Category Archives: Art Projects

Of course after a long and brown winter, I’m always excited to get out and put some color in my yard. Every year my attempts find varying degrees of failure! LOL. Oh well, it’s March, and that means I’m thinking about starting again!

This year, in addition to the flower gardens I dream about, I’m ready for the practical application of a vegetable garden. Last fall we finally cleared out the “garden” corner of our yard – the space designated for the “some day,” that has been piled with wood/junk/construction material for the past five years. Last Friday, with fine weather forcasted for the weekend, I conned Wyatt into coming home early from work so we could spend the weekend building garden boxes.

We built five -

2 4×4′s
2 4×8′s
1 4×12

Last year we heard of the concept of “square foot gardening” – where you section off your garden by square foot, and each square holds a plant. Sounds genius/easy/impressive, and since I have absolutely no experience in gardening, I am willing to try anything.

So I sectioned my garden off by square foot (in plan only so far). Do you know how many square feet I have? 140 Square Feet. That’s a lot of plants. (And my mother in law almost cried when I made my garden so small. Seriously).

Well, today I  made my plan for what to plant and where. I did research about what plants/varieties do the best in Utah, as well as what plants to put by each other so that everything should maximize it’s potential.

I’ve got a plan.

Now I need dirt – to fill up my boxes. And seed – to plant.

And then a long summer to grow my produce.

And I LOVE long summers.

21 Corn Plants
2 Zucchini
12 Pole Bean Plants
96 Carrots
2 Summer Squash
6 Pepper Plants
4 Cucumber Plants
2 Eggplants
2 Early Girl Tomato Plants
2 Big Boy Tomato Plants
1 Roma Tomato Plant
1 Cherry Tomato Plant
18 Yellow Onions
18 Red Onions
A Kajillion Green Onions
3 Broccoli
4 Pumpkins/Winter Squash
Lots of Cilantro
Lots of Basil
Lots of Parsley
And the whole thing lined with Petunias, Marigolds (which are theoretically good snail repellants) and Sunflowers.

And what about the excess produce? Well, I will can salsa if I can – and we will have summer barbeques with our yummies. And I love zucchini bread and earth bread. And then my ward always has a farmers market (where we give our produce, not sell) where we can all share our produce at the end of the summer, so I know it won’t go to waste.

I made myself a planting guide – because I was kinda bored today. At the last minute I added a “brought to you by” at the bottom. I think I will try “pinning” it and see where it goes. In any case, I now have a pretty plan.

Click here to download a printable planting guide.

This summer will be “The Summer of No Pants” – where my days will be spent in comfortable, soft, sweet skirts.

I was so excited I made my first one!

I made a pattern out of newspaper – reminiscent of my mother.

And then cut and sewed and cut and sewed this melony-pink tulle skirt.

Me likey.

“You forgot the question mark” was the first thing he said when he saw it.

“No I didn’t. It’s more of a statement than a question.”

On Monday they spent the afternoon preparing our valentines – signing their names, over and over and over again, each one for a different friend.

For Family Home Evening we made sugar cookies, and decorated them with pink frosting. Each love frosted their own. Everett had patience for only one shmear and set about eating his. Olivia made sure the frosting covered all the cookie real estate in neat even strokes. And Calvin spread his thick, thick and globby.

The next morning, with Olivia at her kindergarten party, valentines autographed from the day before, a special treat for her teacher to boot, and Cal and eJo happy to play with Ila who came to visit, we set about making more cookies. Because who doesn’t need more cookies?

Chocolate chip to be exact, Wyatt’s favorite.

Later, Olivia, Calvin, Everett (and Ila) went to a neighborhood valentines party. More signed goodies, more treats coming home! During the break I took Wyatt a little gift of home made cookies. We promised no valentines – but home made definitely does not count. (And then he broke the treaty and brought me home tulips. Two Lips – it makes me smile).

And then the little loves finished their party, and home we went for a sugar crash. Daddy came home early to play, and with a little dinner in our tummies, we set out to give valentines to all the friends in the neighborhood we had missed.

And when it came bed time the kids went to sleep without a peep, happy and high on sugar, exhausted on activity.

That was Valentines Day 2012.

I am so tempted to explain myself in this painting – to tell you all the things I was thinking when I painted it -

But I’ve decided part of letting myself do art in 2012 is not feeling guilty or ashamed of the fact that I’m not the most fabulous artist in the world.

I’m just going to let it be what it is.

So – January Painting

I’ve never used a calendar until this year – something about my spontaneous carpe diem lifestyle never seemed to fit inside that box.

And then I had kids – who went to school.

My calendar has been a lifesaver this year, with each day having multiple things marked: carpool, snack assignments, early day, doctors appointments, homework day, etc. etc. etc.

So for next year I decided to make my own. I’ve long admired a friend of mine’s calendar. They make one every year based on a template at kinkos or something. While I like the family pictures in it, I wanted a design a little more custom.

And so . . .

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

This calendar took me about a month to make . . .

I designed the grid/month/text in Illustrator using fonts: Splendid 66 & Pee Pants Script

Then I tore apart the PSD files of a book template that I have from Simplicity Design, rearranged them slightly to fit my format, and inserted some of my favorite pictures of the past few years.

As I looked through my old pictures to find ones for the calendar, I was reminded: Man, I have gorgeous kids!

Just saying.

Anyhow, at first I tried to have a picture from the featured month – you know, a January picture on the January page. But once I hit March I realized that wouldn’t work – for some reason I have very VERY few pictures in March of any year. Don’t know why. So then I just let it be a free for all and put in any pictures from any time that I loved. There is one spread/month dedicated to each kiddo. And I still need to get my 2011 family picture taken so I can trade it out with the picture in September (the one with the kids on the truck – same one that’s on the October spread). And I added a photo of each family member on their birth date.

