HELLO FRIENDS
February is a beast. We have experienced snow, rain, ice and lots of wind and its only the 6th!!
I realize that I live in a geographical area that allows me to experience all the weather and so I am trying to appreciate the beauty in every season, more so than I used to in my younger life. Today the trees look like they're crying! It's stunningly gorgeous and requires lots of picture taking. I'm grateful for my warm home. I made a huge welcome sign. Contact me if you would like to purchase it. It may be just what your home needs. 

HI  it's super super cold these days and I feel a little trapped (in a good way)
​because it's soooo much work to go out. 
I walked into the yard yesterday because I wanted to throw some birdseed out there. The snow is knee deep in my yard and the poor birds have no access to water in my yard. I am trying to clean out some boxes/bins of stuff in the art room and then I get distracted and start a whole new project! I'm spending entirely too much time scrolling, but OH I've discovered some exciting artists recently!! Past and present.
​I finished the broken garden sign. I want to plant a little Sedum in the cup (half-cup ;)   Pix below. 
​Last day of January and this fatty needs to get back to exercising.  

OH MAN. 
I have started to make.... something  using my own broken plates, cups, dishes that got broken thru the years and I saved since the pieces are so beautiful. There is something so lovely about beautiful/broken stuff and I remember all these pieces.  Just when I needed a fresh project....I got one. #workinprogress <3

Hello 2019! 
I've started doing these little landscapes and I just love them. Handmade paper and a tiny little drawing of nature. They are 3" x 4" like my smARTs. These guys will have little hangers on them (instead of magnets).
Never two the same, but could be a nice grouping...More to come,I hope you love them too! 
The first ones I made I gave to family at Xmas but these are the first ones I will have for sale. Please contact me if you want some! x

Hi friends!
January is a mixed bag. 
Need a pick me up?? Buy yourself a nice little saying. :) or maybe a little art for your fridge... The smARTs are great for reminding you how lucky you are every time you open the fridge! 
Hope you all are having a wonderful new year so far! 
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GOOD MORNING!! 

I'm having a giveaway over on instagram, and just posted about it yesterday.  I was driving home from target and I thought 'I'm gonna do a giveaway! I've never done one', so there you have it.
I will draw a name (or maybe 2) on December 5 so go check it.  FREE little art with a magnet on back.
I thought more people would go for it...I mean, FREE and all. :)
(I am barnwords on Insta)
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In other news, I'm cold most of the time now. :/
Talk to ya soon.
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Good morning friends and readers. March is really half over already and I am working feverishly on finishing my huge mural/project before April. I began this portion of the project mid January so I'd have plenty of time. 
The project is the largest piece of art I have ever created, 8' by 4', and I have truly loved working on it. The problem is I don't feel like working on it every day...and if you don't feel like painting...it's not easy to paint. 
I decided to forego the writing group so that I could use all those hours in the day (reading mostly) to do this. it was the right decision for me since I felt fine about completing the challenge last March. But I miss the 500WAD and all it entails....*
The project is called 'seeing different' and is all about how we see things and people and life. and different. It is basically a window. A window to look out. A window to look into.
The window is surrounded by bricks because bricks around windows are so beautiful and sort of old fashioned to me. My bricks are photographs. All of them relate to seeing different, some are double exposures, some are blurry. Some are more complicated, some are simple. All of them stir an emotion in me. 
The window is sort of divided into 4 panes. When I started, I wanted to create a vision of what I like to see out of a window, to a certain extent anyway. It has changed naturally and is still evolving. But I am nearing the finish line. I will add wood pieces to partition the 4 panes and also a little wood shelf above the window, sort of a reverse window sill (on the top!)
I've written about the importance of art in my life and really in everyone's lives, so I won't go into that but I can honestly say I am proud of this piece and happy to have filled my winter with it. So here is the almost finished product in it's almost finished glory. 
As always, thanks for reading. x
​*The writers in the 500WAD are incredible. Reading every post became too time consuming right now and I must read every post cuz that's how I am.

