Sweet Summer Surrender

3 shadows after a long day trip to Springville kid art festival. I guess I could've stayed home and taught them about Picasso and pointillism myself, but then we wouldn't have had the 2 1/2 hour car ride fun.....ughhh. At least we got to see Chelsea (sis painter). Maybe next year we will have our own art festival at home....please remind me.

P.S. 'Mortal Reincarnation' got in the Springville Salon. No awards this year, but still honored. It is a good show and up for 1 more week.

Project Runway

I miss "Project Runway". I don't know where it went, but I miss it. So, we did our own. The shadows designed their own outfits for said 'playthings', which was hilarious to start with, and then I executed 

those designs with their "help". And we trashed-talked just like the real show. 

Then we critiqued (all positive, though). A.G. doll is set for summer in her polk a dot sun dress, and pink monkey is going to the prom. P.S. fabric was free from the store I call 'storage room'. Check out their designs. I actually think they did really well for their first project.

Painting Thursdays

Even though I haven't posted anything all summer, I have been painting all Thursdays. It has been a very welcome break from playing, swimming, cleaning, and crafting with my "shadows". It is glorious to disappear into my studio for 6 hours every Thursday (thanks to my new babysitter). Then I am renewed and ready to tackle another week of summer. 

The mannequin painting I thought was done, but I think it needs something else. Maybe a bird. Okay, I am obsessed with birds right now. Why does a painting feel so much better with a bird?

My Park City gallery requested small paintings they can hang all together on one wall. Small like 8 x 10". So the little shoes are the start of that series. 

And the painting with the books and laundry is in process. I was thinking about the balance I am constantly working on between mothering and my artistic outlets. My quest to never let either one snuff out the other.

Summer Promises

Well, tomorrow is the last day of my favorite social program called public school. I am always so excited to get rid of schedules and cold and just waste our summer days away drinking lemonade and lying on the grass in our swimsuits. I literally remember living in my swimsuit for weeks when I was little. 

So here is my ode to another year of success in the public schools. I was able to paint and clean and shop with almost no interruption. Now for the next 3 months I will have no thoughts that continue, no clean house, no chores completely finished, and one swimsuit and skirt to live in until September, which means a lot less laundry.

The good news is, I have the "shadows'" favorite preteen coming over to tend while I lock myself away in my small studio for hopefully a long and productive Thursday every week. I promise to be strict about my time. No more Law & Order as a "precursor" to painting. No more quick trips to get cheese fries while my brushes are waiting. And no more surfing the internet "looking" for much needed art supplies (and Facebook).

 I am excited and ready to play hard and work hard (only on Thursdays), eat popsicles for lunch, and from my garden for dinner. I am excited to only shower on the days I don't go swimming and to go swimming every day (except Thursdays and maybe Sundays). I am excited to have summer hair (see attached picture) that is bleached by the sun and warm skin that smells of sunscreen, and to wear only flip-flops. Here is to the beginning of summer!