all of a sudden....

it all wants to come out

i find little wooden candle lids to paint on

wander up the coast to sew with mary stanley

and then return to paint some more

trying to get my output like it used to be. i so want to begin selling again.

there is always  a sketch or two in the journal

i believe it be great practice

i tried my hand at a frida

in between setting up shelfies in my art studio

i am calmer, without that heavy feeling in my chest. 

the RETURN has really started to fill me up with "me-ness". i feel californian to the bone. we are, after all, creatures of habit. 

the house, the friends, the outings, the creativity seem more in tune with my inners.

i am also learning more about photography

and still preparing an album for tigo with all his funny faces and poses

love that darling snout

i've also been invited to teach at whimsy antiques in carpinteria come april so have been deep in creating templates for a mixed media storybook dress

and i finally finished my melodie stacey inspired embroidery.

all comes from the inspiration i find from other artists. it seems there are more and more popping up every day which is a good sign of battling the symptoms of a world a bit lost at times.

as alduous huxley well said:

"the secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age"

amen

the artist's way

lots of creativity going on at 846 & 1/2 which is what i call my art studio. 

this embroidery (in progress) was inspired by melodie stacey aka maidolls. i love both her embroidery and her paintings. 

this little darling is a flipped transfer from a teabag just rubbed on while still wet onto a puece if wrapping paper

just a groovy watercolor face in my art journal

more stitching

i've been finding old pieces and adding or subtracting and finally framing a few

as in this applique

mixed media handstitched necklaces

and a gabdstitched cuff

it's been fun re finding my art in boxes that had been in storage during the mexico sojourn. 

every day i stop for a little sketch or something or other. mopping the floor doesn't quite define me. 

there's always some stitching going on. the thing is to finish quite a few works in progress. then there's the what do i do with them? 

tiny

scribbles and dibbles

watercolor 

"WE ARE WHAT WE REPEATEDLY DO"

Aristotle

hiraeth

i always seem to have several projects going on at the same time. and many more flutter in my mind. so i am beginning to make lists. i used to be able to remember what i wanted to say through my art, but of late the ideas come at me too fast so lists might work to feel a little more focused. 

i wish i had the ability to stick to one project at a time but i move backwards and forwards on several at a time, unsure why. some lay buried for months on end, others i don't like after a while. 

but fabric is my comfort for now together with some really mushy english period dramas. the change to daylight savings has not agreed with me. i always tell myself that i will skip the winter in some foreign land next season but i forget and then it arrives and it's too late. winter brings on darker moods, a sadness, a craving for more light. i don't much like the dark. 

i rarely speak now. most of my speech is turned inward and then outward in my stitching or my sketching or my jottings and in spashes of home decorating. 

i spend inordinate hours with myself and nature, kind of waiting for a sign. 

i still discover new hidden secret gardens in the midst of rosarito.

but where are my people? it somehow feels like a sleepy town and i ask myself, if a space so beautiful exists, where is the person that created it. and then they appear and they have no words. they seem to be in a constant half sleep. weird.

i love the wrinkled look of the linen

i started a redwork piece out of the blue with stitched words of one of my favorite quotes. ofcourse the word LOVE is there. as i said, i can't stay with a project too long, i set it aside, come back to it, add, take away, re evaluate and finish. 

letting it rust a bit like these roses

el niño has made scant appearances despite warnings.

this month, no painting, just scribbles here and there. and lots of photography and cooking since the cold makes me extra hungry. 

when the climate turns cold, i turn to the small stash of fabric i have managed to acquire at the secondhand shops, including a real wool blanket.

it's not easy finding linen or cotton fabrics in rosarito even in the secondhands. so i make do with a small selection of neutral colors for now. 

my coffee table makes do as a work table

and luckily i find convenient boxes for my threads

why is it that i am so drawn to the organic? the elements: wood, stone, metal, water above all. 

and the rustic

i wish for more days like this

but i also need to learn how to invernate

and embrace the darker side of life

wish i had more to show of what i make but i seem to be slower in becoming lately. 

you see, i'm only half there, half here. gotta keep pushing

it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness 

t s elliot