cursive cream chrysanthemums

this train ride home felt like spring.

you have tamed me, now you must take me.

"Baobabs" by Regina Spektor

It's my belief that this beautiful song is based on The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery. Regina makes references to Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, and Hemmingway in some of her other songs so I know she is a literature junkie. Unlike the other songs, this one is kind of secret in its being about The Little Prince. Instead of ever directly saying what it's about, she makes subtle references to the thorns, the sunsets, allowing yourself to be tamed (willingly or by accident), and, of course, the baobabs - the sensitive aspects that landmark the lives of The Little Prince and The Flower, but weren't strong enough to hold them together. I think any girl who's ever read that book has a really special understanding of The Flower, and it's really beautifully captured in this song - the tender side of The Flower, the side you don't get to see very much in the book. It's nice to know that Regina understood it. That's why I love her so much. She's very heartfelt.

---

“In those days, I didn’t understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love her.”

-The Little Prince, Antoine de St. Exupery

---

You have tamed me,

now you must take me.

How am I supposed to be?

I don't have my thorns now.

And I feel them sprouting,

they'll grow right through if I don't watch it,

they'll grow right through even if I watch it,

and a sunset couldn't save me now.

These baobabs, and baobabs, and baobabs some more,

but you can't out-wait fate.

-r.s.

a painting I did for Antoine some time back.

darling in my sketchbook

Some pictures from The Sketchbook Project show held at Laconia this Friday:

The show was lovely! A room full of over 2,000 sketchbooks. It was like hunting for buried treasure. There were so many people there who so obviously appreciate, respect, and marvel at the mind (since basically that's what a sketchbook is made of). I read so many beautiful things inside those sketchbooks, and got to visit my own. I can't wait to see them all again at the New York show next weekend, and explore further to the ones I didn't get to look at yet! It was a really fun night!

 This morning the birds were loud (isn't it interesting how they call louder when warm weather comes?), and tonight we played basketball in the rain. It finally feels like spring.

Thank you to everyone who came Friday night, and to anyone who has been to any of the tour stops so far!! I hope you're all enjoying the beginnings of spring.

Love,

me

pine bows weren't meant to snap.

Moleskin pages 55 & 56

Hey everybody!

 Boston's Daily Candy has a small bit about The Sketchbook Project, and there's also some more press on SPIN. I am getting so excited for to see all the sketchbooks at Laconia tomorrow! Art House has made their website a little like an artist "facebook" where you can friend other people involved in the projects and look at pictures of what they're working on. I'm so excited to actually get to touch and look through all the awesome sketchbooks I've been seeing on the site.

---

Also, do you remember when I wrote about cat kisses? When cats blink their eyes slowly at you, they are giving you their equivalent of a kiss. Well, I just found out what dog kisses are! When dogs get really excited, they yawn and kind of stretch their head to the side and then back. And that is a dog kiss! I think it's important to know and understand when animals are giving you their best form of affection so we can give it back, with human kisses!!

We used to try and get O'Malley to howl when we'd "sing" with Gizmo, but he never could! He tried a couple of times, but he'd kind of just be wincing in the back of his throat. While we'd be doing this, he'd be yawning and thrashing his head from side to side. And now I know he was giving us kisses! He was such a good boy. I miss him a lot.

a synopsis of the snow

(with Shauna and Kate at the SPIN opening)

Substitute teaching seems to prove more and more rewarding with every time that I do it.

Today I subbed for kindergartners.

One of them asked me what I want to be when I grow up, and I was surprised when I didn't really know the answer. So I cheated and said "artist." But there are many  more things I want to be when I "grow up."

It became a lunch-time discussion, what we want to be when we grow up. One little girl said, "I want to be a maker." When I asked her a maker of what, she said "words." I asked if she wanted to be a writer, and she nodded yes.

Being around children makes me feel the same way that being around animals does. There's this kind of innocence that provides renewal for me. It's really nice.

---

The SPIN opening was an amazing success! So many friends of all the artists involved came to show support. It was a lot of fun. Snowy evenings in the city are always nice and cozy.

---

Presently I am listening to Tegan and Sara and taking a short break from writing. I've been writing a lot more than painting lately, but I have some ideas for new paintings that I'm excited to begin! It's just a matter of self-discipline.

That's about all for now. I hope you're all having a lovely week, and perhaps enjoying the snow.

Love, 

me

some kind of wonderful

Hi everyone! The SPIN show is tonight at 6pm at Rescue in Allston, 252 Brighton Ave! The 66 Bus will drop you off right in front of it. After party at Deep Ellum. Kevin did an interview about the show - you can read it here.

"When T.S. Eliot is under my pillow."

