Plants bathing and something about All That Katy Did'

The plants were in need of a good bath-

Lucy and I have taken up Susan Coolidges' All That Katy Did, as our bedtime reading.

" Well, there's the lesson of Patience. That's one of the hardest studies. You can't learn much of it at a time, but every bit you get by heart, makes the next bit easier. And there's the lesson of Cheerfulness. And the lesson of Making the Best of Things."

Sometimes I think that every generation keeps rephrasing things, maybe using a different vocabulary, but the essence remains always the same.
And in a sense it is only fair that it should be so , is it not?
I really thought that the book would be rather old-fashioned and difficult for Lucy to understand but I was wrong. She really is enjoying it. So am I.
Hugs.

Bittersweet- paintings

This one started in the spring. It has an unbelievable amount of layers of acrylic paint on it.
Thankfully it is a small painting ! The truth is I am absolutely enamoured with the thick layering and the resulting creamy texture. I missed that with all the years of paitning watercolors.

She is feeling a bit bittersweet, but I wouldn't worry about her. She has learned to get the most pleasure out of the smallest things in her life, so she will be fine afterall...

I took Lucy today to my dear friend Krystina who offered to teach her how to crochet. The result of this was that I can't keep my hands from my hook and yarn ,and Lucy was at it until after ten when her dad scolded her and turned off the light in her room.

This weekend we will be under the spell of yarn yum! yea..!!!

Before...

And then...it was zuchini bread (with parmesan...) Dimitri thinks we should add some feta cheese next time too. Its absolutely delicious and satisfying.
And then... there was a completed little painting. I have to say I am delighted!

So when is a painting resolved? I worked with this image fifteen years ago but then it was all wrong because I was trying to avoid the 'awkwardness' of it- but this is it- it's supposed to be 'awkward' . It could have been a little painting about shapes and colours, only I just can't do this because I like a good story and I get too emotionaly involved (daaahh!) But you know, in the end (and the beginning) I AM JUST LOVING IT!

Hugs!!

My creative space-

Something has happened and I am finding myself baking every morning before I go into the studio.

Its grounding in a funny way, I relax while I mix ( in this case, my banana bread) and enjoy the way the house smells , while the goodies are baking in the oven. It seems like a perfect way to start the day, and it puts me in the quiet and inward looking mood that is best suited to painting.

Then the studio welcomes me. I have a few small paintings on the go- this is to avoid the panic of having to start something completely new on a white board.

Yes, things have become resolved and now I am reworking about five older paintings. I am even reworking an image that I have had in my mind for the last fifteen years...Finally, it was all about clarifying my intentions. I am not fighting with the paints any longer.While I am holding my brushes (and preferably listening to Chopin, or Bach on the radio), I feel like I did when I was seven and my mom used to hold my hand and take me (by train) to the centre of Athens, shopping for fabrics for her dresses. She doesn't sew herself but she always had her dresses made, or 'altered'! And there I am, holding her hand and looking out at a world of wonders!

And, don't you know, Kootoyoo is hosting many wonderous and buzzing creative spaces. I am off to visit!

Hugs-

Resolution:to laugh more.

On Sunday we discovered an antique store turned coffee-shop. Great fun!

Look at this table!

Meanwhile, I am subjecting my husband to spending at least half-an-hour in the evening watching something that will put a smile on his face. World news have been banned from our home after six o'clock in the evening. Instead this week we are watching the British series Doc Martin. Last week we watched The Vicar of Dibley, and next week I plan to get the Get Smart series from the library. I loooove that library.

Three small paintings from last week.

I guess this is the best I can do in the space of five weekdays. Three paintings tops. They are small, painted with acrylics on board. I am quite happy with the way they turned out, more so because they resolved something that had been troubling me for the last six months. I started a small series os acrylic paintings in the spring but I just couldn't do what I wanted and I didn't even know why. Now it has all come together, and I have a clear idea what I am looking for.
Hugs.

A jolly but imperfect Halloween costume done!

There it is- much less than perfect but loved nevertheless...

It probably wasn't much cheaper to sew than to buy, well it was really but only a bit, but we did have so much fun...and Lucy has just been introduced to the sewing world of miriad possibilities! After school today she brought out a crochet kit she received last year as a present and she started working on it. And that confidence is what this whole thing was about!

Many hugs-

My creative space

I have been trying to see my whole life as my creative arena...

So I cooked pancakes for breakfast...
I am in the process of sewing a witch's costume for Lucy...I couldn't find a pattern for a costume so I got this for a long nightdress. She promised that if she likes the witch's outfit she will allow me to make her a nightdress too. I am counting on her sweetness and generosity because even thoughI adore sewing I never officially learned how to do it properly. Wish I had. Maybe I still should.

