Garden Therapy

Amazing colors together.

Every yard should have an Eiffel Tower!

The Sean Rose...planted it when my son was born 23 years ago.

Tonight's dinner, baby greens and herbs.

My "puddle" with 2 goldfish that are about 13 yrs old.

The "pop up" area. Things just seem to pop up here and I don't have the heart to pull them.

Speaking of popping up...Jack

And Max, aka "me too"

Spending a lot of time outside this week. The weather's been wonderful and the gardens in full bloom with tons of veggies where ever I can fit them. The pool's clean, the dogs are clean...it doesn't get much better than this. We've been eating the lettuces for a while and had the first squash last weekend. There's tomatoes on every plant and cucumbers starting. Even the nasturtiums have made their way into the salads this spring.
Have weeded all week since I'll be headed back up north to continue cleaning my mom's house out. This visit will be a bit tougher than the last because she's gotten worse and it's just a lot of difficult decisions to make. She didn't know who I was when I was there 2 weeks ago so we will see what the next visit brings. When dealing with the inevitable, it feels good to be outside where everything is growing vigorously and the colors are spectacular.
Yikes, I should be putting the rest of my kits together for my classes on Saturday and packing but who can be inside when its so nice out? I still have tonight...

Studio Crescendoh!

Talent everywhere!

There's always laughter when you do girly art!

2 sisters playing art...what could be better?

Photos taken by Jenny Doh of Studio Crescendoh

What a day! This class was arranged last fall and the day finally arrived. Jenny Doh's studio is in an old historic district here in Southern California that has been turned into an art colony. The studio itself is in a beautiful old building that houses many galleries and studios. It's quite majestic when you walk in with it's old staircases on either side of the entrance taking you to all of the magic above. Studio Crescendoh is cozy. Not small, but cozy. One wall of windows let the outside in while the other walls are filled with the most whimsical paintings, exploding with color. It had a nice energy about it where you just wanted to get out a paintbrush and play!

It was an interesting mix of students. One from British Columbia, sisters from Washington and Oregon, a woman who bought a gypsy piece from me, another young girl who's sister bought her a piece from my book for her birthday, a woman who I've done some trunk shows with and didn't know she'd be there and a facebook friend who I finally got to meet in person! 2 groups of sister's who of course shared stories about each other, keeping everyone in giggles. ALL of these women had amazing talents, making it such an easy class to teach.

Fun was had by all as we went into our paper doll world. All of the art came out gorgeous and I honestly couldn't pick a favorite!

Can't wait to go back next spring!

WHAT i hAVE bEEN uP tO....

Ha ha, the number and cap lock was on when I typed the title in but I like it so I will leave it alone!
Ahhhh...blogging has seemed like such a chore lately so I haven't done much of it. I can't believe half of the year is almost over so I think I really need to get back into the swing of things.
This year so far has been like for most, mixed with immense blessings and with great turmoil and sadness.
Art-wise, I was asked to do some chipboard shapes for a company in Arizona called Leaky Shed Studios. I am in the process of finishing up this project. These should be in stores by summer. I had a hard time wrapping my head around bare chipboard until I saw their product and it's so beautiful and of the best quality. It will be such fun to experiment with these! I will also be teaching at a retreat in Flagstaff, Arizona this summer with an amazing group of artists.
Oh...and speaking of teaching...it's just been confirmed that I will be going on a 3 week teaching tour in
Oct - Nov to Australia with Prima. So excited!
All this activity has forced me to clean out my studio and office areas in my home. I have to be extremely organized to work my best. I can't stand chaos and I absolutely have to have pretty work spaces so this is taking some careful thought and a lot of time!
Between all this and teaching 2 weekends a month (that's a lot of class samples to make!) I haven't made a whole lot of art. But I can't complain. As you can see, it has been truly a blessed year for me so far.
But sadness has set in. I am packing today, to head to up north for a few days to start the cleaning of my mom's house. We have had to make that ever so tough decision to move her into an assisted care facility. She has had horrible health issues for the last 12 years and had a heart attack last week. We have put this off for as long as we could. The house is where I grew up...50 years old and 50 years of stuff in it. So I shall begin the daunting task of cleaning out and getting it in shape to rent out. I'm sure this will involve many trips this summer until we finish.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. The first 6 months of goodness and sadness. But then, that's what life is, isn't it?