Undiluted ~ in progress & Pink Power Show

A mother holding her child in the pouring rain ~ something I experienced the other day with my son (inspiration struck) - his squishy love-filled cheeks and silent affection ~ smiles and kisses ~ undiluted by the cool rain. And that shall be the title: Undiluted. I can already see the blue & white, speckles & streaks...

Undiluted is in process, thought you might like to take a quick peek :)

Last week I was honored to participate in "It’s Vegas Baby" at the Vancouver Hilton. I had the opportunity to sell my wares and join a community in benefiting tiny babies. This one-of-a-kind Pink Power event raised the money to complete and equip the new Holtzman Twins Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Southwest Washington Medical Center (Vancouver, WA). Thank you to all who came and shared, benefitted and perused/purchased the work!

Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished.
If you're alive, it isn't.
~Richard Bach

Have a great day!

Love & Sincerely, Katie

Justice Center Sidewalk Gallery ~ Free Cards Winner

Thank you to the Love Art! Gallery in Portland Oregon for creating this lovely display within the Justice Center Sidewalk Gallery in downtown Portland ~ artwork on display is from artists represented by Love Art! Gallery.

I am honored that Hand Me Down is featured here, and the entire display looks tremendous. Enjoy!

There is Hand Me Down :)









There she is again :)

The Free Cards Winner for last week is Kathleen L.! Thank you all for playing.

Have a great week!

Love & Sincerely, Katie

Free Cards Friday ~ Beyond Expectations ~ Archival Prints Taking Over!

I've been offering Archival 13x19 Prints for a couple weeks now, and many have realized the value in the fact that these new pieces will last a lifetime. I am glad I invested in the printer and the materials to make these new pieces a reality.

~ In a world with so much thrown away, making my products last is important to me ~

ARCHIVAL: An image meant to have lasting utility, in this case 150-200 years. Archival materials are meant to last indefinitely, are of museum grade and the pigmets (inks) are lightfast.

When a piece touches you and delivers the chills that stem from your loving relationship with your child(ren), that piece should be passed down ~ shared with the next generation. With the new 13x19 archival prints in the Online Shop, that is possible.

Thus, as you can imagine, I have grown fond of these archival pieces and their yummy feel. SO, beginning in the next week, I am going to begin creating the 8x10 and 12x12 prints using archival materials, as well. Why enjoy your piece for 10 years, when your family can enjoy it for 150 years?


•8x10 prints in stock will remain at the current $14 price, and fresh new archival pieces will reflect their durability and long life with a $17 price ~ they will also have a larger image size on the 8x10 format (more bang-o for the buck-o).

•12x12 prints that are currently ready-to-go in the studio basket will be available at $26 until they are all shipped off to loving families. Fresh new 12x12s will be archival, high quality and available for $29.

•13x19 prints will remain their long-lastin' selves at $54.

I would LOVE LOVE to know your feedback, THANK YOU in advance.

Do you have any questions or feedback? Great! Email me katie@kmberggren.com - I'd be honored to share my urge with you ~ for creating artwork that lasts ~ for taking the time and money to create something that you will cherish for years and years and years and years (vs. just years) :)

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS ~ new commissioned painting

I've teased you with this painting for awhile now, not purposely, but because it took some time to complete to satisfaction :)

Beyond Expectations
©2010. Katie m. Berggren
20x20" (sold)


My client for this original painting is a loving mama who was told she could not nurse her 8 week premature daughter when she was born. She held on and worked hard to move her little one from bottles to breast and achieved success at 2 1/2 months. Now at 26 months her vibrant and healthy little girl continues to receive comfort and nourishment ~ and strengthen a bond ~ at her mama's breast. Thank you A.L.!

