Adventure Girls, part one.

A few weekends ago I went on my first hike in three whole years with a lovely group of moms I met this year through my kiddos co-op preschool. Back in May during a meeting it came up that many of us were wanting to bust out and have more adventures - so we scheduled this hike to Wallace Falls.

It was a wonderful time, and I think our voices got as much of a workout as our legs did on this beautiful trail - we chatted the entire 5.5 miles. The falls were roaring and provided a lovely mist that cooled us and turned my hair into a wild, unruly mess (yikes). We ate some junk food (ok and a lot of healthy stuff), took lots of water breaks, and enjoyed just being "alone" in the wilderness - well, without kids anyway. By the time we were done we were sweaty, a little muddy, and thoroughly relaxed. I felt like I was 100 miles away.

The day ended with a trip to an awesome diner, The Hitching Post Cafe where we ate huge sandwiches, told funny stories, and shared a few slices of pie under a mural of a cartoon cowboy and a flying seagull with a belly button. Yep.

I loved getting out in the woods and leaning more about these amazing ladies. It was a perfect day.

Favorite Things Friday!

Happy Friday, readers. The sun is out in my town and I am finding that yesterday's Funk is lifting. Thank goodness. And thanks for the sweet comments yesterday, they all really helped.

Here are a few favorite things from this week.

1. The SUN - captured here on an awesome Alexander Girard Tee from House industries. 
2. Star shaped sunglasses, just like Bootsy Collins! I'm totally getting these for my next funk.
3. Pre de Provence soaps. Bought a small bar of the pomegranate, and it totally cheered me up. 
4. Kid Made Modern by Todd Oldham. Giving this to my girl as a b-day gift tomorrow! Can't wait to make the Girard heads out of wooden spoons.
5. Art Supplies. How excited am I that my kid wants her own art supplies? Very. I shopped at Discount School Supply and was so happy with everything I bought. Totally addictive site - beware!
6. Cupcakes, of which I will be stuffing my face with tomorrow!

Have a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Give Up the Funk

Ugh. Today is one of those days. I totally have THE FUNK, and probably not in the way this Parliment song is describing. Luckily I don't have it too often - but sometimes a big old case of The Funk lands right on my head - leaving me in a grumpy fog. The past few days have been this way. I really have nothing NOTHING to be feeling this way about, but there it is. 

I just can't seem to find my enthusiasm. If you've seen it hanging out somewhere, please let me know. In the meantime, I'm going to get some sunglasses with star shaped lenses.

What do you do to Give Up The Funk?

New Print: Generations

Finally! A new limited edition, 18 x 24 giclee print in my shop, titled "Generations". 

This one has been a long time in the making, and I'm so happy to finally see it on paper! The idea sprang from a photo that my step-dad took of my grandma (96 years young!) my mom, myself and my little girl when she was about 3 months old. In the photo our heads are all very close and after looking at it many times, this image popped into my head. Four generations of people stacked kind of like an ice cream cone (yes, it really does all come back to food for me, doesn't it).

At first, I created it using shapes on the computer but it just never felt 'done' to me. So it sat on ye olde hard drive for many months. Then my arty breakthrough happened and I redrew the entire thing by hand, scanned the pieces back into the computer and played around. The flowers were very exciting to work on as well - allowing myself to get lost in some fun little details. I really love the result and hope you will too!

The fine print:
Generations is an 18 x 24 inch giclee (pronounced zhee-klay) print. Limited, signed edition of 50. Professionally printed in the US of A, on Legion Entrada Rag Bright 290 (a fine art, 100% cotton paper) and with Vivera Archival Inks, giving it an archival rating of 150 years. It will fit easily into any 18 x 24 inch frame (not included) but I like the Ribba frames at Ikea, or the frames sold at Aaron Brothers.

moving on, maybe

Sorry about going missing there for a few days, folks. It seems I kind of over scheduled myself last week and I was running to and fro like a mad-lady.

Things are going well for the most part, but a few conversations of late have me thinking I may be moving out of my studio space in the near-ish future. I am having mixed feelings about it really. On the down side it would mean working from home for the next year - not all bad, but man, there is really something to just getting the heck out of my house. And I'd likely be working in a dark corner of my basement or in a modified closet. Not the most glamorous.

On the super-excited side we plan on building something like the studio above in a sort of forest area of our yard. Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about it. It would mean waiting a year, and saving up what I spend on one year's rent to build it - but I am really beginning to think it is totally, 100% worth it. 

The MD100  was designed by Edgar Blazona, and was featured in ReadyMade magazine a few years ago. You can find the plans here. 

Hello.

Hi readers. I'm just having one of those days today. Spilled coffee on my only clean shirt, found out a project I've been working on got killed Anne Boleyn style, realized that most of my clean socks have holes in them, and other stuff like that. Nothing that is going to break me - but it has me feeling a bit glazed. I was having the nicest dream about being in Paris this morning. I think I should have stayed asleep.

So yeah, no Wall Wednesday today. Instead you get a random doodle I grabbed out of a pile and some grumpy grumbling on the side.

Better things on the horizon tomorrow - a new print, and hopefully I'll tackle that laundry pile that is looking like it might consume my house.

Mr. Rogers (remixed)

Happy Friday everyone and thanks for checking in over here this week!

I heard this song onthe radio the other day, it felt summer-ish and totally reminded me of my love for Fred Rogers (RIP). I wonder what he would have thought of this song. I think he would have rocked it, in his Keds - don't you?

See you next week, friends - happy weekend.

Studio Times

I took this photo at my studio the other day. I love this little window and all the angles of the wall. And yes, those walls are still white and will stay that way for a long time. I've set a new goal to get the space all decorated by August 1, my one year anniversary of being in this space. It really doesn't need much - just a little time set aside to actually paint and install flooring, etc.

I've been working in sort of an 'emergency' mode - missing a bunch of days due to family illness and then working super hard to catch up. So naturally studio decor is kinda last on my list. But I do want it to feel welcoming when I open the door - not so much like a plain white box. 

Here's a shot of my desk, and something I was working on the other day. I'm working on letting go a bit with my style and content - trying not to think too hard about what I think will sell, and focusing a bit more on just letting stuff flow. We'll see what comes of it!

I'm still really enjoying busting out the traditional media - pens, pencils, paint. It feels good to get my hands dirty again.

Etsy Wall Wednesday #8: Orange

Red Tulip Fields $40 3" x 7"  { Original Oil Painting by Erin Spencer }

Dancing Elves  $35  8.5" x 11"  { Limited Edition Print by Matte Stephens }

Kooky Birds $19  8" x 10" { Fine Art Archival Print  by PetitReve }

My Place $20  8.5" x 11"  { Fine art Print by Shira }

I love the color orange. It is not an inherited love, because my grandma actually hates the color and has confessed to once removing all of the orange crayons from her kid's crayon boxes. For real! Anyhow, orange love must skip a generation because I can't get enough. 

Here are four loverly Etsy finds for a long, long, long overdue Wall Wednesday that I found by typing "orange" into the search box in the Art category on Etsy. I bought Kooky Birds a few months ago and love it - it is hanging on my great wall of Etsy in my house.  Please check out these and all the other wonderful artists on Etsy and join me in declaring "No More Boring Walls" in your home!