“Jump, and you will find out

how to unfold your wings as you fall"

~Ray Bradbury

bike wheel

Some new earrings designed with my sister and all who love bicycles in mind. 

scenes from the weekend

evening egg dyeing

egg hunt

neighborhood pot-luck brunch

My friend Meredith's pretty table on the deck
giant bowl of delicious hot-crossed-buns that Alex made

Lil eating a hard boiled egg after the hunt

Around Our Land This Week

1.  A beautiful vine we planted years ago. I have no idea what it is.
2. Our house with our funny new stove pipe climbing up the front. On the to-do list again this year is to plaster the bottom half of our house. We shall see.
3. Our compost bins made from recycled pallets.
4. Fresh sand in the sand box. "Hey Mom, would you like some pie?"
5. Bare feet = happy kids...
6. I planted a huge row of peas but only two came up. 
7. Five gallon buckets are the best. 
8. Irises just bloomed 2 days ago. They are so pretty swaying in the breeze.
9. Something Alex built around one of our garden pumps to prevent freezing.
10. A garden bed Ema prepped for yarrow and LOTS of basil. 

long & short

(and I am not talking about mullets... just the two lengths of earrings we are making)
*Also, I don't know why I look sad in these photos~ really it was kind of silly to try to take photos of myself...

random notes

i

She always insists on having her PJs unzipped a little bit so that she can check on her nipples at a moments notice. (???)

Speaking of her nipples: Alex said she was wearing a pair of overalls the other day with no shirt. She thought it was hilarious to lift her arms up and down (causing the overall bib to go up and down too)~ saying: "Nipples in, Nipples out! Nipples in, Nipples out!"

She spent most of today with another 3 year old friend. When it was time to go they hugged about 15 times, telling each other they would miss each other soooo much.  She was also smacking on a piece of gum (first time she hasn't swallowed gum). She just seemed so much bigger and independent in this moment.

And Seo has been growing fiercely as well. He went on his first long walk down our dirt road today, and he is becoming more vocal about what he wants out of life.  It is becoming clear that he is going to be more of a feisty handful than Lili was. He is already practicing mini tantrums :)
He continues to look like a little copy of Alex.  See? ------->

And a quote my cousin posted on facebook today that is always good to remember and so true.


If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them as you think you should and half the amount of money.

~Esther Selsdon

underpaintings

Two new under-paintings I have been working on this week. I have been testing out using homemade wheat paste glue with just a touch of PVA in it. It has enabled me to sand down the layers of my painting with ease (the straight PVA was gumming up). I have resorted to applying some of the layers with my hands,
and the feeling of it is reminiscent of grade school paper mache projects.

The process of gluing and sanding away is satisfying. 

and I love the smooth and slightly toothy feel of the surface. 

him

He is exploring everything.
You can see a light flicker across his face hmmmm.... can I climb that? and what happens if I bang my head into that. or hmmmm what if I bang it even harder into that thing. and again? And what is that on the floor? And in a flash he is popping whatever it was is in his mouth with his chubby fingers.

In the photo above I believe he is thinking, can I climb onto this rickety side table? 
and he will try.

Images for the new Jewelry Line

These will be scaled down to 16mm (3/4") so some of details had to be simplified so you could see them in the final print. Both if these designs have a mirror image made for two earrings. 

studio day

 I had a lovely studio day on Sunday.  As I painted I overlooked Alex trimming mountain-berry vines. It was a nice view   ; )

 I painted for hours. And I was so happy.

 And then a little bird came knocking on my studio door. 

 So I let her in.

 A detail of the same painting I have been working on for months:

And finished but with no name yet...

xxx Kelcey

loves

As a little side project I have been having fun making these little prints of things I love. I can't decide if they should say LOVES or just plain LOVE (love dirt / loves dirt).  If I was going to give you a little card or print like this, which would you prefer it to say?
I am dreaming up a little series to illustrate things Lili loves. They will hang like a banner in her bedroom. It is going to be so cute. I might be inundating you with a hundred of these silly little illustrations before I tire of it....

And on that note, I am happy to say we made it through 2 months of our cleanse! We had  burger night with friends to celebrate~ and it was very good. Also, my sister and Dave brought us back a gigantic jar of nutella from Italy, and it is dangerous sitting in our cupboard. DANGEROUS.

Glad we did the cleanse, very glad it is over. : )

new work

Beautiful Luggage

mixed media and digital

2011

Kelcey Loomer

up our sleeves.

A lot of my attention lately has been focused on getting our new jewelry line up and running. It is something that has been in the works for what feels like forever. I made the first earring sketch last spring, and it has taken almost a full year to pick the designs apart, and rebuild, and re-think them to where I feel really good about them. Things are a lot simpler now that we have a printer that can print out gorgeous, fade-proof miniature prints too.

I have chosen a name and logo different from sweet mess (someday when I am not trying to write a blog post in the space of a nap I will share my thoughts on this division). I am so excited to share it with you.
Here it is:

The name and logo are based on the maple seed, which was the image on Alex and my wedding invitations. It seemed appropriate to me because it is a business adventure that we are creating together. We are crossing our fingers (all twenty of them) that Seed & Sky will flourish, and Alex can cut back drastically on being a carpenter starting in August.

whew. I said it out loud...
We are taking another step into the unknown, and it feels exciting.
really exciting.  
and scary too. 

We have 14 designs created so far. These will be made into long earrings, short earrings, and necklaces on sterling silver chains. Hopefully in the coming month I will have more to share. Well, Eliseo is up from his nap and is babbling away up there, so I will tell you more some other day. 

xxx Kelcey

SEO

breakfast of sweet potato and black beans

Lili went to a friend's house, so it was just me and the little man today.
It started out a mess. Lots of poopy diapers (3), lots of dirty dishes. Lots of black beans squashed into the rug...

But we put on some good music, drank way too much coffee (me), and mopped the floors, scrubbed the dishes, cleaned the sink, gave Seo his bath. Put him down for a nap and then got a ton of artwork worked on.  It felt great.  Of course, by the time Alex got home nothing looked squeaky clean anymore. But hey, what are you going to do?

The best part of the whole day happened when I was nursing Eliseo before his afternoon nap up on my bed. He started to rub his hand in a circular motion on his chest. The sign we have been teaching him for happy. 

I said "You are happy?" making the motion myself.

He looked up at me and gave the biggest, milkiest, grin back, and repeated the sign.

. 

link love & advice

 I found THIS great link from Beth over on her Studio Fuller Blog that I wanted to share with you for the start of the week.  It got me thinking about what sort of advice I would give my former self in regards to being an artist. While cleaning out a box of papers the other day I re-found this sweet letter from my friend Caren (bottomland), and she said with great clarity what my advice would be:

"Remember that passion doesn't always 

have to be explosive and inspired. 

Sometimes it is quiet, determined, and steady."

And lastly, a little glimpse of the kids at our tadpole filled water feature HERE.