swallowfield

mothers day

wishing a very happy mothers day to my own dear sweet mom today.
xoxo

old sap

it's been a busy week. does may feel crazy busy to everyone else, too?  i'm heading into a full weekend, as well - i'll be taking a weekend-long painting class i've been waiting a long time for, and i'm really excited about it. (more on that next week, especially if i like as much as i think i will.) 

the kids are super jazzed about mothers day all of the sudden, which is just about killing me. it might be my "woman-time" right now (did you watch 30 rock last night? so funny) but i suddenly find myself getting all teary at the mothers day commercials that are meant to make you all teary. i used to give myself more credit, but not anymore. i'm turning in to sappypants-mccheesymom. i loved this post over at angry chicken about mothers day, too. an early happy mothers day to all of you mothers out there - you have a hard-ass job and you deserve a little something special that will make you feel happy and loved.

this is new today. i woke up with it in my head, and felt happy that i had the chance to sit and make it come to life. i love it when that happens! 

have a wonderful weekend.

::

thanks to grace for writing about my laptop skin on design*sponge!  that was cool.

i'm feeling kind of quiet + bored with myself this week, but have been busy making things... so i'll share those with you instead.

i've been thinking a lot about wanting to pair old iconic images with modern design elements. this is a loose interpretation of an old steamer ship coming into port in bar harbor around the turn of the century.  it's my first attempt at drawing a steamer ship.

this is my representation/loose interpretation of pollinating. or something. it's design-y, and i had fun making it. :)

enjoy the beautiful spring weather...we're off to little league.  +  black flies...

laptop fun + other goodies

i was totally smitten with these a few months ago when i saw them on design*sponge.  but when i got my new laptop i quickly realized that having engraving done was out of my price range, namely because it voids the apple warranty if you do it.  i will be the first one to tell you that i'll probably need to use my warranty at some point, chiefly because i'm a clutzy doofus. ((i was happy to see that he also engraves moleskines, and i think that might definitely be in my budget pretty soon here.)) aren't they all amazing?

this week, after realizing that the engraved laptop of my dreams was out of the question, i searched around for a place to try and do something similar but low-tech. i found this place, which for $20 will allow you to upload an image, play with it a bit, and order a custom skin for $20. ((you may be wondering if i'm suddenly setting out to cover the whole world in clingy things, but i think i'm done now.))  i chose a black and white drawing i'd done on a vintage book page, because i wanted something subtle with the silver. i'm really pleased with how it came out. you should try it too! or if you're not a worrier who thinks she'll someday need her warranty, you should totally try the engraving option. and send me a picture to drool over. please.

what else did i want to tell you today?

first of all, my good friend betsy thompson has opened an etsy store!  ((i resisted the urge to say finally, because everyone moves at their own pace about these things, but i am very happy that her art will be more out in the world now.))  i love, love, love her beautiful work and i am so excited for her.

i really like the new weepies album.  ((if i say album does it totally date me? i'm pretty sure it might.))

these goodies i spied on etsy would make really fun mothers day presents:

mom cookies from brooklyn cookie

you make it look easy card from letterary press

ranunculus mothers day set from simply photo

enjoy your saturday!

johnny sunshine

i'm pretty psyched that it's friday. 

this week i made pita bread, after being inspired by stephanie's. it actually worked, even though i am totally bread-klutzy. i let it rise a good long time, and i think that made all the difference. i often get impatient about how long things take in the kitchen. patience, young jedi.

ellie was super excited to find out that she had a sculpture in the citywide school art show. we went to the opening last night (the picture of blossoms above is from outside city hall.)  i wanted to kiss her art teachers, who were both there beaming and being supportive. i love them, and love that my kids are excited about making art.

i got an old favorite cd out this week. some songs are best listened to when the kids are not sitting in your lap. i still know all the words by heart.

i am enjoying these two artists' work a lot right now:
stehpanie levy
leah giberson
i 'met' them both through etsy recently and am really excited about what they're up to.

enjoy your weekend! i hope it is sunny and lovely where you are.

mayday

i've been feeling kind of quiet this week. i've been enjoying all of the buds on the trees and dreaming up all kinds of things i want to draw and create, but have been feeling spare on words.
(this new gocco print came from of paper and thread - isn't it lovely? i rearranged some of my favorite things around it because i like it so much.)

