Day Eleven

Feeling a little speechless on this one.  My camera has been surprising me with night shots, it gives me trouble with auto focus, which is very understandable I have trouble with manual focus in the dark. 

So many beautiful colors emerged and plays of light, the clouds catching the orange from the city lights, the inky blue night sky, the headlights from my car painting in the roadside plants.

sigh...another confirmation of my love for colors and light.

Day Eight

Over the open fields of Northwestern Wisconsin.

Day Six

Chasing the sunset. 

Driving up and down the hilly countryside out in the apple orchards. 

I was too impatient to climb the hill in town and sit and wait for the show. 

She crept nearer the horizon.

I took chase, I didn't know of a place that would quite open up enough to see the sun go down,

just followed my heart.

I kept driving.

The sun sank lower, still no clearing.

I looked to the south, at the cotton candy pink clouds, and the green hills.

There is something I love about the round bales and the sweet smell of hay.

The birds bid me to snap quickly...shoot!

I didn't look at my camera settings...

 I got lucky.

A lesson in patience, and being open to the journey.

I wanted the sunset,

but what I got was her love reflected.

Day Five

Part of me thinks I could have done a better job for this day. The other part says Wow...this depicts such an expanse. The clouds look massive and powerful. You can see the setting sun in the lower left corner, obscured by the rains pouring out of the cloud. I love the rain in this picture, a free fall. As you move to the right a cheery bit of blue and pink remind us of the happiness rain brings.

❤

Day Four

My heart sings when I see this. Not only for its velvety inky blackness, but the process it took to get it. 

I had just taken my day three picture around 9pm on June 3. I left a friends house at nearly 11pm on that same night and the clouds were steadily marching past the moon. I wanted to break my rules and take a million pictures of it. I waited, less than an hour to midnight.

 I got home ran upstairs and grabbed my sleeping pad, sleeping bag, a note pad, pencil and I managed to find a tripod. I headed outside attempting to be quiet but as usual I only allow myself to take things in ONE trip. The air valve on my sleeping pad knocked loudly on pretty much every doorway I passed through. (ninja skills were not evident this evening)

I made it outside to the driveway, the light was so beautiful, just enough to not want to use a flashlight, but quite enough to write by, eerie and special. I plopped down and began to affix the tripod parts to my camera to get it set for midnight. Raindrops tipped and tapped nearby...shoot... I opened the garage and settled in there to be safe. They were a tease. The following is what happened while I sat in meditation enjoying the moments until midnight.

A cricket...

whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will...

Frogs in surround sound,

a warm breath of wood smoke hovered lazily in the still air

the songs of the night held gently in the stillness.

deep black blue clouds keeping pace, 

steadily marching in front of the moon.

the moon lighting them in a tender radiance

rogue raindrops tapped on metal nearby.

a pair of fireflies danced timidly.

Distant traffic moaning,

a solitary rumble of thunder.

being,

breathing.

glowing.

midnight.

Day Three

I took my first picture early on in the day and was convinced to wait for sunset by a friend. I had another shot which was a slit a blue sky amongst some gray clouds with a kiss of orange and I didn't take it. So I waited and waited. Knowing that a had a good first picture, but that it is also very similar to the first few I posted, classic white clouds and blue skies. This picture happened just before it was almost too dark to hand hold the camera, the last hour if you will. I love it for its deep blue moody-ness.

Day Two

One of my favorite places to look at the sky and rolling hills. I feel this is a place where a bad picture cannot be taken, and it reminds me of computer wallpaper! ha. It's funny how my computer is filled with images from nature. Quite ironic, no?

Day One

June 1

I had taken a picture right around 1 pm wasn't totally thrilled with it. I thought I was going to fail on my first day... I was out with my Aunt and Cousin and company bowling, without my camera and the light was getting low,  it looked like we might not get any moon clouds either! A softly colorful start.

Life changes in moments, constantly.

Photo Journey

June - Clouds

I have decided to embark on a journey of sorts. Mostly inspired by Jim Brandenburg. I received one of his books in college and love the idea behind it.  He took only one picture each day from autumnal equinox to winter solstice. 

For one month I will do something similar but allow myself two pictures, but also I will be only photographing clouds. I will be using my "big" camera a digital SLR (single lens reflex), which makes it a bit more cumbersome to download but the quality is great!

