I'm sorry I haven't posted anything a while! Life with baby Kai is so, so busy! I have lots to share and will do so soon - in the meantime, little Kai wanted me to share some of his newest photos with his Artella Aunts and Uncles!
Thanks to Photoshop, here's Baby Kai practicing to win Baby Idol 2008...
Well, Kai is 8 weeks old. I wonder how long am I supposed to be counting his age in weeks? I guess if, years from now, you read a blog post that says “Well, Kai is 936 weeks today and is about to graduate from High School...” I guess that is too long. (Not to mention that by then, I am sure blogs will be as outdated as the HAM radio…)
Anyway, two months into parenthood, I can definitely say that being a Mom has been harder work than I thought it would be. I’ve had some physical challenges since labor/delivery, but even that aside, I must admit that it’s just harder to take care of a baby than I expected. But, there are also so many wonderful things that I couldn’t have expected, either, like…
- I never knew I’d be able to notice so many new, wonderful things about him every single day, and that these little tiny observances would bring me so much joy.
- I never knew I’d be able to see so much of myself in him, already.
- I never knew what it would feel like to watch Kai and his Daddy together. I wonder if that kind of happiness should even be legal. My heart feels so full I think it might burst!
- I didn't know that Kai would be so patient with me, as I’m learning along with him.
- I never knew I’d have such instant kinship with all moms, everywhere…from my local playgroup to my long-distance friends, and, especially, my very own Mom!
- I could never have known what a grounding, humbling, peaceful experience it is to be so connected to a being so pure and simple, and so obviously connected to Spirit. I am certain he is far wiser about life that I am because he knows things I have forgotten.
Kai's little graces are filling the corners of my home and my heart, and I'm a better person because of it. And, as tiring as it is sometimes, these blessings far outweigh the challenges. (Now, just remind me to read this at the next 3 a.m. feeding!)
Here are some new photos:
I can't believe Kai is 6 weeks old today! Kai wants to thank all his Artella Aunts and Uncles for their comments on the photos I've posted of him here the blog! You are all very sweet to indulge this proud Mommy...
Since several people comments on his cute smile 
, I thought I'd devote the photos in this entry to shots of Kai smiling and laughing. As you can see, he really is a happy little fellow!
I can't thank everyone enough for all the great comments on my last post. It means the world to me that Kai has all of these wonderful Artella Aunts and Uncles who are sending him such love!
Here are a few more pictures of Kai:
Here's his cute little laugh:
At one month old, he is a darling little spirit and we are delighting in him thoroughly.
Thanks for all of the support and love!
Little Kai is very happy to say hello to his extended Artella family.
He was born Sunday, May 18, which means he'll already be one week old tomorrow!
We have been home several days and we are doing well. Best of all is that my mom arrived from Dallas last night! Kai and Grandma are already deeply in love :-)
Here are a couple of photos...more coming soon!
While I'm waiting for Kai's arrival, I thought I could make good on the promise I made in this post, and post close-ups of the individual blocks in the quilt that Tammy Hensley created for me, Tony and baby Kai. Tammy Hensley put together quilt blocks made by some
wonderful Artella friends, and the result is a fabulous ocean-themed
quilt, which is fitting because Kai - our baby boy's name - means
"ocean" in Hawaii'an.
Here is the full quilt:
Here are the individual blocks, starting at the top left.
This one is by my cousin, Robin Kreutzberg. It says "Welcome Kai - Ocean Son":
This one is by Heather Buysse. The three-dimensional fibers are just gorgeous:
This one is by terri st. cloud.
The text reads:
May you know the fire within you
May you never doubt your connection to it
May you learn the balance between holding it close and giving it freely
And may you dance with the light that you shine
Welcome Kai!
See terri's beautiful "bone sighs" in The Shoppes of Artella.
This colorful fishy is is by Pattie Mosca:
This one is from my old friend Kelly Beilfuss. That's her son, Troy, in the photo:
This one is by Sally Giedrys...it says "Welcome Kai - Treasure of the Ocean":
This one is from Cheryl Richards. The way she incorporated Kai's name is so cool:
This is by
Constance Bates. It says "Kai - In me, around me, always":
This one is by Barbara "Aunt Bobby" Miller. (Who really IS my actual Aunt, by the way!) It features a beautiful bible verse:
My old friend Patricia Twomey collaborated with her mother, Sue Rejmaniak, to create this stunning block:
Tammy Hensley, who assembled the entire quilt so beautifully, created this block, featuring Kai's name in her masterful calligraphy. See Tammy's beautiful calligraphy works, and more, in The Shoppes of Artella.
