Cyber Monday

I've extended my free shipping offer until today because, DUH! I almost forgot about Cyber Monday!

So, any order placed before midnight tonight tonight qualifies for free shipping. Simply enter code FS1109 into the "message to seller" box when you check out, and you'll be refunded via PayPal for the shipping charge.

Also, I'm giddy with anticipation so I can hardly contain myself! Yesterday I placed an order with overnightprints.com for some note cards for my shop! I printed my postcards with them last year and was (and am still) SO thrilled with their quality. My new note cards will feature a selection of my photography and I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival to my doorstep!

Right now I'm in awe that it's already the last day of November. ALREADY! Unbelievable!

I would like to gently suggest avoiding the crowds this weekend and shopping online instead...

... and buying and giving handmade for the holidays!

From today until Sunday, November 29, shipping for your purchases from the Quiet City Etsy shop is FREE! This applies to everything except items from the "collage and mixed media" and "prints" sections- shipping for THOSE items is half off!

Type in code FS1109 in the Message to Seller Box when you check out. The shipping discount will be given via a PayPal refund.

(Please contact me with any questions about this discount!)

I hope you all had a beautiful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. Let this be a Bright Friday! Stay home this weekend, eat leftovers and support handmade! :)

Quiet City stationery

I do use a lot of e-mail and other electronic forms of communications. With friends and family throughout New England and Texas, and now a few in-laws based in Kentucky for the military, text messages and Facebook are quick and easy ways to stay in touch.

Despite this, I have always loved handwritten notes and letters sent through the mail. Ever since I was little and my family moved from Massachusetts to Maine, I've had pen pals. Opening up the mailbox and seeing an envelope with my name handwritten on the front has always been a thrill. On my end, I love folding up a card or a letter, neatly addressing it and sending it off with a little stamp in the corner.

I have almost every letter or card I have ever received- thankfully they don't take up a TON of room- but I have shoeboxes full of correspondence from elementary school until now. I LOVE writing letters. In fact, one day a few years ago when I was sorting them all out (yes, I actually did that) I found that the most letters I have ever received are from my best friend Laura, and most of her letters were sent when we lived just four miles apart.

My heart is so warm when I think of that.

And now, Quiet City visitors, I present to you illutsrated stationery sheets.





They are 8 1/2" x 11" sheets with illustrations along the edges, left in black and white so you can color them yourselves. The set includes envelopes. I have three designs available now, and more to come!



Please check the shop for my stationery sheets! And don't forget I have postcards too for the quick and sweet correspondence.

xoxo Courtney

ornaments, take 2

I have the photo-to-blog problem figured out (I think?) so I'd like to share with you a few pictures of my ornaments.







The first two have found happy homes, and the last one is still up for grabs in my shop.

You can also find my new gift tags in the shop, and lots more photos on Facebook.

baby art

An old friend of mine is having a baby soon and for part of her shower gift I made some wall art for her daughter. For some reason it did not occur to me to take a nice photo of the finished product before I gave it to her, but I can share the almost-finished-image.



It's paint and paper on an 8"x8"x1" wood panel. I've done a couple other pieces on this same size wood, and I love the way it feels and looks when it's done. The size and texture seem perfect.

new and newer ornaments

I've just updated my shop with a new selection of tree ornaments!

Won't you take a look?

(Sorry, but I am unable to post photos on my blog right now!)

PICNIC

On September 12 I took part in my first art festival!

The Picnic Music + Arts Festival was held in Portland's Lincoln Park on a rainy and chilly mid-September day and I love, love, LOVED being a part of it.

The Picnic folks will be having a holiday festival (I won't be a vendor but I'll surely be attending!) so please check it out if you can!

A Yo Gabba Birthday

My son turned two in June, and I had planned a fun Yo Gabba Gabba-themed party with awesome handmade decorations and a big awesome Plex cake.

Something happened the week before his party though, which I'll talk about later, and I was sidetracked and unable to make the decorations or the dream cake. I settled with a yellow tablecloth, a smaller cake and I drew the game the kids played with a dry-erase marker on the front of my washing machine. *shakes head*

My son may not have had the perfect themed 2nd birthday party but he and his friends had a ton of fun, and no one seemed to mind the lack of construction paper Brobees or Munos. :)

We played Pin the Antenna on Plex! The kids made antennas by coloring short Popsicle sticks and gluing glittery pom-poms to the top.


And they "pinned" them to my impromptu dry-erase art. The kids were totally cute and luckily too young to judge me!

