The Landscape of Dreams

One of my favorite writers has suggested that everyone has a dream landscape - the place that is so much a part of their soul that they often return there in their dreams.

Mine is the New England woods. Growing up, we were lucky to always have woods to explore - usually right behind our house. And my sister and I spent much of our free time exploring them. When I dream, I often return there. My woods are a mishmash of the woods I've known and loved - mostly the woods behind the house in Lunenburg, MA, but with bits of woods from New Hampshire thrown in.

Like many women, I have nightmares of being chased. (Though not so frequently now as when I was younger.) When these take place in a city or a house, I'm always just barely ahead of my pursuer, and terrified. But when they're set in the woods, my woods, I'm always pulling ahead, getting away. Enough so that I can stop to look at flowers, talk to an animal, or climb a tree. I confuse the pursuers, lay traps, etc.

When I'm in my dream landscape - my woods - I' in control.

What is the landscape of your dreams?

Badger

A friend asked for a badger watercolor to be turned into a pendant.

This is the resulting painting. The reason it's only a "portrait" was to avoid losing too much detail when it was reduced to 1" x 1" for the pendant.

I Need a Room

So much art, and so many art supplies. I need to get to work on transforming the camo and neon green guest room into something with white walls, that can function both as an art studio and a guest room. Working on the kitchen table just isn't cutting it any more.

But I do enjoy my mornings spent drawing at the table, while Zoe draws beside me. Her skills are improving by leaps and bounds, and jet-pack assisted flights. Give her 10 years, and she'll be outdoing me. (Which is a good thing. A very good thing.)

I won't have much spare time tomorrow, so I'll post a few pieces, basically studies in pen and ink, that I worked on tonight. I'm wanting to put together a mythologically based pen and ink series to try and jury into a few art shows this year. My fingers are crossed. Well, except for when they're holding a pen or a brush.

Different

We did Storytime at the library today. During a story about a pea who didn't want his candy for dinner, the librarian asked all the kids what their favorite foods are.

"Spaghetti!"
"Cheese pizza!"
"Mac n'cheese!"
"Hot dogs!"
"Chicken nuggets!"

All the usual. But when she got to Zoe...

"Clams and ciopinno!"

Better Late Than Never

As promised, here is the picture of what Zoe wanted to take with her if we needed to evacuate because of the fire. Note the dirty laundry.






Also, here are a bunch of scrabble tiles, with some of my art on them. Once I get some bails, these will be turned into pendants and sold on Etsy. (Scrabble tile pendants are all the rage, right now.) And yes, I will be doing more with more art. Just have to find the correct bails, now.

She's Definitely My Daughter

Last night Zoe woke up screaming and crying from a nightmare. She just couldn't calm down, so she ended up in our bed. (Which meant Danny ended up on the couch, because three cannot sleep comfortably in our bed.)

This morning, when asked what the dream was about, she said, "It was a painting nightmare."

"A painting nightmare?"

"Yes! I wanted to paint green, and it kept coming out blue!"

Danny didn't understand, but it made perfect sense to me.

Hedgie and Woolly Bear

This is a quick painting I did last night, in order to make a nametag for Zoe.

I started at 6:30, when Danny left for game, and finished at 12:30. I like the way the hedgehog turned out, but am not thrilled with my greenery. If I'd had more time, I would have been happier with it, I think.

But I did get it done in time to make a nametag for Zoe to wear at UU this morning. And when it's shrunk down to nametage size, the lack of detail in the grasses bothers me less.

Boulder is Burning

There have been 3 separate brush fires today.

One of them is only a couple of miles from the house. Friends of ours were evacuated, and said they could see the flames as they left. Winds of up to 80mph aren't helping the fire fighters - they put one section out, and wind-borne embers have set another area alight.

Two of the fires, including the one near us, are completely contained.

The one in the foothills is huge, and, last time I checked, 0% contained. They've expanded the evacuation area for that one. So far, 2 houses have been lost, but I suppose we're lucky that so far it's been limited to 2, considering the conditions.

We talked about packing some things earlier, just in case the winds whipped it in our direction during the night. (Not worried about that now, TTGs.) Zoe made a pile of what she wanted to take if we had to leave. Her pile includes a doll she got for Christmas, stuffed animals, books, Littlest Pet Shop stuff, some undies, and a pair of dirty socks.

I took a picture of her pile, and will post it tomorrow. The dirty socks were one of the few laughs we've had tonight.

If you want to see pics of the fire, go here. Then take a minute to give thanks for the brave men and women who are out fighting this thing.

First Attempt - Knotwork

Give me a few more tries, and this will be much improved.

Also, I need to find some gold paint for embellishment.

Old, New, Whatever

Stay tuned for some knotwork in the next few days. I've been learning to draw it for the past week or so, and will spend tonight adding color to the designs.

I printed some dot paper from Aon Celtic Art, and it made drawing the knotwork so much easier. Miraculous, what a difference it made.

Here's hoping I don't mess up with the paint tonight...

Finally!

I have finally loaded some new items into my Etsy shop. There will be more to come, later.

At Etsy, apparently it's better to stagger your listings, to get more exposure. So, though it's hard to wait, that's what I'm doing.

Along with a friend, I'm moving in a different direction - selling pdf files of art and items that you can print yourself. It's certainly cheaper, and there's no shipping cost.

Here's an example of a printable bookplate:



Here's the direct link to the shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6463798

Thanks for looking, and I hope everyone's January is off to a great start!