The Summer of Color - Baseball Nut

Those who follow here regularly or are friends of mine elsewhere on this magical interwebs know that I've had a stressful week. It's felt like an eternity wrapped up in just a few shorts days and I'd be lying if I said I was displeased to see the backside of it. (if you missed my update on my niece, please see my previous post here.)

While I was happy to see my family for the brief time I spent in NJ, I wish it had been under better circumstances and that I didn't now feel like my little world has gone cock-eyed in my absence. In an attempt to get it back on keel I broke open my sketchbook and worked on a face for the summer of color. The ice cream flavor? Baseball Nut. I call this freckled lady Ginger Bee.

She's done up in micron pen and prismacolor pencils. Honestly, I liked her better when she was just a pencil sketch, before I added color. I don't really like the look of the cartoonish lines when I draw faces, so I'm not really sure why I did that. I suppose this is what sketching is for though; to practice and find out what does and doesn't work for us.

An Update on Khloe

Safe and sound back home with aunt Danni.

I'm back in Sc after a whirlwind few days and happy to report that for now, Khloe is right as rain. The doctors believe that she had a seizure induced by a rapid spike in her temperature caused by an ear infection. I had no idea that could happen to babies - that's really scary. They are testing her further just to rule out any possible neurological issues like epilepsy.

For now though, my family and I are monumentally relieved and I'm home playing catch up after what has been a tremendously stressful and harried week. BIG starts tomorrow and I haven't yet managed to get my space set up, but I think I can muddle through until I get there. I'm also behind on the summer of color which I plan to work on this afternoon. I have blog parties to announce and prepare for, laundry glaring at me, a garden that's wilting in this heat and a house that's less than clean.

Oh yes, and sleep. I need to catch up on that too.

Thank you everyone, for your thoughts and prayers and good wishes. Usually I'm not a crier, but reading through your responses on breaks as we traveled made the tears come on more than once. It's a tremendous thing, nearly overwhelming, to know that I have so much love and such a community of sisters, friends and kindred spirits at my back.

Thank you. xo

P.S. I went to the farmer's market this morning and having laid my eyes on these, just had to buy myself a gift. They're sitting in a large leaded glass victorian vase a friend gifted me and making me grin:

I'm not typically a 'girly girl' but flowers get me, every time.

Praying and Driving

This morning I woke up with a bad feeling in my gut. I immediately call my love and everything's good with him. I call out of work to go see the doctor over this cough I've had and turns out I have bronchitis. I assume that's the bad tummy knots.

As I'm waiting in line to get my meds my sister messages me - My niece Khloe is being rushed to the hospital. She's convulsing and barely breathing. I lose my shit in the drugstore parking lot, I call my mom sobbing and tell her to find out what is going on. I don't ask. I demand. I breath and keep from having a full on anxiety attack and drive home.

I know why my stomach was so vicious and angry this morning. I wait for a phone call. I call my brother. I wait.

Right now, this beautiful 15 month old is in the icu.

She's hooked up to an assortment of gadgets. She's unable to focus on the lights the doctors shine on her and breathing shallow. She's still twitching and they have no answers but they aren't liking what they see.

They're preparing to transfer her to another hospital to see a neurologist. I am about to get in the car with my brother to drive the 12 hours home to be with them, this is not an option. I need to be there.

I've petitioned Artemis and the Morrigan for Khloe. I beg Hermes, who I've always been close to, to clear the roadways and help me travel swift and safe. Dear Gods, hear your servant and help her now - by blood and flame, by bone and stone. I really, really need you.

Please pray, send juju or whatever you do for her. I will update when I am able.

The First Harvest

It is as if, after Midsummer, the garden is springing to life. Earlier in the week there was not a thing ready to be picked but today there was an abundance of peas and green beans, a teeny tomato and a surprise zucchini who appeared seemingly out of nowhere!

By some miracle, the weeds amongst the plants have stayed at a minimum and an hour or so of plucking this week will keep anything from strangling my vegetables or inviting in the veggie killing bugs.

I wish I could say my sunflowers were doing as well, but alas they are not. They've grown as tall as last year and have started to bud but more than half of them have fallen over at the center and cracked, laying broken and dying in their row. I haven't found any insects so I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's bumming me out.

Midsummer

The longest day, the beginning of summer. A time to harvest herbs, soak up some sun and rejoice in the warmth and the light of this side of the wheel. The Lord and lady peak, all of nature is stirring, things are growing and (hopefully) abundant.

The Oak king is slain, yielding dominion to his brother Holly. The king is dead, long live the king!

After the sun sets, the fae come out to play - this is a sabbat of fairy magic and mischief. Leave your offerings and gifts to the little people in their favorite spot and spend some time dancing with the fireflies. Revel in this dog day of summer, for it only gets darker from here.

Offerings to the fae, nestled in among mums and roses.


Painting outside in the afternoon, soaking up the sun.

May you all have a merry, fairy kissed, Midsummer. May your summer yield fiery passions and abundance aplenty.

The Summer of Color - Mint Chocolate Chip

I've been slinging paint and cranking out all sorts of things in my time home over the past week. Between working on the first assignment for Total Alignment over at Dirty Footprints Studio, working with oil pastels in my art journal, going to a beer festival at the zoo and staying out way too late with a new friend, I got a late start on my piece for this week's Summer of Color prompt.

Luckily, the little guy who jumped up and said 'Me, me, paint me!' was incredibly cooperative and more cuddly than you'd expect from someone of his species. So let me introduce you to the Mint Yeti:

This furry fellow is painted on 8x10 stretched canvas with acrylics. We know there's not much brown aside from his eyes, so we hope you'll let the warm gray pass for the chips part of the ice cream inspiration.

