it's been a long LONG while...

 

So it's been over a year since my last blog post.  Guess I've been a bit busy! :)  Our newest member, Kenai (pronounced KEEN-eye) is now a year old and walking around and playing with toys and driving us crazy with his screams and giving us lots of love, hugs and laughs!  It's tough being a mom to three and trying to find time to make art and homeschool and do housework and cook and clean (ok, cleaning pretty much falls off the list of priorities!) but now that the little one is a bit bigger, I've been finding more time to do the things that recharge my soul.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a mom and I LOVE my babies to the max, but it sure does feel good to paint uninterrupted and have complete thoughts that don't revolve around diapers, breaking up fights, and managing homework. :)

I've been painting lately.  Big, juicy backgrounds full of color.  Lots of experimenting.  Trying to find my voice.  Having a LOT of fun.  I like to take photos of the paintings in their various stages.  It's fun to see how they transform and evolve over time.  The above photo shows the first layer.  Below is what it looks like now after some more layers.

The color pallet was inspired by my daughter's outfit.  I loved the mix of purple, lavender, red violet, red and turquoise!

Proof that you can find inspiration just about anywhere! 

 Another painting in progress...This one started out kind of "ugly" and then it transformed into something I'm really liking.  Not sure where to go from here.  We will see what happens in time.  I'm really into the color combo of midnight blue, turquoise, red and neon pink!  I even started a pinterest board just for those colors alone.

Colors just make me super happy!  What can I say?  I am taking an e-course with Mati Rose right now called "Daring Adventures in Paint" and it has been the perfect thing to re-start my ART!  I find myself sneaking over to the studio throughout the day to add bits of paint or collage to the several canvases I have spread out on the floor.  The canvas above is completely different now.  I will have to post some before and after shots!

A lot has happened in the last year since I've last blogged.  Our oldest daughter, Brielle, graduated high school and is now in the Army!  She just graduated boot camp this winter and is now in training.  We couldn't be more proud!  Our oldest son, Zach, is also in the Army and stationed in South Korea.  We haven't seen him in over a year.  He has yet to meet his youngest sibling in person.  It's hard having a member of your family in the military--especially a child!  But they are hardly "children" anymore--they are both growing into such beautiful and amazing adults!  Thank goodness for letters, phone calls and Skype!  I can't wait to hug both of them in person, though.  And Raul's dream (and mine) is to have all five kids together at once.  Some day! :)

So that's it for now.  Hoping to post at least a few times a week.  My goal is to get into some kind of regular art-making schedule.  And post the updates here on the blog.  

i'm still here...

the two i live for. i want to be their mom forever and ever!

it's been a while since i've blogged. i just haven't felt like saying much lately. not that there is any lack of inspiration or time or energy. just the opposite. i find i have plenty of time and inspiration and energy! :) i guess i'm just doing other things and i've also been trying (emphasis on the word TRYING) not to spend so much time in front of my computer! don't get me wrong. i love to blog hop, i love to browse etsy and flickr and occasionally cruise by facebook and see what everyone's talking about. but mostly, i love to make art (mostly messes!) and take walks with the girls and try to be as present in the moment as possible.

i treasure the look on their faces! pure joy and excitement!

do you ever find yourself awake, i mean wide awake in your life? like, suddenly, you are very aware of your senses and surroundings? like that feeling you get when you know you are dreaming, when you are awake in your dream and you can even control what is going to happen next? well, i may not be able to control every waking moment of my life, but i often feel so aware that i am alive and living that i am just overcome with joy and amazement.

beautiful winter Arizona sunset. i'm fascinated by silhouettes lately. maybe has something to do with a stencil class i took with ms. mary ann moss!

i have been thinking a lot about death and life lately. (nothing morbid, just in a kind of "well, we can't avoid it (death) so we might as well make the best of it (life)!") we lost my dear brother-in-law to leukemia in december. even though i didn't know him as well as i should have, he has been appearing in my dreams a lot lately. and so is his family (he left behind 9 extraordinary and very lovely and loving children and several grandchildren). i feel i should really visit with them more often but sometimes i'm not sure how (my husband and his sister-and-law haven't always been the best of friends!) it's not an excuse, but just something silly that is keeping me from making that necessary step to forming a relationship with my nieces and nephews.

this is the cemetery where my brother-in-law is buried. that day in december was beautiful and bright. in the morning, the entire place was shrouded in a dense fog that began to lift as everyone arrived. the contrast of the green grass and the blue sky made it look more like what i imagine heaven to be.

i think we often get caught up in our every day life and our habits, rituals, routines. we are stubborn creatures of habit! but habits can be broken every once in a while and we can do things a little differently than we've done and really improve the quality of our lives. in just little ways, really. nothing earth-shattering. just picking up the phone to call a distant relative or friend. or picking up a journal and writing down some thoughts. or turning off the tv/computer and going outside for a little while. making time for ourselves and for our family is so important. it is not just a cliche. it also feels really good! :)

maya and grandma linda (kinue) enjoying a trip to the park during our visit to Arizona this winter. i love my grandma! she is the inspiration for the name of my blog/etsy/internet pseudonym. she is going to be 81 years young in april.

