molly irwin

summer show and tell

I guess now you know where my color inspiration has been coming from lately.  And this:

And this:

We are about 1/3 into our summer and unlike some of you organized Moms out there, I have not scheduled our days.  I needed the breather from all of the drop-off and pick-up times that I stick to during the school year, but the kids absolutely need some structure, for sure.  Yesteray, I think I've seen Helen (7) be as happy as she has been all summer, entirely absorbed in a new library paperback chapter book.  Note to self:  more library and more "home schooling" it's what they are asking for!   

We were so happy to see our good friends, Pat and Joan, as well as Jeff, Jim and Michelle, last weekend and take in a baseball game: Nationals vs. Indians.   These are just the kind of people who after having been around them, leave me feeling more motivated and full of ideas.  I enjoy every minute with them!

It's funny how the kids still freak out about team mascots.  They do not want these oversized, animated stuffed animals coming near them.  Joan practically climbed me like a tree when she saw screech, but they thought the "presidents" (costumed characters wtih huge heads) were funny.  So did I.  I don't know why there's just something about it.

Another weekend is already upon us.  Make yours everything you want it to be.

polka dot bouquet

Here's another acrylic on paper.  I guess I am completely into these vibrant colors because it's about 94 and sunny here. 

I must confess, however strangely though, my thoughts the past few evenings are already turning to fall.  Maybe it's the chill of the AC that necessitates a woolen throw.  The result is I'm making goals, including my free-time creative work as well as several professional projects, including a good deal more graphic design.  July is busy.  So busy with family visits and things.  So I'm thinking August: planning a little sewing, a little working with felt and a whole lot more painting, though I'm feeling a shift to watercolors coming on as we head into the fall.  My notebook is already splashed with ideas.

For now though, it's color.  Maybe I have one or two more vibrant summer projects in me before that shift happens.  Who knows?

book love

click to enlarge.

Here I am this morning thinking about doing another painting, when I came across this challenge about using cardstock, simply cardstock, to tell your story.  Well, that I can do.  I became side-tracked.

I liked the unlimited nature of this challenge and I could choose one of the stories I already knew that I wanted to document.  I've said it before, I'm new to "scrapbooking" so this was an opportunity for me to learn about my tools and techniques by doing, which is really the only way.  I can sit and conceive layouts all day long, but until I get out some paper and my journaling, I am not really learning a thing.  It went together quickly and I like its simplicity.  (I'm all about simplicity) -- just telling the story here in words and pictures. 

stuff I used:  textured cardstock: Bazzill Basics, photo strip printed on transparency, photo corners, stamp, ink, pen.

beauty @ Home Depot

Amazing what you can find there, isn't it?

edit:  I just realized, maybe somebody might think I bought a painting at HD.  No, in fact I did this one.  Just posted it really fast.  Had been thinking about this flower for a week.  It really did have these little x shapes at its very core.  Never noticed that before, in a flower.  Their insides are so complex and fragile. Alas, it was a "full sun" option, and we needed the "shade" variety that day.  Still, I may go back and get one for a pot on my sunny back patio.   

Thanks for coming by.

20 things right now

Don't have time to do a LO for this challenge, but it's fun just to make note of those little things that I particularly appreciate in my life right now. 

1.  Archer Farms salsa verde + blue chips

2. sound of a bicycle bell

3. tofutti cuties

4. small canvases

5. John Mayer - Continuum

6. salad bar @ whole foods

7. badmitton in the yard

8. AM sunshine in my bedroom window

9. red and purple flowers

10. brown craft paper

11. boxes of my old books

12. exploring flickr

13. pre-nap snuggling

14. the soft-haired, blue-eyed ones

15. cheap decaf from costco

16. the work of Quentin Blake

17. Nikon N65

18. $1.99 breakfast @ ikea

19. birds & bird imagery

20. summer visits: family, friends, fair, baseball, pool

Interesting how so many of them have to do with food ... hmmm. 

