a couple of months ago…..my sweet friend LEAH flew from the east coast to personally teach me one of her passions….encaustic painting….now LEAH has been covering my photos with wax for years (she even appeared on the MARTHA STEWART SHOW & taught martha how to paint with wax, with one of my photographs…amazing)….it was wonderful to learn how to do the proccess myself….we were like two kids with finger paints & no parents…..it was wonderful…..beeswax is so beautiful…

so now i am completely & irrevocably smitten….my images want to be covered in wax, they are in love….in fact i have an urge to cover everything in wax(i am hoping this urge fades soon, because although quite beautiful, perhaps not totally appropriate)….alas my photos want to marry wax….here is a little sneak peak into my studio after an art making experience with the incredibly talented LEAH MACDONALD….for those of you who do not have the time or inclination to learn this proccess yourself….you can have LEAH turn your photographs into works of art at WAX WORKS PHOTO….

may your studio be a big beautiful mess…..xoxo

OSCAR DE LA RENTA

“If you were falling, then I would catch you.
You need a light, I’d find a match.

Cuz I love the way you say good morning.
And you take me the way I am.

If you are chilly, here take my sweater.
Your head is aching, I’ll make it better.

Cuz I love the way you call me baby.
And you take me the way I am. ”

INGRID MICHAELSON

OH HOW CHARMING

xoxo

wherever your heart desires…xoxo

all you need….
all you need is love.
all you need is love.
all you need is love, love.
love is all you need.”
THE BEATLES

i’ve always been fascinated by the way people blend…two people fall in love & create a little life…this sweet little person is a physical manifestation of love…we look for pieces we recognize…he has your “smile”…she has your “ears”…but really they’re an unimaginably perfect blend…years ago when i was pregnant with my first child, “the blessing project” was born….all children are blends…

but i’ve been particularly interested in how beautiful children from parents with different ethnic backgrounds blend…the sweet union of differences is amazing…so much beauty….and i think there is something powerful about a new born life looking up at two different faces & loving them the same…not knowing any difference….only learning later in life that there was a difference to begin with….

there was a moment when my four year old daughter looked up at me & asked me, “mama, if i scratch my skin….do i look like you underneath?”…my heart dropped to my stomach & i looked at her sweet face….i realized my answer was both yes & no…her brown skin would always be hers…just as my fair skin was mine….yet if you scratched either of us, we would bleed….we are, as all humans are…utterly & in the most important ways, simply the same….we love…we bleed…we dream…we are….

as i continue to photograph the blessing project…i do humbly & aware that there is much i do not & will not ever understand about the world…but one thing i know for sure, children are blessings….

xoxo