grey.

I'd really like to start walking in the morning again...but it's SO cold and windy...and the worst part is that is is damp...bone-chilling cold. not good ole' dry cold.
complain, complain.

Two days of work left this week and then the New Year...2012...wonder what 2012 is going to bring?
I've done 3 new painting sketches...two of which have to be finished ( yeah, the paintings) by the 5th, and ready to hang since I'm showing at Lotus Moon again this month. I'm so ecited that my friend Cheryl is coming down to be at the show and do Tarot readings. Frank and the guys (who loving called themselves The Three Musketeers...but who will be knows as MojoVishnu to the public from now on...damn, I have to finish a logo this weekend too!) are playing my show...yay! Good way to ring in the New Year ( even if it is on the 6th)

Inspiration has been good right now for some reason...despite the cold and the 8 hours of boring work every day ( post-holiday sucks at a flower shop). I have BUGS in my head again...I want to start painting lots of insects and bees and birds again....FM bought me some great magazines for Christmas, and the trip to Lititz with Mom, which was so fun, made me want to produce, produce, produce!

But now off to work...

"for will from alli"

geting ready for the new year...

...whatever that means. it's all just time. fake little markers that give a false sense of hope for a new start. none of this is bad...in fact it is a great motivator...one even i use...eventhough i'm not sure why we all wait til 'the new year' for a 'fresh start'. you can have a fresh start any day...even march 26th...or november 21st. it doesn't really matter.

i think we should all pick ANOTHER day to have a fresh start during the year. or even, three. three is a good number.

what days would you pick?

so this is what i think about in the morning. i have 30 minutes before i have to go back to work, and since i'm working at one of the satellite stores today i'll be all alone with no break from 9-5. it gets kind of lame. but it IS a job. ( let me just say here...i love my coworkers and my managers ...but i very much dislike the fact that i do nothing but answer phones, place orders and sweep floors all day.).

So, that is enough complaining for the day after the day after christmas.
I had a wonderful, magical holiday weekend. saw so many friends and family...even a surprise visit to out neighbors, Bethany and Jose ( and the whole bright fun adorable family). Billy and Marta came to stay the night from D.C., and as usual the cozy Christmas Eve at my moms and gifts at Dad with the whole family the next morning.

But I digress....

I got an e-mail from my friend Highway Hannah this morning that made me think...

" Hiya lovin.

I hope your xmas was great and fat.

How is everything going down there?...

...Updates? New plans? "

 my friend...the short answer would be...oh yes! cups-full! but where to begin?

xox

Twas the morning after Christmas...

....and I FINALLY got my project launched!
Look for more info and lots of posts to come in the New Year!

xoxo

window

my friend sweet melissa has a most rockin' store here in 'yorkpa'...and she has been letting me do windows...which is most fun ( escpecially since she is my soul sistah' and lets me do cool stuff!)

more windows to come....

visit melissa here...

www.sweetmelissasdream.com

inspiration collection for the day

a little bee funeral on my front porch this past summer

chatter of the birds outside...

I'm leaving for NYC today. Ready to take lots of pictures and suck in lots of eye-candy...I need the inspiration right now. I have a show in about...er....3 weeks, and let's just say, I'm not quite ready.  I finished 3 pieces and they were to be the beginning of a series of 7 and the....whoosh! distraction, blocks, getting a job (which i'm thankful for but what a speed-bump right in the middle of painting for a show). And now I have 5-7 pieces scattered around my little studio and the theme when from strong to....well, wish-washy to say the least.

So last week I went out into the backyard....birds and bugs and ants crawling all over me...the smell of sweet decomposing leaves and hot sun...a nice november day...and I painted. What came out was like nothing I've done before...using brayers and pallet knives and squeeges to spread and layer paint and carving into it....I want a week of these days to make more energetic playful paintings...

I realize that lately I have lost the child.....work and worrying about money and 

weddings and dishes and trying to please everyone...

My best work has always come from those days when i just"was".

So...I'm gonna just "be" this weekend.

xox

book update: putting the pages in some kind of order. pulling things out from piles and lining them up to see whats missing...

in the meantime, have fun with this...

http://annwood.net/blog/2011/02/24/paper-mache-teacup-pattern/

what is it?

I've been working on a book for two years now.
Maybe not a book. A journal of finising myself...an exercise in re-connecting with my passion in art.
It's a book, a journal, a lesson if you care to find it...an interactive play thing.

The book is almost finished...it is pages in notebooks and paintings an illustrations...questions, frustrations...questions and answers...quotes from friends and family...it's ready to be brought together in to book-like form and be reproduced. It is a teaching tool...a learning tool....a self guided journey and a journey I have taken...looking inward at my home.

My home is my body...my home is my passion...my excitement and my adventure. I am my home.

This book is about finiding that sweet-spot in yourself where your passion and creativity comes from.

Follow me on this journey to finishing the book ( and I promise that as soon as my scanner is up and running I will post some pages.

For now, share with me the things that have inspired me to write this book..images, stories...letters...quotes....

xoxo
me