Natchez, MS

My hometown is Natchez, MS. I like to focus on the good things and when I'm home there are plenty of things that catch my eye. I'd really like to bring some of these back with me to Pennsylvania. The ideas at least. :)

A pirate face mug from England... possibly soon to be a Pittsburgh Pirate?

St. Mary's... there are Tiffany stained glass windows inside

The city park fountain behind St. Mary's

Love the ivy-like plant growing over the brick. I need to do this over some unsightly retaining walls in my own Pennsylvania garden. Also really like the flowers growing on the border.

A newly redone store on Main St called "Jack and Stella"- I love how it screams COME INSIDE AND SEE!

It's amazing what freshly painted bright green shutters can do to set off a 2nd floor apt downtown.

It's as yummy inside as it looks on the outside!

I may do a charcoal rubbing of this for my own PA house.

The only pets my family has ever kept and I think they are beautiful. The big one is about 6 years old! I hope to do their portraits one day.

Spring is a'Comin'!

This has been my first full Winter living in Pennsylvania. It's been an adjustment from the South, to say the least. It snowed last night at our house, but thankfully I am sitting somewhere in warm Mississippi this morning, as my son and I have come home for a little spring break. I guess I was anticipating the warmer weather of home, as this week I decided to go ahead and decorate our house in PA for Spring and Easter. Let me mention again, it snowed last night. And, I hear it's snowing there right now. So, I guess I have jumped the gun a little bit, but I will be happy to return to PA in a couple weeks to see the house all ready for Spring along with the daffodils and tulips coming up... just a little later coming up North.

Several months ago, I bought two giant eggs at Goodwill for 99 cents each.  My son thought they were the greatest toys he has ever owned, but I have been plotting their role in Easter decor since the moment I laid eyes on them. The day I bought the toolbox was also the day I swooped in on a little birdhouse that was literally rotting in the 30% off section of Rt. 19 Antique Mall. It had been there longer than the toolbox. It needed a home to love it. A few days ago, the silk flowers were just so attractive at Michael's Arts and Crafts Store that I bought a bunch. Definitely too many. I think I was just craving some color besides brown, dark brown, and gray in the landscape. 

An overzealous arrangement, I ultimately decided. But it does scream Easter!

I thought back to my Halloween door arrangement that I really liked the way it turned out, so I tried to go more along that path... but without the hay bales. So, I painted the eggs.

Personalization for our home

Some squigglies, some waves, some lines, and of course polka dots

I found some BEAUTIFUL very very GREEN Kimberly ferns at Home Depot that were just aching to brighten up a dull porch. Finally, a funny sort of tinsel bunny jumped out at me at a craft store and I knew that my son would adore him too. Somehow it all came together and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out though I don't feel like it's quite complete:

Voila!

Window Shopping

I am a "shopper." I like everything about it even when I don't buy anything. My favorite shopping is antique shopping. I seriously think I could probably go everyday for three hours and never tire of it. Quick trips are when my son is awake and usually buckled in his stroller. But I really love when he naps and dreams on my shoulder while I walk around dreaming of where I'd arrange something in my house... Or other people's houses. :) I hit two of my favorites the other day and just thought I'd share some of my favorite things I saw. Who knows, they may creep up in my own artwork or maybe one day I'll buy them... One day...

The beloved Rt. 19 Antique Mall. I love that OPEN sign.

This by Charles Green Shaw. It's $21,500.00.

This could be my son and me around 1900.

This is called a bottlecap quilt. Would LOVE to be cuddled up under this (after a really good washing) on a rainy Saturday morning with a big cup of tea.

This sign is just neat. I like the horsehead post too.

Busy Day

I heart the blow-dryer. It speeds things up.

A giant plastic egg I found at Goodwill

My son was quite concerned that I was painting "his egg"

A very special cupcake for a very special person (more about this cupcake to come)

I used to think my mother was crazy

...and sometimes I still do. But, lately as I've been trying to get in a routine of doing more artwork, I've discovered that maybe she wasn't all that crazy. Getting up before my 1 year old son gets up, is VITAL to my day if I am going to get anything accomplished just for myself which also means get any of my work started. I grew up thinking my mother was a morning person. SO OPPOSITE from me. Well, turns out, she's probably not a morning person and getting up at the crack of dawn before any of her four children needed her was her hanging onto a thread of self-sanctuary. Getting up at 6 a.m. when my child sleeps until 8, gives me two hours in 24 hours where I am not totally consumed with all the constant attention that he needs during the day (and night, we're having "staying in our big boy bed" issues mostly at bedtime, 2 a.m., and 4 a.m.)

