Another Christmas

It seems every year, Christmas sneaks up on me a little faster. I spend just about every weekend in the fall doing an art show or preparing for one. September and October seem to be a frenzy of activity after the lazy days of summer. By the time I've finished my October shows I am getting ready for my Open Studio and then- Wham! it's the Christmas season again. My mail box becomes overstuffed with coupons and catalogs, some from companies I have never heard of before. The TV and the radio hum ceaselessly with jingles and ads for products that I don't need and never ending one-day sales that I sadly, eventually succumb to. I used to love going out and finding all those bargains and I admit, have been guilty of going a little over board with gifts for my family, especially my daughter. But I got such good deals and it was like treasure hunting...

 However, more and more each year, I am going out less and less to the stores. After my first and what will probably be my last shopping trip of the season the other day, I have decided that my treasure hunting from store to store may permanently become a quiet and maybe a little lonely trek through cyber space only.

The reason: people. What has happened to them? Every year that I go out to shop it seems people are becoming more and more rude and aggressive behind the wheel. In just one day people were parking so close to my car that I couldn't get in the door, tailgating me,cutting off in front of me and the most interesting off all, passing me on the left at a red light by driving up the medial strip to get into a turning lane and then flipping ME off! All I could do was shake my head.

I used to love to go out shopping at Christmas. I love the decorations and the Salvation Army bells ringing. I loved the high school chorus singing that I might happen upon,the fake Santa's and mesmerized young faces, and most of all I loved to share a little Christmas spirit by doing little random acts of kindness where I could- opening doors for people, sharing that extra coupon I have in my purse, buying a coffee for the person behind me in the coffee line.

I'm not down on Christmas. I will still do those things where I can and I encourage others to do the same. Just be kind people!

Christmas is a time of love and sharing even though it has been made into a big empty commercial holiday.

But for me, it's still about Christ- the joy of His birth and the blessing of His life, death and resurrection.

It's also about family and the people I love. I still find joy in baking cookies with my daughter, hosting our annual Christmas Open House, watching "Its a Wonderful Life" while eating pizza Christmas Eve, breakfasting Christmas morning with our dear friends and cooking dinner at home Christmas night. 

But my very favorite thing about Christmas is when everyone else has gone to bed on Christmas Eve and I go out on my deck and look up at the stars. There is no traffic on the road and it seems that I can almost hear the air because the world is has become so still. If there is snow- all the better. It is indeed, a Silent Night, Holy Night.

I hope that all those people rushing around, driving like maniacs and being rude to other people in their quest for STUFF, might also take a moment to look up and remember and feel the real meaning of Christmas and experience the joy and peace of the season.

Pixie Dust

Sadly, that is a cigarette:0(

I have the cutest pixie of a daughter in the world. She's 18 and has her own most adorable style of dress that I guess could be best described as if you took a punk rocker and ran her into a wall of color and then had a mind meld with a hippy and then sent her to live in some bohemian tribe, she would fit right in. Sounds wild and crazy, but she wears the outfits that she puts together with such style that women have stopped her on the street over the years (she started this as a tween) to admire and compliment her. I so love this about her. When I was young I too had my own style of 80's hip, but my girl has it all over me. I never sported fairy wings as she has been know to do either :0). She has always been her own person, eeking mega brains and personality and an off the wall sense of humor. She is not only intellectually brilliant, but is a very talented musician and writer and not surprisingly, an artist. She had  always amazed and delighted me when she was little with her bright, detailed drawings brimming with joy and the observations of a busy young mind.

I suppose perhaps the museum visits and the bed time stories of Frida Kahlo, Mary Cassatt, Degas, and one of our favorites "When Pigasso Met Mootisse" might have had something to do with her love of art.
Or maybe it was "Please Don't Eat The Pictures" (Sesame Street at the Met) that we watched over and over together. Maybe her Dad and I had something to do with it, he also being a musician. She has always had a lot going on in her mind and emotions and being a very strong willed and independent only child, can be difficult to parent at times. We are also a lot alike in many ways, and at times, the mother -daughter relationship has been painful for both of us as she struggles to break away and become her own person and I struggle with letting her go. 



