Bird cages & Buddha heads

 I am having the best time hunting and gathering for objects these days. I wish I could wear a sign that says "Wanted: Bird cages and Buddha heads". These kind of things make all the other objects in my booth look happy and Hilly-fied...and bottom line is, they sell.
I now feel I have a hobby that I can really throw myself into and instead of taking energy from me, it only adds energy to my waking hours.

 To any of my local Asheville friends...if you have a box of items that you do not want, please email me or give me a call and I will drive over and take them off your hands.

Specifically I am looking for these kinds of things: bird cages, small tables, funky objects that need a good home and other types of artistic nick knacks. Framed prints are great too. Thank you in advance!

BOOth #88

I DID IT!....
 I finally took the leap and rented an itsy bitsy Resale booth at the Downtown Market on South French Broad (same building as Amazing Savings). Hart and I spent a few good hours putting together walls and whatnot and then painting it a cornflower blue to showcase wall art and whimsical objects.

 Why did it take me this long to feel ready? ah...that is the question.
I guess it only matters that I actually took the step and fit in into my already busy life. Now I get to yard sale again JOYOUSLY and reclaim my hunter gatherer spirit that has been laying low for years.

 Come take a look. You just go through the front door of the Downtown market and walk in a straight line until you hit my booth on the left. Booth # 88, Hearth and Craft.

 All I know is that when it is in the flow...it works. Thank you to those of you who supported me instantly and already bought something to grace your own abode.

 Really and truly, not much makes me happier than to think that I am helping find a home for a beloved, or gently worn art object....or for that matter, helping you daydream about what you would do with something if you did bring it home. The possibilities are endless and the Asheville love and support is pretty darn great too.

dream, expand, shop?

 

I went to Ikea in Charlotte yesterday with my Mom and Sister. It has probably been over a year since the last time I fell into the 6 hour shopping trance I love so much. I think my Mom may have been a tiny bit shocked to watch my Sister and I endlessly chat, measure, record ideas and lug boxes into the cart... But I must say, she ended up with far more energy left than we did. For me, the day was an example of pure decorating BLISS. I tried to be good and not buy everything I wanted because, after all, I am a financial counselor by day...one who is supposed to be doing their best to help others find options with how they spend; However, when it came time to take a close look at my 'needs vs my wants',  I got confused. I ended up calling the boyfriend who gave me resonating "NO", an iron black bed is not a need. (Oh well, lost that battle). So I came home renewed to save up for the Ikea 'Lillesand' bed. 

For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with the push and pull of buying and collecting. I sometimes find balance by donating and selling to consignment stores; But does the quest ever end?

Luckily...I am a little simpler and more peaceful about it than I used to be. It comes down to acceptance. I am who I am. I was born to witness and search for beauty amidst the chaos of everyday... I just don't have to bring it home with me every time. I can allow myself to walk away and feel inspired to save for it.

On my trip home, I thought back to the first time I put a purple silk dress on layaway with twenty dollars when I was a teenager. It was a really big deal for me and felt like a true 'high'...but the fun part was the anticipation. The journey of consumerism really can be a kick start to my creative ideas...and for better or worse, I heart shopping...It seems to be my version of modern day hunting and gathering.

inspired

*little iron boxes that hold beloved books

*a little word goes a long way

* sunlight on treasures from friends

*shadow box I made

*letter press card is from Origami Ink in Asheville

 felt like sharing....it has been a while but I found some time to post. Holidays were quieter than usual and it gave me time to set up my art table in the basement. This Christmas Hart bought me a silk screening kit (cheer here) and now I have no excuse not to move forward with my art time. I bought some birch wood and plan on doing some acrylic, mixed media with some silk screened additions. I fondly miss the days of pulling the gushy ink over the large screen and being surprised every time about the joy of printing something I drew. wish me luck on this endeavor because somehow I have to create a light box that mimics the sun so the image can appear...even though I learned this in my twenties, I have really lost touch with the process. 

