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on the nightstand:

• little jar filled with sea glass
• notebook and pencil
• water glass
• Healer by Carol Cassella
• Girl in Translation  by Jean Kwok

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+am loving:

• peaches! preferably eaten standing over the sink.
• sitting outside in the evening until the sun goes down, then sitting under the stars
• traces of sand in everything, everywhere
• the smell of tomato plants on my kids after we come in from the garden

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how does summer inspire you?

I love everything about summer. Until I had children, autumn was my favorite season. I was indoors, working, so much of the time, I didn’t get immersed in the season like I do now. And I don’t just mean the weather and things related to it, like swimming. It’s a rhythm, an awareness, and for me has as much to do with me in relation to my children as anything else.

We don’t have a summer routine; our plans change week to week and day to day. I’m a fairly structured person by nature, and this forces me out of my comfort zone. Swimming, hiking, biking, beach play, exploring new places, cooking together, time with friends. It can require an exhaustive amount of planning and preparation, some days; others, we don’t leave the neighborhood. My to-do lists languish and my laundry piles up, yet I feel the most alive this time of year. We fall into bed tired and sleep heavy, sun-and-exercise drugged sleeps.

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what’s one item in your summer wardrobe you can’t go without?

A yellow sundress. Crazily, I’ve picked up three of them over the years.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade summer meal?

Fresh, simple ingredients with minimal preparation. Whatever I can get that was picked within the last day or so. Preferably eaten outside with people I love.

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what is your summer theme song this year?

Hmm. That’s a tough one. Last weekend we spent a day with some of our oldest friends in town. Afternoon blended into evening. Dinner, then s’mores over a fire pit in the backyard, and sitting under the stars until we were all almost asleep. Much of that evening Jimmy Buffet was on repeat; it’s still in my head so I’d have to say Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet.

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what are three constants in your day?

• One child up before dawn; the other having to be dragged out of bed
• NPR
• Alexi ‘setting up’ my toothbrush (with toothpaste) for me each night

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Nova Scotia to visit my husband’s father, Robert. We spent time on the south shore of the province, at a cottage on a lake, and at Robert’s house, at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Bay of Fundy. While driving between these various locations, we listened to lots of music. At one point I had the thought that most music is essentially about love,  longing, and storytelling. This set of photos was taken one day at Robert’s house. We walked the beach, dug for clams, made a meal together, and watched the sun go down. These images are my love songs of this day.

jessica ojala lives in northern vermont with her husband and two daughters. she sews, knits, takes photographs, keeps a garden, plays the violin (not very well, just yet) and generally leads a quiet life. she loves tide pools, gingham, swimming at night, hollyhocks, and a good pot of strong black tea.

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on the nightstand:

• the blue chair jam cookbook by rachel saunders
• the sleeve of a sweater i’m knitting
• the art of eating by m.f.k. fisher
• independent people by halldor laxness
• a cheerful yellow lamp

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am loving:

• walking to the swimming hole
• wild raspberries
• my nikon f3
• a new vermont wildflowers identification book
• coffee milkshakes

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how does summer inspire you?

i feel so much lighter in summer. i love being able to wear dresses and skirts again. and the simple joy that is my girls in water: the lake, the river, or the plastic kiddie pool. it all feels so free and easy. we drive hither and thither, the windows are rolled down and the air smells of wildflowers and grass. the evenings are generous, hours of golden light to wander around in with my camera. because summers here are so short, we’re always a bit tired and unkempt from all the activity. but when else can you eat fresh peaches by the peck?

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what’s one item in your summer wardrobe you can’t go without?

a big sunhat. i have fair skin and an aversion to sunscreen.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade summer meal?

a simple salad of tomatoes from the garden, fresh mozzarella, basil and avocado is a combination i never tire of. also: peaches, warmed and spiced with cinnamon, clove and cardamom and served over vanilla ice cream.

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what is your summer theme song this year?

“sweet tooth” by dave rawlings + gillian welch. it just gets better every time i listen to it.

