Holly jolly?

Grandma Kathleen will be coming to stay for a bit as her house undergoes deconstruction. I'm trying to tidy up a bit, but it looks like it's been months since I've tidied up... The worst is the mail that piles up, much of it unread. Seriously. Just like in my little picture here. It's a problem. (But drawing the little picture is FUN!)

The Christmas decor is going ever so slowly this year - not sure what's up with that. The box of ornaments is sitting here, ornaments still snugly inside, and kitty Charlene perched cozily on top of that. The girls aren't even urging me to get on with it. S T R A N G E . . .

I am busy making presents for the nieces and nephews, though - YAY!

One World One Heart 2010 will be coming up soon (January 25th)! For anyone who hasn't participated before, this is a great way to connect with many other bloggers. All the bloggers think up something to give away, and then you sign up at their post for a chance to win. In the meantime, you get to see so many wonderful blogs and make new friends around the world.

Hmmm, what should I give away this year? I'll think about it and post it later! I hope you'll consider participating, too!

All the details regarding the 2010 event can be found here: http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/one-world-one-heart.html

In progress: journal page

The thing I love about working and reworking a piece is that it can start out so normal and boring, but as you push it, it becomes something else.

When I was an art student I was afraid of painting classes. After all, if I couldn't draw, most likely I couldn't paint, either. But I guess I was required to take one or two painting classes. One of my teachers said I drew in a very painterly way. Another said I painted in a very - drawerly? - way. He wanted me to let go, let loose and let the paint be free. Whee! I never did get there back then, I just stopped painting.

But this little journal page looks painterly, to me, which I guess means that you can sense the paint - texture and brush stroke. I like that. Maybe I will try to paint some more.

Reading the signs

Ever have one of those mornings? I had two events to go to today, but early in the a.m. my little corner of the world was icy and slippery, and I am not a good ice driver. So, hmmm... how to get to Crafty Wonderland this morning? I could take the MAX, no problem. But then I wouldn't be able to get to my afternoon gathering without being very late. Delay, hesitation. Another delay. By the time I start heading for the MAX I notice the roads aren't so bad, so back home I go to get the car and then I'll be able to go to the afternoon thing, too. Had to go back into the house for something, then back out to get in the car - oops. I just locked myself out of the house. Luckily I have my cell phone and my car key so I can call Willow and ask to borrow her house key. I drive over to her dad's apartment with the full intention of heading on over to Crafty Wonderland after I get the key. Thanks, Willow. I'll give it back to you tomorrow. Bye. What the...? I have a flat tire? Are you kidding me? Ugh, I don't want to put the spare on here. OH! I'll just drive the half block to the gas station and put air in it. What's going on at the gas station? Oh my gosh! It's closed and they're digging up the old holding tanks. Well, the tire shop isn't very far. (I drive carefully on my low tire.) Great - of course, the tire shop is closed. Does this gas station have air hoses? No? I crawl back home (across the street and down the lane - you see, I do actually know that I'm not supposed to drive on a flat tire). Ok, ok ok - I get it! It's a sign!

LULU, THIS IS GOD/YOUR HIGHER POWER (and the divinity within - or at the very least, your intuition) SPEAKING: STAY HOME!

Whatever it is that sends these messages, I've got to start learning to hear them and take heed.

But now I want to know why - why am I supposed to stay home today? I feel like I'm supposed to figure something out - my direction. Where am I heading with my art? I don't think I'm supposed to do production work. I did that before and it was boring for me. But I want to be able to do art full time, and that means it needs to support me and my kids, so...

SO HELLO, GOD! I AM TRYING REALLY HARD TO HEAR YOU. How do I do this? What exactly is it that I'm supposed to do? I know that this is what we in education call disequilibrium - that difficult moment when we think we can't figure it out, but we push on and try different solutions and then we have a breakthrough - but I'm impatient and often thick-headed when the solution presents itself, so PLEASE, smack me in the face with the answers so there will be no doubt. I DO need your help.

Thank you.
Lulu

The Nutcracker

In honor of Willow's dance school doing its annual production of The Nutcracker Suite, I played with some collage and paints, then added some shiny stamping, et voilà! The Nutcracker and the Rat King, previously seen here in their unfinished state, are finished at last! I've posted them in my Etsy shop - my first paintings to go in there!

I have to say they were a lot of fun to create, and they've given me a taste of what it would be like to be an illustrator - one of my fantasy jobs. I really enjoyed doing the hand-lettering, too - something I used to do a lot of in the past.

A c-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-l-d wind is blowing today, but it's sunny, so I decided I'd better get the holiday lights put up outside. I do love turning on those lights when it gets dark so early in winter. Time for some warm cocoa and thawing my toes in front of the fire. Happy Sunday!

xoxo lulu

Getting in the Spirit

'Tis the beginning of the Season...

