We had a family reunion down in  St George this past weekend. My dad and I spent one of the days painting at Zion National Park. It was gorgeous, and surprisingly FREEZING in the morning ( FYI: the wind is nasty before the sun gets down in the canyon).

So we had time to do two paintings alla prima. It was fun, hard, and worth every minute!!
The biggest challenge of painting alla prima is the light-the sun is constantly changing and so the colors, the shadows, everything you are painting basically, is constantly changing. It means you have to paint fast!! But it makes it pretty exhilarating, and frustrating all wrapped up in one. I'm looking forward to going back!

Oil Paint

I really like to paint. I think I may have mentioned this before. LOVE IT! But for the last three years I've basically done just about nothin'. When we lived in Ohio the hunny was just so busy with work he didn't have a lot of time and I didn't want to ask him to sacrifice his little bit of free time so I could paint, so I didn't. I've missed it, since the move (and a new job--hooray) he has a lot more time and I've started painting again. It helps that my dad teaches a painting class so that gives me a good venue to work at away from home! It's been so long though that I thought I'd warm up my skills by copying this painting. It's starting alright. For 4 hours of work, I'd say it's coming along nicely. Still a long way to go though!

pardon the glare. I should have waited until I had some natural light to take pictures :) (But then it wouldn't have happened).

mother's day hot pads

So I waited to post these until after Mother's Day because my mom occasionally visits my blog, but then it got crazy and now it's

Tuesday night? Alas, I'm still posting because I thought they were fun, and the Grandma's (and great-grandma's) loved them.

I was going to post a tutorial, but there seem to be lots already out there, and well, my seam binding capabilities are clearly lacking . . . so I'll leave it to the pros.

I will mention though, that I was going to have the buddy paint on the fabric for the back, and was so glad I decided to use permanent markers instead. It worked so much better! I cut the squares out first and had him decorate them and then after the hand prints dried I sewed them all up. Tada! I had him do a couple extra ones too that I will eventually sew into some hot pads for me too! (yeah right!)

creating: some deep [and maybe a little weird} thoughts

It all started when I found this painting when doing some cleaning out. I painted it 3 years ago. It awakened a desire to paint that has been laying dormant all winter long. It got me thinking a lot about creating. One of the things I love the most about creating is the problem solving. It is rewarding and fulfilling to find a solution to a problem. It might be needing a solution to the mess that is called your fabric stash that needs organizing, or it might be figuring out the exact color when painting a painting. Maybe for you there is another aspect of creating that you love. But it seems that creating is inherent in being human. I think on some level everyone not only has a desire, but perhaps even a need to create. Part of my beliefs involve knowing that one reason we are on earth is to get a body. Creating wouldn't be possible without a body, and having a body gives us an opportunity to take part in the process of creation. I love to create. I think the most important creating process I can be a part of is in my children's lives. I am responsible for creating the life and environment that shapes and molds their lives. Obviously each of my children is also a part of creating their own life, but it is a challenging, and problem solving process that involves a lot of imagination and a lot of work. Sometimes I don't love it. Sometimes, like a couple weeks ago when they were sick and not sleeping and I was running on 4 hours of sleep gathered up throughout the night, I wanted to run away. But I knew it would eventually run it's course and we would be back the normal. And we are back to the fun and the regular. It may not be all the time, but there are moments, sometimes even days, when motherhood it is the most fulfilling of creative processes. Nothing is better than those moments.

Spring awakens my creative hunger, and to me sometimes it is a real hunger. It needs feeding, and when I do something I feel fulfilled. Sometimes mothering doesn't quite hit the button and I need to do something else. Although perhaps not quite as fulfilling on a long term scale, painting is the next best thing for me. It is difficult, demanding, and requires a lot of patience and problem solving--just like being motherhood in many ways. I love it. And when spring comes around I just get this hunger to paint. I think it first really started showing up after I went painting "on location" with my dad 3 years ago. Because of his work schedule we were only able to get 3 paintings in before I moved away to Cleveland. The one above is one of them. It's a farming area not too far away from my childhood home. It makes me miss home, but it also really makes me miss painting. It is exhilarating to paint on location. You only have an hour or two to paint because the sun changes the shadows on everything so quickly that it's a whole new landscape in a couple hours. So we paint small and thin (as in not thick paint-easier to move around, etc . . .) You have to just get the "gist" of the painting because you don't have time for all the details, but the colors, oh the colors are divine! Seriously, of all the creative processes I enjoy, excluding mothering of course, painting is, the most fulfilling and exhilarating. I'm really having the itch . . .

This article was also on my mind a lot while contemplating creating. It is excellent--better than my own musings.

the beginning

I picked up this awesome chair on the side of the road today. There were actually two of them, but the other one was so beat up I didn't think it was repairable (is that a word?). Too bad, it would have been more fun to have a pair of them. But I'm still excited to get this one in working condition. I think I may keep the green top, but I'd like to paint the wood white. We'll see when I get to it. I love old chairs!

orange inspiration

A water color contribution from the little buddy. Painting has always been the one craft he willing does and enjoys.

painted headboard

the "new"

the "old"

The end of our old headboard came when my boys were wrestling on the bed. They ripped it in half! But that's because I made it out of cardstock-and stuck it to the wall with spray adhesive (after I let it get tacky first). Despite it's humble origins I was in love with it, but I didn't expect it to last too long. Surprisingly it lasted over a year. I have had a hard time figuring out what I wanted for a new headboard. I just don't like that empty space above the bed, you know? I was cleaning off some shelves and came across these four canvases. I think I like the result. I don't know if I'm in love-but I'm in like, and that's better than the cavernous emptiness.

(pardon the pitiful pictures-the colors match a little better than these pictures let on.)

mother's day magnets

We're getting our grand Mother's day gifts ready to send off. The little buddy and I used some Crayola air dry clay and cut these out with mini cookie cutters. We pressed the little buddy's finger prints into the centers-the idea was to make hearts with his finger prints (you know how I like that). After they dried we painted them. I painted them with a clear coat of finger nail polish to make them water resistant. If I had it to do over again I would probably use a polymer clay instead of the Crayola clay. The air dry clay is a bit brittle-hence the broken one when I was gluing on the magnets.

snowflakes recycled style

The little buddy loves to paint! (That boy is after his own mother's heart). But, we are starting to really acrue a large number of paintings. The question is: what to do with all the paintings? Of course we have some hung up, but there are so many. With heavy heart I had finally decided to throw away some of them. But wait! I had the brilliant idea to turn some of them into snowflakes first. The paper is a little thick so it is hard cutting, but it's fun to have them white on one side and all colorful on the other. Plus, the variety of options with snowflakes makes me giddy. Oh how I love cutting out snowflakes!!!

post modern frame

I cut this frame out of plywood with a jigsaw several months ago. I had grand ideas of making lots of them. But I think I will leave that to the pro's. Anyway, I finally got around to sanding and painting it this weekend. To turn it into a frame I simply hot glued a thin 8x10 frame to the back of it. I think it worked out pretty okay. I'd thought about doing a light green paint, but I think the white will be more classic . . . I don't know what do you think?

painting again

So while we were on vacation visiting family, I was able to go to my dad's painting class twice. I miss painting every week, that's for sure. I picked up a vase from Ikea and painted some flowers in it the first time around. (above) The second one I did was also a white vase but with purple and light green flowers. It was still wet so I left it at my parents, alas I didn't take pictures of it first. But since I don't have that one, I thought I would include one of my very favorite paintings: three tulips and a sugar jar. I LOVE tulips, and I loved the expensive canvas this little 11x11 painting uses. It was heavenly to paint on. Plus I love the bright happy colors.