i live life in quotes.

When I was a teenager one of my cousins would always joke when we got together that every other phrase that came out of my mouth was a quote from a movie. >> Guilty as charged. My family has worked some quotes into the consistent dialogue of almost all conversations. Some make us laugh so hard we cry ("no one in my family overreacts")  and some just fit perfectly in almost any situation ("ah, well...there's no competing with that!").
(obscure Disney movie quotes more often than not..."wash your hands!!" (name that movie)) 

Quotes of all sorts have always stuck with me, both silly and serious.  

As a teenager I felt painfully out of place and like I didn't belong a lot of the time. My sweet and insightful mom hung this quote in my room one day and I read it at least once a day;  

"Many of us have learned

 to cover over what is 

most authentic in ourselves

in order to protect ourselves

or gain the approval of others.

We may have lived this way so long

that we no longer know

 that this is not our way.

We can come home to ourselves..."

-Rachel Naomi Remen (emphasis added)

During the years that I struggled with infertility, I forced myself to go to a little women's get-together at my church one evening with what felt like all new or expectant mothers, and this quote from D. Todd Christofferson was shared:

"In times of distress, 

let your covenants be paramount

 and let your obedience be exact."

(you can read the entire article here.)

I can't count how many times I let these words flow through my mind when I wondered if I had done something wrong and that was why I couldn't have children.  

Over and over, through these words, I was reminded that I could take comfort in my efforts (imperfect as they were) to live in exact obedience to God's commandments and the covenants I'd made with Him, because I could be certain that my burden wasn't because of something I'd done.

I used to tape all sorts of quotes on the bathroom mirror growing up (got that from my Momma) and when I went away to college the tradition continued. Like I said, I can't get enough...

Well recently, inspired by my (and my Momma's) love for quotes, I made custom watercolor+ink quotes available in my etsy shop.  With the pieces I've made and the ones I'm working on I have already loved seeing what words are important and meaningful to other people and I love seeing what keeps people going and touches people.  

Here are a few pieces I've had a chance to do for people;

cities anew.

I don't know if I'll ever stop being drawn to cityscapes in my work.
I love cities and the things <<real or imagined>> that can be discovered in them. I know for some they are overwhelming, stressful, dirty and even scary.
I find myself liberated and capable. I love the details, the depth and diversity. For me, cities represent opportunity and chance. I can take or leave what I will. With so much to see, I can easily choose what I take away with me. I like that power.

I keep going back again and again because I can't resist the stories being told either, millions of stories...
In the people, a tree, the buildings, the history, the sidewalks, a window I see so many stories, so many glimpses into the soul of a thing or someone.

(all of these pieces are currently available on my etsy shop.) 

temple series paintings: i love to see the temple.

I’ve had a focus in my work for a few years now on spaces, buildings and places that I’ve found happiness in. 

A few months ago I realized I wanted to do a painting of the LDS temple I was married in. I’d been looking for a painting (or a print rather) of that temple that fit my “style” aka “artistic preferences” but I was having quite a time of it. <<I’m really artistically picky, I admit it.>>  It dawned on me one day that I paint buildings… all the time. (duh) Why don’t I just do it myself? So I did. And it made me happy, and the painting makes me happy everyday. I love that my oldest boy points to it every time we come down the stairs and says"em-ple!". And I thought, maybe it would make other people happy too. 

So, I’ve decided to make my temples available to you.

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/MichelleMakesArt

>>In several formats to fit your “style” and your budget.

 

SLC temple original.

Bountiful temple original.

charcoal print on cream paper.

Bountiful temple giclee print.

St. Louis temple giclee print.

"transparent" SLC temple on 12x12 panel.

San Diego temple original.

"solid" SLC temple on 12x12 panel.

SLC temple giclee prints.

St. Louis temple original.

mounted panel example.

Bountiful temple original.

I truly do love to see the temple in my home. Everyday. Hope you do too. 

ART for sale.

Did you hear? I’m selling my artwork for the first.time.ever.

I’ve always loved&hated the idea of selling my work. Loved the idea of reaching other people and connecting through what I create.  It’s a unique conversation and I love it.  Loved the idea of the feeling of validation that would come with someone wanting what I made enough to buy it. Loved the idea of adding to the happiness in someone’s life with something I’d made that they’d see everyday.

Conversely I’ve always hated the possibility of such vulnerability and failure. Hated that it was possible that I’d put myself out there, and no one would be interested in what I had to offer. I hated the possibility that my art wouldn’t touch people. That it=I wasn’t good enough or talented enough. 

So for years (really though, years) I’ve just told people, “I don’t sell my work”. It’s safer, easier and it’s not scary either. 

Well, recently the timing and my current focuses, on home and happiness (and things that bring goodness into life), seemed right. So, I’ve made my work available to buy. And I’m still pretty scared to death.

I don’t know how it will go, but it was time to chase this dream. 

My new Etsy shop {MichelleMakesArt} is now open, check it out here.

Here are some pieces you'll find up in the shop :)

feels like home.

With two babies under 17 months I have spent more time than ever before within the walls of my own home.  Instead of the constant "cabin fever" I feared I'd experience,  I've been surprised by how often I can feel the beauty of it all.

Babies, I believe, are especially close to God. There is something sacred about an infant experiencing things for the first time, something sacred too about being the one that they rely completely on for life.  So much so that it can easy overwhelm my emotions and leave me feeling anxious and unsure of myself. 

But through the days, weeks, moments and hours that have followed our second son's birth I have often found strength, beyond my own, certainly, to somehow call back the perspective that allows me to love and care when I have nothing left to give. 

What happens inside the walls of a home, as I learn and grow with my children, is truly spectacular. It is not, perhaps, the kind of spectacle the world today applauds. But in truth,  it is beautiful, it's sacred, it's unique, it is elating and miraculous. It's humbling and heart wrenching, light and tremendously heavy. It is so much and yet it can feel like I’m doing so little. It is emotional. 

As I was pacing our bedroom with my baby last night the words from a song in Les Miserables kept running into my thoughts,

“To love another person is to see the face of God.”

It has given me a little peek into the depth of God's greatness;

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,  that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

                                                                                                       -John 3:16 (emphasis added.) 

This painting was inspired by my focus on the joy and happiness that home, my home and my roles in it, has brought to me.

home sweet home.

After three emotional years of waiting to be parents, I suddenly found myself at home constantly after we had our first child in April 2012 and my concept of home began changing almost as suddenly as our lives.

Everything in my world was instantly contained within the four walls of our home and this drastic change brought the inevitable evolution of what "home" became to me.

Home:

refuge, prison, workplace, sanctuary. 

I realized that home is so much more than whatever the walls that physically contain it look like.  It is anywhere you and your family are, anywhere they need you and you meet that need. 

Being home changed me too.  In a way  I’d never experienced before, my life wasn’t my own.  I didn’t slip into my new roles as smoothly as I’d anticipated and the change was, at times, surprisingly painful.  Things that had once defined the time I spent at home faded from the forefront and I lived most of my days in ‘survival mode’. I’d never had someone need me so desperately; it’s a beautiful and overwhelming experience. 

My concept of home continues to evolve with each day's experience. 

And so,  I’m trying to capture the beauty, inconsistency and uniqueness that makes each house a home. 

Cities.

I've been examining what things and places are innately happy for me and why they are.  A few big cities I've visited and lived in are some of the places that I've identified as innately happy for me.  I remember feeling so distinctly liberated my first time in a big city; that because of its diversity I fit in.