There's a line in Nina Simone's song "Feeling Good" that me and Aaron always reference and try to live up to...When she sings: "Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what I mean."
It's not too lofty a goal, but still...that good feeling of worthy accomplishment at the end of the day is elusive most of the time. For us, we find that peaceful sleep when our day is spent in the studio...and not just the day but the evening too. I'm happy to say that our week so far has been like that. Me and Aar sitting across from each other at the work table, making art until it's time for dinner, then after a quick meal we return to the studio and work until bed time. But the trick is to make the evening work session completely elective and extracurricular. The night work is the stuff we want to do but don't have to do.
The images above and below are some studio pics...actually some outtake shots from our book projects. So if you like the glimpses you're catching here...chances are you'll like the book too!
We love our little cubbies. A little blend of form and function...we keep our everyday rolls of washi tape here, as well as some spools of twine and thread...and yes, the doll head in the top right cubby is now a makeshift twine dispenser. We just have to ask him to bite down once we've pulled the proper length of twine. ; )
A rare selfie. There's always this nervous look in the eye...a bit of a deer in headlights...with a bit of clumpy mascara.
Love our studio night lights! For the studio we're drawn to the same lighting that we'd have outdoors. They just feel festive and offer just the right amount of ambient glow.
And this amaaazing illuminated heart doesn't just light the room, it warms our hearts! A surprise gift from our friend Becky...it showed up at our doorstep completely out of the blue! A while back this lighting company was a Friday Favorite of mine and Becky took note. My original plan was to get a light like this for the deck once we re-do it. Well, the deck isn't yet done, so for now we've brought the outdoor mood into the studio. We treasure this! We are so lucky to have Becky as a friend!
Ok, so here's an example of some of that unrequired night time studio work. We had a couple palettes full of paint that we didn't want to waste, and this pack of plain parchment bookmarks. I said, lets do three each...no plans, no theme, just three for me and three for Aar...and just go.
Here are Aaron's three bookmarks. His are very paper collage-y. His first instinct was to flip through our Instagram pics from Persnickety Prints and choose an image for each bookmark...and then just go from there. So one features a shot of our fave house and car down the shore, for the next one he went with a bunch of overlapping circles to match the circular pic of me, and then he chose some dictionary page and vintage game letters (for his initials) to pair with the shot of himself reading.
I love how he used the roses...and also how he made everything all sepia around the edges.
Now look at how different mine are from his! I went way more Art Journal-y. I guess my jump off was making sure to use these fab stamps that I got recently. (from Lawn Fawn & Pam Garrison) I love simple black ink stamps and sketchy stuff like my faux stitching when they're set against a clean white background.
And I love the subtle pastel stamping that's behind everything. Also, I added some rick rack to my twine bundles for a lil extra bit of cute.
Here's a closer shot in case you were unable to read the small print. I came up with two lines that I aspire to wholeheartedly.
And I love this metallic gold stamp pad from StazOn! I used it for the stars on each bookmark. Yeah, I'll tie gold in whenever I can!
Ok, that's it...that's life lately over here at Casa de Holiday. I hope your week is going fabulously! Can't wait to share more artful fun with you guys very soon!
xo, Jenny & Aaron