Catching Up & Giving Thanks

I have illustrations coming out of my ears. Goodness gracious it feels good. Life has been moving SUPER FAST or now they say UBER fast. Whatever, my head is spinning from all of the movement.


A have a creativity/life coach now, she is fabulous. Janet Whitehead is her name and you can catch her at www.musingsandmud.com (my hyperlink thingy-ma-bob) isn't working. I am reading Nine Modern Day Muses and a Body Guard by Jill Badonsky. This is an interesting way to stay creative. I am painting. Sketching. Writing. Typing. Organizing. Photographing. And basically trying to prepare myself for 200



For those of you who love astrology and are fellow Virgos then you had one-hell-of-a-year, too. It's slated to get better, so hang in there.

In the meantime I'm loving my destiny. For now, I'm off and running to my latest venture. More later.

Summer's End

This photo was taken in one of the fields of cut-your-own flowers at my work.

Tis the last days of what most school kids call summer. Being that I'm older now, I can readily see that the best part of summer is this month. September sits well with me. Mildly warm days follwed by crisp nights, the need for another layer, seeing my breath as little puffs of steam as I watch a field hockey game. Aaaah, the sweet days of September. And, oh, how about the sweet smell of the dry leaves falling. Beautiful. It transports me.

During August I kept busy in the studio. I was busier than ever actually. I really forced myself to make it there two and sometimes three times a week. It's thrilling to have that flow of creativity.

This mixed media piece is titled "You OTTO be in pictures". My grandpuppy is a beautiful blue weimeraner who always wears the goofiest look. Acrylic and pastels on watercolor paper was a comfortable fit.

This old apple tree and I are fast friends. I sat under her so many times. I find her spellbinding, the greens in this photo really capture her beauty. I am anxious to see her change of clothes for fall. Will she go yellow, orange, red? I can only guess.

Other news I should include here:

• I ordered a new camera, it should arrive today as a matter of fact. It's a Sony DSC-H50 10 megapixel beauty. I worked hard all summer, this was a treat to myself. I can't wait to get going with this.


• Art openings galore. Last weekend I attended the opening of "Critters Revisited" at the Gallery at Chase Hill, the sister shop of the Maine Art Gallery. The entire show was, well, critters (okay, animals). I find myself attracted to the really bold art and the more unusual pieces. Dorrie Koeller and Laura Balombini really interest me, find their links at the Maine-art.com site.


• I picked up Miss Muffet from California. She's here for the next 8 weeks or so. I couldn't be happier.


• Bandaloop is rockin. This is one busy place. I highly recommend that if you ever make it to Kennebunkport you try this organic, all natural eatery. Amazing atmosphere and phenomenal food. I am one tired waitress. Apparently we got written up in Downeast Magazine and it has had a huge effect on the restaurant.
• I discovered, with the help of a kind friend, Pandora.com Design your own radio station, I am in heaven.


• I bought four new art books and am having a blast digging in to some new concepts. I am becoming a fanatic sketcher. Here is one of many...

Okay, I've decided you don't need a rundown on my day to day, I'll just stop and say to you all that Maine is a great place to be. I start school today. Happy girl going to her happy place.

Take care and be well bloggy buddies.

A Plum Dandy Adventure

Hi, Remember me? Tam I am. Oh yes, it's been an adventure, a plum dandy adventure. Head spinning. Hold on to your shorts and I'll give you a briefing:

Miss Muffet got married and graduated high school.....IN THAT ORDER. Do you see the rings on her left hand. She's the very proud wife of a U S Air Force Airman First Class. That makes me the proud mother-in-law of an Airman First Class. This pix is from her graduation party, two weeks after elopement. (Not to worry, big TO-DO style wedding next July). She looks quite happy, don't you think? Have I mentioned she moved to Orange, California?

The picture above is my brother Ron, the infamous Shy Jack and his mommy, my sweet sister-in-law Cindy-Lou-Who. Missing from the pix is brother Nick who just wouldn't sit still. This family is having a new home built and I have been trying to visit often and just keep the vibes good while they are bouncing from living space to living space.

