C Squared W

Raffle: Soul Cycle & Paintings

2016-02-27T13:50:00.000-04:00

My sister, Frannie and her friend, Sloane, are holding a raffle with some awesome prizes to raise money to support rare cancer research. No pressure to enter or donate, but the prizes are great, so if you're into them, they'd love your support and you just might win something!

From Frannie:
---
As some of you might know I am fundraising for my Cycle for Survival team in honor of my friend Meredith Ascari this year. Meredith was diagnosed with a rare cancer several years ago and was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Today she is healthy and recovering!

To raise money for this event, Sloane Beaver and I are holding a raffle! We have been really lucky and gotten some great donations! All proceeds will go directly towards rare cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

There are three things you can win:
* 5-series SoulCycle Pass (good at any location except for the Hamptons)

pet portrait by Margaret Parkinson

* A custom pet portrait by Margaret Parkinson

paintings by Clare Wilkinson

* 12" x 12" original abstract expressionist acrylic and gold leaf paintings on paper by Clare Wilkinson

Details:
* $10 for first entry, $5 for every entry after that
* Enter for each prize separately – so if you only want to enter for the paintings (for example), that's fine
* You can enter for multiple prizes. If you want 1 entry in each, for example, you would pay $20 – $10 for your first entry, $5 for each entry after that.

You may be wondering...HOW DO I ENTER?!
Donate here AND email sloane.beaver {at} gmail {dot} com what you are entering for.

FINAL DEADLINE TO ENTER: MARCH 4, 2016 (NEXT FRIDAY!)

If you win, we will mail you your prize, or deliver it to you in person if you're in New York!

- Frannie

Big Art

2014-02-03T15:06:00.001-04:00

The past few months I have been working on so many fun and different commissioned paintings. One of my favorites was a giant abstract painting for Suzanne, a friend from high school, and her husband Chris, who now both live in Chicago.

Suzanne's living room is gorgeous, classic, and very neutral. The room has lots of symmetry and clean lines, so Suzanne was looking for something to tie it all together and make a statement. Another challenge was her extra long couch and huge amount of empty wall space.

After chatting about a few different options, Suzanne went with my suggestion of going with one very large painting. Since the room is so symmetrical and already broken up by the four couch cushions, and the matching tables, lamps, and chairs flanking the couch, we decided that one one large piece would help tie it all together, whereas two or three smaller paintings hung together might make the room look further segmented. Here's the plan that we came up with for Suzanne and Chris:

I made them the fun little "digital sketchbook" page above to help them visualize what we were going for along with the colors, and size, just to give an idea of the desired effect. Suzanne also referenced one of my Etsy paintings that she especially loved for inspiration, to give me a better idea of the style that she was hoping for.

The painting, (huge - 48" x 72"), took over an entire wall of our dining room and wouldn't even fit on my large easel, so I worked with it propped against the wall with a drop cloth on the floor. The piece took me about a month to complete.

Here is the painting in its early stages, with lots of gestural brush strokes and movement. This laid the foundation for the painting, on top of which I built layers of brush strokes and color.

A few weeks later, and with many layers of movement and paint built up along the way, we ended up with this painting - playful, bright, and dynamic!

Here I am holding the painting, proud and ready for delivery. It's HUGE!

Here are photos of the final piece, hung and installed (by Chris!) in their living room.

I could not be happier with the way that it all turned out, and I cannot thank Suzanne and Chris enough for taking a chance on me and letting me work on this for them. It was so much fun, and I am so glad that they are happy with it. I LOVE big paintings!

P.S. - Want to help me out? Please feel free to share or pin away on Pinterest if you see anything you like! I'm trying to grow my business and would love your help spreading the word :)

Happy Monday!

Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Seriously good eats

2014-01-29T15:03:00.002-04:00

When I have time, I love to cook and try new recipes. Charlie jokes that I never make the same thing twice, which is mostly true. But if I did have a rotation, these recent faves would be in it:

Please try this amazingly good and tasty Pot Roast from The Pioneer Woman. (I like to add extra veggies and mushrooms.)

Prosciuttio Wrapped Chicken Thighs, so easy and tasty.

Double Roast Chicken and Vegetables. Such good comfort food! Need to make dinner for a friend? Make this chicken, then! (One for you, one for them.)

For the best Chicken Pot Pie of all time, this one from Smitten Kitchen and The Barefoot Contessa will do the trick.