my house is getting a new roof this week. while this is a very exciting and much needed happening + i am happy to see the old one go, trying to get any artwork done at home has been a bit of a challenge - it feels a bit like being a hamster inside a cage with lots of men peering in on you through the windows. ((oh hi! you're looking in on me in my bathroom, which has lovely shades but crap for privacy! i was thinking of -oh i don't know - peeing, but now i think i...won't. okay.))  this morning i woke up and felt a lot like i was a tennis ball inside a giant dryer, with cyclical thumping on all parts of the house. oh, and there's the excellent music that they've been playing all week ive gotten to enjoy: i've heard barracuda at least four times already. at a nice loud volume. i love some heart here and there, but at 7am? the persistant beat of barracuda is a lot like the thumping on the roof.

i've been drawing a bunch, because it's portable and i can do it anywhere. like coffee shops, with bathrooms. :)

i liked it

it was another gorgeous, sunny day today, and i loved every minute of it.

there was a new drawing:

some newly assembled file drawers (and no bloody fingers) -yippee!:

+ some exiting news:
i will be doing a two-person show with matte stevens in october at nahcotta!

to top it off, we had purple potatoes for dinner, and they were both delicious + lovely.

ps:
have you heard she + him yet?

furniture putter-together-er

say what now?  ikea directions make me laugh.

the kids are on vacation this week and i'm in spring putter mode, so we made a trip down to ikea last weekend for a few things we needed. i felt like i really knew what i wanted there, but it still took over three hours to figure it all out and by the time we ate lunch/dinner there we all had that wacky glazed-over look in our eyes. does that happen to you?  it was a long day, but i left feeling convinced i'd be a more organized, better person going forward. ha.

i've been putting stuff together over the past few days in between applying bandaids, serving snacky meals on the fly, and enjoying time with the kids and their friends. (i forgot how filthy my kids tend to get at this time of year, when they're outside until its dark and i'm begging them to come in.)

in other news, i have some cool art-related stuff going on:

- i now have a shop on supermarket - i really love the site's spare look and design, and there's some excellent stuff to be found that i hadn't seen before - super fun browsing.
- i'll be participating in the old school show at uppercase gallery this fall.
- i'm looking into a way to have my art available for vinyl cling enlargements to order - a lot of people have emailed and asked me for this option; i'll keep you posted!

it is sunny and gorgeous here - how about where you are? enjoy your day.

working at home

one thing i've thought about a lot over the past year is what an adjustment it's been to go from a busy workplace full of friends and peers to working alone. being by myself is sometimes a great thing because it allows me to really concentrate on what i'm doing (or space off in a million directions if it's that kind of day,) but i definitely feel lonely sometimes.  and i don't always know how to answer when someone asks me what i've been up to. this was one of those days where i asked myself what the hell did i do all day?

it's a good exercise to think about it.

it started with some coffee and a doodle that became a somewhat elaborate drawing...then there was a bit of time spent packing shop orders and changing the laundry, doing the dishes, a little blog reading + link clicking...and back to the doodle, which i was liking, so i checked to see if i had any gocco screens or bulbs.  the next thing i knew i was making a gocco master and printing with orange onto whatever paper i could find around. the color choice was definitely inspired by the lovely ranunculus flowers that continue to be delight me - that, and i had a full tube of ink.

five hours, woosh! gone. there could definitely be worse jobs.  now i'm off to pick up the kids and have a bit of human interaction with other parents at the playground. it's a gorgeous day.  i hope you enjoy your day, too. 

spring cleaning

i've begun a major spring cleaning/purge around here. it feels so good! i feel like i can see things again, you know? it is inspiring me to want to paint and rearrange things here and there. it's so much nicer  than the way i was feeling all winter - a kind of 'i hate it here. i hate snow, i hate everything' feeling.  well, maybe hate is strong word, but a good summary for what i think was a decent case of seasonal affective depression. the older i get, the more important the seasonal stuff seems to my overall well-being. even my pandora stations seem to know it's spring; they're not playing the depressing stuff today. it's all good.

after i put away all of the mittens, hats and snow boots yesterday (and did a little happy dance, which probably sealed the fact that we will get a blizzard in the next few days) i snapped this picture because i suddenly remembered that i like this little corner. the green is cheerful and i am digging pussywillows right now.

this is a new collage/papercutting piece. i love the colors in it.

i just found out that aprill and i will be sharing a booth in june at renegade craft fair in brooklyn. last year she came as meg's and my helper, and i am so excited that she'll be showing off her gorgeous yarn and wares this time around. i had a great time last year and am looking forward to it - though i seriously need to get my act in gear.  we're going to miss you there this year, meg!

finally, i have a very serious question for my gardening friends out there:  what do you recommend for a black-thumbed gal with a pretty large amount of shade in her yard who wants to overcome her fears and plant some things that won't die this year? i would love some suggestions. thanks so much in advance!