12.5" x 12.5" framed

"My allegory, your metaphor."

12.5" by 12.5" framed

---

Sorry my pictures are so bad! It was oddly difficult to get good photos of the records, famed and unframed, and I had no time to scan them.

I was there when the hanging of the show began last night, and it looks very nice! 

And snow tonight!!! I do love wearing dresses in the snow.

I hope to see you there!

Love,

Amanda

I mean, it's not impossible that I'm knitting a ranch house.

Lately I've been basking in the idea of future apartments-

Finding flea market furniture and painting it beautiful colors, the seemingly unending supply of  girls with clipper ships prints on etsy to hang on walls, and every young 20 something's dream: buying a big bed at IKEA (right?).

I confess I  buy small things now in preparation of this apartment. I like buying dishes and glasses (usually plastic from the children's dining area of target and involving animals and/or lunch tray-style compartments...they're cute!). I recently acquired two rubber ducks for the tub - one in navy blue and one in hunter green.

Pictured above:

Green bird lamp - Christmas Tree Shop, $9

Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Whale Tattoo book - Viviana's Vintage, $5

Little boy with dog print - yardsale, 99 cents

---

Sweet dreams, everyone. :)

love,

me

happy wednesday

Hi, everyone!

It feels like spring is coming, I think.

I'm today's interview on the AIB Illustration blog. There's a whole string of interviews of other people you might know, too! Just click the interview side-link.

I finally saw Coraline last night! It met all my expectations. It was beautiful. And it will remind you of why you love cats, if you are a cat lover.

That's all for now.

Love,

Amanda

I used to dwell in bookstore basements.

A few days ago I wrote a little bit about what my routine used to be like when I lived fifteen minutes from Harvard Square. Bookstores were also a large part of my routine back then, most especially the Harvard Bookstore, and most especially the basement.

There was a time when I visited that store twice a day. 

Books just make me feel better. I love them. I feel like they help me understand myself better, and I always seem to find the right book at the right time.

(This may sound overly romantic. Lately I've been called sensitive and hopelessly romantic more times than I can count, but I have never minded being called these things. I know I'm sensitive, and I like it, and as I get older I learn to accept it more than fight it.)

A week or two ago I was at Common Wealth Books and picked up a book by an author named Marguerite Duras, pictured above. I had never heard of her before, but when I opened it up I was excited to find that her chosen form and style of writing were very similar to mine (something I don't come across very often), and therefore proof that a writer with my style can definitely be published. I didn't buy the book. I kept her name in my head.

Today at the Harvard Bookstore, I came across "The Lover" by Marguerite Duras. This is not short stories, like the last book of hers I stumbled across, but a short novel. I was more moved by the introduction by Maxine Hong Kingston than by the first few pages of the novel itself, but if someone wrote such a loving forward for a book I have faith that it will be amazing.

This book also caught my attention...and this might seem crazy, but I thought it was all real until I read the quotes on the back, and then I wondered if this entire auction catalogue is fictional, if the couple in all the photographs was played by two actors or models, the items dreamt up by someone who dared to dream what mundane objects might become things of great importance when shared by two lovers.

After looking through the book, I felt like I knew the alleged couple, and when I discovered that they'd broken up it made it hard for me not to cry in the middle of the bookstore.

The catalogue includes books inscribed, shirts given, postcards sent, and photographs of the two posing as every literary couple, as set up by Lenore herself, who was a photographer.

---

"One of the pleasures of loving the man is to write him down. She may be loving him to have something to write. She has a story to tell because of having loved him."

-Maxine Hong Kingston on Duras's heroine in The Lover.

---

I think I'm very sensitive to love. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather be sensitive than not feel at all.

For the canines

Non-Profit Print at Wall Blank!!!

Hi everyone!! I've been honored with the chance to sell a limited edition print of "I was too young to know how to love her (Conifer stay with me)" through Wall Blank, of which all proceeds will go to one of my favorite organizations, The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs.

The prints are 9x12" archival pigment prints.

(watermark will not appear on print)

These prints are a limited edition of 150 (and I will not be making my own prints of this painting again for at least one year). They are priced at $20 and available for one week or until sold out.

To buy one, visit here.

---

Some dogs from The Sanctuary:

Monroe when he arrived at The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs.

Monroe after spending some time at The Sanctuary!

Annie Brown, one of Sanctuary's therapy dogs.

Katie, a 14 year old pug mix, currently up for adoption!!

The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs provides a loving environment for aging dogs surrendered by shelters, animal control, and individuals until "forever homes" are found for them. They strive to house the dogs in foster homes and to create a safe place much warmer than any shelter.

Thank you so much!!

Love,

Amanda