6 days!

I will be bound for Washington D.C. in 6 days for a week-long visit. I have QUITE A BIT of artwork to finish before I get on a plane.

A friend of mine commissioned a piece for her living room*, which I am trying to finish before I leave. I also have to finish the bird piece for Nessa and a present for the new baby. There's a contest I want to enter for tattoo art as well.

I have significantly less time these days, with the kids being out of school. We have divided up our days into a sort of routine. Library days, field trip days, art days, science & math days, journal days. It's fluid, but I try to make sure they get a bit of everything each week.
Summer break has reaffirmed that there is NO WAY I could do home school. I do not have the patience required to deal. We were having art time this morning and there was an argument over the set of watercolor pencils. I lost my cool & cleaned up ALL the supplies: if you can't share, we won't do this. (Of course, that last statement was made at TOP VOLUME)
I hate yelling. It makes me feel like I am not cut out for the job of raising children.

That, and my new current favorite song which is all kinds of dark and gruesome.

*and I can't post photos until it's dne b/c I found out that she reads my blog. (Which is weird & cool. Weird b/c it's odd to think of someone I see regularly reading this and cool b/c she's reading
what I have to say. It's nice to be listened to)

Summer is upon us

Grapes!
I am growing grapes!
And by growing, I mean watching grow. And watering when I remember.

More Favorite Things

Do you know the artist Paul Klee?

When I was in college I had to pick a modern artist and write a 20 page research paper on them. I picked Paul Klee.

If you haven't taken an art history course, you are probably unfamiliar with his work. Which is a shame, really.

Did you know he taught at the Bauhaus?

I love his use of color. I love his use of line. I love that he can take a complex subject and break it down to it's most basic compositional aspects. His work has an energetic (dare I say fun?) quality to it.

Look at this. It is at the Art Institute of Chicago. I saw it last week when my fabulous cousin was visiting from Birmingham, AL.

Paul Klee in one word: Awesome.

Favorite things

This is my favorite flower in the world.
I love the aroma, the complexity of the layers of petals, and the symbiotic relationship that peonies have with ants.

Chameleon!

A project from the Christi Friesen book "steampunkery".

This was the first chameleon. I am going to go back and make another, now that I have the basic knowledge I can spend more time on finesse.