Lovely Angel

I saw this most beautiful angel at the Springville Museum. I love it so much. I think it is a piece by J Kirk Richards (not 100%, but pretty sure). It is life-size and inspiring.

Sandpoint and CocoLala

Thanks to my sisters and their husbands, we spent the last few days in Northern Idaho at their family home on CocoLala lake. It was definitely the highlight for the kids and the best trip ending we have ever had. Cliff jumping (if you look really close), water tramps with a cute little boy named Cy (shadow #2's summer crush), the best food of the whole trip (not much luck with Canadian cuisine), party boats, frog catching, fresh water swimming, tubing, and good company....Thanks James boys!

One other thanks to Elisa and Jim for the middle of the night use of their hotel/driveway and our unexpected stay both there and back.....and the yummy breakfasts & many diet cokes!

Serious RV hair. So scary!

Massive RV Tour

So we rented an RV and drove to Banff. It was amazing!

Lake Louise in Canada was seriously the prettiest, unreal place I have ever been. For a few minutes I was considering becoming a different person and staying there for the rest of my life....We canoed, hiked. This was my favorite 2 days of the entire 2 weeks.

Dream Space

I wish I lived here. It makes me happy!

New Paintings in Park City

'Fresh Peonies'

8 x 10"

small and sweet.

'Perpetual Balance'

16 x 16"

No mystery, just some thinking about the balance of mothering, chores and my soul food.

Summer Cherries

Yum, Yum, Yum.

Small Figure Paintings

These little things have been selling really good at my Park City gallery. They are 7 x 9" and fun because they are so immediate. Maybe about 2 hours.... one painting per british murder mystery.....I am officially old.

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!

Art to Admire

I went to Chicago a while ago to help my sister move, and to visit the great city one last time. I am going to miss Chicago (and the western suburbs). I decided I have visited her over the course of the last 13 years at least 10 times. (PS, I used to live in Iowa. So a 5 hour drive was nothing when the rest of the family was 1100 miles and 2 mountain ranges away). Here's to freezing Chicago weather, yummy ethnic restaurants, Gino's deep dish pizza, great shopping, and lots of deep talking. 

Here are my favorites this time from the Art Institute of Chicago. Every time I have been, different pieces of art hit me profoundly.  I love this sculpture so much. I am going to have to figure out how to incorporate it into one of my paintings. 

I also loved this painting of children at the beach. So free and open, and so much movement. I didn't write down the artists.......bad, very bad.....slap my wrist please. I am sure they are very famous and well known. I try not to notice.

Spring Must be Here!

My tulips are here! I just planted them in the fall and this is when you test if you are able to delay gratification. I planted over 100 in my front yard. I literally smile every time I pull into my driveway. I wish they lasted all

 summer....but then maybe we wouldn't appreciate them as much. Maybe I'll do another hundred this year.

New Gallery!

I was approached by a new gallery in Austin, Texas: Wally Workman Gallery. I am very excited and hope it is a good fit for my work. From the looks of the other artists on the website, it looks fantastic! So, I have been working up some new work for my debut there. This is the last of 5 that I will send them. Titled, "Winter Checkered Coat". I have painted this coat before and wanted to revisit it. The checkered pattern was a challenge, but fun.

 I have been listening to podcasts while I paint and am very happy about that. So this painting reminds me of "Wait, Wait don't tell me" (npr) and 'How Deja vu works' from "stuff you should know". That sounds so nerdy but I love nerdcasts. A lot of my paintings remind me of whatever I was listening to for good or bad.

My first goal for the year of picking up a new gallery......check!

Spring Break

No painting this week. Just some framing and prepping surfaces. We went out of town, and then spring break was upon us. With all 3 'shadows' home from school, we just played and crafted all week. This is Shadow #3's newest insistence, sitting in the high chair with the baby doll for every meal. 

Happy Easter! Even Grandma got into the bunny faces and the balloon ears (is that what they are?)......PS...that is Grandma's "doll" face which she is so proud of, her best party trick, she does it all the time.