Why Hello Beautiful!

Cheerio!

The blog-o-sphere break is officially over!  

It has been a VERY full last two weeks and difficult to narrow into a manageable bit for the reading, but I'll try.

List O' Highlights (and random bits that I am pleased to share)

1.  I love my Ti.  And we are this cheek-pinchingly adorable some moments (then loud and obnoxious in others, then deep and philosophical in our art discussions, then in bursts of hysterical laughter from which my cheek muscles are still recovering).  She is one of the most amazing women I've ever know and without a doubt, will ever know.

We got cheese down.

Ti and I.  She is my Guitar Hero, but I can Bejewel her ass any day of the week.

2.  I received in the mail five of the cutest teeny tiny canvases I've ever seen (at only 3" square!) for a upcoming collaborative show that I'm a part of in Atlanta.  Each canvas will be my own interpretation of five randomly generated words that were sent along with the little guys and let me tell you, I received some great words.  I am currently working up some teeny tiny sketches for them and will keep you posted!

3.  Just as a preface, I love chickadees.  They live quite comfortably in my neighborhood, spending a great many sunny mornings gossiping in my cherry tree while Sing tries to coax them inside with chirpy, chortled meows.  But the actual point is that I discovered the collective name for a group of chickadees, which is a banditry of chickadees.  How perfect is that?  I've been trying to work that choice bit of knowledge into conversation for the last couple weeks.  (My BC received this shirt for Christmas and every time he wears it, we end up sitting somewhere nice having a lovely discussion, and I do nothing but disrespectfully stare at his chest, head tilting as I try to read in circle.  Muh-ha-HA how the tables turn!)

4.  April is coming.  So stay tuned!  As April is the best and most blessed month of the whole year (and just coincidentally also the month of my birth), I'm working up a plan for a give-a-way contest that will include a custom order from UmberDove!  Schemes are a' scheming!

5.  I devoured in one sitting a book on the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi (say it out loud, it's very satisfying and you know you're rolling those a-b-i's around on your tongue).  To explain it in a very small nutshell , Wabi-Sabi is the beauty in objects imperfect, things born in a humble nature, the beauty of some material being long past it's prime or long before it's perfection.  The idea of Wabi-Sabi resonates with my heart, in my love of the anonymous stamp of nature on objects (the surprise of glaze misbehaving in a kiln, the soft edges of bricks worn by wind, the rough scuffs on my brand-less leather boots), the fingerprints of humanity (quite literally, the fingerprint on the side of my favorite hand-thrown mug, the grooves left in worn wooden stair railings, the slightly irregular stitches in a handmade garment) and my boredom with the synthetic, the calculated and pristine.  It makes me love the chipped paint on my one-hundred-year-old windowsills and the detritus that falls deep on the back stairs.

It makes me want to live simply.  It reminds me to live with respect.  It brings me joy to wander the small rooms of my humble home.

*And please, if you are Japanese or have a deep and long standing understanding of Wabi-Sabi, do forgive my crude attempts to explain such a huge and beautiful concept in a few short, English sentences!*

6.  Lastly, this sign, my new favorite in a city full of clever word play.  I feel full of love today, and I've got it to share.  Take a little, wrap it twice around your shoulders and breath deep.

'till the next,

- Umber