your roots.

{ a new print. }

{ printmaking is making me SO happy. }

xo

New. New. New.

hi dolls,
i have been fast at work making and listing new items for my shop.
this week, we have Gingko & Lotus prints on paper and cards.
xo
{links, clockwise from top left: lotus no. 1--banana on denim, set of two gingko cards, lotus no. 1--banana on bittersweet, & set of two aqua lotus cards.}

the trip east.

we visited the twin cities this weekend in honor of my sister's graduation from graduate school. she's an amazing gal. we spent time with friends and family. here and there. here are a few of my favorite snippets of what we did.
xo

Lotus number one.

dears, happy, happy friday! i have a few new pieces in the shop... Lotus No. 1 Block prints in several new colors on colored paper. i'll be adding a few more into the mix tonight and tomorrow. they look lovely as a group of three, so i'll be offering a package-deal for three. if you want four, let me know and i'll work out a magical deal! also, if you like the concept, but have different colors in mind, email me at kellyloveswhales {at} gmail {dot} com or via Etsy conversation.

have a delightful weekend, dear ones!
xo
k

{click the image to link to the listing in my shop.}

just listed: a new print.

dears, i'm so happy to report that i've just listed a new print in my shop: Beneath the Surface. the image itself measures 8 by 10 inches and is printed on 10 by 12 inch Somerset velvet paper. it is $30 un-matted, but you can add a mat in my shoppe, too.
happy tuesday!

Weekend plans.

This weekend, I plan to paint my studio: my yoga and painting space. The walls will be the most wonderful aqua, the ceiling... probably a pink-ish orange lotus around the light. Kind of like this:

Digging Deep

This week, I am back in the *thick* of it at work-- deadlines, colleagues, tele-conferences, and what-not. Rather than finding myself in a place where I resent the work that presently pays the bills, however, I am approaching it with a bit more gratitude. For now, while my life as an artist is still in somewhat of a gestational period, it is this work that allows me the peace of mind to be creative just for the sake of creating. This fills me with great joy.

This reminds me of something else I read in the wonderful book Jivamukti Yoga, when Sharon Gannon and David Life speak about opening their yoga studio in the midst of a hustling-bustling-loud-crazy-hot New York City and how important it is to find your peace, your yoga, your practice (whatever that may be) in real life. In the context of yoga and meditation, it is *easy* (trust me, its all relative) to find stillness and space to devote to the practice when you are living in an ashram, and the real challenge is adapting your real life to accommodate the practice and finding your practice within real life.

Of course, they were speaking about learning to meditate, to find stillness and one-pointed concentration, with trucks roaring outside the window, but I think this is as easily applied to the life of an artist: yes, it was *easy* for me to make space for art while I was on hiatus, and now I am learning to embrace the challenges presented in making space in my life for my art (which I need to do to live fully, to live authentically, to cultivate one-pointed focus) until I can make it my full(er)-time gig.

I am struggling to reconcile these thoughts with something else I listened to this week that really spoke to me. I listened to this podcast from Marisa (Creative Thursday) on trusting that everything will work out and having faith in one's ability to make it with art. Although I really admire her for having reached this kind of peace, I am not there yet. I hope to reach that point, but here's where I am right now and I'm just going to go with it. Just like that lotus, I'm giving it my all to make something beautiful where my roots find themselves.

This beautiful lotus photograph was taken by RBG Photo.

The Lotus

The lotus really resonates with me. And the Lotus Sutra holds a truly special place in my heart. I am most strongly drawn to the very simile of enlightenment that is the lotus: like the lotus thrives in the murkiest, muddiest, yuckiest of environments, enlightenment is the product of a spirited life, attainable because of our ability to use the muck and mud of our everyday existence to overcome suffering.