8x8 art show at Riverside Studios

this is one of mine, i gotta be honest here...this one makes me barf now. in retrospect i would have used a softer color palette.

this is Leo's contribution, see what I mean? he just went for it and it turned out really awesome.

i still like my blue giraffe guy....

i called this one "the field"...usually i don't name my paintings.

it was great how you could get up close and really check out each painting

so super fun! The 8x8 art show at the Riverside Studios in beautiful Truckee, Ca. was wonderful! 

every one that participated was handed plain old 8X8 blocks of wood and set free to create whatever we wanted as long as it could hang on a wall.

I had so much fun watching Leo's creative process. His 11 year old style is so  quick and free, while I take my time and revisit my paintings often.  As is the case with both of my kiddos, I envy their complete freedom in their approach to artwork. So carefree! And, as is the case often...I ended up liking Leo's art better than mine.

Anyhow, this was such a great experience, very interesting to see how different every one's 8x8 wood blocks came out...and some of the proceeds from the sales go to help the Trails and Vistas organization.

just to keep things real...this is where Leo spent most of his time that evening...out front playing f*@!ing angry birds. his first art show can't even top the allure of that highly addictive time wasting piece of crap nonsense. oops, did i sound a little upset there? anyhow...just remember, this world NEEDS art (not angry birds) so keep on creating!

i want to eat the sky.

truckee, california sunset. doesn't this look delicious? 

we've made a new friend!

...and perhaps an inspiration for future paintings

water is good

family vacay day one

happy 

 my family and i are on a sierra vacation. up in beautiful Truckee, California. (have I ever mentioned how much love i feel for California? well, I do)

anyhow, my 10 year old boy and I had some really nice bonding time building bike ramps together...i know right? building bike ramps! but something about the two of us, out in nature with a hammer and a bunch of nails really did the trick for some good mom/son quality time. have you ever knocked the crap out of a dead log with a hammer? well, we can tell you...it is a lot of fun. and have you ever just hammered nails all over the place in a forest just because? well, that is fun too.

we ended up with two bike jumps and no bodily injuries (amazing)! i was even brave enough to try one of them once. 

i do have to admit, everything was not as wonderful as this to begin with...there is a Wii where we are staying and I woke to sounds of my son begging to play it FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. (have I ever shared my hatred for video games...especially in the daylight hours????) anyhow, it was not a proud parenting moment when i stormed out of bed and dropped an F bomb in my speech about how lazy people play video games in the day and we are not lazy and we better get our butts outside NOW.

oops. 

but after that, we got into a happier space...all it took was a little aggressive hammering and nailing. sorry trees. 

do you have balls as cute as these?

my family had a GREAT weekend up in Truckee, Ca with another family we love very much...some of the weekend's activities included...BALLS! we had lots of fun making these perfectly scrumdtious little felt balls while our husbands had lots of fun making ball jokes..."oh, i see...you just roll the balls softly in your hands..." (apparantly a good ball joke NEVER gets old in the eyes of the fellas)

anyhow, now I need to decide what to do with my new collection of colorful balls...maybe a garland? any ideas out there?