jellyfish that live at the Fort Fisher Aquarium 

Alex and Seo (and several of the Carmonas) were taken down by a stomach bug right at the tail end of our vacation. It is gross and I am trying my best to keep those of us still standing, well, standing. Truthfully though, every time I think about it I start to feel queasy.
So instead I will show you something pretty. We took the kids to the aquarium while we were at the beach. They loved it, although their attention span was tiny compared to how long I wanted to sit and watch some of the animals move in the water. The tanks of sea-life look like gigantic abstract paintings to me, and my heart skips a beat at the enigma of it all.

renewal

We took a week away this week and came to the beach with David & Ema and family.  We stayed in a salmon colored house,  snuggled by the ocean in our sweaters and blankets during the day, and got to see the full moon over the water by night. We played board games and drank margaritas and Guinness after the kids went to bed. We ate some really good seafood and we also ate a lot more junk food than we normally eat. 

The beach and ocean feel expansive compared to our small living quarters and enclosed surrounding woods at home, and it felt so nice to switch our scenery for a bit. Honestly, the whole week felt like one big treat (even when we were working). I sure do feel grateful to live only a half day's drive to the ocean. 

kitties

www.kelceyloomer.com

Sketches

happy Spring equinox!

Peas and greens planted. Rest of the seeds ordered and are set to arrive in the next two weeks. Our peach tree has one pink blossom. The snakes woke up and we saw our first butterfly. A spider crawled across our floor last night and the chickens egg production has increased. All signs that Spring is beginning, and for that I am grateful. 

something green to smile about

and another

red journal

A portrait of Alex from the red journal.

from the red art journal :: Kelcey Loomer

milk teeth

Remember when Lili was itty-bitty and only had two teeth and was a drool machine? 

Here we are five years later, and she has lost those very same teeth.
They have been wiggly for weeks, and reeeeallly wiggly for a few days, and then her bigger (and much adored) cousin assisted her in removing the first one. They were playing upstairs when after much whispering Lili called down to me asking for an apple. After my "no" answer she whined down to me "But I really want an apple to take out my tooth!!!"
More whispering.
And five minutes later she gleefully calls down that she lost her tooth! When I ask how she did it she proudly says that Gita did it. Gita shrugged with a pleased smile and said "I know how to get teeth out" and Lili looked over to her, her tooth on the palm of her hand, and beamed.

Later in the evening the kids spot Alex's truck coming up the drive. Lil is practically jumping out of her skin she is so excited to show him the big news. Pacing next to me at the sink she waited for me to dry my hands and hand over the little tooth that had been carefully placed on the windowsill.
As Alex sat down in our entryway to remove his boots Lili came at him with her hands outstretched, presenting her prize. And then in a moment of chaos Seo bumped into her and the little tooth went flying into the abyss of our mudroom.
Yep, that happened.
So there we all were for fifteen minutes combing through every pebble and wood chip and scanning the floor for any sign of the tooth. When we broke the news that it wasn't looking promising to Lil she immediately  got out her markers and started a detailed picture to explain the dire situation to the tooth fairy.

Long after we had given up, Alex opened his leftovers from his lunch bag only to find her tooth sitting innocently inside. She squealed and promptly crumpled up her note.   :)

Here is a short video of the exciting thing that happened next! 

Good times!

another from the red journal

Kelcey Loomer :: from the red art journal 

bus living

I found this wonderful picture of school-bus living recently and it made me a little nostalgic. We lived in a converted school bus like this for a few years while we built our current home.  We had a full kitchen with a mini fridge right next to the steering wheel, a plywood floor, and a rickety old wood-stove whose pipe led out one of the windows. Living in a small (and free) structure allowed us to spend the majority of our time and money on our building project. The whole experience seems kind-of crazy now, but it happened!

and here is a journal page from those days:

visual art journals

some of my visual art journals on the bookshelf in my studio. 

I thought it would be fun to start going back through some of my older journals and documenting, and in turn showing you, some of my older book art work. One of my favorite collections comes from my red journal; like this page that I painted after a night of star watching in a big field. My favorite part is the way the two people are enveloped in a white cocoon.

visual art journal :: kelcey loomer 

More soon! 

bread and puppet

The most amazing thing happened this weekend~ Bread and Puppet Theater came and did a show in our neighborhood. Can you believe it? Well, probably most of you have no idea who Bread & Puppet are, but I know at least a few of you out there who would have immediately known what a crazy, wonderful, and amazing thing to have happen right out your door! We literally walked through the woods and down to our neighbors at Earthaven Ecovillage to see the show.

 And for those of you who don't know about them yet, here is a bit about Bread and Puppet in their words:

The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the community as participants. Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.

In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions  both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company, to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the country.

The content of the show was mostly heavy, focused on things like war and environmental issues. However, there was a lot of laughter and artful ways of portraying the messages they were trying to get across. My kids were enthralled the whole show.

artwork for sale:

I kind-of forgot how much I love gigantic puppets & theater in general. Here's to hoping that things you love will come right to your doorstep too!

xxx Kelcey

studio

a string of random inspiration above my studio desk.  from left to right:

• vintage postcard collection of the sea.
• doodle I made and then cut apart. the word Saudades written down (given to me by close friend).
• A little collage made by dear friend Becca Johnson. 
• A small print of one of my favorite paintings to keep me on track. 
• $20 dollars that I found in a card my grandma Lee had given me a long time ago. I can't bear to spend it on something trival, so there is hangs. 
• Another doodle.