Taking stock, 6.30.14

Still playing around with abstract painting. This is my second attempt. More layers needed, though.

Taking stock on this last day of June. (The inspiration for this post comes from House of Humble- one of my favorite simple living blogs).

Making: abstract paintings and an embroidered, stuffed owl for Baby G.
Cooking: gluten free, dairy free
Drinking: lots of tea, less wine
Reading: blogs, blogs and more blogs
Wanting: to sell our house
Looking: forward
Playing: my Cat, Led, Van CD (Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin)
Deciding: to step up my game at work
Wishing: for a day when I won't struggle (financially)
Enjoying: watching the Mad Men seasons, with M., for the second time
Waiting: for the wisdom and courage to expand Olive and Ash
Liking: having restaurants in our backyard
Wondering: how to spiff up my barren patio
Loving: summer break
Pondering: ways to be a better teacher
Considering: ways to expand Olive and Ash
Hoping: for guidance and/or inspiration (see 'deciding', 'pondering', 'waiting', 'considering')
Coveting: simple living blogs
Helping: hmmm... not enough
Feeling: healthy and content
Hearing: our very noisy neighbors
Marveling: at Peanut and Baby G.
Needing: paint, new shoes
Following: simple living blogs, artists, healthy living blogs
Noticing: that my face is no longer swollen and itchy from a new face cream- yay!
Knowing: that my kids are doing well (is the best feeling in the world!)
Thinking: about taking a trip with M....someday
Admiring: successful makers, bloggers, artists, my kids
Smelling: oil paint
Wearing:  jeans, white t-shirt, earrings
Sorting: through our excess of "stuff"
Buying: too many things for two houses
Getting: excited for a little getaway with my kids
Bookmarking: gluten free recipes, small space decorating
Opening: endless amounts of moving/storage boxes
Giggling: hmmm... not enough
Snacking: on strawberries and blueberries

And there you have it. Stock has been taken! I wonder how my list would look on any other day? Any other month? Any other year? Interesting, I think. What would your list look like?

Have a great day!  Juli

P.S. I apologize for the failed link in my previous post. If you're interested, here it is :)

Inspiration, 6.21.14

Well, first of all, our big news for the week:

This little guy, Gray Jameson, was born! (But on here he will still be Baby G.) He is the sweetest thing, as you can imagine. How can I not be inspired by that sweet little face?!

Not that anything else compares with the birth of a new baby, I have been perusing around the internet during my few down times this week and have been inspired by a few other things.

I've been thinking a lot about how much stuff we've gotten rid of during this move- I've taken five full car loads of stuff to the resale shop and I've given away a futon, a sofa, a chair and ottoman, a wardrobe and a kitchen table. It seems like a lot and it is, but we still have so much more to get rid of. It feels great! So, in my perusing to find ways to decorate small spaces, I've been inspired by even tinier spaces. This townhouse is 1400 square feet, which isn't "tiny", but it's tiny compared to having a 1500 square foot house with an almost fully finished basement. So we've lost almost half of the living space we had before. Again, it feels great, but I think I can go even smaller. Not 300 square feet or less like some people have done (that's a little too extreme) but I could definitely live in less than 900 square feet (I've done it before in the house that I grew up in) like the house shown below.




More pictures and info can be found here.

Or even in 500 or so square feet, like this one (which I think I've shown here before):


 More pictures and info here

So, if I ever have a chance to build another home, it will be similar to one of these. I love them both :)

Although, it's going to be hard to get me out of this place! Here, it's not so much the home itself that I love, it's the convenience. It's easy to keep clean and it's close to everything (we actually have four decent restaurants, literally, in our back yard!). Perfect.

Okay, I've covered my family and home inspiration, so I'll leave you with some art inspiration. Have a great weekend!

 

 Painting by Andrés Kal. Love the choppy, layered paint application.

  

And, oil paintings by Karen Appleton found here. I really like unfinished paintings. Here, I like leaving some of the painting left as a drawing.

