Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Catching up on CED, and heART swap.

Well, I recognize how lame it is that it has been a very very long time since I posted with my CED projects. I have been sketching here and there, and doing art, some needle-felting. It is ironic that this month's theme is home, because I have really really been focused on my home the last two weeks. My husband had surgery, then my daughter and I got the vomiting/stomach flu/norovirus. I am also 32-33 weeks pregnant, so I am exhausted after taking care of people and my home all day.

Still, I have thought about CED everyday, and sometimes I get to sketch, even if it is just crayons and paper with Beatrice. As most everyone that reads here knows, I maintain a daily blog called still life 365, which is a blog for parents who have lost a child through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or neonatal loss. I post a piece of art every day from a different person. It is amazing, and I feel incredibly privileged to be privy to art in this way, and to share it with our little community. So, even when I don't get to do some kind of daily creative, I help spread the art-y love around. One of my favorite features of still life 365 is the newly started section called Artist to Artist. I interview a grieving artist about their art and grief. This past Sunday, I interviewed Kara Jones aka Mother Henna. You can read that right here. She is also participating in the CED challenge. The previous interviewee was Ines, again, she is also participating in CED. I promise that it isn't a conspiracy. I just am familiar with their work and their sons and their grief. I just love those conversations, and wanted to share them. When I think about home, I think about good conversation, comfort food, relaxing, art and ease.

Speaking of Ines and Kara, yesterday, I received my three cards from the the amazing heART swap. The awesomest part of the package was receiving work from some of my favorite artists--I knew everyone! I received a beautiful painting from Mother Henna herself:
 

The second one I received was from someone who has submitted a few times to still life 365, Amy McCarter. Her work is so moving and important. Her paintings are amongst the most commented upon on still life 365, which means she is resonating with a lot of other grieving parents. I personally had my breath taken away with this one.





And lastly, but certainly not leastly, the amazing Ines' carved heart rock found its way into my home. I feel so blessed.



I am in love with this heART, and now have to find a beautiful place for them. Has to be the altar, but we will see...My three contributions are needle-felted cards, which I have posted about before.

Beyond that, yesterday, I had a jizo commission. To be honest, I have a few commissions waiting for inspiration. I can't tell you why I haven't quite been able to muster the emotional strength to paint them, I just cannot. But jizos, I also paint them immediately. They require all my attention, my meditation strength, and my grief-focus. This one in particular was from a woman to her brother and his wife after the loss of their twins at 19 weeks. I couldn't let it sit in my inbox, so despite the constant cooing for Mama, I closed the door, meditated and painted. Here it is. The words represent the six realms and are also a haiku. I feel more inspired to tackle the other ones. Now, if I can just find the time...

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sunday. 02.07.10

 


 Home, Needlefelted, 02.08.10
Just feeling a bit home-y and literal today. I have no idea what I will do with my home now that I have felted it, but here it is. My daughter thinks it's booful, so that is success in my book.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Friday. 02.05.10 and Saturday.02.06.10

Friday was much of the same, still overhauling the website, rewriting sections, looking at consistency in the content. Boring but useful. Definitely in the cleaning house section of the Home theme.
Today, we are snowed in, and I made another egg and bacon magnet for my dear dear friend, and also on the home theme, I was thinking about the idea of nesting, and so I needle felted a very crappy looking nest with three eggs--blue for thor, pink for beezus and purple for lucy.

















Thursday, February 4, 2010

Wednesday. 02.03.10 and Thursday.02.04.10

Redesigning my blog still life 365 to be more streamlined. I think black and white are cleaner, and will focus on the art more. Who knows? I am still tweaking. Of course, I didn't do much of the html, except the usual tweaks of margins, colors, etc. Just not feeling terribly creative. Whenever I say that, I end up doing something a few minutes after that.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tuesday.02.02.10
























Eggs and Bacon. Needle felted magnet. 02.02.10


When I was thinking about home this morning, I was thinking about breakfast. Breakfast foods are so homey to me, and throughout my life, my favorite meal to meet people and share is a good diner breakfast. So, I felt compelled to make an Eggs and Bacon pin. After it was done, my husband said he needed for his work locker, and so, it will become a magnet instead.

Monday. 02.01.10

























Doodle of Bea with a painting. Watercolor, Ink, Acrylic. 02.01.10

Bea wanted me to doodle her and her painting. It is the only thing I did creatively yesterday though, if rearranging my daughter's entire room doesn't count.