Sorry about the recent hiatus - we've been on vacation in Colorado!



I'll be back soon!

Two Hawks

{Two Hawks - Verithin Black Pencil on Bristol - 9 x 13"}

The most recent drawing in my ongoing collaboration with Joe Briggs.

Gardening

In honor of my dinner of frozen pizza and beer, I am posting some pictures of the progress in our garden.
First off, the reason I'm having pizza is this 10x10 foot garden bed I dug out today.  After finishing the never-ending digging I was useless for the rest of the evening.

I am exhausted even looking at the picture!  I'd still like to do one more bed along with this one, but I'll get this one planted before I move on to the next one.
My little seedlings are really starting grow - just in time!

{Tomato Sprouts}

And last but not least - we bought our cats a present:

A window mounted bird feeder for our cats.  Our cat Bobo (aka - Bobopants, Pretty Boy, Bobo-fet, Buddy Boy, etc..) loves birds.  He watches them for hours every day.  All we have to do is mention the word 'Birdy' and he'll run over and start 'barking' at the birds.  Yes, our cat barks.
Hopefully some birds will come visit the feeder soon!

Thrifted Recently:

I love this casserole dish.  I'm collecting robin's egg blue retro cookware for the kitchen, and this piece rocks.
 

Some lovely glass jars to be made into tabletop terrariums.


And the icing on the cake - these lovely leather heels.  I lusted after the same pair for a year in the store hoping they'd go on sale, but they never did.  Amazingly I found the same pair looking like they were only worn once, for two bucks at the thrift shop.


Lucky day!

In the Studio

Now that I am finally done with grading and all of the other little details that teaching online includes, I am free for the summer!  Time to get back on track with my studio work. 

I am excited to keep working on a long-term project I've been working on with my good friend Joe Briggs.  He is a poet, and we've been sending words and drawings back and forth for a few months now.   

I've also got a lot of unfinished projects that I'd really like to get off of my back!  Nothing like a long summer to tie up loose ends. 

And of course there are always new projects to be started.  

Rascal helps me with my work:

In the Garden

Between finishing up class stuff and attempting to clean our house after finals I've made some time to get out to the garden.  I've got most of the herbs in and re-potted some of my seedlings.  Next week I hope to plant the majority of our veggies as we'll be going on a vacation to see our good friends in Colorado!
Here's what I did so far:

{Rosemary}


{Mint & the weird bunny}


{Genovese Basil}


{Chives with St. Francis who came with the house- hehe}


{Sage}


{The Virgin and some beastly weeds!}


{Raspberries! - Which most likely I'll have to wait until next year to harvest from. :(   }

That is it for now kids, I'm off to spend some quality time in my studio!

Furniture :)

While visiting my Grandma Betty this last week, she reminded me of an ottoman she had in her basement that I would always ask her if I could have when I was a kid, and she let me take it home!
Who knew I had such good taste as a kid!

Thanks Grandma Betty!
It matches all of my other mid-century furniture in my living room, and is the perfect size for our couch which sits pretty low to the ground.
I also picked up some table legs (Vika Lerberg) from Ikea while I was in Chicago.  I've been looking for a simple large table for my studio for some time now, and haven't been able to thrift one, so this is the next best thing.

Each trestle cost $10, and I had the wood for the top already (birch plywood) - I really like how simple this table is!  It also matches my other industrial table that I've got in my studio.  The top just sits on the legs, so I can pull it apart and move it or store it really easily.

Chi-town

  
This last week I've been on a marathon solo road trip.  I went from South Dakota ----> Dodgeville, Wisconsin ----> DeKalb, Illinois ----> Chicago ----> Milwaukee, Wisconsin ----> LaCrosse, Wisconsin ----> South Dakota.  I had amazing timing with the gas prices spiking, but it was worth it to be able to see family, friends, and a crazy amount of art.
The goal of my adventure was to go to Art Chicago/Next with my friends Ann Flowers and Darren Houser (both excellent friends and artists to boot!).
It is held in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago - and we woke up nice and early to get there when it opened.  I think it is one of the first times in history that three artists went somewhere together and arrived on time.  Maybe we are finally grown-ups (probably not).


It was so great to get out and to see so much art.  I've really been missing a connection to the 'Art World' since moving to South Dakota, so this was a much needed 'fix'.  Through blogging and online it is easier than ever to stay somewhat connected, but there is nothing like seeing things up close.



{Nina Rizzo}





{Claire Sherman}


{Peter Opheim}

Also, if you are interested in seeing more of the pieces/artists I enjoyed - check out my board on Pinterest:
Artists I Love