The won stickers, bubbles and slinkies for doing such a good job.


I made a chocolate-banana cake that ended up smaller than my original plan, so I had to compromise Plex's actual features- but that didn't make him any less yummy.


Lesson learned: make decorations and plan cake two to three weeks in advance.


In this photo, I am showing my son the artwork I made for him.

Once I add the jellyfish, it's going up on the wall over his new big-kid bed, which he's getting this weekend. It says "Everything you want to be/ I can't wait to see you be," which is from the matt pond PA song "Everything Until the East Coast Ends," from the 2007 If You Want Blood EP.

Close-up of the finished version coming soon.

Happy happy birthday to my sweet, awesome son- I can't even explain how excited I am that I get to spend my life being his mom.

gardening update

I started my garden almost three months ago now, and we've been enjoying some homegrown peas for the past week or so.

They are sweet and snappy and perfect.

I've had some mishaps in gardening though, which I expected since this was my first garden and our weather has been very strange this year. Because of the weather and uncontrollable indoor climates, the seeds I started indoors failed twice, so that leaves me with no tomatoes, peppers, carrots or spinach this year. I also learned to plant my pea seeds further apart, which I'll keep in mind when I plant for a fall harvest. In the garden, the cucumbers and lettuce are taunting me with nothingness.

The broccoli, summer squash and cantaloupe seem to be thriving, though, so that's a good thing.



I can't wait to find new vegetables waiting for me.

July already

It's been nearly two months since I last updated; my apologies for such a delay. Life has been throwing a good deal of distractions at me (both good and bad ones), such as migraines, swimming, a death in the family, a weekend trip to Brooklyn, my ability to concentrate again on reading novels, gardening, bike theft, my son's second birthday and the party associated with such an occasion, his blossoming vocabulary and conversation skills and a great need for housecleaning.

I need to get back on track in order to whip my Etsy shop back into shape and start making art a habit again. I did start making a collage for my son for his birthday, which is almost finished. As soon as it's done you'll be able to see it here. My mind is brimming with ideas for new work, and I'll be cracking down soon in order to share it.

More posts and pictures to come soon! Thanks for checking back in after all this time!

I missed the fiddleheads.

I've been seeing them unfurling on the roadsides, spreading into great green ferns. I somehow missed the point when they are still tightly curled and edible.





Fiddleheads remind me of my paternal grandparents.





Specifically: ten years ago this spring, my parents and my little brother and I went to Bethel one Sunday to visit Grammy and Grampy. After lunch, my mum and Grammy stayed in while I went with the guys to pick fiddleheads. Grampy led us across the street to the farm his friends owned. We passed the house and the barn, following an overgrown path cleared by farm equipment to the great sweeping field. Squinting across the green, the field stretched perfectly flat until it met the foot of a strong gray-blue mountain.

I watched my dad and Grampy gathering the tight green coils into their folded paper bags. They looked so much the same- tall, serious and quiet, but warm, too. They stood and bent in the same manner, almost like watching a man and himself stand side-by-side, a comparison of his ages.

We went back to the house when Grampy grew tired. My dad held onto his arm as we slowly made our way back to the house, where Grammy cleaned the fiddleheads in the sink.

Grampy passed away later that summer, and Grammy followed him five years later.





I see them in the glowing green fiddleheads.


.Photos by Courtney at Lake Andrews, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.

chills

This trailer is magical, just like the book the movie is based on.





Anyone else counting down the days until October 16?

(Hmmm. Is there a way for this video window to be smaller?)

Memory Lane

My very late teens and early twenties have been haunting me lately, but in a good way.

*********

First, my brother found a mix tape I made when I was 19. I don't know where it was buried but he found it when he was visiting my parents. He listened to it before bringing it to me, and he laughed about New Found Glory and Showoff- bands we loved almost a decade ago but try to pretend now that we didn't. For about a week straight, I listened to it on my little stereo in the kitchen that I use every time I cook, clean and wash dishes. I cringed a lot. I chuckled. I got a little misty-eyed.

It's amazing how my 19-year-old self is still sleeping somewhere deep inside of me, awakened by the songs that used to always be in my head and in my lungs. Laura and I would sing at the tops of our voices on summer nights, driving with the windows down past gas stations and shadowy cemeteries and under overpasses. I thought about the things I used to worry about, the things that kept me up at night, the things that made me cry- and also the things I laughed about, dreamed of and the people who made me smile.

