Help from Above

sir william blake
sir jujeemous maximus (kitty) and
perhaps a fairy?
me

i drew a fairy card today.

after driving home in awe of the diamonds yesterday's winter storm laced the cottonwood limbs
magical
wish i could download my brain to show you
how it glistened and winked
and made everything go slow mo....
feeling the very center of moment
and feel how lovely it feels
and bitersweet longing
wishing i could stay in it
always

i drew a fairy card today and this is what it said:

                                            Fear came knocked at the Door
                                            Trust opened it
                                           and nobody was there.

thank you!
xo milady

The Color Keeper

I feel like the Color Keeper most of the time. I try to not be too whiney on my blog, but the feeling is there...a deep sad not good enough feeling that keeps me hostage. I need artsy souls around me to keep me going - like i need oxygen.
 Comments from down under and up over help in ways i can't explain. Thank you friends. thank you. I loved watching this little diddy about it from another artist, greg pecknold. it makes me feel good to know i/m not alone and that it truly is the artist's chore...to operate from such a humble authentic place with a bravery fit for a knight knowing that just doing it will make everything alright.
The Color Keeper from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

and on a lighter note...pure sweetness from This Years Girl on etsy.

xo milady

White Winter Hymnal




Found some new music-
Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal video is so clever. I especially like that He Doesn't Know has goaties in the video.
It reminds me of  red nose studio   Chris Sickel's process on his blog  such as here & here.
He makes me chuckle and feel like a sloth. He has 3 kids too!
My need to see and discover grows with each day.
There are so many unbelievable people in the world.
I am thankful for each spark of inspiration that comes my way!

xo milady

it's coming!

her name is Stephanie she loves lambies and talks to ghosts...

sings like an angel and loves woodland tales... the how could i not be smitten?
magic of the holiday season is coming, fast, too fast. when i return all will be white and lights will need to be strung, cookies rolled & little villages created out of wine corks and cardboard.

but first we have to celebrate Thanksgiving - a gluttonous American tradition full of old family recipes (usually of the jell-o variety) and lots and lots of whipped cream and gravy.

i am in the South for this event. just think of Gone with the Wind. the family is gathering. the cousins are getting loud.

thank goodness for this find. owl in the dark , a magical sweet reminder of what really makes me feel like home.

xo milady

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

a friend's wedding card- milady productions

I had a dream, to become a self made millionaire from my whimsical little drawings that would take the world by storm like Harry Potter making me one
happy mom free to live wherever, whenever, in style without a care in the world.
my 1996 Christmas Card - milady productions

I even made it to trade shows in places like Seattle and NYC with fabulous response. But then i had 3 little children and we came to a stand off. (imagine an old western town, no one out except 2 gunslingers on opposite sides of the main dirt street. on one side Milady Productions...on the other my family.)


And when i see wonderful companies like this one Rifle Paper Co.(thanks for reminding me Make mine mid-Century!) i feel 2 things at once:
1. inspired and delighted by seeing someone doing what i thought would be a good idea
and its evil twin,
2. jealous that it isn't me and that i must've missed the boat.whaaaaa.

But then again, i look at this darling work and simply wish i had a portrait
of my family for Christmas cards. I just love it.

So, if you suddenly see me illustrating the alphabet or making little family trees with angels, i swear, im not copying! :) its a great idea indeed .

Cheers to Anna and her success!
This lady continues to find her balance.:)
xo milady























Goatie and Lambie

Here is a little diddy that I made for Morgan when he was a wee babe. It's called Goat Boy. (If you look closely you'll see I forgot to draw the rest of the harness!)

that little dog looks an awful lot like Pearl who was but a twinkle of a star sky back then.

Ah, the good old days...when a kid could ride a goat for fun. I have some photos of my great-grand-people riding goats. So does my husband. We're working on bringing that trend back. Its good old fashioned clean fun.

Goatie reluctantly leaving me. Goats heads can turn around like an owl's. He escaped twice this way . He has a good home, its down the road. In fact, we kinda knew whose it was but figured if they really wanted him they'd come at least look for him. Goatie was free to go wherever but he chose to stay with us.

Lambie goes wherever she pleases and is always there to greet me when I pull up the drive.


