In a nutshell:

spring by jennifer culp 2009 24"x 24" mixed media

Feel like saying something, yet not sure what is relevant, so how about bullet points--thougths in a nut-shell:

• thanks to my friend Bill I have a fresh stack of plywood waiting to be transformed into art
• it's my kids' last day of school [boo/yay]
• I still haven't gotten Heather's birthday gift (but don't tell her)
• I'm anticipating an upcoming photo session with my photog-friend Kerry Morgan [http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerrymorganphotography/]
• looking forward to a magical summer

*and on another note, below is a photo of a page from the book that Heather recently gave me. It's a vintage children's birthday book, and although I've looked through it several times, I failed to notice the last two pages that have the original owner's notes. Such a nice surprise.

(jen)

To: Heather, Love: Jen

Happy Birthday Heather!

I don't have the capability to take a picture and upload the mosaic of a birthday cake I intended to make out of office supplies, so instead I give you this image--a party bird.

Have a great day; celebrate the marker of this new year in your life.

I love you my friend, let's live it up together soon.

(jen)

*and as a plug for my best friend on her birthday, she has just posted a new blog, dedicated to her art--an online portfolio: http://www.heatherjarvisart.blogspot.com/

"But what if he has a happy life turning out bad art?"

We had an exciting day in our household a couple of weeks ago. When I retrieved the mail from our box, I noticed something that looked far more fun than the myriad of bills and junk that stuffed the box...

A good friend of our family, author/cartoonist Mo Willems (well, he may not actually be aware that he's a friend of our family), sent my youngest daughter Ellie a postcard in return for a picture she had created and sent to him.

I (oops, I mean) She was so excited to see the return address of Mo Willems, and after opening it to reveal its contents to us all, my oldest daughter suggested we place the postcard in our family collage, with the hand-written note side facing out. [Ellie's mail surprise featured below]

I recently listened to an interview with Mo on NPR about the importance of getting adults to draw. It was very inspiring for several reasons and is definitely worth listening to [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103818071]. The photo at the top of the post is a oil pastel family created picture my kids and I made about 4 years ago. It was initiated by my oldest daughter, and after some time, she asked us to join in and help color in the flowers, grass and trees. It's a drawing of a dogwood tree that sits in our front yard. Anyway, it ties into the Mo interview (listen to understand). Also inspiring is an idea I gleaned that will be quite nice for our next most awesome bookclub ever meeting. If any awesomers are reading this, then be prepared to create. The book this month was chosen by yours truly, and it's the biographical novel of Vincent Van Gogh, Lust for Life, by Irving Stone. Beautiful, complex, inspiring--I just feel that we should do something beside talk about the book, so by inspiration of the NPR interview we will be creating art by group effort.

*on a bluer note, I feel a bit like her (below), but the trials of life add to the richness, and the law of opposition promises good, so I go on knowing life is glorious.

detail to girl on a string by jennifer culp 2009 mixed media

(jen)

*title quote taken from Lust for Life, by Irving Stone