Let's celebrate by sharing what you've been making recently, (or maybe what you'll be working on the weekend?) I'll go first: this is the most recent watercolor painting I made. It was a photograph from an article about a mama cat who, even though she had just given birth to two babies of her own, took on another baby kitten who had been left behind by her mama. I was so touched by the story and also by the image, I had to paint it. I haven't had the opportunity to be a mother to a child, so I like to consider all the other ways in my life that I "mother." I definitely give birth to every single work of art that I make. I mother/take care of my sweet niece and nephew Janey and Johnny (my brother's children I've painted in watercolor) when I spend time with them. In a sense, I am "mothering" my own mother who is suffering dementia-related memory loss and needs help with so many things. And I consider my work with coaching clients as another kind of mentoring, taking-care, a.k.a. "mothering," maybe more along the lines of "tough love." I celebrate ALL mothers, and ALL flavors of mothering that you are involved in. As you might not know, I am a Buddhist practitioner, and in Buddhist teachings on Basic Goodness, they say that our natural instinct to want to take care of, and prevent the suffering of a baby or child is evidence of our "Basic Goodness." ALL beings without exception have this quality, though it may be more or less obscured to some extent. Our practice is to recognize this basic goodness in others, in large and small ways; every time someone shows kindness to another- holds a door open, says "thank you", lets you in front of them in line, or even simply smiles at you--recognize that and rejoice.

Drawing and Painting Meditations: Expressive Mark-Making for Creative Presence This workshop will take place on Zoom, for 4 Sundays at 3:30-5:30 MST (Arizona time), May 17-June 7. For complete beginners - advanced artists who want to expand their visual vocabulary. Open to any drawing and painting media; pencils, markers, crayons, watercolor, coffee, etc... Click here for more info and to register: https://expressivemarks.carrd.co/

Next month, I'm offering a 4-week live, signature online art workshop. We would meet in my (virtual) studio once per week for 11/2 hours. Please let me know which topic interests you more.....See examples for each course in the comments below.

...with red cabbage of course! Here are my results from two rounds of dyeing with red cabbage. These are silk and wool, scoured first, and then mordanted with alum. Straight red cabbage water gives a beautiful purple. Adding baking soda gives a blue or green depending on how much baking soda you add. Adding vinegar or lemon juice gives a magenta. The wool had a yellow tint to it, so that warmed up the colors quite a lot.

Stop by to join us live as I show you how to get 4 different dye colors from red cabbage! If you can't make it now, catch the recording- free in the next week.