Goatie was just too cool. Calm, and quiet. His little bleat was so sweet. He would just come up and let you pet his funny head and stroke his long bassett hound ears and liked it. If you quit, he'd lean in and wait patiently. I'm missing that little guy!
I BRAKE FOR JUNK bumper sticker from my friend Mary Randolph "Carter"


And as a true goat, he got in my car , first the front seat, then he checked out the backseat, then the 3rd row...(yes it is a HUGE car) and finally made his way out the very back. He never pooped or ate my seats. Silly goatie.


Roscoe feeding Blossom.
We are all looking forward to spring when we can have a goatie of our own!

xo milady




Obsession









antique German ornaments found at christmas past collector



I have a lambie obsession, I love them, I love the way they look, I love what they represent. Now that I have my own little lamb (who is a full grown overweight sheep) I am even more obsessed. Now I want a goat. Did I tell you about the goat? A goat came a wanderin' into our lives and stayed with us for almost a month. Naturally, we named him Goatie, he lounged on the deck, napped under the horses' feeder, snuggled with Lambie once she got over her fear of him.

Then, sadly, his owners came. He reluctantly left, rope around his neck, escaping his leash twice.
I miss that guy but I don't think Morgan misses him that much. At least when he's trying to paint en plein air.
Come springtime, I'm getting a baby goat. :)
xo milady

Madsen Bicycle Contest!

Madsen Cycles Cargo Bikes
Madsen Cycles Cargo Bikes
Madsen Cycles Cargo Bikes



i've had some luck with giveaways lately and am hoping i could hit the motherload with one of these amazing revolutionary vehicles The Madsen Cycle
eventhough i live in the country, it drives me nuts that i have to run all my errands with my giant loud vehicle i need for my life on the county road, with horse trailers, with umpteen sacks of feed and a healthy helping of children in tow. if i had one of these...i could actually park it at a friends and do all my in town stuff like a real townie. my kids are always wanting to bike along the river on the smooth urban cement...such a novelty for these bumpkins...which i love to do but am always the odd one out because my bike doesn't fit on the rack.
this too could change :)
i wish i may , i wish i might....here's where you could enter to win one too!

xo milady

Got Costume?

i'm having to dress mid 1800's for the Ball this weekend.
i'm going for the disheveled victorian look like this...easy to glue and pin.





but what i'd really like to be is the hedgehog



im wishing i had serious sewing skills right about now...those bustle dresses are mind boggling!
children: greek goddess
presidential bodyguard
the outhouse monster boy raised by wolves
bette go heat up the glue gun!
xo happy costuming
milady











My Life in th Bush of Ghosts




Beaumont Hotel




remember when i alluded to this?
well, thats what i've been up to lately. bringing history to life one ghost story at a time. it all takes place in the quintessential western mining town of Ouray nestled in a gorgeous box canyon dubbed Switzerland of America. I get to have fun, be creative, be a storyteller and make money WITHOUT being a dreaded waitress. It affords me to do what I want all day which is supposed to be art but then those darn kids keep needing me....kidding, well not really. :) My art isn't contained on a surface these days.

my life in the bush of ghosts music i enjoyed in art school
my life in the bush of ghosts one of my favorite books
xo milady























Wild Mushrooms

an unknown photo of a girl and gnomes 1887 - this is how i felt and wished i looked! :)

Holly and Lily


A lovely bolete!




Courthouse Rock


just a hop skip from my front door is this...the glorious Cimmaron mountains

with all their crags and points and magical forests. My friend taught me to identify chanterelles, boletes and hedgehogs but most importantly the deadly

kinds that are oh so smiliar . The day was crisp and fresh, the first day of school actually...we dropped off our children and drove here, hunted for our prizes, had a picnic on a stump then drove down the mountain to town where we fetched our kids. To think the kids were working so hard that entire time while their mothers were skipping through the woods like 2 little red riding hoods.


Dinner that night : Quinoa pasta with a Marsala wine and Chanterelle cream sauce with fresh sage.


What kind of adventures await you near your home?


Would love to hear!


