on planting

I think this one's not quite done yet, but I do enjoy watching

these things develop. So here it is.

green

This one's a birthday gift for a friend. I really don't prefer to take

this particular Scripture out of context, because what it's saying

is the result of what comes before it:

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

and the darkness around you will be bright as noon.

The Lord will guide you continually,

giving you water when you are dry

and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like an ever-flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

(Isaiah 58:9-12)

I just love this whole picture of the restoration of a society.

Anyway, the idea I wanted to communicate in this little painting was

about how this friend has a home and a family and other people

she tends to -- her little garden. So there it is.
Oh - and you may have noticed that this was inspired by
this journal entry from last week.

and julie

keith

 

I woke up at four this morning, which certainly wasn't my plan. 

But I'm grateful for the quiet after a week (enjoyably) full of people. 

I've been sensing my kidometer running low. Maybe this will perk it up. 

So here's my Christmas gift for Keith. Scroll down to see the other similar posts..

As for the other delightful gifts exchanged, here's the lowdown: 

Keith wrote wonderful poems for each of us. 

Julie worked with Anna (age 10) to create haikus with watercolor backgrounds. 

Cheryl painted a card for each person with a letter inside about what she likes about them. 

Eric created and hand-illustrated a card game that includes each person in the house 

and their unique characteristics, which we played together at the end of our 

house Christmas celebration.   Oh - and Jesse (age 14)  jumped in with a rap that he had 

recorded and written out for each of the (non-parental) adults in the house. 

All in all, it was a very festive and laughter-filled time. The only person who didn't 

think so was 4-year-old Elliott, who was done exploring his stocking and 

ready to move on to opening his own presents.

The last of these is coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!

for cheryl

This one's for Cheryl.

And a merry Christmas to you!!

homemade Christmas

We celebrate Christmas in many ways and iterations around here. This year, our

household decided that in order to go slightly less overbudget, the adults would

make gifts for each other (even a note would do) and just buy gifts for the kids.

Well, it turned out to be a very fun and funny adventure which the children also

enjoyed participating in. I'll tell you more about it soon. For now, here's my gift

to my husband. It's mixed media on Raffine ArtSketch paper.

And a blessed Christmas Eve to you all!

thai tom's

first yellow leaf of autumn

last day of summer

As far as I can tell, today is the last official day of summer.

Now, if you will recall, I did some planning going into this summer break.

I was hoping to enjoy my kids, teach them a few things, and

keep this blog online. Here's how it went:

One of the best parts of summer was the house sitting. It gave my kids a fresh

opportunity to play together with no other alternatives, gave us consolidated

nuclear family time, and created a nice ebb and flow of contact

with the other people in our community house. Another highlight was

our family playing together. We went swimming, made ice cream, read books out loud,

learned how to throw a frisbee, and played games on the Wii.

At the beginning of summer, Julie & I came up with a plan for

chores and housecleaning for the kids, and I like how that went.

The three children and one teenager pitched in both inside the house and out

and made the weekly houseclean a whole lot faster and more fun.

Reading up on parenting helped me to pre-think things

(and communicate in advance) instead of just reacting, and reminded me to work

in some positive incentives. I actually had such a good, relaxing time with my

kiddos that I was sad to see summer coming to a close.

As for the blog, posts became pretty few and far between by the end.

In fact, I only made it through 38 of my 75 sketching assignments.

I think I got hung up on the faces and on my attempt to work in grayscale.

I just love color! Also, maybe one of the reasons I do this whole thing is to catch my

life as it goes by; something that doesn't meld well with pre-assigned drawings,

even if they are of things in my own realm. Still, I may keep working my way through

these as the next season unfolds -- I would like to finish what I've started!

Anyway, I'm glad to be past the heat waves and heading into the temperate autumn

we see around here. And maybe, I hope, into a new daily rhythm blown in by the fall.

your summer is ready

sir elliott

fearless knight stage 2... and back to stage 1 again

This is how far I got on Elliott before painting the face white again and starting over. His eyes were askew, and the coloring came out too muddy and yellowish. Sometimes those kinds of things work out fine, but I want to like this one for a long time, so it's back to stage 1!

flower followup

This is the end result of a process begun a while ago... the oil paints were finally dry enough to work over today. I can't say I like how it turned out, but it certainly was a learning experience. Chalk one up for education!

sir elliott -- a work in progress

Here's another piece-in-progress. I started working from a photo of the adorable e-boy in a hoodie, and I realized how much it looked like a chain mail coif. And since he's always running around with a foamy sword, here's Sir Elliott! He's not thrilled with the idea, but I explained clearly to him that artists must have their creative freedom. Of course, if he still hates it when the whole thing is finished, you may be seeing the hoodie version soon.

As for guitar lesson #1? It went swimmingly. I realized on my way there that what I felt most nervous about was having to decide for myself what I need to learn next. That's kind of how my last round of lessons went: I'd bring a recording of some song or guitar line I wanted to learn, & the instructor would teach it to me. That meant I had to be prepared with what I had been practicing since the last lesson AND be planning my curriculum for the next one. No thank you! What I'm paying for is someone else to know what I need to learn next and tell me what it is. This guy seemed down with that, and he sent me home with four new scales that I would never have practiced if I weren't paying someone to force me into it! So thanks, Kim, for the recommendation. And thanks, Av, for the lessons!

painting in progress

I've been having
great fun reading
Taking Flight by
Kelly Rae Roberts.
I'm already on board
with a lot of the
ideas she writes
about regarding the
creative process,
but there are some
fun/whimsical/
beautiful images in
there and good
chunks on mixed media
techniques.
I've been trying to
figure out how to
better paint people --
I can pull off simple
cartoons or hyper-
realist paintings (takes
forever), but I'd like something in between.

Her way of painting figures seems to address this, so I'm heading in
to do some experimenting with my own subject matter. Today I
busted out my oils and started playing with a flower from last July.
This is just stage 1. Stay tuned for the finished product!

stained glass window

grow

chapel dome

umbrella

bandana paisley