It’s been the running joke in our house that we are “almost” homesteaders. And that we will be officially someday, when we get chickens. I have been asking Patrick for chickens for 3 years now but none have come.

And this summer has been fuller than any to date. Two new add-ons : a bedroom and a mudroom/entry way, our biggest garden ever, a spot at the farmers’ market (that we have attended irregularly, yet fashionably), and my greatest (and most successful) attempt thus far at storing nuts for the winter (–my mom just visited for 5 days for a canning+freezing extravaganza! 18 pints of beets, 10 qts of veggie stew, 12 qts of salsa, 20 batches of basil and wild pestos, frozen broccoli soup, chutneys, berries, peaches, and more. And that was just in 5 days! A lot more before, and hopefully still…) SO, long story short. If you build it, they will come.

Or, if they come, you will build it.

Well, at least that was my reasoning. Patrick of course didn’t laugh as much when I brought home the 2-day old chickies, but when he saw Tulsi doing her lil’ chickie dance and saying “Baby!” over and over, he turned to a puddle of goo and agreed to help me build a coop. Because our “simple” life has been so busy lately (and admittedly, a wee stressful on occasion), I am especially excited about this joint project. I’m happy that it isn’t “a chore” for Patrick or we aren’t buying one from someone. We’re building it together, and we’ll end up loving it that much more — no matter how many mistakes we make or what it looks like.

So here is some of the gang…they are growing by the minute (in size and personality) and loving their temporary spot in the greenhouse. No names yet except for Roo-Roo the Rooster. Yes, I decided to get a rooster for my flock, to protect the flock from larger winged sky predators, and well, I’ll admit, I have always loved drawing roosters. The chicks are so fun, and they love Miss T. Oso still licks his chomps, but he loves eggs, so I told him to be patient and he’ll be happy. We are vegetarians, but we eat and bake with eggs. And now that Tulsi is nibbling on ‘real’ food more an more, I want to have our own chicken’s eggs to offer her.

So, here we go. I’m learning a lot, fast. Like, how it’s actually hard to find bugs when you are looking for them and that worms are ok to divide to share among the chicks but caterpillars aren’t. I’ll post some pictures of the coop when we get there! Until then, here is an old ink drawing I made of a rooster in Thailand.

you probably won’t believe me but everything about this was unplanned…and she not only looks and walks like a peacock, she talks like one, too. best impersonation i’ve ever heard!

A friend’s book was released last month. Carla Sonheim’s DRAWING LAB: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun. It is really fun, and I think it will inspire a lot of people! And I am honored to have contributed in a teeny way with an interview and art. In celebration for Carla, I am hosting a book-give-a-way. (Signed by the author, too!) But since I get to host the give-a-way, I’m gearing it to teachers K-12, because I think it would be such an inspiration for them and their students. Then, just one book can reach many.

SO…if you are a teacher, OR, if you are a parent of a student (or a student) who promises to gift it to a teacher, please leave a comment in this post and share your favorite drawing exercise of your own. I’ll choose a comment/receiver for the book in 2 weeks. Yay for Carla. I know how exciting it is to have your book out in the world!

a sweet, still moment from a recent visit to the Lama Foundation nearby. these mountains ground me in a way i’ve never felt prior. i am so grateful for living in such a beautiful place with endless inspiration.

So, remember that cigar box I’ve been stuffing with story fragments scribbled on note cards? I laid out all the cards this week and tried to decipher then. Some just made me laugh out loud, others confused me incredibly. And some really got me excited. I started moving them around, mixing and matching. It felt great! Like playing Dominos or putting a puzzle together. It was a new route to storytelling that was really freeing. I wrote on more cards to fill in gaps until I could sorta see a story appear. I didn’t worry about being wordy – I’m just trying to find the story right now, not polish it. I typed out a draft based on my ‘story card sketch’. I don’t know if it’s any good yet. I can’t judge it now. I just have to keep following it to see where it goes. Next, I’m going to draw a super rough dummy that will help me edit. I already know I’ll be editing a lot of words out and adding those images/ideas into the pictures.

I’ve been writing a lot this week, and one thing I noticed is that each story I write takes its own shape, in its own time and in its own way. I wrote My Travelin’ Eye (Henry Holt, 2008) on the back of an envelope (inside and out) and drew the pictures for the dummy with a fat, orange Ferby pencil with my left hand (it was the only way I could ‘relax’ and feel like little Jenny Sue). It also took having the dummy and story two-thirds of the way finished, and nervously reading it out loud to some friends, in order to really hear what was working and what wasn’t. It also helped me figure out what the ending would be.

