art journal

Doodles with a basic ball point pen.

This rather psychedelic creation was made

when Little Man wanted to share his markers with me.

While I was doodling with his markers,

he drew a picture of the two of us together.

I so love it.

And Brother drew "ladybugs in the tall grass beside our porch."

Sweet Pea is still mostly drawing abstract squiggles

though she is working on drawing circles.

Another bright marker doodle.

Even though this one's just a doodle,

it has special layers of meaning for me.

The black dots are braille for "love"

which is significant since my mom is legally blind.

I wanted to communicate that love is a language

everyone can undersand

and that it can be "seen" be everyone.

I got some fun new art journal supplies last week.

A water brush and basic water colors.

And a package of colored GellyRoll pens.

I know, I know.

Gell pens are so nineteen-ninety-nine.

But I really love the way these lay down ink so smoothly.

Plus once they're dry, they're waterproof!

I'm learning to make the most

of the small windows of time I have for art.

This only took about ten minutes

but I felt refreshed afterward

and had a little art to show for it!

I really need to stop chewing on my pen lids while I draw, though.

It's a yucky and destructive habit.

Little Man wanted to try my new pens too.

This is "A Jabber" when it's facing this way

and "A Colorful Bag With A Handle"

 when you turn it upside down.

two months

eats

mama milk on demand

sleeps

likes sleeping on his side gripping a blanket

is beginning to prefer his crib and swing to crashing anywhere

though he still likes cuddling best of all

says

soft coos of one or two syllables

(his voice so reminds me of Brother's when he was tiny)

sweet giggles and the occasional little belly laugh

hearty cries ("MAAAAAAA") when distressed

does

holds his head up with increasing stability

rolls from stomach to back in tummy time

is starting to focus on objects and try to grab them

escapes from his socks with ease

likes

baths

swinging

eye contact and conversation

having his head rubbed (still)

staring at Daddy's guitars (they're hanging on the wall)

sitting propped up on the couch and looking around

interacting with his brothers and sister

being held

dislikes

sudden loud noises and hats

having shirts put on over his head

being squished by Sweet Pea's hugs

having a stuffy nose

being too warm

the big picture

but of course life's not all sunny mornings,

painting peacefully with the boys,

enjoying sweet baby smiles,

and delighting in my girl

it's also up-all-night

comforting the coughing, feverish ones

and your being cries for rest

through aching body and runny nose

exhaustion beyond  imagination

yet appointments must be kept

and dishes pile up

while laundry mountains grow

and trash begins to stink

and everyone still wants to eat

so you gulp the coffe down

and try to breathe in deep

and you pray for super-human Grace

to keep on going, keep on loving

and somehow strength is there

just some art journal fun

Some of these art journal entries are a couple of months old.

I haven't had a lot of time to journal lately,

but what I have had has been so nice.

From December,

more experimentation with negative space:

"Snow had fallen, Snow on Snow,"

a line from Christina Rosetti's "In the Bleak Midwinter"

The snowflakes were fun.

A complainy entry from way back
when I had to drink crazy amounts of water
for my kidney stones.

Happy New Year complete with glitter glue

that Little Man generously shared.

(Turns out fireworks are hard to draw!)

And two from this week!

I must be getting tired of winter.
Something very bright and warm sounded nice.

Lovely morning drawing in the sun with some coffee.

Delightful.

Linking up with Jennifer's Studio Sneak Peek.

art together

Last week while Sweet Pea and Baby Boy were resting,

 Little Man, Brother, and I

got out the "grown-up paints" (aka acrylic tubes of paint)

gifted to the boys by Grandma and Grandpa

and spent some quality time creating together.

(I love that they're finally old enough that we can do this!)

Even our painty rag looks kind of beautiful.

"A Giant Crevasse" by Brother

"A Whale Ship" by Little Man

"Colorful Base for Calligraphy" by me

orange marmalade

In a recent Bountiful Basket order,

we received a bag of Seville oranges,

which it turns out,

are sour and seedy

and not good to just eat.

They are, however,

excellent for making orange marmalade

due to the high pectin content in their many seeds

and the usual high sugar content in the marmalade.

I don't particularly like orange marmalade,

but it's a great favorite with my mum and my Little Man.

So I set out on a work of love: making orange marmalade for them.

I used a clear and helpful recipe I found online

and experienced lovely results.

(I've never made jam without a box of pectin before!)

I even ate a little of it,

though most of it has been reserved

for the true orange marmalade fans.

thank yous

More than a little of my spare time

the first month after Baby Boy arrived

was spent writing thank you notes.

Thankyous for meals and visits,

clothes and toys, diapers and cash,

and first-baby-of-the year gifts

from local businesses.

Though I am truly grateful

for the outpouring of love to our family,

sometimes the consumption of my precious free time

with thank-you-note-writing

grates on me.

I bolster my attitude with the fact that

thankyou writing is

its own sort of art form.

One that (I think) I do fairly well at.

As an artist, this pleases me.

And silly as it may be,

having cute thank you card to use

is also tremendously comforting.

I loved using these adorable cards from Pepper Pot.

The cute graphics and charming details

(the backs of the cards! the delightful tin box they came in!

the coordinating plaid lining the envelopes!)

never failed to make me smile.

I got mine at a charming local shop,

but you could get some from Amazon

if you can't live without them.

This is not a sponsored post.

I just loved these cards so much

that I had to share.

handpainted handprint mugs

In addition to Benjamin's valentine mug,

I used my Pebeo paint set and thrifted cups

to make hand print mugs for my Mum

and my mother-in-law.

I traced my children's hands on paper,

making templates which I then stuck to the cup

and outlined with dots.

Dissatisfied with the uneven nature of the dots I used

to outline the hands,

I decided to fill in the hand prints on this first mug

with freehand swirls, dots, and hearts.

I'm an artist who likes to painstakingly sketch and plan first,

so this was wildly out of my comfort zone.

And the cup did turn out somewhat...wild.

In my newborn-stage haze of sleep deprivation,

I despaired,

fearing that this looked like one of those nightmarish trinkets

you see in the thrift store and pass by,

smirking with a hint of disdain.

I think I might even have shed a few tears.

But

happily,

my mom loves it.

LOVES  it.

Whew.

So the fate

of my painstakingly hand painted mug

will be a happy one:

a long life of use,

not forsaken on a thrift store shelf.

(Can you tell that hormones

and sleep deprivation make me more dramatic

than usual?)

This second

"more normal-looking" mug

(Benjamin's words)

will be either a belated birthday gift

or an early mother's day gift

for his mom.

I expect that she'll like it

just as much as my mum likes hers.