The art of lying fallow

Whew! Y'all. This last month has been crazy! Good crazy, but still, crazy! With the Eclectic Art Social Club show at Parkside October 19th, my daughter's (kind of big) first birthday party October 28th, and Moss Rock Festival this past weekend (which I realize I didn't even TELL y'all about!), I feel like I've hardly caught my breath. Throw in normal, everyday life and needless to say, things like home-cooked meals have taken a backseat.
I'm aware that not everyone feels this way, but I actually like to cook. Especially if I can take the time. So that's what I'm doing- taking some time. Slowing down. Getting my house back in order. Spending time with my husband, baby, and dogs. And making chili.
I have some new projects on the horizon. Ideas are simmering in the back of my head for new subjects, new techniques, new formats and I know I'll be back in my studio in just a couple of days. But for the time being, like my tiny summer herb garden, I'm lying fallow and regaining my strength.

Everyday beauty

I wrote a couple of posts ago about doing little things to improve your state of mind and the beauty of your surroundings, so I thought I'd share a few pics of my most recent good-mood inducing project. Herb basket!

And having it right by the door means I (hopefully) won't forget to water it! 

Intermission

I've had to take a little break from my lightbulb painting that I've been allowing y'all to see in progress. My baby is due SOON! Halloween is her actual due date, but she could come any day, so there's been lots of prep work going on. Plus, it's just not comfortable for me to sit at my easel for very long (like, longer than 10 minutes). Rest assured, I will get back to that painting- it won't remain in its ugly stage forever. For the time being, though, I'm feathering my nest.
Even though I haven't been working on my art, per se, I have been making and creating things for the baby's room. My favorite of which is the wreath for her hospital door pictured below:

If you'd like to take a fine art break and read about how I made these birds keep reading. Otherwise, I'll catch up with you in a few weeks with news about Baby Girl Hardin and the next installment of my work in progress.

For those of you still with me, Hi! Welcome to my crafty side. Being pregnant has been good motivation for letting this side of me play for a little while. I wanted to do something different for my little girl's room than the typical pink nursery, so I went slightly more gender neutral. I made these birds out of paper clay. I only recently started playing with paper clay so I'm no expert. It's pretty fun and forgiving, though. First I made a kind of bird shape out of aluminum foil. The bird shaped aluminum foil wasn't super detailed. I just wanted something to form the clay around so that they wouldn't be solid clay (both to save clay and to keep them from being too heavy). I wrapped wire around the aluminum foil birds and left the ends sticking out approximately where their feet would be so that I would have a way to attach them to the nest. 

Next, I just covered the aluminum foil birds with paper clay. Easy as pie! I don't have an actual clay tools, so I used the back of a tiny measuring spoon to smooth out the clay, but paper clay is fairly easy to work with, so you can use your fingers as well. You might want to have a bowl of water close by to dip your fingers in if you want the clay to be really smooth.  I wanted the baby to be kinda fluffy, so I roughed up the clay on her. I let them dry, painted them with acrylic paint, and attached them to the nest and the nest to the wreath. You might need to use a little gel medium to help the birds stay right where you want them to be. 

That's all! Stay tuned for more updates. I'll let you know when Baby Girl is here! Then after that maybe we can get back to art :) See you soon!