New Pics for a Gloomy Labor Day Weekend

Cool and damp here in Southern New England -- family get-together has been delayed until tomorrow and spending time catching up on the changes I've been making for Coral Sky Studio.  Soon, I'll be putting up a Facebook Page, a landing page and more.  But for now, I'm loading up my paintings and photographs to Fine Art America.  I hope you'll stop by and take a peek!

Some vibrant summer blossoms to cheer us up -- enjoy!

 

Summer pastel series

 

Every time I travel to Cape Cod for a summer vacation I feel revived -- there truly is something about "Cape Light," as many artists and photographers refer to it.  Colors seem more vivid, the light almost crystalline in its clarity.  Unless, of course, if it's raining or foggy!  

This year we were right on the beach so to watch the colors of the various beach grasses and marshes was perfect -- early morning, midday, sunset and dusk.  This is a pastel-and-watercolor sketch, a mix of mediums that I find fun to work with.  I use Strathmore Bristol paper, which is usually used for graphic design and manga artwork.  But I like the way it holds the watercolor and allows me to overlay the layers of pastel. 

I'll be working on more of these sketches, working now from memory, and will soon be uploading this painting to my space on Fine Art America soon if you're interested in a print, a notecard and more!

Happy Summer!

"I hope to make pictures like I walk -- under a spell, an instinct of motion,

a kind of knowing that is essentially indirect and sideways."

(Ellen Meloy, Anthropology of Turquoise)

Change of Heart

 I know I wrote awhile back that I was terminating the AestheticWork blog . . . but I just couldn't let it go.  I'd already invested over ten years on this blog and, when I think back and read some of my earlier posts, I realize how much this little endeavor helped me grow and achieve as an artist and writer, how I cut my teeth on social media via this blog.

So . . . I'm back.  Over the next few weeks, I'll be re-building my connections and making new ones, researching new venues for my artwork, making new online friends and colleagues, etc.  

In a way, I suppose I'm "preparing a pure white ground" on which to start again . . . 

 

Hygge Chronicles #1

 

Rains coming down, temps dropping, winds whipping up.  Time to hygge!  Tomorrow is December and I am so not ready for the upcoming holidays, both mentally and emotionally.  I'm trying, my whole family is trying, but it's hard.  Our son passed away earlier this summer.  I never thought I'd lose a child.  Parents always believe they'll be the ones to go first.  It's unnatural.  But life goes on, and I have the rest of my family to think about, care for, love.  It's just the Christmas holidays will be the toughest, especially this year.

So that's why I'm embracing the Danes' theory of hygge, a way of life and attitude that embraces winter, celebrates this sleeping time that sends many of us into a tail spin.  For me, it's the loss of light, the darkness creeping in about 4:00pm. 
 

To battle the dreary gloom I've upped my game -- lots and lots of candles. I've added more mirrors throughout the house to help reflect more light.  I tend not to drop the blinds as much as before, letting the neighborhood holidays lights shine in from the outside.  And the fireplaces are going non-stop from about 3pm until bedtime.  

So, taking each day as it comes, tackling little projects (and bigger ones) each week, whether it's taking up the brush again or setting up my weaving loom and sorting through my stash of yarns.  I've even taken up cooking and trying new recipes, as our son was an excellent cook and could whip up some amazing dishes within minutes.  I'll try to carry on in his spirit and cook from the heart.

I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a Valentine as you can give."

Julia Child 

Start your hygge?

 Autumn has hit hard here in New England.  It seems as if just the other day it was in the 70s and sunny with roses still blooming in the garden -- and then wham!  Cold, cold, cold.  2020 strikes again, I suppose.

So what to do to maintain a positive outlook?  To keep plugging along when almost everything in the news wears you down?  Well, I'm adopting -- or at least will try -- to take the Danish approach of "hygge"!  

Earlier this summer I stumbled on Helen Russell's wonderfully funny yet informative book.  It was truly fascinating how this little country has the highest rating for happiness, although Russell was quite frank about the "negative" aspects of living Danishly, as well. 

But I'm trying to embrace the idea of hygge -- to enjoy the simple, comforting aspects of winter.  And with the pandemic flipping into high gear once again, maybe this is the best approach for the coming months.  So, I'll be looking to cook more, read more, wrap myself in wooly socks and throws, whip out those knitting needles and crochet hooks to help sustain some type of positivity.  How about you?  Any plans for survival?  

