Collaborative Making...

Today I did a lot of sewing today. I cut out and sewed felt pieces for this game board for a project my son is making.

And a fun dinner celebration of 16 years of marriage!

Morning sky...

It is such a treat to enjoy winter morning sky colors through my bedroom window. 

Making gifts

One of my favorite things about Christmas is making gifts.  My husband and I spent our first Christmas together with the first floor of our townhouse turned into a workshop.  The project I remember best was a shadow box for his grandfather featuring photos of Chad, his father and his grandfather each with their Navy shoulder boards.  That required 9 carefully cut holes in a single piece of matt board as well as backing board, and staining and making the frame.
This shadow box created at the 11th hour is a bit simpler.  It is a store-bought shadow box.  My son has been wanting to frame the license plate to the car he wrecked this summer.  The photos were staged the day after, contrary to the picture, the adult took full responsibility.  It was his idea...

I'm also thankful for a home to create space for fun and celebration by these wonderful young people. It feels different having bigger kids this Christmas - thankful for the chance to celebrate with them and see them celebrate with their friends.

Cranberry ginger ale made it a particularly festive evening...

Home-making

Caring for a home is a way of making - making space for rest, gathering and nurturance.  My son is in middle school and so I have been thinking about how I spent my time in middle school.  My primary hobby was a doll house.  It was elaborate, a combination of store-bought miniatures and all sorts of hand-made details and accessories.  It was my own little world.  

It would seem this would translate well to home-making in adult life but the difference is that the dolls just posed in the space, they didn't really LIVE in it.  I've never really considered myself much of a home-maker.  If there were to be a theme to our decor it would be piles and raw materials, unfinished projects on every available surface.  

And yet, lately I have been thinking more about creating space and how that can be a kind of making. Today I visited IKEA and completed this couch make-over - it's yet another slipcover for the couch my dad bought me when I got my first job and apartment.  

It has felt harder to get into the Christmas spirit this year too - it feels like one more thing to do on already full days.  What brings me back is memories from my childhood of how preparation for Christmas was a time full of making - ornaments, cookies, gifts.  There is an awe and wonder I love about the lights and the tree.  

Community art

My son and I visited this beautiful installation in Alexandria this evening.  I have been thinking a lot about the need for positive messages and symbols in this time and was SO happy to take part in this.

Walking with a friend earlier this week, we were reflecting on this year of making project and what might come next.  She hears so well how much I am drawn to community around making and she suggested that maybe next year is a project to connect with other makers - this project and that conversation give me lots to think about.

Commitment...

I've been thinking today about my commitment to this idea of practicing everyday.  Some days it is more of struggle and I feel like I stretch the definition of making to find something that fits.  Other times it feels like this commitment hangs over my head as more of a burden than a joy.  Mostly, it is about return and accepting what is.  In reality there are many kinds of making and the kinds that I aspire to practice don't always fit into my day.  These are times to be present to other ways to create - creating space to be with family, food for nurturance and celebration.  At the same time it is good to return to an artistic practice in the more traditional sense.  And it is worth celebrating that return. Small steps help - to begin with getting out materials and just experimenting helps.  

The reality is that the making does feed me.  I'm thankful for the way the commitment to daily making keeps me coming back to practice.  

Here is today's watercolor practice...

And a felted version of a labyrinth ball...

Skies

Snapshot on my phone through the car window of the glorious sky and light on the water driving home today...

Thanksgiving

My making for Thanksgiving day included doing my part to make our meal.  It was fun to work together as a family to cook.  We had a quiet Thanksgiving here so it was a leisurely day of preparations.
My sons and I made muffins and pies from our pumpkins and used apples we picked in October for apple pie.  The boys decided to dress nicely on their own and were excited to use the fine china and silverware and to set the table.
Today I'm thankful for my family.

Pumpkin

My making today revolves around food and preparing for Thanksgiving.  We are cooking with a new kind of pumpkin this year and it's been fun exploring textures inside and out.

Our first pumpkin making was these muffins...

"I am for an artist who vanishes, turning up in a white cap painting signs or hallways..." - Claes Oldenburg

You So I wasn't wearing a white cap but I did turn up painting signs.  I repainted the lettering on signs for the St Aidan's Christmas Tree sale today.
I was also an event photographer for the 15th annual Fox Trot for Fort Hunt Elementary.
Here are some of the runners...

...and a beautiful view of the park in the morning fog....

It's fun when making happens in different settings in roles in the community.

Making Music

We had a full day today in New Orleans.  We began with beignets at Cafe du Monde and then walked around the art market around Jackson Square.  I loved seeing the variety of artwork and feeling the energy of artists working and selling their art.  There was some tourist art but also many unique and fascinating pieces.  These small paintings are on salvaged venetian blinds.

The iron work and decoration on buildings caught my eye too - like this door.

We ate lunch and spent time at the New Orleans Museum of Art.  The entrance hall had these great abstract pieces by George Dunbar.

And the kids had fun interacting with the art outside in the sculpture garden...

In city park, we followed a spot on the map noting where the Music Box village had once been.  The musical installation had moved on but we got to see these beautiful wheat pastings of portraits by artist Swoon. 

We then traveled to the Music Box Village to get to play in this great art installation created as a collaboration among so many creative people.  

My making today was making music in these creative musical structures.  I made videos of my family interacting with the pieces but am still editing...coming soon.

We ended our evening enjoying the amazing energy of a jazz performance in historic Preservation Hall.

Gators and Making Connections

We arrived in New Orleans today for a long weekend family vacation.  Here is a portrait of my sons showing 49 - Louisiana is the 49th state they have visited.

Our first stop was this alligator ranch - you can see below pictures of the kids holding baby gators. The tour was fun and informative and it was fun holding and seeing the gators.  

The best part was making a connection with our friend, Meghan.  A year and a half ago she was our tour guide through Alaska and the Yukon territory.  When she heard the kids were wanting to visit all 50 states and that Louisiana was one of the last two, she was quick to suggest a great list of things to see in and around New Orleans.  The list included her family's alligator ranch.  It was an added bonus surprise that this world traveler was home to get to visit with us.  

For me travel is less about seeing things as an outsider and more about connecting and learning about how others live.  It was great to reconnect with Meghan and to learn more about her family and their alligator ranch.  

Happy Halloween

My making today is these portraits - of my boys at Halloween.  I'm thinking about this tradition of portraits in costumes each year and I'm thankful they continue to cooperate with my documenting their growth and creativity.  Thankful too for friends who hosted gatherings.

Halloween Making

Today I hollowed pumpkins, practiced hair gel for a costume and made a fall favorite...

...roasted pumpkin seeds.

Framed!

Bald Head Island collages now complete and ready for delivery next weekend.

Also got back to visit this amazing sculpture at high tide...

Visual Note Taking...

We made the most of the last day of summer and spent the day kayaking Little Hunting Creek and then enjoying the last day of the season at the neighborhood pool.

My pool photo is about making memories...

On our kayak ride I enjoyed observing light and forms and imagining them in new collages...

I X Art Park

Today my kids and I made a journey - to Charlottesville to see a watercolor exhibit by my friend Werner Sensbach.  Along the way we visited IX Art Park and had a mini art camp reunion with Frannue, one of the cabin counsellors.

My making for today is photography, pictures to document our adventures...