I promise this is true: I'm not sure what compelled me to include the bird imagery item, they're just so pretty and sweet and there are newborn birds all around right now.  But, just before I had the chance to post my list, I found a baby Mourning Dove in the house.  It had somehow found it's way in the chimney and we all trapsed up three flights to assist it out the window.  It was so tiny and scared.  Poor thing.  Got some pics, but I am 35mm so will have to publish that another day.  See how something poetic can happen when you write down your thoughts and intentions!

Happy weekend.

edited for correction:  it wasn't a Dove, now I'm checking the field guide and the web to find what kind of tiny all gray birdie that was. 

interview

Just read an interesting interview with Penelope Dullaghan @ http://www.diinterviews.com/.  I'm always fascinated by the process that artists take transitioning from graphic design to illustration and other more hands-on art forms. 

small canvas

We are having the best time with small canvases around here.  The kids are enjoying the new texture they are experiencing with acrylics and I am amazed and totally in love with the paintings they created.  The freedom they have with the medium is so refreshing and helps remind me to just stay loose with it too.  It's all about the fun, the experientation. They completely embraced this and now we have some cool art for our bathroom walls. 

just in

As I mentioned yesterday, we're just in our new spaces and planted flowers too. This is a big step forward for the Irwin family!  We've had guests sleep upstairs, but felt it was not quite finished enough for our own occupancy yet.  We decided this has been holding us back in so many ways and we just had to get some more space for ourselves.  The new plan is toy-free, uncluttered bedrooms and a separate toy room downstairs. 

We are all living much better for the move.  The rooms are still pretty bare, but I like the simplicity of that for now.  We'll install some art on those walls soon.

Pocket full of dreams

I began this project with a letter to myself two weeks ago and during the process of setting it aside to make time for other things, some of those things that I had identified as future goals had already come to pass.  They were simple really.  Simple for most people I suppose, but for me they seemed like something that would happen way out in the future at some yet undertermined time.  Things like flowers in our yard and moving into our newly built spaces.  I know for most of you those are no big deal, but we have been through a series of "temporary" living circumstances for a good many years. 

As these situations became realized -- almost immediately after being written down -- it occured to me: I am not aiming high enough. These so called goals I wrote about were really not big picture, far-off things at all, just a matter of decision and some ingenuity.  Isn't that most of what is takes to arrive at our desirable outcomes?  Yes, included in decision is thought-into-action, work, and practice.  But first, it is a matter of decision.

This thinking is not new to me. I've read the motivational books; I understand the concept: "If you fail to plan you are planning to fail." 

Ask a child "where will you be next year this time?" and they will quickly reply "I'll be eight, a third-grader, taking ballet and painting rocks."  They know.  They envision it.  Recent college grads and young professionals share this confident enthusiasm.  It is not just youth or inexperience, it is a bold can-do, nothing-can-stop-me approach that people respond to so posatively.  It is invigorating to be around.  But as adults we can get clouded by doubt and sinicism.  As a mom at home, out of the mainstream work-flow, how easily I have forgotten to plan or to forecast the continuing unfolding story of my own life.  Where is the pathway to my dreams?  What are my creative visualizations of the future?

They are here.  Right here, tucked in this envelope page. 

The handwriting reads: The unfolding story of my life. Ahhh ... the possibilities. 

I gave it some real thought, started over and dared to craft a story for myself so vivid and desirable.  Only here I haven't called them dreams, for when they are written down they become something more.  They become goals.   First came the letter, then this custom pocket page to contain those intentions.  I'm not crazy about the painted element - didn't quite come out the way I pictured, but oh well.  My little letter is housed quite nicely for now.  Thanks for the motivation Kal.

upcoming in DC

Click image to enlarge.

This is very exciting: an opportunity to hear David Macaulay speak.  I love his illustrative style, his books, his work, his story.  Really looking forward to this one.