However it is a new year and I actually feel ready to walk through any doors that help foster my own growth, creative-shaping and well being. I wish the same discovery process to you. Here's to a beautiful and truthful 2012.

floating dreams

                          
Sometimes I have so many day dreams inside my head that never come to fruition, that it is as if my hands are filled with some mysterious water that I can never hold onto. I gush over so many things that I feel almost jostled by loving so much. In all my 36 years, I have not yet found a way to anchor my self expression.

Recently home from a spectacular trip to Merida, Mexico, I got to thinking about just how fast a beautiful moment can pass us by. How do we catch them and make them our own? Beautiful images, the feeling of a temporary breeze, drops of water on a plant, the next business idea, an indescribable color, a rusty wheel...all of these things and more keep my mind constantly moving...but they don't bring me to my ultimate calling. It sounds selfish maybe, to want a true calling...an actualized waking dream, when I already have a well formed life... but i still long for it. I want to wake up with the creative purpose and intentional motion that I was born to do. Is it silk screening and water coloring my prints? Should I open that little store I have been planning for more years than I can count? Am I a resourceful interior designer that people don't even know they want yet?
...Or do I just work at remaining still and embrace my rooted life of loving my family, friends, home and a forty hour work week?

I watch other artists successfully balance the ebb and flow of passionate ideas? But it is as if I am missing the gene that makes me focus on any one thing for more than a few months at a time. So I ask myself these questions as if  I am talking into a cup that goes down into the earth and whose bottom I never find. It's not that I feel sorry for myself for having so much undirected passion and joy all the time, but how do I nail it down into the waking dream? How does the heart of the matter become the everyday work? 

Perhaps the answer, as i have comforted myself all these years, lies in experiencing all the beauty I can find and then letting it run through my fingers to wherever it needs to go next. Maybe my floating dreams are the gift, never to be planted in the ground, but to flow. To just go where they need to go.

i'ts a spring thing...

  Lately, I cannot seem to stop myself from grabbing Hart's camera and wildly snapping away at all the new things popping up in my yard. They are a total and complete surprise because I did not actually plant them.

 As the story goes...the seller who sold me this house was a whimsical and wacky landscaper who seemed to throw seeds up in the air and wait to see what happened next. Of course, this is me coloring the story with a sweetness that was not part of the buying and closing process. The seller and I...let's just say we don't speak.

 However, I feel a strong nurturing urge to pay homage to his green thumb even if only in a blog he will never see. At least I can forgive him in prose and pictures...and believe me I do think forgiveness is the order of this day as I watch the sun blazing on my unbelievable red Japanese maples in the yard.

 I am lucky. I work to pay the bills, yes, and I have an amazing support system which includes my sister sweetly leaving strawberry plants on my porch, But I am blessed with an abundance of good soil, and happy plants and trees of which I am simply a humble onlooker. The magic in my yard moves me especially because I hardly know how to turn on the lawn mower, much less to make a ginkgo tree grow and prosper.

so I thank you, Mr. Gardner, and the sun, moon and stars for granting me the time and space to enjoy my tiny patch of Earth on loan. Who knew watching grapes grow could fill my heart with song and an utter longing to be free and wild just like the child I still am.    
Happy Magnificent Earth day!

x, y, z & ordinary things

Today I just felt like posting something light and breezy, so here is a row of paper flags from my ever growing paper scrap collection. I simply cut out triangles with fancy edged scissors and folded them over the twine with a little glue.  When I walk in my art room I see little miniature kites in a cornflower blue sky.

I also felt like writing a list of 'loves' in celebration of Valentine's week... 

I LOVE:

• when the huge Carolina moon lingers over the hazy indigo mountain tops
• the wondrous amount of love that circulates through my life 
• the moment when the perfect paint color reveals itself
• the stunning acoustic guitar music in the world
• looking forward to a long awaited trip to the ruins in Mexico
• the day after a great yoga class
• a simple walk home with a friend
• when you know you have helped soothe someone with your words
• quietude, grace and gratefulness
• the beauty in ordinary things