I think I will intend to post just a picture for each day. I have to choose between the two I take.

Clouds remind me of humility, of how small I am and the great expanse of the universe. They are big and open, colorless and colorful when painted by the sun.  Moody and dark, swift and playful.  The bring rain, shade, destruction and sky decoration. They seem so reflective of humans to me. I often stop to gaze upon them and feel centered, connected, in awe.

Won't you join me? Feel free to choose a subject of your own and let me know about it! Maybe not even a subject but a word a feeling anything! Get your cameras ready!

Cloud Lightening

Big North Carolina Sky

Mountains of California

Make sure you let me know, right here on the blog or:

Facebook

Happy snapping!

xoxo <3

L

in pictures

Well hello again! Its been a spell. Far too long...Grandmother Spider was reminding me many weeks ago when she crawled on my face one night, then the next night brought a light colored friend to visit as well, they hung out on the window sill above my bed. One dark one light. So for Spider I write!

Creating....

I'm not sure if you remember this blue bag, I made it for a beautiful wonderful friend in North Carolina, it was for her daughter for her birthday. She contacted me a while ago and exclaimed she wanted one too just like Natalie's but a little bigger. I was excited, I knew instantly what fabric I would use, one that reminded me of Paige. She loved it!! <3

Hand drawn and embroidered

 Worms...

 Did I ever tell you I have worms?? I do! And they make magical poo! These bins started with a hand full of soil and a mound of newspaper, and I slowly added chopped up food that I didn't want to eat, and the worms made it into yummy nutrient filled soil! However I need to rework my design, some escape to their demise on the cement floor... :(

The snow is gone! And the grass is GREEN!

My little altar that sits atop my window sill above my head as I sleep

Ferns sprouting in the Wisconsin woods

I went for a nice hike in the woods with a great friend and we spotted these ferns sprouting up everywhere! It was wonderful to be out in the woods, and it was such a beautiful day. I need to remember to make sure I get lots of outside time!

I have also recently started school again. I didn't think I would ever go back to school after college. But this is different, I am studying to be a massage therapist. It's so wonderful, I absolutely love being able to be so close with people gently communicating with their bodies to help them heal. Touch is so amazing, giving and receiving massages is a meditative practice for me as well. When receiving a massage I have to focus repeatedly reminding myself to relax, let go. I am always holding some muscle in tension. I feel love flowing when I give massages, warm and golden.

<3<3

-L

Northern Wisconsin Retreat

I was proud of my emptied spool of thread!

I spent the past weekend with my cousin, Aunt and Grandma. I happened to be home this year for one of my favorite events, the Quilting Retreat to Camp Luther in Three Lakes Wisconsin! I love it for so many reasons. We get to run away for the weekend and sew up a storm 3 hours away from our homes! You bring with you what fabric you have and make use of it! I love how much I feel I get accomplished. It's almost as if we get trapped on Sewing Island with nothing to do but sew ALL weekend! And bombard the one local fabric store!

I decided that I wouldn't do as I wanted (which would be to bring my entire fabric stash!) and that I would make use of all of the scraps from previous projects as well as a few forgotten projects. I'm glad I narrowed it down! I may have spent the whole weekend deciding what to do instead of doing!

Grandma and Aunt Jane working away in the
background!

I learned so many things this weekend including some tips about how I can teach myself a more efficient way of working called I need fewer decisions! I will be the first to tell you I am the captain of the ship "Indecisive" adrift in the waters of indecision.... yep its that bad!

 I also learned physical space can be a good tool. It felt wonderful to 'escape' for a weekend. I feel centered again. I had a rough cycle this past week, there were a lot of transitions happening and I was fighting with myself about a lot of things. The time and space away helped me to regain composure and see life as simple and wonderful, a gift to be cherished. I also had the blessing of Eagle on the way home, perched in a tree reminding me that nature is always speaking and that a silent mind aids in hearing her words.



We had devotional time where we sang songs and shared in readings from the Bible. I haven't spent any time studying the religion in which I was raised (catholocism). It was beautiful to hear the words and feel the oneness of the teachings of the religions I know. From Buddhism to Christianity they seem

to be teaching the same thing.

Add caption

Love yourself to love others, as we are all one.

paintings and nature magic

This is an old friend I wanted to update you on. I started the "quadropus" when I was in North Carolina. So it has been a long process so far. I just wanted to give you a little pictorial tour of the changes its been through.

