Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Finding the Balance

Happy 2010 to you all! Here's a little snapshot of me & Bunches on New Years Eve to start things off
I've been really busy these past few weeks. Which is always good, but i tend to start feeling very 'spun out'. Seems i have a hard time finding the balance, and i start to get overwhelmed. It's a very tough job trying to be a full time Mom and then some kind of full time artist in there as well. A lot of the time, i end up with a sense of being too divided, and not feeling like i really get to focus my attention on one or the other. That's one of the things i need to work on in 2010, finding the balance for myself. Here's a sketch for a personal piece I'm starting on. "Ask Alice", i think i want to go a little bigger with this one than i usually do. i'm pretty excited about going to paint on her.
Here's a crop from a commission piece i did for Marisa Kestel. Oddly enough, Marisa and her hubby Scott are the owners of Brand MOJO interiors, whom i purchased my incredible refinished factory cart from! Visit they're store! The work is incredible, the attention to detail amazing.

Doing a fun series of gals for another client ... i'll let you know more on this one when i can :)

Two weeks ago brought an onslaught of sleepless nights for Bodie Bear, and, subsiquently, me. First he ended up with this incredible fever that went on for days... by day three the fever broke and he ended up with a rash all over his body. Turns out, he had Roseola. Once the rash subsided he got double ear infections... and followed it all up with a urinary infection.
The first night of peaceful sleep for him brought nightmares for Dylan. So after a week and a half of not sleeping, i decided to escape for the evening. Michael was wonderful about watching the boys and letting me retreat to the camp with Sloan & Joseph for a bit of R&R. Here's a little picture of Sloan and I at our fireside chat :) I felt so centered after that. Just to leave the house by myself... pretty amazing.

Last week brought a full week of storms through SoCal. Wild weather, tornados, flooding... and here in Yucaipa, we were treated to snow at the end of it all.

Dylan and I walked around the neighborhood in the snow, but i couldn't get Bodie to join us.


It snowed off and on all day... into the night as well. We even made a little snowman. It was a magical day in many ways...

and a heartbreaking day in others...
My dear cousin Todd and his wife Lisa lost their 9 month old son Jagger on Friday, the 22nd. These things should never happen. A friend of mine shared a quote with me that says, "the death of a child is so wrong that even the angels weep."
RIP Baby Jagger, you touched so many lives in your short time here....