Introducing Chie {original art by Lauren Brevner}

I have to admit, that I am a little embarrassed that it has taken me this long to post this beautiful art doll that I received late last year. I was very very lucky to win this doll in a giveaway.  I have been reading Laruen’s blog for a while now.  Originally I was reading because of her work in clay and the amount of WIP shots she would show of her ball jointed doll pursuits.  Recently she has been working more with painting and 2-Dimensional art, which is also very interesting.  Please check out her inspiring art blog by clicking here.

Isn’t she beautiful?  Aren’t you just a bit jealous? I know.  Not only is this doll lovely, but she is also incredibly inspirational to me.  I have been working in clay, experimenting and trying some new things, using air dry clays, over the past six months now.  You must be wondering, why have you not posted any of this?  Well, because I get super frustrated when I work with clay and usually end up hating whatever I’ve made by the end of it.  But,  I have been working on one doll for a little while now, so I’m thinking I might have the confidence to post some shots of her later in April.  In the note that arrived with Chie, Lauren mentioned that she is the first thing to leave her studio, and that she represents a beginning of great things.  I think she’s right, and I will use her to inspire and motivate me to keep trying and moving forward with my own art.   Thank you so much Lauren for such a beautiful art doll, I really could not have asked for anything more amazing from an artist that had already been inspiring me!

xoxo

Hello little babies! {Spring and life}

This is really just a quick post, to show off my new little babies that sprouted over the weekend.  Remember the mini pot I talked about in my big gardening post with the dwarf marigold seeds in it?  Well those seeds sure are quick.

After only two days!

And another one a day later! *excited*

I can’t wait for them to be big and beautiful!  I am really not the best with plants, in fact I have killed every single one I have ever taken care of… so I am really hoping to have better luck over all this year!

Gardenging/ Eco Swap

So today I officially finished another swap (as in, both my partner and I have received our packages).  So that means I can finally post what I made and sent!

The “large” item that I made was this set of napkins/ tea towels what ever you really want to call them.  I hand-dyed and stamped them.  I only made two mistakes, which makes me happy.. and as far as I notice, I didn’t make any spelling errors.  I really enjoyed making them, it makes me want to stamp everything in the house.

Polymer clay plant markers with chalkboard paint.

Everything all packed up into a mini burlap sac and hand-made tag.

Another swap done!  Thanks for checking out what I made this time around.

xoxo

The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit {sketch}

I did this sketch yesterday while waiting for my partner at school.  It is heavily inspired by the song I was listening to at the time, The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit by La Dispute.  I am very happy with this sketch, I think I will expand on it to make it a more “finished” piece and I might even make a small series based on it (and the song).  Let me know what you think!

(please excuse the obvious crease in the paper, it was only meant as a sketch originally and I tossed it in my bag after not thinking.  Oh and I should add that this is about 4″ x 5.5″ give or take a little bit).

Since I never pass up a chance to post La Dispute’s epic poems of beauty lyrics, here are the lyrics to the song in question, off of their latest album Wildlife.

After sundown, before sleeping, I am the worst of me. I am a mess of these
Old themes and the murmur of half-dreams whisper seductively and
Stage scenes.
It’s fear fiction, these visions, caught somewhere between delusion and prophesy.
What I haven’t done, what I’ve wanted to, and what I fear you have
Becomes reality here.

Bright lights in the young night keep to the beat.
A classic party scene, crowded and interesting.
No love, no life, no history.
Just touch, just chemistry, just
A roaring undercurrent simple and sensory.
Young bodies, warm skin, perfect symmetry and
It’s a moment, harmless. It’s energy.
It’s like medicine,
It’s self-discovery.

See, all the secrets I keep, why are they secrets?

It’s only temporary, that fleeting feeling of warmth,
Just a flash before the line gets blurry,
Between a longing for more than what the body wants now and
What the body wants now more than anything.
Was it integrity that kept my hands to myself or
Just the thought of getting too far ahead of you?
Was it that I got too tired of the consequence?
Or was I just scared?

I only know I never wanted to get left behind.

No pauses, not a second guess.
First a swaying then a stumble then a swagger.
They’re just movements towards feeling. It doesn’t matter
Neither hesitates to carry on a kind of energy,
Sweat and block out everything to
Find every aperture and compel the animal parts.
Fan flames, taste fruit, taste bitter fruit.
Just trying to learn how all the wires in the body work.
Just trying to feel it out, it’s like medicine.
Trap the healing in whatever bed they end up in.

I want to feel it out. I want to know how it works.
I want to know if it was worth it to worry,
About the ghosts I feared would haunt the memory,
About the damage that I’m sure the fear has done to me now.
I want to know what it is in me that won’t follow through
Those nights the instinct takes a hold of me and pushes too.
Maybe it’s only that I’ve never gotten over you.

Or am I still scared?

I see the church steps, a vision. Is there fiction in this one too?
It’s true, I’ve made a tale of it here, still, it’s a little unclear who’s been haunting who.
And time can be such a funny thing, always moving to the future
Glorifying the past and amplifying the pain in frames and glass.
So was our touch half as sacred as I’ve made it seem
Or just another fabrication of a half-dream?
Just those chemicals, the adolescent love.
Just us trying to grasp onto meaning,
Onto a purpose,
Onto a sense that
Something spiritual releases when the feeling hits.

And when the feeling hits.

And in that moment sparks and harps play out
A sweeping melody through fog and fantasy
And in that moment there’s an honesty instinctive and pure but
It departs like it came, rapid and bearing no more
Than fleeting ecstasy of natural harmony.
They fear the notes being played and try to sing along.
Don’t be ashamed, be free to the feeling. Don’t be ashamed, keep feeling.
But find it: a body that makes sense.

