Things of the weekend-

Indulging (well, but how could one resist?)

Noticing-

Hoping-

And also rethinking,

erasing,

looking at my charts,

redirecting,

asking,

cleaning up my act.

(and one more thing. I picked up 'Craft in America' , a journey to the origins, artists and techniques of American craft' from the library (2 DVDs)- really loved it, take a look if you can)

Hugs-

keeping it small-

All about feet.
Some stories are all about a part of the body-feet, thighs, breasts, nose.
I have really ugly feet. The truth is I was never really troubled by that, only marginally, but probably because I love drawing them. They are fascinating forms, don't you think? And they are also so very precious, carrying all our weight around and all. And as I was doing this I thought of winged feet, which is the means of transforming the ugly feet story- by
the gift of wings.


Yes, my friends these are the silly things I think of when I am painting but then I also think about color relationships.
And line qualities.
As I was making this one I had to add a series of a's and I remembered very clearly the pleasure and the effort it took to write my first letters. I wanted to stay there.



I remember things more clearly while I am painting than at any other time. Is art then a game of hide and seek?
Seeking small memories, whispering thoughts, little voices under layers and layers of the demands of 'now'? And why should one seek them you say, why are they important after all?
Is it just a means of grasping to life?

Hugs-

Busy in the studio-

I am doing small, intuitive

watercolors all within the theme of storytelling. I am stretching and pulling and trying to allow things to evolve. When I think I have lost something I take it further and lo and behold it comes to a happy conclusion!

I am using watercolor in transparent but also in thick layers like I use my acrylics. Very iconoclastic I know, but so satisfying!

I am thinking about storytelling and how we get trapped in our own stories. A deep well here.

The question of course is, can we re-write our stories and what does it take to do that?

How much of 'us' is fixed and how much is the end-result of this entrapment in our own 'story'?

I can only answer these questions for myself, and this I will be thinking about while preparing for my coming show in April. I am so happy and involved here that I woke up at six thirty and did laundry, cleaned a bathroom, vacuumed a third of the house, called Elli in Greece, called Lucy's dentist and did my list for the day, all before nine in the morning... I AM GOOOOD. I am guarding my precious studio-hours like a -...-well, I don't know exactly what, but something ferocious...!

I will leave you with some inspiration:

A page from the skechbook of a potter.

And an artcard by the lovely Heather.

Weekend walks and a big thank you-

A little girl with a new hat-

Something to draw-

Something to nibble on-(with caramelized lemon slices on top- Lucy didn't have hers, that's when parents get lucky with little children's lack of good taste...)

Something about pattern and colour-

Something to be thankfull for!

It's even more perfectly beautiful than the photo, and its packaged with such care!I am positively thrilled that it flew to my home to stay!

Thank you Holly!

More small blessings-

Trying to remember to use the camera.

Because the days have been so focused on my small watercolors.

There are four or five unfinished acrylics siting here and there in the studio. The watercolors are actually helping me see the unfinshed works with fresh eyes.

These here are obviously alot more abstracted which is a bit of a relief from all the story-telling. The nice thing is too that I can experiment and play with this small size and the watercolors. What I miss is the intense color and the brilliance I can achieve with acrylics and medium. But then there is also something to be said for subtlety and soft-spoken, little watercolors...

My dear friend K. asked exasperated the other day, :'how can you stay cheerul ?' I was thinking about it and tomorrow when I see her I will tell her that it's because I try to focus on the things I can do-

And I hug you-

Work routines-

'how we didn't really mind the rain'

'I drink tea- you drink coffee'.

(both made with watercolor and ink)

A couple of months ago I decided to do the drawing a day thing- It didn't work for me and I should have known better. I was impulsive, as usual. These are my character defects- well, some of them. I can't keep a routine -even though I crave one. I am impulsive and always want to do more than I can.( I guess that's why I can't keep a routine)

The point is that I have 'drawing times' and 'painting times'. I never know exactly how long each will last but I get so absorbed in the phase that I am into at the time, that nothing can move me and nothing else interests me.