When she was little I looked forward to the time when I thought she and I would spend time making art together, maybe somewhere between 12-17. Little did I know that her fiercely independent teenage personality would want nothing to do with me in that realm. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. From the time she was small she always wanted to find things out for herself and thought she should know everything, which is why I let the desire to home school her pass. 

First Place HS ArtShow Painting

I had never "taught" her art. I purposely never sat her down and said, "this is how you do this." If she asked, I shared, but I never wanted to impose my vision or style on her.  I never wanted anyone to look at her work (if she pursued art) and say, you're good just because of your Mom. In that, I was successful, as she is such a wonderfully talented artist with a personal style and visual narrative that surpasses her youth.


To my delight, something wonderful happened this week. The time I have been waiting for came. She asked me to teach her pottery! She asked to come to the studio! She was letting me in! We can now learn and share in each others creative processes. I want to sing, I want to shout! It means so much to me to have this opportunity to share and bond with my daughter over the processes of art that have saved me.

What a delight it is to see her beautiful designs in clay coming out of her so easily.I love looking at her in her funky cloths and exploding with the creativity and specialness that is my daughter. Everyone in the studio comes over to admire her work and compliment her. I have always been proud of her for so many reasons, but this is a special kind of proud, and I am feeling an excitement about our new budding artistic relationship and us sharing where each of our artistic journeys might take us together. :0)

In the Clay Studio

Ceramic Incense Burners

My Magic Pen

 This pen and pot sist on the table next to my books when I am at an art fair, book signing or show. There is always a curiosity about it and adults and kids a like always walk up and quickly pull the pen out of the pot and ask "What is it?" and "Did you make it?

It is made out of sculpey clay or fimo and I did not make it. I bought it in 1994 at a craft fair from a parapalegic woman. She earned her money by making all sorts of animal pots-frogs, giraffes, dogs, you name it.

If I remember correctly, I think she sold them for a pretty cheap price and having just started out myself doing art shows and such, I thought it was a fitting and great utilitarian item to have for my display.

 I have decided that this lady must have gotten some magic blessing from God on her pens and here's why:

The pen is just a regular ball point pen wrapped in the sculpey and baked in an oven. Since buying it and using it regularly since 1994, IT HAS NEVER RUN OUT OF INK OR BEEN REPLACED!

Think about the ball point pens that you own or have owned in your lifetime. Do you have any that are 18 years old and still writing?

The BicWorld FAQ says that a bic pen will write for about 2 miles. Ezine articles says 5 miles. I don't know what either of those figures equates to in years, but I think that most of us would be hard pressed to find a bic pen even in our junk drawers that has lasted that long. And that is why I call this My Magic Pen ....

Self Publishing Book Expo

I got up yesterday at 5 a.m. to catch a 6:59 train to NYC. My destination was the SPBE held at the Sheraton in Times Square. I didn't know what to expect. I had found out about it last year but didn't have the bucks to attend and wasn't sure it would be worth the $135 ticket price if I did. Add to that the $85 train ticket, parking $8. Food, $50 (okay, I had a nice dinner and a glass of wine instead of a cheap sandwich). So the whole thing cost a few dollars. I was excited and hoping that I would come home with a lot of good information and I did. I learned a lot of things that I could do to take my book to the next level, but sadly, I also learned about some mistakes I have made. I attended panels on epublishing with Smashwords founder Mark Coker, (@markcoker) and learned about how to turn "Millicent and the Faraway Moon" into an epub format, a panel on bulk distribution with Brian Jud, (@bookmarketing) president of Book Marketing Works, another on getting found by book buyers with Patrick Brown (@patrickrbrown) of Goodreads. And that was just the morning. I did become a little testy when I found that there was no break between panels for lunch so I had to bug out of one few minutes early to grab a sandwich to take to the next panel with me. After that I attended another panel on distribution which put me in contact with David Lamb (@lamb) , the very warm and friendly president of Vantage Press. I split the last panel between Marketing and Getting Noticed by Influencers  and a panel on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In which I really didn't think I needed but found out very quickly that I did. That one was presented by the very nice and nerdy social media guru David Vyorst. (@dvyo). 

