a bit of randomness

The sweet Andrea, aka little big head from cider and faun posted a bit of randomness on her blog, and tagged me to post mine. I’ll start with my most exciting, I’ve been waiting to spill…

♥ I have front row tickets to see Joanna Newsom March 18th (thanks to my thoughtful husband.) We are super excited to see her and so psyched about the release of her new album February 23rd! I can’t even begin to express how inspirational her music has been to me.

♥ and today I have been dreaming of this:

I really don’t care about winter anymore. I’m tired of cracked hands.

♥ Today I bought a huge bag of old envelopes, complete with stamps and addresses. I think they will be fun to doodle on.

♥ I can’t stop buying old sewing machines. I don’t even use them all. My most recent machine was a vintage baby blue singer.

♥ I don’t have a television, nor do I plan on getting one ever again.

And a little heads up…tomorrow or Saturday I will post my giveaway!

home all day

As the snowflakes fall I have been spending some time sewing… bags mostly (although I have plans for other things). I have lots of fabrics and bits of lace and trim stashed away. I made this large tote out of pretty gray heavyweight floral fabric which I bought a few years ago and I have been admiring ever since. The fabric is heavy, a mix between canvas and denim.

It’s perfect for lugging my sketchbooks and whatnot around.

I am going to be doing a giveaway here in the next few days, to celebrate all my new readers (and “old” ones as well). Here’s a little snippet of fabric (which is a tiny hint to the theme of the giveaway)

Can you guess which painting will be featured? Another hint is that the giveaway will be wearable art. And the third hint is that it will be part vintage. Can you guess?

sweet winter

We had a sweet valentines day. I came home to beautiful winter white roses (to match the newly fallen snow).

Quiet corners.

Twilight, after the huge storm, beautiful.

Lace

Sewn of thread and absence,
lace belongs at the hem of a garment,
pinned to a collar, near the face,
or clinging to a tabletop amongst teacups.

Like frost, lace paints a pattern
on edges and surfaces. In lace, fine line
and space loop around one another.
It is true that skin under lace appears more

visible, that veils and drapes of lace
let in light, and yes, pull a viewer’s eye.
An ivory web of flowers does what?
Embellishes. Decorates. Even as it claims

to cover, to conceal, lace invites air
and sun and gazes. Place this
punctured shield wherever there is longing,
delicacy: table, skin, bed, window.

Poem by Hannah Stephenson from the Storialist.

Hannah writes poems inspired by found images. This poem was inspired by my painting, “We Come From a Delicate Place”

A snippet:

Thanks to all who commented on my feature in Artful Blogging. Much appreciated!

mail

I am super excited to announce the good news I mentioned awhile back. There is a 6 page article about my blog in the lovely Artful Blogging Magazine. The magazine hit the newstands at the beginning of the week and I was finally able to get my hands on one. I wrote an article about my process and inspirations, and features some of my favorite blog photos and artwork. This year my blog will be six years old (where has the time gone?) and I was completely honored to be asked to be in this publication! So here’s a little sneak peak (you’ll have to get your hands on a copy of the magazine to read the article).

i just love melting winter snow!

Also, I want to repost some of my favorite photos here that were featured in the magazine. My artwork images can be found here.

A corner of my studio- one of my drawing desks (although my Mac resides on this desk now).

A beautiful vintage pendant (that contained a mini print of my artwork) that sold last year.

Blackberry summer breakfast (in my favorite vintage ship teacup) along with my favorite Indian scarf.

A sweet haul from an antique treasure hunt.

Summer dreaming and petals- outside homage to Louis Janmot.

Another pendant I made (a mini print from one of my oil paintings.

Thanks for visiting today! I have yet another bit of good news…really BIG news but I am going to keep it secret for a wee bit longer…

2010

I am hopelessly consumed with mapping out my plans for the new year (more on that later), sketching, making lists and preparing for the year ahead!. Today I made a wish box full of antique lace goodness and sparkleys. And colorful tights. I know I always say this but I wish for more color in my life, in my surroundings, in what I wear. Juicy, lush color and pattern. So today I wore a garden to start the year off right!

