gathering spriggs

Pastels that Pop!

 

Hello Lovelies! Its Tuesday and another day for colorful inspiration. This week I have been thinking about pastels, seeing pastels, enjoying pastel flavored treasuries on Etsy.  All the while wondering if there is a way to pack a little more punch with pastels or at least stray from the traditional Easter M&M's palette. I am loving pastels with a pop of florescent yellow or even coral. Thinking back to J Crew Spring 09 ...

Oh how I would love to create a mood board for you on this theme but alas its a busy week here at GS with multiple painting projects, and an Artisan/Antiques Market fast approaching this weekend. (where I will have a booth... hopefully if I can get myself pulled together). Maybe someday soon.

Wishing you a bright and color filled week! 

francoise rachez, feathers: everyday beauty shoes: wedding bells blog, krakvik &d'orazio via  seesaw design , teacup and glitter: debee art

You make me happy when...

Sunshine filled my weekend but now gray skies return. I know Spring is still spreading her wings and learning to fly so in the meantime I have found happiness from the beautiful images in the Gathering Spriggs flickr group.  Thanks to you I can start the week with visual sunbeams. 

How about you? How are you starting your week?

 

 trisha brink, kootut murut, bee vintage redux, zinna salvaged goods, havin fun with photos

A View from YOUR Room

 

 

Happy Tuesday friends! After days of rambling on about my own affairs, I took a stroll through the Gathering Spriggs Flickr group and found a profusion of inspiring images. In particular the images of hearth and home ignited joy in me. Its fascinating to discover small corners of home from those I know and love through blogging or facebook. These personal images fill this post for me like fresh cut blooms added to a favorite vase. 

I hope you too will join the group and share your favorite images from corners of your world.

It going to be an infusion of florals this week here at GS. I just can't get enough of all things blooming. So if you have a favorite image of florals or a favorite flower please share here in the comments and I will make mention of it this week!!

1. Zee Longenecker 2. Missginy and Souvenirs du Passe Recent 3. Twiggs  4. Nest Pretty Things and Machteld M 5.Traveling Mama 6.  Alice M. Wingerden 

A Quote a Day

Happy Friday Friends! Do you have fun plans this weekend? Im going to be antiquing and resting and taking more time in the studio. But before I go, I wanted to share with you a little project challenge with you that I am giving myself this year. Inspired by Lisa Congdon and her "Collection a Day", I am challenging myself to paint, collage, draw, or design one quote a day for the next 365 days. Each day I will upload said quote to this file in my flickr account. And of course I will keep you updated here weekly. Im excited for this new direction in my work and for the challenge it will afford (with you as my witnesses). 

So thank you for your love, support and continued encouragement. I share with you because you have shared with me. Thank you for your glorious comments to my GS survey this week. Your words are invaluable. So.... here is the fun part of the challenge. It involves you! If you would like to collaborate with me in this project, then leave your favorite quote in the comments I will post it next week! And each consecutive week you will have an opportunity to leave your quote and become an artistic collaborator. You can leave any message of inspiration. From your grandma to Martin Luther King, Jr. or your own golden words (those are the best and I know you can do it 'cause I have seen some pretty powerful stuff from you in the past here in the comments).

So are you ready for this fun creative project?? Let's get started!

images: jesse gillespie for gathering spriggs

Dreamy Romance: Photographer Christine Bauer

Fleeting worries melt into wonderous dreams. The world is fresh.  A new dawn unfolds like crisp linens. Hope makes it home again. 

Romance lives. Here in the work of photographer Christine Bauer, luminosity fills the void. Ahhh! Deep breath in. Cleansing. 

Hope is alive, and It Is Worth It. 

Thank you!

images: christine bauer

 

Beauty That is You!

Thank you all dear friends for sharing with me yesterday. Honestly, I am overcome with gratitude and admiration for your presence. Thank you for stopping by daily with open hearts, honesty and great wisdom participating in my portion of the world. As you might have noticed I am taking my blog in a slightly different direction that includes building a more intentional community with you here... providing a place for honest connections in our struggles and joys pursuing and crafting a creative life. In fact, as I work on the new GS site I have been brainstorming a new tag line. Here are some thoughts. What do you think? I am getting stuck in this and need some fresh perspective:

Gathering Spriggs: crafting creative community

Gathering Spriggs: a modern romantic creating conscious connections

Gathering Spriggs: create, collect, connect

For it is YOU dear readers that give me impetus to keep moving forward... I love your creative contributions here and in the Gathering Spriggs Flickr group where I gleaned these lovely images. Please join so you can share your visual responses or inspirations as well.  

Your beauty inspires me! Thank you! I am thankful for you today!

