Home with my Zinnias

Hey there my blogger friends, I know it's been awhile.  I've been so busy with work, travel and a little vacation.  In the next couple of weeks I'll post some of the paintings I did on my travels - just have some finishing touches. 

This is the first cutting of Zinnias from my garden - love painting these too.  And they look so pretty in a beautiful terracotta pitcher I bought in Spain this past month.  I'll tell you more about that later. But for now just glad to be home.  This is what I do once I get home after I've been away for a bit.

1. Hug and kiss Baby Kitty until she howls and wishes I would leave again.
2. Cut flowers from my garden.
3. Thank God that my home is still standing when I get back.
4. Wish I had cut the grass before I left.
5. Go see Kennedy to see if she missed me - so far she hasn't noticed.
6. Make coffee and sit on my back porch.
7. Weed.
8. Paint the flowers I just cut for a vase.

Transition

Looks like I'll be in this state for some time - the "state" of transition. It's ironic, we pray for change even beg for it. But when it comes it still can be tough. I miss creativity. Since starting my new job - yes a blessing for a worried heart like myself - I've had no time to even visit those parts of me that use to dominate my life, like blogging, reading other blogs, painting, reading books, sewing, planning or even looking. It's been all work, long days. So when I do have moments - they are valuable and I make sure I make the time for painting. I have to. Last weekend I finished this painting... Fall leaves.Around November I walked through my neighborhood here is St. Louis and collected some gorgeous leaves to paint. I pressed them until I could finally get to finishing the painting. I really like this one. I loved the colorful fall this year. The first one I had lived in for nearly 10 years. So if I love the fall I must accept the cold gray days of winter. If you think about it, the cycles of life are all about transition - the way the seasons change, plants grow and children develop. It's a constant reminder that change is part of life. And even though this transition is not very comfortable, I have to remember that I won't stay in this state forever. So my mornings of reading in my favorite chair are shorter or not at all and I miss that time. But when I do have the time I can't even begin to tell you how much more I enjoy it.

Books or Fresh Flowers?

Like most people during these rough economic times, funds are tight and I'm having to decide between two of my favorite things to buy - fresh flowers OR books. Lately books have been winning. Over the last few months I've been buying books that just plain make me happy. And, all of them have pictures. In fact as I was sitting down with my newest book from ABE and AMAZON. I realized that when I get a new book this is how I enjoy the moment. It's a wonderful ceremony that usually happens around 4 pm in the afternoon.
  • Prepare hot sweet drink - chai tea, coffee or hot chocolate
  • Music - lately it's been the soundtrack from Pride and Prejudice which is gorgeous!
  • Get comfortable on my lovely couch
  • Open the book and look at the pictures first. In fact, I do that with everything I "read". I think pictures say great deal about a book and I tend to remember a book more from its pictures than its words.
  • Then if time allows, I go back through and read what I find most interesting first. There is no pressure to go through these books in one sitting. I usually don't. They sit on my coffee table waiting for me on another afternoon. That's the beauty of good "picture" books. For me, these books are great inspiration even if they aren't about watercolor or art in general.
Here are few of my top favs for the summer:
Simply Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy I bought this book solely based on the beautiful color and the title contained "French" so how could I pass it up. I was not disappointed. By the way when I sit on my couch and go through this sewing book I have a French playlist on my iTunes which accompanies this book perfectly - think Edith Piaf's Sous le ciel de Paris . I'm taken away to another part of the world where simplicity and elegance are so different. The pictures are perfect and oh so French. I even love looking at the instructions which are drawn out. Eventually I'll make something from this book, but if I never do it won't really matter.

The next book I bought because of her decor, funkiness and great fabrics Amy Butler's MidWest Modern has 224 pages of amazing pictures. I was unsure about buying this book at first, simply because her style is not similar to mine. But again, no regrets. As with every Amy Butler book, I've found that her attention to detail, her style and passion ooze from every page and I'm inspired to trust my own instincts be it in painting, decorating or just plain being. For some reason, I like listening to the Gipsy Kings when going through this book.

Just a few weeks ago I was going through my old Victoria magazines - (ones I had saved from the early 90s). I ran across a feature about a Midwest watercolor artist Alice Schille. She never married, but dedicated her life to being an artist, teaching and traveling. This is a rarity for a woman in the early 1900's. So I went to my favorite online bookseller Abe Books and searched for an old art book of hers. A note here about Abe Books - I find this an excellent website for used books and older books. Often I pay more for shipping than I do for the actual book. This is great for someone who is watching their cash flow. The only thing is that the books sometimes take a little longer to get to you. If you aren't in a hurry, this is a great place to shop. I find lots of the older art books on line and haven't been disappointed