Baseball...Summer is about baseball. I don't just mean backyard games like this one. I mean the RedSox versus the Yankees. I mean The RedSox versus the Orioles. I mean the RedSox versus..well, you get it. I love watching professional baseball and was lucky enough to score tickets to Boston for a great game that went 14 innings. I won't bore you with the details, I'll just say the Sox won with a walk off homerun.

What you don't know is that this pix of Jack is really sweet, I simply forgot to rotate the silly thing before posting. Tilt your head to the left (lay your ear on your shoulder) and enjoy a neat shot of Jack preparing to hit the ball. This kid is a cracker jack!! I tell you, you can pitch from forty feet, throw overhand and he slams the ball over your head. AHEM! He's five. The cutie patootie in the back is Nick just behaving himself and clapping each time Jack hits the ball.

Tourism at it's best. You know I work at a big garden center, right? What a blast. Honestly. Fun place. Beautiful flowers. Well, I also work at a great organic restaurant. Tourism is big here in Kennebunkport. To prove it I had a visit from to plum dandy ladies. We painted the Port in good shape!

Recognize these two? Being Creative Every Day is so easy! Right, Sweet pea?

These two thought they needed an Orla Keily bag. (HEY, I hope I got that spelling right). We had fun shopping and traipsing about taking photos.

Leah was so cute next to this old gas pump. That smile, that dress, that friend.

And this is my favorite shot from the entire day. Jes looks beautiful in this shot and her giant smile shows the joy we had that day. Sharing. Sisterhood. Art. *sigh* sniff, sniff.

Green. Summer in Maine. Summer everywhere is green. Meet Lewis. He belongs to my VIP, the Handsome One. Lewis has kind of consumed my weeks lately. Will he be coming over this weekend? Will he behave this weekend? Is he still shedding? Don't forget to take all the food off the kitchen counters. I'm missing a sock. This dog is high maintenance but pure LOVE. My boss adores him. My VIP adores him. I'm trying to adore him.

More green. I love the bands of color in this shot, don't you?

And here it is, me, the VIP and Lewis. Lewis couldn't stand to NOT BE IN THE PHOTO.

Last but not least the gratuitous foot shot. Clever, don't you agree?

For those of you who are saying "OMG, doesn't she do anything creative??" The answer is yes:

• Shy Jack the book I wrote is almost 50% illustrated. I say that loosely. My teacher, Wade Zahares, will be so proud of me when he sees the effort I put in. Well, I hope so anyway. It's been quite time consuming.
• I cut out a queen sized quilt and am in the process of piecing it.
• I sketch a few times a week.
• I stitched a dress.
• I put together some found object jewelry.
• I am helping with wedding plans for Miss Muffet
• I'm finally cooking at home more.
• I have a beautiful, full garden that I am now harvesting.
• I signed up for Heartwoods fall semester, two classes this time.
• I've been to two art openings and have visited approximately eight galleries in the area with more to go.
• Does drinking daiquiris at a dockside restaurant count as creative inspiration? I hope so, done that once or twice this summer.

Oh yes, it's been a plum dandy adventure.

So my knight in shining armor came for a long visit this weekend. We had such a nice time together. We went all out and enjoyed this AMAZING CONCERT at this FABULOUS EATERY. It was so intimate and the music was so emotional. We both laughed at the non-stop chatter between songs and wiped salty tears from the corners of our eyes as the song lyrics tugged our heartstrings. A grand time indeed.

So in the art world I have been making books, painting with watercolors, doing contour line drawings and making home made cards amongst other things. I have lots of things going on in my head but have not been able to get them all down on paper.

