Summertime, and the Living is Easy?

Here we go - summer art fair season. I look to this time of year with equal parts excitement and dread. Three years ago, before I returned to a full-time day job, these were an exciting break from the day to day routine. And let's face it, the extra money was really nice. Now that I am employed full time - besides being fun and exciting - it is very tiring.

Shortly after returning to the full time working world, my hubby was laid off from a job he had performed for almost 20 years. That can really rock a persons world, to say the least. The job market in Oregon is still pretty sketchy, so we continue to "make do". Thank heavens for Laurie Miller Designs - it has made all the difference to our family. I am grateful for the opportunity to do my art and be able to allow it to help bring in an income. Recently, after finishing a wonderful online class with Kelly Rae, I have been consumed and overwhelmed with marketing ideas. As grateful as I am for my day job (health insurance is a very good thing) - I wish that I could spend all day, every day creating art. It is hard to balance. How do other people do it? I would love to hear ideas.

And as for my summer? Oh how I miss those lazy days of laying on the banks of one the many rivers in our area when the temperatures heat up. Or watching the kids play with their friends while their mom and I played art. Now I have to make sure and schedule time to slow down and enjoy the long summer days. Maybe that's a good thing - I sometimes forgot to enjoy them when they were the "norm". So let's all raise a tall glass of cold diet pepsi (my drink of choice) and salute summer. It'll be gone before we know it.


In the meantime - here are a few new pieces . . .I will have these at my upcoming shows. The first is the Sandy Mt. Festival in Sandy, Oregon this weekend. If you are in the area - be sure and come play for the day. This is a fun one!

And seriously - how do you balance work, art (or whatever your thing is) and life. . .? Suggestions are highly encouraged!

New Art . . .New Friends

Some new work to share. I have been dabbling with a new style recently. I am using alot of reclaimed frames and "boxes" that my wonderful partner in crime builds. The frame is embellished with bright colors to give it an original and cohesive look. The pieces are then built up with lots of three-dimensional elements.

One of these projects was created as a special order for some new friends. We met Dave and Ingrid at our Memorial Day sale at the Coast. I have never met anyone as warm and open as they were. From the minute they introduced themselves they treated us as long-time friends. They truly have never met a stranger. They asked for a piece that reflected a statement they live by - "You are only invited once." They believe, embrace and practice an "open door policy". Once you have been invited - you are encouraged and expected to come again and again and an invitation is never needed. How many of us are that approachable? What a wonderful attitude. From the minute we entered their home we felt comfortable. There piece will hang above their front door to serve as a reminder to all that come to visit that they are welcome to come back often. We will be delivering their art work to them so that we can spend more time getting to know these friends.

We are building our inventory in preparation for the annual Sandy Mt. Days Festival. It will be held on July 10th and 11th. Lots of great art, food and music. Hope to see you there!

The Class of 2010

A new painting I am working on - it is still a work in progress -it is tall (almost 4 feet) and narrow (about 18 inches). I have had this canvas for a few years - white and blank - just staring at me - daring me to paint it. It initially started with me painting my "left-over globs" of paint on it. I paint in acrylics and they are expensive. I can't stand the idea of wasting it. When I am finished for the night, I smear the left over colors on a blank canvas to begin building a background. I rarely know what the end result will be. As the colors began to build up on this canvas, I still wasn't sure what it was going to be. Maybe it is our slow-starting Oregon summer this year. But I needed some color and flowers - so I painted them!

June has been an exciting month so far. On Tuesday night our middle daughter, Chrissy graduated from high school. What a night! We were all so excited to see her accomplish this task. There were moments where we weren't sure this day would ever come - but it did and she made it! It seems like just yesterday that I was putting her hair in braids, watching her crawl around on the floor playing make-believe, coloring bright pictures with her crayons and snuggling her favorite stuffed animals. Chrissy has had some challenges in her life, including being diagnosed with juvenille diabetes at age 5. She has attacked her challenges with her own sense of purpose. Her outlook on life is her own. She is loving and accepting, has amazing patience and a wonderful creative spirit. She writes her own rules. How did I get so blessed to be chosen to be her mother? Here's to this adventure called life! Any other graduates out there?

And tomorrow night we will celebrate the graduation of our son Collin - he will be receiving his Associates Degree in Business. YEAH!

The Rhode Island Roost

Our family is entering into a new adventure - urban chickens. We have a rather small backyard. Even when our children were small, it seemed like there wasn't enough room to do much. In a lot of ways, it was wasted space. We have spent many years revamping it to adapt to our family's lifestyle. Several years ago, I (with my husband's help) dug up a fairly large portion of the grass and we put in raised garden beds. At first they were filled with flowers. It was beautiful. Over the last few years we have been tearing up even more of the grass and putting in more garden beds. Now; however, those beds are filled with vegetables. Lots and lots of vegetables. We have even tried a few "new" veggies - last year it was eggplant and this year it is soybeans. We liked the eggplant - but not enough to grow it again. We had a huge crop and couldn't use it all.

There is so much information in the media today about where our food comes from, how unsustainable it is, the cruelty to our land and to animals. I feel compelled to be more in charge of my food supply. I want to know what I am putting in my body. I want to feel more self-sufficient and not rely on outside sources whenever possible. I want to support the local economy as often as possible. All of these reasons have led to the expansion of our backyard urban "farm". Our goal is to eventually have no grass, only paths for tending and harvesting. The rest will be filled with growing beds for our vegetables and berries.

The new addition this year is chickens! I am so excited. My husband and son-in-law have been working over the last week - dodging rain storms to complete the coop. It is almost done. And then my girls and I want to paint it up fun. I have dubbed it the "Rhode Island Roost". (named after one of the breeds we are getting - Rhode Island Reds). We should have chickens by the end of the week. I get giddy just thinking about the fresh eggs, the bug control, the fertilizer and of course, just watching them.

The next addition to our farm? Rainwater collection.

I love to hear about other people's gardens and how they came to be. Share your story.

I just finished this painting. A version of "For the Beauty of the Earth. . .", this was a special order to fit a very particular space. It is much shorter and longer than the original, so I used 2 small canvases rather than one large one. I think it turned out great. It will go to live in it's new home this weekend.


Mark your calendars for July 10-11 and July 17. Those are upcoming summer festivals and sales.