unbreakable spirit

Last summer, I was invited to make a piece for an all female artists show called "Lady-like" at Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia. The first idea that came to mind was I wanted to paint myself as Frida Kahlo. I feel like our lives are similar, and she changed the art world for women artists. I have posted about this piece before since it was included in an article in the Philadelphia Weekly. I wanted the painting to speak for itself, but it was important for me to include a hint of my life struggles in this piece. It's entitled "Unbreakable Spirit" for the same reason as the blue awareness bracelet for O.I. that I wear every day and has that same phrase printed on it. You can buy them for $3 each at www.oif.org. 

washed out

My favorite music ever is Washed Out. This video was made by someone using the best song "Feel it All Around" and I think it is so nice to watch. I have seen Washed Out live about 4 years ago. It is just one guy making music and he is really good at what he does. The music is great to paint to, walk to, dream to, just about everything. Enjoy life, because that's all there is. 

lisa congdon.

I am a huge fan of anything folk art. Lisa Congdon's work is just that. I love her work, and she inspires me to be myself within my work. Sometimes as an artist, you feel like you have to be a certain way to be this great artist. But when you go back to what you enjoy painting and how you want to portray your work, you realize you can't be anything but yourself. I enjoy going through her website which is http://lisacongdon.com/ and watch this amazing video of her at http://vimeo.com/57649462 So check out her work and get inspired! 

project Etsy

This is my newest project that I have started for my Etsy store, which isn't open yet, but will be soon. I am doing a series of Swedish summer cabins and row homes from Philly on wood with edged bark. This is one of the Swedish cabin ones and it only has the pencil lines down, with clear primer. I will post pictures of the finished product. 

postcard surprise

Today has been a day of relaxing with Sean. We slept late, I made us a nice brunch at home, we listened to Beethoven's 6th on vinyl, went food shopping to make our pork stew in the slow cooker we got from his parents and now I am drinking a glass of red wine. I am about to make gluten-free bread in our bread maker.

To my surprise, I received these lovely artsy postcards originally from Austin, Texas from my friend Emily when she visited there. She sent these to me because she loves everything I post and write about and thought I would like them! So sweet. I am framing these and hanging them throughout our apartment. It made my day <3 

a lovely wednesday

Today is a beautiful day! I took advantage by running my errands to the post office and going to my favorite food store Essene. It's 74 degrees, sunny and warm. I decided to go to the park across the street from our apartment and sit under a tree in the grass. They usually have the grass area closed during the fall and winter months so it's finally open again. The rest of my day will consist of painting pieces for my Etsy store which will also be called Birch Tea. I am trying to get it up and running very soon. Hope you are all enjoying your Wednesday. <3 

home is where the art is

I wanted to share a more updated post of pictures of our apartment. It has taken us a year and a half to get it this filled with furniture and make it our personalities put together. Luckily, Sean and I have very similar tastes. Our living room is tree themed, which is perfect because we have plenty of trees on our street which I love. The more south ward you go in Philadelphia, the less trees there are. Growing up in Sweden, I've always had a love for nature and trees. They bring a sense of peace to an atmosphere.