In my studio (oh those words make me smile!), I have been doing lots of different things this past month… but not really finishing much of anything. I have been *so* excited and happy to just be there , it’s been hard to concentrate!

I’m finally settling down a bit and I just finished this piece. It’s for the upcoming “Something to Crow About” show at the Details, Past and Present gallery.

pages of a project that is in its final stages… just a bit more to do,

Ila’s mini art gallery,

a portrait Sosi did of Paul and I, it might be my most favourite thing ever.

I just finished this painting for my best friend who just had her first baby. I’m so happy for her. I always thought she would be a wonderful mom, but she was never sure. I think she agrees with me now!

I’m using these quiet days to organize all my fabric. I want to have them separated by colour, when I go looking a for a piece of something pink it takes me ages because I have to dig through bin after bin. I’ve wanted to do this for years, it makes me ridiculously happy to see them all in little piles.

I just finished these 2 fabric pieces. It really is such a treat to get to work on these.

I just finished this custom portrait. It’s another large one, like the one I did back in the summer.  The house in the back is the house where the girls were born, in Ottawa. They now live here in P.E.I, which is symbolized by the big tree on the right and the 3 little ones on the right, like on the provincial flag (I wish I could say that it was my idea idea to add this… but it was the mom’s).

While I was painting this Sosi kept asking me while we don’t have a family portrait like this. She has a room full of my paintings that I did when she was a baby, but nothing like this. It might be time to start thinking about making one of our very own.

Some recent custom pieces… I feel so lucky that people ask me to do these for them. They are always so much fun! The top one is of a cute family from White Rock, B.C, the bottom one is of a girl and her pirate kitty. They travel the world together.

Some illustrators I’ve recently discovered and have been really enjoying:

Sachiko Umoto (so wish I could understand Japanese)

Ina Hattenhauer  and her  blog.

Happy weekend!

Here they are:

A tiny alphabet book,

We got to assemble it and make a tiny cover for it ourselves.

The 4 seasons in German.

And a gorgeous full moon calendar (my favourite).

We even got a postcard from Oliver, he said the 2 on the front reminded him of Sosi and Ila. :)

I hope this is something Peter continues, I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Here are the last 2 barns.

All together I painted 6 barns this summer in Catherine’s Studio. I’m so happy she chose  me to watch her space. These barns would never have been painted if she hadn’t. She’s back now and it’s time to hand back the keys, and I feel a little heart broken about it. I think it may be definitely time to find a space of my own…

These days have been full, very full. A lot of going back and forth…

from things like this,

and this,

to this,

and this.

In July my attempt to get more childcare backfired…and I ended up with no childcare. My children were both miserable in the new places I put them and begged to stay home with me. After weeks of fighting them, and lots of tears and stress, I gave in. I ‘ve had them home for 2 weeks with me and it has worked out amazingly. I ‘m with them during the day and my husband is with them in the evening and weekends (when I whisk myself off to my (Katherine’s) studio, aka heaven). I’m actually getting lots done and more importantly …

look how happy these two are (man, I love them)! It’s been nuts, but so totally worth it.