 

 

 

My painting space, 6.17.14

Imagine this- art on an art blog! haha! I know it's been a while, but things are settling down and I feel like I can finally start making some things and painting again now that I know where most of my supplies are. So, today I wanted to talk about my new painting space. This townhouse is pretty tiny, so I was wondering how it would work. But, surprisingly, it's working out better than any other painting space that I've had in the past. And that is mainly because of the light and using things that I already have that can do double duty.

So, this is the space when not in use. My old table top easel fits perfectly on my mom's old sewing machine table. Underneath, my paint box (a gift from my step-daughter a few years ago- I LOVE it!) sits on top of an old wine crate. The door to the right goes to the basement and I'm planning on putting some picture rails on the walls of the stairwell to store/dry finished paintings. To the right of that is Peanut's chalk board, hung at his level so he can draw on it any time.  The door to the far right  leads to the garage...

where I store my turpentine, extra rags, etc. when not in use.

Paintbrushes are stored under the easel.

And this is the space in use. The sewing machine table opens up to provide a space for my paint box, the paintbrushes are within easy reach when placed on the wine crate, two stools from the bar area (just behind this space) are pulled over to hold my palette and to sit on if needed. The Ott Lite ( a bargain found at Target- regular price $249 at Joannes, found for $45 at Target!) is pulled in from the garage when needed (if it's not a sunny day).

So, there you have it. Simple. Nothing fancy. Just using stuff that I already had. And it's very efficient.

So, my first painting of the summer is finished ( I haven't painted anything since last summer!). My goal is to experiment a little more, using the least amount of brushstrokes as possible, keeping things very loose and using thinner paint. And I have a few very abstract ideas in mind, which kind of freaks me out, but I'm just going to go for it and see what happens. The painting shown below will be listed in my Etsy shop as soon as it's dry. 

Have a great rest of the week. We are about 20 hours away from meeting Baby G., so we are pretty excited around here! 

Till next time-  Juli

Sunday Scenes, Father's Day- 6.15.14

This post will be dedicated to three of the most significant men in my life.

The first man of significance, of course,  is my dad. He was a pretty strict dad when my brother, sister and I were little. We didn't like it so much then, but we appreciate it so much now. We know now that his high expectations for us were what made us want to be better people. Being disciplined, cleaning up our messes, being respectful, being well-behaved and working hard were the big life lessons that we got from our dad. As he's gotten older, he has softened up quite a bit.  But even though he is a big softie, (he was caught the other day actually hugging his very pregnant grand daughters belly!) those high expectations are still there- for all of his kids and grand kids.

My dad and Eddie. Very proud grandpa!

One of my favorite pictures of me and my dad.

See what I mean? A big, ol' softie! Just squeezing into the chair with Little Man.

Ruben J is the father of my three children. Although he's gone now, I can see him and his influence in our kids every single day. Just like I told them last Father's Day and again today, he is still here- IN them. They have all inherited so many of his good qualities, that all they have to do is spend time together and they are with him. Very cool. And even though we were divorced, I know he was a good man and I always respected him as the father of our children and I miss him- every single day. So, I feel pretty blessed to be able to witness pieces of him, in them- every single day.

Visiting dad...

on Father's Day.

One of my favorite pictures of Ruben J (actually before he was a dad) and our kids.

And M. As I've mentioned here before, he is the steady, calm , unwavering presence in my life. He is a great listener and a man of few words. But the words that come out of his mouth are thoughtful and meaningful. And although we don't have kids together, I'm sure that he is, and was, all of those things, and more, to his own two kids.  And I know my kids respect him a great deal for those qualities. And M. is the one I get to be a grandparent with, so I will be able to witness, first hand, his influence on all of our grand kids. (Although I keep trying to explain to him that babies and toddlers don't really understand him being a "man of few words". They are just waiting for him to speak! We're working on that! )

And one of my favorite pictures of M. He loved getting that new tractor!

Great picture of M. after winning the Governor's Cup for his awesome wine, Valvin Muscat.