I was never really aware of these cycles of work because I never before had to account for them as I do here. In the beginning I saw not being able to fulfil my promise to upload a drawing a day as a big failure, after all so many other artists are doing it. But now that I think of it, I must admit it was a good thing because it just tells me I have to adjust my expectations to my personality and real working rythms. And maybe one day I will find the longed for routine because it will be made just for me. (this was a me-me-me posting- it must have been a me-Tuesday - but to redeem I will post this link to a lovely collection of -what else?-CUPS!)

Hugs -

Red is my pepper-

Rain-
Tulips with red just at the right time-

we stayed indoors-
daydreaming-
doing not much at all-
not even watching tv-
cat-like and silent-
reading on the couch-




We did go out for a coffee break-
a walk on the sea wall-
but-
the seals were not there-
and no herons-
so, you see-
that's when a good children's book
is so useful-
a painted bird brightens up my day-
more than coffee-
any day-


Hugs-

Friday at the life-drawing studio-

I have never visited Istambul myself. But I have heard alot from my husband who lived there for a short period of time, and of course I have read so much about it ever since I was a young girl at school in Greece.
The shapes I was drawing in this little one,made me think of Istanbul as if I was remembering it, but since I wasn't really I called it :'Literary memories of Istanbul'.
Then I thought, how fascinating that we can have 'literary memories' of a place that are almost as real as if we had actual memories. Think for instance of New York. Don't we all more or less have 'literary memories' of that wonderful city even if we have never seet a foot there?
Hugs-

Anniversary tulips-

For a good number of years my husband gave me roses. I would take any opportunity to hint at how I really loved tulips- yes, tulips were definitely my favourite flower, TULIPS, but... to deaf ears. Expectations are louder than the loudest polite hint...

So the day came when I unashamedly and very directly asked for tulips.

And tulips I received.

Pink for the living room. Yellow for my desk, red for the small table in front of the tv, and white for the 'music room'...

Thank you-

Hugs-

Small acrylic painting- A child playing.

Lucy asked me yesterday if the world will explode in 2012 (because her friend said so....)
-'no Lucy, it won't'-
'But mom you did say once that the planet will explode one day'-
-'In millions of years from now'-
...Then there was some strange calculating in her head...and she said:
'So the world will start all over again and maybe the dinosaurs will return- ...- so maybe I will get the chance to do first and second grade again and correct my mistakes and get better grades...'-
!!!
What I find so funny here, is not the irrationality of the thinking process, (its magical and imaginative), but the very deep human need to correct one's wrongdoing, the desire for a second chance, the regrets of an eight-year-old...
Talking about regrets, I have decided to approach resolutions differently this year, I will actually scale down my expectations. Better to focus on three or four things and do them best.
So in 2010 I will continue my study of cooking, and menu planning, but I will not make a vegetable garden.(next year)
I will focus on painting and learning as much as I can about the business side of art which is something I should have done ages ago.
I will try to keep a daily routine which is so very difficult for me but necessary and cost-effective really. I need to take small breaks when I get too tired and not be a perfectionist, not try to clean the whole house in one day with one breath, not paint the world right after... I will plan...
I will not diet. I will eat chocolate.
I will make my own bread. Lots of it.
I will blog. Love it.
I will definitely keep the daily walks.

There.


Good luck with yours!
I hug you-

Welcoming the New Year on my kitchen table-

It's true, my life revolves around my kitchen table.

Happily.

I cook, eat, read, write, blog, paint, draw, crochet, sew, 'travel around the world' via favourite blogs, drink coffee, laugh lots, cry some, discuss, enjoy my family over dinner, savour their delihghted faces when they are liking the food I made for them.

And here this first morning of the year we cut our New Year's cake. I used my mother's recipe, which is pretty much an orange-brandy-sponge cake covered with icing sugar. A delicious and very aromatic beginning trully.

It's also true that I treasure the thing I learned over the past year:
Every single thing done for the home, the cleaning, the budgeting, the mending, the crafting the cooking and baking..- its all 'worthy', and really the foundation of the family's greatest happiness and wealth.

Which brings me right back to my kitchen table which now I see as the very navel of our home life and joy.
(do you love your kitchen table?)

I hug you-