Meanwhile, I am painting my little heart away. Now that I have a proper schedule, I can relax my mind after I leave the studio, and ask my red knight to guard the unfinished work ...

Wishing you many happy creative meetings at Kootoyoo...

Tuesday already-

Dimitri and Rea bought themselves a new lap-top. They are totally entranced by this new work-horse-but- coolest of toys-...

The costume has not progressed, since there was lots else to catch up with in the last couple of days- mainly painting. In my desperate effort to find a manageable rythm to my weekdays that accomodates both housework and art-work, I have come to a new resolution. Turn off the phone and everything from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon and retreat to the studio. After that its errands, maybe a lunch with Nigel, picking up Lucy at three, then homework, housework, piano, basketball, making dinner, reading Lucy her bedtime story(now its reading 'What Katy Did'- a chapter a day),walking with Nigel, blogging, and hopefully not too late to bed. At least I can tell you it has worked for two days...and the house is cleaner than it has ever been in its life and I am both tearing my hair out and madly loving my new(but in some ways old) work- does that make sense?...

and on that note-

sweet dreams....

A new week

Took a small blogging break. I have been getting sulky and grumpy, probably for lack of sleep. I thought I would tack myself in early over the weekend ,and read a ghost story(a real vintage ghost story called"the woman in black" I scared myself so much reading it, I got goose bumps on my back! I enjoyed it thoroughly...none of the gory messes, pure psychological twists and turns- very predictable in a good old fashioned way,but I loved it..) At the same time I did something totally out of the ordinary ,I sewed...a Halloween costume for Lucy.Yes, I can hear those jaws dropping, I can sew if I really want to...LOL. I sewed the left sleeve inside out, but thankfully Lucy doesn't care and its a witch's costume after all, and we all know how unaccomplished witches are at sewing...(unless they do it with their noses like Samantha,the old Samantha, that is...) Anyway, the project is not completely over yet and I will show you tomorrow because my computer just doesn't want to upload any photos today...argh....
Hugs!

A little frantic but trully gratefull-

Organise and reorganise...Nigel is creating space and order in the backyard. One day we will get things right. Meanwhile I am painting away listening to Bach in the basement studio. I am continuing with my challenge, only this week I painted one little tiny painting a day instead of doing drawings.
Did I ever complaint? Did I ever dare complaint about anything?

My creative space

I am late,
I am late
I am late,
"OH DEAR!
OH DEAR,
I SHALL BE TOO LATE!"
later
than the white rabbit...
(and I don't even have a lovely waistcoat...or a watch on a chain for that matter...)

but you
may still enjoy all the creative spaces at Kootoyoo!!!
Before you go...many hugs!
hehe

Seeing small-

My focus is narrow- I admit.

I see small.

I see domestic.

I see my children.

I see the kitchen.

I see a small pad of paper, brushes, one pencil.

But I can only do one thing at a time.

When I do one thing my brain seems to block the rest of the world out. Like all of it.

So I don't try to multitask anymore.

I try to stretch time. I try to humour it, seduce it, capture it, organise it, trick it- but it remains the master and I come second.

Many hugs.

Rea in hats, Lucy in a yellow bow!

Rea dreams -what she did not say...
But she did share she would love to have a dress-up tea party where all would wear hats and vintage clothes...

Lucy would just like the cookies and the little sandwiches...

Dimitri and Lucy -

The age difference here, seems to make no difference at all!

Which I cherish...

Many hugs-

Friday at the studio downtown-

I feel this little watercolor stands between two worlds in a stylistic sense. So it is not 'pure' -

but its got something I wanted to say, eventhough its not fully articulated yet-This time I worked with a tiny brush for the lines- that was fun and resulted in quite an organic line-Hmm.

Hugs to you.

Miss Lime Sourpuff...

Miss Lime at the window: It may not be immediately apparent, but she is, in fact, (promise), putting her mind to 'cheerful' order....

Many hugs...

My creative space...(sort of)

Out, taking 'watercolor notes' on a rainy day.

But all the drawings ended up in the bin. Second 'bin-day'. Creativity has its own stormy days, I guess I should welcome them too. It's all part of it, isn't it?

Are you off to visit Kootoyoo? Many other lovely creative spaces there ...

And now I am a "lady" !

"Once upon a time when the English language was young, the word from which the modern English "lady" sprang meant"loaf kneader" ..."

from the Joy of Cooking, by Marion Rombauer Becker

And honestly, the bread was delicious!!!

Yesterday we had a quiet Thanksgiving , but today I am back at work with my 'challenge'. Three days of no drawing ,though, took their toll ,and mostly everything ended 'shredded' in the recycling bin...This one ...maybe I will rework, maybe it will join its mates in the bin....Sometimes I just don't know.