I had some "help" with this project this week too. You see the tube of gray paint rolled off my table and I didn't notice it at first. Little Luna was kind enough to fetch it back for me:

Luna's idea of 'helping'.

Gray patches of evidence.

Someone is pleased with herself, gray patches and all! Those spots on her arm and shoulder are not normally there...

Rain Dance

It's been raining here for days. On and off the showers roll through, sometimes accompanied by lightning, sometimes by thunder. Occasionally there is sunlight in the tree tops as the greenish gray darkness of the storm lingers close to the Earth. It comes in small drizzles and in fierce downpours, flooding the streets and walkways.

To many this sort of thing is gloomy, depressing but not to me. The rain affords me time; to dance, to relax and to create. For some reason, spending time inside on a sunny day feels akin to the worst kind of sin to me. If I'm not pulling weeds, trimming hedges, tending crops or generally out and about, I feel like my day is being wasted - no matter how ludicrously hot or muggy it is. Hot and muggy means I don't pull my paints or oil pastels outside to work, even in the shade, I've had both melt on me in the past. And so, as I sip my coffee with a puppy at my feet and a kitty on my lap, I watch the rain bouncing off of robins' wings and roses' petals and I bring out my art journal and don't think. I let my fingers and heart lead, mind distracted by the pitter patters, purrs and warmth around me.

Outside, the rain gives life to the seedlings shooting up in the vegetable garden. And while it does that, it also gives life back to me. As the rain falls around me and on me, I enjoy each chilly drop. I twirl in the grass, barefoot with my skirt flying out; I toss my head back and I laugh. No worries, no cares. Just myself and the rain (and sometimes Luna, too.) Glorious greys and beautiful smokey blues paint the sky and I feel light and free. As the water soaks through my clothing and drips down my skin I feel connected, truly, to Earth and Sky. It is a moment of pure magic, the sort that is lost in the hustle and bustle and dull lifeless grey of a hurried world. The sort of magical moment we could all stand to recapture and savor.

The Summer of Color - Rainbow Sherbert

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm taking part in The Summer of Color party over at Kristin's blog - Twinkle, Twinkle. The prompt for week one was one of my favorite sweet colorful summer treats, rainbow sherbert! Looking at her inspiration photo I immediately thought of the sunset and bright bold zinnias at the local plant nursery. I sat down to sketch and in a surprisingly short period of time had whipped up a wee friend for this week. Here she is, Miss Zinnia:

She's done up in watercolors and measures in at 4x6". This was my first go at a proper sunset as well as those big poofy flowers and overall, I'm very pleased with her.

Are any of you playing along?

Work In Progress Wednesday: Birds and Fearless Painting

My newest journal page, sketches of a few common birds in my yard. The right side has been colored, while the left is still waiting on that.

More often than not these days, I find myself looking at my brushes and paints and sighing. When I crack open my journal or a stark piece of crisp new paper, I freeze up and feel uninspired. Do I think this is just burn out? Possibly, but it doesn't really feel like it. It's a stifling sort of feeling where my brain goes 'what to draw... what to draw...' and coming up with nothing at all that tickles its fancy, shuts off.

Somewhere over the course of the past ten years, I became a perfectionist when it comes to my artwork. Doodling? I don't do that. If it isn't something that I can envision clearly finished in my head, I have a hard time even starting. The process of creating has gotten sort of lost and I focus a lot more on the finished product. You'll find it not only in the lack of sketches in my 'sketchbook' but also in the pages of my art journal. These days it's not a haven for experimentation and randomness, it's become a sort of scrapbook or a pictoral phone conversation; if I don't have something of interest to report I don't bother.

I've become uptight about creating, I treat it almost like a chore that I need to make time to do. Sometimes, and this pains me to say, I feel guilty for leaving the dishes or the laundry to go paint or work in my journal. Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, there's no outside reason for this... in fact the dude is so supportive of my art that he's constantly bugging me to go make a mess, to quit my day job and chase my dream of being a paint covered house wife. The simple fact of the matter is, I'm not very kind to myself and I have some issues to work out when it comes to how I view the way I spend time - as in, I need to realize that if it makes me happy it's worth doing. Last night I read a blog post that bitch slapped me, it was as if my 20 year old self walked into the room and knocked my head on straight. It set off the light in my brain that made me realize that not only have I been feeling guilty like some crazy person, I've also become nearly incapable of relaxing - in general, but very much so with my art.

And so, I'm going to do something about it. I signed up for:

And I'm going to share it here with all of you, with my family and friends, with my amazingly awesome husband so I have some accountability and won't chicken out - because in all honesty guys, I have a bad habit of backing out of things that scare me. And this scares the control freak in me, a lot. It scares the part of me that doesn't allow me to fully meditate, to let go and just let things happen, the blockade on my path. And I'm hoping that doing this will allow me to tear that bitch down, brick by brick and put me on the path of all around fearlessness. But even if it just starts with the art, baby steps are still steps forward.


P.S. I'm also getting my creative toes wet over at Twinkle, Twinkle with the Summer of Color 2: Ice Cream Inspirations project. You can check that out by clicking on the image in my sidebar, it's free and promises to be fun!

P.P.S. Part of this adventure is going to involve a destash of a lot of some supplies. Part of the process of letting go for me, means physically letting go of supplies I don't need/want or won't ever use. Once I go through stuff, I may have an 'internet garage sale' here on the blog. If anyone's interested in some crafty stuff for cheap, let me know. :)