michelle my belle

Last Day in Norway

see the darling girl, janne machine embroidered it in about 30 seconds! so talented!

I'm home now.
Already missing my creative time with Janne.
What a treat this trip was.
So much learned. So much shared.

Glad to be home. Was missing my family.

 
My last day we spent in Bergen.
My youngest daughter's teacher has a cousin there.
She told me I "must" meet her.
I'm glad she insisted!
Kristin is a delight with a capital "D"!
 
She took us up Floyen to see the spread of the city.


To her AMAZING house! (i should have taken more pictures!)


And to her favorite coffee bar.

I love meeting new people!
Thank you Kristen for giving us the grand tour!!


This is Janne's uncle who we stayed the last night with.
He was so hospitable.
Insisting on making us a full breakfast at 6AM before we headed for the airport.
Check out this beautiful play house he built for his grandchildren.
Quite a guy.


Thank you Janne and Axel for opening your home and your life to me!
I will treasure this time forever!

Brown Cheese, Blue Seas and Arting

more "Arting".
watered down acrylic on plaster.
unfinished.


ever heard of Brown Cheese?
slightly sweet and soft.
ummmm. yum!
traditional breakfast spread every morning:
bread. salted thin cut meat. spreads. jams. white and brown cheese.
i like this.
a lot.



Janne's pappa, Odd
(seriously. that's his name. and his wife's name is Gunn!)
took us out to sea on his boat today.


as far as i can remember
i've never been out on the sea before.
wasn't quite sure if i was going to get sick or not?
here i am
hoping NOT!


lot's of darling boat houses.


once out past all the cute islands.
and into the 6.5 feet waves.
i surprised myself.
and became a nervous nelly.



the view out Janne's front window


i survived.
no sea sickness.
thankful for yet another adventure.

Plaster Painting and Viking Soup

My pictures don't do justice to just how beautiful it is here.

I'm relishing this time with my friend snapping pictures and dreaming.


The colors of her house are inspiring enough to feed an army of artists.
She's traveled a lot so it's filled with fun treasures from all over the world.


Hard at ARTING! Our new official word.


We visited a gallery on the other side of the island and were inspired by some work done by another artist. So we came back, pulled out the plaster and started playing.


I'm working on getting rid of the Norwegian flag. Just didn't look quite right.
I really like how the plaster soaks in heavier in some areas than others. And very easy to work with.


Janne's girl. Quite daring isn't she. A girl with major attitude.



We also visited the oldest church in Norway, Moster Church.
Lots of pretty important Norwegian history has taken place here.


Viking Stew, based on what they believe the Vikings ate way back when.
Salted Lamb, veggies and beans of some sort. Pretty tasty actually.

And don't worry about me eating enough...
one word.


BROWNiES!

Finished Journal Pages

Finished birthday journal pages. I love the picture my youngest drew me for my birthday.
It's funny how I try to emulate some of her 9 year old techniques.
Techniques that aren't limited by her own mind.

It's a bit blurry, but here's the beginnings of the page.

It feels good to "just have fun" with art.
No purpose, no mission but to experiment.
I think that's what I enjoy most about the art journaling.

Pig Knuckle, Creating and Lots of Water

Janne and I have been busy.
We've been spending about half of each day sight seeing and the other half doing something creative. Using our surroundings to inspire.

Bomlo, Norway is home to over 1000 islands. Water is everywhere!


In this picture you can see two neighboring islands. Each with it's own unique quaint mercantile. We visited them both. One specializes in yummy fresh cinnamon buns.The other stinking to high heaven thanks to the pile of dried fish lying on the floor beside the register.


Traditionally Thursdays are Komle (potato dumpling) day.
Our dinner included pig knuckle, bacon, sausage, (healthy so far ha!) Komle, potato and Swedish turnip (aka: mashed swedes).


Something else very interesting, and I'm sure controversial, about Norway is that every year they make the income and wealth of every Norwegian taxpayer PUBLIC! Can you imagine? And, for your added convenience, supposedly there's a widget that allows you to link Facebook to these records so that you can see what all your friends make. How nice is that! hehe!

xoxo. m

Norway!

Midthuset at Bryggen
What in the world am I doing in Norway?
Well, my husband gave me this trip as a birthday gift.
(he's probably trying to rid himself of the guilt that he gets to go to Italy twice a year!) jk!

 
But for real.
I'm here visiting my artist friend, Janne.
I met her at this past Artfest and we became fast friends.
She invited. And I came.

Our simple plan is to:

Have a BLAST
Make tons of ART
and Sight see


Starting off, I flew into Bergen.
Norway's 2nd largest city and the "Gateway to the Fjords".
We will be seeing more of this city right before I leave but we decided that it was such a beautiful day we ought to take a little advantage of it.

This waterfront area above is Bryggen.
The colorful row of wooden houses are almost 900 years old.
Completely cattywompous and crazy.
(and yes, that is a word!)


When you sneak through the middle of that row of houses you'll find this charming little place.

Wandering up the stairs you'll find textile artist, Marianne Lien.
Being a foreigner I would have never known in a million years she was there.


Unfortunately her studio was quite empty as she just finished an exhibition.
I think she said that she had been there for over 20 years! Very cool!


  After Marianne's we headed off to Bomlo, the island Janne lives on.
Which is about 3 hours south of Bergen.
The roads are quite a bit slower here that at home.
Skinny windy European roads! At least on this road both directions had their own lanes.


I couldn't finish my first Norway post without at least one picture of sheep.
It just wouldn't be right!

Have you been to Norway? Is it on your list of places to go?
just curious.

Bookworm Painting Progress

Thought I'd show you the progress I've been making, albeit very slowly, on the painting I'm doing for my daughter. This will have to be added to my new list since it's still not finished.


it needed some good ole pink, don'tcha think?

Speaking of my NEW LIST...
I am going to work on it today!
I'll be posting it soon. Along with a few new links to other inspiring lists.

xoxo.
m

A Little More Birthday Bliss!

yummy cupcakes the studio surprised me with.

darling friends who took me to lunch at La Bottega in downtown Vancouver.

Thank you for forcing me out!

a killer vintage brooch I got at an estate sale on the trek home from lunch!

Thank you to my MIL and FIL for the bday $$ so I could better justify it.

I was blissed out with April's surprise gift of Dale & Thomas Popcorn!
She knows how heartbroken I was at the one in NYC closing!


April also gifted me with a smile catching Gurgle Pot!
I had no idea what this was. I've never seen them before.
  But, my 14 yr. old screamed (that teen scream) in excitement when I opened it.
She went to Catalina, CA this summer with a friend and fell in love with them.
Thank you April for making both our day!

toffee pie alexis made me. yum, yum.

I had such a wonderful day.
Made to feel special by friends and family.
Thank you!

note: tomorrow's post will be all about the diet & exercise

Another Year Older (physically but not mentally)

it's official, i'm now 37
how am i feeling about it?
BLESSED!

blessed:
to be healthy
with a caring husband and authentic kids
to have people who love me and support me for who i am
to have found a network of artist & blog friends
by a God who loves me unconditionally
to live creatively

thank you, thank you, thank you
for making my year so good

A Little Birdy Told Me

this sweet new painting and "don't mess with my dessert"
are now available as archival prints in our etsy!

I remember my mom always saying this to me when I was younger.
It always amazed me how she would know things.

A few things I'm enjoying around my home are:
This old lamp and a hand printed vintage hanky I recently scored for a total of $6.50!


And this cactus and all her prickly little babies.


I want to wish my dad a very Happy Birthday today.
I love you dad!