Quick White Bean Stew with Swiss Chard and Tomatoes, an old favorite, tried and true. It doesn't get much easier than this! (Make it even easier by buying a bag of pre-cut swiss chard, kale, or other greens from Trader Joe's.)

Two crazy good soups with fun condiments and add-ins:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Curry Condiments from the Barefoot Contessa

Easiest Posole from Gwenyth's newish cookbook, It's All Good

Do you ever make recipes from The Kitchn? They're my favorite! I can't get enough of these:

Savory Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with White Beans and Kale

Socca Flatbread with Spring Pesto and Salad

Easy Potato Tacos

Want to use your slow cooker? I love this recipe for Pulled Pork from Skinny Taste.

I love this easy recipe for Lee's Rocking Fish Tacos from goop. I could happily eat them three times a week!

And lastly, something sweet: Hummingbird Cake. I made it for Charlie's birthday and we've been eating it all week, as dessert and breakfast. A total winner!

Let me know if you try any of these! What have you been cooking lately?

Photo by Clare Wilkinson

Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

What now? Anthro + Art

2013-12-03T14:18:00.002-04:00

one of my Etsy shop paintings!

Friends!

Have I told you how awesome you are lately?!? Well, you’re all really awesome! I was blown away by the all the love and support you sent me following my recent blog post about my short-lived job from H-E-double-hockey-sticks... Wow! I am so glad I shared about that and was able to connect with so many of you over the perils of employment gone wrong.

So you may be wondering what I’m doing now that I quit my anxiety-inducing teaching job. I started working part-time at Anthropologie in September and am loving it! It’s a wonderful work environment and my colleagues are amazing. I love being surrounded by beautiful things and creative people while I am at work. I am learning a ton and recently received a promotion, which was really exciting!

Since I’m only working at Anthro part time, I also have time to myself to work on my paintings, and I am loving that! I’d love to see my business continue to grow, and so far it is really starting to take off. I am currently booked with commissions through the end of January! Right now, lots of the projects that I’m working on are hush hush (Christmas gifts!), but I look forward to sharing some photos of what I’ve been working on after the holidays. I also have my paintings for sale in one of my favorite shops, which is SO FUN! (If you’re in Virginia, you can check them out at Fraîche in Richmond! Side note: Fraîche also has amazing holiday decor!)

P.S. - Did you know that I now sell gift certificates that can be used in my Etsy shop or on commissions and custom paintings? You can choose your amount and purchase them here!

ALSO… 15% of all sales from my Etsy Shop (gift certificates included!) will be donated to ProNiño USA, a non-profit organization that helps street children in Honduras. My mom and sisters have been closely involved with this organization over the past few years, so I’m excited that I’ve found a way that I can also contribute!

Have a great week!!! Fa la la!

Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

That time I quit my crazy teaching job...

2013-11-03T18:12:00.001-04:00

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen my posts about life changes over the past few months (nope - not a baby!). I’m talking serious job changes.

Those who know me well know that I when I commit to something, I commit. I will work my hardest and give whatever I am working on my all, big time. Even if I overextend myself, I will put all of my commitments over my own needs so that I don’t let anyone else down. As an art teacher, this meant spending countless hours after school planning and prepping lessons, organizing artwork for area art shows, and making sure that every inch of blank wall or bulletin board were covered in student art work. Even while teaching and attending grad school, I did it all and I made sure I did it well.

In August, I started my new teaching job with two weeks of teacher training at an extremely urban, low-income charter school in Chicago. I am no stranger to hard work and although I was nervous about starting a new job, I was so excited and ready. Day one and two of teacher training (for all of the teachers at the school) were overwhelming, but I figured that this was normal for a new job, especially after having three years off from teaching while we lived in the Caribbean. Day three, I came home after school and broke down into a sobbing mess. And the remainder of the two weeks of training followed in the same suit - anxiety and tears, daily, after school (and unfortunately, on several occasions, also at school, in front of my new colleagues). Never in my life had I felt so much stress and anxiousness - and this was only the teacher training!

You are probably wondering what was so bad about this school that I was crying on a daily basis. You’re also probably thinking that I sound like a giant baby - and maybe I was - but this school was unlike any school environment that I have ever seen. Basically, the way that the school was run was completely incompatible with my personality. Although I love talking to people in small groups, speaking in front of large groups makes me extremely uncomfortable. I have serious stage fright. It also takes me a while to process things. I need quiet and a little bit of time to think about things on my own before I can digest them fully.

