Nest

Robin's nest, drawn in graphite and charcoal, finished in photoshop. I'm still thinking about how best to offer this image in my shop.

When I first imagined creating this blog almost a year ago now I had the idea that I would use this space as a kind of art diary, a place to share weekly drawings, preview art that I hoped to sell in my shop and maybe meet new friends along the way. It's been an incredibly good year of learning for me in many ways but how differently my little blog has turned out!  

 

What happened to the art? Well, life happened, the details of a busy life with its many daily facets.  I have learned so much in these last months about things I had never given any thought to before ... like, how to blog, how to set up an  online shop, the importance of a good photograph when selling something online, what branding is, some of the ways to promote your work, and , most importantly of all, how vital it is to set aside time each day to actually DO your art !
                                  

Well, just so you know, I'm working on it. :)

  

Remembering the Green

It hasn't been long since the forest floor looked like this, with an obvious absence of the white stuff called snow that now covers everything.

Seeing all the beautiful green moss on that day suddenly reminded me of a terrarium I'd made years ago when I was living in a college dormitory my freshman year. My little terrarium was a low budget  operation, made with found items and plants gathered from the surrounding woods, but it was beautiful in its way. The plants lived and flourished all through that cold winter and even longer if my memory serves me.

So, skipping ahead a few years (ahem) to the fall day in the picture here, I decided then and there to make another terrarium and gathered some moss, lichens, wintergreen and partridge berry. Here is what came to be!

 

 

 There are many types of terrariums and they can be made quite easily if you would like to make one. There are lots of sources online for instructions and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any.  Try this out, you might be surprised at what good medicine lifting that lid can be for someone who is already beginning to long for springtime. 

        

Winter Happy

Remember the amaryllis bulb I started back in December? Well...

 

The day of the first bloom has arrived. Is it possible to be in love with a flower? I am definitely smitten, big time.

dining out...walking...home again

It's been a nice first week of January, no complaints. We have managed to make it this far into the depths of winter without any snow to speak of, which I like, and even better, temperatures have been mild in comparison to other years. 
I've been sticking pretty close to home these past two weeks so it was quite exciting when our daughter, Alex, called to invite us to lunch at Long Grain, a favorite local restaurant. Six for lunch and everything was superb, only wish that I had remembered to get a picture of my ramen bowl before it disappeared! Such a nice afternoon it was!

This time of year always finds me making to-do lists and visiting the library more than usual for inspiring reading material. I've been getting some new ideas about how to make exercising a bit more fun and varied in this book and like one of the suggestions for winter walking. The idea involves an occasional visit to the local shopping mall for indoor walking on the coldest of days. The only problem, in my case, is that the closest mall is over an hour and a half away, ah well.

I bundled up this afternoon and headed out to our neighborhood for a walk. Instead of mall shoppers I ran into quite a different sort of throng, you can begin to see them on the crest of the hill in the above picture.

Wild Turkeys!

 I don't think that they were as happy to see me as I was to see them!

In moments they had all disappeared into the woods and I was left alone in a silent field.

I love these little adventures but it's always good to return home afterwards.

Home again!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day 2012 dawned beautifully sunny. These are the narcissus and amaryllis bulbs I started on December 16th. The first blossom is almost ready to open.

Always worth the effort, I love watching them grow as much as I do the flowers that eventually bloom bright and beautiful.

Christmas has passed but we will enjoy the tree and other decorations for another week or two. I don't want things to get back to normal quite yet.

May you all have a peaceful and happy new year!