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what are three constants in your day?

1. picking japanese beetles off our plum trees
2. taking photographs
3. reading to the girls at bedtime

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

these photos were taken while roaming around the northeast kingdom, the least populated part of the state. i tried to capture a bit of the woods, meadows, mountains, lakes and dirt roads that make up our natural surroundings. they’re such an important part of why we’ve chosen to live here. as the saying goes about being poor (and i would add, happy) in vermont: half your paycheck is in the scenery.

Lisa Congdon is a San Francisco-based illustrator and fine artist. Raised in both upstate New York and Northern California, she grew to love the trees and animals that surrounded her. That love is now expressed through her colorful paintings, collages and drawings. She is also the author of A Collection a Day, which was spawned from a 2010 creative endeavor. Lisa and her work have been featured in Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times, Dwell, The San Francisco Chronicle and 7×7 Magazine. She lives in the Mission District of San Francisco with her partner, Clay Lauren Walsh, her 10 pound chihuahua, Wilfredo, and her two cats, Barry and Margaret. She works at her light-filled studio several blocks from her home. She’s an avid cyclist, swimmer and vegan. Lisa is represented by Lilla Rogers Studio.

Visit Lisa’s art + illustration website at lisacongdon.com.

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on the nightstand:

• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• June issue of Venus Magazine
• Almond body butter

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+am loving:

• Nectarines + berries
• My new Nikon D5100
• The smell of my dog’s tummy

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how does summer inspire you?

In San Francisco, we have pretty cold weather during the summer (by summer standards). So I am always inspired to travel to warmer places where I can really experience summer for more than a few days at a time. This summer I am traveling to Portland in July and Upstate New York in August. Both places have lovely warm evenings, which is my favorite part of summer.

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what’s one item in your summer wardrobe you can’t go without?

I love sun dresses so much. I could live in them! On the days here where it is warm enough to wear one, they are the first thing I grab from my closet.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade summer meal?

Grilled veggies and a fresh corn & bulgar wheat salad followed by vegan ice cream with berries on top.

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what is your summer theme song this year?

Helplessness Blues by the Fleet Foxes (love the whole album but this song really is the best).
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what are three constants in your day?

• A morning kiss and a cup of tea brought to me by my partner Clay
• Some amount of time spent on my bike (varies from 20 minutes to 5 hours, depending whether I am commuting or road riding)
  
• Snuggles with Wilfredo, my chihuahua
  

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tell us about the inspiration behind this work.

These images are just a small portion of my latest body of work, Boreas (named for the god of the north wind and winter), which evolved out of an obsession with the beauty of the Icelandic landscape. This began last year after I watched Heima, a documentary on the Icelandic pop group Sigur Rós. The documentary follows the band as they tour through their own homeland, holding impromptu concerts across their countryside. The film documents the stunning raw beauty of Iceland, its rock formations, mountains and valleys. My interest in countries with proximity to the arctic grew. I began researching, painting and drawing the people, landscapes, animals and folk art of other Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway and Sweden, along with iceberg formations in the Arctic Ocean. For years, I’d been captivated by the more recent mid-century design from Nordic countries which is a heavy influence in my illustration work. I found myself newly immersed in older traditions and cultures, like the Sami, an arctic indigenous people who have inhabited northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia since prehistoric times. My discovery of the Sami led me to the exquisite folk-patterned textile work of the Scandinavian and Eastern European countries, and I began reinterpreting these patterns in much of my paintings and drawings. My works are not intended to be realistic snapshots of any period of time, natural setting or people. Instead, I have drawn from a rich array of Nordic landscapes and cultures to create works that cause the viewer to create their own narrative. All 18 pieces from this body of work will be on view at Gallery Hijinks in San Francisco July 2-30.

jennifer judd-mcgee lives and works on mount desert island in maine. mixed media and illustration are her favorite mediums, and she draws her inspiration from her coastal maine surroundings. she has shown her work in galleries across the country and is represented for licensing and illustration by lilla rogers studio. please visit her blog or her etsy shop for more information.

