My Full Heart on Blanahassett Island

This weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting Marshall High Studios on Blanahassett Island in Downtown Marshall, for the Marshall Handmade Market. I met some lovely artists, saw some familiar faces, and truly enjoyed every moment spent inside that completely captivating building. I was lucky enough to catch up with Beth of Quill and Arrow Press (7 Ton co.) at her booth, and also to meet Amber of Sketchbook Crafts who has the most darling, ochre-saturated studio. It was so nice to meet such creative, dynamic business-lady-artists, and I left with a heart full of inspiration.

Here are a few shots of Beth's booth and Amber's studio, toward the end of the day as the light fell and became buttery.

dead horse bay

WE JUST GOT BACK FROM PARIS

Motivation :: and the Art of staying productive

How many times have I said "This Summer I am going to _____ " or "This weekend I am going to knock _____ and _____ off my to do list.."  ?

There are all sorts of organizational and motivational guides and jump-starts, from Apartment Therapy's January Cure to the ubiquitous Martha Stewart's Good Things for Organizing, but realistically, even if I get a good foundation, I rarely follow up. 

This is my desk right now, a dozen rolls of un-conquered film from California to the left on my lightbox and in the window, my lunch, coffee, piles of photographs, a moleskine filled with lists and one filled with ideas. 

Whether writing, archiving my photographs, or finishing a to-do list, managing my household and life has never been something I felt adept at - it always seemed so overwhelming. Recently, however, I have been trying to tackle those feelings of enormity, that the task at hand is too immense to complete. Because you know, in order to write, my desk has to be tidy. And in order to tidy my desk, my outdated mail has to be opened and filed. And in order to deal with that mail, I have to get online to pay some bills. And then I get stuck in that rabbit-hole... 

But realistically, if I can set my mind to one task and complete it, I feel a whole lot better, and ready to move on to the next, as opposed to half-finishing a bunch of stuff. 

That said, I'm focusing my energy this summer into #summerprojects in the simplest of ways. Every week I'm going to be listing the projects I aim to complete, and crossing some off. Some weeks might be as simple as a cleaning project or buying flowers for our home, then other weeks might be more involved: working through my archive chunk by digestible chunk or building something for one of my installations. 

It is my hope that by putting my intention out there (where I can hold myself a little more accountable because other people have seen it) will light a fire under my ass, motivate me to not only begin to be more productive, but complete the tasks I set out to do, rather than leaving a whole slew of half-finished ideas around. The year I did a 365 Photo Project I took more photographs than ever before. They weren't always the best, but the frequency kept me moving, progressing my skills and my understanding of how I work with the camera. I think Stevie Wonder said something about how he wrote every day and most of the songs sucked but every once in a while he'd write a good one (I just googled it and can't find a quote so maybe it wasn't Stevie Wonder... but still) and Pablo Picasso said "Inspiration exits, but it has to find you working." So yeah. 

Let's get this party started. 

Sunset on Rt. 1 :: 120 film

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http://www.theorangedinosaur.com/

Sneak Peek inside our Home :: L & R

So my Love and I moved into this sweet little Boston apartment back in January, but frankly, we've just been too damn busy to have anyone over to warm our house, share any pictures with friends or family, or really get all the rooms squared away at once. Now that Ryan's going on tour for a few weeks, I feel like I have finally gotten our space to a more relaxed and lived in level of tidy. We are both explosive when we work, so there's always some sort of pile of instruments or art supplies in the way of something else.. {truth be told, I am probably more guilty of leaving my toys out than R is..} Please excuse the wonky exposures, I tried to shoot each room when it had the best light, so at different parts of the day.

The creepy doll was my Aunt Jean's doll. I think her name is Colette. The Pentax on the table was my Uncle Brian's. He has been shooting with that thing since the 70's.. and some of the old family prints {yet to post} I have been scanning in lately are from this camera. {it's a Asahi Pentax K1000 with a 55mm 1:1.8. I haven't developed any film from it yet as I'm still finishing out the first roll.. it's a beautiful camera.}

R got that sweet, tiny round box for me in Australia, the jar contains dried flowers from our trip to LA, there's a hunk of NC Kyanite I found, and an enlargement of the 4x5" image I made of R's Rhodes.

R's got the best area of the house! The three windows get great sun all through the day and into the evening, so there's almost always a nice glow in there. We created a nook within a room by using a large shelf as a room divider: storage on both sides and the benefit of separate but open work/play areas.

My side of the bed: Trumpet Jade from Kate & Evan, Samsonite from Mom, Vanity from R's Grandmother, clock from BB, Alabaster Owls from Leslie Branham Roberts {http://www.thegivingtreethriftstore.com/ & http://www.joshrobertsandthehinges.com/}, glass globe with owl feather from Heather, dreamcatcher from before I can remember.

From When I Lived Alone :: May 2009 mix {from the Cumberland Ave apt. #2}

After my hard drive crashed last year, I lost a bunch of my favorite monthly mixes. I was able to recover a few by having hard copies laying about, but also by tracing the archives of my old blog and email records. If you have any of my old mixes laying about your place {ahem, always June... perhaps, Juniper?} please send me the tracklisting so I may continue my recovery of these lost mixes. This one comes from May 2009, when I was living at the second Cumberland Ave apartment. The one with the side balcony and the breakfast nook. I don't have nearly enough pictures of that apartment. [8tracks width="400" height="400" playops="" url="http://8tracks.com/mixes/925915"]

as always, if you want a hard-copy of the mix, just holler.

xols

color : pink

I don't really love pink... but today it grew on me a little.. my pinterest stream was full of pink!! I suppose I'll have to embrace my inner girly-girl as it looks like pink ombres and hot pinks are here to stay.. at least for the summer.

1. ombre wooden spoons in pinky purples from oMEandoMY

2. Folly Cove, Phillip Leslie Hale, from the MFA website { @

3. rose gold pyramid bracelet from urban

4. ombre pink curtains {and more} charlotte lovey

5. cotton candy grass via joti