Nine

On Thursday we had a playdate for Annie's birthday.
The theme was our solar system. She made this banner.

We made a pinata of the sun with solar flares. I baked a chicken, a cheesecake and made a big salad. Everything turned out well.

Plus we made cake toppers out of fimo of the planets, plus the dwarf planet Pluto.

Megan, Mathias, Asher and Lissy were there.
Plus Paul, Deanne, Mary and Danai.

Annie and I made brooches and hid them in the pinata for each kid. We made trap doors in the pinata because Annie doesn't like the idea of batting something.

Potholders for Pat

We've scaled back media in this house to the bare minimum, so the amount of handiwork output by Annie has skyrocketed. I hope to post some of the wonderfulness soon.

Is It Over?

Here is a re-cap of the new living room wall finish and our love altar, as Annie calls it. I'm not calling the paint treatment a mural, since it is supposed to look like wallpaper. Annie did her share of paint application and I thank her for her labor and the companionship. I still want to put a light wash over the whole thing. I'm adding that to my long list of things to do.
I know that these blog breaks of mine seems to be growing in length and breadth. Am I still a blogger? I don't know. It feels hard to give up, and yet, so much of my energy seems to be going into the *live* version of things, rather than the re-caps.
I would like to keep up my blog for StudioTime. So much fun and great work is happening each week, by wonderful and imaginative students.

Happy Valentines Day

“Love is the ultimate outlaw.

It just won't adhere to any rules.

The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice..."

-Tom Robbins

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo.

I'm working on my dining room mural again and looking around at images of birds flying in the sky so that I can add a lovely flock of blackbirds to the landscape.

I thought this was charming!

Hello!

It's amazing to me how a simple blog post feels almost impossible when life pulls me in other directions. It's hard to type, hard to sit in this chair, and hard to think of anything I want to share. My camera's full, and my life even fuller, and yet I'm not moved to download either.

Maybe it's the studio? I've spent a lot of time in here since last Summer. I've been pouring everything I've got into creating a great space and wonderful projects for StudioTime. I feel excited and satisfied about that!

Now I'm focusing on my own personal, slightly neglected life, and my own creative expression. Away from the studio. I'm taking time to take care of some of the things I've been putting off. I've been so active and happy! Just to name a few things;

-I've been working on (and just about finished with) another mural. I'm aching to to do the final push on my dining room mural.

-From top to bottom I've purged my house. Every closet, drawer, shelf, nook and cranny has been purged, Goodwilled, recycled, Freecycled, or thrown. Ahhh! Even the car got an interior detail (by moi), fresh tires, new wiper blades and I even replaced a few fuses that were blown. Impressed?

-I got to the bottom of my in-box. I'm caught up on all correspondence and thank-you's, paid bills, and sent back any returns.

-I made dear Annie, Harpo, and dear Lucy matching outfits with the colorful sweatshirt fabric you see above on the beautiful Harpo.

-Now Bill and I are on our way to the Big Sur coast to revel in the winter weather for a long, long weekend. We have Scrabble, wool slippers, our favorite books and each other.

-Life is so sweet.