First trip to the shore this season

Gorgeous day at the Jersey shore (Wildwood) this past Saturday.

 

Doodle-a-day #13, stay close

Day 13, inspired by the book Stay Close: A Mother's Story of Her Son's Addiction. Great book, especially if you have someone in your life with the disease of addiction.

Recycling artwork

Do you recycle your old artwork? I have work sitting around from years ago that I will never use or sell, but for some reason I have to keep it. Today I wanted to work on a large-scale piece, so I went up to my studio in search of an unused piece of wood. Couldn't find one, but I did find lots (and lots) of old work. At one time (at least four years ago) I had thought about making very large clocks (24" square), but the difficulty with shipping and carting them around to craft shows made me rethink that idea. So I have two large clocks that are semi-finished in my studio, taking up space.

Today I decided that I'm going to re-use one of them, but I did have moment of hesitation, thinking about covering something up that I created. Seriously, it's not a masterpiece. I don't even like it. And yet it feels weird to cover it up.

Do you feel that way about old artwork of yours? What do you do with it? Do you recycle? Store it? Sell it? (I won't sell mine because I don't want people to associate my old work with my business.)

{About to be recycled…}

Doodle-a-day: days 9 through 12

Doodle-a-day, days 7 & 8

I seem to be doodling lots of words. This is not what I intended when I started this project, but I like the words that are coming to me, so I'll stick with it!

The pups

Lola & Foxi.

We rescued Lola 3 years ago as a puppy. She is FULL of energy and could run all day. She usually collapses around 7pm. She is from somewhere down south (South Carolina maybe?) and is some kind of hound, and maybe terrier. She is definitely a challenge, and still (at 3 1/2) likes to steal Malayna's toys and chew on them. She is still crated when we are not home, otherwise everything in the house house might be chewed to shreds. She loves to "hunt" small animals and birds. Many a pigeon has not made it out of our yard…

We have had Foxi for about two months now. We rescued her from Main Line Animal Rescue - a wonderful place with many dedicated people working to find homes for animals. They took time with us to find just the right dog for both the humans and the canine in the house.

Foxi used to be a puppy mill breeding dog. Her age is unknown - the rescue thought she might be five, but the vet thinks closer to 7 or 8. She is the sweetest little dog you will ever meet. I was worried about getting a chihuahua, but she is so easy and so unlike what I thought we'd be dealing with. My daughter, Malayna, has wanted a chihuahua for the past few years. She is obsessed - always drawing pictures of chihuahuas, talking about them, looking at photos of other people's chihuahuas… So when we decided it was time for another dog, we knew it would have to be a chihuahua.

Foxi & Lola play together every day. Foxi is definitely in charge. Lola somehow knows that she is bigger than Foxi and (mostly) takes it easy on her. They are buddies.

 

Doodle-a-day: Brave

Brave: possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.

This little (4.5 x 3") drawing is on its way to Arizona to my godson, Artie. He's been there for almost six months, working on his recovery. He went out there (2000+ miles away) all by himself, knowing no one and having never been there before. I am so proud of him.

He is brave.

Doodle-a-day: It's okay

Day five: everything will be okay. (Repeat as many times as necessary.)