Day 6 
I have the cutest coffee shop. My super cute, eclectic, artsy coffee shop sells used books and local art and fresh flowers and the sweetest little succulents in clay pots. Oh and coffee and tea which we serve in old china cups and hand made pottery mugs. It's called The Place. In the summer we sell locally grown herbs and some veggies. The music that plays changes all the time, not any one particular genre. I am blessed to have a few wonderful employees of all different ages who love working there so much they'd probably do it for free, but I pay them a living wage because the Place is a success. We have wi-fi and lots of places to sit and stare out the window, which is highly encouraged. There are amazing murals on the walls and one wall is covered with old postcards because old pc have the most beautiful artwork and sometimes graphics. We have a map of the world on part of one wall that you can stare at because people do forget how big the world is. Even the most loyal Starbucks addicts go out of their way to come to my shop because wonderful is wonderful, no matter what.
Is there a term for the time of life after adolescence but before full on adult? It's generally a short amount of time as one cannot halt the next phase really. Whenever I meet a young person of this age I am curious about what they want to do...what interests them. Only one of my own young people ended up doing exactly what we all knew he would.( i talked about him yesterday)
Most months of the year I work for a small company that grows and sells quality perennial plants wholesale. It is something that I know something about, so it is a comfortable position for the most part. I like my job. I work outdoors part of the time. I get to enjoy nature everyday. My boss, the sole owner, works literally a few feet from my space. (remember My Space??) The reality is that I do not want to be a business owner and that is reinforced to me pretty much daily. I am sure of this.
But once upon a time. Once upon a time I thought about having that coffee shop that sold all my favorite things. (it may have been called A Few of my Favorite Things instead of The Place). Someone wrote about how we aren't just what we do. But what we do is such an immense portion of our lives, isn't it.? I had no clear idea of what I wanted as a career for myself. What do you want to be- the proverbial question we were all asked as kids. I think if I could have had my 50 year old brain in my 20 year old self I would have made different choices. But ya never know. 
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Oh and sometimes David Byrne visits The Place because he sort of named it. x

Wow. January is almost over already. 
I still need to do a bunch of things before the busy-ness of Spring and Summer take over my life!  I better pick up the pace. :) 
I've been somewhat obsessed with my Window Project which I've named 'Seeing Different'. It's hard to describe how much I LOVE this project. I've always wanted to paint on a wall. Paint large. It began as a (totally) different kind of Christmas tree.
I wanted to do ornaments on the wall. without an actual tree.. Lucky for me, Gregg accommodates my artistic endeavors (he's an enabler!:) He bought an 8 foot piece of underlayment at Home Depot and hung it up for me. I then painted it white. Decorating my tree was an utmost pleasure. Many years it is sort of a chore...mostly a chore... I realized this year that I desperately needed the challenge of something inspirational and innovative.  I LOVED IT.  
I was already thinking about what I would do after the tree came down.
I knew I wanted a window surrounded by bricks.
The bricks are just wonderful, they are photographs (all taken with cameras, dare I say, I never dreamed I'd have a phone that took great pix....)  They all have something to do with how we see. perception. actual sight and not actual sight. some are double exposures, some are blurry. some are heart-wrenching. some are hilarious. some are stupid. some are nostalgic. some are gorgeous. some are thought provoking. All are snapshots of life, moments in time. Similar to decorating The Tree, doing the bricks was so exciting and inspirational. Placing them and installing them in the distinct way I wanted them. I LOVED IT.
The window is now being developed. Im painting it slowly, changing things as they come. I really love the idea of seeing different ( both an adjective and a noun.) 
I will keep you all updated.Stay tuned. Thank you for caring.
I LOVE  IT.

Social media plights and pleasures. I'm sure glad my own kids weren't born on social media. This is something I've thought about (and probably said) a few times. Meaning that when they were little, I didn't have such things as social media sights to post pics of their (extremely adorable and worthy) everyday antics. Please don't think I'm judging you moms and dads of adorable littles... I'm not.  It's just that, well, I think something is lost in the process. I love taking pictures. I love art. I love beauty and see it constantly. But when my own thoughts are 'what a perfect instagram post! gotta get this shot cuz I already have a cute and relatable quote/post to go with this'....rather than 'what a beauty. I wanna remember this perfect thing', well.... something is lost.  For me.
Of course, I DO love Instagram because I can see so much ART and plants and books and so much incredible photography. But I don't love many other social sites these days.
We all know what 'stories' are, right? Those fairly common snippets of pics and videos proclaiming the fabulous moments we are in right now.? I recently spent some time with my youngest, and I realized that I deplore his 'stories' mostly. (sorry youngest)
Let me explain. I dont much care for the LetMeShowYouHowPerfectlyCrazyWonderfulPartyingMyLifeIsDontYouWannaBeMe?
First off, I don't believe most of them anyway. I doubt the reality of these posts. But on the other hand... they are called 'stories'... so I guess another way of seeing it is, It's a story. We have become a nation of storytellers.
When exactly did we decide everyone should know what we are doing and not doing  and wish we were doing anyway?
When did that happen? I guess it was gradual. I see people posting everything from what they eat (obvious one..who hasn't?) to how their life literally sucks today because the dishwasher broke and the dog got out and the kid ate poop etc etc etc. Remember when we had all those experiences and more and didn't (couldnt) tell the social world in pictures and posts? Was it any less meaningful? Or is it actually advantageous to tell others so that we gain some empathy and love? Are we really just looking for love? Are we finding love this way? I have no idea.
​ I also believe the more social media active you are, the less social you become. Ironic, a bit.
In the past year or so, I have realized that scrolling through facebook left me feeling horrible and depressed far more often than it didn't. So I stopped. Mostly. Kinda. The only way to truly stop, I suppose is delete. But I have a business page...and I'm not ready to give that up yet. My goal is to get folks to visit THIS www instead, but this takes time and work on my part, and eventually I will get there. For now I'm looking for barnwords love in all the places.  x
 
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