The tape contained songs I still love and always will, for one reason or another, even if it may be considered un-awesome to admit (Saves the Day, Thursday, Get Up Kids). There were songs I didn't even remember until someone started singing. Lyrics came back to me in fragments, my voice skipping over the words, fumbling. Some of the lyrics, though, are tattooed in my memory and in one case, tattooed on my arm (literally).

It had the Juliana Theory (eeek!) song that I used on my audition tape when a band in Ohio wanted me to sing on a few of their songs. It never happened- I think they broke up?- and I can't even remember their name now or how we ever got in touch with each other in the first place. The tape had a handful of other songs I'd sung at the Yellow Dog Cafe when I was 18 and a new student at Salem State College. My heart fluttered a little to remember the open mic nights and the smiling faces of my friends watching me the last time I sang there.

I wrap myself almost completely in the music I listen to now- in my car, in the kitchen, when I have living room dance parties with my son- but when I was 19... man. Reliving that was INTENSE.

********

For the past two weekends I've been excavating the clutter/memorabilia that has been building up across five or so apartments over the past six years that my husband and I have lived together. (I'll take responsibility for like 95% of it.) In donating eight boxes to the Salvation Army, setting aside six boxes for the consignment shop, filling two recycling tubs and three giant trash bags, I have been sifting through my early twenties scrap by scrap, box by box. It's been really freeing- feeling like I can finally let go of random, mostly meaningless things that were really just amounting to less livable space and dead weight every time we've moved.


(Age 21, complete with lip ring, self-cut and dyed hair, and a shirt I actually still wear but am ready to set free.)


I found photos I had forgotten about, love letters and cards from when my husband was still my boyfriend, aging mix tapes from Laura, concert ticket stubs and show flyers, embarrassing poetry, old artwork, my hospital bracelet from surgery at age 22 and forgotten craft supplies. I only kept the REALLY important stuff, photos and letters and ACTUAL keepsakes like ultrasound images.


(Age 22, in my Portland apartment.)


I'm still not finished but we just gained several square feet of floor space in the bedroom.

spring green

It feels like it was only last week (although it was nearly one month ago) that the bare trees were showing small, budding signs of spring growth. With the rain, everything's exploded- the leaves are now open and stretching like ceilings, casting bright green shades on everything. Even the lilacs are blooming and some of my pea plants are four inches high!



(same trees)


There's a reason that green is my favorite color. And this is it.

Today is a very good day.

The three best things about today:

1. My pea seeds have rooted and are poking up through the soil! Thanks to two days of spring showers.

2. Governor Baldacci signed LD 1020 to establish marriage equality in Maine. !!! I'm so proud to live here.

3. My son said "I love you" for the first time WHILE I WAS EATING SPAGHETTI, making the moment so unbelievably perfect. My favorite person, my favorite food, verbally declared affection from my toddler. Sigh. Nothing better.

xoxo Courtney

grow your grass in bottlecaps

I almost didn't ask because I was sure the answer would be no. My heart ached at what might be, so I asked anyway, just in case. Much to my surprise! My delight! The answer was yes- my landlords are letting me grow a vegetable garden!

I started digging up the grass this past Friday and have spent the three evenings since trying to expand. It's slow-going. But after I laid out my perimeter and shoveled up my first chunk of soil, I breathed in the earthy smell and wanted to lay down in it.

My son, who will be two years old soon, has been very interested in my outdoor activities, mostly the bugs and worms I am finding underground. He doesn't like to touch them but he will stay near me and crouch down when he knows I have found a little wiggly treasure. He uses sticks he finds in the yard to poke around in the dirt I'm loosening, and he picks up little roots and clumps of soil, tossing them into the pile where I collect the grass I'm removing.







Yesterday I planted the pea seeds and I CANNOT WAIT to pick my sweet sugar snap peas! I started the tomato seeds in an egg carton in the kitchen, and have to do the same for my peppers soon. Once I get more of the soil cleared I'll add my rows of different seeds- broccoli, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, squashes, cantaloupe, radishes, carrots and more. Always more.

I've wanted to plant a garden for years now but I've been in apartments since I was twenty and I haven't had adequate yard space. In our current apartment we're lucky to have a really generous yard to enjoy and for our son to run around in- and there's more than enough room for one small household's garden. Because this is something I have been anticipating for so long, I am incredibly excited but also really nervous. I know I'll be crushed if my garden fails. BUT if it doesn't, I know that eating what I have grown myself is going to be unbelievably satisfying. I'm probably going to be giggling the first time I prepare it and serve it to my family.