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on the nightstand:

• bossypants by tina fey
• coconut skin trip lotion
• two orphaned single earrings
• micron pens
• sketchpads

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+am loving:

• guava kombucha
• blooming lilacs
• the way my kids smell when they come in from playing outside
• later light in the evenings
• mount desert ice cream

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how does spring inspire you?

it’s pretty quiet about nine months of the year where i live, then late spring comes and it’s a very sudden burst of hectic – local people are working hard to earn their livings, visitors from all over the world are starting to arrive and are loving this beautiful place in their own ways. this island is magical.  i just try to soak it all in every year. it all feels so promising.

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what’s one item in your spring wardrobe you can’t go without?

it’s not very fashionable, but a down or fleece vest is a pretty essential layer for me from about march to late june. my vest feels a bit like a security blanket to me some days.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade spring meal?

a mezze plate – an assortment of veggies – fresh and pickled, fresh mozzerella, olives, hard boiled eggs, hummus, crusty bread, nuts. the kids call this their ideal dinner. we also love seltzer with a splash of lemonade and some mint.

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what is your spring theme song this year?

hummingbird by the weepies if i am by myself, or anything from the warblers glee soundtrack if i am with the kids.
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what are four constants in your day?

• morning coffee
• snuggling with the kids
• working on art
• going to the post office (can often be the most social part of my day)

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tell us about the inspiration behind this work.

the photos are from my favorite place on the island at this time of year – the asticou azalea gardens. and the illustrations on them are drawn digitally – something new for me. i was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last summer, and without getting into it too much, it’s been a roller coaster of a year. i’ve had to adapt the way i work – the fine pen work i used to do is much harder for me due to some weakness in my left hand, and i’ve been missing it. my mom gave me a tablet for christmas that i’ve been teaching myself to use – it’s been an incredible gift, because if my hand gets shaky i don’t have to ruin a drawing i’ve spent ages on anymore; i can back up a little and keep going. i love the way i can integrate my drawing and the photos i take for inspiration using this format – i think i am at the very beginning of a beautiful and unexpected friendship. for a long time i sort of wrote off working digitally because i preferred an organic, hand drawn doodling style, but i can still have that essence, i think, with the tablet. i feel lucky to be learning this new way to work.

Jen Altman is a photographer, writer, and editor. Her work has been exhibited throughout North America and is held in private collections across the globe; her photography can be seen in publications by Chronicle Books, Somerset Studio, Small magazine and online at Oprah magazine and Epicurious.com. She recently shot and styled Super Charged Smoothies for Chronicle Books and is currently writing Instant Love: How to Make Magic & Memories with Polaroids for Chronicle to be published in Spring 2012.

Jen is currently between Brooklyn, New York, and Asheville, North Carolina with her three daughters, husband, and a Schnoodle they call King Ludwig. She waxes poetic at Nectar & Light.

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on the nightstand:

• whatever jewelry is currently on rotation that i am not wearing at that very moment — sitting in a large seashell i found at the shore in rodanthe
• a large crystal shard
• a stack of polaroids of my girls
• a bust of athena
• my deck prism
• patti smith’s just kids {almost done — slow going getting through mapplethorpe’s death}; the mists of avalon by marion zimmer-bradley {i’ve read it every couple of years since i was 16}; the chalice and the blade by riane tennenhaus eisler {a recommendation from my husband’s sister — one of the most enlightened women i know} and seductress: women who ravished the world and their lost art of love by elizabeth prioleau {my sweet friend joy told me i had to read this — with a title like that, how could you not?}

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am loving:

• the scent of spring rain
• my new tattoos
• goat cheese and honey
• the mountains of north carolina
• my mama’s smile

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how does spring inspire you?

the season is about rebirth. as a family, we’ve had a rather trying few months — but those struggles are leading us to a new life — we are starting anew, in tandem with the season — i find that rather magical.

