mixed media painting: black and white photograph, acrylics, tissue paper, string and newspaper. my favorite part was developing and painting on a photograph i took of my friend riding her bicycle. view close-ups here.

a few favorite artists right this very moment:

favorite color combinations to have in my surroundings/environment:

cool blues and greens + neutrals like black and grey. ahhhh.

i heart black furniture.

nature influences the best decorating colors and schemes.

and of course, my favorite foods lately:

a nice slow morning. taking my time to get up. digging around for some breakfast, no hurry, no plans for the day. i felt like baking. something delicious. this is what i came up with, they were delicious with a nice cold fruit smoothie.

now at the end of the day, everything that needed to be done is over with and i’m off to watch one of my favorite movies, about a boy.

for the past few days, my afternoons have been spent:

watching dragonflies land on the fallen branches max holds out, as i push him in the stroller through the neighborhood. there’s so many! metallic, big and small and pretty. i listen to quick beats on the ipod and feel my muscles groan in strength (and soreness later).

reading in the shade on our gracious sized porch, drinking ice water and snacking on strawberries and veggie crisps. a giant magnolia tree near the porch is in full bloom and so fragrant, i love to take deep breaths of the natural perfume. reading outside is bliss. max can play, i can have some quiet moments. the library knows my face as the twice-a-week visitor by now, i’m sure. our coffee table is filled with topics covering jewelry design, italian cooking, mystery fiction, business, and fashion.

keeping up with dishes, laundry and clutter, because…isn’t the clutter in my head enough? it does me wonders just keeping up with basic cleaning. i love to see no dirty clothes in the hamper, clean sink and counters, and keep all of my crazy inturrepted piles everywhere in the house contained to my studio. then, when it’s all tidy, outside i go.

my sweetheart is being featured in concrete wave magazine!

check it out.

a whole mess of postcards were sent off today! printed some of my paintings on some glossy photo paper to all corners of the world. xoxo, jenny

(slow to post) lately…because it’s been quite the week. just one of those series of days where nothing has been expected, just dealt with. my friend yo sensed that i was having a hard time, and she took me away to book club the other night. there was lots of good food and laughter, it was nice evening. the weather has finally cooled off a bit, and as you can see, we have been enjoying homemade popsicles everyday. last night m and i were introduced to karyn over dinner. (we have a mutual friend, niki!) we met at the blue cactus cafe around the corner from our home, where we listened as she shared many interesting stories about her life in the navy and her husband’s home country of iceland.

i have been blazing through a lot of books, this one has had me captured all morning. in the back of my mind i know i still have some postcards to make for monstertown’s swap (26 of them!) and still have some pages left on my dad’s scrapbook. i hope to attack both tonight.

so i don’t know why i’m so shy about showing my paintings. (finished this one over a week ago.) see some close-ups.

some 1960s bossa nova LP cover art, found here.

it was an impossibly humid, sluggish day. after many fruitless attempts to put in some time in my studio i gave into the temperature that would dictate a lazy day. i felt helpless throughout most of the afternoon with what to do with myself, it took so much effort just to concentrate on basic tasks like opening the freezer and sticking my head inside. so when m came home, immediately we escaped to spend his birthday gift certificate at gloriously air conditioned target (courtesy of his parents.)

on our way home, he joked that he felt the car steering towards our favorite smoothie joint in port warwick, i didn’t put up a fight. as we pulled up, we were pleasantly surprised to find a summer concert taking place outside in the community square. people of all ages were gathered on the grass to relax to the sound. the band had been taking a break when we arrived, so we weren’t sure what to expect. a pretty and casually dressed girl in jean capris and heels took to the mic, and all of a sudden i thought i was hearing bebel or astrud gilberto, musicians of sad summer samba. later i found out the brazilian jazz group was quatro na bossa, and i hope that wasn’t the last time i hear them perform. it was definetly a good way to put the muggy day at ease. max was free to run around with the other toddlers, older couples were displaying graceful and practiced dance moves, and a cool tropical smoothie in my hand…finally something cool in a sweltering day.

want to see? i made a new set of necklace pendants for my friend nan~the mother to my “since-i-was-12″ best friend, quilter, writer, amazing cook and a creative queen. she is as gracious as she is hilarious, i wish she could spare some of her wit with me! her quilts are amazing, one of a kind and so beautiful, to be coveted for sure. i have my very own cherished quilt folded on my bed, a true work of art that she made for my wedding. i just love to wrap up in it with a good book.

nan has a beautifully written a picture book, a book of collected recipes and quilt patterns, and a fun fall book full of ideas.