Making Do

This morning, I noticed Little Miss C's backpack on the counter. The bottom was ripped across the entire length, rendering it useless. I asked, "How long has it been like this? How do you carry your stuff to school?" She shrugged and replied, "I wear it upside down!" That girl! She brings new meaning to the phrase, "Make do or do without."



So I dug out my old bag from college and emptied it for her to use. Among the contact sheets, photo paper, mechanical pencils and half filled binders was a stash of quarters I had hoarded for use on vending machines. Almost $10 worth! Several pounds of apples later and we're back in pie business-- just in the nick of time!



Even more cheering than fresh baked apple pie was the two-hour skype chat I had with my mom. Something about this time of year always makes me long for all the women in my life to gather for baking, movie watching, and talking while wearing high heels and aprons.



I mentioned that I switched out some of my art to make it more seasonal. Here's you're visual, mom. :)



I love the little christmas tree in a red rowboat.



And the little sailboat one reminds J of a picture he took in Nova Scotia where he's looking out at the ocean full of chunks of ice and a gigantic iceburg.



Oh, and my distraction for the day? I painted the boys room blue. A few weeks ago, I saw that Martha Stewart paint was being discontinued at Home Depot, so I snatched two gallons of Enamelware blue at a rock bottom price. It's similar to the blue on my front door {Martha Stewart's Artisan Well} but with a touch more green in it. {and that chalkboard used to be in the bathroom, but is now hiding the huge hole that J kicked in the door. Yup, still haven't gotten around to replacing it...}



Then I hung the laminated map I bought {I went with a different seller after the original admitted they couldn't/wouldn't send it in a tube}, had J help me change the twin beds into bunk beds, rearranged the furniture and gave them a mini reveal this afternoon.



It was hilarious how excited they were! Though I still have drapes to sew, pictures to hang, and {someday} carpet to rip out and replace with wood flooring, a simple paint job completely changed the look and feel of the room. {Real photos to come. This is just an iphone teaser.}



Now to tend to the rest of the house {ever notice how the entire place falls apart if you take your attention away for even a single day? I swear, laundry has overtaken the entire living room!} and then paint my mangled nails for Thanksgiving.

Have a Happy Holiday, everyone!

Phoenix Art Museum

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For our Friday night date last weekend, J and I participated in First Friday. During the first Friday of every month, many of the museums in the valley are free, with a large scale Art Walk downtown that includes closed off streets, local artists, and trolleys that shuttle people to and from all the smaller art galleries.

In all the years that we've lived here, I'm ashamed to say that I've never been to the Phoenix Art Museum, so it became our number one stop on First Friday, and I was pleasantly surprised. {I loved the huge sputnik chandelier in the lobby.}

While this is a terrible photo, the installation was stunning in person. Wood from a burned out building was suspended by clear thread. The pieces would rotate slowly with drafts-- it was like standing in the midst of a Matrix-like explosion.

The Diving Lady, via

J was particularly pleased to see that the iconic Diving Lady sign from Mesa's Starlight Hotel had been restored and put on display {after crashing to the ground last year in a microburst.}

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One of my favorite exhibits was called You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflys. It was a darkened, mirrored room with tiny, shifting LED lights suspended from the ceiling. Walking into it was like becoming weightless. It was disorienting and thrilling at the same time.

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And when we accidentally ended up downstairs, we stumbled upon a room full of pieces that examined the life of a Sister Wife. I thought the bonnets made out of needles were beautiful and complex. 

It was an exhilarating night, made more so by the rain that chased us away from the outdoor venues and into a local ice cream shop at the end of the evening. {I swear, ice cream is a Mormon couple's wine.} 

One thing is certain: I'm loving our Friday night dates. :)

E's Glass House

One of the exhibits at the Glass Museum involved children's drawings that were turned into three-dimensional glass sculptures. E was so inspired, he came home and drew his own masterpiece. According to him, it would be 100 feet tall and take 100 years to complete. :)

Watercolors

I'm really loving the watercolor trend that seems to be popping up this season. It's summery, simple, and so accessible. I'd like to make my own coral print like the one above, available from Driftwood Interiors.

These are such pretty little vases. I want one in every color.

David Stark's Brushstroke Dinnerware has that greek seaside feel. The bowl is my favorite.

Many of you have already seen these watercolor paper cups from Love and Lace. Simple, inexpensive, yet stunning.

These painted yellow-striped melamine platters are so cheerful. They make me want to throw a garden party. 


What about you? Are you feeling the watercolor trend?

PS- Just saw this watercolor-dot cardigan at Target. I told you, it's everywhere I look!

