the perfect weekender

so I gotsta say that one of my most favorite things about the cold weather is the forced homeness of it all. We spent most of the cold weekend at home... my castle... my favorite place to be.

and we even got to do my favorite thing... we took a nice invigorating walk in the woods. I can't say enough how much the outdoors feeds my soul. It seems to be the perfect antidote for so many of life's ailments.
It is as if a sort of purification or cleansing takes place... and suddenly all the shoulds of your everyday melt away and you can't remember that thing that you thought you needed to own soo very much or all those additional commitments that you thought you needed to make or how you really should be doing a better job at one of your million roles.
Suddenly all the important things... this collection of little people and the amazing person who gave them to you is all you can see.

And somehow it is just easier to see the source and center of all we do behind these faces that smile so widely simply at the acquisition of a simple leaf.
My heart is thankful that I have a God that teaches me so much through the smallest things.




On another note... does anyone know what these wonderful green seed pod thingies are that drop from the trees every Fall?
When my bro and I were little, these made the greatest bombs in countless wars (even though they are remarkably heavy - yikes... er)...


Oh yeah... you gotta check out Autumn's bundled up baby look! so funny! I think Lavender's gloves will be the new hot fashion trend this Fall!

Peace out, yo!

The gems of Lavenderville

Lavender has come up with some pretty hilarious stuff lately.

Here are a few gems for your enjoyment....

Yesterday she comes to me and says...
L: Mom, I ate a purple one
M: A purple what?
L: Bead (she didn't)
M: What did it taste like?
L: A..... Flashlight!
M: A flashlight??
L: We don't eat flashlights, mom


And in the car...
L: Mom... remember that boy?
M: What boy?
L: The one on the slide that was having some green hair???
(We went to a festival where the kids were running around with painted hair)
M: oh yeah
L: He WAS! Having some green ones...


And then this morning...
L: Mom, I name my girl
M: Your doll?
L: yes
M: What did you name her?
L: Creamy snake
M: oh
L: I'm just being kidding!


Bill Cosby would be proud, eh...

Art history according to Lavender

Here are a few things Lavender has to say about the great world of art history...

Lavender definately thinks that Mona is smiling. "Yes, she IS smiling... she's not sad."  And she also asked if this was a picture of me... Wha  What???

Marsden Harltey paintings look like toys... 

and this one by MacDonald-Wright she likes - when you ask her why she will say "Because she sees lots of things... yes." - personally I have always been super creeped out by this, but what do I know... eeks.

And the ol' 'Lucky Strike' has lots of shapes. She likes that one too. 

But, 'The Blue Clown'... not so much she says. (Smart girl... Walt Kuhn painted all these super creepy clowns - all parents should take a look at these so they don't make the dreaded "clowns are soo fun, let's have one at little Billy's birthday mistake")

More from our art history tours lata, kids!

Finito

A new work has flown away.

This is a special piece for a special girl and her new baby boy!

congrats, Karen!

Another big day in Autumnville

SO big news with this little chica...

She is now standing ALONE for several moments!!!

I know, I know... she is getting so very big, eh?! Pulling up on everything and standing too!

Tomorrow she will be going to college, right...

Anyways... I am a proud little momma.

A new day

So this election is finally concluded and my body sighs with great relief. And I gotta say that as much as I did not ever want to write about anything political on this little ol' blog, I find that rule so ever hard to keep in the midst of such a monumental year. It seems that no matter what I do, I have a constant shadow of awareness of this election and the countless issues that ride on its shoulders. And even when I'm not awake I seem to be thinking about it (Case in point : Last night I dreamt that I met Barrack Obama and when he turned to greet me... It was Al Roker --- what the.....?)
All this to say... I'm happy that this election has reached a swift and generally problem free conclusion. And I feel many things...
Happiness
to see an African American finally reach such a pretigious leadership position
Satisfaction
that this race represented so many seemingly unacknowledged American voices - that of women and so many minorities
Dismay
that the candidates I was most excited about dropped out of the race long ago (as they do every election year)
Pride
to be here and watching our country make big choices
Fear
for the hard work ahead for our President and our country - so many things to work on
and finally Readiness
I am so ready for the proclamations to cease and the work to begin. I'm ready to put aside who we voted for and do the work of making this country a better place to live and work and be for ourselves and most of all for our kids and the generations to come.

All this to say - the results are in --- the election is done... let's do the work kids... pray for our leaders and get our hands dirty. 

Halloween 2008

No little monkey is complete without her "Man in the Yellow Hat" right??? Yes, yes... for Halloween we had one Curious George, one Man in the Yellow Hat and one little Acorn. I can't express how proud I am of my big sweetie for going out with a giant homemade yellow paper hat on it head that was so big that he had to walk in the middle of the road so not to hit the trees!!! What a good daddy!!!


One last thing...

Here is what Lavender said she dressed up as for Halloween.

a mat
a rubber band
a brown cup with pieces of pink paper
a pink pillow
a big movie
a can of air
a white pillow with an elephant coming out
a scary mask
and a hammer (with her bff Matthew-aka Cookie Monster- as the nail)

wha what???

so awesome to have this kid.

Exuberance!

So the glories of the Aquarium will never loose their charm! Can you believe the exuberance... Wish I could bottle some it up and save it for a grumpy day!

On a another note...

Here is a little tid bit our morning conversation for your enjoyment.
L: Did the Light come up?
Me: Yes, I think so.
L: Is it on it's way?
Me: Yep
L: I will go see.

