Cornerstone, construction, and cutie pies!

The older an aspen, the more character!

She's so excited!

The solid engineering on this job will ensure it's serious life span!

My cutie pies!

Fantasy photos for true life

NailPolish

I love Julie Blackmon's work!! She is brilliant and fresh and hilarious and provocative and my new fave!

This one ( above) is called Trampoline from her new work. I found this amazing artist through Please Sir . Thank you Diana!!

Floatie

The Artist's statement:

Domestic Vacations:

The Dutch proverb “a Jan Steen
household” originated in the 17th century and is used today to refer to a home
in disarray, full of rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings. The
paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters,
helped inspire this body of work. I am the oldest of nine children and now
the mother of three. As Steen’s personal narratives of family life
depicted nearly 400 yrs. ago, the conflation of art and life is an area I have
explored in photographing the everyday life of my family and the lives of my
sisters and their families at home. These images are both fictional and
auto-biographical, and reflect not only our lives today and as children growing
up in a large family, but also move beyond the documentary to explore the
fantastic elements of our everyday lives, both imagined and
real. The stress, the chaos, and the need to
simultaneously escape and connect are issue that I investigate in this body of
work. We live in a culture where we are both “child centered” and
“self-obsessed.” The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping
to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to
dominate. Caught in the swirl of soccer practices, play dates, work, and
trying to find our way in our “make-over” culture, we must still create the
space to find ourselves. The expectations of family life have never been
more at odds with each other. These issues, as well as the relationship
between the domestic landscape of the past and present, are issues I have
explored in these photographs. I believe there are moments that can be
found throughout any given day that bring sanctuary. It is in finding
these moments amidst the stress of the everyday that my life as a mother
parallels my work as an artist, and where the dynamics of family life throughout
time seem remarkably unchanged. As an artist and as a mother, I believe
life’s most poignant moments come from the ability to fuse fantasy and
reality: to see the mythic amidst the chaos.





Julie Blackmon

Cupcake

Dinner Party

Green Velvet
This one reminds me of how I usually feel about the canines...however I read the most amazing post on my friend's Art Farm blog. I cried like a baby. Then I read it to my husband. I choked out every word, tears streaming down my face. Her dog story is so moving and heart wrenching. I think she should write a screenplay about her life and her farm- it would be snatched up immediately.

Best...of 2009!

I can't do it anymore...we're moving on to 2009!
Best Travel Article:
The New York Times ran a really great travel article about one of my all time favorite Japanese novels! The Tale of Genji. I love it not only for the story but for the history. The Lady Murasaki, who wrote the first novel in her own invented written language, is a true inspiration.

I been yearning to go to Japan lately...I love reading the adventures of David Sedaris in this wildly intriguing country. I also read the whole of Anthony Bourdain's hilarious Kitchen Confidential during the holidays (Finally! I'd only read excepts before.) Near the end of the book he discovers the exotic culinary pleasures of Japan. He wrote in a way that made me crave fish and noodles for breakfast....

Best Radio Showof all time: This American Life

Best facial expressions! My kiddo!

Best new idea: I finally added the subscibe to this website feature!! AHHHH still learning so much. AlsoI accidentally wiped out my last favorite blogs feature...so I'm slowly adding them back.

What I didn't get

A friend just had a baby so I was looking around the web for a great baby gift. I found some pretty cute stuff at Modern Seed, but these amazing kid's chairs weren't in the budget. I am, however, thinking about them for my little modster. Is that bad?

These photos are great and in spite of what I'm about to say about the play house, I really do like this store.

She's the dreamer, he's the rage against the machinist, and she's just dopey cute!

If you don't have a big refrigerator or dishwasher coming to a kitchen near you, you could just order this box- marketing a box is stupid, smart. You may feel like a total nitwit buying this little $50 playhouse or just incredibly flush. Perhaps you want your little darling to have a white playhouse for her brilliant scribbles and and embellishments rather than a brown shipping box, well your more parent than I! Silly me, I have senselessly and cruelly been helping la nina create her dream homes with a steak knife and markers, when I could have pre-ordered this one with already cut-out windows and doors. Call me old-fashioned I guess.

Really, what's next, pre-assembled gingerbread houses? AHHHH the humanity.

What the description said,

Make it a Playhouse

A house is a house, and this one is white, until you design
and decorate its exterior!With windows, doors and a letterbox you will surely
make it your home in no time. Meant to be painted and decorated.
Easy-to-assemble for hours of play. Easy-to-store: it folds down flat in its
box. 18 months +5% of profits to UNICEF

Easy to store, hmm, comes in it's own box? At least it benefits Unicef!

Oh happy day! Blue eyes, Blue Box

Guess where this is from?

She's 6 today! I keep trying to cut a deal with her about not growing up and getting bigger but she won't sign.

Speaking of cutting deals, I have it on good authority that IKEA will announce today about opening a store in Denver. That is still 5 hrs away by car but I'll take it!

Leapin' Lupine We've Got a Hiker!

We attempted a Dallas Trail Hike today-the road is very near Ralph Lauren's Double R Ranch. The views are truly breathtaking. Unfortunately, storm clouds moved in and lighting began to cackle so we jogged back down to the safety of our vehicle. All the while Sophia was assuring her American Doll Nikki that it was OK to be scared but not OK to scream. "All it does is just hurt her ears,"-(meaning me.)

Ahhh... it's sinking in!

Earlier, on the way up the trail, she collected wildflowers and stuck them all over her Dad. she's getting to be a really good hiker- appreciating the sticks, flowers and the meadows, the trees and the bones we find...

In terms of design, I never fail to be impressed by the colors, the light, and the textures found in the natural world. I started a little photo project...but am waiting until my good camera is fixed to really get going.

Meanwhile it was just nice to out in a quiet place with my family.

Post Script:

Wooooooo just googled AG doll. Wish I'd had the foresight to buy an extra doll last Christmas. Those puppies are going for a pretty penny now.

Digging all the way to China

cb2 of course.

My daughter wanted to know all the animals that were red. I came up with a lousy 3 and promptly consulted the web. As it turns out, the Red Panda is a very spunky little creature whose characteristics, oddly enough, resemble my daughter's. Unfortunately, this photo fails to show the long red tail in the back.

Not a lot of Red Panda design idea unless, you think bamboo. My floors are bamboo, I have bamboo cutting boards, I especially enjoy my bamboo towels- no joke- they are extremely soft and anti-microbial-how about that!

These little guys are endangered but several organizations try to help conservation projects.

Brand Conscience

We visited a friend's week old colt recently. My daughter had spilled a little apple juice on her dress right before we got to the ranch. The horse found it right away. Fast friends those two.

"Skid Boots" is the little guy's working title. His coat is unbelievably supple and his mane so fuzzy it will make an animal lover out of the most jaded...(me.) I oohed and awed.

Minor educational note- apparently there is a "new" kind of branding technique. Freeze branding is a technique in which a super cold branding iron, properly applied to the animals hide, kills the color pigment producing cells. The result is that white or colorless hair instead of colored hair, grow at the brand site. Freeze branding is effective on both cattle and horses along with dogs. One advantage of freeze branding is that it produces a readable brand at any time of the year. Another distinct advantage freeze branding has the distinct advantage of being painless or nearly painless to the animal during the branding process.

M. L.

M. L . stands for many letters. We wanted them to get out and explore nature...they spent 75% of their time inventing games like this on the hammock. I may do a series spelling out their names...then again, there I go making plans for them...