So, constantly being called on to model teaching techniques and scenarios in front of 30 people I don’t know and then being critiqued on them, and then being asked to do them again, again, and again until I perfected them was extremely difficult for me. Implementing strategies in front of huge groups, that I had just been introduced to two minutes before, made me sick to my stomach. Changing the way that I spoke to make sure that everything I said only used a concise and minimal amount of words - almost like speaking in commands - and doing so in a strong and authoritative voice (and without smiling!) was really tough for me. In my own classroom, I smile all the time. I am warm. This does not mean that I don’t enforce rules in my classroom - I absolutely do - but I am just not capable of using a scary voice and never smiling, like I was being asked to do.

I was also asked to give my students packets of worksheets each week rather than doing actual art projects. Lots of fill-in-the blanks and word searches were involved, and then on the final page of the worksheet packet were small boxes that, “Now, you try!” This was were students were supposed to create their art. In packets of worksheets.

The school was run almost like a military school. Rules were strict and were enforced school wide, which I think can be a great thing, but the degree of strictness was just something I couldn’t handle.

Middle schoolers were walked from class to class by teachers, using the craziest, strictest line formations that I’ve ever seen. Students could only enter the classrooms facing East (or some direction - I am so nondirectional that I literally had panic attacks just trying to remember the proper classroom entry procedure!), so this involved marching students down the hallway in a certain direction, using commands like “about face!” and hand signals to have them turn around, and then have them march back towards the classroom door, in two staggered lines, with one floor tile in between each student, all standing a certain number of tiles away from the door. YOU GUYS. NO. I just couldn’t do it.

So after 9 days of training, I threw the towel in. I had to quit. (If the mere training for your job makes you sob on a daily basis - weekends included - and also gives you panic attacks - which you have never, ever had before - and makes you wonder what is wrong with you - and also makes you think that the only way you could possibly survive the school year is to take anxiety medication - then you probably need to quit!) Charlie was the greatest husband ever to comfort the mess that I was for those two weeks. He was also the best for completely supporting me when I told him that I wanted to quit.

I woke up early on the final Friday of training, arrived at school at 6 AM when the doors opened, and turned in my keys, laptop, and letter of resignation before anyone except the higher powers had even entered the building.

Did I feel horrible for leaving the school in the lurch right before school started? Absolutely. But was that any reason to sacrifice my sanity and spend the year an emotional and crazy mess? No way.

I should also mention that as a charter school, there were no contracts. Thus, I was free to go at anytime, and the school could also fire me at any point. Last year’s new art teacher quit in November. The morale at the school was also atrocious - 75% of the teachers were brand new teachers, while the majority of the remaining 25% all seemed to HATE their jobs. Bad news.

So, while I think the school is probably a great place for some people - maybe if you are Type A - it was absolutely NOT the place for a free spirit like myself. I was not allowed to be myself and I was not allowed to be creative. I have never, ever followed a schedule that I have made for myself - I get what I need to do done, but I do things in my own way. I have my own sort of structure and organization, which is different each day. I am not good at routines. I think that this school may be a great fit for some teachers and students - but I do not happen to be one of them.

I have never quit a job or anything like this in my entire life, but the relief that I felt the minute that I made the decision to quit let me know, absolutely, that I had made the right choice.

After going through such a crazy and emotional experience, I took a few personality tests to figure out what exactly about the school did not sit well with me - and it turns out that the school’s environment was basically the word possible match for someone with my personality type, and INFP (Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving). I am in idealist, and while teaching, helping others, and creative fields were right up my alley, rigorous structure and data entry (also a huge part of the job!), constant critiques, and being forced to be extroverted were just not my thing.

Have you ever taken a personality test? I highly recommend doing so. It was fascinating for me to learn and understand why I reacted so badly to this situation, and to see what suits me - and what does not.

I loved reading Joy’s recent blog post about introverts and personality types - it’s right along these lines!

Photo by Clare Wilkinson

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Custom oil landscapes, perfect for the holidays!

2013-10-10T22:15:00.001-04:00

I've decided it's time to break out my oil paints and get back together with my first love - little oil landscapes!

I've had such an interest in this, so I've decided to do something fun and special for the holidays: custom, 8"x8" oil landscape paintings in gold leaf frames. I think that these would make such a wonderful, personalized Christmas gift!

Check out the details below, and let me know if you have any questions or would like to get on the list!

Fonts used:
MasanaScript
Typewriter Hand
Type Keys

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson.

Enjoying what you see? Like Clare Wilkinson Studio on Facebook!