Circles

My favorite thing about picture ledges is that it's so easy to switch out and rearrange the art on display. Yesterday, I had fun making a quick, easy and free piece of art.

I started out with a stack of Real Simple magazines {which always look so pretty on the cover, but are rarely worth re-reading} and a circle punch I had from the time I threw a black, white and yellow party. I cut out a lot of circles, focusing on shades of blue with varying patterns.

I hate math, so instead of precise measurements, I simply laid the empty frame over the paper and created a grid with the circles by sight. Then, I folded a circle and glued one half down, letting the other half flip up like a butterfly wing. I proceeded to do this with all the circles, alternating which half I glued down.

The end result was nice and textural. Kind of modern and abstract, with just the right punch of color.

Now I have a stack of Real Simple issues with punched-out holes in the pages. Anyone have more great uses for old magazines?

Prints

I want to dramatically increase the size of my art wall, and while much of the art will be made myself, I'd also like to include some purchased prints. Here are a few I've noticed. Above: Belle & Sebastian tour poster. They are my favorite and my best. Buy here.

 This one makes me smile. So does the one below.

 For the kids room: I love everything by artist Justin Van Genderen. Discovered via Wide Open Spaces.

 And E would love this:

For Dragonfly

Here's a close-up of a t-shirt post alcohol.

You can apply the alcohol in small amounts with an eye dropper to get a more precise result, but we liked to just pour it on and see what happened. Hope you try it! It was really fun.

Random note: we had a huge bucket of chalk for the kids to draw on the patio while waiting for everyone to arrive and the crafts to get started. This morning, I was outside early to feed the chickens and all the broken pieces just struck me as pretty. :)

Artist Party

My parents are huge multi-taskers. While they were here helping with the baby for a week, my dad built shelves in two of our closets and my mom planned Little Miss C's 9th Birthday party. Since she wasn't here to see it come to fruition, here's the party in pictures. Above: we moved everything indoors due to record heat. The Happy Birthday banner {not pictured} is above the entry way.

There were several stations-- This one was for painting and decorating a wooden toy. Little Miss C picked them out at the craft store with her grandpa, who reportedly said, "You can choose whatever you like, but you have to get at least one sailboat." The sailboat was E's favorite as well. :)

Making T-shirts was extremely popular. We had a multitude of colored sharpies, which the kids used to draw on the t-shirts. We then applied alcohol, which made the colors run like watercolor paint. Later, we 'set' the painting by putting it in the drier for 15 minutes.

The quote at the top read, "Every child is an artist. The problem is remaining an artist once we are grown" -Pablo Picasso

Station 3 was face painting. E was a pirate. Naturally.

Refreshments included water or soda in champagne flutes. The children added drops of food coloring to create their own colorful drink.

And an Artist Palate Cake. Little Miss C baked it herself, and later helped frost it.

Even the inside was artistic! Thanks to mom & dad for all their hard work-- the party was a success, and probably wouldn't have even been held if it weren't for you. Love ya!

Succumb

I can honestly say that I've never liked photos of my {pregnant} self until now.

My sister-in-law hAha took these in just a few stolen moments during the baby blessing brunch, and I'm floored by her talent. She always has such a thoughtful approach, concentrating on concept and symbolism and letting inspiration seep in from all kinds of sources. She's completely inspiring to me, and I'm so grateful she took the time {just a few days after having a baby, no less!} to surprise me with a photo shoot.

Take a look at the rest over at her blog, lil mO hAha, and be sure to sing her praises!

{Love ya, girl!}

Great Minds

I spotted Nikki Graziano's work on Black Eiffel and couldn't help but think of my mom. A few years ago she painted a large, abstract work in shades of the stormy sea. Embedded in its depths were mathematical equations written in silvery script-- the formula for the atomic bomb. It was beautiful and turbulent and haunting-- still one of my favorite works of art she's ever produced. Nikki's photos don't have the same emotional quality, but I like the way they manage to marry the visual and analytical in one aesthetically pleasing print.

This is brilliant!

Miggy is having an Art-a-thon! I'm so in. If you want to participate as well, let her know here.

Project #4

After 5 years of the chocolate wall standing blank and lonely, waiting to be a backdrop for a rotating gallery of art, I finally painted my Very Large Canvas.

I'm pleased with it. It's my first significant attempt with acrylics instead of oils, and while I enjoyed the advantage of being able to use white over black and visa versa, the drying time posed quite a problem when it came to mixing.

Nevertheless, the wall is no longer blank, and I have to admit that I really love this piece. It's has a bit of color, but not too much. It's moody, and catches my eye when I walk past. Yes, I love it. A lot.