++ Also, here is a great article on the benefits of Flickr and Pinterest in blogland and creating on online business.

images: elysa fields, cassia, sweet berry me, anna dykema via paper n stitch, twiggs

Living in the Place Between

After a long and busy weekend, and spending time with a friend on the phone last night, I began pondering the places "in between" in our lives. Between jobs. between reality and our dreams. Neither here nor there yet. But its in the "yet" that has me excited. Its a place of discovery of possibility and hope. I am between the girl that once was and the woman who is to be. a sticky place. an unnerving place. a balancing act.  I don't know what the future holds and I don't rely on the past to determine the present. I just live one day at a time, with this hope. Taking one step at a time.

This photographic series by Heidi Lender titled "Once Upon" perfectly illustrated my thoughts today. I hope you take time to visit her site. She is a fashion editor turned photographer who spent several years in India studying Yoga. Her story is transformative. 

So how are you today? Are  you in that place of "between" in your life now? What things are you hoping for this week? 

images: heidi lender

Fun Photo Shoot with Amber Beckham

Can I share with you a little secret? (or two) First of all... I am a pretty private person. Have you noticed? I don't share many personal photos here and have only recently been able to open up more about my real life. Also, I am not photogenic. Typically, I end up being a ham in front of the camera instead of doing sexy model-esque poses like my sister can. My body and I have an awkward relationship. 

So when I hired Amber Beckham to come do a photo shoot with me (of me), my knees were knocking and my stomach was churning ( a little like they are now in an attempt to share with you), but as soon as her camera was around her neck she had me sitting, smiling, laughing, posing, lounging, exhaling and almost immediately brought "me" out of my shell and to the surface. It truly was the BEST experience I have ever had in front of the camera.  Not only is she a natural with people but she does incredible magic with her camera... she is a true artist and it was an honor to collaborate with her. I love that she captured me in my two favorite settings... at home and in nature! Amber also keeps record of her breathtaking work on her blog. (she has some pretty fabulous wedding imagery) 

So you ask, what's with a self-obsessed photo shoot for a woman in her thirties? Well, that's part of the surprise... A full blown Gathering Spriggs website in progress!! Coming very soon. I've never had a professional head shot and with this experience my work, my blog, my dreams feel more real than ever!! A new chapter is opening here at Gathering Spriggs.... and this is your very own little sneak peek. 

So here's to your dreams coming true this weekend!!

If you need a helpful guide on writing a personal mission statement, read this (it is that and so much more).

all images: amber beckham

Sacred Sustenance

Growing up in a household of three women where non-conformity was encouraged, we rarely sat down together for meals. Granted my mother was single and trying to go back to school, and always did her best to provide for my sister and me. But my mom is a rule breaker not a rule follower (which I love about her) and tradition whether it was collecting a set of china or adapting to the status quo was never high on her "to-do" list. 

So today, I find myself in the kitchen of my own home beginning to approach cooking, hostessing and creating meals for my husband and me with in a new way. However, being a non-conformist I like to think of recipes as loose guidelines to my creations rather than actual law! (which has caused some kitchen catastrophes) ANYway, the point Im trying to make is my recent realization (as I stand at the kitchen counter to eat my meals while checking email) is that I have a problem thinking of mealtime as sacred. I really want to honor my food, its origins and my body for that matter by taking time to relish it at the table with every meal. But its a struggle. 

So as we approach Thanksgiving, I am looking for resources to help inspire a lifestyle of true reverence for mealtime. (even if I am eating alone when my husband is working late) Here are a few blogs that have me finding the sacred in my sustenance:

Becoming Lola, What Kate Ate, Rambling Tart, Cooking with Chopin, Living with Elmo,

So help me out friends, what are your secrets to creating a sense of sacred in your mealtime. How do you relish your food and even your cooking creations??  Do you have favorite foodie blogs that inspire a new direction in your cuisine?? 

images: becoming lola, what kate ate 

Pretty Pictures for a Girl Under the Weather

Dear , dear friends. Hope you are enjoying some sunshine in your life today!  I really hate to be "Debbie Downer" but I realized yesterday after writing about writer's block, that the reason I felt like I had nothing to give was because I was actually ill. (Wiping my brow with the back of my hand in relief + Hacking cough. I think Robert and I have the onset of Whooping Cough--- ive heard its going around... have you? )So, I can give myself a break. Thank you for your love and patience with me as I try to nurse myself back to health with some homemade Vegetarian Tortilla Soup. It turned out pretty good for a sickie. So enjoy some beauty today with these images from Silke Zander. I hope to be back on Monday. In the meantime, I better go get back in bed, right after I finish painting a shelf for a client. (oops!, don't tell)

ps. Happy Halloween!!!! :)