No words today...busy, busy in the studio.

But if you're in the mood to read a post, hop on over to sweet Melissa's gorgeous blog Reverie Daydream where I have written a guest post for her "Wishful Thinking" series. 

Melissa has a gorgeous shop full of delightful temptations as well!

Big News!!!

With the completion of my first set of hand-finished textile prints, my new shop  is now O-P-E-N! 

 I will still maintain my Etsy shop, and my new shop will be dedicated to a set of unique, limited-run pieces on the theme of travel and adventure. I currently have five images available as 8.5" x 11" prints on 100% cotton rag watercolor paper. In addition I have The Longneck available as a 12.5" x 16.5" fabric print. These are professionally textile-printed with eco-friendly ink on a lightweight, unprimed linen/cotton canvas. Each print is then hand-cut, individually tea-stained, and the edges hand-frayed in my studio. This lengthy process lends a beautiful aged look and texture, and makes each print unique and one-of-a-kind. No two are alike, and each is signed and dated before shipping. This print makes a beautiful wall hanging on its own, or can be framed with the edges showing.

 Each run of products in my new shop will be created in very limited edition. There are only 6 fabric prints of The Longneck available in this run.

Welcome to the next phase of The Voyagers! 

Many exciting developments are on the way!

 Interesting things going on in my studio these days! I've been busy. 

This morning, we found ourselves in a very cool screenprinting shop that uses only water-based, environmentally-friendly inks. We had a tour of the whole facility, and had many an inspiring converstation.

 Later this afternoon, with a hot sun and a high wind on our back patio, I found myself bent over a bin of fabric soaking in black tea. I very much enjoy tea-dying, but this project is one that is especially dear to my heart.

Are you excited to see the finished product? 

I am!

We're almost there...

 My mother's day actually started out with an hour and a half's worth of work in the studio before the Q woke up, and then bacon and handmade bread for breakfast, thanks to my husband.

Sadly, I have no photos of that stage of the day.

 Once we were all up, fed, and fueled, we headed out on our bikes to Q's favorite playground, which she calls the "No-No Hoo-Hoo Weee". That's Q-speak for the playground at her favorite local school, the school she hopes to one day attend. It's called Edison, and it's marked by this very cool welded-metal sculpture of Thomas Edison. 

Q used to be terrified of this sculpture, hence the "No-No Hoo-Hoo" moniker. 

She always favored the playground, but she used to make her daddy tell the statue that he was not to haunt the QiuQiu.

"Statue, you no-no-no my Qiu Qiu!" Daddy would say, pounding his chest to prove his prowess as a Q's protector. 

 These days both Edison and his monument are friends to our Q.

 It's a wonderful school, and a wonderful park, complete with a local communal garden space that is the best-tended in the neighborhood.

 We love to ride our bikes here, and play and lounge.

 Mother's day this year in Denver dawned unseasonably hot and summer-like, so we soon decided to make our way to North Denver's Arvada in search of a water park in which to cool our heels.

 In the car, Q entertained herself with a fan.

 Much to our collective dismay, the Arvada water park was late in opening this year, and we were forced to entertain ourselves with silly hats in the nearby Army/Navy surplus store.

 After which we stopped in to Old Town Arvada's German bakery for cookies.

My Mother's Day dinner was a fresh Salade Niçoise with seared tuna, anchovies, and nonpareil capers, thanks to my husband.

All in all, a perfect day...plus, I had the first actual nap I've had in recent memory during Q's naptime.

HEAVEN.

Now I feel very guilty. 

Back to the grindstone tomorrow morning, I swear!

 Happy mother's day from our sillinesses!

 Go see my illustrations - and the paper dolls that go with them - in the new issue of La Petite Magazine today!

My husband e-mailed me this photo from the carousel today while I was at home working. I just love the look of pure, unadulterated bliss. 

Also, for those of you who didn't see it on facebook, thought I should post this, which he made: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySNaR84Ylmw

As a footnote, I should say that since we rarely take videos, he has used bits and clips from various periods of her life, so that some of these clips are from a year ago or more - hence the incongruity in her appearance. Also, it may surprise some of you (as it did me) to notice that she still often moves and behaves like a three-year-old, although in still photos and in close-up she appears much older. This is a conundrum that will make things interesting for her when she enters preschool in the fall. I'm interested to see how it will play out. She has an enormous and magnetic personality, which draws people of all ages to her automatically, so I'm not inordinately worried for her. That said,  at 3.5 she is the height of your average five or six-year-old here in the US, and her features are very mature for her age (partly because of her bone structure, and largely because she is naturally lean and has never managed to hold any baby fat). This incongruity is only compounded by the fact that her verbalized speech is delayed (in pronunciation if not in scope) considerably, due to the fact that the surgeries on the muscles of her inner mouth are not yet complete. Add in the fact that she can do math like a 3rd-grader, has a photographic memory, and creates google-quality maps in her brain wherever she goes, and you have a very unusual child.
That's my girl.
A dyed-in-the-wool individual.
They definitely tossed the mold after this one.

 Thinking about leaping into chalk drawings with a neighborhood friend.

 One of the many vintage treasures in our 'hood.

 Q likes a cool car as much as the next person.

 Murals neara local school.

 And someone showing her slapstick side...

 She was definitely in a mood that afternoon!

My apologies for slower-than-normal posting this week, but, in addition to a couple of lovely collaborations, I'm also working on a new project of my own in the studio this month.

 Still top-secret, but I'll give you a few glimpses into the goings-on in our neck of the woods!

Looking forward to revealing more soon!

No words are needed for this one, I think. 

Let's just say it's a happy day.