I find that cramming forty plus hours of work a week is too time consuming. It's hard to come home and feel creative at 6 pm and your stomach is growling and the dirty dishes didn't wash themselves. Balance is needed and I am searching it out in a big way. It's find balance or quit working. This will be one tough choice!Just thought I'd toss in this pix of me and my two brothers at Easter. That's my older brother Randy on the left with the silly look. This is odd because he is one serious dude. No kidding. Real serious. His blue eyes can pierce you like well, anything that pierces I suppose. Brother number 2 is on the far right. That's Ron. Soft hearted and sweet. His eyes are just plain gentle. These two are good people who I admire and respect. They both are there for me, always in the nick of time.

And hey, that's me in the middle. Repeat after me: middle child syndrome. Do I look like I'm complaining? No way.

In other news:

• Roommate is having a birthday
• My mother is having her birthday
• My father & friend are traveling home from across the US. He's now officially one of those people who leaves the state for the winter and comes home only during golf season. Bless you, Dad and Doris!!
• Dan and Hill are enjoying spring and are living life high off the hog (What does that mean, anyway?)
• I am enjoying my job at the local farm center but am brewing other things in my head....I'm just trying to roll with the punches.
• Heartwood is done for the school year.
• I have been to three amazing art openings. That has been a real blast about this area. It is filled with galleries! I'm seeing some great work, it is so inspirational.

Happy Mother's Day to all and to all a good night! ...MUAH!

Country Mouse Goes to the City

OMG! This has been such an odd spring. I moved friends. Here I am in Kennebunkport, Maine. Country mouse goes to the city. It's odd and surreal. On a brief note:

• I went without Internet service for nearly four weeks so have been VERY out of touch with blogging and emails. My apologies


• I am still attending Heartwood and the last class was today.


• I have been sewing and painting and drawing quite a lot. There is inspiration APLENTY.


• I've been to the flea market already. Got some GREAT sterling silver earrings that are absolutely hilarious.


• I have a roommate who is adorable and young, like a daughter to me except I can't send her to room if she misbehaves


• I started some lovely tomatoes and basil seedlings that are thriving


• I'm painting the living room tangerine color


• And this has kept me busy.

I'm coming back to life, slowly but surely. It has been a rough ride and of all things my mother-in-law that I adored suffered a heart attack and passed. My heart is aching.

I promise to post art and pix soon and I promise to come back to my laughing silly self. Hang in there with me, will you?

Spring in Maine

There I was minding my own business in the kitchen when I heard some rustling noises outside. I ran to the window and caught this glimpse of the shadow of ...hold on to your hats....THE *WEASTER BUNNY*! (don't ask, that's how we say it in our family) Yes, the Weaster Bunny, made an early trip to my house hiding M&M's and Cadbury Creme Eggs.
I feel fortunate to have been able to adjust my shutter speed quickly enough to catch this slow-mo picture of the bunny before he hopped off into the wild blue yonder. Sorta brings tears to your eyes, doesn't it.

In other news. I truly have been busy in the art studio. I haven't posted the CED 08 stuff because, well, because I've been *slack* in posting. I have done something daily, that's for certain, if you want to prove it I'll mail you my journal where I list all the things I'm doing. :)
Here is a short list:

• fimo clay buttons...I really like Fimo. I just do.


• new recipe testing...a great and exciting thing to do and who doesn't love eating?


• sewing. Yes, my old love is resurfacing. I decided to challenge myself and found a lovely trench coat pattern by McCalls. I dug through the discount fabric bins and found some lovely sky blue stretch twill with electric lime green satin and then a teaser print fabric with a floral/leaf motif that I used for the under collar and such.. Gadzooks, what stitching fun!
  

See the pretty colors? And don't you just love an old fashioned tomato pincushion? Who ever came up with that idea? They deserve a pat on the back.

• I read the Chuck Close Portraits book and was completely smitten. Smitten enough to do a picture in this style. Now mind you, his works are GINORMOUS in size 4' x 6' with 4-6" grids. But I, being the nutcase I am, did an 8 x 11 using a 1/2" grid. I literally couldn't see straight after working on my painting for three hours straight. I looked up and almost fell. He he. The dangers of digging into your own work.


