rainy saturday. i’m relishing these gray winter days in southern california. love the softness that settles around the cottage on days like this. like a worn soft blanket. i think i would not object to an entire month of it. maybe a few days here and there of sunshine.
how much does the sun shine in the pacific northwest winters? i needaknow.
i’m rarely on IG these days. i deleted the app from my phone. i was wasting too much time when i wanted to be reading and journaling and sketchbooking. i’ll still use it for traveling…i think. or posting videos. or something. on all these matters i reserve the right to change my mind.
my social media of choice for the last decade has been blogging. it’s always been a good fit for me. but i do miss seeing some of your feeds. so i visit IG once a week or so and spend 10-15 minutes catching up. saves me HOURS a week that i’m blissfully grateful to have back. i know lots of people that have done the opposite. stopped blogging because that took too much time, and use their IGs like micro-blogs. whatever works!
anyway i was on hold dear’s account – michelle geller and saw her registered mail stamps. i had this wild desire to paint all of them. not from a photo
i wanted to touch the old paper and have a big pile to sort and rummage through. so i proposed a barter to michelle which she kindly accepted. thanks michelle!
now i’m planning to paint every last one of these labels. by that i mean i will paint at least 10. maybe 9.
speaking of painting labels. if you’ve tuned into my posts for awhile you might remember that i used to sell hand-painted quirky labels. i’ve been meaning to offer them up as a freebie, but just haven’t gotten around to it. i’ll be putting them up as a download so check my blog footer in the next day or so. i won’t offer any sort of tech support, answer questions, or be gracious and polite and helpful or NOTHIN’. just giving them away and if you want them you’ll have to put on your thinking caps and do all the heavy lifting yourself.
you don’t have to jump through any hoops to get them except the i-will-not-look-a-gift-horse-in-the-mouth hoop. k?
and now let’s change subjects shall we. let’s talk about deep space and television.
i’ve been a fan of this california poet for many moons. i was looking through my photos for a good pic to go with this line from a poem. and i couldn’t find one. but it’s so lovely i wanted to share it anyway.
oh oh oh. the beauty of those words.
television:
baskets. just do it. here are the reasons: zach galifianakis & louie anderson. gawd.
one mississippi. reasons: tig notaro love love love. her her her. also her documentary on netflix TIG. total stormy dark beginning, cloudy middle, and rainbow at the end.
you’re watching marvelous things. i know it. you’re eyes are feeling heavy. you’re going to tell me. you’re going to tell me everything.
Thank you, thank you for the labels! They are wonderful and you are generous.
I read Tig Notary’s book this summer and just watched the documentary this weekend. Wowza was that good. Even better having discovered thanks to Google that she and her wife have twins. Sweet!!
P.S. Those labels are gorgeous and your paintings even better! I do love your shadows.
Oh My Lanta! Your painted labels are so coooool! What an incredible inspiration! I’m thrilled you are enjoying them so much and it would seem this barter was def a win-win! I’m planning on getting in some sketching on my PS and JT trip.
As for TV suggestions, my list includes (duplicates and maybe new) The Crown, Stranger Things, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Baskets (LOUIE!), DareDevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones.
I’ll miss you over in IG land! I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I use IG as a microblog – I do intend one of these days to pick up the real blogging habit again, and I truly value those that do a real blog. Do what you can, with what you have, starting where you are.
I think buying those Quirky Labels when you had them for sale back in the day was one of my better investments – I seriously still use them all the time, and print out a new batch every so often. They are fabulous, and make even the most pedantic storage for one’s craft/art supplies look more chic and hip. And seeing how they have now morphed into your current watercolor endeavors is fascinating – your journey continues. I’m glad we jaunt along it together! and I’m AGOG with anticipation to see how you render the PNW. My heart yearns for its magic; one day I will be following my heart there and digging my toes into the rocky sand. It seems like that day keeps getting pushed back, and then moves forward, and then moves back – it’s all a bit whiplash-ish. But, good things come to those who wait!
I’m loving Victoria on PBS! Love your labels and Michelle’s too!
