still spending a lot of time homebound and trying to make the best of it. richard still undergoing a myriad of tests and still no diagnosis and he keeps losing weight, sleeping long hours and quite listless. i am present. and playful.

tigo lovin'

keeping the home warm and comfortable for him.

and making

stolen moments

a stitch here and there

always becoming

subconsciously patching

for tomorrow may rain so I keep following the sun even if i have to create it myself

little steps

my man has been weak: sleeping a lot, eating little and overall being a champ about it. but I'm worried, out of sorts. then there's my other little champ who balances things out but also demands a lot of my time 

although I shouldn't say demands but requires.so what I really mean is i've been short of creative time, mainly centered on nights when things have calmed down.

yet for my stability, or should I say sanity, I sneak a little creative time into my days.

faces were haunting me a bit after 100 of them so decided to paint a few vessels instead. it has brought me back to folk art, which is where a large part of my art resides.

but....those faces and female portraits still call to me

bringing out a questioning relationship to the FEMALE. south so that a friend challenged me to paint or draw a male. I find them uninteresting but managed a replica of Renoir's self portrait.

after watching a movie about his later years on Netflix. 

so many moments take up a day. and I for one believe in that wonderful line "the pursuit of happiness".  and in that pursuit to grasp what matters and make a difference somehow

when the difference is really happening to us as reflected in these glimpses into significant others at the LA Art show. we are always feeding ourselves from others then bouncing back albeit amateurishly!

I feel vulnerable, sensitive, living tiny sensory moments

almost instinctively

quenching my thirst

bit by bit in black and white

then

maddeningly

then 

hopefully through my brother's dream

then, somehow centered

faith filled within the chaos and the madness

filling my world with life and color

taking respite walks

trusting

in that colossal female instinct

and the fact, that we are all a gift to each other!

of late, it has been all about finishing projects that have been set aside, many times with just a tiny corner to be stitched or painted.

and framing some of the work i want to display in our home.

and listing a few others in my much-neglected etsy shop.

you see i have so many varied artistic interests that i sometimes get sidetracked launching new projects.

so i have started a pad with a list of the things i REALLY want to make. ofcourse, i continue to stray once in a while, as when i stopped one night to sew this indigo beaded moth.

it ultimately went on to win an award on flickr's explore with over 12 thousand views worldwide.

or when i stopped to paint this sympathy note for the tragedy of MH 17 for my dutch friend Hans Peter.

i have also been putting together some packages to thank a number of friends who have sent me some wonderful handmade gifts, such as lynne hoppe who sent me a couple of originals

and rebecca brooks who sent me the most gorgeous saughtered double-sided shrine ro hang from my ceiling fan

in turn, her gifted prompted me to stitch these scapulars

but i've also been catching up with the garden

and walks on the beach

and still hanging up pictures in the house

and tidying up the studio

i need more time. lots more time because

just love love to create.

what do you think of this new technique i ventured into? my daughter and son are both modernists and i wanted to make tatiana something for her apartment. what a contrast to what i usually paint huh?

i leave you with this beautiful creation from my friend Julie Ippoliti

proof once again that we are all a gift to each other. 

as my friend hans peter so wisely write to me the other day

"This 'us & them' finds its roots, i believe, in the illusion that there is a separate 'me'. The older I get, the more i realuze: i am you, i am this bird, i am this tree, i am this stone."