TreeBed Design

The week I moved back to Vallejo (March 2020) happened to be the second Friday of the month, and so there was an Art Walk! I was so excited to wander downtown Vallejo and see the changes that had been going on in the years I had been gone. I had set up numerous times for previous art walks in Vallejo over the years (including the first versions long ago), and was looking forward to being downtown to participate from my own studio! Then a few days later the whole world change, and everything shut down for COVID!

Vallejo Art Walk 2015

Tonight the art walk returns for the first time since that shut down, and I am so excited to open my doors to people! So if you are close enough to Vallejo to come say hello... Please do!

Downtown will be buzzing from 5-9pm, and you can put it on your calendar for every 2nd Friday of the month!

Things have been a little quiet on the site for the last few weeks of winter, but there has been a lot of movement underneath that silence. The light is getting brighter with each spark of new energy and SPRING!

I was nudged to write a poem last week, and it proved to be a sweet little spark of a song... that has come to be a bit of a meditation for me on the last few years. It feels like I am beginning to come out of a darkness that has needed a LOT of little sparks to return to the light, and I'm grateful for all of those who have been "sparks" along the way!

There are lots of things churning behind the scenes right now... I hope you stay tuned (subscribe/follow/etc) as things begin to fly!

2020 is coming to a close, and winter is now officially upon us. Always a time of year for many to reflect, but this year has been especially... well, you fill in a description!

Perhaps one ending gift of this year is that for many this holiday season will be very different due to COVID-19... yes, a gift. Along with all of the struggle, grief, and uneasiness... perhaps there will be a bit slower pace, and more space to slow down, go inward and reflect (which lends itself to this solstice season naturally... despite the normal holiday craziness we are used to). 

For me it has been the year of landing, and planting myself in a new way. Since the 2017 fires, I have been scrambling to find my footing. In March (2020) I moved back to Vallejo to do just that, and give my full attention to TreeBed Design. A week later... everything shutdown due to the pandemic. At first this felt like a continuation/escalation of my disrupted life, but now looking back... it was actually the beginning of the "pause" (plunged deep into the soil) that I needed to look at myself, the world (and how I participate in it) differently. With each new layer of 2020 that unfolded I was given the opportunity to slow down again, and re-evaluate what is important in my life... how I need/want to show up for myself, my community and beyond. This wasn't easy. It still feels pretty uncomfortable... and yet, there are glimpses of the beauty found in turning towards creativity, towards healing, towards racial justice, towards standing up for better ways to take care of each other. These are the things I want to find my footing in, and my "work" will grow out of that. At this transition of the solstice... that is the light I am stretching towards. 

 It was a year that brought me back to projects that I was about to start on right before the fire... a second growler for Mare Island Brewing Company, more TBD Tuesday Tumblers,  and new recording projects have taken shape this year. For the first time in 3 years I have the space to paint (hooray for Stripes!), record music, have hands in clay, and relax/recharge! I am so grateful for that space and feel incredibly privileged to be re-connecting to my own creativity. Thank you for being a part of all of this... with orders from the website, support of places that use my work, following/liking pictures posted along the way, and cheering me on! I hope there is more of all of this to come.

Striped

I can't say I know what 2021 holds... However, I do have the sense that I am ready to press "play", and emerge from my "pause" with new creative energy. I hope to collaborate more, make space for more creativity/healing/beauty, and connect with my community in deeper ways. I want to celebrate more joy as I grow into the light ahead... oh, and hopefully hug (everyone)! 

- with lots of love and gratitude... see you in 2021

It has been a while since I have posted any news (or done much of anything with my online presence), but things are changing... I have been extremely busy the past few years finding my footing after the wild fires of 2017. At the beginning of March I finally landed in a place that felt like it might be the stability I was seeking, and it also felt like a homecoming of sorts back in Vallejo! And then everything changed...

Our new reality with the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown things right back into uncertainty for me and most everyone else in the world. However, I am grateful to have a stable place to be, and a space that I can continue to create. I am taking this slowed down time... to rest, resource, and re-evaluate what TreeBed Design means in this new time

In the meantime... I will be cleaning out some old stuff from the website, and beginning to add some new things. There is no great announcement or unveiling to be done, but simply me calling in what is important. So, I share with you a song I wrote some time ago, and recorded for my Kitchen Sink Concert series. May the work I've done over the past few years (and beyond) to find a new way of being... allow what I am doing in this next chapter to be of service to the health and happiness that is possible in this new world.

Another holiday season is ramping up towards the frenzied, shop-til-ya-drop, crash into the new year, and hope we all survive it… season we know and love (sorta). I often feel very anxious this time of year as a "creative business person", because I sense the need to "take advantage" of the opportunity to sell. I am admittedly not very good at this part, and I can get stuck beating myself up for not being better. So today, I am taking a time out. To simply enjoy the love I have for creating.

Last year I recorded a simple version of the song Silent Night that I have been singing for a few years. Perhaps you can use it as back ground for your own time out. This is a season of darkness, and the opportunity for quiet reflection. Winter is getting ready to settle in, and hold our deeper thoughts. There are things to hold ourselves accountable/responsible for, and there are the gifts we can give ourselves (and others) of being loving, gentle… letting go. I have much to be grateful in this season. Today I am going to sit and soak that gratitude up. I am going to do what I can in my studio, and share as much of it as possible… whether it is during this holiday season, or perhaps in the new year. 

It is my hope you find your own space of quiet reflection during the hustle and bustle of this season… and that what ever lights you up, you find more of in the new year!

 

Last Summer I put together a Kickstarter project to complete several projects, and leverage that change in the best way possible for my life. One of the big pieces of the project was to finish a home recording of my own music and print a CD. I am happy to say that after a long journey, lots of learning, growing and support from beautiful people... it is done. I am happy to be sharing my Bag of Simple CD with you. 

 

I am recording under the name MedicineBow... I hope you check it out, and follow along as I dig into this new outlet for creativity.

It is once again Spring time, and that means I have been busy! The rythm of the seasons always seems to guide my creativity and work flow. The Winter time is often when I hunker down and get work done. I enjoy my solitude during this time, and do my best to balance work with rest (recharge). This Winter has been dedicated to my music, and finishing off my home recorded CD (Bag of Simple). It has been a long journey to finish this CD... learning, tinkering, progressing for 10 years! Bag of Simple will be an album collecting a selection of my first attempts to tell my story through songs. I am excited to share this project with you, and also to refresh this shop (which I have been working on as well)!