I might be lacking in my cheesy love lingo, but I am quite good at catering to the sentimental.

This year for my boyfriend’s birthday I gave him a coconut.

Not just any coconut, but the shell of a young Thai coconut that I carved the meat out of to make the most delicious Chickenless Burger for our first dinner date. Yeah, I know… too awesome right?!

I had a lot of fun with this project, it was really cool to paint a rounded and uneven surface. At times it really reminded me of working with and making jewellery. That sort of hunched over, squinty eyed focus that happens when you’re holding something in your hand and being ever so delicate when working on small details. I really enjoy working on small little lines, its such a huge challenge for me. To be able to hold the brush still, smooth and flow with continued fluid motions can be a little difficult. Although the end result is quite pleasing if you invest the time and patience. No matter where I looked I wasn’t able to find a small enough paint brush, ha! I kept looking for a three hair, but no luck. Regardless, I was able to finish without.

I planted three little cactuses in the shell when I was done. I hope they like their new little home made with love ❤

How I Love snail mail! Who doesn’t?! Although receiving is lovely, one things in life that brings me joy is sending it.

I have been working on a few packages for a while, like a long long while…

Stuff strewed around the house, things that needed to be picked up, cards written, gifts wrapped… you know, for the perfect care package! Not really for any specific reason, just to show appreciation for the kind and dear people who have been such lovely mentors/friends/homegirls. One of the items that I had included was a jar of homemade Comfrey and Lavender salve, great for those summer time bumps and bruises we all seem to acquire from tree climbing and train hopping 😉

As I had an abundance of  retail tags, I figured that they would be perfect for writing down the use and ingredients. Ive been mentally working on my new series for quite sometime and I thought that this would be a great opportunity for me to begin to exercise those ideas. After busting out the pencil crayons (which I love using!) I had so much fun creating these tags. They might be a bit large for the jars, but none the less I still think they’re pretty fantastic!

After a very long hiatus, it feels really great to be back in the saddle again!

After the birth of my son, I thought it would be best to put down the pencil and squeegee and focus all my energy on what it means to be a parent. Although creatively I would sometimes have doubt, or question whether I still had the talent or drive after being away from my artistic practice for so long, I had to trust that this was a magical time for me in so many ways. One being the most obvious, the birth of my son but the other was watching, feeling and analyzing all the wonderful ideas that would float past my minds eye. Naturally my focus was centred on other tasks and adventures, but every so often if I felt the idea was worth the action of writing it down I would. Soon I was finding scrap paper with my bubbly hand writing all over the house, which I begin compiling into my notebook, that precious roster whom I had neglected for so long. Before I knew it I was back at my old tricks of waking up at 4 am to write a note in my iPhone so I wouldn’t forget that seemingly wonderful idea that burst in my brain so loud I just couldn’t ignore it.

Of course not all the ideas were great, but they were something… anything to get the wheels turning again I was in full support of. I was becoming a factory! An idea factory! Stock piling and planning, processing (oh how I love the process whether it be metal or tactile) and actualizing, I was so excited!

Now here I am, with the time, the space, the freedom and my own pace, I can create.

What a fantastic feeling!

I would start on one thing, leave it unfinished, start on something else, move on, knowing I needed to tend to one project but decided to give my attention to something else. “Productive procrastination” as my partner calls it, but for once, I don’t really mind. It just feels good to make those lines, see those pencil shavings, taking time to remember the technical aspects of art making, smell the paint and get those hands dirty.

It feels so lovely to be welcomed with open arms.