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what’s one item in your spring wardrobe you can’t go without?

my hunter original lace wellies — we’ve been through a lot of rain so far — they keep me dry and are so easy to slip on and off.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade spring meal?

we are staying with my parents right now before we move to north carolina next month — one of our favorite things to do any season is to create a spread of artisan cheeses, grapes, light crackers and my mom’s insanely delicious baked crab dip — my dad makes pretty fierce martinis too.

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what is your spring theme song this year?

the girls and i were watching a lot of megamind for awhile there — and the one song we all kept singing over and over was ozzy’s “crazy train” — oh if i only knew what a portent that song really was!

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what are four constants in your day?

1. my girls
2. starting the day with a double cappuccino
3. snuggles {refer to number 1}
4. music – listening to the kills and civil wars right now…

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

we made an unexpected return to my hometown of omaha, nebraska last week to be here for my mom’s open heart surgery. my days have been filled with balancing hospital stays and my girls. but as she emerged from the cloud of her procedure, it occurred to me that much like our season of renewal in finding a new house in north carolina, my mom is experiencing a reawakening as well — once again, hand in hand with the Spring. And this voyage both physical and spiritual has been an acute reminder that Home is not a place — it is in us; it is my brother miraculously being able to take leave to be here, my husband whose final contract of the season happens to be here, it is my dad sleeping every night at the hospital with my mom, it is my girls asking with bated breath everyday when Yaya will be back — Home is my family. And my family is on the precipice of rebirth.

a reader, daydreamer, music lover, bike rider, sewer, novice gardener, homemaker, picture taker, and an anti-plastic crusader.  i remind myself i am so much more than what i do to earn a living.

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on the nightstand:

• my favourite orange desk lamp
• one of my recipe scrapbooks (i’m in the process of cooking my way through it)
• homemade lipbalm
• a polaroid of nathan
• a notebook and pen
• and a big stack of books : land’s polaroid - peter c wensberg,  our band could be your life – michael azerrad, they called her styrene – ed ruscha, like a velvet glove cast in iron – daniel clowes, and the penguin book of rock & roll writing.

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am loving:

• afternoon thunderstorms
• golden beaches
• new freckles
• the smell of clothes fresh from the washing line

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how does spring inspire you?

even though i’m heading into ‘winter’ here in australia, i left vancouver filled with spring, and there is nothing i love more than a good spring clean.  it’s the perfect time to take stock, clear out, and start fresh.

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what’s one item in your spring wardrobe you can’t go without?

sandals! after many months tucked away in socks and shoes, i love the feeling of fresh air on my bare feet.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade spring meal?

one of nathan’s delicious salads – mixed greens, carrots, peppers, red onion, beets, walnuts and dried cranberries, avocado & tomatoes when they are in season, with homemade dressing and a big bowl of chicken noodle soup.  i love them both so much i’m torn between which one to eat the fastest.

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what is your spring theme song this year?

i don’t have a theme song / album yet (i’ll happily take suggestions :), but i am loving the all songs considered 24/7 music channel.  you hear all sorts of gems, new and old.

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what are three constants in your day?

1. a cup of tea in the morning
2. daydreaming about food
3. reading

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

it’s been almost 3 years since i’ve been home to australia and i was desperately missing the ocean, so my dad and i went for a day trip up the coast so we could take some photos, walk along the beach and splash in the water.  on the way home we went up into the mountains, where the air is so cool and fresh, and stopped in at monteville for a late pub lunch while we watched the storm clouds roll in.  it was a lovely day.

Writing a bio is always hard for me. I cook. I take pictures. I like to travel and write and share with people. I tend to work on long-term projects like cookbooks and my website. Somehow it all comes together into my day to day life. I live in San Francisco, but like to get out and see more of the world I live in as often as possible.

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This is what I warmed up for lunch today. It’s a winter/spring adaptation, and distant cousin, of the Zucchini and Millet Risotto in the Rose Bakery cookbook.