Anyhoo- it’s been a bit of a laborious process, but fun. If you want to take a closer look, you can click on the image above for a humongo humongo version, or just visit my flickr page to see each month individually.

Now to find a printer . . .

click for larger version

A fun little illustration while Wyatt and I watched tv the other night. (He watched, I doodled).

This is a digital illustration I started years later of the Lemon Galleon I made on the reservation. I obviously never finished the illustration, but you get the idea.

When I lived on the Indian Reservation I made a lemon galleon out of paper mache.

And then I made fish to swim along side.

Paper mache fish with giant kissy lips and beauty marks and fake eyelashes.

And jellyfish with irredescent tentacles.

And then my friends made some too. Between all of us we made a plethora of fishies in a variety of characters. Emily made me my own bride fish and groom fish.

It was glorious.

And then, because we lived in a double wide with a vaulted ceiling, we hung our lovely creations from the ceiling with fishing line.

So that when we sat up at night and discussed the heavy things twenty year old philosophers carried, there was a whimsy of water love above our heads.

Aww . . . romance.

See my early fascination with lanterns?

Andi sent me a postcard once, with the following message –

When she heard the word butterfly, her whole insides leapt.

‘But what is a butterfly?’

The cocooned caterpillar explained:

‘It’s what you are meant to become.’

Yellow was intrigued, but a bit defiant.

‘How can I believe there’s a butterfly inside when all I see is a fuzzy worm?’

On further reflection she pensively asked:

‘How does one become a butterfly?’

And the answer:

‘You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.’

–Hope for the Flowers

This is one of my favorite illustrations. It was done more as a doodle, probably took no more than a half hour, one day after school in high school. But I’ve always loved it because I love the poem so much. I have dreams of re-doing it in a really awesome way someday for Calvin (whose birthday is in July).

A boat beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July

Children there that nestle near
Eager eye and willing ear
Pleased a simple tale to hear

Long has paled the sunny sky
Echoes fade and memories die
Autumn frosts have slain July

Still she haunts me phantomwise
Alice ever moving skies
Never seen by waking eyes

Children yet the tale to hear
Eager eye and willing ear
Lovingly shall nestle near

In a wonderland they lie
Dreaming as the days go by
Dreaming as the summers die

Ever drifting down the stream
Lingering in the golden gleam
Life, what is it, but a dream?

-Lewis Carroll

I’ve always loved red walls. I hope to have one someday.

The Mountains of the Moon – ‘El Dorado,’ EA Poe;
The Forest of No Return – Babes in Toyland;
The Field of Hypo-Allergenic Flowers – My mom’s idea;
The Enchanted Tree – a tree that lived down the street from me growing up;
501 Cherrry Lane, Hauna Lee – From ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’;
Stonewycke – Poem from 7th grade;
Eden – as in ‘The Garden of . . .’
Camelot – funky 60′s musical among other things;
Dharma, Dragon of the Sea – 90′s tv show I liked;
The Sea of Dreams to Come – Shakespeare reference;
The island of Shallot – home to the Lady of Shallot;
The Pirate Ship Crome – 7th grade poem.

I’m pretty sure this is circa 1998.

This is a charcoal done in high school. People can never tell it’s me. Oh well.

This illustration . . . well, it makes me giggle.

I remember I drew it on Andi’s floor, with her chalks, which I always admired, and was extremely jealous of (for some reason it never occurred to me to go buy my own). Andi and I did a lot of art on her floor growing up. I don’t remember if I was in high school or college when I drew this.

This is a picture that I did first as a tile mosaic for a table (in my basement). Later Andi left me her computer as she left for six months to Taiwan. As a recent graphic design graduate, she had all sorts of cool programs – Photoshop, and Illustrator. I spent the next six months feebly teaching myself these programs. This is the first Illustrator illustration I ever did (don’t worry, I got better! I’ll put those up soon enough).

Anyhoo – it’s an illustration, obviously, of the Last Day of Summer – aka, September 21st – aka – Wyatt and I’s wedding day. Oh, glorious day!

Picture done sometime in the winter-ish of 2002.

I have vague memories of coloring this during my creative writing class as a junior in high school. My creativity in writing must have been lacking that day.

This is a little illustration I did in the fall of 1999. (I remember, because I was in Russia. I did a lot of art in Russia). There’s a nursery rhyme about counting magpies, which the Counting Crows turned into a fabulous song. This illustration is based on the lyrics of the song (Murder of One) -

One for sorrow, two for joy
Three for girls and four for boys
Five for silver, six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told.

Please don’t mention the obvious kinetic reality problems of this picture – I think of them every time I see this. Sigh.

Today I woke up feeling summery.

That feeling of: energy, freedom, relaxation, don’t-particularly-care-that-the-bathroom-is-a-mess-ish.

And the sky outside had clouds that make for lovely paintings.

And I wanted to paint.

And then I thought of making glass stars.

And making paint shirts for my kids.

And then I realized: it could be an expensive day.

But I also realized: I have half a billion projects I’ve already started/planned that I still need to finish. So I’m making my list so I can remember and not be tempted to go for a free-for-all at Dick Blick or Hobby Lobby.

Projects I’ve started that need to be finished:
Emily’s book
Kerr Lanterns
Olivia’s Room (which includes)
Paper stars
Paper puffs
etc. etc.
Everett’s baby blankie
Boys room

But I did think I should buy a toad today – a really awesome, big, fat sucker that the kids can keep all summer (until they inevitably lose it in the grass). I wish I knew where I could get one free – because of aforementioned predetermined loss. Do you know of anyone with a big fat toad they want to give away?