In the meantime, I spent some hours sifting through artwork and such, posting to my Red Bubble store and thought I'd share some shots with you, several of which are colorful and summery in feel.  

Cape Cod Marshes (pastel on paper)

A throw pillow to break up the dreary winter months!

 

Melon Freefall (acrylic on paper)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new journal for 2021?

Sail along the Coast (watercolor on paper)

Time to get a new apron?

 

Nothing like a bit of color and fun to lighten the mood, right?   As far as I'm concerned, anything to help get through the coming weeks and months.  So, stay warm and keep smiling (even if it is behind your mask).   I've always loved this quote.  It seems to capture that hygge attitude almost three hundred years earlier --

Barn's burnt down -- now I can see the moon.

               Mizuta Masahide, Samurai (1657 - 1723)

It's tough to re-learn

 

It's been years since I've had the time (or interest) to return to digital photography and embellish / alter, etc.  I used to play for hours, layering images and text and textures in order to achieve "the right look".  But lately I've found I like the somewhat blurred, vintage look -- soft, ethereal.

I've always admired the work of Kim Klaussen and Jill Ferry of Flypaper Textures, but recently found the work of Denise Love in a copy of Bella Grace.  So today with the temperatures once again soaring into the 90s and high humidity, I retreated to my artsy "Bat Cave" to play a few hours before going to work.

Small blossoms are often lovely -- their simplicity compelling.  This is a shot I took several springs ago during one of my morning walks (no, not a power walk; more like a wandering meander!).  I layered several textures on the original image, including some text, then worked a Gaussian Blur and lowered the saturation a few times.

And then my software crapped out and the image was compromised -- just a weird wiry image like a dying TV screen!  WTF?!?   Deep breath, Kelly.  Start again.  And amazingly, I like this image better than the one before.  Goes to show that patience is a virture, uh?  

This image is now available on my Red Bubble account, if you're interested in notecards and such.  I still have so much to do to organize my little corner of RB -- create "collections" for easier searching, etc.  But I'll get there eventually.

 

And on another entirely different subject -- but still creative! -- I dug out my old tabletop loom this morning, dusted it off and polished it up.  Another project I intend to re-visit this autumn.  I'm loving the wall hangings I keep seeing in the Scandi magazines and sites.  

How about you?  What are you up to as the summer winds down and we're still somewhat constricted with the pandemic?  

 

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.

Camille Pissarro

Slow Seasonal Shift

Black & White Study

 

 Every year about this time, I can feel a slow shift in the air -- the humidity drops, the light breezes are a bit chilly in the morning or evening, and there's a distinct clarity to the light.  It tells me that summer is nearing its end.  That soon the bright blooms will fade and droop, that one will need to fetch a sweater if intending to sit outside after sundown.  I usually find myself hankering for the subtle colors of autumn around now.  We've had more than three weeks of 90+ degree heat and stifling humidity, the kind that makes you not want to move an inch because you'll be drenched in sweat if you do move. 

But 2020 is proving to be my breaking point.  First, the pandemic hit and changed our lives in so many ways it makes my head spin to think about it.  And then the worst tragedy of all -- our son passed away in June. I'm not going into details.  Let me just say that my family is only now keeping our emotional heads above water.  We stay close.  We talk and cry together.  We eat together.  That's the best we can do at this point.  I don't believe the pain will ever truly go away.  It may lessen, but it will always be there.  

And so I need to keep my hands busy -- gardening, cooking, painting, crafting.  I need to put words and thoughts somewhere other than inside my head, which often feels like it's ready to explode. This is also making me re-evaluate how I want to live my life, how I want to move through my days in the coming months and years.  I want to be busy but at a slower pace than usual.  I want to take time each day to celebrate life and those I love.  I want a greater degree of simplicity.  

Not easy to achieve . . . I have so much to re-learn, so much to adjust.  I dread the holidays and winter, but am determined to embrace it.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this.  That many others have experienced loss and grief.  Yes, life goes on but, for me, I'll approach it with varying degrees of hope, frustration, joy and sorrow.  

Namaste,

Kelly M.

Tulip Crazy!

I confess . . . this spring I became a little bit crazy for tulips.  I don't mean just buying them by the pot load, but taking shots of them.  Every morning it became a ritual -- a few cups of java to get me going and then I was dragging these little puppies into the family room where we get incredible light streaming in from the southeast.  

 I tried catching them at all stages -- when tightly budded to fully open and onto the blowsy stage when the petals are about to fall off.

