Last night on my drive home,

Sunset over Lake Megunticook

I had to stop.

friends and family

It is a glorious monday in Maine, the breezy air is sweet with the sea and the spring blooms are electric against the dark earth.  It is a day that is hard to be inside.  I want to be out, digging or pedaling or hiking, but that will come later.  For today, I wanted to share some sites of friends and family who have new or new-ish on line presences.  Please visit their sites and share your thoughts!

i just got this buckle in time for spring

First I will introduce you to my lovely sister-I-never-had-in-law, Andrea.  Andrea lives in Rhode Island, is married to my brother (no small feat), is a mom to three young darlings, caring guidance counselor by day, and super crafty by night!  Andrea makes fun belt buckles that you always want just one more of.  Andrea sells on etsy and at local craft fairs in New England.  Here is her etsy.

I want this

Next, one of my dearest friends Julia.  Julia and I met when my daughter was just barely two weeks old, almost 15 years ago.  Like Andrea, Julia is a married mother of three, and hers are, gasp, teenagers!  She works full time at the Family Place in Norwich, Vermont with their Families Learning Together Program.  She is a long time jeweler and I LOVE her work.  In fact most of what I wear on my fingers and ears and neck is made by Julia.  She also has taught some of her Moms to make a line of jewelry at the Family Place.  See her new web site- it has links to her etsy, her work at The Family Place, and also work by her two daughters Elsa and Grace.

2011 xmas card, Chris Purdin

Finally today, husband and wife team of Chris and Emily Purdin.  This creative couple met at the Savannah School of Art and Design, fell in love, got married (pulled off a very beautiful, creative, personal wedding) moved to the other Portland (Oregon), had a little Gus and a bunch of chickens!  Chris is an illustrator/animator and we are all wait anxiously for his funny xmas cards every year.  He's worked on TV, film and print, and is working on his own book(S) as well in his spare time. Here is his website.

hedge hog hiker logo- Emily Purdin

Emily is one of my very few girl cousins and she is a textile/seamstress Goddess. Emily has designed fabrics, made a line of lampshades and accessories for children's rooms and is now focusing on a line of children's clothing called Hedgehog Hiker-inspired by the needs of kids living in the pacific northwest-staying warm and dry and looking fab!  

I hope you enjoy taking a peek into these sites and share them as you will!!

another small panel

8x8"

I'm making some more mixed media one day pieces

the marbled paper in this was made by moi as well

messing around

sometimes I draw

sometimes I paint

sometimes I print

sometimes I collage

but usually not all at the same time

charting new waters

its been chilly, rainy, misty, foggy

gulls squawking overhead 

the air is full of the sea

i love that smell

living on the coast of Maine

you might think that more of my art 

would have a nautical theme to it....

while I try out some new imagery, 

my little one ( in blue)

flies through the water at her first high school regatta

so much fun!

my sometimes day job

I have been working though out the school year on a really fun project involving printmaking, middle schoolers and my favorite art teacher Kristen Andersen.  Kristen and I collaborated together on the Alphabet Project.  The goal of this project was to have each student contribute 2 letters to our alphabet. As part of an ongoing effort to improve the vocabulary of our students, Principle Maria Libby and Literacy Coach Michelle Gabrielsen have been working to introduce grade academic vocabulary (GAV) throughout the year.  In a spring celebration at the school, we will be using the letters created in our yearlong project to highlight as many of the words as possible in a temporary installation in the school’s main corridor. 

Students learned various methods of printmaking throughout the year.  We covered gelatin prints, linoleum prints, collographs and monotypes with collage.  The students learned about illuminated manuscripts, transferring their images in reverse, the use of printing tools and a printing press, positive and negative space, color theory and texture.  For a student exhibit this week at the CMCA, we chose to spell out words inspired by the creativity we see in the students everyday in the classroom.

The Alphabet Project was funded through a grant from Youth Arts, a non-profit organization I am involved with here in Maine.

back home

to lovely afternoon light

casting long shadows across the yard

settling back into routine

walk, studio, garden, bike

and taxi service

highlight of our college tour week:

an early morning bike ride with my man-child