My artistic process

2013-09-04T12:47:00.000-04:00

I receive a lot of questions about my artistic process and exactly how I complete my paintings, so I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about that and share some progress photos that show the evolution of some of my pieces from start to finish.

I have always been really inspired by abstract expressionist painters - I love the movement in their paintings and the visible brush strokes, marks, drips, and layers. I really enjoy painting along the same lines.

When I paint, I tune out everything and just begin painting spontaneously and intuitively, whatever comes to me, letting the movement of my arm and paint brush guide me. These initial spontaneous strokes lay the foundation for the painting. Once I have made some marks on the canvas, I step back and take a break. I evaluate what is on the canvas, and think about the composition and color, and then figure out how to respond next - which areas are working well and which need more attention. I build up layers in this way, painting spontaneously, then stepping back, evaluating, and responding deliberately to the brush strokes on the canvas and to areas in need of attention. It is easy to overwork a painting, which sometimes results in painting over the whole piece and starting over, but it's all just part of the process.

Stage 1: The foundation, gestural brush strokes.

Stage 2: Building up layers and adding color.

Stage 3: Filling in what's missing, adding tonal variations, and perfecting the composition.

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson.

Interested in my paintings? Contact me, send me a message on Facebook, or visit my Etsy Shop!

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Lately {in the studio}

2013-08-29T12:12:00.002-04:00

This summer, I've been lucky enough to spend a great deal of my time painting. I love having the time and the space to create my favorite sort of paintings: large, abstract pieces. Here are a few of those large pieces:

Currently for sale in my Etsy shop!

I love painting on large canvases and panels because they leave lots of room for sweeping, gestural brush strokes and movement within the paintings. I had so much fun working on these pieces for clients, and can't wait to see what they look like in their new homes - that's always such a treat!

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson.

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Clare Wilkinson Studio >> now open!

2013-07-09T12:48:00.002-04:00

Today I launched my Etsy Shop, Clare Wilkinson Studio! I've spent the past couple of months working on paintings and ideas, and last week I finally took photos of my work, designed my logo, and figured out all the little details.

In the shop you'll find original paintings in a variety of sizes, as well as a retro-inspired alphabet print (pictured above) that I designed and had printed for the nurseries of some dear friends and family who've had little ones in the past year. New pieces will be added periodically along with some other ideas that I have in the works (I'm thinking custom house and room portraits!). Custom paintings are also available, just contact me for details and pricing.

I'd love for you to check out my Etsy shop, spread the word, and let me know what you think!

Image by Clare Wilkinson

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Cilantro Lime Hummus

2013-06-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

My friend, Scottie, introduced me to this healthy hummus, and it's a new favorite. Plus, it's gluten and dairy free!

Cilantro Lime Hummus

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans
1 tbsp tahini
juice of 2 lines
salt to taste (lots)
a bit of pepper
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Serve with veggies, pita chips, or crackers.

Image by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Hello + why I gave up gluten & dairy

2013-06-19T15:23:00.000-04:00

Have I really not blogged since April? Oops. Even though I'm not working at the moment, life is busy, you know?!?

We're finally feeling settled in our cute apartment and are getting into the swing of things. We're learning the way around our neighborhood and are slowly getting the hang of the city, the El, and such. Charlie just finished his surgery rotation and moved onto pediatrics this week. And - I got a job!!! I will be teaching art at a middle school in the city starting in August, and am looking forward to getting back into teaching. Moving from elementary school to middle school will be a challenge, but I'm up for it! Job hunting has taken up a great deal of my time in the last couple of months and I'm excited to finally have that behind me.

I spent two weeks in the South in May, visiting Tennessee for my cute sister's college graduation. I also visited Virginia Beach and Richmond for a dear friend's fun (and gorgeous!) wedding. This weekend, we are headed back to Virginia for my cousin's wedding, and I cannot wait. We leave tomorrow for a beautiful wedding weekend in the mountains with family!

I've also been doing a ton of reading and cooking lately. Food-wise, I've given up gluten and dairy for the past three weeks in an attempt to clear up my skin and it is really working. (If you don't want to read about my zits, stop reading here.) For the past year or so, I have had lots of deep, cystic-type zits around my jawline area (the huge kind that really hurt). I'm talking honkers so big that I have actually gotten huge swollen glands trying to fight the infections. Yikes. After chatting with my sister about a chart she saw on Pinterest explaining what acne on certain areas of your face can mean, I did a little Google research. Apparently, this type of skin problem (jawline acne) can be caused by the inability to properly digest gluten and dairy. So, I decided to test this out and see if it made any difference - and so far it really has. With three weeks dairy and gluten free under my belt, I can already tell a huge difference. My skin has cleared up, I feel less lethargic, and I have a lot more energy. The hardest part was figuring out what exactly going gluten-free meant, and which foods contain gluten (which is actually a ton of foods). Once I figured out what I could eat, it has been pretty easy.

