We were lucky enough to have several Austinites in the Bay Area this weekend, and there’s nothing better than travel to help open the eyes to the color of everyday life (especially in California). While giving a tour of Kala Art Institute, the swatch palettes on the walls and overpowering scent of linseed oil inspired us in a similar way as the Saturday Farmer’s Market’s abundance of produce: promising the possibility of artistic successes.

Here are some “swatches” – tiny segments from the weekend that reveal a little bit about our adventures:

Hidden here, you shall find some amazing hydrangeas as big as soccer balls, chocolate, blackberry picking, the Pacific Ocean, some prints, some packaged roasted turkey legs, a carousel, and a conversation. (I will leave a few things to talk about later…)

Below, inside the Kala workshop:

The lithography swatch chart, the rubber blades of the screen squeegees, some “drag-down’s”, and me (sorting woodcuts).

It’s always a blessing to be able to spend time with the family – and it was a good weekend, full of good food and full days…

Well, I’m back in California now after a lovely time in Texas. If anything wasn’t lovely, however, it was the weather…for which it seems that my years up north (and Cali counts, by the way, since I am wearing a polar fleece as I write this) have made me unprepared. With daytime temperatures topping 108° and the nighttime not doing much to reverse that, I am amazed that my mom’s garden has any green in it at all! Yet, it seems to be thriving. Perhaps she just made very wise choices when we went to The Great Outdoors – a labyrinthine nursery and garden shop on South Congress in Austin. The spot comes highly recommended by those of us at Cathy Heck Studio, although maybe it would be most lovely in September or October…

(Clockwise from top left: a stowaway studio mouse peeking out of a stack of glazed pots, Cathy selecting a succulent, some caladiums – happy to be in the shade)

These California plants don’t know just how good they have it…

You may never need to buy another Hallmark card again – unless, maybe, it’s one of those funny ones… Any last-minute decorative gift/thank you card has the potential of being made quite quickly from the contents of your paper recycling bin. Anything from old Anthropologie catalogues, to calendars from 2008, to cereal boxes could potentially be excellent card-fodder. Simply find the best-looking corner and cut a card-sized rectangle so that the image appears on the front when it is folded, and voila!

(Here is a piece of a failed woodcut that I would otherwise have discarded. Pretty cute, huh!)

Look what our new puppy grew … some new specs (!) … and just in time for the new Harry Potter movie. (well, okay, I did add a little eyeglass embellishment, but the markings around his eyes are all his! Since he is a rescue pup, we have no idea what his ancestral makeup is, but we are now thinking he might come from a long line of professor pups.

Above: Look who we found on our new roses! I think this guy has gathered a Texas-sized pile of flower stamens for his family dinner tonight!

Below: Some more busy bugs who live in the studio. They already ate.

We have had great and lazy holiday so far on this 4th of July. The morning began with the Northwest Hills Independence Day parade, in which we found many a decorated bike, the Austin daschund rescue society, and even a very large bunny with an army helmet manning his own toy tank! Here is a particularly bedecked biking girl, some of the post-parade refreshment, and one of Cathy’s characters celebrating in his own dimension…

Tonight we will toast all of those who have made ours a great nation and helped to defend it, especially our wonderful cousin Nathan. Have a happy 4th!