Out WIth the Old and In With the New: The Art on our Walls

I am happy to say that Aaron's been selling quite a few paintings as of late.

I am sad to say that I miss them when they go.

To see him making his art, the things that are inside him and who he is, and to know that people get it and like it, well, it's wonderful.

Making art makes Aaron happy.

Making art that people enjoy makes Aaron happy.

All of this makes me happy, too.

I guess it's just that even when it's for a good reason, it's still always hard to say good-bye.

The first big painting he did for us, one that hung on our walls through James' first 3 years of life, and then sold to a friend, is still missed.

It was a pair of giant Converse high tops.  (see it here)

James learned what a star was from that painting while it hung in our living room.

He still talks about it sometimes.

Then there was this painting that Aaron sold a while back.

James actually cried when he found out Aaron sold it.

We recently said goodbye to our trailer, Bambi.

Many of our friends expressed dismay that it was for sale.

"It is so you!' they said, "you can't sell it."

But Aaron took it off our walls.

Still, when Aaron got the call that it had sold, he said he felt just a little bit sick to his stomach.

It was a real favorite.

That's the hard thing about the art on our walls--it becomes a part of us, and thus, it is hard to say good-bye.

It's exciting to watch Aaron's paintings sell, and to know that people love them like we do.

But I won't say we don't miss them.

The above painting, "I Like Eich" is Aaron's newest.

I love it so much.

So, so, much.

If you are at all a fan of mid-century architecture, then you are probably familiar with the name, Joseph Eichler.

You know his houses.

And, if you are like me, you wouldn't mind living in one some day.

This painting celebrates the classic Eichler houses.

The windows, the roof lines, and the clean, modern look that makes them so special.

Eichler was not the architect, but the developer of the communities that bear his name.

But because he had an penchant for modern design, his houses all share a similar design sense.

It's one that Aaron and I, and many other people, like very much.

Aaron designed the painting and it is all painted free hand.

He is amazing like that.

It's perfect for someone who really Likes Eich!

Right now, there is only one painting, but he hopes to make prints like it soon.

Which is good news to me, because he took this painting off my kitchen wall this morning and took it to sell at Just Modern in Palm Springs.

Hopefully I'll at least get a print, right?

If you've been reading my blogs for any amount of time, you might remember some of the other paintings that we've had hanging in the house.

First there was ICE.

I loved ICE and we had it for a couple of years before Aaron thought of selling it.

He sold it ast week.

Getting this note from the new owner helped:

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm the new owner of "ICE" - just purchased it today from a shop in Palm Springs.  From the second I saw it, I loved it! "

That's the kind of thing that makes an artist's heart happy.

And his wife's heart swell with pride.

After ICE was gone, Aaron made the Bear, which he titled Promised Land.
I also loved this one.
We didn't have him up for too long.
He sold at Aaron's recent show.

I suppose the reason we love these paintings so much, aside from the fact that Aaron made them and we're his biggest fans and think everything he does is great, is that they are just a part of our life in our home.

We do a lot of living with these paintings.

See?

And now that Eich is gone, the wall in the kitchen looks awfully bare.

Good thing I know an artist who can fill it back up again.

At least for a while.

You know what they say, the cobbler's children never have shoes, the doctor's children are always sick, and the artist's home always has bare walls.

Perhaps it's time for me to commission my artist for my very own piece.
The kids want their own paintings too.
We all thought it high time Aaron make each of the kids their very own painting to keep for always.
He was going to do it for Christmas.
But in the hustle and bustle of it all, we both forgot.
I think some birthday paintings are in order.
I guess I'm going to be keeping my painter busy for a while.
That is the fun part about all this, I do love seeing what he's going to come up with next.
It's always such a good surprise.

If you're still bothering to read this blog, thanks!
I'm hopeful there will be more regular posts in the new year.
The new year is nothing but full of good hopes, right?
So, I hope I'll be seeing you soon!

Love from,

Greta

PS.  Aaron is working on getting a website up and running where he can show some of his hand carved, linoleum block prints, paintings and hopefully silk screened and giclee prints as well.  

I'll let you know when it's operational.

For Your Christmas List: Books About Nature by Thornton Burgess

Hi friends!

It hasn't even been a month, and yet, here I am.

I'm hoping to get a few of these posts in before Christmas, but we'll see how that goes.

Most of the time I am an optimist, so I'll believe that those posts are going to get written.

I don't know about you, but I'm thinking about Christmas gifts.
I've even gotten a few.
And I have my list of the things I am making for people all written out.

In my head.

It's not even December, so I am waaaay ahead, right?

Ha!

I've never been one of those, "it's August and I'm already done with my Christmas shopping!" kind of people.

I'm more like, "it's Christmas eve and I'm still wrapping presents!  Ahhhh!"

We'll see where this Christmas eve finds me.

The optimist in me says I'll be watching the Christmas pageant and playing games with my family, not hiding in the back room wrapping gifts.

In an effort to help you give less plastic stuff that will only be donated to the Goodwill in a matter of months, I thought I'd share one of my favorite gifts to give every Christmas: BOOKS!

Each Christmas, I choose a special book for each one of my children.

