family photos with the Maggiacomos

I recently had the privilege of doing a family photo shoot with some good old friends.  I photographed them a couple of years ago and it was time for some updated shots. 

I love this family.  They are such a great bunch and the boys are perfectly funny, cute, energetic, kind and a little bit mischievous... just like little boys should be!  It was a gorgeous October day and we took a stroll around Salem, enjoying the autumn leaves and color, the Atlantic and the playground (tip for getting good kid shots with REAL smiles? bring them somewhere to play!). 

Here are a few favorites.

today

Outside my window...windy and wet remnants of Sandy, emptied trees and piles of fallen leaves.

I am thankful...for a safe and restful "Hurricane Day" nestled in the Kettle playing, reading, watching a fascinating documentary, cooking and eating with Brian, Levi and Uncle Chris. No damage and no power loss. Yes, thankful.

I am thinking...that Levi and I are going to need to leave the house today. Hmmm..coffee shop? Library? a visit to Grampy's?

In the kitchen...been on a bit of a cooking-kick..if you can believe that. Recent culinary delights; Crock pot Chili, Quinoa Salad, Lattice-Top Chicken.

I am wearing...probably unflattering but totally comfy, hurricane day #2 clothes

I am creating...sketches for album/branding artwork for a new hip-hop recording artist (surprising, I know)

I am going...to play, read and make forts with Levi and catch up on grading art projects during nap time.

I am reading... more poetry by James Weldon Johnson, after reading this. 

I am hoping (and praying)... that Dad's recovery continues to go well, that the cancer was completely removed, that he would be completely healed. 

I am looking forward to...dressing up with my family and going to a halloween party tonight at the Ranges.

I am hearing...the wind dying down, Levi's quiet hums and darling funny little words.

Around the house... a happy, been-in-the-house-for-48-hours-straight, mess.

I am pondering... the art and ideas of  "Gerhart Richter Painting"

A few plans for the rest of the week...
-rake leaves (ok, I might leave this for the man of the kettle)
-some family Halloween visits with the babe
-plan new elementary art lessons
-start some Christmas projects
-Girl's Night Out with the lovely ladies of highrock
-go to a friend's birthday gathering and photograph a 1st birthday party
-start a painting

Hope everyone else is doing ok 

and weathered the storm in safety!

(prompts from The Simple Woman's Daybook)

autumn beach day

(both of our schools are closed today and we're here riding out Hurricane Sandy cuddled up in the Kettle - stay safe everyone!)

________________________________________________________________

Thankful,

for a mist-laden Atlantic

long stretches of glistening beach, 

round, wet and colorful sea stones,

 quiet lapping, 

stones skipped, 

gull calls, 

tiny snails,

exploration and wonderment.

a perfectly quiet, refreshing, beautiful day-cation in coastal Maine.

    

(York Beach, Maine)

this moment

(This Moment)

Joining with SouleMama

this and that

just a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

- Dad came home from Mass General on Sunday (which I thought was VERY early considering he had a whole lung removed!), but he seems to be recovering from the surgery quite well. I was worried that he'd get bored and stir-crazy being home all day recovering..but my fears were laid to rest when I called him yesterday to see if he wanted a visit from Levi and I and he was too busy with visitors, naps and small group for us to come over! A good problem to have, I guess. Thanks for the continual thoughts and prayers...

- the knitting needles are out again, just in time for some way-cute James family halloween costumes (can you even wait for the reveal?!)

- Every Levi-stage is my new favorite. 1 week? Awesome. 6 months was totally the best. No 8 months. No, definitely 1 year. 14 months? THE BEST. How long can this possibly go on? (3? 13?)

- speaking of the little dude, the other day I realized that I haven't used my alarm clock in 15 months.. for some reason that blew me away. 

- next week my high school art students are bringing in their independent projects that they've been working on since the beginning of the school year. From what I can tell, these will be the most interesting and varied independent projects I've had yet...a plaster mask, a sculpture made from pieces of an old boat and broken pots, 2 hand-sewn period colonial outfits, photo-realist ink and pencil portraits, a robot made from pieces of junk metal, and a life sized baby elephant made out of paper mache!? (just to name a few) I hope they look as good as they sound! We'll soon find out..

- Just starting thinking (in earnest) about Christmas projects. Lots of ideas...excited.

- I have a word doc on my computer called "The James Family Quote Book"...it really should just be called the "Brian Only Quote Book". It is here where I document the constant hilarity that comes from my husband's mouth. They may only be funny to me, but here are a few recent goodies for your (possible)enjoyment:

"I've had to stop signing my emails with "sincerely" since I started including one cheeky statement in every email."

After paint balling: "I don't think I hit anyone. Kerrie, if I went to war, not a day would I last. I'm a terrible warrior." 

"You know what I'm gonna invent? I'm gonna invent a tall man's dresser.  No bottom drawers, they start 3 feet up. I'll call it ManDress." (mandress?! what?)

living room sessions

..just doin' what they love best.

collaborative abstract art with Katie

Katie and her husband Matt recently bought a cute little house in the next town over and after months of rehabbing, they finally got to the fun part; making their house a home. And I guess that's the part where I come in.. ;)

The Antonells like simple clean lines, modern art/design and neutrals with pops of bright color.  When they were ready to decorate, Katie had the idea of me teaching/helping her create some brightly colored, simple abstract art for her walls...

Ok, honestly, I was a little lot skeptical, but my brave little sister went out and bought a bunch of canvases, so there was no going back! A few nights of painting later and we had enough art to fill many of her blanks walls with DIY abstract art.

We had tons of fun working together to create these pieces and I know I'm supposed to be "the artist", but Katie came up with great concepts and the majority of the designs were totally her idea. For example, the purple pieces in the living room were inspired by her house number, 99.

Not bad, little sis!

A few notes, in case you'd like to try something similar:

Materials: pre-stretched canvases, acrylic paints, palette knives and various sizes of brushes... (a sister with a little art/painting know-how? haha)

Purple 99s in the living room: I started with a pleasing curly line and then we switched off using purple and white to form the "9"s more clearly. We tried to keep it loose and a lot of the brush strokes visible.

Turquoise and white circles in the dining room/kitchen: We started by mixing a cool bluish-green and added a lot of white. We both had bit of a different shade and went to work creating texture by using palette knife to cover the background. After the paint was dry, we added some white over the dry paint for even more texture. We then painted the rims of various sized bowls with white paint and printed them onto our background in a pleasing design.

Small green/blue piece in the bathroom: This one started out as a very clean cut painting with crisp green and bluish-gray stripes.  It wasn't working for us at all, so I just started playing with it, adding interesting lines and textures with greens, yellows and blues. It ended up looking rather impressionistic, which we liked. 

Nightly prayer piece: Matt loves this prayer from The Book of Common Prayer and we decided to paint it in cursive on this large canvas for the bedroom. After painting the background white, I wrote out the prayer with pencil, then painted it with black paint. I love this and am thinking of creating something similar for my bedroom..lovely words to go to sleep to.