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

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.

See my early fascination with lanterns?

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

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.