Studio Time

I am making a real effort to spend time back in my studio.

Working.

The time is right to put energy into my creative practice with gusto.

Now that Kaz is over a year old, takes two regular naps, has an early bed time, and enjoys some time at the local daycare a couple hours a day, a day or two a week, there is no reason I can not get at least 6 -12 hours of studio time in every week. I know this doesn't sound like a lot but it is something. Something which is very special to me.

First I spent time reorganizing and cleaning up my studio space after using it as a home office for the past year. Now that the space is in studio mode I am back to work. Paints can stay out and works in progress are easily accessible. This is great as I sometimes need to get to work fast when I only have a bit of time to spare. A half an hour here an couple hours there soon add up to sketches being made, watercolors being experimented with and dreams taking shape.

During studio time I am taking care of Where Earth Meets Sky business. I want to use some of my creative time to get ready for craft fairs and holiday sales that happen in the fall through Christmas time. I would also like to get my cards and prints into some more retail businesses. I want to update my facebook business page and learn how to connect it better with my blog. I'm thinking about setting up my Etsy shop again since it has been dormant for the past year.

I just finished a commission I had been working on for a friend for long time. I want to share all the commissioned projects that have come to fruition in the past year and a half. I created a wedding invitation, a tattoo design and a business logo with matching business cards. I still need to finish a poster/flyer template for a musician friend. Posts to come will show the work in their completion. I will also have an organized page here on my blog which focuses on the commissioned projects that I've been hired to create for others.

Giving myself a kick in the pants to get out of my head, take action and get to work has felt really good. Creative work brings a greater sense of purpose and meaning to my life. My other roles in life are satisfying but when I put energy towards my creative practice I feel more whole and complete. The danger for me is procrastination and fear of failure. Somehow when I take action these two negative aspects become weaker and quietly hang in the background instead of blazing in the foreground. I do not feel good when I procrastinate or am unnecessarily fearful.

I have found a website that I find particularly inspiring and helpful as I make headway organizing moments of free time to create art work in the studio. It is a space for mothers who are artists called Studio Mothers. There are some good articles there for those of us looking to use any bits of free time we have pursuing creative endeavors. Really the inspiration here can be useful and translate to how one may pursue any life passion. Sometimes we just need some positive affirmation to help us along the way. This is a place I can find that.

meme taken from studiomothers.com

First Year

Kazmir has had a very good start in life. The past couple of weeks I've been feeling reflective, emotional and hopeful as we marked the coming and going of Kaz's first birthday on June 29th.

I've reflected on his birth, the evening turning to morning when we worked hard to welcome him to this world.  It was a joyful birth and now I can say from experience we have a joyful little man on our hands . I've been thinking about those first weeks at home when I learned so much and grew so much. Kaz has been one of my best teachers. All along, not just those first weeks, but this whole year. I imagine this is one of his roles as we share our lives: mother and son.

I've been feeling emotional. How could this year have passed so quickly and yet in moments seem to go so slowly? I'm feeling a certain amount of joy and sadness. Everyday we welcome something new in him and about him and at the same time let go and say goodbye to another phase of growing. Little habits that are so endearing in the moment like his newborn cry,  his crooked smile, him laying in bed for hours nursing and cuddled against me have faded into memories as I now chase a speedy, curious crawler, stander, cruiser and drawer re-arranger around the house during his waking hours. This kid does not sit still!

I'm hopeful, a bit superstitious or maybe just a romantic. At any oppurtunity I look at the stars and make a wish for Kaz and his life. I say a prayer and Kaz is first on my heart and mind. We blow out his first birthday candle on a homemade cherry pie we share with my parents and a coconut pound cake we share with Josh's family and I close my eyes tight as my heart fills with so much love and hope for my little guy and his big life that lies ahead.

I pray and wish for his life to be LONG and filled with LOVE, BEAUTY, GOOD HEALTH and MUCH JOY. Happy Birthday Kazmir.

It's Mother's Day, May and time to work in the garden!

May is here! Hooray!  Tomorrow is Mother's Day...Hooray!  Happy Mother's Day to the Moms out there!

I've been so full, working on plans for my trip. I began a campaign on Indie Go Go to fund raise for my artistic pursuits,education and travel plans. I am out in the gardens working hard.  This burst of activity may explain my quiet blog.

I'm getting back into the grove of gardening and I've been putting in full days. My body is feeling it.  That tired, physically worked all day feeling.  Which is so good... so is the sunshine, the sound of bird songs, gentle winds, and rain drops.  I feel pretty lucky to work outside all day most days of the week.

I had a lovely visit to Pennsylvania a week ago.  Although Mother's Day is tomorrow, I got to see and spend good time with my mother, mother-in-law and my grandmother which was all a real treat. I also got to spend time with my dad and father-in-law and my aunt and grandfather.  My plans for my ancestral, folk art trip this summer has inspired interesting conversations about family.  I looked at pictures with my Grandmother Stella who was born in Poland and moved to America at thirteen. She returned to Poland in 1985 on a trip and she shared images of places and relatives I will meet and see when over there. Images of great-great grandmothers and great-great-aunts who are no longer with us were in the mix of photos as well as images of cousins, as kids, that I will see when I am in Krakow.  One evening my mother pulled out old photos of her family which were nice to look through and prompted more stories and connections to be shared from mother to daughter. Stories were shared about my tug boat captain great grandfather, my English ancestry from northern England, my mothers' grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins who I never really knew. My husband's grandfather and mother were excited to share stories about Grandfather Morris' familial connections to Poland. 

My grandmother and I spent time in her Philadelphia row home garden. She pulled some wildflowers by their roots for me to take home and plant on my land. I remember sitting out there in lawn chairs as a kid and playing with my cousins. Grandmom Stella still loves to garden and at 86 spends time out there most warm, dry days. She likes to weed, rake and admire her flowers.  Her tulips are beautiful as well as her primrose. She keeps a statue of Mary in the garden to look over her plants. Last summer she came up to my place here in Massachusetts and loved looking at my garden.  The garlic that I harvested inspired her to plant her own garlic last fall which is now growing. She gives me a garlic report on every time we talk on the phone. All the photos were taken last week at Grandmom Stella's garden.