to have little phrases for things (because in general I think I am very dorky, and this is what dorky people do). When it is time to get down to business and get something done I like to say "Its go time!" I have also heard this phrase used when someone wants to fight someone else. This is not the case for me, it is just time to really get serious about the art show. We hang it on the 28th of this month, so everything needs to be finished, framed and otherwise ready to go by then. There is a lot more to getting an art show ready than one might think. Besides the actual art, you need to have prices, titles, artist statement, postcard design, mailing list, etc. Meeting with Lindsay on Saturday got me all inspired, (her paintings are beautiful!!) so I think I am ready to get this all finished up!

As I go I hope to share some more preview pictures of some of the artwork...

hydrangeas

This is a painting I've been working on lately. I really love hydrangeas. I think they are so simple and pretty.

This painting started on an old painting I had sitting around the studio forever. I covered up some of the old with the music pages, but left the blue around the outside. I love using up old ugly paintings! It is like recycling. (Plus you don't have to go buy any new paper!)

Lindsay (my partner for the upcoming October show) is coming up on Saturday for an artwork show and tell. She's going to bring up her pieces for the show so we can look at everything together and have a little meeting about everything. Yay!

Now I just need to paint like crazy so I have a bunch of stuff to show you, Lindsay!