Uh Oh....

Oh No!! I'm in BIG trouble!! Right next door to my new favorite hangout, The Village Cafe, is a wonderful, fabulously creative boutique. They have the most glorious jewelry, the greatest gifts, terrific candles, and the CUTEST clothes ever! The name is even unique.... Jim.n.i. ....! The owner, Earlene Butcher, said she and her husband, Jim, have wanted to open a shop like this for years. She talked about "Jim and I want to do this, and Jim and I want to do that" so much that her family said 'You have to name the shop Jim.n.i.'!!

The jewelry!

The purses!

The clothes!

It is such a pleasure to visit with Earlene and to be in her creative world. Make it a point to come to downtown Bryan to experience this fantastic boutique! I will probably be there....shhhhhh....

E.A.S.T.

My sister and I went to E.A.S.T. in Austin this past weekend. E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) is in its 9 th season. Around 175 artists' studios were open, such perfect weather, loads of inspiration.

The event started 9 years ago in one warehouse, Big Medium, that housed 20 artists and has grown to one of the most highly attended events in Austin.

It was a great opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at working artists' spaces and processes.

The absolute greatest highlight was getting to see a long time friend, Keva, who has a studio at The PumpProject in Austin and is a wonderfully gifted artist! And to make the day even better, Missy, another long time friend showed up at Keva's studio at the exact moment we arrived!!

It was awe-inspiring to see that many artists hard at work making it in this industry. There is always room!

Liz Hill Workshop

I was fortunate enough to be able to take a workshop this week by Liz Hill. She is amazing! She taught us her method for unstructured creative figurative collages that you can see here. We worked on loosening up and getting out of that 'color book' mentality that something has to be a certain way. She exercised our brains and gave us instruction on interesting collage backgrounds. We drew with vine charcoal and watercolor. Each background was different. We drew from a live model and only had a few minutes to capture the 'spirit' of the pose. Time flew by because it was so much fun!! There were no rules...we used watercolor, tissue paper, phone books, oil pastels, charcoal....anything that was in reach. The drawing was especially challenging. I definitely have the bug to do more of this type of painting. It is a very liberating way to work.

Inspired by Poetry

"Accept Today and Shine" 10x10

I ran across an old bird stamp book that I had as a little girl. The pages are so brittle they just break instead of tear. I really wanted to re purpose them in a special way so they made their way into a few collages. As I was working with them, poetry kept coming to mind....not that I know any....but I felt it would be appropriate to apply a significant meaning to each painting. This particular poem said perfectly what I felt....."Acceptance" by Robert Frost. He talks about the sun setting as one bird is prepared safely in his nest closing his eyes and another bird is caught off guard but rushes back to his tree...safe ....just as it becomes too dark to see. The bird says "Now let the night be too dark for me to see into the future. Let what will be, be." We can control only what will happen today. We cannot predict the future....it will be what it will be. One step at a time. Don't waste your time looking back at things you cannot change or worrying about what may happen in the future. Do your very best with the day at hand. The full poem is at the end of this post.


Detail of the "Shine" reminding us to Shine for today.

The entire poem is written vertically across the collage. It is called "Accept Today and Shine"

"Flourish" 10x10

This next collage "Flourish" is inspired by poet Lisa Teres Fraser. She talks about us all having great potential to flourish and when we do, we discover the truth inside of us.

I've been looking around my house at what I have hanging on the walls. Every single picture/ painting/poster has a story. I love it when people ask me about certain ones so I can tell the story. These two collages all of a sudden took on deep and secret meanings when tied with poetry that touched me.

Part of the poem is written across the edge of the collage. Following are both complete poems:

Acceptance by Robert Frost

When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud

And goes down burning into the gulf below,

No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud

At what has happened. Birds, at least must know

It is the change to darkness in the sky.

Murmuring something quiet in her breast,

One bird begins to close a faded eye;

Or overtaken too far from his nest,

Hurrying low above the grove, some waif

Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.

At most he thinks or twitters softly, 'Safe!

Now let the night be dark for all of me.

Let the night be too dark for me to see

Into the future. Let what will be, be.'

Flourish by Lisa Teres Fraser

We are so small in this world

But have the potential for greatness

We must take the gifts that are given

Nurture them so they may flourish

The truth is what we seek

But it is also what we hide

So many years of living behind a wall

So many times standing after we fall

We are not so small

For when we flourish

We are seen by all.

My new favorite hangout

I love downtowns....big city downtowns, little town downtowns......all of them. They are interesting, eclectic, and always have a story. It's sad when a downtown isn't maintained and used with all it has to offer. My new town is restoring it's downtown in a great and exciting way. In exploring the revitalization, I came across a wonderful discovery.....an ART CAFE!!!!! It's called, The Village Cafe.

Their mission is to support all things local...food, music, and art. They house a revolving art gallery and live music. The Village Cafe wants to give all forms of art a stage to be enjoyed as a community. It has a big city contemporary feel in this small historic downtown. How exciting because I am a city girl!!! I found my new hangout!

New Greeting Cards!

I'm so excited to be able to offer these greeting cards!! At 5 dollars, this is such an affordable way to have a quality print. There are many choices here at my shop.

I really love how they look in a frame. Several times, on trips, I have bought a greeting card to bring home as my souvenir to frame. Of course, they also make beautiful cards to give as gifts or to write a special note inside. They are really a great size at 5x7 including the size of the card.