The Artistic Mother

I've always had a difficult time with scheduling. Since we've homeschooled for many years and my husband has an unusual schedule, things have always been hit-and-miss around here. This has especially been true when it comes to my artmaking, writing, etc. I'm interested in so many different things and it's nerve-wracking trying to fit them all in. So I've tried different "systems" over the years. One is to schedule by the day of the week---divide your activities according to the day, i.e. if it's Tuesday, it must be painting day. Another is the school-day breakdown---writing from 9 to 11, painting from 1 to 3, etc.. These never worked for me. I'd be gung ho for a while and then peter out. After I read Barbara Scher's book Refuse To Choose I implemented some of her suggestions for a "scanner" (someone with many varied interests). These included a chart like the colorful one above. You write out what you want to do and when you've done it, you color in a block. This helps you see what areas you are neglecting to get done. As you can see, according to this chart from three years ago, I neglected a few! A week ago I found Shona Cole's book The Artistic Mother at B&N. After reading it, I decided to adapt her "12 week workshop" into a schedule. I headed the schedule with my three main interests--- writing, painting, and sewing---and put down what I would do in each area each day. This was working very well (four days into it!). However, I just found out today that Trudy Callan is forming an Artistic Mothers group. Bloggers will work through the 12 weeks together and post about it. I think this will give me the accountability I've been lacking in my "freelance" life. If you'd like to join just go to Trudy's blog and sign up. It's starting March 6.

Little Art Quilts

Today I worked on a series of art quilts sized 9" by 12." First I fuse everything into place; then I use satin stitching for outlining. Then comes the fun part---beads, buttons, and hand embroidery. Sometimes paint makes its way onto the surface. I love playing with color and texture.

O February

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." Albert Camus

They're calling for 6 to 8 more inches tonight. I'm glad. If it's going to be cold, I'd just as soon have snow.

A Full Saturday

Vacuuming the house, working on journal pages, scoring a new three dollar bowl, and seeing Percy Jackson and the Olympians with the family---a nice, full day.

Friday Night is Pizza Night

For most of the twenty years of our marriage Friday night has been designated as pizza night. We were quite poor when we were newlyweds so we would make our own pizza. After a few years we were able to afford Domino's. Then we became vegetarians and went back to making our own pizza again. We would get very elaborate with spinach, broccoli, sun-dried tomatos, and soy cheese. We even took our own cheese to pizza restaurants. They were very gracious about it. Then we had children and all that went out the door. Now its good ole mozzarella and pepperoni for us. Oh, and Coke also.

The Craft Table

When the Pilot and I moved to our second house in Beeville,Texas this wooden table was left behind in the garage. I promptly claimed it for my craft table. In our first house, in Milton Florida, I painted in the guest bedroom with an easel and a small table. I had a writing desk (which I've always had), but I was excited to have a big table to spread stuff out on. And it has been my constant companion through seven more houses. There's always a spot for the craft table. I now have two other large worktables, but this one will always be special.

And it looks so fun after a few painting sessions. I repaint it every so often, and then I get to "mess" it up again!

A Good Day

Busy captured one of the highlights of the day--- a box of books from Amazon. One of them is Built By Wendy: Dresses. I made a couple of skirts and a blouse from her first book. Looking forward to delving into this one.

Worked on a new art journal---a la Teesha Moore. I made her 16 page journal. My other journals are just sketchbook-like paper so it's been interesting to work on watercolor paper.

Plus, I'm using my Sharpie poster paints more and really liking the effect. Too bad. I hear they've been discontinued.

Artwork going on.

Well, I didn't get any artwork done today, but I caught Busy in the act!

Apple Crumb Pie

I made this apple pie for President's Day. I was going to make a cherry pie, but J3 loves apple, so I went with that. The recipe I use is from my mom's old Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book---the one with the red checkered tablecloth on the cover. It's called Apple Crumb Pie.
I have tried many different apple pie recipes over the years and this is the one my family likes best. The "crumb" topping goes well with vanilla ice cream.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Pilot brought these home yesterday. I love miniature pink roses. I hope everyone had a lovely day.

Joining in!

I'm tempted to say this is a test. This is only a test. After months of fence-sitting, I'm finally jumping in and joining the fray. Many thanks to my husband, the Pilot, for helping me set this up. And to my children, Busy and J3, for all their ideas.
After being inspired by several bloggers and their beautiful ripple afghans, I just had to crochet one. I'm loving it and already thinking about the next color scheme.