As you may know, I love to cook, and I rarely cook the same time twice. Cooking allows me to be creative in a way that is less intense than creating art (which I love, but it takes a lot out of me), so I have loved finding new gluten and dairy free recipes and have cooked some pretty awesome gluten and dairy free treats in the past few weeks. If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen some of the recipes that I've shared on there, but I plan on sharing them here on the blog as well.

Also, the Etsy shop? It's now a summer project - I will keep y'all posted on its progress!

I hope you're having a great week, friends!

Image by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Thrifty Dining Room Update

2013-04-21T14:46:00.000-04:00

Our new apartment is awesome. It has lots of vintage charm, beautiful architectural details, and it's spacious (and yes, the dining room even came with that awesome chandelier!). We are loving finding the perfect spots for all of our furniture and art, but still have a few areas that are looking a little sparse. On a med school student's budget, we've had to resort to Ikea, thriftiness, and lots of DIY-ing to get our place looking the way we want it.

This weekend, we gave our dining room a little makeover with some inexpensive DIY wall art. The problem with our dining room is that it's huge with lots of wall space. We hung a large mirror at one end of the room, but still had a huge expanse of wall space that needed something (or some things) big. We have some large pieces of art, but already hung them elsewhere in our apartment.

We didn't want to spend money on more art or frames, so we tried this simple DIY that we found on Little Green Notebook: Huge prints for only $4. Jenny Komenda has amazing ideas, and I love her style! I was so excited to finally have the chance to try one of her projects.

How to make it happen:

Find some photos.
Make them black and white.
Save them on a flash drive and print them as large format architectural prints at FedEx Kinkos (around $4 each). (You can call or check out the website before you go for info on sizing and how to save your files. We saved them as grayscale images and converted them to PDFs.)
Buy some large pieces of foam core. (We found huge pieces at Dollar Tree.)
You will probably need to cut the foam core to the size of your images. Our photos ended up being 20"x26" and the foam core was 20"x28." Use an exacto knife and a straight edge.
You can paint the sides of the foam core first (I painted ours peach).
After we cut the board and painted the sides, we trimmed the white borders off the photos (the easiest thing to do is to trim them using the large paper cutters at Kinkos after you have your photos printed).
Use double stick tape to mount your photos to the foam core. So easy.
Use 3M sticky velcro picture hangers to attach the foam core mounted photos to the wall.

This was seriously so cheap and so easy! The entire project cost around $30, and we love the way that it brought some life to our dining room!

We have so many amazing photos from our adventures in the Caribbean over the past few years, and we were so excited to find a great way to put some of them on display. I am pretty proud of the fact that we took all of these photos ourselves!

Kaieteur Falls, Guyana, South America
Valley of Desolation, Dominica, West Indies
Snake Steps, Dominica, West Indies
Aba Wavine, Dominica, West Indies

*Advice for the Kinko's printing part:

Print one image first to make sure it looks good. The photos came out really dark and streaky the first time (I think the printer needed new ink?). The guy who was helping me was really nice and lightened the photos and printed them on the extra large paper, which got rid of the streaks on the edges. I think he was supposed to charge me $7/each for the larger paper, but he was nice and didn't). Asking the guy if he could lighten the images and get rid of the streaks made such a difference, so definitely print one copy first to see what you think, and ask if they can help you make any adjustments if you aren't happy with the first print. This made all the difference!

Also, these prints are not the highest quality and the paper is thin copy paper (not photo paper), but it is a great option if you want something inexpensive and dramatic. All this being said, we really do love how they turned out!

Font used: Amatic | Typekeys
Arrow Photoshop Brushes from Creature Comforts
Inspiration for this project from Little Green Notebook

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W

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Making it happen: an Etsy shop!

2013-04-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've decided that it's time to open my own Etsy shop! Opening my own shop and selling more of my work is something that I've wanted to do for a while now, but I've just never made it happen. I've always been too busy, too tired, or just lacking motivation. Now that we've moved to Chicago, however, I've found myself with more time, motivation, and room to paint and create. I've been blogging, drawing, painting, decorating, and just being creative, and I'm loving it!