Have a beautiful New Years!

collections in windowsills

and walking in the dreamy woods…

But first I would like to say that I just put a larger, ORIGINAL drawing (11″ by 14″) of “From Within” in my shop.

It’s a darker version, similar to this one, from a few post’s ago, with the birch trees at night. Yes, I sketched a third one! I wanted to try her without the ribbon around her neck. I am so happy to offer it in my shop (and it is so hard for me to let it go)

I’ve been thinking about wildflowers and all things green and lush (yes, very unfall-like of me). I pulled out one of my favorite found embroideries and hung it on my wall. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I received this package. I took photos of the queen annes lace embroidery and posted them here last year, but I just love it so much, so here’s more!
Beautiful detail.

And knowing that winter will soon be here I have been adorning my windwsill with this and that, summer memories and other things, found.

The sandy bottle was a wash up at the beach. It’s very old! The other, smaller bottle I found in the early spring during a walk through the woods. Did you know that the frost pushes old bottle and other discarded items up out of the ground in the spring?

I have been painting too. This is a piece in the earliest of stages…just the underpainting and I’m sure it will change and morph into something totally different. But the concept will stay the same for the most part. The raw umber scribbles you see in the right hand corner are actually a grove of willow trees with a piano in the middle. I imagined a procession of birds soaring out of it.

The leaves were in their glory over the weekend! They are now falling. To everyone in the northern hemisphere, enjoy the remainder of autumn bliss !

late late summer

Soaking it all in. It is still summer, it didn’t fully slip away just yet.

This weekend was…

And, sparked by a recent commission…

As well as other images, made into big pendants, for the shop

mmmmm….I just love when the late afternoon sun pours down like honey.

today

A cloudy day late summer walk, on my way out the door…

I found the black bunny on the curb the other day (amongst heaps of trash) !!

I love when the roses bloom in late summer.

Traipsing through town taking photos of my favorite historic homes, for memories.

So perfect in so many ways.

Shelburne Museum, cont’d

I love this museum! More highlights of antique art pieces from my visit to Vermont. The rooms were dark and things were behind glass, but here are some favorites to inspire!

There were over 200 hat boxes and band boxes on display.

A detail and a bonnet!

And..

I love the shape of her dress and the pose (look at the little horse on the table!)

There were rooms of diorama’s and doll house rooms, bird stores, general stores, hat shops. The museum rooms that housed these were so dark, and each little diorama was illuminated.

The dollhouse rooms were in little boxes hung on the wall.

For some reason this drew me in. I think it was the hummingbird in the snug little nest!

I love all the little layered details and glazes.

Although I didn’t see it happen, the layered paper images in this piece move…

These two guys were so sweet paired behind the glass.

There was a room of dollhouses. I love how this one looked so golden.

A favorite scrimshaw on the shelf…

And two more things…

This pipe is so silly.

That’s it for now! I am off to finish the tiny details of my honeybee painting, then scanning the final piece with hopes of posting it here later on today.

apothecary and herbs

We went to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont and it was sensory overload! Much bigger than expected, I could a full week there studying and sketching the fascinating items on display and roaming the beautiful grounds. The museum is full of folk art, textiles, dolls and doll houses, automata, and other odd 17th to 20th century artifacts. I’ll be posting some of my favorite (photographable) things from the museum in the next few days, in themed groups. But for now…

Old time Apothecaries fascinate! So many strange (and not so strange) things all bottled up on display. Shelburne has an amazing apothecary room and collection.

Sarsaparilla!

Dragons blood and unicorn…

gardens outside

The hearth was aflame! It was hot in the little cabin, but a children’s camp was cooking inside and making bread outside! I live the earthiness of this stone fireplace.

more gardens, of yarrow

by my little dream house…

more very soon!