Thanks so much for the labels! A while ago I wanted to buy them but couldn’t find them. Glad they are back!
Winter is losing its grip. Today was cold, with freezing wind, but temps are going up over the next days. The first migrating birds are back, the snowdrops ready to open their flowers. Days are getting longer. February is the month that can bring warm spring days and icy winter days!
Hi MAM, Karen has it right. I might just add that it can be sunny in Seattle and pouring rain 24 miles away in North Bend and visa versa. The weather just decides for itself what to do to us. I love it all. Am loving the labels. Happy Sunday!
i need rain. cool. gray. yellow. and blue.
clouds sun water
all of that.
Mary Ann,
I am so glad you chose blogging over all the other methodologies out there!!! I love your blog! You make me think, you make me laugh… You encourage me to art in all kinds of ways and I would miss you so if you packed up your computer and other toys and went away…
Susan
xo thanks susan. that’s so nice of you to say 🙂
I second every bit of this, Susan!
I have labels. Your lovely labels. Some from long ago and some from far away. So many voyages those labels have charted. Never stop voyaging. TTFN VC
i will quit blogging the day YOU stop showing up over here. that’s a threat.
Dahlink. I will always show up. Popping out of one hole and diving into another. You how us bunnies can b;)
South-west Idaho ~ just west of Boise ~
Brilliant sunshine today, with not a cloud in the sky… low 27; high 43. The 2+ feet of snow we’ve had for the last 3 weeks is almost completely gone ~ several days of low 50s worked wonders!
I’m still working on a major cleaning, purging and re-organization of my studio… it feels wonderful!!!
sounds gorgous. woodstove weather.
I’m happy you’re still blogging! I miss blogs I used to love because the writers moved on to more hip stuff like Periscope. In the dead of winter, we get sunshine every day in Seattle — but only for about 20 seconds. You can’t blink or you’ll miss it. On the other hand, today the temp was in the low 40s, but I was able to sketch outdoors for 3 hours (a workshop) while wearing my down jacket and fingerless gloves. Not a drop of rain.
Tina
i tried periscope but it was too distracting for me both as a participant and an observer. your weather sounds lovely.
i dream of moving to a greener cooler place one day where there are tall trees and blue water nearby.
Well, I sure am glad you continue to blog because I sure do love your blog! I still think you just need to mount a permanent camera feed above your art table and just stream 24/7. I’ll pay.
Tig Notaro is a genius and I love her.
I spend most of my online time on IG now instead of FB because FB makes me upset.
Also, while we’re here, I have to tell you, back when you kind of switched from your collagey style to your painty style I was like, “What the heck is she doing?!” But I *GET IT* now. A switch got flipped, a lightbulb went off, something, recently, with me, shifted, and now I am really loving doing much more painty things and less collagey things. I think it comes when you start to want to control your art more, like, “I wish I had a picture of a bird to put here” and then one day you are like, “Well, maybe I should just draw the freaking bird.” Yeah. So, anyway, I culled three bins. THREE BINS of collage material (I kept two wee scrapbook paper-sized storage containers) into my “give away to my students” pile. Which is good because I now live in a much smaller house and have much less storage. It’s freeing, this painting.
i will always love pasting bits of paper together and now i’ve been in a drawing painting trance for some time now. sometimes i think i should start a collage only visual journal. but i’m not so good at having dedicated books to only one thing…
it’s good to do whatever we feel like when we feel like it right? 🙂
I still have those labels you made – now I just have to find them because you’ve got me thinking. I had printed them on very nice paper and the color just popped. The poetry quote is beautiful, like a benediction. I’m so far from being a techno, it isn’t funny. Well, actually it is. I’m still trying to figure out Instagram. I recently signed up and within minutes, I was racking up followers. But I’ve never put up a photo! Crazy. I stick to FB, but I’m re-doing my blog and having it be a part of my new website which is getting built this month. So we’ll see how that goes. I’m not a fan of commercial TV, but my current favorites are This Is Us and Emerald City. As far as series stuff goes, I have to wait and get the whole current season at once – can’t do that weekly thing. So I’m just getting ready to start the 2nd season of Poldark. I like the Outlander, but I may be the only person in the world who gets irritated by Claire. And, of course, Black Sails.