I’ve felt it.

It’s Time to Live {Spring planting and nice weather}

This past weekend, it suddenly became Spring and we were both ready for it.  On Saturday we got the supplies we needed and on Sunday we spent the entire day planting and transplanting.  Our plants were far too crowded in their pots, having grown some over the winter.  We still need a large pot for our elephant ear plant, but for now it is scattered all over our house in smaller pots.  We quite literally have plants in every room of the house now (except the bathroom, but that will be changing soon too!).  It is so nice to wake up in the morning to bright green plants growing by your head.

Without further adieu:

Jerry working hard in the back yard.

The very welcoming entrance to our humble abode.

While Jerry was mostly working at transplanting and doing doctor with them, I got the joy of finding dog poo in our front garden.  I admit, we always neglect the front  sectioned off bit of dirt garden.  My first year here, my mom planted Hostas there, but since I never watered them they died rather quickly (unfortunately this is a less than ideal place for a garden, since it does not get a lot of sun or rain (under the roof over hang).  This year, I decided to try an assortment of wild flowers that were suited to less sun.  Hopefully they sprout up (although this morning I noticed a very light frost on things…. fuck).  I think I will throw some more seeds down in a week or so just in case.

These plants are in the front kitchen window.

This baby pot has some dwarf marigold seeds in it.

We found this cool glass planter at a thrift store, and knew it would be perfect for our ever lasting ever green plant. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.

More plants, at our back door.

Another thrifted planter I found. I know that the image has sun damage, but I like how muted the colours are. Plus I love robins!

I failed to take photos of the plants now residing in the bedroom… but when I have another plant update (and I will!) I will be sure to include them.  I also didn’t take photos of the back garden area.  Jerry spent a lot of time edging the concrete pad and sweeping the area.  He planted some peas in one part of the garden, and I planted sunflowers in the other.  I also planted some mystery flower seeds in a hanging basket and in the robin planter.. I hope something grows from them! We moved the plant stand out of the kitchen, which also freed up some more floor space and makes the room feel less cluttered.  One step closer to the kitchen being “decorated”!

After all the work we did, it felt great to relax outside.  We let the kitties out to enjoy the weather too and explore a bit.  They love being outside, but are generally too timid to go outside of our back patio area.

Spring was moving in the air above
And in the earth below and around him,
Penetrating even his small dark and lowly little house
With its spirit of divine discontent and longing.
It was small wonder, then,
That he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor
And said, “Bother!”
Something up above was calling him.

(Segment from La Dispute’s song Seven)

xoxo

A Walk in the Park {casual photography}

Due to the incredibly fair weather we have been having here in London, my partner and I decided to relax by having a mini adventure to the Thames River.  We got to climb trees, make bridges out twigs (we don’t recommend that…), crawl into possible animal hole caves (I shouldn’t recommend that either, but nothing came of it so.. go for it?) and just generally enjoy the outside.

Did I mention the gorgeous sunset we were able to enjoy?

The home organization is going great.  The bookcase that was in progress during my last post is done, and just needs a little fine tuning.  I also finished another craft swap yesterday, so expect a post about that in the next few weeks!

xoxo

Spring Cleaning {year long super purge continues}

This is a quick update about how the house re-decorating, de-cluttering, organizing and losing my mind overall is going.

As you know, I have been focusing my decorating efforts in the kitchen.  I can’t wait for the consistent nice weather so that I can finally paint the doors to the kitchen.  If you remember  from my “before” shots of the kitchen, one area that was in dire need of re-organization before I could even consider what to do with the space was the small counter beside the fridge, seen here:

if you can believe it, I actually tidied up the counter before I took this picture

As you can see, the microwave took up almost all of the counter space; also, thanks to poor outlet locations, we are required to string a heavy extension cord across the window and allowed to just hang out awkwardly in the bottom left hand corner there.  My partner and I discussed the possibility of moving the microwave to the other counter.. but that seemed worse.  So, we decided to try to go a full week without using the microwave, to see if we could do it.  We even taped the door, so that if we forgot, we didn’t accidentally use it (I do admit that we used it once during the week, to use our last pack of microwave popcorn).  After the trial week was over, we moved the microwave out of the kitchen:

Now, there is so much more space!  I am excited about this simple change, it gives me a lot more area to work and forces us to eat a lot more healthy on a regular basis.  I’m still not entirely sure how to decorate the spot, or how I should organize the kitchen to utilize the space as efficiently as possible.. but one thing is for sure: I really don’t miss that big, ugly microwave.

But, being the super crazy person I am, I am not never happy with doing only one thing at a time.  Today I decided to do some super organizing/ purging in the living room.  So far, I have sorted through two storage ottomans, the TV unit, our “coffee table” (which is really just two milk crates staked on top of each other with a tray on top), and now I am tackling one of the worst offenders: the book-case.

Here is my current progress shot, which I am avoiding at the moment to write this post:

We have too many books for the book cases we have.  That is a sad fact that we are hopefully correcting soon (Ikea here we come!), and so I will probably be putting a lot of these books away until then.

I have also been playing around with the Iphone and taking photos again with it.  You may have noticed that my new photos today were both taken with it (hence their slightly funky colorations).  I found a new app to play around with called Photo HDR, although I’m not really sure how well it does high dynamic range, it does offer some fun possibilities.  Here is a photo of my living room, a complete mess, taken with the Iphone:

If you are online, and bored, I also found this website that might eat up all of my free time: http://random-tutorial.com/

It’s a site where you just click a button and you are brought to a random craft tutorial.  However, one downside is that you have to go to the actual blog site and post in order to pin it, which kind of sucks.

xoxo