All in all it was a great day. The panels were led by very knowledgeable people in the self publishing industry and they were all nice and down to earth enough to approach with just about any stupid question. There was one lady who seemed to show up in every panel I went to who seemed to be completely clueless and seemed to have cornered the market on both stupid and irrelevant questions, that, had the presenters not had the fortitude to move past her, the panels would have gone completely off track. So, kudos to them.  There were many panels that I couldn't attend because there was only one session of each, so I guess my critique would be to think about making it a two day affair and offer two sessions of each panel. Also. build in some time for lunch. Other than that it was a great day that started off with a relaxing train ride where I met a really nice entrepreneurial woman, Amanda Steinberg (dailyworth.com) (@amandasteinberg). I got back to my car in Wilmington at 10 pm. very tired but  satisfied at having enjoyed a very productive day and met some great people.

Back to France...Honfleur and Etretat

Normandy is known for its rainy weather and did not dissappoint while we visited Honfleur and Etretat. It was just awful drenching rain the entire time we visited both places. I can imagine how beautiful Honfleur must be on a sunny day with the Merry Go Round turning, the boats coming in and out of the harbor and the streets filled with people. Regardless, I found Honfleur to still be absolutely charming with its medievel half timber houses, tiny streets filled with chocolate, pastry and cidre houses and restaurants. Dyana and I found respite from the rain under the awning of a harbor side restaurant. I had a bite of snails there. Not the buttery garlicky fare more common in Paris and other places, but cold and served the Norman way with a garlicky mayonnaise. I had a beef burgandy that was heavenly in its buttery wine sauce. We trekked through all the small shops that we could trying the chocolates and the cookies and cidre. My indecision about what to buy left me out in the cold as when I went back to purchase, I found the cidre shop closed for their two hour lunch break. I did find some fleur de sel (the upper crusty layer of a salt bog) in one shop and made myself and Dyana each a ceramic container to keep it in when we got home.

The weather did not relent by the time we got to Etretat. We got out of our huge Mercedes tour bus and walked to the boardwalk promenade to see the beautiful cliffs, beach and church. The weather was so menacing that our enjoyment was brief and we took off  to have a warm cappucino and dry off a bit. I had to buy a real jacket with a hood as my plastic rain poncho had about had it against the winds. Despite the weather, both were stunning places to see. I have to say that as much as I liked Paris with all of its glamour, history and rich architecture, I feel I am very fond of the smaller towns of Rouen and Honfleur.

My Self Publishing Adventure -Part 2

Picking up from my first post I will continue with the creation of my book. The next step, once I had a clear idea of the story and the page layout was to begin refining the details.

I had to develop my characters  and be able to paint them consistently throughout the book.

 Millicent was a no brainer since I have painted over 100 cows, but Mouse was a new creation and so I had to play around with him a little bit and create him  in various moods and positions throughout the book.

And then there was the Farmers wife...

 I had to make a lot of decisions. One idea I had in an effort to shorten the length of the book was to have a  split illustration but I felt it was too distracting to one part of the story or the other.

  My work began with these line drawings and others that I would eventually turn into paintings. Stay tuned for those next time....

New Independent Bookstores

Here's a shout out to my 2 newest retailers adding to my growing list of independent book stores carrying "Millicent and the Faraway Moon." If you live out that way or happen to be passing through, please make a visit to Bookland at 2114 South Queen Street York, Pennsylvania 17403. You can drop on over to their facebook page and like 'em too.

In adorable little Lititz Pa. you'll find Millicent at Aaron's Bookstore 35 East Main St

Downtown Lititz PA. After visiting Aaron's  you can stroll the quaint downtown area shops and find some good grub at one of the many restaurants lining the streets.

Lititz is hosting a Kid-Lit Festival which sounds awesome and I would encourage folks to attend to find quality independent books for kids. Unfortunately, I won't be there, I will be spending my anniversary weekend away with my husband, but you can always drop by the store and get your signed copy of "Millicent and the Faraway Moon" before or after the festival.