Making a dummy is still the best help (for me) in editing and finishing a story.

With Same, Same but Different (Henry Holt, 2011), I played with different versions out loud while going for long walks with my dog in the mountains (it took a whole lotta walks over a couple months) to figure out “how” to write it and from what perspective. Then I wrote it in a colored/striped notebook and drew a dummy. It took a, “Sorry, I can’t sign this book,” from my editor, to push me even further (creatively) to make it better. She didn’t like the ending, so I came up with a better one. Then, I read it to my sister over the phone (who is a gradeschool vice principal) who helped make an even stronger ending (thanks, Renee!). I showed it to my editor the next day, and she loved it.

Once, when I was visiting with a group of 3^rd graders, a student asked, “Does anyone help you with your books?” I answered, “YES! My husband, my editor, my family, my friends, my dog. And I am so grateful they do!”

You know that old saying, two heads are better than one?  Well, multiple heads are better than two.

But a lot of that help tweaking and pushing and shining up the story comes later. Later, as in after I come up with “the” story, which is where I’m at now. This part of the journey is a solo one and takes a whole lotta time, patience and humor. I’ve learned to laugh a lot at the silly ideas that come out of my head.

I’ve been working on another story off and on for a few months, too. It’s all written on a piece of paper that I’ve been carrying in my pocket. I’ve been liking the ‘idea’ but not sure of the voice. Just this morning, while nursing Tulsi, a very clear point of view came, which seems like it just might bring it together. See? Even Tulsi helps me! It’s not always about physically writing the stories. Sometimes, it’s simply being quiet in those spaces in order to hear them.

For me, the children’s book retreat I’m doing in September with some friends is the additional, time-sensitive motivation that is helping me. I’m hoping to have at least one story (but hopefully 2 or 3) far enough along to share and get feedback to help push and pull my words and ideas in ways I just don’t know how to by myself. I can’t wait!

Anyone working on stories? Do you have a routine or ritual around writing and editing? Do you have a writing group? Use a thesaurus? Write while standing on your head or hanging from a tree? Please share!

Photo above by (I think) Edouard Boubat from Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess through Myth, Art, and Tarot, by Vicki Noble (AWESOME)

The past two weeks I’ve gotten even less sleep than usual, and I’ve felt more alive. Wild, huh? And I feel really happy, in a different way than my usual giddy-cause-I’m-Tulsi’s-mama-kind-of-way. All because I’ve been creating.

It’s like I’m finding myself again with my art. My art is the thing that sorta defined me before I became a mother (ha) — as much as any one thing can define a person. Then, all of a sudden, I was a mama — a new mama who had no spark to create anything ‘else’. I remember wondering if that was normal. (Was I still an artist, or was I now a mother?) Then that mama became a mama who struggled to create with deadlines in the wee hours of the night (to pay some bills). Then that mama became the mama, who suddenly felt inspired again to create art but had no time and little energy at the end of the day to do it — the mama who kept wondering, “how the heck are other mamas doing it?” And somehow … maybe with time or being more gentle on myself, or maybe with erasing any dividing lines between the two “me’s”, or simply feeling the purest desire to do both, I’ve become a mama who is also an artist — and making art. Whew! It is such a journey and a continual balancing act, I know, but I think it’s important to shout out a big thank you to the universe when life IS in balance, don’t you?

(The projects I’m working on, I can’t share until they are published…but it will be fun when I can!)

And I see how making art grounds me, like a full day digging in the garden, barefoot. And how it fills me, like harvesting and preserving enough food from our garden to last the whole winter. And how it challenges and grows me, like every moment I’m with my Tulsi — the fun, tough, and every one in between. And that it’s just as important for me to make art, as it is for Tulsi to see her mama doing what she loves. I wonder how being a mother will change me as an artist. It’s bound to…

I’m going to take some liberty to add to Ben Shahn’s “capsule recommendation for a course of education (for an artist)” : Become a mother. To anything. A baby or pet or horse or garden. Know what it’s like to take care of someone else first. To set your art aside for some time, if needed. To give all of yourself, even when you are exhausted and to trust and let go of yourself to become someone new.

For you mamas out there, I’m curious what you let go of when you became a mother, and did you find it again — or did it find you again?

Horray for the first rains and

clouds drumming and

coloring on floors with big, fat chalk and

a twirling little Tulsi in a red skirt and

gardens growing like magic beanstalks

overnight

and giant marigold garlands and

sweet, soft “Mama” whispers at 3 in the morning and

my homemade, imperfect window curtain with crooked stitches

and my first piece of painted furniture!

a simple, black and white shoebox inspired by old checkered floors and those

intricate, rangoli rice patterns drawn in doorways in India by women,

some of who are mamas like me.

