keeping it real

04.01.2020 Our little homestead

Image | | mary e. johnson-mason artist

Everything that is happening in the world has got me thinking, and doing something that i have wanted to do for a very, very long time. I want to try and live off this small part of the world that we live on.

We are renting the small property that we live on and it is surrounded by fields with cows, so how can one not be inspired to start farming as well! Since we are renting there is not much we can do to the land, and really why would we since this place we call home is not really ours. But rabbits, chickens, and a garden, now thats something that we can do, that is something that we can move with us when the time comes, that is something that can grow when we grow.

I have had rabbits in my life from the time that I was 16, ever since than I have been in love with this small animal and have never wanted to be without 1 or 2 or 9 in my life. Am i going to have a hard time when it comes to… how do i put this nicely… to process it, to put it on our kitchen table and share a meal with my little family? YES!!!!! I am most likely going to cry, and I’m already wondering WHAT ARE YOU DOING! But than i look at my kids, i look at what is going on in the world and i want to make sure that when times are hard that they have the knowledge to feed themselves and their families. Please don’t worry these rabbits will be WELL loved until the time comes. They will be 4H project animals for my little clover buds, they will help teach my children love, how to take care of something, have more responsibility.

So please join me, in this time of learning, i will be honest with my stories and i hope to make you laugh and cry with me in this thing called life.

~ more next week, thanks for stopping in!

~mary

Bus stop knitting 🧶 #2

Image | | mary e. johnson-mason artist

So yes I’m still working on my first sock, I haven’t even made it to working on the second… I do have 3 kids 9, 4, & 2 so I feel this is a good excuse. I have had to take some stitches and rows out a few times and am most likely going to have to redo this one because I don’t think I made the leg long enough. However here is my progress, fingers crossed I’ll post a photo of my finished sock soon or at least the start of the toe, I’m working on the foot now

2020…

Image | | mary e. johnson-mason artist

2020… what do you have in store for me!

I have been thinking a lot about what I’m doing with this blog… I am not a blogger!!! But i am an artist… so lets do this art blog, and try to do it once a week, 52 blogs is much easier to wrap my head around than 366 days!

I am going to focus on textiles this year, see how far in the art world my new found love for embroidery is going to take me, it seems to be what I am good at

I am going to stop seeing what other people can do and get depressed when i know that i can’t do it, it’s just not my gift, not my style, not who i am

I am going to try to stop getting upset when i am looked over as an artist by those around me, because i am not the “traditional” artist that they understand

I am going to try and learn how this blogging thing works, and try to post at least once a week

So here’s to a new year, a year in discovering who i am, getting my work out there, stopping comparing myself to other artists (in a bad way), letting go and just BE ME

~mary e. johnson-mason

1,000 square feet

Image | | mary e. johnson-mason artist

This may sound weird… but i feel like i lost a loved one today, now you may be thinking that if I’m thinking that than i don’t really know how that feels but believe me i know better than most.

1,000 square feet, thats all i have to work with, all i have to live it, that may seem like a lot to some but you have to add in the 3 children, the husband, and the four legged animals that share in this 1,000 square foot space.

I took down my easel today, and now i feel like i am telling myself that I’m not a real artist, like i have to paint to be an artist, all the other things you do don’t count…

In truth i am probably better at textiles than i am at painting

In truth i seem to live in a place where my painting style is not cared for and that hurts,

In truth, when I’m in the room with another artist, a painter, and they are the ones that are called the artist, the one with a gift, and nothing is said to me… it makes you question yourself, question if you really are good enough, and than i have to remember that my paintings have been shown in galleries so i can’t be all that bad.

This chapter of my life is not the chapter that allowns me to paint, to experiment like i want to, so i feel like i have lost a loved one, a part of me is missing.

Many people will not understand, heck my husband doesn’t understand, he didn’t even notice the big empty space in the living room, but that does not mean that the feelings are not real,

I need to focus on embroidery, i need to experiment and paint with thread.

Mom life

Image | | mary e. johnson-mason artist

The day after this session I got the flu for a week, as soon as I’m over that I have a respiratory thing going on and have lost my voice, this morning I am finally able to start editing (who needs a voice to do that!) with a 2 year climbing all over me and my 4 & 8 year endlessly repeating “mommy” or “STOP IT” and me trying to say “stop touching!” or “get that out of your mouth!” Did I mention that my laptop of 10+ years decided to stop working this week so I had to get the “big boy” out of storage yesterday, and now since it’s a “new” thing I can’t keep the kids away! Here’s to early Saturday morning editing all while moming it with biscuits & gravy and fresh eggs for breakfast, putting wood in the stove so we don’t freeze, changing diapers, and trying not to yell, keep 3 kiddos unhurt, all while trying to get sick or at least sicker than I already am. I forgot, I’m going on 4 hours of sleep and tonight is the time change… also why do they get up so early and so well on Saturday and not school days 🤷🏼‍♀️ I almost forgot I need to go let the chickens and ducks out and feed the goats #momlife #neverending #thisulgybeautifullifeilive💕 #joysoflovinginasmallhouse #familyphotographer #isitbedtimeyet #countrylife #woodstovelife #girlandboymama💜💜💙