And one of the few pictures that we've had taken together over the years, taken a few weeks ago at my niece's wedding. Looking forward to many grand-parenting years with him :)

So, thank you and Happy Father's Day to all of the great dads out there! 

Monday Making, 6.9.14

A little making going on here, as we are feeling more and more settled. And we are on the official countdown to Baby G.! 9 days! Here are a couple of things I've been working on for him. Next is the crib quilt, which I'm starting today, so I'll have pictures for you throughout that process.  

These are the fabric pieces for the quilt. My job this afternoon is to cut them all down to 4" x 4" squares. I cheat and use an acrylic 4" x 4" inch ruler and a rotary cutter, so it really shouldn't take too long. Tomorrow I'll start sewing them all together. Thank goodness it's a crib quilt - finished size 52" x 28"!

And his banner is finished! I'll show you the entire piece after he gets here. I don't want to ruin the surprise of his official name until he's here and everyone knows. For now, all you get is G.!

 I'm also starting on another onesie. I've made this one before, but the thread color was too close to the onesie color and it didn't look so hot. So, I'll try again!

Not to put a downer spin on this post, but I'm going to leave you with some thoughts on grief. Family friends lost their young son last week and I know they have a long road of grieving ahead of them. So, if anyone reading this is having to deal with grief (which, it seems like every time we turn around lately, someone else is), these words are really good to hear (or read).

"Wounds of the spirit... are most gently soothed and made whole by the passing years. Under the old scars flows again the calm, healthful tide of life.... Under a great loss the heart impetuously cries that it can never be happy again, and perhaps in its desperation says that it wishes never to be comforted. But though angels do not fly down to open the grave and restore the lost, the days and months come as angels with healing in their wings. Under their touch aching regret passes into tender memory; into hands that were empty new joys are softly pressed; and the heart that was like the trees stripped of its leaves and beaten by winter's tempests is clothed again with the green of spring." ~George S. Merriam


I found this quote when I was searching for anything that would make sense of what I was feeling and what my kids were feeling after the loss of their dad. And, since 2 1/2 years have passed, I have to say that these words are true. So, I'm putting it out there hoping that someone else may get some comfort from it.

Have a great day!  Juli

Sunday Scenes on Monday, 6.2.14

Oh, my! What a day. Nothing earth shattering, just busy, busy, busy- followed by an unexpected aggravation. Two things I've learned over the past few years- 1.) Write a will (and be VERY specific in it) and 2.) Tie up loose ends as soon as possible because if you procrastinate it may become someone else's problem when you're gone. Okay, that's my rant for the day! Now on to my day-late Sunday Scenes :)

Yesterday was perfect winery weather. I guess other people didn't think so, though. It was surprisingly slow :(

Getting just a little bit of decorating done. I decided not to put the tv above the "fireplace" (it's fake!) as it fits perfectly on the dresser I refinished last summer. The curtains softened everything up a little. More mirrors will eventually be propped on the "mantle". (Is the mantle also fake if it's over a fake fireplace??!) And the photo directly above shows what will soon be my painting corner. Three good sized windows directly across from the easel will be perfect. I'm am now officially easel shopping again:)

And making for Baby G. has officially begun. Yay!

 

What really made my weekend was lots of Peanut time. Here we are testing out the camera on my new phone. He doesn't look too impressed, does he? 

Well, that's it. Nothing too exciting going on around here. School will be out in 3 more days, so hopefully, after that, you'll see a lot more art making here :)


I'll leave you with this quote, which has nothing to do with my Sunday Scenes, but what the heck, I love it so I thought I'd share. It's by Maya Angelou, who passed away this past week:

 I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, 

life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. 

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person 
by the way he/she handles these three things: 

a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. 

I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, 

you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. 

I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” 

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. 

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. 

I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, 

I usually make the right decision. 

I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. 

I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. 

People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. 

I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. 

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, 

but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

*quote  found here (one of my favorite blogs) 

Have a great week!  Juli