swallowfield

dream shack + other pretty things

the rest of our weekend on mount desert island was really nice. i saw this little place, which i quickly decided to call the dream shack:

isn't it lovely? i want to move right in.

the kids and i went on a sea urchin hunt just like last summer, and found a bunch: 17 to be exact, plus one heart rock. we won't talk about the moderately heated argument i got in with a 4 year old friend if the family who 'really, really' wanted to squeeze + break them. it wasn't pretty. i was a petty and small person.

here are a few other pretty shots from here and there:

and our dessert at the burning tree restaurant in otter creek, my favorite restaurant in the entire world, the home of many a summer's employment back in the day and owned by good friends. if you're ever in the neighborhood,  it's a really special + delicious place. yum.

in other news:  i am sad to report that jena at modish is closing the doors to her lovely online shop for a change of pace and there are some great sales + deals to be had if you purchase by june 30th. i am happy to know that she plans to keep blogging, and i am grateful for the support and encouragement she has given me over the past year.

in still more news, my kids fell off the no tv bandwagon in two days. two days! totally pathetic.  i have to admit we all love arthur around here. we'll try to watch in teeny doses i guess.

have a nice night.

butterfly garden

this is a collage i made a few days ago. it's loosely based on a photograph of the butterfly garden at the charlotte rhoades park in southwest harbor, maine. we went to a butterfly release there last summer and it was pretty special - i had never seen that many butterflies at once and i loved it. (while i was trying to take some pictures during the release my kids made a few visits to the sweets table of refreshments, spun out of control and we had to beat it out of there in a hurry, but but that's another story. and probably why i never posted any pictures from that day. it wasn't pretty.)

there are a lot of lovely flowers around right now. i can't stop taking pictures of them.

some thanks:
i was honored to be a part of design for mankind's gorgeous e-zine this month. take a gander if you haven't seen it yet, it's chock full of great inspiration.
and i was flattered and really appreciated being written about on the hallmark magazine blog.

oh! and thanks for your nice comments on my last post - glad you loved the cake! i hope it turns out well for you if you make it.

ps: meg is so funny. this is part of the reason why i love her so.

blooms + and a little interview

i've got a serious love affair going on with lilacs right now. they smell so delicious!

i also have a little bit of new art to show you:

and a new interview on stephanie levy's blog (thank you so much for asking me, stephanie!):

have a lovely 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.

a happy day

my friend susan from sulu-design wrote a surprise post about my art today and i am blushing all the way from this portland to her portland. thank you, susan! (i have written about her earrings here before, but if you haven't seen them yet, go and look at them right now - they're gorgeous and affordable and you should own several pairs.)

today is a pretty big day for several of my friends:
it's the publication date for amanda soule's creative family! and there are some lovely illustrations in the book by betsy thompson and photographs by jessie fields. congratulations, women! i'm so excited for you all.  amanda is having a book launch party along with an art opening for some embroidered pieces she's been working on at edith and edna this friday night - i will be hiding over in the introverts corner, quietly celebrating while trying not to get in anyone's way, because i predict it might be a little bit crowded. just saying. :)

a little shop update

two posts in one day! it must be spring or something....

this is a little awkward self promotional update, because, you know, it's my business and all:

one donation i made to the often-mentioned auction was a couple of my prints mounted on panel, ready to hang. it's kind of a nice solution if you're like me, and can't afford fancy framing, or you just want that instant gratification feeling of being able to plop something right up on your wall with minimal fuss.

along those lines, i decided to mount four of my more recent prints from the spring green series - they're 6x6x2" on chunky panels, ready to hang, and sealed with a uv protectant matte acyrlic sealer. i think they'd look nice in a 4-square or hung vertically in a narrow spot, maybe between doors or something.

these four are available as a set in my shop; i'd also be happy to take special orders for single prints or a different grouping of prints if anyone's interested.

other sort of braggy-sounding things to tell you about:

i got a nice mention from jena/modish while she was guestblogging at design*sponge this week.   thanks jena!

and i was featured in a very nice list over at etsy, via a thing of beauty. thank you to both of you!

over and out; i'm feeling sheepish now.

sunlight and pattern

it's feeling a teensy bit springy around here, if you can look past the big snowbanks still hanging around in the shady parts of town, ie my tree-filled front and back yards. i see green grass here and there, a few crocuses, and the morning sun streams into the living room and makes me happy. the kids have been scootering and biking a bit without me worrying that they'll have a terrible accident on some big patch of glare ice, so everyone's happy.

i was super impressed by this before and after bungalow makeover at design*sponge yesterday. hot damn, that took some serious vision, + i love the results. i found this hilarious video by clicking around some links on the homeowner's design business site (which is lovely) called finishing school design.  having been a major, major tetris lover in college, i thought it was especially excellent. i used to love tetris so much that i would fall asleep dreaming of level nine blocks falling down and how i would arrange them. {{and of course i was always totally sober and imagining this scenario from a purely studious angle. }}  it's all pattern love, right?

thinking of patterns reminds me to share this article by oliver sacks from the new york times, sent to me by my friend suzy.

did you know the heather smith jones just opened an etsy shop? i really love her stuff. 

i finished a drawing yesterday and i like it. i like to imagine little teeny people coming out of the house to tend these crazy ginormous flowers.

happy friday. happy spring. happy sunlight. :)

dedicated to the ones i love: betsy thompson

to wrap up my week of artists i love, i thought i would share a local portland maine friend whose talents really wow me. 

i'd like to introduce you to the super-talented betsy thompson : she's an illustrator, mixed media collage artist, and a homeschooling mom of two sweet little girls. she is also very smart and very, very funny. i am in love with her bold use of color and + her line drawings.  she did all of the illustrations for amanda blake soule's forthcoming book, the creative family, (i've seen them and they're lovely!) and she has plans to illustrate a childrens book.  i'm absolutely smitten with everything she makes.  {{all images courtesy of betsy thompson and used with permission, except the one i secretly snapped of her from behind while she discussed her lovely work at nahcotta's enormous tiny art show last month. thanks betsy!}}