And that didn't include the obsession with color -- oh, my . . . !   From softest pinks to cherry red to cha-cha orange and finally to the ultimate yellow.  

 

What more can I say?  Like I said -- just plain tulip crazy.  And now there's not a trace of them in the garden at this time.  The bulbs slumber under the soil, waiting for the time to rejoin us next spring.

Oh sure, I'll probably browse the flower shops to see if there are any available, but that wouldn't be the same as, after a long New England winter, you find the first ones peeping up at you amid the melting snow and mud.  

These images are available at my online shop, Red Bubble.  From greeting cards to journals and notebooks, clothing, travel mugs and more, add something lovely to your life.  Because right now, we deserve a bit of lovely in our lives, don't you think?

Hoping you're all healthy and staying in fine fettle!

Cheers,

Kelly

Is it truly Spring?

These are dismal times for so many of us around the world, and our hearts are aching for those who've lost their life and for their families and friends.  And yet Nature continues and evidence of spring abounds, even up here in New England despite a snowfall yesterday.  

Tulips #1 by me

Forced to stay home from work, I'm finding that so much of what I've pushed aside over the past years is now calling to me, tapping at my feeble, frenzied brain, reminding me that creativity and the need to express oneself never truly disappears.  It may fade into the background of our 21st century lives; it may be packed away at the back of a desk, waiting patiently for us to re-discover all over again.  

Tulip #2 by me

I'm going to take this enforced time to rediscover the joy of creating, even if it's something small and simple.  I've been culling through my photographs from the garden and feeling that a backyard garden can be a wondrous place.  I've been unwrapping paints and markers and pastels, lugging out canvases and sketchbooks, dusting off paint brushes and tossing out those that were welded together in neglect.  I just spent the last hour or so updating my blog (my art website was hacked last fall and I lost that, plus the email address attached to it!), posting a new banner that makes me smile.

Spring is a time for a new beginning.  It's as simple as that.  I hope you all stay safe and healthy in these coming weeks, months.  I intend to stop by your blogs -- if they're still alive! -- and revisit many of you.  And I hope I gain some new fellow bloggers, or Instagrammers, or FB friends. 

Spring Tulips 3 by me

Blast from the Past?

Well, it's been so long since my last post, I doubt anyone is out there anymore.  So many of the folks I followed have migrated to Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and other platforms.

But that's okay.  When I go back to the first post I wrote in 2007 or '08, I was just doing my online journaling, talking about art and learning to paint, creativity and such.  No one was following me at that point and, quite frankly, it didn't bother me.  I was just thrilled at creating my blog and posting a few times a week.  

Eleven years later and in semi-retirement -- Good Lord, really? -- I'm still working part-time, but have found that the creative side has somewhat dissipated.  I suppose that's life and how it goes sometimes.  But after this first year of adjusting to retirement, I think I'm getting my sea legs under me once again.

I may not post about painting, but there are other areas of life I'm free to explore that sort of got pushed aside over the years -- cooking is one of them.  Never had much time for it -- although I love to eat! -- except to slap something on the table for the family at 8pm at night.  

Writing is another area I've been exploring, especially with the ease of indie publishing.  I belong to a local writer's chapter and have published several novellas under my pen name.  It's fun and not as stressful as if I had an editor breathing down my neck. 

And finally the garden.  I spend soooo much time out there come the spring and summer, I lose track of all else -- well, almost.  This summer has been difficult with the heat and the weeding, but I've made progress (I think).

So I hope some fellow bloggers will stop by and say hello, as well as new ones.  Until then, stay cool out there!  

It's been a while

Social media has subsumed so much of online communication and sharing -- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr -- that sometimes I forget about my blogs, which is a shame because the nature of a blog is more intimate. Blogs encourage writing -- duh, it's was all about journaling when blogs first started.  

And I've drifted from my artwork --  yes, I'll admit that work and family and other issues pretty much took over my life these past years.  I can't remember the last time I picked up a paint brush.  But things are changing for me once again.  Retirement is coming up and frankly, I cannot wait!  

So this morning I decided it was time to begin dabbling again.  Because time is short and I wanted to get outside and enjoy my Sunday afternoon before returning to work tomorrow, I decided to play with small digital collages.

It's almost like learning to ride a bike all over again!  Lots of 'mistakes' later, I was finally happy with what I did.  Time to share!  

These little works are all available on my RedBubble site -- greeting cards, prints, mugs, journal books and more.  I hope to keep up on these small tidbits until I feel like I'm not such an amateur!