YAY! It's Free Cards Friday! Comment on THIS blog post (here at the blog or on the Facebook page) throughout the weekend and be in the running to win some cards ~ I'll choose the winner on Monday.

love & sincerely ~ Katie

Earn A Free 12x12 (thank you) ~ New Painting ~ New Prints in the Shop ~ Tonite's Event

Earn a FREE 12x12 Print. I would not be where I am today, without you. My joyful and generous collectors and friends that have so readily shared my work with their friends and family, and purchased it for their husbands, mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends, mothers and brothers (and for themselves, too).

Word of mouth is a beautiful thing, and I hope that in our conversations with one another you have felt how grateful I am to you. I have an Affiliate Program that I’d like to offer you: For every 4 prints ordered from the Online Shop that have YOUR NAME attached (make sure your friends write your name in the Comments Section on Etsy or Paypal) you will get a FREE 12x12 PRINT with your next order. That is a $26 value, and I hope you get one (or two or three!) This will be for a limited time, though – only through the last day of November. What a way to give thanks. Thank you.



New Prints in the Online Shop. Over the last several months I have had the absolute honor to create Commissioned Paintings for some inspiring mothers and fathers. I am now honored to make prints of these paintings available to you. Find them in the Online Shop. They are titled Finding Words & Happy Hour.










Brand New 40x30” Painting: Promise …I promise to everyday look into your face ~ into your eyes ~ to read your story. To take each day 15 minutes at a time and never assume that all is well unless you tell me it is so. I promise to listen, I promise to share. I promise to be there for you as we discover your route into this world of possibilities.


This piece will be featured tonight at the Vancouver Hilton – see below. Prints of Promise are now available in the Online Shop.



Tonite’s Event. “It’s Vegas Baby” at the Vancouver Hilton: I'll be at this event selling my wares and joining a community in benefiting tiny babies. This one-of-a-kind Pink Power event will help complete and equip the new Holtzman Twins Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Southwest Washington Medical Center (Vancouver, WA).To get involved or buy your tickets to this event, please call 360.514.3106



I hope you have a lovely day!

Love & Sincerely ~ Katie

Promise ~ the new 40x30 painting ~ to be featured tomorrow at the Pink Power event

Promise
40x30", $895
©2010. Katie m. Berggren

From the Artist, about the Painting:
As I worked on this painting, the more it became about the mother protecting the older child, vs. protecting the baby or toddler: the more easily sheltered. Watching over the school age child as he goes out into the world. Beginning his school years; tucked into the day to day, 6-hours-a-day, 5-days-a-week schedule. He is removed from his family and his mama, vulnerable to all that is out there.

When I watch my six year old sleep, I sometimes cry ~ wondering the thoughts that he thinks – he is so smart. I wonder if inside he is confused, wondering how I could have always been there, and then all of the sudden send him off for six hours a day. He is a bright star, a sensitive, emotional, talented and change-the-world kind of boy.

What does “getting used to” the way-it-is mean? As our children start to see us less and less do they start to wonder more and more our priorities? Here is a promise I silently make to my sleeping and growing child:

I promise to everyday look into your face ~ into your eyes ~ to read your story. To take each day 15 minutes at a time and never assume that all is well unless you tell me it is so. I promise to listen, I promise to share. I promise to be there for you as we discover your route into this world of possibilities.

This painting will be featured at:


UPCOMING EVENT: TOMORROW NIGHT
Thursday, September 23: 530-930pm
Pink Power: It's Vegas Baby!
'

This one-of-a-kind Pink Power event will help complete and equip the new Holtzman Twins Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Southwest Washington Medical Center (Vancouver, WA).
To get involved or buy your tickets to this event, please call 360.514.3106

Here is the full process of Promise:

adjusting the arm!

Thank you for following along.

Tomorrow Morning, I'll be sending out the first email since the completion of the 85 8x8s Collection and The Forty Minis Collection.

Emails will now be sent on the 2nd & 4th Thursday of each month and contain new work, upcoming events and some special offers.

Tomorrow's email will contain a special offer for newsletter receivers!

Join the email list to be sure and get your emails!

