Pika Package Power!

I'm all about the Pikapackage right now...its all i can think about. I am focused and in the groove of mindless creating...and I Am in LOVE with IT. experimenting, embracing the hand-made-ness of it all, crookied stitches and all.

as i glue, brush, snip and sew, i feel that i am doing exactly what i am meant to do...opening up my Etsy shop come May 1st is the next step. even my mess inspires me (see pics)
let me remind you, i create from a ranch-vacuum...i am literally all by myself in this, me and all my little milady friends and the freaky coyote that keeps running through my yard in broad daylight looking hungry. the choices i've made to live out here, have a bunch of kids, kiss the city art scene goodbye...have lead me right back to the heart of what I need: a global community of like minded artists.

THANK YOU AMY NG from Pikaland. Your excellent organization of creative crafty souls around the world is most appreciated!

knowing about this big world of kindred soul friends pushes me to do more, expand the image boundaries, draw that weird rabbit man i've been seeing in my journals for 20 years now.

Its all such a relief.

artful mess

It's monday

here's my current lovely mess.

like a mad scientist, i am most ingenious when all my beakers are bubbling and boiling...hence a delightfully artful mess on my work table.

Pikaland

I am getting my pikapackage ready for shipping to Malaysia today. Pikaland is a virtual market/adverstising place for illustrators worldwide. http://www.pikaland.com/ The pika package is a cool little way to get samples of product out in the world...i'm working on a few of my Milady Productions items that will be on my new http://www.etsy.com/ store launching early May. I am doing what I set out to do in New York 4 years ago...linking myself with the licensing market, fishin' for a gig, giving my best who-ville holler.

American Beauty

between the one stoplight and the next tourist town is a little valley where milady lives. neighbors help and hand write thank - you notes, lend time and hands, stop and chat in the road and always wave at least a finger in passing. families work hard to keep it open, feed the animals, nurse the calf twins, swap tools.

American Beauty is 24x36 oil on wood farm santo.., who is very close to my heart. she is the ultimate valley dweller and caretaker of all things growing and pure. she stands stall and strong in gentleness. she is my idol.

Birthday girl

April 16th was my birthday...just so you know i'm turning "8". from now on i'll be 8...

When i turned 8 the first time i remember feeling like i had just arrived. the world my oyster, childhood faith intact, moving independently in the world a bit. this is me truly happy.

Happy Spring! (despite the snow)

On Track

Make Believe by Sabrina Ward Harrison

This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy….argue not concerning god, have patience and indulgence toward the people….go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families….dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every moment (motion) and joint of your body…. Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass -

april 15th, 2008

On Track: this is how i know...how i fumble and stumble upon the treasures of my adventurous life. I opened my e-mail to find Sabrina Ward Harrison's newsletter with the above quote. and what's this? MAKE BELIEVE? a book based on the above quote from Walt Whitman full of random and delicious photos and doodles? and here i thought i was so original naming my art show MAKE . BELIEVE! instead of feeling like a fraud, i am grinning right now like the Cheshire Cat...this is how i know...i'm On Track...my thoughts run in the same vein as someone i admire and am inpsired by. This is how i know i am on track.

Milady goes to Santa Fe

I like Santa Fe because it smells like pinon and people, the real people are genuine and funky. rosie and i found a little farmers market and bought an assortment of home grown and packaged chili mixes from Gloria Trujillo herself...a delightful little woman all of 4' who has sold her family's farm goods for over 40 years. we chatted with the egg man who had such a nice chicken coop he thinks he might move in when his dad dies and rent the house out. i'm a sucker for old folks ...drawn and seeking some bit of wisdom.

I got a good dose of Santo viewing in and checked out the International Folk Art musem.

I never stepped a foot into a gallery.

I may never forgive my husband for deliberately zooming past Georgia O'Keefe's studio.

next time? leave the guys at home.

V-8 moment

unbeknownst to me i have been part of this bloggy scrap journal movement for a very long time. this is a cheap Australian binder that i used as a journal keeper back in 1991 when living in Australia. i like weird basic school supplies from other countries. this binder snaps shut all along the seam so you can add or take away paper as you wish. neat.
what's so wonderful now is the knowing there are so many others out there all over the world doing the same. I may start a seperate blog with all my old journals in it...well, at least the scribbly side of it, the collages, the travel logs the coveted collection of international postmarks torn from my very own mail ...and the most important one of all, the journal of Roscoe's birth.
i've been gathering up info and spewing ideas. this whole digi thing has got me right where it wants me: thinking about, getting excited about, producing, organizing, sharing ART! (A Real Trip)

Milady's Walkabout

I'm on to something.

I can smell it.

I've decided to pack up the kids, give them each a journal and camera, drive to Santa Fe and explore.

Our main destination: San Miguel Mission - the oldest church in America.

Check out this little santo ....living art.

I was told by a dear friend of mine to go to this place a long long time ago.

Something wonderful awaits me.

Milady meets her maker.