I've gotten some amazing encouragement from friends after posting photos of some of my paintings here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Instagram. So, I've decided that it's time to make it happen. I'm going to continue working over the next few weeks to create some more pieces and to get everything set up, but my own Etsy shop is definitely in the works.

I'll keep you posted on the details! Thank you for all the love and encouragement!

***UPDATE: My Etsy Shop, Clare Wilkinson Studio, is now open!!!***

Fonts & Brushes used:
Pea Roxygirl from Kevin & Amanda
Arvil by Ben Dalyrimple from Lost Type Co-op
Arrow Brushes from Creature Comforts
Art and design by Clare Wilkinson.

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Perfect little plants

2013-04-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

As you may already know, we love Trader Joe's around here. One of my favorite treats to buy at TJ's (besides anything covered in chocolate) is fresh flowers (I'm currently loving their tulips and eucalyptus!). I was so excited to discover these pretty, potted succulents at Trader Joe's last weekend. I picked up three of them to sit in the windowsill in our home office.

We've been wanting to add a few plants to our new apartment, but have been intimidated and indecisive about what to get, where to put them, and how to care for them. These succulents are perfect, because they're low maintainance, but still have lots of personality (just the way we like it).

I'm not sure what I like better, the funky plants or their fun, geometric pots!

Font used: Sanserifing

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Job hunting & creating

2013-04-11T11:05:00.003-04:00

This week, I'm laying low and hunkering down on my job search here in Chicago. I've updated my resume, searched, and started filling out applications and writing cover letters. I'm looking for something that's either creative, non-profit, or in the education field, but am pretty open to doing anything that what would be a good fit for me. In the meantime I'm getting creative and trying to supplement our income with some freelance art and writing projects.

I'm loving the inspiring words on my current desktop wallpaper and am hoping that this simple nudge of encouragement to "make it happen" will help keep me motivated.

Any job hunting advice for me? Or better yet, a job? All advice and encouragement is welcomed!

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W
Desktop wallpaper from breanna rose

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My painting + Joy's Salon Wall

2013-04-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

What a fun treat to check out Frock Files this week and find a beautiful salon-style gallery wall (and awesome tutorial) that included one of my paintings (top left).

What a striking room and wall - it all looks gorgeous! I love that most of the pieces that Joy hung have a special significance - pieces from friends from different walks of like, or collected on trips to favorite and sentimental places.

For me, the art that we hang and collect is much the same way - it all has a story, and is tied to a place or memory. I'll have to share an "art walk" around our apartment sometime to show you some of our favorite pieces and the stories that go with them.

Do you have a gallery wall? I've always wanted one, and have a random assortment of photos and small paintings that we haven't been able to find the perfect homes for. They are currently living in boxes and waiting for frames... but I think that at some point, a gallery wall is in their future!

Photo by Joy Uyeno - Frock Files

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Make 'em: Ikat Knobs

2013-04-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

I always swoon over the gorgeous knobs and drawer pulls from Anthropologie, but at up $10 a pop, they can quickly become an expensive, little update. We recently acquired a cabinet for our TV on craigslist, and I wanted an inexpensive way to give it a fresh look that didn't require purchasing knobs that cost nearly as much as the cabinet itself.

My solution? DIY ikat knobs made with wooden knobs that cost less than a dollar each and some bright paint.

Hand-painted Ikat Knobs

Materials:

unfinished wooden cabinet knobs
scrap paper
pen or pencil
paint (I used leftover house paint samples from Lowes)
a small, thin, pointy ended paint brush (for the details)
a larger paint brush (to paint the background)
polyurethane
cup of water and a paper towel (to clean your brush)

Method:

a: champagne culture // b: madeline weinrib // c: shumacher // d: greenwithglamor

(a lighter color is better to begin with)

I found that the best way to achieve the ikat squiggly look was to paint diagonal line-like strokes extending across the width of each diamond section, filling in the diamond shape one brush stroke at a time.

As you begin adding colors the paint may be transparent, so you will probably need to do a few coats. I painted my design one color and one coat at a time. (First all the teal, then all the yellow, then all the coral.) I allowed each coat to dry completely and then went back in and touched up my top coats (just the yellow and coral). During the touch ups you can try to better define the ikat-look with your short, diagonal brush strokes.

Allow your knobs to dry overnight before coating them with a thin layer of polyurethane (apply according to the instructions on your can of poly).

Let me know if you make these, I'd love to see how they turn out! Not into crafting, but want some hand painted knobs? Send me an email, I'd love to work with you to make some!