This block is by the wonderful Violette:
And lastly, this one is by Karen Solliday:
Aren't they amazing? Each one is unique work of art, and then Tammy did such an ingenius job at tying them all together. Tony and I would also like to thank Sandi Keefer, Carol Moore, and Irina Naskinova for their contributions that made this quilt possible. I know that our family will cherish this gift forever!
Thanks to everyone for all the nice Comments and emails you've been sending my way as I'm in my final days of pregnancy. Baby Kai has not yet arrived on the scene, although all indications are that the time is getting closer. This is truly a lesson in patience!
I'm taking some time off from official Artella work to focus on Mommyhood, but I'll be back before you know it. The Artella Team is so amazing and will do a great job in keeping everything running smoothly while I'm off. And I'm sure I'll be popping in the Cafe from time to time. We'll definitely post a message as soon as Kai is here!
Thanks again for all your support during these nine months of "creating"!
(Image: "Expectant", drawing with markers. Click to see full size in Gallery)
The last Blog Topic of the week was "One of the best gifts I ever received was..." and I must say that the quilt that I received last week, all ready to welcome little baby Kai, qualifies as one of the most meaningful , beautiful surprises ever!
Artella's own Tammy Hensley put together quilt blocks made by some wonderful Artella friends, and the result is a fabulous ocean-themed quilt, which is fitting because Kai - our baby boy's name - means "ocean" in Hawaii'an.
When I can, I'll take some close-up pics so you can see the individual blocks. But you can see a full-size image of the quilt here, in Tammy's blog. and I encourage you to leave a comment to give Tammy a pat on the back for her beautiful work!)
Kai isn't due until early May, but I've been on bedrest because I've had early labor symptoms. I think he just wants to come out and see his quilt!
Thanks to everyone involved in this wonderful project. We'll cherish this quilt forever!
Is it just me, or do CUPCAKES seem to be making a big comeback? It seems that the Web is spilling over in delicious cupcake mania, especially with all the blogs about luxury cupcakes. If you haven't been aware of this trend, go type "cupcake blog" in a search engine and you'll see what I mean.
Personally, I've had MAJOR cupcake cravings during pregnancy. Not necessarily cake, but CUPcakes! I think it has something to do with childhood memories and thus tapping into the cycle of life. Or maybe just because they are so darn cute.
Here's my own little Cupcake Girl (click to view in Full Size in my Gallery). The pattern for the body pieces is from Sandra Evertson's book, Fanciful Paper Projects.
Maybe if I make art about cupcakes, I won't be eating them! 
(This is my response to the current Blog Topic of the Week...)
Until recently, I never knew anything about oil pastels.
Now, granted, I still don't know much, but I've tried working in this medium for the first time and I've found it's quite interesting and enjoyable. I love drawing with markers, but Tony has banned my beloved Prismacolor markers at least until after the baby is born, because they smell SOOO bad. He generally errs on the side of being too over-protective, but in this case, he probably has a point. They must be pretty toxic to smell that strong, which is too bad because I love them! They come in a huge variety of colors, and they have two different tips so you use them for both wide spaces and for finer detail. They also blend together nicely, if you add some color on top of other color before it dries.
But I digress...this is supposed to be about oil pastels, not about markers!
I wanted to see if I could figure out another satisyfing way to draw - which is so much easier/quicker than painting. Painting tends to be more of a "production" with more involved, where drawing with colors can just happen quickly, any time, anywhere. Colored pencils don't do it for me...I just don't care for pencils in general (for some reason, I sort of get the creeps when I have to write with a pencil - it's something akin to running fingernails across a chalkboard. I don't know why, but I've always been that way). I wondered if maybe oil pastels would help me get the really deep saturated color that I like to get with markers, so I bought a set and gave them a try.
