shining egg

makeshift

here is a peek at the space i set up for myself in the living room.  there wasn't nearly as much painting time this week as i had hoped - a result of the ice storm and school cancellations - but there was some.

(i'm always taken by the little messes that occur when i paint.

the bits of color on the rim of my water jar.

drips on an underpainting.

oil pastels dragged through too much paint.

my fingers.)

i'm hoping for a bit more time in my little corner this weekend, to finish up some things i started.  my fingers are (clean now) and crossed.

ice and bread

we finally had some winter weather here this week.  an inch or more of ice covered everything by wednesday afternoon - beautiful to look at, glorious fun to slide on, and frightening when it comes to driving and the wind.

of course, winter weather means baking - ok, all weather means baking in my house - and i've been busy.  i made three loaves of bread this week (the light whole wheat from this book, a loaf of this yummy bread served with lentil soup for dinner last night, and one beautiful baguette - also from this book - served with dinner tonight).  three loaves of bread, one batch of banana muffins, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  i've been keeping busy and warm.  hope you're doing the same.

i'm painting at home today

there's a new post about process at echoes.  (also, i encourage you to check out rachel's recent posts about process.  her thoughts on the subject are making me think hard about my own processes - creative, and otherwise.)

day five, stripes (and plaid)

friday is stripes and plaid.  

truthfully, i didn't even look for plaid around here because there are just so many stripes. 

(new rug in the living room.  guess i ought to adjust that pad!)

i had to stop snapping pictures because i could have spent the whole day capturing stripes without leaving the house.  

(her dresser drawer.)

but i have to leave the house because we have a birthday happening here tomorrow and i need a few things for the celebration.  

(her bed, my childhood sheets.)

speaking of which, does anybody have a really good yellow cake recipe?  i need one badly. 

(pajamas, discarded in a hurry.)

chocolate cake i have covered.  yellow, not so much.  and this birthday person wants a layer of each, with strawberry jam in the middle.

(his bed, my brother's childhood sheets.)

if you have a great recipe, would you leave me a link?  i'd appreciate it.  and so would the birthday girl.

happy friday, friends.  and thanks again to leya for bringing this bright spot of color and stripes to a very very very cold winter week.  don't forget to check out more plaid and stripes here.  

day four, pink

pink has never been my favorite color.  it's grown on me (considerably) since l. was little and declared pink to be her second-favorite color (after purple).  so her room was the first stop on my color-hunting today.

(how 'bout those boots!?)

(that's a lot of pink thread for someone who hasn't taken her sewing machine out of the closet in close to a year.)

(my mother brought these lillies to me on friday.  they opened yesterday, just in time!)

tomorrow is plaid and stripes.  i don't know about the plaid, but there are oh-so many stripes around here.  you'll see.

happy thursday, friends!  i'm off to paint.  don't forget that there's more pink on this list.

day three, yellow

i thought yellow would be hard to find around here in the wintertime.  until i started looking.

(hanging over l.'s bed.)

(gathered from around the house and sitting on one of my favorite placemats - t's so frayed now that it's beyond use, but i keep it tucked away for times like this!)

(a common sight on my kitchen window sill.  i wish we would remember to use the half that's already sitting before we cut another, but we never do.)

(i've started using rubber gloves to wash the dishes.  half of me feels like an old lady, and half of me is relieved that my hands aren't cracked anymore.)

so there you have it.  yellow, it was fun finding you.  tomorrow, pink.  i spy some already.

(as always, find more yellow on this list.)

day two, purple

i'm loving leya's color week.  l.'s favorite color is purple, so it's not hard to find around here.  

(as seen on her dresser.)

(these are my crayons.  i have a box all my own and i don't share.  i hardly even use them, i just enjoy having them there, all arranged nicely in color order.  call me crazy.)

tomorrow is yellow.  i'm looking forward to looking for some yellow around here.  

{and just in case you haven't already, go see the new noticing project 2009.  it's even better than before, if that's possible.}

wow (and a little bit of color)

wow, then.  

 

really, i am overwhelmed - molly and i both - we're overwhelmed by your response to habit.  from the first time we saw each other's photos and words together in one place, we have felt a sense of excitement about this project, and you have welcomed us with open arms - you have visited and you have recommended it to your friends and emailed us with kind words and written about it on your blogs.  and we are thrilled, really, that this project resonates for you the way it resonates for us.  really.

there are just a few bits i want to mention today, before i get back to regularly scheduled blogging around here.  

 

first, leya is hosting a color week this week.  i'm so glad, because it's been awfully rainy and grey around here, and i could use a dose of color just about now.  monday is blue.  and you can find a list of participants here.  

 

second, we have a new little series going on at echoes right now.  all about process.  we'll be posting on tuesdays again, like we used to.

and i can't remember the third, though i'm sure there was one.  so i'll just reserve the right to throw that in tomorrow - which is purple day.  i'm looking forward to that.  and to being here with color all this week.

a new habit

i can't begin to remember all that's transpired since molly first uttered the word "collaboration" from across the table at the cheesy mexican restaurant where we do our best talking.  but here we are, several months later, thrilled to be unveiling habit - where we'll hold onto the bits of our daily lives, the things we would otherwise forget.

habit is part photographic exercise - an attempt to capture the truth of our everyday lives without staging.  real pictures of real life.  habit is part writing exercise - we've given ourselves 30 words (or less) to capture the essence of a moment - or a whole day.

and habit is part repository.  molly and i have committed ourselves to posting at habit at least three times each week, and we'll be inviting friends to join us there each month.  (we have some lovely friends joining us to start!)  and we're hoping, in some small way, to capture the collective life of a community of women.

we hope you'll visit us there at habit, to see what we've collected so far, and to discover what we'll capture along the way.  we'll be there regularly - it's meant to be a habit, after all.  

after the pause

have i mentioned that i love the beach?