Around the studio and kitchen

This clematis has gone crazy this year, almost obscuring my studio window! A pretty green and purple curtain.



I highly recommend taking Carla Sondheim's online art classes. She's sooooo much fun! Great exercises for new or experienced artists. Each class is a week long, and very affordable. Easy to fit into any summer/fall schedule. I had a blast and learned some new techniques.


More tiny little people.........

Favorite blooms.

I love watching poppies unfold.

This flower has a little owlet under.

Quillan's gluten-free birthday carrot, pineapple, spice cake, sweetened with coconut nectar and honey. He loved it.

Ok, this isn't the prettiest picture, but it symbolizes the OTHER big hobby I've been spending my time on this summer (besides making fun things for my etsy shops and stocking up for the holidays).

I recently compleeted a series of food sensitivity tests and now realize I need to feed myself and my family with foods free of wheat, cane sugar, corn, yeast, sesame, coffee, chocolate, and many small items.

The results were overwhelming at first, but I wasn't feeling well, so I dove into a cleanse (that included being dairy free as well) and have spent a long time learning new ways of cooking (baking gluten free and alternatives to cane sugar). Due to the combination of foods I'm avoiding, I've had to cook everything from scratch: condiments, dips, sauce, as well as any baked goods we want to eat.

A month later, I'm feeling excellent, food addiction-free, 8lbs lighter, have learned so much about food ingredients, and how big industry creates our cultural reliance on foods that aren't good for us.

I may or may not add more posts about food, so for my main message, I'd like to encourage anyone diagnosed with food allergies or sensitivities- know you aren't alone. More and more people are becoming educated about food issues. Don't worry about what you "can't eat", just jump in and learn how good you can feel. No food tastes better than feeling great. AND both my kids LOVE all the news grains we've added to our diet, all the cooking we do together, and eating even MORE healthful food.

Summer Patio Rituals

One of my favorite summer rituals is morning sun tea. Two tasty black tea bags and one lemon tea, cold filtered water and a set in the sun. I remove the bags when I bring it in a few hours later, and add a dollop of coconut nectar, shake and refrigerate. I prefer my tea un-sweet, yet un-tannin-y. If that makes sense. Just a tad of sweetener. And this concentrated tea holds it own over ice, and doesn't block up the fridge with a massive jar.




Mmmmmm, watering the honeysuckle, rosemary and jasmine results in a brilliant scent that wafts along the patio. I wouldn't want to pass this chore to anyone else.


Along with the finished patio, came the nesting urge to fill all my pretty pots with plants. Drawback: the naughty hens sneak onto the porch and steal most of the strawberries.



Amongst Dad's things I've inherited, several favorites have found their way onto the patio.... Grandma's "Sandpipers" mosaic that she made back in the 70's. I grew up seeing this at her house, but I'm sure it was at least a foot wider back then.... anyway, I just treasure it. Wondering if I can mount it to the outside wall high enough to be sheltered from the winter rains, so I can see it outside my kitchen window.


Dad's treasures from Africa... the sea turtle skull on the far left and the antelope skull. All items were found and shipped back. (No hunting). He was a raw foodie, vegetarian during the second half of his life. :-)

New Journal Page

A new art journal page to share. I stitched up a larger book, with a painted canvas cover. I made the cover large enough, around the paper's edges, to act as a paint catch, when I work on my pages. See? (No table covering necessary. :-)

I took a design challenge from an 8-year-old

Yes, I took a design challenge from an eight year old. I walked into my studio one morning and noticed my son putting together a pile of fabric.

"What are you making?" I asked, pleased.
"I'm not going to make this. I'm challenging YOU to make a stuffie out of these crazy fun colors I found." he replied.

I'm often busy with my three etsy stores, and different established product lines, but who can resist an invitation to make some one of a kind toys with a charming invitation to colors like THAT?


The result was a large pillow toy dubbed Disco Owl, and smaller toy called Disco Snail. Both now available for purchase in my Bliss Forest shop. It was most satisfying to make new toys out of left over studio creation "scraps". :-)

Proceeds will go to our first trip to see family in Australia this fall. The boys have dual citizenship, but haven't been down under to see the rest of the family. We are very excited to jump from what will be Fall in Oregon, to late Spring in Northern New South Wales.

I hope you are all having a happy summer too.

Dreamy Days

Who knew it would be 61 degrees and rainy most of this summer week. Dreamy, rainy, sweater wearing weather. Our pool towels hang sadly on the fence, awaiting the sun, commiserating with the grumpy tomato plants. But never mind. Lazy rainy summer days are also for slow brunch with friends, dallying over long kitchen table games with the kids, trampoline jumping in the rain, afternoons painting in the studio.

Yellow House
9 x 12" Acrylic

July Effects

Lettuce starting to bolt, marigolds glowing....

Kitties slipping indoors for a shady spot to .......

Nap.

Summer Painting

Morning Cafe
acrylic 14x18"
Alysse Hennessey 2011

I'm enjoying summer. It just started to warm up seriously here in Oregon, flowers and garden are going full-tilt. It's one of my favorite times of the year with my studio door flung open for cat, dog, and children visitors, while I design, sew, cut fabric or perchance to paint. I'm relearning painting this season. Even dreaming in paintings!

I'll share the last few I've done for my first online art class, Get Your Paint On. It's so fun, inspiring, and a great way to learn no matter where you live (well, given that you have internet or access to it). I recommend the class.

Angel 1
acrylic
8 x 10"
Alysse Hennessey 2011

Angel 1
acrylic
8 x 10"
Alysse Hennessey 2011