• Music by Dave Mallet, Maine singer/songwriter has pleased me along with American Idols Beatles music night. Can I just say that David Archulatta, the 17 year old, looks almost exactly like Miss Muffett's boyfriend, Lyle. Since Lyle is now serving in the US Air Force and I haven't seen him since October each time David Archulatta sings I well up with tears. But I digress, the point is the Beatles music is amazing to me, even if David A forgot the words to his song. Back to art...


• Mixed Media small works 4 x 6": The next pix is of "An Easy Flower" The ant swinging from a flower stem is an idea from my sketch book that I decided was time to bring out.

• Attended an art opening at the school. That was really cool. The Size Doesn't Matter Show was a so inspirational. I am constantly amazed by other peoples work. Maine artists should check the school link for their calls for art. They do eight shows a year.


• I've been planning my new blog. Yes, my new blog. I've outgrown this one and have something better coming up. Don't look for it until I've settled into my new digs. Maybe I'll launch it in May, it depends on how things shake out.


• More Mixed Media Art...Something Fishy. I really like this 4x6 piece. I did it for fun. It has real fishing line and an actual hook, too.

• Grocery Shopping as a creative endeavor?? Why yes!! The colors and textures and shapes really inspire me to cook at a whole new level. I bought broccoli slaw, fresh organic asparagus, organic beets with attached greens. Color and flavor, yum.


• Planning the walls of my new apartment. My roommate and I are planning the color scheme in the new digs. I'm thinking raspberry, chocolate and tangerine. She's thinking red. HA! We'll work it out. Interior Design is a passion of mine. I will be taking photos for you to see.


• Sewing. Did I mention I love sewing? I made a new colorful backpack, pink and green.


• Sewing. Did I mention I love sewing? I found some amazing tie dyed cotton eyelet for a great new sundress. This is my next project.


• Weaving. I have a school project that calls for "found objects" and "environmental issues" so I wove plastic bags together and am in the process of making a wallet from it. Along with that will be a bubble wrap backpack. Let it be, just don't ask.
• Garden planning. This is all in my head at this point, but planning a garden is a creative endeavor, I'm sure of it.
• My book for illustration class. Shy Jack is in its early stages, but it is a labor of love for my sweet five year old nephew.

There, that's the bulk of my creativity for the last month. Of course I still write almost daily and doodle on everything that is flat. Next week I am moving to Kennebunkport (Maine), I have also moved my 20 year old into his new apartment. I am planning a graduation party, a going away party and a special something for a special someone that I especially can't discuss.

Beyond that I tried on my bathing suit to see if it still fits. Do you think the ribbon in my hair is too much?? Be honest, I can take it.

Last but not least, the Weaster Bunny picture from earlier in the post isn't really the Weaster Bunny. It was only me PRETENDING to be the bunny. I didn't want all you moms running to get your kids and show them a photo of the EB when it was really only me. It would be wrong to try to pull the wool over their eyes. In the photo below you can actually see my arm and hand holding the camera. Yes, I tried to trick you. However, the photo above is really of me in my swimsuit and ballet slippers.


*Here's wishing you and your family a warm and heartfelt Easter Sunday. God bless.

Line Drawing in Progress

But first, the snow.
More on the way. Okay, so enough about that.

This Chuck Close love I have right now forced me to grid some 130 lb watercolor paper the other day. I let it sit, now quite sure what to do with it but knowing somehow I needed to make these grids work. I finally was inspired by Buddah's soft face and I got busy.

In this you can see the Chuck Close book and the start of my line drawing. This should be interesting.So here I go working out the nose shadows.Here I put a little distance between myself and the piece so I could see how it was coming from afar. Sometimes it's easy to forget to step back. We all get so involved in the piece it's easy to get lost in the work.

Okay, I'm gaining. No cramps in the hands, just a few hunger pangs to deal with. No lunch for me until this is over.