Fonts used: Rochester, Type Keys

Tutorial Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.
Ikat patterns: a: champagne culture // b: madeline weinrib // c: shumacher // d: greenwithglamor

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Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

2013-04-03T12:45:00.000-04:00

While this has nothing to do with spring, it has everything to do with being absolutely delicious. I discovered this recipe earlier this year and have made it several times since. Each time, it's been a huge it. So, add this into the rotation sometime soon! The presentation is really pretty, so it's perfect to make for dinner guests, but it's also easy enough to make on any old night for dinner.

Recipe: Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Enjoy!

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Charlie's Breakfast Burritos

2013-03-30T14:14:00.001-04:00

As much as I love to cook, I also love eating a delicious, homemade meal that I have not had to cook myself. Charlie surprised me this morning with these awesome breakfast burritos that he threw together with some leftover bacon and sweet potato fries... they were too good not to share!

Sweet Potato Fry Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:

2 tortillas (we used Trader Joe's Chia Seed Flour Tortillas)
1 cup of sweet potato fries (cooked) (we used Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Fries - from the freezer section)
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt (we used Trader Joe's Non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt)
1 tablespoon of Sriracha
3 eggs
2-3 tablespoons of milk
1 piece of cooked bacon (diced)
1 handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon of chopped green onion
2 cups of arugula

Preparation:

Whisk together the eggs and the milk.
Reheat the sweet potato fries. (Charlie broiled them in the toaster oven for a few minutes until they started to brown.)
Mix together the yogurt and Sriracha to make a sauce to spoon on top of the burritos (this was really, really good, so don't skip this step!).
Add the diced, cooked bacon to the pan and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the pan looks greased and the bacon is heated through.
Add the sliced cherry tomatoes to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring the tomatoes occasionally to combine them with the bacon.
Add the scrambled egg/milk mixture to the pan (with the bacon and tomatoes) and scramble it all for a few minutes until cooked. Once cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add salt and pepper to the mixture (to taste).
Heat the tortillas. (Charlie used this method which he learned from his friend, Paul - I had never heard of this, but it sounds awesome and made the tortillas really tasty: Place the tortillas over low to medium flame on gas burner for about 30 seconds until they are warm and soft. Flip and repeat on other side.)
Burrito assembly: Place egg/bacon/tomato mixture on top of a flat tortilla. Place a handful of arugula on top of that. Next, add the sweet potato fries. Spoon the yogurt sauce on top and spread it over the fries. Lastly, sprinkle the burritos with green onions.
Breakfast is served!

P.S. - Can you tell that we love Trader Joe's?!? We're obsessed. I'm thinking about sharing our TJ's favorites in a post soon!

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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New art!

2013-03-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Lately, I've been embracing my creative side and getting back into painting. The images above are some pieces that I've been working on recently. One of my goals is to really get back into it, and start doing commissions and selling more of my work. I'm excited to already have a commission for two paintings booked, and am thinking of opening an Etsy shop as well.

One of my favorite things about our new apartment is that we have lots of space, even room for a little office (where I am currently happily typing away) and a space for my easel (by the windows with tons of natural light), two things which we've never quite had room for. I'm thrilled to finally have enough room to be creative with feeling like I'm taking over our entire apartment. Our future is looking colorful!

Interested in a custom painting? Send me an email and let me know, I'd love to work with you!

Font used: Penna

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson

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And we're back.

2013-03-23T14:15:00.000-04:00

If anyone still reads this blog, thanks for hanging in there. I told you I'd be back, eventually!

So, this is the part where I start regularly writing on the blog again, and transitioning from documenting our Caribbean journey to chronicling and sharing inspiration now that we're back in the USA.

Before I do that, let me fill you in a little bit on what we've been up to since we left Dominica.

The last 6 months

In August, we spent a week visiting my little sister who's currently serving in the Peace Corps in Guyana South America.

In September, we left Dominica, where Charlie was in medical school for 2 years, and moved back to Virginia to live with my Mom while Charlie studied for the first U.S. Medical Licensing Exam and awaited his placement (anywhere in the U.S.) for his rotations for year three and four of med school.

On our way home from Dominica, we spent a few days in Puerto Rico and had an amazing time. I'm planning on sharing some long-overdue pics and info about the great place we stayed soon!

We were lucky enough to see lots of friends and family this fall. This included a family beach weekend in the Outer Banks, a family wedding in Hilton Head, a week in the mountains of Tennessee, and a Richmond wedding. It was amazing being able to do all of this after being far away for the past two years.