This orange phase was the under painting. I like do do under painting so that when I paint the final colors on top some of the colors underneath can show through.

 This Phase was the background painting. You can see some of the orange pokes thru the green blue background. If you could see this in person the orange is very firy and red like a burning sunset.

 I had a hard time trying to decide how to finish this one. I paint relatively fast and I tend to not have a whole lot of patience for tedious details. (which is kind of ironic...) I ended up having a lightening strike moment. I do have patience for embroidery and its tiny details. So of course I had to put them together!

I remember having a distinct vision of what the little suction cups would look like when they got embroidered. I have a clear vision for a few of the other details as well. The quadropus is a work in progress very slow progress! I love it!

This monarch I just recently finished. He (yes its a he!) sat patiently as I tended to sewing. I actually originally didn't like how the background had turned out so I set him aside. (do we see a pattern here... apparently my paintings need time outs before they get finished!) I felt so happy as I painted the wings. I could just feel the joy pouring from my heart. 

This is my little Goldfinch friend. She came about right after the monarch. I had her drawn on the piece of hard board and just went straight to it after the monarch. 

She was a visitor about a month ago, she came to visit me 3 times (did i tell you this?) right before I headed to the Midwest Shamanic Gathering. I looked up what she meant in my Animal Speak book, and in short she was awakening me to the Nature Spirits. I was so excited! When I say she visited me she landed on my window twice, barely gripping to the trim on the outside as she peered inside. The first occasion I was singing in the shower and stepped out of the bathroom still singing and she was perched there listening. The second morning i was sitting on my pillow meditating and I heard a small noise on the window, she had come back again! The third visit I was talking with my uncle in the living room and saw a flutter high in the window sure enough she was there! 

A day or so before this all had happened I had discovered an old feather I had found while in California. It was crumpled and kinked up from being smashed in a pocket in my backpack. I showed it to my squeeze and we both determined that it was probably a turkey feather. I set it on my window sill (yep the same window where Goldfinch landed!). After my visits with Goldfinch I took the feather and others with me to the Shamanic Gathering, where they lay in a net in my tent all weekend. On Friday night I attended a sweat lodge, which was amazing! That night I had a glowing vision of feathers as if backlit by a bright white light. I scratched out a picture and proceeded to be serenaded by a thunderstorm all night. Then on Monday when I was packing up my things I pulled out my feathers and as I grabbed my 'turkey' feather my first thought was that it looked like a hawk feather, and my second realization was that it look like it was in almost perfect condition! Over the weekend the feather had been healed. The extra funny thing was that I hadn't touched it all weekend! I wish I had a before picture, it had at least 2 kinks in it and was bent into a "c' shape.

Happy Nature magic! Keep your eyes open it's happening all the time!

Much Love!

L

And I almost forgot! Check out my Etsy shop there are a few new listings!!

Transitioning and Painting

It seems life is almost always transitioning, at least in my experience. Well, yet another transition is happening. I am moving to Virginia for a spell to help a wonderful woman whom I met at my Vipassana Meditation course named Neville. She and her husband Michael own  Wood's Hole Hostel which is located 1/2 mile off the Appalachian Trail. So they host lots of those thru hikers! For those of you who don't know, a thru hiker hikes from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail (AT) which usually takes around 6 months! Pretty amazing! One friend I met while working at Emandal, Dave, completed a thru hike a few years ago doing it entirely (as far as I know) in Chacos (hiking SANDALS!?). Also very relevant Dave may be nearly done with his first Vipassana Meditation course! I hope he is learning much and working very diligently. Not only do Neville and Michael host hikers but they also feed them, grow a garden, keep bees, teach yoga, and perform massage! I know right!! I am excited to help them with whatever they need and hopefully I get to play in the garden a bit. I hope they are prepared for me! I come bearing plants and an arsenal of seeds! This looks to be a wonderful next step.