Farro + Millet Risotto

3/4 cup / / 5 oz / 150 g  uncooked millet
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
fine grain sea salt
1/4 cup / 2 oz / 55 g unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, smashed and chopped
2 cups / 14 oz / 400 g semi-pearled farro
roughly 7 cups / 1.6 l good-tasting vegetable broth
2 big handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan

Add-ins: a couple big handfuls of roasted vegetables, chopped up a bit — for example, I used roasted delicata squash this time around. I also used some chopped chives and a generous drizzle of curried brown butter.

It works best to cook the millet and farro separately here. Start by adding the millet to a small thick-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Toast it, stirring constantly, until the millet is golden and fragrant — just a few minutes. Add 1 3/4 cup / 475 ml water, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and a couple generous pinches of salt. Stir, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the grains are cooked and free of liquid. Taste, and if they need more time, cook for a few minutes more, then remove from heat, and leave covered for another 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and set aside.

In the meantime, get the farro started in a separate large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the remaining oil, butter, onions and a big pinch of salt. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Stir in
the garlic, and cook for a couple minutes more. Add the farro and cook for a couple minutes before adding 2 cups of the broth. Cook, stirring, until the farro has absorbed most of the liquid before adding another cup. Keep adding stock in increments like this until the farro is cooked through – it takes some time. Once it’s cooked, stir in half the millet. Add more broth if needed, the risotto should be loose. Decide whether or not you want to add the remaining millet — it’s a personal preference really. The millet makes the risotto take on a more porridge-like texture. Now stir in most of the Parmesan.
Taste, and adjust the seasoning. Add more broth if needed — again, you want the texture to be loose and creamy. A spoon should not be able to stand up straight in the risotto.

Serve hot, in bowls topped with the remaining Parmesan, and whatever else you like. In this instance I added some leftover roasted delicata squash, a drizzle of curried brown butter, and chopped chives. But
some toasted nut oil and chopped herbs might be a nice alternative, or even a swirl of harissa and toasted almonds….

Serves 6-8.

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on the nightstand:

• one all-white vintage table lamp with pottery base
• one large framed photo I shot of a motel exterior in Puerto Penesco, Mexico

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am loving:

• my olivetti valentine
• tartine sesame bread
• brewing beer with my brother in law
• sherbet-shaded ranunculus
• unpollinated derrie dates-no pit!
• homemade celery salt

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how does spring inspire you?

I have a few favorite trees around and about San Francisco — a huge camellia hidden away in a grove, a young magnolia, and a number of huge plum and cherry blossom dotted about the parks. I wait patiently this time of year for them to explode into bloom. I love the color, and the subtle variation of color amongst the blooms on any one tree.

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what’s one item in your spring wardrobe you can’t go without?

San Francisco is a fickle bird when it comes to weather. It’s one of those cities where you can get four seasons in four hours. Right now, looking out the window, the cars on the street are being pelted with hail and huge raindrops. But yesterday was sunny and 65. So, while I would love to say summer dresses and sandals, quite honestly this time of year I’m more likely to be wearing a favorite pair of wool tights and hand socks.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade spring meal?

good soba noodles, fresh favas, herbs, broth — topped with a poached egg or tofu

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what are four constants in your day?

1. coffee
2. cameras
3. my co-pilot
4. cooking

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

I keep an old SX-70 at my desk, or, on occasion I’ll toss it in my purse. I tend to use it to catch little moments, or textures, or details, or even just a color I’d like not to forget.

Meredith Winn is a photographer and writer. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, but spends a big majority of her time daydreaming of the coast. Meredith is a Shutter Sister and a contributing photographer for Getty Images. You can check out her photography website for more images. She is a somewhat elusive (and sporadic) blogger found at the~spirit~of~the~river. Meredith drinks chai tea, parents mindfully, embraces this human existence, and will always be a camera shy momma.

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on the nightstand:

{always always a stack of books}

• Old Friend From Far Away by Natalie Goldberg
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
• Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson
• New York by Edward Rutherfurd
• a 100-year-old buddha
• a clear quartz crystal
• Guatemalan worry dolls
• bach flower essences

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am loving:

• my head in the clouds
• birdsongs from the backyard
• the calm after the storm
• the hope and possibility of tomorrow

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how does spring inspire you?

