Artistic Revolution

An artist lives and breathes their work. To create is to live. Like the artist themselves, their work is constantly evolving. One cannot work in the same style, creating the same thing over and over again. They need to grow, to develop, to expand their horizons.

Still the quest for artistic growth can mean a radical departure. A change in style from representational art to abstract impressionism or vice versa can be quite shocking for the viewing public.

Especially their parents.

In Bunny's short artistic career, she has moved from Let's mix all the colors together and see what happens


To her Hamstack period


To a more representational style


I know that she is learning and figuring out how to represent her world, but I miss the Hamstacks.

Book It

Bunny is a prolific artist. She draws and paints pages upon pages of Hamstacks.

Lately its all she seems to do. She will stand at her little table and scribble away. When she is done with one, she moves on to another. "Fresh paper, please, momma."



We literally have Hamstack pictures everywhere. I've tried putting them away in a box. I've given them away. I've thrown them away. But they continue to multiply.

These are not one and done creations. Each picture tells a story. Bunny will gather a few pictures and sit down. When I ask what she is doing, she answers "I'm reading the newspaper." Well, alright then.

Every night before she falls asleep, she reads her newspapers. She even has to have them in her bed for when she wakes up in the morning.

But its hard to find a specific newspaper in the mountain that she has created. Believe me, I've tried. "I need the picture of the Hamstacks at the beach, momma." Which one is that exactly? And we have to search picture by picture until the right one is located.

So I had to come up with a better filing system. There had to be a way for her to have the stories she wanted. And it had to keep them contained. And then I had a flash of brilliance, we could make a book.



I cut up a box of cereal and punched holes in it. Holes were then punched into each newspaper. The book was assembled using ribbon. She can now carry it with her where ever she goes and she won't lose anything important.



And whatever doesn't make the cut, can magically disappear.

The Hamstacks

Bunny is very creative. She loves to paint and draw. She also loves to make up fantastical stories involving dinosaurs, rhinos, rabbits and trees (or whatever strikes her fancy at the time). These stories can go on for hours but are only told to her stuffed animals not to me.

She has combined her love of art and her love of stories into an interesting little world, the world of the Hamstacks.

What is a Hamstack, you ask? Well I am not exactly sure what a Hamstack is or where she came up with them, but the picture above is a typical representation of a Hamstack family. Each line in the picture is a Hamstack. She paints these Hamstacks over and over. In fact every piece of art involves Hamstacks.

As she paints, she narrates what each Hamstack is doing. Their activities often tie into her daily life. Yesterday we went to the zoo so the Hamstacks did too. Today she woke up with a cold so the baby Hamstack had one too. The brother Hamstack was quite worried about the baby but he knew the mommy Hamstack would take care of him.

We have several Hamstack portraits hanging in our family gallery. Bunny will often take visitors to a certain painting and tell them what is going on in each piece. This Hamstack is doing this, that one is doing something else and so on. The visitors are amazed and rightly so, the Hamstacks are an interesting bunch.

In fact sometimes I am jealous of the Hamstacks because they appear to lead much more interesting lives than I do. They are from France, they have traveled the world, they are scientists and artists, they throw killer parties, they live the life of leisure. And me, not so much.

A Door Is Never Really Shut

This is a lesson you learn when you live with cats and children, there is no such thing as a closed door. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a little paw reaching under a door trying to pull it open. Or how many times I have heard the sound of a little hand trying (albiet unsuccessfully) to open a door.

Doors are not meant to be shut. There are rooms behind those doors. Maybe the room is really messy and you just want to shut the door so no one can see the clutter and chaos. Maybe the room is empty, just waiting for someone to come along and live in it. Maybe its the bathroom and you just want a few minutes of peace.

There are things on the other side of those doors that are part of our lives. We can't really shut them out.

I tried shutting a door recently. I proclaimed to the wilds of the internets that I was no longer reneedesigns.



But the second I tried to shut the door, there was something trying to push it back open. I felt an overwhelming urge to create. It didn't matter what it was, I just had to make something. During my toddlerless times, I found myself in the car driving to the craft store or to the bead store. I found myself holding beads in my hand imagining what they could become.



I've been searching for inspiration too. Looking for something, anything to ignite a spark in my soul. Things like the colors of the leaves, the doodles of my daughter have lit a slow burning fire. I've got a million ideas in my head trying to find a way out

I am reneedesigns again and it feels good.

The End of an Era

Yesterday I changed my display name on my blog. I am no longer posting as reneedesigns, I am now officially butwhymommy.

Now this may not seem like much of a big deal, my blog name is But Why Mommy, I sign my name as butwhymommy when I comment on other blogs. It is who I am right now. I am butwhymommy because I am a mommy.

But it is strange for me. I started blogging in 2006 under the name reneedesigns. I have an etsy store also called ReneeDesigns. For two years it was how I identified myself. I was a jewelry designer and I my name is Renee. The two when hand in hand.

I had made jewerly for years and wanted it to be my profession. I took classes, I learned new techniques. I sold my jewelry at art and craft fairs, at local boutiques. I was even in stores in California and Minnesota for a time. Reneedesigns represented who I wanted to be.

Of course when you become a mother things fall by the wayside. They have to, its only natural. A child takes up so much of your time. But you also want to spend all of your time with them, to see what they will do next, what new thing will they learn.

As Bunny grew, I spent less and less time making jewerly. Occasionally I would have bursts of creativity and make a bunch of new pieces. But they would sit there waiting for me to photograph them and list them on line. Or waiting to go to the my local store. In fact they are still sitting there, except for occasionally when I pull them out to wear them.

I still get compliments on my work and it still gives me a thrill. Like maybe, just maybe I could do this. But I don't. I've taken all of my pieces out of the local store. I barely have any left in my etsy shop. When things expire, I don't relist them. Its like the store is slowly closing itself.

I might go crazy and list a bunch of things for the holidays or I might not. I don't know. But I am okay with that.

The funny thing is being a mom has made me more creative than ever before. I'm drawing and painting on a daily basis (usually crowded in a little pink plastic chair at a kid sized table). I've been crocheting myself a sweater. I've started (and started and restarted) a little cloche for Bunny to wear this winter. I've bought materials to make Bunny a dress. I've made some designs for a dinosaur t-shirt that are waiting to be made.

I'm having fun and enjoying myself in the artistic process. I feel like a kid again because I am experiencing all of this with my kid.

So I may no longer be reneedesigns. I may be butwhymommy. But my name is still Renee and I still design.