perspective

I have been missing from this space for a few weeks. To those of you who check in here, I do apologize. It has been a hard three weeks. First, I lost someone quite dear to me...lost in the sense that they are no longer in my life, though they are still here, it's complicated. I have felt the loss deeply and it has had me thinking a lot about trust, disappointment, what we value, the things we find important enough to take with us and the things we leave behind. Tough concepts for an adult to grapple with, I'm struggling to make them undaerstandable to my three year old (three today in fact!)

Next, a glass of wine spilled on my very new computer. All over it. I knew what to do, I took the battery out let it dry overnight and took it to the Mac store the next morning. Two weeks later I was told by the two Dutch people in all of Amsterdam that do not speak English that it will cost 1000$ more than I paid for the computer, to fix it. I was pretty devastated. It was only a couple of months old, a gift from my parents, and it represented for me a new beginning in my professional and creative life. I had attached so much meaning to it. I couldn't bear to tell my mom, I felt like a little kid who had ruined their brand new shoes, dollhouse, transformer, bike...whatever thing they really really wanted.
"Something terrible happened, I am so sorry to tell you this....I, um, well he um, well a glass of wine spilled all over the computer.."
"oh" she said "....what a relief"
"relief?" I said
" you said something terrible happened, I thought something happened to my grandson...it's just a computer ...it can be replaced"

Oh, right!

So I have spent the last few weeks regrouping, deciding what is really important, what gives me joy and what I can do without. I decided I love this space, new as it is, it is something I really want to continue in a way that is manageable for me in my life. I wanted to post every day like the blogs I admire and I made myself a little crazy with it. I felt guilty when everydayness won out over creative expression. That's what I am in right now, every day with a small child and a fledgling business in a new city. It isn't always glamorous and there isn't a lot of time to myself but it is incredibly joyful at times...and I learn a lot about myself during those times when it is not. I just needed a little perspective. I hope you will bear with with me as I sort out my computer situation...it may be a few more weeks, although I might sneak onto a friend's computer every once in a while to post something delicious...I had a few in the works when he, um, I, um ...a glass of wine spilled on said computer. In the meantime I am reposting this photo collage as it represents to me what is truly important.

shadows

Shadows have been on my mind....

Astulabee

Nicole Licht lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She studied fine art at Cooper Union and has exhibited her paintings, installation work and soft sculpture throughout the U.S. Under the name astulabee, Nicole stitches up unique limited edition and one of a kind individually considered fabric soft sculptures. Each one is created with many many hand sewn special details and carefully selected materials. Sturdy enough to be shared as a keepsake or heirloom toy, astulabee wares are equally enjoyed as soft sculpture objects, decorative ornaments by adults.

Print, illustrations, small objects and wearable designs are also often offered as one of a kinds or in small batches depending on the medium used.



I first saw Nicole's work via Small Magaazine which led me to her blog where I found the fabric collage tutorial she created for Etsy's DIY workshops at the Museum of Arts and Crafts. Follow the link for step by step instructions. I am so inspired by her work and can't wait to try this project.






Astulabee
Astulabee blog

coquelicot

Coquelicot is french for poppy. While visiting the seaside I have been showing you in my last posts we found a little hut by the side of the road. They sold bottles of wine, but you could also bring empty plastic bottles and they would fill them with wine straight from the vats. Jackpot! Upon entering, the proprietor would offer you a little glass of Something. The Coquelicot I am showing you here is a syrup made from flowers and it is what they offer to the little guys. My little guy was very cute sitting on the stoop carefully holding his own small wine glass trying very hard to pronounce coquelicot. It is really delicious and can be used in white wine or rose to make a kir or sparkling water for a lovely, refreshing summer drink. It is also good to bribe your kids with, not that I do that kind of thing. (Here I would wink if I could which I can't, but I always try and my son always says "no, only one eye"...anyway.) I found some online here if you are interested. I hope you Enjoy and have a great weekend!

palette inspiration: seaglass

sandboxes

Can you imagine what it must be like to be two or three and discover a sandbox this big?







This one has a much better wading pool and rock selection than the one at the park.

Treasures

Hi. I'm back. Pia asked me today if I ever intended to blog again or was I staying on permanent vacation. I knew she was going to ask me that. I'm back, really....and I have some lovely treasures to show you this week and some really exciting interviews and posts lined up for next week.

I always feel like a new year starts in the beginning of September, do you? Long after my school days I still feel like you get a fresh chance to make things happen, or change things up once the "school year" starts. I rode through the park this afternoon and there was just a hint of fall in the breeze, a few leaves have already fallen. I love summer but I really LOVE fall so this is one season change I always look forward to. But before I go jumping seasons let me show you summer by the seaside.

not enough hours...

I tried. It is planned out in my head, my lovely next post, but there are not enough hours in the day. We are going away for a couple of weeks, very early in the morning and with the packing and the cleaning....well you know how it goes getting ready for a trip. I though I might just finish but my dear dear little guy can sense in his sleep how much I am trying to cram into the wee hours and has woken up every hour on the hour for the last few hours...grrrrr.



SO I am going to wait because I really want to give this lady all my attention. What i am going to show you and direct you to is the work of her husband, Jon Von Pamer. He is a wonderful photographer, here is his website-check out his notebook section. He is part of a project called The ones we love which is breathtaking. Really, I could spend so much time looking through this site. It is very inspiring and makes me want to really capture and document the ones i love.
I will be back in two weeks. I have some great things to show you and I hope to have even more after this little break.

I will definitaly have a full post about this lovely lady.

in the works...

I know I have been posting a lot of flowers lately. I promise I have some other fun things in store for you, hang in there while I get these blooms out of my system. Here is a little peek at something in the works.

Summer

From Uniform Studio Journal


Martha at Uniform Studio has a really lovely blog. I found this the other day and had to share it, I think it is so beautiful. She originally made it as a contribution to this project, titled "summer is...". Her stunning piece has inspired me to create my own little ode to summer.









All photos by Riley Salyards

bees and blooms

We went on a little date to the Hortus botanical gardens earlier this week. There is a great butterfly house and bees galore, two very important things for my date. Everything is in glorious bloom right now and until December a unlimited pass is only 20 euro. It is a great place to get your green fix and then have a coffee.







Have a wonderful weekend!

Balloon flowers

These guys are beautiful aren't they? A friend of mine had them in her apartment and I fell in love. My son calls them balloon flowers. I did a little research to find their real name for you. Yellow balls is what I came up with, but I am not convinced that is their proper name. The best part about them is they dry with out loosing any of their color, so you can keep them without water for ages. They brighten up the room even on grayest of days.

For the little guys

I am working on a new line.




I can't tell you too much about it yet.



I can tell you it's mostly for the little guys (and gals too, my son calls all kids little guys), I have a fabulous partner, we are printing the textiles by hand, it involves some really amazing collaborations and I am very very excitied about it. Here is a little sneak peek.

raku

On a bio-dynamic farm just outside of Amsterdam, tucked away amongst fields and flocks Patty Schilder conducts her raku workshops.

























For those in the Amsterdam area here are a couple of links;
http://www.pattyschilder.com/index.htm (Her site is in dutch)
http://www.keramiekatelier.nl/ (Gill offers many courses and there are some great photos of the raku process on her site.)