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas

Last of 2017

Sometimes it gets to the point of ridiculousness how time slips through our grasp.  Today is New Year's Eve and, quite frankly, I'll be happy to see this year end.  But then again, I always feel this way about the current year as it comes to a close -- I suppose because the holiday season just rushes ahead, leaving us frazzled and stressed out.

So today, on a freezing cold day, I'm sitting in the lower level of the house, hunkered down and playing with stuff I never got around to posting / sharing.  I guess in some ways, I'll enjoy January - March just because it tends to be quiet and one feels quite content to hibernate.

Here are a few pieces I did in the past year or so -- sometimes these images get lost in the shuffle, buried under other "stuff."  

Wishing everyone a safe New Year's Eve

and a Happy New Year in 2018!

Happy October!

Gosh, it's been so long since I've posted on my poor blog, I'm ashamed to admit it!  And yet life has a way of distracting one from all the ideas you had planned, the projects that you want to tackle -- and before you know it -- poof! -- weeks, months have gone by.

But October is one of my favorite months, as is Autumn in general. I love the summer and being able to move around without coats and boots, but at some point all the heat and brilliant colors become overwhelming, and one ends up waiting for a chilled breeze, the scent of fallen leaves scuffling underfoot.

Combing through my photos from when I started this blog back in 2007 or '08, I found some season-appropriate images that I thought I'd share.  I do have new ones, but like many of us these days, they're lodged in my cellphone -- someday I'll download them and play around with them.

I hope you're all enjoying the fall season so far, although many areas have been hit by such horrific disasters, those from Nature and those from our fellow humans.  But even a moment to find that hidden last blossom of a rose or a spray of little helicopter pods turning the most amazing array of hues should be a moment to relish!

 I'll try to be more diligent about posting. When I read back on my entries, it was a great reminder of how much the journaling helped with so many aspects of the creative life -- and how many wonderful friends I made over the years!

"I'm so glad I live in a world

where there are Octobers."

L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

New Year, New Ways:

Necessity is the motherhood of invention.

What had been my newly remodeled craft / writing room created only about six months ago is now gone.  Actually, quite happily, I gave it back to our son, whose first foray into independent living with a bunch of his friends didn't quite work out. We said, "Come on back and re-group!"  So, here I am again, downstairs in the lower level of the house with little natural light, next to the laundry room.  But that's okay; I did that for almost 20 years.

It tends to be quiet, not in the daily flow of foot traffic, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I can make a mess and leave it, which I was finding it hard to do in the new studio space -- it was just too darn pretty to mess around in.

So yesterday, New Year's Day, I wanted to do some quilting. But my son was snoring away in the room, recuperating from the previous night's party. Did I mention that I had such a huge stash of fabrics and yarns, I left them in the room with him, with a pledge not to stink them up too, too much (mothers are like that!) 

So now what to do? 

Downstairs, I began pulling out bits of exotic papers and specialty threads, little scraps of this and that, then decided to start with a basic one-patch - what quilters would call a basic building block to patchwork quilting. Using some lovely Japanese paper yarns I bought from Habu Textiles, NYC, years ago, I stitched through the papers, using a combination of stitches. The scrap of music score is from an old Dover book on Chopin, I believe (copyright free). "Cedez" means "give" in French. I truly like this idea of "paper quilting," a kind of simple collaging, I suppose.

So you see, I gave my studio to my son with all our love and support, and that move, in turn, gave me the gift of creating something I wouldn't normally have done. I think I'll start working on a 4-patch piece. I have a lovely batch of silk sample squares in a variety of textures, as well as a pile of fun Indian and Nepalese papers. In many ways, this reminds me of the traditional embroidery sampler young girls were required to make years and years ago; a way to learn a variety of stitches that would serve them well in the years to come.

Happy New Year!  

Let's hope for a better year ahead!  

Winter Solstice

“I prefer winter . . . when you feel the bone structure of the landscape -

the loneliness of it . . . .  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.”   

Andrew Wyeth

Hush time, time to draw a breath . . .

A time to watch white flakes falling, whispers of wind slipping

between pine branches . . .

 

A time for firelight, memories and hope

for the days ahead . . .

 

Small stitches, humble shreds of fabric

weaving thoughts and sighs,

a rosary of regrets. 

