the earth laughs in flowers

My dear friend and long time coworker, Sara, is marrying to her love Josh later this year and I am working on their wedding invitations (yay!).  They are planning a beautiful wedding in their garden so, I thought a good place to start would be with, well, their garden! Lucky for me Sara has shared loads of flower pictures from their yard on their blog so, that's where I went for inspiration. 

Above are Sara's pictures and below are my first round of digital illustrations.

These flowers were truly a joy to draw! I have a few favorites for sure. It has been so nice to have a reason to illustrate. They have lots of orange trees and rose bushes which should be in bloom for the wedding so, we have decided to focus on those two plants in particular. Stay tuned for round two of sketches. I love weddings and flowers so this project is a win-win as Sara & I would say ;)

 Earth laughs in flowers.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

peek into my sketchbook

Flowers

Vines

wild carrot

Spooky ghost drawn by my son last year when he was 3 years old

ahoy painting

 

I just shipped this sweet little sailboat to Colorado. This was a commissioned 8x10 painting made for a baby boy's nursery based on this Ahoy Mate NoJo bedding set.

 

Here is the progress from start to finish.

At first I was thinking about a border and using the words ahoy! but quickly decided I would simply paint the sweet little sailboat without cluttering it up.

the great balancing act

I wrote about the great balancing act of being a working mother and an artist yesterday over at Soft Flex Company's blog. Click here to read my guest blog post.

what i'm up to

 Happy Monday! Here's a little bit about what I'm up to this month ...

• working on this weeping willow painting, a sailboat painting for a little boys nursery, a painting for a special project I can't tell you about yet and a friend's wedding invitation suite
• listening to The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You
• reading Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World
• practicing yoga 10 minutes a day with this facebook group challenge, maybe you'll join me?
• loving my husband 

So, what are you up to? A link or description in the comments is welcome.

painting in progress: willow tree and tire swing

Growing up there was a big beautiful willow tree with a tire swing at my grandparents house. I sometimes wish I can be there in that magical place again. I recently looked up my grandparents old house on Google Earth to see if I could get a look at that tree. Sadly, it didn't give me a clear picture. The tire swing was something my sisters and I loved to play on whenever we visited our grandparents and I especially loved just sitting under that magical tree.  This is a painting in progress of my memories of that weeping willow and tire swing. I feel like there is a long way to go on this one. It's going to be tough expressing just how wonderful this tree is in my minds eye.

art masterpiece: braque

The Round Table by Georges Braque 1929

About the Artist: Georges Braque studied Art in France. He was a painter and a sculptor.

Imagination activity: Close your eyes. Now picture a round table. Imagine objects sitting on that table. These objects could be some of your favorite things. Now open your eyes - show the print.  Is this what you pictured? What did you picture? The name of the painting is The Round Table.

This type of painting is called a Still Life.  Any ideas what that might mean? Still life = objects. This artist created several still life paintings on a round pedestal table. This one contained some of his favorite things.

What objects do you see on the table? Guitar, sheet music, knife and apple, bottle, newspaper and a pipe.

In 1907 George Braque met a man named Picasso. Has anyone heard that name before? Together they created the style Cubism.  Cubism = objects are broken apart and put back together in abstract form. Objects are being seen from different angles at the same time.

Can you see different shapes? Sphere, cylinders, cubes.

What feeling do you get when you look at it?

What do we call art that doesn’t look like real life? Abstract.

George Braque created many large scale paintings. This painting is 57 3/8” x 44 ¾” - good to show the kids a point of reference for this size, I had the tallest kids stand up (he is 54") and explained how the canvas was taller then the boy.

My table would have a book, chocolate, tea or coffee, a handmade ornament (i love ornaments!), slippers and flowers. If you wanted to paint a table with your favorite objects what would they be?

mother's day

“Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real.” ~Deepak Chopra

On Mother's day I awoke to find a beautiful basket of pink tulips and handmade cards from my kids. I relaxed at home with my family, went through the day slowly and reconnected with some of my bliss's. 

My wonderful mother in law, aka Nannie, had boys for a sleepover on Friday night.
We enjoyed a family lunch date on Saturday with Nannie and Tom.
My toe polish is eggplant purple thanks to a Mother's Day pedicure from my husband.
Ethan and I looked at The Art Book and reviewed artists we learned in his class.   
Hudson and I played marbles and built a marble track.  
I read a few chapters of Choosing Simplicity and caught up on blog reading.
I finished my tree of life belly cast painting that I began back in January. 
I stole a few minutes in the studio and worked on my newest painting in progress.

To all the beautiful mama's in the world including my mother, mother in law and godmother, I hope you all enjoyed your day too!

tree of life painted belly cast

Remember this tree of life painting that I began back in January? I finished it yesterday! This painting was long overdue and it is so nice to have finished it on Mother's day. I made the pregnancy belly cast when I was expecting my now 7 year old son, Ethan. 

Tree of Life

Plaster and Acrylic Paint

Pregnancy belly cast created in 2004, Painted 2011

treasure hunt: green grass

And the green grass grew all around Treasury on Etsy

And the green grass grew all around, all around and the green grass grew all around - Happy Spring!