please don’t worry

ancient ink show

nick and i will be showing at this awesome festival. if your’e in the area {or not} come see us!

http://www.myspace.com/aitsfest09 {info}

we are wicked excited to be a part of this.

singing. i’m singing.

i’m so happy i’m singing. and my toes are dancing and my fingers are tapping.

americana

i know it’s a bit late {can you say hangover} but how was your long weekend? tell me about it! i want to hear from all of you. what did you eat? where did you go? who makes you nuts?

our weekend was stellar. sunny parks, barefoot basketball {wear a miniskirt if playing against really tall husband}, monopoly, beanbags, fireworks, bugs, woodsy walks, veggie burgers, fruit and kisses.

true americana.

{the woodsy walk}

{he eats just the sprinkles and then “shares” the rest}

introducing peanuckle

thanks to you guys barnaby now has a tasty little friend. why ever did i start painting cold treats? i don’t know. but they bring me so much joy. i mean who doesn’t love icecream on a stick?

thoughts on past and present

i wanted to share my thoughts on how we view ourselves in the past when comparing with our present self. you’ll know what i mean, i promise. i have been too critical of my fleeting baby face lately. i’ve been caught in the sink. literally in the sink. knees pressed against the bathroom mirror, picking and poking and inspecting my face. i’ve been known to pinch and prod certain bits of flesh near the midsection that “shouldn’t” be and scrunch my face in discontent.

it’s all normal. women do these things. but the thing is, i tell myself all the time that i miss the days of my youth. the ‘beautiful days’, i say. this is where i made my mistake. 

  last night we pulled out old home videos of the boys when they were wee-wee little ones. {side note: oh my they were g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s! and hysterical} i caught my first glimpse of 19 year old britt and i gasped. literally gasped.

i was awkward, chubby and totally not confident. i had a puffy face and wore clothes to hide behind. i moved with a sad little shuffle and my words never quite came out right.

this was not the young pretty girl i had remembered! what a total shocker.  i realized that i am now stronger, smarter and way more confident than her. i no longer battle with clothes, i care about my body in a whole new way, i listen to national public radio, i turned off the television, and i cook tofu.  i’m so different. and so much happier, balanced and aware.

when we start that transition from young adult to adult it feels wobbly and foreign but when it dawns on us that we are there, alive and well, it’s like the revolution that went so well you never noticed. today, i’m thanking my lucky stars.

birthday dinner {gin&ginger.mmm}

today i am 25

this year i’d like to

*not make any vows

*be nicer to myself

*paint. read about painting. experiment with painting. and then paint again.

*sell more paintings. (which means taking my small business  seriously)

*tone. tighten. strengthen. (while still being kind to myself)

*drink more tea than coffee and eat more apples than jujubees. (nasty little things)

*invest more time. love. attention into my friends.

* get back into reading. something i’ve done very little of this year.

*be okay with being 25. it’s not old. i don’t have wrinkles  (despite my 5 am hissy fits), i have not seen the best of my running days (knee WILL heal), and i’m not “too old” to be a hip artist.

i’m 25. and i will love this year.

an oldie revisited and internships

it seems the more you exist around your own creations the more likely you can problem solve. i’m really happy with how this older piece joined the ranks of my newer work with minimal effort.

today i have an interview for an internship. one i really want. wish me luck.

monday monday

welcome back.

what a dreamy weekend it was. my bestest and i threw together a yard sale and spent all weekend playing hangman and giggling at goofy customers. like the older gentleman who bought a 1960’s pup tent and a copy of dukes of hazards. he spent twenty minutes chatting us up- were we sisters? no. roommates, you wish buddy. i really do like interacting with strangers. it’s like extreme people watching.

saturday night we found ourselves kid*less (thanks to one super grammy) and so we headed off to the par-king, mid century vintage minigolf delight.

nick won by two strokes, but only because he cheated! bringing up a renewal of our wedding vows. pfff! i’m aiming for the spinning clown and he mentions a new white dress and throwing me in the ocean. cheater cheater pumpkin eater.

and then any good date ends with a show.

we made our way to the theatre to see the new woody allen movie, whatever works. i’m not going to say this is a flick for everyone. it definitely had that woody allen feel to it. but, i was charmed. totally one hundred percent charmed by this film. nick and i have realized (read: succumbed to) that we are total movie lovers. no fluff. just the good, great and classics.

again, i’m treasuring these weekends. more and more.

oh style woes

someone said to me recently that my collage style of work  is more likely to sell than my eclectic style. the sad part is, they were right. as they were saying it i was being written a check for my last two collage pieces. i looked at my “eclectic” (i’m not sure i call them that, but we’ll use it for now) stuff and i felt a little sad for them. like they are the step children who are so well behaved but totally under appreciated. but those are the pieces i LOVE. they are my babies.

so i was thinking about style once again. i understand that the everyday person has a style to thier home and that art has to fit that style to sell. i also understand that my collaged pieces fit, and that say “barnaby” may not.

should that really change how i communicate artistically? no. but can it mean i have two very different styles? maybe. and maybe someday i can build a bridge between the two. until then… here is some funky artists who have found success. just the way they are.

(the clayton brothers-gracious they are good)

(kill pixie-still a huge fan)

(clare rojas-um.. amazing.)

so, i guess the moral of the story is. if i want to improve my eclectic style i need to start asap, and if i want to sell in the mean time i might as well collage away.

away i go.