The book is hardcover, and is meant to be a book they will keep forever.

I like to think that by the time they have their own kids, each one will have the start of a fabulous book collection.

The books are different each year.

Sometimes they reflect the current interest of the child, or reflect the child's personality at the time.

No matter what, I chose each book especially for each child.

I like books with beautiful illustrations, or great design, and good writing.

Some are new, some are vintage, but they are always timeless sort of books, not trendy.

No biographies of Justin Beiber here!

This past weekend, I was able to spend the night away in Palm Springs, all by myself!
It was such a nice break from my regular life.
I did quite a bit of napping and reading by the pool, and a bit of thrifting too.
Usually we go to Palm Springs in the summer, when it's a million degrees and no one else is there.
The thrifting is awesome then.
It's high season now, and the thrifting is considerably less awesome.
More competition.
But I did find a few treasures: a pink, J. Crew sundress for $4, a gorgeous, vintage green coat, and some books.
When I found this one, I gasped, and said, out loud, "Ohhh, treasure!"
A lady standing next to me looked at the book in my hands, and smiled at me like I was crazy.
I am crazy.
For good books.

Do you know Thornton Burgess?
He is one of our favorite authors.
I was unfamiliar with him until James' first year of school when The Burgess Bird Book was part of our curriculum.
The next year we read the Burgess Animal Book.
My kids loved them both.

If your child is an animal lover, or if you want to learn more about birds, I cannot recommend these books enough.

Because they are told as stories, and each animal or bird is a character, there is none of the dry, textbooky, feeling that so often accompanies non fiction reading.

Yet I still consider them part of our science curriculum because they are so full of information about all sorts of birds and animals.

Also, because they are stories, they can be reread and enjoyed each time.

It's funny that I never bothered to look at other books written by Thornton Burgess simply because they weren't on my curriculum list.

Hence the gasp when I found this one, Longlegs the Heron.

I had no idea that there were so many other books written by Thornton Burgess.

And now I have a whole lot more books to look for!

Interestingly enough, the kids are taking part in some presentations with our home school group tomorrow.

Each child chose a mammal that we might see out and about on our hikes, studied it, and is presenting on it to the group.

My kids have made dioramas of their mammal's habitat, and created little posters with interesting facts about the mammal.

James chose a bear, William an otter, and Lilly a rabbit.

What are the chances I can find those 3 books by Thorton Burgess for under the Christmas tree this year?

How perfect would that be?

Looks like I am off to search the world wide web!

If you're looking for some more books to give this Christmas, here are a few of our other favorites:

every book by M. Sasek, books by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire,  books by Holling Clancy Holling, this book and others by Robert Mccloskey, The Secret Garden was a hit with all the kids and I just love it in this cover, and here are heaps of books written by Thornton Burgess.
What are some of your favorite children's books?

Happy Christmas, friends!

Love from,

Greta

At the Fair

I take lots of photos at the fair.

The Fun Zone is where I take the most.

Here are a few of my favorites.

If you want to see more of this year's trip to the Orange County Fair, head over to Lilly and the Brothers.
Our photo booth pics will be up there soon.
Happy weekend!
Love from,
Greta
PS.  Don't you just LOVE that strong man?

A Paper Doll Birthday Party

Lilly turned 4 at the end of June, and so a sweet, girly, party was in order.

We went with paper dolls.

I got the idea ages ago, but aside from creating a small pin board with ideas, I didn't do a thing until the last minute.

The very last minute.

I read some blogs where the authors talked of prepping party stuff for weeks before the party.

I just can't do that.

Weeks before a party, I am working on some other project, and thinking that I still have tons of time to prep for the party.

And that's why I generally get 2 or 3 hours of sleep before any party I throw.

But it always works out.

This time was no different.

Lilly's paper doll party was a sweet success, and just as cute and girly as I hoped it would be.

I love planning parties for the boys, but let me tell you, these girl parties are pretty fun.

Here's what I came up with for the Paper Doll Birthday Party.

These paper dolls were my inspiration for the party.

I saw them first on this fabulous blog, and then found the whole set here.

You can download and print them for free!

The night before the party I was cutting out lots and lots and lots of these dolls.

They made a very sweet garland.

I just used double sided tape to tape them to some pink sting.  Easy as pie.

I didn't go with any themes for the food--little, doll housy, or any other theme that "goes" with paper dolls.
I try to steer away from that because it usually means more work than I have time for.
Instead I just let the guest of honor choose some favorite things he or she wants to serve at the party.
Lilly went with lots of pink things: pink lemonade, pink cupcakes (these strawberry ones are the best ever and worth every bit of effort it takes to make homemade cupcakes.  which I did.  at 1 AM), strawberries and watermelon, and Pirates Booty.
I hate Pirate's Booty, but she loves it, so her wish trumped my distaste.
I also made some fresh zucchini bread for the grownups.

That's it.
Not a lot, but it was an afternoon party, and the kids didn't really need to eat that much.
I do love the way the table looked with all the pink and the paper doll garlands stung above it.

Target now sells paper straws.

Target, I love and hate you at the same time.