As I've been getting into the dirt I've been finding little surprises, like a cracked acorn with a thick white sprout reaching for the sunshine. I felt bad about uprooting it at first but then remembered if I hadn't done it, the lawnmower would have done it in eventually. Today I found a rusty cap from a beer bottle, with roots coiled up neatly inside of it. If I were only as tall as the grass I would build my home just under the roots, where tiny gifts hide forgotten.

I probably have the day off tomorrow from the garden as we're expecting thunderstorms (and 85 degrees- I can't believe this April weather!) and I hope to report in a couple months of my first crop.

Cross your fingers.

the sky on Sunday

If you live a love, live it like your last.

In Texas, I worked in a bookstore with a wonderful woman named Stephanie. Then I moved to Maine and she moved to New York. She commissioned me to create custom artwork to adorn her new bedroom walls.



"I fell running through the fields and you fell with me," is from the 2007 matt pond PA song "If You Live." (The lyrics are protected under copyright and are used with permission. Thanks, Matt.) Papers (tissue, magazine print and sketchbook), ink and decoupage glue on 14"x17" canvas.

Stephanie- I hope you like it.

xoxo Courtney Quiet City

Spring Art

Just in time for the upcoming Captive Elements show, I completed two new works.

This is "Spring Fawn"

Acrylic paint, paper and aluminum foil on 11"x14" canvas.

Closeup of the pussy willows:


This entire piece was built around my random urge to make tin foil pussy willows, and it's too beautiful outside lately not to honor spring in art.

The second piece I finished is actually a commissioned work for a dear friend, and I'll post photos of it after I ship it to her. But first, it will be on display at this weekend's art show.

Come to the art show if you're in the area!
Sunday, April 19 from 5-9 pm
at Holly's Own Deli and Restaurant
84 Court Street (corner of the intersection at Court and Mechanincs Row/ Turner Street) in Auburn, Maine

Live music will be performed by Mike Krapovicky, and the bar will be open to complement Holly's free hors d'oeurves. The University of Southern Maine Leadership Program will be present, hosting a silent auction to benefit their campaign to Costa Rica.

Spring Things

Here's a small collection of some beautiful Etsy finds that sparkle of spring. Happy April!


First Bloom ring by The Ardent Sparrow



Meadows Beauty Ponytail Holder set by Baubles-n-Bows



Urban Baby Bonnet in green Alexander Henry designer fabric by The Urban Baby Bonnet



Two Spring Lambs linocut greeting cards by Anthea Art



Vintage Linen Embroidered Flax Linen Heel from Dear Golden



xoxo

*All of the photos and their rights belong to the individual shop owners.*

show!

*
Captive Elements Art House Spring Show
Sunday, April 19, 2009
@ Holly's Own Deli & Restaurant
84 Court Street, Auburn, Maine
5:00 pm- 9:00 pm
*

Out like a lamb.

It's been raining. Raining! Spring began officially last week, and since then we've been outside without our jackets. Last night was our first thunderstorm of the year, and although it was brief, it was a relief nonetheless to have more signs of a new season moving in. I stood with my husband and son in the window of my studio, watching the rain pour and the sky flash. My son tilted his head to the thunder. I guess he doesn't remember those epic thunderstorms from his home state of Texas.

We've been back in Maine for a year now. One year and three days, exactly. Last year at this time there was more than a foot of snow waiting on the ground, with still another snowstorm ahead. There were still dirty snowbanks sitting stubbornly in May because of the above-average volume of snow that fell that crazy winter. The snow is already receding from our yard; the crooked edge moves further and further from the trees every day. Rivers are springing up from under shelves of crusty snow, flooding the sides of streets and pooling in the low parts of people's yards.

My first bit of spring cleaning was yesterday, in my kitchen. I straightened up the corner where we keep the recycling, moved the heavy coats into the closet, and cleared off the table that's been impossibly cluttered for months. There's still more work ahead of me, and a lot of rearranging to do. I look forward to when this apartment is in top shape, and I can fill my kitchen and studio with houseplants. If I can't have a garden, I still want to dip my hands in soil and watch things grow.

*

"The spring provides
reminders through your life
when branches scrape your pane
they call you out again."
-matt pond PA

anniversary

Tonight was the anniversary show for Captive Elements Art House, held at Fishbones American Grill in Lewiston. The night was a success for the gallery, and there was a great turnout! (And if you're ever in the area, Fishbones is a great place to eat and drink, just so you know.)