Spring arrives spontaneously with tiny details surprising our every step. Pleasure popping up in green sprouts and pink blooms. Inspiration comes in through open windows. No socks and flip flops … spring is a sultry burlesque show. For this season, we become young and in love with anything and everything. The breeze, the hope, the sense of newness. Spring is carefree, butterflies, and dandelion wishes. Spring makes anything possible. With that energy, life blooms and hearts heal.

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what’s one item in your spring wardrobe you can’t go without?

Bare feet and painted toenails.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade spring meal?

Cheese quesadillas topped with salsa and sour cream. Yes please, and a side of spinach salad overflowing with carrots, cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds. Yum!

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what is your spring theme song this year?

Anything to lift me up. I’ve really been groovin’ to Alexander Ebert’s new album and how he seems to channel Bob Dylan and The Beatles (two of my favorites) on so many tracks. But, in particular, the rhythm of his song “Million Years” carries my heart like a happy-go-lucky child skipping a beat with an open-mouthed smile.

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what are three constants in your day?

1. chai tea
2. my Nikon
3. the lilting sing-song of a child’s voice echoing in my heart.

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

These photos are where I’ve been and where I’m going. A circular timeline put on repeat. Life is life, no? It is what it is, yes? These photos are the peace within. The flurry and chaos, the fluttering of heartbeats like a hundred bird wings. These photos are the solitude and stillness of wind. The reminder that life is blooming, that growth moves us forward with joy and anticipation. These photos are my practice in remembering it’s okay to sit with the silence. And that through it all, life is still beautiful.

emily lives with her husband and their children in a funny-shaped house at the bottom of a hill. she paints in a spare bedroom while her kids are at school, and she shows her work when she’s not feeling too shy. she sometimes blogs at shining egg, and she records the bits of her days at habit.

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on the nightstand:

• weleda skin food and burt’s bees lip balm.
• a conch shell found on the beach on new year’s eve day.
• a small white felted bowl, a gift from a friend.
• two antique boxes my father found at a flea market years ago.
• a small stuffed cardinal.
• mindset, by carol dweck.
• bird by bird, by anne lamott.
• the wild braid, by stanley kunitz.
• (it’s awfully messy, now that i stop to look. must be time for spring cleaning!)

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am loving:

• daylight before seven in the morning, and daylight until six in the evening.
• my new sewing machine.
• tulips. and ranunculus.
• citrus, especially lemons, right now.
• licorice tea.

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how does spring inspire you?

for most of my life, spring was my favorite season. sometimes, it still is.

the return of the light. the breeze. rebirth and new growth and a sense of endless possibility begin to speak to me as soon as the days start to get longer.

i love the smell of springtime — the scent of warm earth that comes through the open windows when the air is still cool?  and the new greens all around — each one by itself is beautiful, but together in the landscape they’re stunning. it won’t be long now!

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what’s one item in your spring wardrobe you can’t go without?

i have a hard time transitioning my wardrobe between seasons. i become so comfortable in my “uniform” that it’s hard for me to remember what it is that i like to wear in the next season. this is especially true for me when winter turns to spring — when i’m used to bundling up in sweaters and wool socks, i can’t remember what to wear when the days turn warm.

but the item i most look forward to wearing in the springtime is my red wellies. they’re already waiting by the door for the first rainy day.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade spring meal?

i tend to like very simple food. and breakfast is my favorite meal. so my perfect homemade spring meal has to be this — eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (and sometimes all three!) — eggs from the farm around the corner, fried and flipped over so that the whites of the eggs are set but the yellows are still a little bit runny, served over asparagus that’s been tossed with olive oil and salt and roasted until the tips are crispy but the stems are still bright green.

my mouth is watering just thinking about it, but it will be a good while before asparagus is available here.