Did I say no lunch? Who am I fooling besides myself? I noshed on tuna sandwiches with Dan while he played some tunes. Think to yourself: Nellie, Tim McGraw, Eminem, Puff Daddy, Brooks and Dunn....I'm singing along, I'm bouncing along, I'm swearing along. It's all in good fun, just Dan's style, not mine. Back to business...

Voila. One finished piece. I gridded and then used fine point Zig marker to draw diagonal lines in each of the boxes. Interesting result. It looks really good from a distance. I'm not so thrilled about how it's represented here. I see it matted in red and framed in a thin black metal frame. This will sit well near my altar. I am contemplating doing one of these of the face of Jesus, too.

Maine Snow Storm Forces Art Students to Paint

Roof #9, acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas board
Roof # 10, acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas board
Roof #11 acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas board

The snow here in Maine is crazy big. Crazy I say. I haven't seen this much snow in years. My back aches and my shovel cries when I just think about moving all of it. But, when life gives you snow storms make lemonade, right? The saying goes something like that.

Tuesday night the Heartwood gang decided it was Cranium night. We ordered pizza and sat around the dorm's kitchen table and played a rousing game involving acting, drawing with your eyes closed, humming and other oddities. It was fun and my team won. As we entertained ourselves inside the storm brewed outside. Soon I was snowed in.

All's well, the Heartwood teacher lives down the road a mile or two and she determined if we made the coffee she would come over and do the weekly critiques. Yes, small Maine colleges can do this kind of thing. We are on the tail end of a three week intensive course and the many snowstorms we've endured this season has created some major interruption and we needed to get at it and get it done!

Borrow a pillow, lend a blanket, steal a towel and toothpaste and VOILA I am a ready made pajama party~ The next day I was first up and first to break out the paints. By noon the teacher had made it out of her very snowed in driveway and was on her way over. I'd done one and a half paintings by then and it was critique time.

For me this intensive has been painful. I don't consider myself a painter even though I do paint. I have a steep and dangerous learning curve going on and it is, in one word...PAINFUL. I don't like my results and I'm kind of scared to post them here, but I'm going to do it for the sake of art and for the sake of CED08.

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER is a lovely art show coming up at Heartwood. Heartwood, by the way, has a public gallery. They do four shows of local artists and a smattering of shows of students and faculty. SIZE DOESN'T MATTER is an annual event and is a well attended show. A few students, a few local artists and some faculty show in this one. All pieces are under 25 square inches. It runs February 18-March 21 with the opening reception being February 20 at 4:00. If any of you New Englanders want to meet me there, just speak up I am at School on Wednesday's anyway so it would be great fun!

On the homefront things are settling down. I believe I have located my new digs. I believe I have sold my restaurant. I believe life is starting anew. The power of positive thinking, following my intuition and listening to the ever present inner voice has served me well. I'm coming out of hiding soon, blasting out of my self-imposed prison.

This elephant jammed into a box was a fun little thing I did while viewing When Harry Met Sally. Yeah, I'm a little slow about getting caught up with my movie watching.

And oh, Happy Valenetine's Day! I hope you got something sweet from someone sweet. I had fun making some greeting cards for the special folks in my life, and who doesn't love Dove chocolates?

The Dog Ate My Shoes and Other Lousy Excuses

Remember the dog from the earlier post? He did eat my shoes, honest. Luckily I picked up these fabulous ones to replace the chewed ones.

Did I mention 15 paintings in three weeks? Rooftops. Here's just one of the many pictures I am working from.

Wrestling matches galore. The Handsome One's kid is on the wrestling team so off we go each weekend from one end of the state to the other watching all 104 pounds of him get tied in knots.
School is wonderful. Scanner is broken, can't post art until it's fixed. I found a new home and am working out the kinks, will report on that in detail later. I am waist deep in snow bankings due to our old fashioned Maine winter this year. I'm a cooking, painting, traveling fool. Or maybe it's just that I'm a fool. HA! (only time will tell).