With this transition my path leads away from Dorian's. It has been a bit tearful but very important for both of us. I can't speak for him but for me it equates to an excellent opportunity to practice presence and non attachment. Within relationships I tend to become dependent, which suppresses my intuition. I just end up wanting to please the other person and lose track of my path. With that said I can feel the excitement of opportunity and the thrill of not knowing what the universe holds for me in its hands. Taking each step as it comes. Just like flowers, as one fades another rises and blooms, but not after dropping a few seeds ;)

Shifting gears a little, you haven't seen much of my work lately huh!? Well, my favorite neighborhood family was over working out the other day and we decided to see if 5 year old Gage wanted to do some painting. (Dorian and I ended up taking about a million canvasses from his parents over the holidays, and it was a good time to put them to use...so we didn't have to pack them in our cars!)  While Gage was experimenting with color mixing on his canvas (his paintings were awesome by the way...) I was thinking about two furry roommates....one fat and white and the other thin and orange.  I entitled this diptych "Fat White and The Orange One" The cats real names are Sugar and Ginger but ever since Dorian and I moved in Sugar has been Fat White Cat.  And for a while I couldn't remember Ginger's name so I called her The Orange One, currently she is walking across some bare shelves then onto the bed and crashing her head into my arm, licking and biting me. I'm not sure what it is but cats tend to bite me...usually not in a mean way...except for one.... Though she bites me I can't help but feel very relaxed and calm when she walks past and grazes me with her tail and kneads me with her paws though the drooling and sandpaper tongue is less effective at this....

"The Orange One"

"Fat White"

You can see an orangish splotch on "Fat White" I decided not to paint over it because we were all joking that it was a scale representation of the two cats! haha! These masterpieces are going to stay up in the cat's room :) cats should have art too I guess!

This is a shot of one of my fabric cuffs that has a happy new home with one of my favorite farmer's market friend Katy, she also owns the wonderful bag I made for her which I decided to entitle "The Katy bag"

Be Happy & Much Love :)

xo

What do you think?

Welcome to my brain! You are about to take a trip through an artists creative process and endless stream of questioning, Buckle up!

I have had some new ideas for products....eh something about the word product just seems so manufactured and cold... anyway, lets call it new art. Yes, I have had some ideas for new purchasable art. I wanted to run them by you and see what you thought, sometimes I like making things because I like how they work, which is great because then others might have the same feelings, but I would love to know what you think of these?

I feel myself leaning more toward love and life, and less wallet and money...? Does that make sense? What I mean is I want to move toward more soulful items, or things that you see that make you smile and remind you of what life is really about, the present moment, love, compassion and happiness. Though I do really appreciate the handiness of the wallets and have no fear wallet lovers they won't disappear!

Lets just get to it, I made a few little things and would love some feedback!

First is this which I love! Inspirational words/sayings inspired by my Vipassana adventures, as well as Eckhart Tolle and his brilliant books. This one is a reminder to observe. Observe nature, life, and especially your mind and its processes. I think the cuffs are fun and I have totally fallen in love with embroidery thanks to Natalie's birthday bag! I was also thinking maybe a fabric necklace? Bookmarks? or little flags kind of like prayer flags? Any critique is welcome! I think I need to make the word a bit smaller so one can read it on the top of the wrist (tho I have rather small wrists).

 Welcome little Mini Wallet version Denna! You may have noticed in this post (the tiny pink thing in the top photo) a little mini wallet which was the Stacey version! Dorian's mom noticed that one and thought she might like one for an upcoming trip. Of course being an artist I have a compulsion to always make improvements. So the first one is the one showing the velcro right on the credit card part, I didn't like how it closed and the quilting/batting didn't feel as strong as I wanted it to.  I made another one with a tab closure that I liked much better and interfaced the lining and exterior. I liked it better because it felt a little stronger and the tab made it feel more secure.

 It can fit a ton of cards and you can even stick some folded cash behind the card pockets! I really like this design...here come the critiques....

One awesome thing about this is I have a stash of fabric cut to the width of the big wallets I make, and I am able to use those pieces to make these little guys which = less wasted fabric! (wasted fabric makes me cringe!) The drawback is I really want to topstitch around the outside edge like I do with the big wallets, I think it would give it such a nice finishing touch and that little bit of strength I think it still needs,  but then I wouldn't be able to use my pre-cut fabrics (sad face!) well I could but there would be a lot of waste...which i could develop into something new...!

Help!? haha

Oh, and Denna if you are reading this...do you like that blue? Do you need more blue?? Don't be shy now! Do you want something brighter!!? I want you to love your new wallet (I am not offended in the least if you hate this color hah! so please let me know!)

What do you think? I need some direction on my ship floating thru the sea of ideas! And I think I just wanted to talk to you all!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

Lots of love!!

xoxo

Natalie's custom birthday bag!

