the last of the darling zinnias a few weeks ago - uuupps! two months!
I missed my two year blog-o-versary back in November, but it's never too late to celebrate a bit and to be thankful a bit and to hopefully inspire a bit tonight. I thought it was appropriate to link a bit as well. (And make references to beautiful really old Sandy Denny song...)
First and foremost -
Thank you all, for such wonderful support of this blog. By reading, commenting, emailing and sending me links to your work we have connected. So many friends all over the planet! it makes me feel quite warm inside. Thank you!
Heather Smith Jones, Leaf and its pattern, pinholes on paper, image size 6 in. x 13 in., framed size 15 5/8 in. x 22 5/8 in., available at our gallery
Secondly for inspiration- there are just so many good things being made and happening out there in the world.
It's a time of sparkle and wonder and a little too much everything, but there are also places which have just the right amount of just the right thing.
Through Heather's beautiful blog I peered into a Göteborg, Sweden window of Bibbi's. It is other worldly. It moved me.
A few blogs have had lasting power for me these past two years. I find myself going back again and again to Cally Creates. A place where art is truly in the everyday and eye of the beholder. On the same island, Milla, a little further south, leads another artful life. I enjoy her own work and writings about artists she finds. It's real. It's Milla. I love it. Ulla (hey wait a minute, do all my daily stops have a double LL in their names?!) has a visual feast for the eyes most every time I pop in there. Her creative spirit is everywhere she is. Sandy - from the same coast - is not only one of the nicest people I have ever met - ever, but has an engaging style all her own filled with honest, funny, whimsical writing and artwork. Art Tea Life is full of fun and great recipes!
Speaking of recipes, I am currently baking a wonderful smelling cake for a special someone. Guess where this fabulous recipe came from? Three Layer Cake. The ever sassy, well written, certainly one of the smartest women I have ever come to know, Kristina can cook. Check out her new look at 3LC. Grace at the ever evolving, completely creative design*sponge has been a joy to know and a daily delight to read. She is a true original, with a heart of gold. But you know that already, you read her daily too! One of my daily reads is always filled with more inspiration that you can shake a knitting needle at is Whip up. I have been part of that writing community for a year and a half now and have enjoyed each and every day of it. Kathreen is an endless idea woman and well, that is a priceless talent. Another talent and fabulous read is Andrea from Vancouver. Her recent meme is a hoot and her artwork, I really really really love her earth paintings, are lovely.
There are many more places to go and people to see in the side bar - Kathy's new shop with her amazingly crafted fabric creations, the ever-artist Regina, at Monster Crochet, and Jan who blows me away with her oh let's knit complex patterns whilst whipping up a fabulous quilt during my down time of the socks I should finish -- be*mused gal. Talk about your trio of talent. Yes, that would be them. Their is Moe, the swampgrrl, Susanna the photographer, dear friend Angie, and the rest of my sidebar... so much talent.
Over the past year I have become quite a flickr addict (oh you too?) while trying to spend less time at the computer and more time at the easel is a little bit more difficult with diversions like these and this and these, not to mention this and that and those.
The hour grows late, the cake is out of the pan and well, what can I say except thank you friends!
The word for the day has been at rest for a long time, to revive it a bit - today's word is fragrant. Like the baking of holiday treats, the scent of a special place and the soft, icy, wonderful way the first snow smells.