Oh, I can't end this post without telling you about the amazing house concert I went to on Saturday. I'm telling you I am one fortunate fool. Scott King and his friends Steve Jones, Erik Glockler and Ginger ?? played together at a mutual friends house. Can I just say....WOW! Ginger drums for Nashville musicians like Bonnie Raitt. Steve Jones is a master guitarist and the vocals of Eric Glockler, well, ...huh! Musical genius ensued. Think Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Led Zepplin, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and originals. I was mesmerized. I feel so lucky to know these people. And how about the fabulous hosts who opened their doors for this party. Amazing.

Be Authentic...

This is a series titled Authenticity. Watercolor paper as my canvas. Acrylic, chalk, effy stuff, you know, mixed media. Two things happened that made me think about being authentic. It went like this.



I was thinking of how to gift my young teenage friends at Heartwood College of Art. There are four of them and they have made such an impression on my heart. I am den mother. That's what they call me. They ask my opinion. We have deep discussions, I buy them chocolate.



"What could I do" I kept asking myself "They are all so different." Take Anna for example. Her hair is pink, purple, green, blue and maybe even brown. I don't know what color her real hair is, she loves to add spark to her hair. She loves the movie the Labryinth and loves to swear.



JoAnna has hair that reaches her bum. She has huge brown eyes and a beautiful smile. She attends church faithfully, speaks softly and carefully. She's gentle and focused and accepts everyone.



Nathaniel is a spark! He's done every drug known to man and is a walking pharmacologist. He admits to his downfalls and he is stressed out a LOT for someone his age. He is convinced of his short time here on earth and he is a DOLL!! He won my heart almost in the first hour I met him. His pain reminds me of someone close to me. And I can't forget that he's a poet, too.



Desaraie is just so sweet, the face of a little fairy. "I'm not gonna lie" she said on the first day "I can't draw." She is going to school for photography but her heart is with her many pets. The dog, the fish, the cat. Oh her tender heart and her lazy boyfriend have taught me tons.



See, they're different these kids, and I want them to know that different is good. I want them to stay different, keep their qualities even when the world says they shouldn't. It's hard sometimes because you just want to fit in but really now, how do you put a square peg in a round hole? I wish someone had told me how to keep my authenticity. I am just now returning to myself.



In honor of my friends in color and design. I love you.

11 x 14...different is good.

The next two came to be in this way:

I've had a few days off now and am still absorbing the new energy from my spiritual retreat. Yesterday I spent a little bit of time on the net checking my horoscope etc. I went to check Celia Fenn's monthly report of the energies for this month as well. She had a message about the request to be authentic. It was a detailed account of how good it is for your soul and how to go about it. The words touched me. It was what I needed to hear.

Living in small town America can really squelch a persons growth. When people glance at you sideways and then lift their hand to cover their whispers it cuts deep and steals from you. I have always felt different and finally when I decided to just be me the whispering began. It's a struggle that I want to win.

Below are two paintings based on the information from the message of Celia Fenn.

Don't Resist the Flow, 10" x 10", mixed media

You Don't Need to Fit In, 10" x 10", mixed media

Then it was on to fimo fun. I made covered bobby pins, earrings, necklaces, pendants, and MORE! Now I just have to package them.

And then....
Okay, so I don't generally end my entries with a giNORMOUS picture of my face, but here I am in all my authentic glory. Heh heh. I woke up happy and willing to just go with the flow.

I slipped out of my pink polka dot jammies (did you have any doubt about my bed attire?) into some jeans a smart black t-shirt and my favorite denim-go-to-studio overshirt. I donned the new earrings I made and embellished the overshirt with a pink fimo pin. The hair, she called for ponytails and I was thrilled to discover my hair has gr0wn enough to comply.

HERE I AM WORLD! Authentically me. Silly. Quirky. Unusually happy (considering). Still sporting blue eyes and adding crows feet and laugh lines daily.



Tam I am. Huh, whooda thunk it?



Learn your place in the dance of life and go with the flow. Be authentic.