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what is your spring theme song this year?

i’m loving the prompt to think about this at the outset of the season — most often that “theme song” emerges for me as the season goes on. i think my theme song for spring this year will be “all this beauty,” by the weepies.

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what are three constants in your day?

1. red shoes
2. the newspaper
3. making the bed

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

i have been loving all things blur for a long time now. i’ve been especially enjoying blurry photos — i seem to like my pictures better when they’re just out of focus. a few of my flickr friends take the loveliest blurred photos on the road. at dusk or at night (from the passenger seat, i’m sure!). and i began doing the same awhile back. somehow, this blur feels full of light and air to me, and i’ve been wanting to try to capture those feelings in my painting. usually my paintings are heavily textured and thick with paint. but recently, in an effort to find that blur, i’ve begun to try to capture the softer light and focus by using different textures, different medium, and playing with the paint differently. whenever i begin something new in my painting, i start by painting lots of small pieces on paper to try to capture the feeling i’m looking for. often, i fall in love with the freshness of these pieces and it takes me awhile to move on to develop the work more fully.

tara spends most of her days cooking, reading dr. seuss, baking, playing with trains, taking photographs, and exploring the possibilities of finger paints. she writes about most of it here, or in UPPERCASE magazine. sometimes you’ll find her work in other places, too. she lives with her husband and their two young sons in a brick and wood house on a quiet street in southern ontario, canada. they’re happy there.

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+on the nightstand:

• collected bobby pins
• my favourite pens
• tartine bread and heart of the artichoke
• a polaroid of summer sent by a thoughtful friend
• nice hand cream, a pet vanity of late

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am loving:

• the way the light is changing and the promise of green, soon
• audiobooks
• this perfume and how it smells of wood and somehow water too. it suits these days when everything is melting outside of my window.
• a sweater to keep wrapped up in, until that melting is done.
• the specific shade of yellow of the lid to a jar of english mustard. marigold, maybe? one with more oomph than dandelion.
• a photograph that makes me long to travel.

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how does winter inspire you?

winter and i are not the best of friends. i tend to run cold, as a rule, and prefer close proximity to the fireplace rather than traipsing about in the grand outdoors. so winter inspires me to try harder.

in those times when we feel trapped in the stasis of the earth’s baited breath, i try to find those details that get lost in the silent, swaddling whiteness of snow. the shape of the rocks i know that lie beneath, the sweetness in root vegetables that can be coaxed out by roasting, the quiet joy there is in darker evenings that grant longer stories at bedtime.

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what’s one item in your winter wardrobe you can’t go without?

as much as i adore flips and skirts and the warmer months, i do like cold-weather dressing – so this is hard. i’ll say a good scarf, one that’s long and chunkily-knit, and can be wrapped round your neck or gathered about your shoulders.

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what’s your idea of the perfect homemade winter meal?

now that we are, hopefully, getting closer to the end of winter, i’m fond of a meal that hints at the spring to come. i’m getting done with braises and stews, and wish for a meal with some zip and vigor. i thought it would be nice to share a lunch on a grey afternoon, with a table set for two or four.

we could start with homemade semolina gnocchi, pan-fried in butter and tossed with a herby pangritata and grated grana padano – both of which would catch deliciously in the pasta’s nooks. then there would be some simple lamb chops, cut thickish and seared until black and bronzed in a cast iron pan. we’d eat it with ragged ribbons of kale, dressed with olive oil made fiery by chili, garlic and lots of bright lemon. to end, a sip of liqueur or a cup of espresso, and a pair of walnut sandwich cookies.

or maybe three. each.

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what is your winter theme song this year?

helplessness blues by fleet foxes. but the other day someone reminded me of janelle monáe’s sincerely, jane, and i danced.

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what are three constants in your day?

• coffee, then tea
• a pair of lads in flannel pajamas
• my husband

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tell us about the inspiration behind these photos.

these photographs were all shot over nine hours, as i wanted to convey the particular feeling of this time between seasons. i hoped to give a sense of what it would be like be in each other’s company; to share with you some moments of our every day.