I’ve been thinking about snow quite often lately. I love the anticipation of snowfall, and I especially love it when the snowflakes start to flutter around after I’m already locked safely inside my house for the evening, curled up with a good book and a steaming mug of hot chocolate. It’s convenient when the snow and the night dance together, and what is more beautiful than waking up to a world covered in glittering white?! Come take a peek at my latest Etsy round up, and let’s see what these artists dreamed up when they were inspired by snow.

Snowblind :: Irene Suchocki

Can you smell when snow is in the air? It’s a scent both “clean” and icy cold, mingled with the promise of it. This is not the windy season of delicate caresses through your hair, but rather one of sharp bites on the nose and ears. The sun, when present, is light with only the memory of warmth. And when the snow does begin to fall it settles upon the land quietly, draping the landscape in a pristine blanket of white that thickens throughout the night. A blank canvas on which to paint the joy of tomorrow’s morning.

It’s taken me nearly two years to bite the bullet and just do it, but now I have and here it is: the Oomphasis shop is open for business on Etsy.

May all your big wishes, little wishes, and in-between wishes come true this new year.

It’s time to feast your eyes on another Etsy art round up, this time by less-visible half of Oomphasis. I’m not less-visible in the invisible sense… more like the behind-the-scenes sense. A photographer at heart, I’m much more comfortable observing rather than being observed. From behind the lens I point out into the distant horizon, at a small detail, or through the window. Do you see what I see? This time around, I’m seeing feathers! Why don’t you come look with me?

four blue feathers :: Kirsten Finkas (Putnam Court)

When I was a little girl I would pick up discarded feathers — found pieces of an avian wonder and the calling cards of an animal not bound to this earth. Stiff enough for flight, yet soft as a whisper upon your cheek. As vibrant as a field of wildflowers punctuated with exclamation points, or as unassuming and unremarkable (yet so remarkable!) as camouflage can be. Layers of beauty wrapped around a spirit that knows the freedom of flight.

I just wanted to call your attention for a few moments to my Tumblog, which I am fairly good at forgetting about. It’s probably a really handy thing when you know what to do with it, and so it’s currently my new bright idea to start using Tumblr to “curate” (or round up, I suppose) works by other artists based on a theme. And since I’m getting ready to go camping this weekend, I thought I’d start there. I’ve put together a small collection of camping-inspired artwork — all by Etsy artists, incidentally — and you can find it right here, baby!

Northern Family Camp by David Hayward (Hayward Fine Art Prints)

The smells of the earth: the clean air, a crisp breeze, the early morning dew. The hypnotic dance of the campfire. The farther we go from civilization, it seems, the tighter we become with our camp company: clustered in a circle around a warm fire, telling stories, cooking food, making music, playing games, or simply sitting in silent contemplation. Why do we yearn for such primitive socialization, such rustic existence? Perhaps we’re drawn by an ancestral memory. And if we could read it, perhaps it would say that being submissive to the Earth is as much a part of the human spirit as discovering how to control it. That without knowing the most basic elements of community, we can never possibly be whole. That we must occasionally escape from life in order to survive it.

If you’re one of the three people who keeps up with my blogging, you’ll see that I’m having a bit of a blogfest today. And I had a great post idea for this one blooming in my brain a mere half-hour ago while I was in the shower; alas, I forgot. Sorry I haven’t been around. I’ve been a bad, bad Oomphasizer.

So here I am dipping my toes in again, trying to get back into the habit of working with paper and writing about it, too. I’ve been doing a lot of crocheting though.

In the spirit of January, my goals for this year includes one of my goals from last year, which is to open up shop on Etsy. I know, seriously, it’s not that hard. But I have a list of stuff I feel like needs to be accomplished before I’m ready. I don’t think it’s going to happen until after I finish my master’s in May. So there you go.

Until next time, or whenever I remember my original thought.

I’ve been working on it for some time. I’ve even alluded to it briefly here. But now it’s finished. Well, finished enough to go live. Behold, my Digifolio.

Things have been kind of busy around here. I had hoped to get some new work done to submit to a juried show for artists whose primary medium is paper; alas, trying to clean and pack for a road trip to Savannah, Georgia, for a friend’s wedding proved all-consuming over the last few weeks and I watched sadly as the June 1 deadline came and went. Plus, you know, work really gets in the way of everything, too.

We were in Savannah last weekend. The trip itself was alright; one of the main highlights, however was discovering a lovely little stationery shop called Le Paperie. Alas, they have no web site (at least not that I could find), but I did find a nice little write-up over at Decor8. Against my impulse, I bought only one set of cards by R. Nichols for the lovely Jen A.

So the only thing I’ve been *really* working on is a wedding, which started as invitations but has since grown to include programs, escort cards, table numbers and thank-you cards. Currently, my major hurdle is trying to get the right lime green…

It’s not a lot of fun though, as I’m a little oversaturated on weddings at the moment. I’ve got some great ideas for non-wedding stuff, and I have no doubt that once I crank out a few Whatever-I-Want things, my mojo will come groovin’ on back.