Yesterday Silas was tired

and needed a nap (he's almost 2 years old),

so he cried and cried and would not be consoled.

Nate (his dad), took Silas out of the coffee shop we were at while we were still getting coffee and sat down in a grassy area with him across the street.

When we found them, Nate was sitting cross-legged with Silas draped over his shoulder.  The subsequent close proximity of Silas' screaming mouth to Nate's hearing meant his cries rose and rushed unhindered into his dad's ear (it amazes me how parents can do that).

Nate just sat there and held him tight and let him cry it out, so patient and quiet, even though people were staring and the volume of his cries swelled in immense emotion.

I have days like that sometimes, except instead of Nate and Silas, it's God and I.

And He'll sit and wait till I'm done, even though my overwhelmed spirit doesn't recognize the comfort He Himself is.

But soon enough, I'll find myself carried on His frame, lulled to sleep by love and tiredness,

one day closer to growing up.

when danielle came into work today

she asked, "did you see what happened?  one of your drawings sold!"

and there it was.

an envelope with a check in it from a person i didn't know.

seriously, it's the biggest honor ever to have someone buy your art who doesn't know you- who is buying it solely for the pleasure or meaning it has brought them.

this doesn't happen to me very often, so forgive my childish wonder... i'm still just so amazed and blessed!


i havent been posting any art due to being busy, but more is to come.  i'm playing around with relief printing these days, so stay tuned (that's yummy stuff, relief printing... to see some genius relief prints check out this page or this page.  these two women have made some very sublime and moving prints)

the art is hung.

well, the art is up, so come out to sally loo's to take a look-see!

only took me 6 or something hours to hang it... i had no idea it would take that long, but it was fun and satisfying to look around the room at the end and see the culmination of a few months worth of work.

i hung art, drank tea, snitched two day-old cookies and listened to iron and wine and gillian welch really loud.  afterwards ian took me out to thai classic.  hard life :)

and now that i have no show to do art for, i am boiling chestnuts, making vegetable broth and folding laundry.  susy homemaker and i are bff, for sure ;)

and just for good measure, here's a picture that we all need to see of ian getting pissed at his '65 ranchero for not starting and me taking a glam shot:

and here's us laughing about it:

i'm trying not to be shy but it's still awkward.

pen and ink.

can you relate?

sketching at the Getty

sketch from a painting called, "orpheus and eurydice" by jean raoux

ian and i went to the Getty on friday to sketch and be inspired.  we tried to sketch some busts in the wing that the impressionist paintings are in and found that due to distraction and subject matter, the drawings we were producing were CRAP.  

then we wandered into a more quiet wing of the museum and found our mental drawing "zone."

the painting i drew this picture from is huge- like 8 feet tall or something.  it was amazing.

my favorite part of a museum are always the drawings and the ones we saw at the Getty shamed every drawing i've ever done.  drawings used to be just a pit-stop on the way to a painting, so there is a raw, non-glorious element to them that attracts me.  i love thinking of the artist's hand resting on the blank edge of the page as they drew... i'm such a history nerd.

what struck me this time around, though, was the level of insane workmanship in the drawings that were mere plans and studies for paintings.  not a line or color out of place.  the drawings would have been amazing enough themselves, but then these artists went on to turn them into oil paintings.  i was challenged and inspired, for sure.

(if you've never gone to the Getty, please do.  it's free except for parking and it is a lovely museum.  the only drawback is you have to deal with LA to get there.  ian and i were  in so many near accidents this time around, it was staggering... so good luck :)

practice sketches

drew these today at sally's looking at a picture of henry ford.

i've not been drawing too much in the last week.  sometimes i get discouraged with it, which is why i chose just to do some practice sketches today.  pen and ink is such a fun challenge :)