My college girl Miss Em is home for the holidays, all the way through New Year's. It's such a joy to have her home and be caught in her whirlwind of activity!

Thanksgiving was warm and wonderful this year, spent at my sister's beautiful home, enjoying the family with lots of chatter and laughter. The celebration included lots of birthdays for all the fall babies, including my Willow bean. Seventeen! I can't stop thinking of the song Leisel sings in the Sound of Music: "I am sixteen, going on seventeen..." So grown up. She's been busy practicing her part for the Nutcracker next weekend. We look forward to that.

Projects of my own: these little peeks are a set of ornaments I'm making for an artist ornament exchange. I think I'll make a few extra to send to some special people, including Barbara Babcock. She's an Artfest gal - I think I actually met her my first year and did a trade with her - a wonderful artist and a spunky gal. I just learned tonight that she's been in a terrible accident and was severely burned - 3rd and 4th degree burns! Her sister put a call out for people to send cards. I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great to send the word out through our blogs to help cheer up one of our art sisters during her recovery? If you'd feel so inclined, please send her some mail art or something jolly to make her smile and brighten her spirit. Her p.o. box is: Barbara Babcock, HC 62, Box 3868, Thoreau, NM 87323.

Addendum: I checked with her sister and she says it's ok to post this, so pass it on to other bloggers, too, to help spread the good cheer during a difficult time!

the winds of change?

Gale force winds shivered our timbers last night. Deck furniture blew to the left, blew to the right, crashing against the walls, but every time I ran downstairs to look, everything was calmly sitting in its place. Or so I thought.

I stayed up much later than I expected to, not actually making anything, but holding and looking, joining things in my imagination, seeing what they could become. Finally at 11:41 I drifted off to sleep to the stormy sounds of the wind and rain.

I was awakened once again just as I had entered the sweetness of REM time. Was I dreaming about water? Plop, plop, plop. Not only was the roof leaking, but it had decided to let loose directly over my head, and the rust colored water splattered onto my pillow. I ran to get the big spaghetti pot, ping, ping, ping, then I dragged my blanket and pillow (the dry one) off to Emily's room, burrowed deep down under cover like a Peter Cottontail.

I was awakened yet again at 4:00 a.m. by an insistent pounding on the door or the front window. It sounded like the ghost of boyfriend past, impatient and demanding. Was it him? Or some neighbor come to tell me that my chimney had flown into his patio. My heart echoed the pounding downstairs, but I waited, frightened. By the time I dared to creep downstairs, whoever or whatever it was, had gone away.

By morning the leak over my bed was slowing down, but the one coming through the light fixture was picking up speed. I phoned in my absence due to emergency, called up the condo management company, and waited for a roofer to call me back. While taking Shoobie for her morning constitutional, I saw what had been making all that noise the night before: a wide swath of my roof had been busy prying itself off the top of the building during all that wind. It now lay defeated and worn out across my garden bed.

Despite the damp dormitory and the lack of sleep, I was in a strangely good mood. I thought of my inheritance from Great Grandma Farrell - a framed, hand-lettered quotation she had hanging on her dining room wall:

Guest, you are welcome,

be at your ease.

Get up when you're ready,

go to bed when you please.

Happy to share with you

such as we've got -

the leak in the roof

and the soup in the pot...

Ah, yes, I thought, I should make soup and invite some friends over! There's just something about this episode happening now, in conjunction with the other recent events, that makes me wonder. Time to get rid of some of the tired, worn out parts of my life that no longer serve, and move on to the new! (It's all a sign!)

And now~ Excerpts from this week's horoscope from Astrology.com (that I just read):
November 16: New Moon in Scorpio
What is your passion? Is there something you want so badly that you feel like if it doesn’t come true you will have missed out on something important? Few signs are as intense, driven and powerful as Scorpio; now is your chance to put everything you’ve got into furthering your goals and dreams. This is a time of new beginnings. But to get what you want, you need to let go of whatever is not working and anything that has outlived its usefulness whether that is an attitude or a life situation that no longer fits who you are today. Invest now in something you want to grow and become more important in your life. At the full Moon later this month, you’ll have a chance to stand back and take a look at what you’ve accomplished!

November 21: Sun enters Sagittarius
You’ll feel restless as the Sun travels though this nomadic fire sign! Use the energy and enthusiasm of Sagittarius to break out of old routines. And since you are likely to be in a questioning mode as The Archer is known for being quite philosophical, ask yourself some of the bigger questions about the meaning of life and what your purpose in it is all about. You will receive some interesting answers. It’s time to be inspired –- and inspiring!

How's that for some cosmic synchronicity? (God is working in mysterious ways...)
: ) lulu