In between playing farmers at the market on Saturdays, building our bedroom, planting a garden, painting a new commission, and driving seven hours for a beautiful visit with an Indian Saint, we found a few days to ‘just be’ in the mountains. I know I’ve said this before, but this was my favorite birthday yet. Tulsi’s blissed-out expression above says it all. She reminds me everyday to pat the trees, squint my eyes, smile with my mouth wide open, and shake my head back and forth in pure ecstasy — and to KEEP doing it til your friend does it with you. (Cause it’s a beautiful thing to feel happy, but when you SHOW your happiness, you share it, and we all know how contagious that is!)

And to top my special day off, a surprise cold, dark beer hidden in the river, with a bouquet of wildflowers. I wished I could spend 36 MORE birthdays just like this — in the forest with my beloveds. What could be better?

PS thanks for all the sweet wishes!!!

It was market day no. 3 today! I somehow didn’t take any pictures of our stand and all the plants and greens we had. Tulsi and I were too busy dancing to the live music, feeding the duck, chasing around a wee pug dog-dog riding around on the back of his owner’s bike, AND making art — Tulsi made her very first drawing (on our chalkboard sign) and her first painting at the wonderful community art tent — a friend of mine has been showing up in random neighborhoods around Taos with a tent and paper and paints simply for ANYONE to make a painting. Is that just brilliantly beautiful, or what??? It reminded me of times when I was in Nepal and India and shared paper and pencils with the many kids who gathered around me while drawing — I wish I could do something like THIS, there! I know ‘they’ would love it. Tulsi and I picked out one of our best Cherokee Purple tomato plants as a small thank you for the spontaneous opportunity to paint.

She had SO much fun. She is such a good communicator — she pointed at each color she wanted and where she wanted to paint. The girl has spunk and no inhibitions when it comes to making art. Hmm…I think Mama is going to be learning a lot…

More on the farmer’s market and our building project soon…It’s been a super full and muddy four weeks!

• First, I covered the rough, concrete floor with those cushy (and affordable) puzzle mats. This was essential.

• I found a fun, thick soft wool 5×8 ft version of this rug on overstock.com

• Next, I converted a lower cubby on my bookshelf into a music space with drums, rattles, shakers, flutes and more. She LOVES it and really knows how to shake her booty when we drum! I also moved books for her on the lower, reachable shelves and put storage in the cubbies with doors.

• I traded out my computer chair for a big, bouncy exercise ball (which I prefer anyway). It’s softer and safer (no hard edges to bump her noggin on), takes up less space, inspires spontaneous back bends and yoga, and it’s fun to bounce and roll and drum on.

• I have samples of my Oopsy Daisy art that I give away or that sit in storage, so it was fun to hang my World Wonders growth chart on the nearby bathroom door. I just marked: Tulsi 13 months: 29 1/2″, 18 lbs, 1 oz !

• When I was little, my favorite spaces to hang out were in my closet and in our kitchen closet underneath the table-desk. I thought it’d be really fun to create a similar, sweet space beneath half of my work table. First, I replaced the awkward, funky old table end with this perfect book/toy shelf that our friend made just to fit this space.  (I’m still debating whether to paint this a fun color with flowers or with chalkboard paint…or to paint the wall where the painting is now, with chalkboard paint…ideas?)  I found another fun rug on overstock.com, hung up my original painting of Kimono Moon from Oopsy Daisy Fine Art for Kids, added some soft pillows for leaning up against the side of my flat files, and topped it off with a sheer, silky curtain for playing peek-a-boo, taking spontaneous naps (if those ever happen…), or for times when she’s older and wants to just be in a closet (like I did, hee).

As this art+play space was still being converted, Tulsi got into a couple basket drawers full of collage and inspirational images…

She helped me do some spring cleaning which inspired a new play house that she LOVES.

One fun part about “sharing my space” with Tulsi is that, when we aren’t outside in the garden, she wants to be in here playing — and just playing in this studio-play space (even when I’m not working) seems to really fuel my ideas and energy for making art. Tulsi is the best studio mate! It feels really perfect. “All” it needs now maybe is some fun dangly, mobiles from the ceiling…

Here is Penny’s blog post about a studio-playroom she created last year, although I think she’s since moved from it and maybe will be creating another one soon. Has anyone else made one? What did you do? I’d love to hear more ideas!