Carol, Claire irritates me too, so you are not alone. Not so much in the books though.
I haven’t blogged in a long time because I realized one day that I had said everything I had to say. Still love seeing what you are up to Miss Moss!
that is a noble reason to stop blogging i think… glad you continue to pop in over here.
Stephanie! I’m so gratified to discover someone who thinks Claire can be a pain in the drain! Thanks!
carol i guess i’m going to have to check out poldark…keep hearing it mentioned. outlander, black sails? mmmm will investigate in the future
The Crown on Netflix!
watched every single episode over thanksgiving week in santa babs with ma sistah! loved it. can’t wait for season 2
Love those labels – the real ones and the painted ones. And that quote is perfect. Really the best parts of my day are the hardest – to crawl, barely awake, out of a warm comfy bed, put on long underwear and bundle up and take the dog out in the freezing cold dark morning and again in the dark before bed, but when the sky is clear and those stars and planets are radiant in the inky sky (and when it is snowing, too), I am glad to be out there, enjoying the magic. Karen said it nicely (Hi Karen!) about people being shade plants or sun plants. I am a shade plant for sure and this part of Montana where it is cool and often gray, suits me perfectly. P.S. LOVED seeing Moss Cottage back in the day!
Wow, that quote is wonderful! Every single word picture of it! Those little bits of papers/tickets/labels are delightful, and the collage junkie in me will try to score some. I hope I am Johnny on the spot. Who is Johnny, anyway? Anyway… You are such a patient painter, to paint all of them. I just love them.
Sun in the NW winters. It just depends on the year, Mary Ann. When it is clear and or sunny in the winter it is usually cold or freezing to below freezing at night. In a good year, we probably have about half rainy or cloudy days, and the other half, cloudy to sunny, with a few weeks here and there of just sunny days interspersed. If you suffer from light deprivation, warmer climes may be preferable. Lots of peeps just take a vaycay to warmer climates for a couple weeks if they start feeling that way. As for me, I love it here BECAUSE it is cooler for most of the year. July and August can get downright melty. I see people as either shade plants or desert/sun plants, and they thrive best in their own environment. The rain makes everything so lovely here, with the moss, ferns, and emerald green forests. A saying here in WA is “In Seattle we don’t tan, we rust”. If you crave high country or desert, you can always go east a bit. It is still cold though, in the winter. It suits me fine,(I can’t stand being sweaty) but I am sure it isn’t for everyone. OH…and I love that there are 4 distinct seasons. I do keep sunglasses in my console all year, and use them all year. Hope that helps.
I spend far too,much time on IG.
Update on peacocks. They are still alive, but I don’t know how. I was feeding them until the male peacock started damaging one of the neighbor’s cars! That neighbor picks up cars and restores and sells them. Well Mr Male peacock could see himself in the black paint and decided it was another male peacock and started pecking the paint, causing a couple thousand $ damage. I was asked to stop feeding them in hopes they would leave. I didn’t want to get sued, so I did stop, even though it was killing me! They didn’t leave, and it was hard watching them starve. Finally I saw the neighbor at the store and she said to go ahead and feed them again, because they weren’t bothering the car anymore. That is because another neighbor put a mirror out for him, and now he stands in front of THAT all day. One day a coyote almost got the female. it is only a matter of time, sadly. So, for now, they are being fed again. Sigh. This cannot have a happy ending, ultimately.
Thank you for sharing your day with us. I always enjoy hearing what you are up to?
please keep us updated on the peacocks. i would feed them anyway. i’m rooting for those fine birds.
I will try to get some pics of them. They are very skittish.
Seattle weather today…woke to brilliant coral and blue sunrise, and frost on the ground. Now, almost noon, and mostly sunny with high clouds. I think it is in the low 40’s. Mt Rainier is fully visible. Maybe I should just give a brief weather report every day for a couple of months:)