shameless

Shameless....a word that describes so many things.

first of all, the name of the song that was played for my husbands and my first wedding dance. Doubly shameless as we didn't pick a song and left it up to the band.

Sadly, they were quite astute.

Shameless, also describing the way I decorate.

I don't know what it's called....hmmm...possibly "farmhouse frilly"...or "barnyard baubles"...or "pasture posh"...or my fav "depression era decorums."

Anything discarded, overly loved and worn....imperfect.

My dream house? With morbid curiosity you may inquire...

Imagine an overgrown abandoned farmhouse...swayback barns, crooked weathervanes, tobacco stained wallpaper, bare light bulbs, fanciful furnishings paired with farm wares.

Like diamonds wrapped in grainsacks.

So thanks To Jen http://www.earthangelstoys.blogspot.com/ for admiring my shameless style.

It's nice to know I'm not alone.......

highly distressed

The wooden crate next to the wood stove at my Father's hunting camp that holds the firewood always makes me snicker.

Scrawled across the front in chicken scratch penmanship is the phrase...or should I say question: "Would Bocks?"

I can't justly say why I get the biggest kick out of this clever quip.

So, when I set out to aptly name my new distressed paintings on board with a kitschy catch phrase I came up short.

I tried names a plenty..attempting to use the same sly play on words...

Not an easy task.

The sad truth is the best I could come up with was "Bored Paintings".

Not quite the verbal aesthetic I was looking for.

So best to call it what it really is I say.

Paintings on wood.

A tad ho hum and Plain Jane....but a fact nonetheless.

I can't tell you the joy I get finding that perfect piece of wood...

Whether an old door panel, wide piece planking with beaded edging, slatted bee box lids, a chunky fraction of moulding... or just an oddly, misshapen slat of wood with worm holes and rough cut nails.

I love the idea of resuscitating some gem that someone in history had made by hand...

Even down to the simplest piece of wood that was hand-planed.

The icing on the cake for me is the final task of distressing the wood and hand waxing it.

I like to think of these new works as truly one of a kind....each with it's own story.

have a heART

Finally!

"heART of Winter" is almost here.

The one warming ray of winter for us Northeasterners!

Saturday January 31st 12-6pm

Sunday February 1st 11am-3pm

At the ever so charming McEwan Street Studio

16 McEwan Street , just off Main St in Historic Downtown Warwick, NY

swing in, hang out and take it all in!

santa, reindeer, the whole hog and the man in the moon.

Santa, reindeer, the whole hog and the man in the moon.

Nope, not characters from a spicy pizza induced dream. Just the sporadic ramblings of my pre-holiday morning.

Ok, let me backtrack to where this twisted tale started.

I was arranging my vintage light bulb santa heads gazing at my well placed mantle reindeer...when ...ah ha! I, in a moment of grandiose brainstorms...and feeling a little moxie I decided to saunter a mile and a half down the road to the reindeer farm ...on a mission for spectacular photos of antlered beauties.

Cold was I.....but I pressed on....knowing what a feather in my cap these images would be on next years Christmas cards.

Thou shy and unassuming....(As you can't tell by the photos)...these deer don't disappoint.

What dazzling ,velvet-rubbed branched crowns they don!

Onward and homeward I set my path. A silly grin pasted on my face...or be it frozen on?

Anywho, As I neared home and easily distracted by pretty things.....I snapped a spectacular side portraiture of one of our mammoth piggies.

The whole hog as you will.

And as in any true Simpsons or Seinfeld episode....stories never end where they started.

So , famished as I was and realized I should have carb-loaded before this workout...I headed straight for one (ok, maybe 2) Man in the Moon cookies.

I love life's little journeys...the things you see beyond your four walls and p.c.

As a little treat....here's the world's best(self annointed by moi...yeah , that's right) Cookie Recipe.

If you haven't a Man in the Moon cutter...you're on your own! Any will work....

The Cookie

cream togeter:

1cup butter
2/3 cup sugar

beat in:

one egg

combine and add:

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

mix until ingredients are well blended

Chill dough 3-4 hours

before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350

Roll out and cut

Bake for about 8-10 minutes each

or slightly browned

The Frosting

3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 tbl butter

1 tbl milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp lemon juice

melt butter, combine all ingredients

beat until smooth

SLATHER on cooled cookies!

Enjoy...and no, you don't have to share.

creature comforts

Creature comforts.....we all have them. Whether you're an Ugg junkie (thanks for getting me hooked Jen)... mani-pedi fanatic...tabloid devotee.... have a chocolate fetish(sometimes that cookie at the end of the day makes everything ok)or crazed for cashmere.

Now, I am not necessarily copping to all or any of the above. Merely examples of course.

Thou I will admit that my true blue creature comfort is just that......creatures.

Animals, big and small...real or decorative. Love them all....with a few slithering exceptions.

I didn't realize my "problem" until it was mentioned sweetly by a good friend..."gee, everywhere I look ....I see animals".

Ok, it's been a while since I dressed up my cat for a tea party....so, I don't think this critical.

I often wondered how those old women in the news end up in squallor with 100 cats.

Just surrounding herself with what she loves.

So I emplore...please, oh please....feel free too intervene if I get to that point.

Give 'em the bird

Ok , don't take that the wrong way.... Thou I am sure there are a few unsavory people in your life that the sentiment and gesture may be entirely appropriate and just....in or out of context.

I know I could point out a few nervy drivers on the highway just today.As in an effort to be lady-like I just gave them my surliest look, a real mean stink eye.

(Just ask my hubby, he's seen it plenty before).

But truly what I had in mind was presenting someone with a sweet fine feathered friend of the painted variety.

I've been swishing and swooping with my brush an array of painted birdies just in the nick of time for the holidays...and as a treat they are at a special price.

Now before you can say "goody goody gumdrops" ...I only have a limited amount.

So if you're looking to pass the bird along to a loved one for the holidays....act fast.

As it better to give the bird rather than receive.

http://jenniferlanne.com/ for availability and special pricing

shines makes me good natured

Kitty Babendrier shoadowbox tag a Cheryl Kuhn piece (love his piercing eyes) Why is it?

The more you are told not to do something...the more you must?

Moth to a flame syndrome, I suppose.

Warn a sassy child not to touch an electric fence and certain screeching will occur.

A"watch your step" warning equates to an assured trip and a fall.

Speed limit 30...an inevitable speeding ticket.

Pinch your pennies, tighten your wallet means I am destined to want!

Well, that's how I feel lately. I know I should show some self control on this economic roller coaster...but that's like telling a unruly chocoholic they cannot partake in sweet treats at a chocolate factory.

Sometimes the pleasure is worth the pain.

So lately I've had addiction shakes for shines,baubles and little pretties .

Fancy little tin types, overly played with metal farm animals. I have no choice you see.

So I must tame the inner beast and throw a sacrificial lamb (or dollar) to the God of Want and Need.