midwinter break

Last week I was given a real lemon, picked fresh from someone's tree and mailed to my friend John. All that morning I just held it in my hands, precious globe of citrus sunshine and sniffed it. At my kitchen table I had to paint it and one of my tiny glass jars with snow drops from my backyard, a page of midwinter hope and small delights.

let's talk about beautiful things again

My new bulb planter, crusted with mud from a cold but sunny afternoon planning for the future. What can you plant this winter that will bloom in the spring? What beautiful dreams can you take the tiniest step towards right now? What habit can you re-comit to that will help you maintain your best self?


Do you remember when I was doing these drawings regularly? I am going to start again. Once a week. I was just trying to think up a grand 52 week project when I came across a few of them and realized I didn't need to reinvent the wheel or join some online movement. I just had to get out my pen and some paints and take a moment to see.

daffodils

blind contour drawings are still my favorite. as is a husband who knows I prefer daffodils to roses any day in february.
Hoping you have flashes of yellow poking through the grey and a minute or two to study the details of beauty all around you, because really that's where the beauty usually hides.

This Stanley thermos makes me so happy. It is sturdy and utilitarian and bubblegum pink all at the same time. For this particular lunch it carried an "even more delicious three days later" bean and bacon soup that Matthew Clauer originally made for the Old Town Cafe. Nothing beats opening a steaming canister of something made with love on a cold afternoon. Definitely worth the investment in a well made product that inspires me to take a lunch from home, especially when it happens to be free soup.

Steeb bought this little record player at the Lucky Dumpster years ago and we just started letting Franklin play with it at the studio. He has 3 Bible stories and a handful of scratchy Disney records with books. The Bible stories sound like David Sedaris is reading them; which either makes them more awful or fabulous, I'm not sure. Franklin still needs help with the switches and the records are short but it buys me about 5 minutes at a time to work. And once he gets the difference between 45rpm and 33 1/3rpm, we'll be set up for some serious studio sessions.

Advanced style

spent a little time sketching from Ari Seth Cohen's amazing book(&blog!) Advanced Style yesterday. Franklin helped me color the dames, he went right for the purple before I was even finished with the first turban. The women featured have such style and grace and it certainly isn't about the latest trends. It's a personal expression brought forth from a lifetime of collecting well made clothing and accessories.

make the money, don't let he money make you.

I just shipped off these squirrel bucks as coupons along with my actual swag (cotton zipper pouches) for the infamously awesome Urban Craft Uprising swag bags.  People wait outside on the cold dark morning for so long to score those satchels of independent goodies. I guess it's like how people go crazy for black friday deals and camp out in front of stores. But the UCU crowd doesn't even know what will be in their bag, so the waiting has more faith and randomness and less specific product lust attached to it.
(These $5 coupons were drawn by the ridiculously talented Karie Jane. I give them to people when they bring me old sweaters and tshirts as a little token of gratitude.)

this one isn't a drawing, but I just love the way this darn turned out. It looks a bit like those fancy new bar code smart phone things, but in neon lemon and grey. I really love darning sweaters and socks to prolong their usefulness, add some character and infuse the fabric with extra love. I almost never get socks at thrift stores, but when you go through the trouble of mending a once new sock, I think it counts as thrifty style.
If you are interested in a January mending class at my studio, be sure to get yourself on the mailing list.

eye of the tiger

I grew about a cup of these beautiful tiger eye dry beans. I found such delight popping open the dry pods to see the swirled patterns inside.

pair of pears

When Steeb and I got married in our backyard in 2005 we planted a pear tree. The special espalier kind with two varieties grafted to a single root. I just adore that kind of symbolic romantic practicality. The sweet little tree has grown and I have tended to it, but it has never produced a pear until this year. Three actually. One that fell early and got some bugs, one that got something (bug? fungus?) in the spring and has developed oddly, and this lovely little pear Franklin and I painted today. I loved the process of painting this, taking the time to really look and try to match the amazing variety of colors splotching across the skin. But honestly I like seeing these together more than I like the final page from my book.

sometimes I give and sometimes I receive

Yesterday I received a prize from our friend Erin Klauk in the mail. She is an awesome illustrator and sometimes enters contests on Spoonflower for her fabric designs. She offered a prize made from the material to one lucky friend who voted for her fabric on the site. I was the lucky winner! The theme was extinct animals and let me tell you, there were a lot of dinosaurs entered in the contest. Her toile, which I did no justice in my sketch above, features lost creatures like horned gophers, dodos and wooly mammoths.Oh, and they are enjoying a fine tea party. It is so lovely and I am so full of gratitude.

to see the actual pattern click here.

mug shot

This is my current favorite mug. All my favorite mugs are made by Cary Lane. Her art is magical and meaningful. This one with the alligator pruning a tree reminds me to say no to the crap in life so I can say "YES!" to what is truly important. It shows the sometimes tough part of nurturing a truly delightful life: getting rid of the dead wood so your best self can blossom.

Drinking your beverages from a wonderful vessel is such a tiny but powerful way to love yourself and add soul to your days. How can you be hectic when you are gazing at something beautiful, feeling where a crafter's hands touched the clay? Or maybe your favorite mug is sleek, well designed with a modern gleam in it's eye, helping you focus on your goals and aspirations. Whatever your style, consider this an invitation to find a mug you love and pour yourself something delicious.

These little scissors cut out all the tiny layers of t-shirts when I do reverse applique. I find their rounded tips help me only cut through the top layer without poking through to the lower fabric. And the different finger position from traditional handles gives my hand a welcome variation in repetitive stress.

Every night before we go to sleep we talk about beautiful things with franklin. It helps us foster gratitude, even after long days and battles over tooth brushing habits. For this blog I want to post sketches of beautiful things, well made objects that bring me joy, bits of nature that held my attention. I want to create a tiny space online for documenting little rituals, pleasures and inspiration. I am ever inspired and in awe of Jessica Bonin's one a day project last year. I am not hard core enough to post one a day, but once a week would be nice, don't you think?

p.s. this phrase came into our family lexicon via Bahamadia.