Have a great night,

Love & Sincerely ~ Katie

What's For Dinner? ~ Free Cards Winner

Now that I have one area of my home in order and under control, with the Great Studio Re-Do, It’s time to work on the next area.

Can we have a conversation about food? Ingredients, inspiration but most importantly: Dinners?

I visualize an epiphany for myself, an answer (or seven) to this difficult daily-recurring moment in my life. The moment when I realize it will soon be dinnertime. I have a huge urge to feed my family well and simply, whole and deliciously. I have a huge urge to feel like I have this part of my life figured out.

I affirm that someday the dinner preparation part of the day will be a joy, a time to connect as the kids help, a time to listen to music and drink tea, to put love and energy into the food I am preparing for the people I love. I affirm and visualize these things, but I’m not there yet!

Currently: I start to sweat and fret at about 4pm each night. I have tried to plan a weekly menu (it has been awhile so it is probably time to give it another whirl) but I have such a tendency to rebel against things like that. Thus, I really dislike this time of the day.

I am contemplating different versions and formats of the weekly menu – like possibly mounting my favorite 10-20 dinner ideas on boards and storing them in a little box in the kitchen, so I can quickly flip through and pick one...

I am a thorough Out-Of-Sight-Out-Of-Mind kind of person. Pair that with my tendency (my undying URGE) to have everything put away, and that makes for a lot of things out of mind, forgotten. At least until 4pm.


I visualize an inspirational Meal-Planning Area on my kitchen counter (it is already beginning to take shape). It is where the fresh peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchinis have naturally gathered after their receipt from the CSA (Osprey Organic Farm). It is where the recipes and cookbooks will someday sit, staying out, and staying in mind.


It’s funny, I pretend sometimes that I don’t have time to cook because the boys need me and the studio needs me and the laundry and garbage and dishes need me, however, the most important part of that is the boys. And to be honest, my children love to have me in the kitchen, working away. They know I’m available; they play together and run beneath my feet with their toys and homemade things. Or they help prepare. They rarely ask me to do things for them and understand that mama is busy creating dinner. This is a great lesson for them! This is a great way that I can show them the importance of a healthy meal that takes at least a bit of time to make.

And true, part of what keeps me striving for the above reality is the memories of my mom serving good meals at the table. We did TV dinners too, sometimes, which reminds me to cut myself some slack.

I have memories of my own mom happy in the kitchen – creating meals for her (I’m sure) gratitude-lacking family. I don’t remember ever thanking my mom for a meal – but now I expect that my children should thank me. Why not? So, I am contemplating a dinner discussion on gratitude – but what will we be eating that night? Will it even be something that I can feel grateful for?

I strongly value this quote by Hippocrates:
"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food"

I am thinking the first ingredient of an evening meal should be sunshine (as I pull open the kitchen blinds) and the final ingredient: gratitude.

I’m affirming that I will get it all under control. I visualize a sunny kitchen where I can produce vibrant meals for a nourished family. I visualize my upcoming inspiration from eyeing brightly colored cookbooks with simple, natural (short) ingredient lists and very do-able task lists. I visualize my family feeling grateful for my efforts, and myself feeling thankful for my healthy family.

I will have this figured out someday – just as I figured out the studio. I know there area lot of moms who do have the dinner hour figured out, and I welcome welcome welcome the feedback, ideas, recipes, weblinks, discontent, questions, frustrations, solutions and friendship of anyone generously taking time out of their day to read this.

I will be honored for this to be a place (and on the Facebook page, too) where we can connect and share ideas.

The Free Cards Winner for last week is: Valerie – thank you ALL for playing along! Let’s do it again next week :)

Above Image: Washing Apples, collection of the artist, prints available upon request.


Have a wonderful day! And thank you!
Love & Sincerely, Katie

YUM! Trader Joes Harvest Grains Blend

I highly recommend! I constantly struggle with what to make for my family for dinner; something healthy, vegetarian and simple, natural and whole...