We had to have pink, polka dot, paper straws for the party.

I love a party with a good craft.

We're pretty into art parties around here.

For the paper doll party, I had the girls decorate their own paper dolls.
Aaron drew 2 different paper doll shapes for me and I cut them out on card stock.
I used card stock rather than regular paper so it would have some weight to it and hold up to glue, sequins and the like.
One of the dolls was a ballerina, and the other was just a little girl with pigtails.

I set out colored pencils (these ones with erasers were a big hit), tiny fake flowers, sequins, little jewels, scissors and colored paper to use for making clothes, and cupcake liners to use for frilly skirts.

Every girl made at least one, and most made more.
Even the littlest girls had fun gluing, and drawing faces on their dolls.

The dolls came out so great.
Each one was different and had such personality.
I loved them all.
Here are a few I was able to get shots of.

Don't you just love them all?
Besides making paper dolls, Lilly wanted everyone to get their nails painted.
I had no idea what a hit that would be!
I wish I had pictures, but as I was the one running the nail salon, I don't have a single one.
I highly recommend adding nail painting to a little girl party if you can.
They all loved it.


When the girls grew tired of making paper dolls and their nails were all painted up, I had other spots for them to engage in self directed play.
Now that we have a backyard that has room for all kinds of play, I like to allow time for it at parties.
When there are too many activities scheduled, I get a little frazzled and don't enjoy the party as much.
Maybe the kids don't either.
There was a library spot on top of the playhouse with comfy pillows and a blanket to sit on.

There was lots of chalk for chalkboard drawing.

We sat out all of Lilly's dress up clothes for the girls to wear.
Most of them dressed up and it was so fun to see them climbing the tree, riding the swing, or sliding down the slide in their poofy dresses.

You can see in this picture how sweet they all looked in their tulle.

Lilly's only cake request was pink cupcakes with pink frosting.

I made the same fresh strawberry cupcakes  made last year.

They are so amazingly delicious.

For the frosting this time I did puree the strawberries, but I added too much puree to the frosting and so it got a little (lot) runny. 

It still tasted delicious though.

I used a regular butter cream frosting recipe (this one is really good) and added 1 cup of fresh strawberry puree.

Next time I'll use half a cup.

The party ended with Lilly and her cousin Lizzy blowing out the candle together.
Their birthdays are a week apart and since they are often mistaken for twins, it was perfect for them to share the birthday candle.

I sent the girls home with a simple gift bag decorated with a paper doll.
I bought a package of plain white gift bags from Michael's, and attached a paper doll to it with spray adhesive.
Spray adhesive is my new best friend.

Inside I put 2 more paper dolls and some outfits for her to wear, a "bracelet cuff" of candy buttons and some Mary Jane candies.
Those seemed like appropriate candies for a paper doll party--and you just have to have a little bit of candy at a birthday party, right?


Even though this party was thrown together at the last minute, it still turned out to be sweet and fun, and just as I had hoped it would be for my little girl.
Check back soon for a mini tutorial on how I made the printed out paper dolls for the goodie bags.
And if you're in the mood for more fresh strawberry baked goods, check out my last post on fresh strawberry scones.
Love from,
Greta

When Men Craft: a Diorama Party

I know it's been forever.

There has just been too much going on to keep up with blogging.

No matter how I try, I just haven't been able to find time for it lately.

And trust me, I've tried.

But I am just so excited about the birthday party I had for Aaron this weekend that I am staying up all hours to blog about it.

Being married to an artist can be difficult at times (you've no idea how long it takes him to commit to a paint color) but mostly it is lots of fun.

Aaron loves creating all sorts of things and I wanted to have a party for him that capitalized on that.

Given our mutual love of dioramas, I decided a diorama party would be a perfect fit.

It was.

Also, it was probably a bit of a risk.

Invite 10 or so guys for a diorama party and you could have a real disaster of a party on your hands.

But these guys all came through with flying colors.

We have some very creative friends.

They even participated in voting for "best of" categories and the handing out of trophies.

And they could have all been lying, but I do think everyone had a great time.

So yes, men can craft.

And they can do a darn fine job of it.

Take a look.

(The numbered ribbons are not place value.  They were for voting purposes.  Each diorama won an award for a specific category voted on by each party guest.)

Craftsmanship

Most Bizarre

Most Colorful

Funniest

Most Creative

Most Artistic

Best Theme

Most Unusual

Honorable Mention

The Sweepstakes Winner!

Aren't they amazing?

Everything was crafted on site in our back yard using all sorts of random materials, much of it recycled "trash".

James stayed with the big boys and took part in the party, as did one other younger party guest.

They were so thrilled to be a part of it all.

Obviously a diorama party works for multiple age groups.

He had an absolute blast and he, William and Lilly have been busy working with the leftover diorama party supplies for the past 2 days.

We've started them on the diorama love too!

I have lots more pictures and info on the supplies we provided and how to set a party like this up.

Also more details about each amazing diorama.

I'll post that info as soon as I can.

Until then, enjoy all this creativity and maybe take a trip to the Natural History Museum to get some diorama inspiration of your own.

Happy crafting!

Love from,

Greta