L: It IS on it's way! It is getting lighter and lighter and LIGHTER!
MOM... ITS LIGHTER!!!!





Perhaps the sun should always be called The Light...

The Hive Works

So the hive (aka, my studio) has been buzz buzz buzzing with new works...
These works are solely for my little ol' family... yes, yes... I have been unabashedly pursuing exactly what I have been wanting to... my own work... for no one else but me! So selfish, righto??

Anyways, here are the fruits of the labor...
Lavender in silhouette... then her lovely little hand and feet impressions captured forever in sweet sweet beeswax! I just love this incredibly durable medium... perfect for me, especially since Lavender keeps carrying them around the house saying "Look at THIS, Mom!!!"

Now I just gotta get the Autumn works going!

As you may have noticed... I am in preservation mode. I keep finding myself wanting to savor and capture all the wonderful tiny little details of this time in our little family's world. It seems that its fleetingness (is that a word?) has made itself known to me once again. And somehow I just know that these are the golden years, ya know...

Hope you all are savoring yours in your own special way...

Howeva, if you want your own child's tinyness caught on canvas, like these... give me a shout and I might just make one for you!

Now off to enjoy the incredible wonders that live in the waters of the Aquarium!!!

Hope you cats have a good day... looks like it is going to be a pretty one!

This one goes out to our Anna

so this one goes out to our dear Anna, who is in a beautiful far off land.

Miss Anna gave my sweet girls these really wonderful paint sets before her departure. And the funny thing is that they have started an artistic revolution up in here!

I'm not sure quite what the magical ingredient was in these paints, but whatever they had in them, it sure does work it's magic!

Since we have used them we have begun painting on any and everything... matboard, muffin cup paper, toilet paper rolls, ribbon spools... you name it, we have probably painted on it! And not with just acrylics, but with watercolor, pastels, crayons, and lovely Anna paints (as they are called here)!

Anyways, I'm not sure why out of all the creative projects we have embarked on, why these paints have become the catalyst to creating a new passion, but whatever the spark, I can't express how happy it makes my heart. I know, I know, we should be happy to watch our kids flourish in which ever field they are drawn, but I confess, if it is art, my little ol' heart would melt!

oh yeah, here is Lavender painting... and yes, we consider the hands to be a supa cool canvas!!!

and for Anna, sorry we haven't posted pics of the finished "Anna paint" project... more to come lata!

and one more thing, our little ol' computa is on the frittzers, so if ya don't hear peep from this end for a bit, that may be why. Hopefully we'll get is fixed up supa soon!! peace out, homies!

Have I mentioned....

Have I mentioned my Autumn Marie??? well, I can't remember the last post about this cutie and I just have to say that she is magic!

This momma is falling more and more in love with this little babe every day... even if she is crying all the time with the onset of some new toothies!

This little crawlin' machine has taken up a new hobby I haven't told ya about... She chases! Yep, she will chase you room to room. And she's fast too! Boy, those little hands and feet can really get a move on!
I guess the sweetest thing about this new hobby is that I know it comes straight from her little heart that just can't get enough of you.

This tiny girl just loves people so much she can't get enuff... which you would know if you decide to put her down to do the dishes or somethin' - her favorite place to be is riding around in someone's cozy arms!

So sweet!

Anyways, I'm sure you have read enough of the blatherings of a smitten momma, so here's signing off...

Big Skies

it's funny... we moved the computa out of the den and made an office out of one of our bedrooms and I gotsta tell ya that it has really changed my techy addiction. I am embarassed to admit that when I have to walk past our computer to do anything I am magnetically pulled to it... it is almost uncontrollable. So it is a new bittersweet development at the K house... nice to be living more and recording it less, but unfortunate to not be up to date on so much.

Nevertheless... life goes on.

On another note...
I keep finding my camera filled to the brim with dozens of "big sky pictures" and tiny detail pictures. I keep finding myself taking pictures of the Autumn sky... something so mesmerizing about that much blue!

Anyways... here are some big skies for you! oh, and tiny details too!

the birthday girl

this is my sweet Grandma, who celebrated yet another birthday today surrounded by her children, grandchildren and many great grand children.

my heart has many things that it longs to say about this woman who has lived so long and taught me so much. But alas, I find that there is just too much.

all i will say is that today is was lovely to see her happy and enjoying the moment... each tiny littlest moment for what it was.

Dipping Raw Silk in Beeswax

So for all you cats I haven't seen in a bit here is a little snippet of what I am usually up to... almost all my artwork these days can be identified by the term "encaustic collage"... it just means that every component of the piece is adhered to the canvas with beeswax.

I take big blocks of beeswax and melt it down and basically create a collage utilizing beeswax as the adherent substance through a heating technique.

My little ol' Facebook status about dipping Japapnese raw silk in beeswax was the result of my giddy enthusiasm to see how lovely the fabric took to the wax... Just take a look... you can see all that gorgeous gorgeous texture and even all my hard hours of underpainting and layering shining through!! Yep, I am pretty happy about how this piece is coming along, even though we are nowhere near finished... (funny how it always seems like I am in that stage?!!!)

Anyways, I posted some before the wax pictures of the lovely raw silk and you can see the after the wax pics of the canvas and let me know what ya think!! (sorry for the lousy photo quality guys... I am so wicked tired right now... )
smooches!