Trader Joes isn't paying me, but I LOVED this tonite ~ and all three boys in my family ate it up, too. I cooked it with some veggie bouillon and when it was complete dropped some organic frozen corn in. YUM!

Enjoy! And feel free to share your ideas at accomplishing a healthy, vegetarian, natural, whole, simple meal :)

You still have a chance to win cards by Commenting On Friday's Blog Post for Free Cards Friday!

Love & Sincerely, Katie

Free Cards Friday ~ Painting in Process

YAY! It's Free Cards Friday! Comment on THIS blog post (here at the blog or on the Facebook page) throughout the weekend and be in the running to win some cards ~ I'll choose the winner on Monday.

Also, I'd like to show you the process of my next big painting - currently untitled, but due to be featured at the Pink Power event next Thursday (see below).

Oops, I realize now that the mother's breast has disappeared, best get that back in :)

UPCOMING EVENT
Thursday, September 23: 530-930pm
Pink Power: It's Vegas Baby!
This one-of-a-kind Pink Power event will help complete and equip the new Holtzman Twins Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Southwest Washington Medical Center (Vancouver, WA).
(To get involved or buy tickets to this event, please call 360.514.3106





Have a wonderful weekend, my friends, I am BUSHED!

Love & Sincerely ~ Katie

The Great Studio Re-Do ~ Before & After... Phew!

BEFORE PHOTOS are first :)

I realize that over the past year I have been so busy working and painting, that I have neglected the aesthetic quality of my studio. Deep inside I ached for new furnishings and a new look, but never seemed to want to put the money down (for fear of making a mistake ~ I'm not a big shopper, nor an interior designer). I shopped at IKEA and browsed online, but could never find the perfect set-up.

When I would walk into my studio, I would feel an overwhelming overwhelm (!) and would just go straight to the painting area ignoring all else. The packaging and shipping process was fairly smooth, but I knew it could be smoother.

The children's area drove me completely crazy ~ and this photo (above was taken half-way through the re-do process, in August 2010) previously the boys had a three-drawer plastic bin holding their Might Come In Handy supplies, and it was transparent (get the picture? MESS). I could hardly stand it. The basket under the kids craft table is now our Might Come In Handy box.

I needed some more shelves for products, in order to keep prints and cards protected from children and dust. I was vacuuming my studio at least once, if not twice a day (and may still) to keep it as clean as possible. The studio is the place where prints are printed, orders are packaged and gratitude and love is shipped off.

In the past month I have purchased another high-end printer in order to create larger archival prints, and also (with the prodding of a good friend, and the urge to "de-post office" my boys) became fully capable of shipping at home.

THREE CHEERS! This is a wonderful development.

These new additions to my business called out for a completion of the studio.

I knew the studio needed help, but couldn't make the time. SO, over the past week, and with a giant push this last weekend, I neglected all of my paintings and my clients (sorry, it had to be done) and put the studio right. Right where it needed to be. I desired my studio to feel as successful as I felt (to put it honestly).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I like to call this The Great Studio Re-Do, and I did it all for well under 100 bucks.

I refinished my desk (above) ~ I considered purchasing a new one, but relish the idea that my stepfather built this one for me 19 years ago.

(now you see the packaging and shipping department :)

This project involved stripping and painting a lovely new (old) drop-leaf tea table I purchased at a second-hand store (see above), and sanding and re-staining the kids' craft table top (see below). Sanding off a year's worth of dried paint blobs really reminded me of my shoulder muscles!

Of course, the painting area is still a mess, but that is required for creativity! At least it is an organized mess.

I share these images because I know a lot of folks are like me :) we love to see before and afters ~ and I LOVE to see progress. So, enjoy and don't mind my embarrassment, as I know the "before" photos are a bit lacking in creativity :) Thank you for sharing in my accomplishment.

Love & Sincerely ~ Katie