Back up part 3 Rodeo

Every year, we cap our summer off in serious Western style . Out come the flashy tops and sparkly belts, tiaras and buckles, canned beer and sno-cones. Horses are washed and trimmed, pigs are srubbed and shaved, animals are hustled into the fairgrounds where they will be shown and sold to charitable customers.
Its all fun and games until the last day when the kids prepare for the truck that comes early in the am and takes them all away. Except ours. You see, i have a pet lamb who is now a very fat sheep, and have recently been adopted by a goat who enjoys the afternoons on the chaise lounge on the deck. I am not a rancher - in fact , i'm a weenie. So when the truck comes I feel just as traumatized as the little girls who get in their lamb pens and snuggle their goodbyes with their summer friends. Every year I think "what am i doing ?! "
But then i think...well, we aren't vegetarians so why not really learn where it all comes from?! If it were left up to me to harvest my own meat i'd become a vegetarian immediately. My kids pigs are still here at home.
Its a tradition in this little cow town to end the summer with a rodeo and 4-H fair complete with a spotty attendance of macrame entries, a few pies, canned goods and "art". This year I didn't enter a thing. who cares! Rosie, my daughter,the Rodeo Queen's Attendant dramatizing about something

The husband and Blue who is Red watching the Labor Day Parade in Ridgway

Roscoe showing his hog "Bonnie" for the 4-H judge. He had blue fingernail polish that matched his cowboy shirt. We Rogers like to shake it up a bit. "Clyde" missed the show, he was too fat and stayed at home. It's true, a pig can be too fat.

Did you ever think you'd see this? A chicken getting a bubble bath. Now, all she needs are some diamonds and a raspy voice like Carol Channing.


xo milady

Suprise Guests

8pm bedtime Once upon a Time.... a large beaked dodo bird and a wise deer appeared
and as i offered my hand for a pet an elephant
tried to snatch an imaginary peanut right out of my hand.

when i turned around to see it , it was gone, like that.



but the wise deer remained

and enchanted us with his stillness.
goodnight
xo milady's boys
(paint swatch in the boys room + one lamp = magic.)




Back up part 2 mini harvest




















every year there is a time when i have to let go of growing things and let them wane instead, call it a day, a truce, say goodbye to my garden. this year i planted very late hence a barely fruited crop at this inevitable juncture. the smote of frost has killed the leaves thus killing any chance of plumping up the mini zucchinis, spaceships, carrots and potatoes. I have to wave my flag and start salvaging what i can, dig the potatoes and fry up the blossoms that never amounted to a vegetable. what a bust!

the potato hunt, however, is like a treasure hunt - delicious little gems that have magically sprouted from a single potato like grapes.
xo milady
















back up part 1







Best to start in the recent past. that way i can hook into the original impetus, the spirit, the notion i had to take the pic in the first place. Once i get on the line I can remember it all...sort of like when im telling a big story and have to be reminded mid sentence so i can find my way back to the point. I'm a wide caster, i cast my net impossibly wide in hopes of reigning in something of worth out there in the big world of infinite possibilities.
where was I? oh yeah, backing up. Its fall in the mountains. The leaves are turning and the air is crispy. Cows must be collected from high pastures, brought back to the ranch (my neighbor's) and sorted from their youngn's (ugh)
School has begun, homework invades my leisurely evening plans and thoughts are all about collecting and storing. Out here, on the land, one becomes accustomed to living by the seasons. Right now i am a big squirrel.
xo milady



Its About Time

roscoe and duke herding up the mamas and babies from the mountain


can u see morgan?


roscoe & pistol
Hello dear friends out there! I have been a busy art farmer ranch lady. No time to sit inside and hyperlink (which, BTW takes me wayyyy to long...any easy tips? why is it always duplicated? i'd sure appreciate it - i may even post more often!) I have so much to tell you.
My adventure to the ocean, my life as a ghost host, my car that sounds like a monster truck and has left parts of itself across america, the demo that was my boy's bedroom and bathroom because of an internal leaking pipe, kids sleeping on the floor like dogs...pig raising, showing, horse grooming, parades, rodeo, gardening, the dream kitchen reno on a fantasy budget (why do i torture myself?)and oh yeah! the first day of school and all that jetlag from waking up so un-naturally early! x x (those are my eyes)
its about time, time i posted, time i haven't.
so get ready for some catch up.
im serious about the hyperlink help...it drives me crazy!!!
xo!
milady

She still loves me









Blossom finally got a haircut. It was a big deal finding someone with the proper shears for her overdue coat of wool. I thought she'd never hold still, would hate me for life for subjecting her to nicks and shaving trauma but instead she is happy. She still lets me play with her ears and scratch her bony head. We didn't even have to hold her down. The pigs got out and found her wool on the ground. They went CRAZY! Rolling and snurfing and coming up with wooly moutaches and beards dangling from their snouts. It was one of the most hilarious farm moments to date.
Blossom is the best Lamb dog a girl could ask for.
One drawback...the sheep part, she poops often & on the go and eats my flowers.
oh well.
xo milady