 This turned out soo cute! Even after my three attempts at embroidering her name! My beautiful friend Paige requested that I make her daughter a bag for her birthday. She also mentioned that Natalie loved things with her name on it so I had to brush up on my embroidery skills. I made her this little messenger bag! Now I want one! I really love the size its a little shallower than mine which makes it easier to find things, and perfect for a little girl, well not so little I believe she is 10 now!

 Yes! I'm so glad I watched the padded satin stitch videos! This is much more of what I had in mind! The previous two attempts were directly on the blue fabric and it was really hard to see her name, as well as not very cute! This little blanket stitched patch did the trick! All done by hand, which was a really relaxing process.
I saw Natalie after she had received her gift and asked her if she had filled it up with things yet, she responded with "yep, bubble gum!" I love it! Happy Birthday Natalie!!

Artist Interview Give Away!!

In honor of my first ever artist interview (located here!)  I would just love to give away these two bright springy wallets! WEEEEE! They have just been waiting for a special occasion like this! Thank you so much to Lauren for the wonderful interview questions! I had so much fun, and it also gifted me with much insight, inspiration and reflection. ❤

The first winner will take home this little gem

 The second winner will get to meet this lovely wallet. (quite gravity defying isn't it?)

ENTER TO WIN BY:

Following my blog! (its the button over on the right, that says follow) Make sure to leave a comment that you do! If you are one of my current followers leave me a comment as well. (bloggers love comments!)

ENTER 2 TIMES BY:

Leaving a separate comment about what you would do for a living if you could do anything at all. Really anything! I would love some details too!

The giveaway will conclude on Tuesday April 5th, I will post the winners on Wednesday morning. Using some very random and creative choosing mechanism, of course!

Thank you so much for visiting, and reading and commenting!

❤ Best of luck, and much love! ❤

a mini messenger and some other creations

 I have had the idea for this simple Mini Messenger bag in my head for a while. It came to me during a meditation and I had to scribble it down quickly after I was done meditating. But I finally got it together and it went very smoothly. I love making things in a modular way. Making each section then putting those sections together. Simple, no fancy flips and turns really. I love the nautical theme print too! There are tiny little anchors on the red section.

I decided that I should take it for a test drive to see how it felt and if I liked all the decisions I made. The only critiques I had were to make the strap a bit longer or make it adjustable, and divide the inner pocket. I kept getting my wallet stuck on the inner pocket because it likes to hang out in the middle of the bag instead of staying close to the side. Its a gaper... like a whale swallowing krill, only it's a pocket trying to consume my wallet, which doesn't fit well in the pocket and makes you stay awkwardly long at the checkout counter....

I plan to have a few of these on my Etsy page soon! And maybe some mini wallets too! Comment if you like em and it might inspire me to whip a few together! I would love to hear your ideas as well! I'm incubating some more apron ideas too....I HAVE to use the nice ruffling foot aunty Jane got for me :)

In that picture at the top you will also see a little Mini Card Wallet. The lovely Stacey had a dream that I should make her a little wallet that would hold her credit cards, because her super cool metal one can't quite fit them all. So I made her one with some stiff material in the middle and it didn't quite turn out how I wanted but Stacey seemed to like it. So me being me I had to make one more to get it right. So there it is!!

This is the cutest thing EVAR! And SUPER EASY! I got a job baby sitting for a wonderful family and mom Kelly asked me if I would make a book sling for Lindsey's room and I got really excited and I had the PERFECT fabric in my own stash so she didn't even have to go shopping! I LOVE IT, I'm totally making one for Dorian and I. We have lots of books and if you end up in the corner spot on the bed you have to play steam roller or tractor to crawl to the end of the bed or roll over the other person. I think I will add a pocket for highlighters....we are compulsive book doodlers. 

(if you want to know how to make one let me know!)

This is my rendition of the full moon a few nights ago. We were working out and I HAADD to go grab my camera. The clouds were dancing around the moon it was so beautiful, but my cameral is incapable of capturing as I saw it. I had to combine two pictures to get both the clouds and the moon to be properly exposed. ...and I may have fiddled with the clouds a bit :) I like it. The clouds seem to be cradling the moon in its hands, feeling the light through their wispy palms.

Just a few things I've been up to besides baby sitting and gardening!

Lots of love! ❤

L