So here are my first two attempts at working with oil pastels. In the first one, I was really trying to keep the color really rich and I was resisting the "smudge" factor which is so inherent in oil pastels. I basically was using them like crayons, trying to replicate my usual experience of drawing with bold colors, like I do with markers. I also tried to outline parts of the drawing with a pen, for more definition, but this didn't work out well because I ended up ruining several pens in the process. Apparently pens and markers don't like to go on top of oil pastels! (If anyone knows of a pen or marker that will work on top of oil pastels, please let me know!)
"Balanced Beam" (click to view in full size)
For my second attempt, I gave over to the "smudge" and allowed myself to play with this as a NEW medium. It's a very different result:
"ART Is The Axis On Which a Balanced World Spins" (click to view in full size)
For the "smudging" for this drawing, I used paper towels, rubbing each area as I went...and boy, it's actually good exercise to do that vigorous rubbing while working! Who knew...phew! :-)
For me, I think the limitations of working with oil pastels will be:
a) I got impatient having to rub all the time (draw, color, rub...draw, color, rub)
b) I don't know if I can ever get the colors as deep as I like
c) I don't think I'm not really skilled enough in some basics (i.e. shading) to take advantage of what oil pastels can do -- and that feels frustrating, to be so aware of my limitations
But, even those things notwithstanding, I am curious and interested in continuing to play with oil pastels to see where I can go.
One thing that I've always found fascinating about the human body is that pain and pleasure travel along the same neural highways.
I mean, how crazy that it's the same system that delivers both of these important, unmistakeable messages to us?
I re-interpreted this with a bit of word-play in the follow digital piece, "Paint and Pleasure Travel Along the Same Highway" (click it to view in full size)
What would our lives be like without pleasure?
What would they be like without pain?
And perhaps most importantly, what would we be without paint? :-)
I thought I'd share a couple of new paintings I've completed recently. It was the first time I had painted in a while, and I was really glad to have the opportunity to paint again. About a year ago I was on a painting frenzy where I painted lots and lots! I had just moved to Hawaii and was so inspired by the colors and the feeling of the Island, I just couldn't stop that paintbrush! You can see all the paintings I created during that prolific time in my Marn-Splash Gallery here in the Cafe. I painted all those paintings in about a month...and I had never really painted before that! I wrote about this experience, of discovering painting for the first time, in this Artellagram article.
So...fast-forward another year, and I haven't painted in months, but finally unpacked my paints in our new
house a couple of weeks ago, and have since done these two canvases. Click to view in full size.
"Changing Direction":
"Family Tree":
It felt great to be playing with paints again. I'll try to keep it up!
(this is my response to Blog Topic #8)
I think that on any particular day, my list would be different, but TODAY, right this moment, here are a few people I'd really like to give an Oscar to, if I could...
The inventor of maternity pillows
A Capella singing groups
Organic farmers
Little children who create wonderful things
The person who pioneered knee replacement surgery
Everyone on the Artella team
Schoolteachers who really care about what they are doing
The inventors of the internet and email
Anyone who has ever followed an impossible dream
(This is my response to this Blog Topic of the Week...)
When I think of "A Perfect Moment", many moments actually come to mind. How fortunate I am to have a swelling of memories of perfect moments in my life. And as I think through them, I realize that many of them were "perfect" because of their imperfections, actually...because of the little quirky things that you can't make up. I'm sure you know what I mean.
One of my favorite things about creativity is that, when life is feeling like it's running low on perfect moments, you can invent your own. We can play "make-believe" on paper: just create the ideal moment, through art or writing, and bring it alive on paper. This little tool has saved me so many times...because it's rather impossible to stay in a bad mood when you're been deeply engaged in creating a world that makes you happy. The bounds around the two-dimensional world you create magically become more and more blurry as the essence of the "make-believe world" seeps in to penetrate your mood and uplift you in new ways.
Just this weekend, I was feeling kinda lousy, so I decided to pull out this old trick from my pocket, to see if it would work.
I made this drawing of a fantasy place, where I WISH I could be...
Sure enough, when I was done, I felt SO much better!
And - practically speaking - it also helped me realize some things that would make me feel better in "real" life, too.
A favorite quote of mine is from Cirque du Soleil's "Allegria":
If you have no legs: Run.
If you have no hope: Invent.
How lucky are we to be able to "invent" the perfect moments, when we need them!
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