in between beach combing and keeping company with the stacks of books in my montecito cottage, i found some things to draw & paint on the overflowing shelves.
how good to sit in the quiet of that big room and work away in my sketchbook.
one november day, someone picked up an inky red stamp and pressed it down onto this paper. 114 years later i glued it into my sketchbook.
december is here!
my mind has already swiveled around and is facing the wild northern coast.
meanwhile at school we’re preparing for the winter concert, painting pine branches on black paper, practicing our cursive, writing stories, reading books, doing long division.
i wonder what you’re doing…
I’m waiting for Christmas break, more or less. Just finished 30 Days of Thankful in November. I want to make another Paris stitchbook for my mother. I”m obsessed with Tim Holtz’s Paper Dolls and hand-coloring them.
I could go on but I won’t! 😉
Cursive? You teach cursive? Is that just you or are schools in CA still teaching it? That is wonderful.
Children begin to learn cursive in 3rd grade and continue perfecting the skill up through middle school if their teacher continues practicing with them. Most don’t explicitly teach it anymore. I do, because I enjoy it and find it very calming.
My heart always gives a little leap when I see your sketchbook pages! Those books are fabulous. And the fancy alphabet letters and antique ephemera – such good stuff. Cold and snowy here; fresh bear tracks in the yard the other day, so they’re not yet hibernating. Addressing Christmas cards this afternoon.
i love hearing about your snowy wonderland up there in montana. i would be so excited to see bear tracks!
I lived in Montecito in the early 70’s !! Beautiful area!! We are renovating an old building- 1843 in Fredericksburg VA, to become the new site of our 3d art gallery- Artful Dimensions. We have just been given the gift of heat so we can take off a few layers and hang sheet rock in more comfort. We will miss the holiday shopping season but will start the new year off with a bang in our new spot on the Main street thru old town Fredericksburg!! Wish sometime you might think about coming east for a visit – I have spare bedroom always available- !! Happy Arting!!
Montecito in the 70’s – oh how wonderful! I do need to get east. it’s a foreign country to me!
You wonder what we’re doing? hahaha
Well I’m sort of celebrating/grieving. A roller coaster combo kind of day. Today was my last day of work after being with the same company for 17 years. I truly don’t know what to think, how to feel. So I spent the day intermittently crying and getting my studio ready for full-on artist activity. It all just feels so odd.
So that is what I’m doing.
Always enjoy your posts. Great colors, fun subject matter, thought provoking.
hi mary ann. your happy dispatch just popped up while I was working on my finals. time for a brain break. I just turned 60 and here I am enrolled in a college course! I am looking forward to a few weeks off till the next term. thinking about what I will do when the time allows. I will smash more dishes to add to my greenhouse mosaic wall. I will plant some bulbs and clean up some flower beds. I will walk in the rain and doodle in my journals. I would love to take a trip to the coast and watch the stormy ocean. and then I will be ready to get back to this college stuff. I’ve never been in college till now. I’ve raised 4 pretty amazing peeps and have always wanted to get a little more education. I may need to go back to work with health care issues ahead, so I am improving my chances at a better job than an educational assistant. My husband is retired. that’s what I’m doing. thanks for your lovely art and your lovely writing. lori
i think that’s pretty great that you’re in college! GO LORI!!!!!
I want to be the bird opposite the books and stare at them for hours!
Hi Mary Ann,
Always a treat to see a peak of your sketchbooks! I am enjoying some quiet time too, sorting through collage ephemera and perusing some blogs. Binge watched Full Tilt Boogie videos yesterday before my membership expired – how can 2 years go so quickly !!! Kinda wishing I could just stay at home and make journals and sketch .
me too!!!