totes adorbs!

the cute factor in this video is off the charts!

happy birthday Jesus, and merry christmas y'all!

paint speaks

I told a friend 'I am painting little miss's bureau tonight' and she asked me 'what color?' and I responded, 'I  don't know yet, I am making custom colors as I go' and she called me quite the 'arteeest'.
Flattering, but I kind of shied away from it. Why? Well, I didn't actually have a 'plan' of what I was going to create. For a perfectionist like moi, sometimes no plan is the best plan. Because if I know exactly what it is I want and can't active it, I am disappointed in myself *creatively*. I am my worst critic. So, instead, I make a point to throw out a plan and listen to the paint.  Paint speaks, and I strive to listen. When I dive into a project and just let my heart be open, and my options wide, I am able to create outside of my box. Go with the flow and throw fear out. Because there's nothing that white primer and 60 grit sand paper can't fit. That's how God feels to me. He speaks, and I try my best to listen with earnest. And I respond, and sometimes what happens in my heart is beautiful and inspiring. Sometimes I mess up and overdo it, and try too hard to make [or be] something perfect, or something that I have seen before. And that's when God steps in with the white out and we start over. He doesn't want us to be someone else, or do something that has been previously created and perfected. He wants to create something new in us, through us. Many beautiful scriptures describe being a new creation:
Ephesians 4:24 -And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Isaiah 65:17 - Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, not will they come to mind.

See, white out. And the running theme, 'create something new'.

I love God. I don't think I say that enough on this little blog. But seriously, I do.  It so inspiring to serve a Creator that loves to create something new in me, every day. So friends, let's throw out fear of failure and mistakes and just let God create something new in us. Primer and sandpaper is always there.

kick in le pants.

Today I woke up and thought 'I need a swift kick in the pants. I need to GET GOING! I need to seize the day. I need to juice! Exercise! I need to create art, and cook and clean and raise my son with joy. No one is going to hand me my creative energy on a silver platter! Hello!?'

After my mental pep talk I found this quote on Leigh's blog.

The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and somthing else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

- Chuck Close

Quote, Photo

Kick in le pants just got seriouz yo!

So if you needed a kick, I hope you got it. Now scram! Go make/do/be something productive and lovely and inspiring and wonderful. We all have it inside us, sometimes we just need someone to reach in and pull it out, even if that someone is yourself.

so much love, Y

party planning preparations

My son turns 1 in a week!

Party planning and preparations are in full swing.

The theme (why not have a theme?) is Robots and all space related manner.

So I've been cutting up cardboard boxes & painting up the wazoo.

Robots and spacecrafts and rockets oh my! So fun!

Here's a sneak peek at the props for the photo booth.

Rue had to get in on the action!

There definitely will be a reflective & sappy 'my-baby-turned-one!' post soon, but I can't stop this run-away train just yet! There are stars & galaxies to be cut, pom-poms to be made, menu's to be planned, and cakes to be bought. I think all of the 'stuff' I am doing is helping distract me from the bittersweetness of saying goodbye to the baby and hello to the toddler. Mama's just not ready yet. Maybe some libations will help. [I can serve Mojitos at a kid birthday, right?]

Not quite used to life flying by me like this.

xo.

Rue Magazine

Lo and behold, there is an online fashion/home decor magazine called Rue. So cute!

[I am quite partial to all things Rue, after all]

The magazine just came out with it's premier issue, and from what I can tell, I like!

Enjoy.

xo, Y

shameless plug

Not to toot my own horn here....but *toot* *toot* !

I am married to one smart, talented & swooningly handsome man. Chris started a side business creating beautiful, one of a kind light fixtures and I am here to brag on him.

Recently a friend and gallery owner of HMAC approached him about making 12 lights for his theater. We are excited about gaining exposure in our city's art scene!

Check out his etsy shop! And, please, remember to support your local artisans.

flashlight & fire art

our friend mike invited us to go 'light tagging' with him under a bridge in downtown.
thanks to a slow shutter, we captured these. who knew flashlights and flaming steel wool could be so awesome?

chris kissing my baby belly:

my Chihuly inspired piece:

here's where we got competitive. May I introduce Darth Vadar:

Pac-man:

And my MJ 'thriller' pose:

tulips:

a love note from my teeth

the best part is leaving.

stale florescant lighting. the smell of latex. handles and tubes covered in plastic. as I lay uncomforably in my chair turned bed, the stranger with a blinking birthday pin has her rubber gloves in my mouth. sharp metal tools lay to her right. my eyes search for something to look at. it finds no tv like I was hoping for, only gold twirly birthday celebrations hanging from the dropped ceiling and photos of black cancer gums. then she starts talking. I dont know who's more uncomforable here, me or her. she is, after all, the one with her fingers in my mouth. maybe the silence is more awkward for her, so she makes lame jokes and comments on things, as though, she expects me to answer. 70 bucks i'm shelling out to have her rubbery fingers jarr my mouth apart and make talking sound like a chore. there's pain too, of course, where her metal tools scrape away the tartar. I grimace, she says sorry, I'm doing this the best I can. pahf! I get ansty by the moment, swallowing excess pools of saliva, and it was then she turned on the sucker. the sound of air being sucked rapidly into a little tube, sckkooooooooooooooo, and the sckoopppPPP! the sound of my cheeks hallowed from moisture. here, a little squirt of water for you, swish it, ok, sckkoooopppPPP! ah, those 4 ounces of water feel like an oasis. she tells me, brush the insides better. ok, lady will do. enters male dentist. hello, how are you, any sensitivity? nope. good. ok...........8 seconds later.... you're in great shape, see you later! exits doctor. wow, how much is HE getting paid? I get my free toothbrush, and get the hell out of there.

the best part is leaving...6 months is all I have.