Getting Creative

I spent over an hour last night at Robert's new art studio (more info here) taking high resolution pictures to use on products and on his website to help sell his work.  I love doing this kind of thing, and luckily - Hunkahubby just lets me run with it, most of the time. 

Last night while photographing his work and watching him paint - I got inspired myself . . .

It is amazing how the space that is there specifically for creativity can inspire all who go into it.  The kids get creative too!!

So here are a few pictures that I took while I was there . . .

What do you think?

Robert's Palette

Mixed Media

The Mind of the Artist

Brushes

Go out there and get creative today!!!

Making Rainbow Cake!!

This past week, we celebrated something really fun in our family!

Hunkahubby got his very own ART STUDIO and we had an opening reception/birthday celebration for him.

To commemorate the event - the kids and I decided to bake an extra special cake.

I had seen this rainbow cake online several times and wanted to try it (because I LOVE tie-dye) and thought this was a great opportunity to try it.

So following are some pictures from the cake making and then a few pictures from the reception!!

I cheated and didn't use the recipe listed in the link above - I just bought vanilla cake mix and butter cream icing.  Yum!

Divide the cake batter evenly into six bowls. 

Use Wilton food coloring gel and dye each bowl of batter to the desired color.   

I used rainbow order:

Red (not picture), Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple

For one pan, start with purple and pour in half of the mixture.  Pour in half the blue, half the green, half the yellow, half the orange and half the red.  Do not mix it up!

For the other half of the cake, do the opposite.  Start with red and go to purple.

Bake the cake per the instructions, let it cool and then ice the bottom half and stack the top half.

I was very sad to cover up the pretty colors!

To explain this next part - Jackson Pollock is one of Hunkahubby's favorite artists.

Here is an example of Pollock's work - "Galaxy":

So - I 'decorated' the cake with this in mind . . .

Big fun mess, right?

Also - Hunkahubby has a sculpture - HERMAN - who has appeared in several paintings

since his creation.  We love Herman.  He holds great meaning.

So I thought Herman should be on the cake.  Hunkahubby and I did our best to make

a Herman out of fondant and toothpicks.

Then HE got painted.  Herman is a part of the art, ya know!

I had bought an extra box of cake mix and the kids wanted to do their own - so we only used red and blue this time (Spiderman cake, in their words) and they helped ice and decorate a small flat cake and some cupcakes.

I was so excited to cut into the cake and see how it looked!  I was not disappointed! 

Here, my dear friend Mary is modeling the cake:

Taste the Rainbow, Mary!

The cake was a hit. 

And the guest of honor and his studio were a hit, as well!!

Here he is in front of his studio sign.  (Find out more at sketchbookdiaries.com).

And here we are - the whole family.

We are so proud of you!!!

Five years?

Where has the time gone?

Last night about 6:00, I felt a wave a depression like I hadn't felt in a long time.  I felt like a weight was pressing on my chest and I could barely breathe.  I had no idea where it came from.  And no matter how hard I tried - I could not make the feeling go away.  I finally got to sleep around midnight . . . and I woke up at 4, picked up my phone and saw the date . . .

July 6th. 

Grandma has been gone for five years.  I cannot believe it.

And once the source of my sadness was known - it was a little easier to breathe . . . and yet it wasn't.

There have been so many times over the past five years where I wished I could pick up the phone and call Grandma and ask her what I should do.  She never told me what to do - she just talked me through things, told me stories of her own life, and somehow made me feel better about things - no matter what the outcome.

And there were three things that Grandma could do that ALWAYS made me feel better - as a little girl AND as I got older . . .

• Her cooking.  Probably where I developed some of my emotional eating issues - but nothing could beat Grandma's comfort food!
• Her music.  Singing with Grandma made you feel better about everything.  You cannot stay down when your voice is lifted in song.
• Her hugs.  My Grandma's arms wrapped around you were the only thing you needed when you felt like you'd lost your handle on life.  She grounded you and made sure you know that it would all be better in the morning.

I learned so much from you, Grandma.  And I'm still learning - every day . . . and teaching my own children all of the things I learned from you.

Thank you.

I love you.