Thankfully, tomorrow is another day...

Elli, in a different continent-

This is my daughter Elli who has chosen to attend University in Athens, Greece. We haven't seen her in two years, but she is coming for Christmas.

Lucky Rea spent time with her this summer though. Sometimes you just have to follow their journey from afar.

May the winds guide their boat safely. May they master the wheel and the sails.

Mommy loves you-

Thank you Christina of Akane Designs!

The lovely Christina of Akane Designs! has posted an interview with me in her wonderful, full of treasures blog! If you would like a print as a free giveaway, take a look and leave a comment! I am so thrilled and thankful Christina!
Many hugs xxx

'Make the ordinary come alive'

'Do not ask your children
to strive for extraudinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is a way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraudinary will take care of itself.

You will have to constantly contend
with the pressure for ever more,
and ever bigger,
that culture seeks to impose
on your children
and you.
It takes courage and discipline
to go slow,
live simply,
and see clearly.
But the rewards are great.
What ordinary thing can you do together today?'

by William Martin, from 'The Parent's Tao Te Ching'

Two for day 2

Well, it was studio day today, so my task was to respond to the model in front of me. I have been using paper lately that is not very good with watercolor (because I want to print digital prints from it and it is whiter than my watercolor paper, better for knowing what the final print will be like)-that's is why I work with a lot of lines- the paper can deal with the line work but not with too many layers of watercolor as I used to work. Now this in itself, a response to a practical issue, has opened a whole new area of visual and expressive possibilities. Isn't that something?

In the second one I drew with my brush rather than the marker, and next time I want to try a much finer brush and see what happens then.

I find the lower part really interesting and I suppose really successful, I love the way the shapes 'speak' to eachother.

I am thinking these little ones are both about what is there and about what is

not there.

Many hugs

Day 1-How to be like a tree

I sat on my desk today not knowing why on earth I gave myself this challenge. My brain was empty and I just sat there holding my hands, unable to draw anything. And that is what I drew. Just being.

Many hugs-

My creative space

I am concentrating on one print- drawing a day for ninety days(not including weekends...) And then we will see. It's an exercise and a process of discovery. I will flow with my time limitations instead of struggling to cram things in small pockets...- perhaps at the end of it I will be ready to tackle some larger images as well-Right now I need to breathe and I need a 'breather.."

Enjoy all the buzzing creative spaces meeting at Kootoyoo...
Many hugs!

How to make lemonade (visually)

I thought of lemonade because of the bitter-sweetness of the model and the pose. The model was a gentle, very sweet young woman but the shaved head spoke a different vocabulary...
Anyway, I was very intrigued and quite sympathetic since in my 'salad days' I was rather 'rebellious' and probably rather 'odd' but also fragile. Sweet but bitter.

Art, faith and mystery

I don't always know where a painting 'will go'. It is almost like I turn an ear 'inside instead of outside'. Therein the mystery...Sometimes I think of things like 'contrast' and 'saturated colour' etc. Lately I think of the white spaces and how they can be illuminated. But really, I just listen to my insides...and when they start 'purring' I know I've completed the painting...
(sometimes I wag my tail in anger and hiss...hopefully when noone else is around...LOL)
Many hugs!

Sunday's Grace

A Need for Grace

I own that I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. (...)

Charles Lamb( 1775- 1834)

For:

- bridges somewhat mended
-painting the hallway this lovely creamy white with my left over paint
-sunlight and blue skies
-flowers in one of my favourite colours (they know what I love...)
-Lucy practicing her piano lessons
-Dimitri studying
-Rea (with lovely self-assurance) taking off for a fun evening with friends

Many hugs

New work

'The Vessel'

'Am I on time?'

'Listening to Schuman'

The colors are not so bright, the line dominates, the medium is watercolor.

Hmm. I could paint and draw all day. I love this immediacy. I love the light and space between the lines.

Some of these will be at the store within the next couple of days.

Many hugs.

Desk Thursday

In a new phase, but feeling very comfortable here. Often, I would try something new but it was an experiment and somewhere inside I knew it was just that, playing and experimenting. These days, between cooking and cleaning , I did manage to find peace in my drawing.

I have learned:

1. to be patient and have faith.

2. to not have crushing expectations.

3. to listen.

4.to focus on what I can do to better instead of blaming.

5.to let others take responsibility for themselves.

6. to trust our good shirts won't fall apart if they stay in the freezer for more than a month...

7. to cook and bake and make my family linger at the dinner table, and laugh and be silly., particularly when instead of scalloped potatoes they had white soup...

8. that I do my best painting when I look with my inner eyes...

Many hugs...