While Charlie studied non-stop, I spent my time working (retail, nannying, driving carpools, substitute teaching), painting, and designing.

In December, we found out that Charlie was placed at a hospital in Chicago for his core rotations, beginning in March. He is scheduled at the hospital for rotations for the next year. This time next year, he will begin elective rotations which we are hoping he will be able to set up at another hospital in the Chicago area.

After spending the fall studying hard, Charlie took his test (and passed!!!) in January.

A few weeks later, we visited Chicago and apartment hunted. We ended up finding a wonderful apartment to the west of the city.

The last few days of February, we rented a Penske truck, packed it up, and drove our car and the truck from Richmond to Chicago, with a stop to visit family in Kentucky along the way.

March 1st, we moved to the Chicago area!!!

We've spent the past few weeks moving in, unpacking, and making our new place feel like home. We've also done a little bit of exploring and experienced our first Chicago St. Patrick's Day (they dye the river green!). We've even experienced our first Chicago snow already!

Charlie begins his rotation on Monday, so we are enjoying his last weekend of freedom before he gets back into school mode!

So there you go, we're all caught up.

Noteworthy this week:

A very accurate and insightful letter on what it's like to be a doctor today

How to move from Google Reader to BlogLovin

A crazy documentary we watched this week about people who have wild animals as pets: The Elephant in the Living Room

How to make simple friendship bracelets

Thanks for reading! I'll be back later this week with some colorful inspiration and a peek at our new place!

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2012-11-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

The lovely Joy of Frock Files!

Do you know Joy or her blog? If you don't, I highly recommend reading her thoughtful writing and visiting her gorgeous blog. It's quite a treat!

Thanks to everyone who entered to win my little piece of art! Hopefully painting will become more a part of my daily routine and I'll have more of it featured here on my little nook of the internet.

Anything you'd like to see here on the blog? I'm trying to figure out what direction C Squared W will take here in America, and I always love hearing what you think!

Fonts used:
Prophecy Script
Kraft Nine
Bergamot Ornaments

"Out West" oil painting by Clare Wilkinson.

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Well hello there!

2012-11-05T12:47:00.004-04:00

I know I've been a stranger in these parts lately, but life is crazy and full of transitions for us right now. We're back in America and have been enjoying seeing old friends and family (although I know there are still lots of favorite friends I haven't had a chance to see yet - don't worry, we'll make it happen!), traveling (to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee), celebrating weddings, and getting adjusted.

There has been lots of studying for Charlie as he prepares for the next phase of medical school (clinical rotations) and studies for the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam (Step 1). I'm a working girl and spend my days doing odd jobs, unpacking, and organizing all of our goodies that have spent the past two years in storage.

We're finally starting to feel slightly settled (for now!) and I'm hoping to figure out how to make blogging a part of my life in America. I've missed it and woke up today ready to write a post - even if it was just a quick one to say hello and catch up!

I'd like to thank everyone who reads this little blog for their love and encouragement. This blog has been a fun project and I've loved the opportunities I've had to connect with so many great people through blogging. Thanks for always inspiring me and making me so exciting to turn on my computer in the morning!

To show my thanks, I thought I'd share a piece of my art with one of you. This is a little 6" x 9" oil painting that I did a few years ago, and I know that one of you will give it a special spot in your home.

To enter to win, make sure you follow my blog and leave a comment here to let me know. You can also like our Facebook page for an additional entry, just be sure to leave a second comment. Enter between now and Sunday, November 11, and I will announce the winner next week!

Have a good one!

Oil painting by Clare Wilkinson.

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Fruit & Dog Treats

2012-09-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

Here's another Caribbean fruit that I've had once in Dominica (when I helped teach art classes at the Women's Center we were paid in fruit each week and one week it was these!), but I can't remember what they called them here. Possibly cashew pear, like they call them in Guyana?

In Guyana, we bought a few of these from the market. The following day a friend of Frannie's brought over a huge bag filled with cashew pears. We had so many the Frannie, Charlie, and I (and even Papaya) feasted on these fruits all week long! Papaya loved them - they make perfect dog treats!

Fonts used:
Ribeye
Ribeye Marrow

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Two Tapirs

2012-09-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

In Guyana, there are two types of tapirs. The first is a type of public transportation; the second is a four legged friend. We were lucky enough to ride both. (Just kidding - we only rode in the first kind, but we did see the second kind at the zoo in Georgetown!) A few visuals for your viewing pleasure:

Font used: Perplex

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.