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it is such an incredible fall day today, sunny and warm with a light little breeze. the farmers market in the park was bustling with happy people all enjoying being outside. the kids and i came home with flowers, pumpkins, apple cider, corn, heirloom tomatoes, basil, summer squash, garlic, leeks, eggplant + strawberry-rhubarb jam. yum. 
happy weekend to you!
Starting on Monday I will be participating in Poppytalk's Handmade Market for the month of October - it's a virtual street fair not to be missed. The list of other artists is incredible, + I am very excited about the whole thing! Many thanks to Jan for including me. I encourage you to stop by and visit next week. :)
Thanks for the many comments and calendar ideas yesterday. You are all a picky and opinionated bunch who know what you like! That's why we all get along so well, I'm sure. You gave me some great food for thought and I really appreciated it. I'll draw one of your names on Sunday for a little bit of mail love, and if you haven't left a comment yet, I'd still love to hear from you.
This morning I supervised my v. opinionated third grader as she completed an elaborate homework assignment. 10 varieties of seeds, labelled and documented, plus tidy handwriting and some nifty decorating: my heart was bursting the whole time -she was so proud of her work. Remember the fun and geeky homework assignments? I miss them sometimes.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone.
advice needed, please:
aside from pretty pictures, what features do you love best about your favorite wall calendars? how much space do you like to have to write on? what about holidays and all of that jazz? i have all of the art done, and now comes the more technical, tricky part...and i'm realizing that i'm super picky about calendars + others probably are, too. i'd love to know what you think, so lay it on me. and as a thank you for answering, i will randomly pick someone from the comments on sunday 9/30 and send you a little package of goodies, so be sure your email address is correct so we can be in touch. thank you!
i've had one of those weeks that has been filled with lots of little things and nothing big, with frustration + exasperation + distraction + clutter. i've been feeling a bit down + blue, and it just started raining. i think a good clean-up around here with some podcasts to distract me is what needs to be on today's agenda. what are you up to?
{{ oh, and to the person who introduced me to humboldt fog cheese last weekend (you know who you are...barb...) thanks for nothing! now i am addicted to really expensive, creamy cheese. actually, we're in love and planning to run off together for a little menage-a-trois with a crusty baguette from standard baking co. }}
girls night out
Originally uploaded by swallowfield
a night away with good friends is always good for what ails a person.
i used to know someone who took incredible pictures of dumps and industrial waste piles, and could make wreckage look heartachingly lovely. this drawing kind of reminds me of them, even though that's not really where i was going with it while i was drawing it.
it's done on the page of a vintage book.
and because i am bloggy-formatting impaired, i will link you to the poem i WAS thinking about while i drew this - i tried posting it here but it made my post look all wonky. i hate that.
it's friday! that's a good thing.
i had a whole bunch of dumb stuff to do today, and i unexpectedly got it all done. i was shocked. house clean: check! laundry done: check! missing hamster found: check! alive,even: check! small boy happy: check! artwork made: check! (okay, making artwork isn't dumb. it's the highlight of my time without the kids each day.)
i have some happy work-related news:
i will soon be having some work on modishoppe, which i'm really excited about. i'm working on some new stuff for kelly at little paper planes, too, and hope to have that to her by the end of next week. and in november and december i will be having my first solo show at edith and edna here in portland. good things are happening.
we are supposed to have a lovely, warm weekend here. there are leaves to be raked, a fair to go to, apples to be picked and even a special chunk of time carved out for me to hang with some good friends. i want to remember all of this later, when it's cold and dark and there are no more leaves on the trees. this is the good time, the time i wait for each year.
i hope you have a nice weekend, and that you get to soak it all in, too.
hi friends!
it has been a busy week, but i wanted to quickly share a few things that are making me happy today.
i had a chance to meet shari and her sweetie, tom, when they were in town a few days ago, and that was a treat. they were even more lovely than i had imagined.
i signed up for an encaustic painting class next month, and i literally cannot wait to start. whee!
leya's wedding - it made me so happy to see her post this morning!
andrea's anniversary. i love everything about this post. everything.
i will be back soon with a more substantial update, but in the meantime, i hope you are enjoying your day, wherever you are!
I had a wonderful time at the opening party last night. It was tiny art mania! It was great to meet some of the other artists whose work I've so admired online. Thank you so much to my friends and family who made the trek to be there with me, and to Deb at Nahcotta for being so wonderful!
We're in birthday party planning mode this weekend, and when the birthday girl asked me to please gocco her invitations, I couldn't say no to that - it's the closest I get these days to a pronouncement of love...my big girl, who doesn't need me 'at ALL, mom,' (except when she does.) I love her color choices! We're planning a 'science experiments||make your own tacos||chocolate fondue||dance party' party. Unfortunately, her dream of getting a 'salamander, eel, gecko or three more hamsters' will alas probably not come true this year. Another childhood dream, crushed. Oh, nearly-eight: you're confusing and tricky sometimes, but I love you so.
Happily we bask in this warm September sun,
Which illuminates all creatures...
- Henry David Thoreau
We're getting into some fall routine around here, and it feels good. The kids are settling into their school schedules and responsibilities, and loving their new teachers. Have you seen Blair's idea for helping her children remember responsibilities in the morning? We'll be doing something similar - thanks, Blair! I get so worn down from saying the same things over and over and over (brush your teeth, please wear underwear, do your reading, make your bed...wash, rinse, repeat. repeat. repeat.) I think a visual reminder will help.
The temperature outside today is perfect, and I've been puttering about loving every minute of it. You know the kind of temperature where you have something fleecy on your top half and you feel cozy + warmed by the sun, but you're not too hot and definitely not sweaty? That's the temperature today. This is also officially known as Jen's perfect temperature. Sing it from the rooftops, fall is here!
I'd like to say a big thank you to Irene at Bloesem for being so kind about my new card sets today. I'm so flattered, thank you!
In other news, I'm looking forward to showing you a few of my recent commissioned projects soon. I have had some really interesting work recently that has both challenged me and taught me a lot, and it has been fun to learn some new tricks. I will share stuff here shortly.
And as a reminder, the enormous tiny art show ii is opening this Friday evening, 9/14, at Nahcotta from 5-8pm in Portsmouth, NH. You can catch a glimpse of it getting hung here. Looks like a LOT of work! I'll be there on Friday with a few wonderful friends and family members, hiding in the corner whilst trying to take in all of the loveliness on the walls. My first show! With wonderful artists that I admire! What fun. I can barely believe it all, really. 
If you're around Portland tonight for the First Friday Art Walk, don't miss mixed media collage artist Betsy Thompson at Edith and Edna. We are fairly recent pals (we met through flickr and other places,) and I am huge fan of her lovely work. You can read her bio here. I can't wait! 
I hope you have a perfect, happy weekend.