i am really super inspired by my friend kisa who has embarked on a year long challenge to do one NEW thing EVERY DAY! even if it's just trying something new for lunch or taking a new route home from work, she's doing it and having a great time along the way. what if we joined her in her daily NEWNESS and just infused our routine with a teeny bit of something different. i saw a great quote on a journal page of one of my favorite artists, Pam Garrison, and it said: "As you grow older, you find that the only things you regret are the things you didn't do." (--zachary scott) isn't that the truth? if you do something new today or this week, let me know in the comments. i'd love to know what new things you've been up to lately.

my little artist/investigator at work. ;) we went on a field trip with my dad to the san jose art museum. she asked the docent so many interesting questions and had some great discussions about her feelings/reactions to the artwork. she built a house from leggo and wrote poems about different works of art.

something new i did this week was go on a hike with my daughter. we went to anyo nuevo reserve to see the elephant seals. technically, i had been there before (once LONG ago on an elementary school field trip!) but the new part is that i had my daughter with me and we enjoyed some long overdue mother-daughter time together. we left the little one at home with dad for the day and had ourselves a nice, nature-filled day out. we went with a group of fellow homeschoolers from our program. and that is going pretty darn well, too, by the way.

i try to treasure these moments i have with them while they're still small.

we started that new educational adventure in november and haven't looked back since! i'm really hoping to continue on through middle school and high school. i know, a lot of people's knee-jerk reaction is, "aren't you stifling her social life?" or "aren't you worried about testing?" or "aren't you holding her back by keeping her out of school?" or "aren't you limiting her experiences by being her only teacher?" and to all of that, of course, i say NO. since we started homeschooling, we've been on several field trips together with other students and their families (studying art, nature, science, social studies); maya has made several new friends with different backgrounds and interests and ages; maya has also participated in many classes with other children (so there goes the "i'm her only teacher" myth as well as "she'll have less chances to socialize"). and there's just so much more to learn and explore! (i didn't mean to start a homeschooling rant/rave just now, but i guess i had to start somewhere.) so if you're thinking about homeschooling, i highly recommend it. if i can do it, so can you. and if you're still thinking i'm crazy or i'm ruining my daughter's life, i'd suggest you talk with some real homeschooling families face to face and i think you'll find that although there are no two alike they all have a passion for lifelong learning.

and at that, it is 1:04 am and it's about time for bed! as i was writing this, i could hear a ton of firecrackers popping off in the distance! i guess it is officially the year of the rabbit. happy chinese new year everyone! and to anyone stuck in the snow: make art, make cookies, make love, make something! ;) and here's wishing you a ton of our california sunshine your way. :)

Christmas cards & holiday crafts

my lovely friend Kisa volunteered to take our family portrait this year for our christmas cards. besides taking absolutely gorgeous photos, she saved me the trouble of having to hop back and forth like a crazy person between the camera and the family huddle like i do every year! (thank you mama!)

there were many lovely ones to choose from, but i chose the above photo for our card this year. i like the way we are all gathered and the colors were really warm and cozy. and because our cat cesar decided to join us! AND it is also the only photo where we are all looking up at the camera and smiling and not blinking or making a weird face. (that's just inevitable, there's always those photos where everyone is smiling except ONE person (ahem, zach!) or looking away (sureya!), or biting their nails (maya!) or trying to hide her beautiful smile (brielle!) or talking during the photo so you end up with an akward open mouth (uh, babe!), or you're making a quizzical face at the camera because you're trying to ask the photographer a question (he he, me!) although, i have to admit, i had to photoshop the above photo to get everyone to kind of be looking at the camera and smiling. (i hope no one notices!) ;)

today the girls and i started on some holiday crafts. i saw this lovely idea over at gennine's blog for making your own printed wrapping paper, so we decided to try it today. maya had a wonderful time printing with apples and celery stalks and then free form painting her own designs. even sureya got in on the messy fun and painted a little bit. (mostly she painted her hands and her belly, but she did get some paint on the paper!)

i'm trying to take photos each day this month and actually journal a little every day (i'm inspired by ali edwards' december daily and one of my favorite blogger/artists hope of paper relics). i would love to do some journaling each day, too! and something arrived in the mail for me this morning that would be perfect for this daily project!

i entered a giveaway over at saturday morning vintage (one of my favorite blogs and shops!) a while back and i received my lovely lovely prize in the mail today (thank you xenia!)! it combines the three words from my winning entry: dennision, sewing and ledger. i think this will make a perfect journal for my daily december journaling, don't you?

i hope you are all having a lovely december so far! i can't believe the holidays are fast approaching. i almost wish december were twice as long! it really is my favorite time of year.