Two of my friends who I've known since middle school were there- one of whom I've seen a few times since moving back to Maine last year, and another I haven't seen since around the time of our high school graduation. Thanks so much for coming, Jordann and Heather! It was lovely seeing you. I even made a new friend. Hi, Vanessa!

Great news on the Quiet City front: I sold all of these. Holy moly, right?

And now I am ready to sleep really really hard until after the sun comes up or my son wakes up. Whichever comes first.

In like a lion

March has given us another major snowfall, which is true to March's reputation. Luckily this time the snow was light and wispy, unsuitable for snowmen, and our upcoming weather is supposed to be rain and snow mixed- including freezing rain this Sunday, which is unfortunate since I have plans. This month brings the official start of spring though. Oh, spring.

Frosting in Androscoggin County

Earlier this week, we had an all-night snowfall made of heavy, wet flakes that stuck to everything it touched.

The next morning, my yard looked like this:

It almost looked like some kind of dessert, like icing.

I had errands to run, appointments to keep, even though the roads were not properly cared for or fully cleared yet (except for maybe two or three roads in all of Lewiston/Auburn). From my doorway to my car, the snow was almost up to my knees, trying to sneak in the tops of my boots. I would have much preferred to stay in that day.

On the Longley Bridge connecting Lewiston to Auburn, I tried to take a picture of the river valley but all I got was the snowbank.

That's because I drive a Camry and the snowbank was very tall.

Up Court Street from the Longley, it could have been a little postcard-y, had there not yet been mud and brakelights and if it wasn't already the end of February.


One of my favorite things though, about these cloudy winter days that try to be bright, is the way the sun shines through what looks like milk, spilling muted colors onto the clouds.


Back at home, the parking in the lot was all amiss and I couldn't park where I normally do. I had to pull in under this tree.
Which worried me that when I left again to pick my husband up from work, my car would be reburied in the snowfall from the branches. Luck was with me though, as a great deal of the sticky snow was STILL perched in the trees, almost a week later. That is, until it rained last night.

It's almost March now.

all shiny

Today I had a custom mat made for an enlargement of New Hampshire. After I purchased a frame it was complete:



It's an 11"x14" frame and the image is 6 1/4"x 9 1/2". You'll see this, and more, at the Captive Elements show next weekend.

Don't forget:
Captive Elements Art House anniversary show
Sunday, March 8
7:00pm - 11:00 pm
Fishbones American Grill
70 Lincoln Street, Lewiston

I am 27, I swear.

Today I was asked to show ID when I bought a lottery ticket. That hasn't happened in four years!

I was going to name this entry with our "prom song" but I don't remember what it was that year.

Right now I am wishing I still had my prom dress from senior year. It was a beautiful shade of blue, but the wrong size because somehow, at the age of 18, I still didn't know how to buy things to properly fit my body. I walked around in high school wearing clothes that were way too big for me. No wonder I didn't date until college! But if I still had the dress I could snip out a swatch and use it in my current project- a shadowbox. I need that exact shade of blue. I guess I will have to flip through magazines and catalogs until I find the color I need and just stick to paper materials.

*Edit: for my mum. I am being playful about my high school self. My clothes were bad, but so were most people's in the 90's. And my prom dress was literally about three or four sizes too big. I was holding it up all night! :) I love you too.

results

Thank you to all of you who have let me know which postcards are your favorites! It was really helpful, it's sweet of you to have taken the time, and I think you're all really neat.

I've had to amend my plans according to my gloomy finances. If I am still able to afford the enlarging/framing, I'll make an 8"x10" of New Hampshire, which is my favorite favorite and a lot of you seem to agree.

I saw a frame while I was out and about yesterday that holds three photos, and I hope to use one of those to showcase your next-favorites: Promise the Bite, Giving It All Away, and Locate the Pieces.

I was tickled when some of you chose designs that I didn't expect anyone to mention. Thank you ALL again, including those who chimed in on Facebook.

xoxo

CHOICES!

For the upcoming Captive Elements anniversary art show, I'm thinking of enlarging and framing two of my postcard designs. I am already kind of sure which ones I'll use but I wanted some feedback from people who aren't so close to the project like I am. I have favorites but I also know each. and every. flaw.

There are ten designs. Please choose your favorite two and tell me which they are in a comment on this post. Keep in mind, choose not just what you think looks good but what you might also seriously consider putting up on your wall.

*Ok, I just spent a really long time struggling with image sizes to fit this blog and I don't know. No luck. Because I can't post the images here, please just click this link (or the titles listed below) and look through the designs there. (Sorry!)

