art studio

Originally uploaded by bbmarie.

This is a shot of my new art studio in the carriage house behind our new house here in Grand Rapids. It is very rustic. There is no electricity, just a hurricane lamp for when I need to find something at night. The window in the back looks out into the fabulous garden of our neighbor Shirley. The window has no pane of glass, just a board that slip out and gets se to the side in the morning and put back at night. I like how rough it is because it feel like an adventure just being in there. I have a little more privacy then I have had for the last few years when I just worked in the middle of the house were traffic came and went.

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portrait of a girl with red tulip

Originally uploaded by bbmarie.

This is another new painting that I begun while in Brooklyn and finished (I think) yesterday here in Grand Rapids. This was done from some drawings I had done a few years ago of my daughter Pearl. The back ground is mostly taken from an early rennesance painting. I really like the way landscape gives a painting a setting as well as feeling of deepth. The blouse she is wearing was part of the inspiration for this piece. It reminds me of queen annes lace. I really love the details of clothes that have decorative potential.

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man reading

Originally uploaded by bbmarie.

This is a painting I finished just before we moved back to Grand Rapids. The idea is a book as a portal to another place. Perhaps the place is one of insight or maybe it is God. Maybe the book will bring you a much needed encouragment or perhaps help you make a connection you have been looking for.

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Julie and I (and Rick)

Originally uploaded by bbmarie.

My sister Julie and I are 18 monthes apart, I am older. Julie just started a blog….I am here to promote It! She is a great writer. The color picture of us is at an opening of a musical play she wrote based on the Russian Folktales of Baba Yaga….I am very proud of her for many reasons….Julie has battled cancer for years. Her blog is not for the faint of heart, but if you read all the posts, you will discover a sweet sense of humor a tenacious love of life—really living… all the triumph and shit that comes our way… I am deeply sad Julie has had to struggle with cancer….I don’t even pretend to understand it, but I know she is making good with her life–and what more can we do? Maybe you need to read this, maybe you know someone who does–pass on the link, I suggest you go to the archives and start at her first post which was on JUNE 18, 2006, love –brenda
click on the link on the right (our link menu) or cut and past below
http://dancingthecancerdowntodust.blogspot.com/

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Cornertone Festival Collage

Originally uploaded by bbmarie.

Rick took Rose and Pearl and Shepherd, plus Rose Shaw and Tressa to the Cornerstone Festival. They left yesterday…..Dove, Grace and Rain are at my Parents…so I am having a mini-vacation at home. I uploaded these photos from the Cornerstone Festival Website….makes me kinda wish I was there…it is so fun! But while we were living in Brooklyn, my favorite daydream was to have some time alone(!!!) So we planned this then, and I don’t regret it. Yesterday I did some painting on the outside and the inside of the house. I don’t have the camera or I would show you…I started a novel, watched a dvd and fed myself snacky type food when I was hungry….so far I haven’t freaked myself out by getting into a funky wierd or worry-wort sort of mood that would ruin my mini-vacation….i hope it stays that way!—brenda

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still life

Originally uploaded by bbmarie.

We have been settling into our new home here in Grand Rapids Michigan. There are many lovely things about being back home one of them being a new house to decorate. We are in the process of discovering the unique personality of this particular house. It isn’t just about moving in your stuff and putting the books on the shelves. It seems to be important to get a feel for what a house wants to be. The photo I have taken here is of a shelf in the dinning room that is a place to display some odds and ends that have caught my attention. Some of the objects are things that the children culled out of old wooden Kraft cheese boxes they found in the carriage house. The boxes where full of odds and ends like bottle caps, bolts, nuts, pullies, hinges and drawer pulls. We ae so thankfull to have this comfortable place to live in that allows our entire family a place to stetch out and rediscover who we are again.

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