A pause in the madness --

Days are getting crazier and crazier . . . shopping, traffic, preparing for a possible snow storm tomorrow. Sometimes when life gets like this, it's best to find a quiet corner and pull out some papers and embellishments and make something simple. I was thinking of my daughter and her fiance when I made this. They just bought a house, and I thought this might be a sweet something to hang once I frame it.

See, simple things. Sweet things.

Sometimes that's all you need to tide you over . . .

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Still playing with digital scrapbooking elements and trying to get a handle on Photoshop Elements. For years I used PaintShop/Corel, so this is a bit of a learning curve for me. Since the weather has taken another turn -- remnants of Hurricane Matthew, I suppose, working its way up the coast -- it is cold and rainy today, probably in the low 50s. Good for the garden, not so much for us humans. 

These are some digital elements I bought from CottageArts, LLC, as well as some scans I made from old Dover books (copyright free), or old discarded books one finds in library sales. My next hurdle is to deal with clipping masks and family photos. Hopefully this winter I'll start work on family photos going back to the 1930s, putting small genealogy books together for our children. At this time only my mother-in-law is left from that generation. The stories and information that she retains will no longer exist if we don't archive them now and get them into print in case platforms change.

I used to love the Legacy magazine put out by Stampington and Co. - mostly dedicated to family memories and the layouts were beautiful. Now, when I can, I pick up Digital Studios by the same company. Unfortunately, the contributors rarely give one a step-by-step guide on how to achieve something similar. But I'll persevere; just a matter of breaking down the steps and using those beautiful brushes and other elements. 

I may even throw myself into the mix with Instagram -- been hearing so much about it these past months, especially the "book bentos" that are so popular. The problem is, there's not enough time during the weekend to accomplish everything one wants -- I often feel like the "weekend warrior" and then go to work on Monday exhausted!  

So when do I retire???  Not soon enough, I think!  ;-) 

October Entry:

It's been so long since my last entry -- summer is simply too busy and lovely to spend indoors. But now it's fall in New England and to sit at my desk and come back to my blog seems natural. I love this time of year mainly because it does make one pause and consider slowing down a bit before the push of the holidays arrives at one's doorstep.

Nature's palette also invites a new way of looking at things, the colors more muted like a delicate William Morris print. And don't forget the cooking! Ah, to make warm cheesy biscuits and fudge brownies, comfort food for sure.

So this afternoon I created this journal entry above, using a new digital pack from Cottage Arts, LLC. It seemed to present the perfect background for some thoughts.

Good to be back -- and hope to stop by and visit my fellow bloggers' sites, too.

Happy Autumn, happy October! 

Small surprises

Been home today with a tough headache and just plain weariness. Roaming the house, at loose ends, thinking about work . . . no way to shut down the mind even though the body is screaming, "stop!" 

Finally wandered into my 'studio' area (actually was doing a load of laundry) and started to poke around in the files on my computer, drifting through various scans when I stumbled on a small file of pastel and watercolor sketches. God, when did I do those? And, more importantly, where are they? 

Surprisingly, I've always steered clear of pastels, although I do love the density and richness. Several years back I tried my hand, and I think I wrote on this blog about how I stupidly wore white shorts while using pastels -- a true 'duh' moment! 

But I keep returning to favorite artists, such as Casey Klahn and Deborah Stewart.  And, of course, one must revel in the pastel works of Wolf Kahn, so there must be something in pastels that stirs my feeble brain.

Earlier this summer I found that working small and quick while using watercolors as the underpainting truly gave me the effect I was seeking with pastels. Somewhere in this mess, I need to find those sketch books, perhaps tack them up on my inspiration wall, pull my head out of the dense cloud of work and the threatening depression of winter and sink myself into those colors -- 

Sunset on the CT River

The Stillness of Pines at Dusk

A Continuous Flow

High Summer along the River

Ode to summer

Summer 2015 has slipped away, almost overnight it seems. Two weeks ago we had 90 degree temperatures, but today it's about 48 degrees with winds and rain.

The good thing about this weather is that it forces one inside, something I haven't done in awhile. Every free moment when not working I was out in the garden or walking or on the deck. Working in an office 40+ hours a week does that to one. 

So on this rainy day I've been sorting through the photos I snapped throughout the summer weeks and revisited Photoshop while waiting for the laundry to finish. How exciting is that? Later today I'll throw a log or two on the fire and pull out my yarns and begin to sort out projects for the winter. 

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the garden -- I hope you enjoy!

hosta leaf

quiet

petals at dusk

vintage blossom