The choices are:
1. Giving It All Away
2. Grave's Disease
3. Last Song
4. Locate the Pieces
5. Measure 1
6. Measure 3
7. New Hampshire
8. Promise the Bite
9. The Butcher
10. The Moviegoer


If you've taken the time and given your opinion (THIS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE), thank you very much! :)
xoxo Courtney Quiet City

the perfect tee

I picked up this shirt today at Forever 21 in South Portland, and I am thrilled with it.



I am a sucker for t-shirts made for women- they are perfectly soft, they have narrow sleeves, a flattering neckline and are appropriately long because it's not 1999 anymore and the Dawson's Creek style is no longer IN style.

Sorry, Joey Potter.

Don't forget to enter yourself in the giveaway!

***

You'll see, next summer there could be something so much better.

I haven't been posting much because not a lot has been going on. My son and I are just waiting out the winter, aching for the walks on our neighborhood streets that we've stopped taking because of the cold and the snow. My husband and I are just swelling with ideas for all of the fun things we can do and places to go when it's warmer- feeding ducks by the pond, the coast, the Maine Animal Sanctuary, Range Pond, Storyland and/or Funtown and definitely the New England Aquarium, Davis Mountain, Mollyockett Day in Bethel, the 4th of July by the river, picnics and playgrounds, Screw Auger Falls, the list goes on- all things that, since he'll be two this summer, our son will be more able to enjoy and participate in.

In the meantime we're doing a lot of window shopping, visits with aunts, uncles and grandparents, and Yo Gabba Gabba and Sesame Street. This is one of my son's favorite things:



And this is a close second:



We also like drawing with crayons, and I'll post a picture soon. He is quite the artist/scribbler and he doesn't even try to eat the crayons. He just sticks the tips up his nose sometimes.

In these last weeks of winter, with the snow coming in spurts and the temperatures rising to the near-tropic 40s and 50s (!!!) on some days it's hard not to ache for spring even if you appreciate the coldest season. To pass these long days we want to check out the Children's Museum in Portland and the Discovery Museum in Augusta. We may also do one of the Free Fridays at the PMA- I'd love to see their rock & roll photography exhibit.

And did you know that stores stop carrying sleds around Christmastime? Seriously. That's when winter is just beginning! And we didn't make the cutoff this year so we don't have anything to play with outside. My son won't play in the snow otherwise because he's distracted by how many layers I dress him in and the snow getting stuck to his mittens.

Note to self: next time, buy a sled before Thanksgiving.

win win win!

I have something special for you!

I've decided to give away a gift-filled box to one lucky Quiet City shopper. The box will be filled with Quiet City goodies as well as some non-Courtney items, with a total approximate value of $20-25.

All you have to do to be entered to win is make a purchase out of my shop's postcard section between now and midnight EST, February 28, 2009. On March 1 I'll draw a name at random from all of the buyers and ONE LUCKY WINNER will receive the special box from me by mid-March.

Break up the monotony of mid-winter! Get yourself a postcard or two and some springy sweetness could be coming your way.

xoxo Courtney Quiet City

upcoming art show

Some of my art will be featured in the next Captive Elements art show. It's their first anniversary and the show will take a look back on the local artists who made up their wonderful first year.

DETAILS:
Captive Elements Art House Anniversary Show
Sunday, March 8, 2009
7 pm - 11 pm
at Fishbones American Grill
70 Lincoln Street, Lewiston, Maine

Also, please become a fan of Quiet City on Facebook!

Valentine season

While it can be argued that Valentine's Day is little more than a marketing ploy for companies that sell cards, flowers and candy, something is to be said for sending something from the heart on any day of the year- Valentine's Day is just one of the more obvious days.

It's no coincidence that my new cards are friendly towards romance AND are available now, right before Valentine's Day, but I'm keeping them in the shop year-round so you can celebrate your love any time.





For me, February 14 holds a lot of importance in that it marks the day I met my husband and our relationship began. Next month makes six years.

xoxo

quick update

In addition to Captive Elements Art House, you can now see my artwork in person at Holly's Own Deli & Restaurant on Court Street in Auburn, Maine. I'll also be taking part in the Captive Elements one-year anniversary show at Fishbones on Lincoln Street in Lewiston in March. I'll update with the details on that soon.

xoxo

Andrew Wyeth, 1917- 2009

Andrew Wyeth, one of my favorite artists, has died at his home in Pennsylvania.

In honor,









remember these, and more, always.

xoxo