At the park with my mom in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1981 (I wonder if she was able to get up before I did this day)

For all you more experienced mothers out there with grown children, YES, I did call her the moment I realized my oversight.

How to Start a Day

One of my favorite Christmas gifts ever

Given that artists are infamous for being temperamental, it's important that I start my day off right. For me, Bad Day=Bad Art. I do not create out of angst or misery. It is amazing what a giant cup of tea, turbo boil on my stove, and my Le Creuset teapot do for me in the mornings. Had to share the secret to my success. ;)

Boils in just under 2 minutes

Twice the size of a regular cup

The Watercolor Angel

Really wish I had my camera during my art supply trip today. I was standing in the paint aisle with my 1 yr old asleep in my arms, trying to look at what I needed, that of course was housed on the bottom shelf. Doing prolonged squats with a 30 pound weight draped across me was not the workout I had envisioned today. 

Anyway, I've decided to try my hand at watercolors and found that I hardly have any of the supplies needed.  Or really how to do them properly. A friend in my hometown of Natchez, MS recommended that I do some watercolors for sale to the tourists who come through our town especially during Spring and Fall Pilgrimages... so that's why I'm even attempting this. 

I was standing and squatting, standing and squatting, wishing that a professional watercolorist would just happen to walk by to help me, when, my wish came true. A retired middle school art teacher named Wendy stopped and walked me through exactly what I needed. Fate is fabulous!

This little watercolor kit folds up and fits in your pocket almost. I LOVE it and I haven't even used it yet!

Isn't it cute?

I will definitely be using these directions!

Love it even more- I will also be practicing my french while I paint!

A most heartfelt thank you goes out to Wendy, my watercolor angel who sat in the middle of the aisle with me today. 

Antique-ie Junkie

I am a little bit of an antique/vintage junkie. I have my favorite three places that I try to get to about twice a week. Most of the time I'm stalking a few different items to see if they get marked down, or hit the jackpot- which in my book means that they've been tossed outside in the 30% off area!!! In the past year, my main intent has been to put the finishing touches and objets d'art in our home. I have to watch the show Hoarders frequently to keep myself in check.  

Today I finally swooped in on a piece that I have been circling for a couple months now. One, I liked it the instant I saw it- it has a dab of that teal green that catches your eye. Two, it looked useful, though I couldn't commit to what I could use it for... Three, it was old and worn yet still sturdy, which to me means, well-loved, like the old skin horse in The Velveteen Rabbit. Four, I expected it to be gone after the first time I found it, so when it was not gone on the second or third visits, I started to think that maybe it wasn't as great as I thought it was in the first place. But, I realized that maybe the terribly old pine cones and dead wet leaves stuffed inside probably deterred others from buying it- an actual plus for me so I could come to visit and think about it some more. Yesterday while waiting in the grocery store line, I came across another reason to have it that crossed over from wanting it to NEEDING it. In a magazine called, Storage (not my usual reading material but it had the phrase, "Cut Clutter, Stress Less!" on it), I saw this pic

p. 45 of Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications: Storage

and knew that I had the fifth and final reason to buy my little vintage treasure. 

Do you see those little colored pencils in that box? I have been truly trying to organize my art studio in our dark basement since we moved in almost a year ago. It's just that I haven't found anything that truly organizes me other than a great big Ikea cubicle wall with an attached desk- it gives me ample cubbies to tuck things in. Probably still a mess to most anyone, but for me it is close to rocket science. Not much makes me WANT to organize. Now that this pic gave me a vision, purpose, and need for my find, I could not wait to get to the outside 30% off area of my little treasure trove and stake my claim. I did panic a little bit on the way there that someone had suddenly seen its true value just as I had, and it would be gone. But there it was, the old dusty wood almost gleaming in the suddenly sunny day. The objet d'art that made me WANT TO ORGANIZE. A true miracle. And, for only $11.

It is such the perfect toolbox for me in so many ways. I had cardboard stationery boxes scattered on my desk that were supposed to be holding pencils and brushes, but they weren't sturdy or heavy enough so they just tipped over... always. The magazines were just a crazy pile- if you could even call it a "pile."

Upon filling it with my supplies I found a feature of the old wooden toolbox that just made my heart soar.  If you look carefully and upside down below, you can see the word CALIFORNIA. Of course, this box came from California! No wonder I was so drawn to it. No wonder the sun was shining on it. No wonder it makes me feel like I can create great things from it. It's how I felt when I lived in California and I am so glad I have a little piece of it in my dark basement to brighten and organize things up! 

"Drippy"

Yesterday I started on a piece for the downstairs half-bath. My most sensible husband said, "Well I like it more than I liked the abstract you did before at first, and now I really like the abstract, so just think how much I'll like this one day."