Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Monday, February 27, 2012

a room of my own

at long last: the studio.  that room of my own.

with a heart all it's own

with lots of bookshelves for art display and books ofcourse
and a mantle

  for an ever-changing inspiration board


and walls to hang up all that i've been working on


 and a beautiful view


and all my thrift store finds that don't quite go with the rest of the house

it's hard to believe it's almost done and that i can finally spend some quality time here with some sense of order after sitting on my bed to sew all these months or fill the dining room table with my sewing machine and fabrics. 
i hadn't wanted to tell you that this room and all the bottom floor flooded with an inch of water two days before x-mas.  so i waited, aired it out, and gave it time to heal.
it seems it has now forgotten, as i have,
how close it came to danger.
and for that 
an ode & a song

Saturday, February 25, 2012

eclectic week


lent, a time for cleansing
it's been a little bit of this and a little bit of that with a lot of reading tucked in the middle since not only am i finishing "just kids" (which i have enshrined at this point) but i ordered two books from canada about the english gentry after becoming a more than fanatical "downtonite" as in downton abbey.
  i've done a bit of sewing, a bit of writing, a bit of poetry, a bit of thrift shopping, a bit of painting, a bit of collage, lots of cooking, experimented with my camera and worked a lot in my black and white 2012 journal apart from starting a new sacred heart fabric collage. but my pride and joy has to be this altered tag i cfreated for tag tuesday.









photo by sdzn on flickr
scott



one of my digital doodles with "scribbler" program
photo by moorish on etsy
and now, hopefully, on to the prayer flag project which i have neglected altogether

Friday, February 17, 2012

just kids

 i go to barnes and noble a lot (four times a month at least) because i read a lot. we read a lot. i have been an avid reader since i was a sickly little girl in england and my book collection is probably my biggest collection. i collect things remember?, especially things that i feel make the makers of those things present, close, with me. 
but i have to stress, "just kids" by patti smith is the BEST book i have randomly come across in a long time. 
 i have never been a fan of her music but always considered her interesting, very interesting.  having grown up in the same era, reading her book has taken me back to the way we were as youths, the passion we had, how we could live on next to nothing and be so happy.
 i love the book so much, i don't want it to end.  she writes so well, has such a unique way of seeing things, and so many interesting things happened to her.
 she reminds me a bit of charlotte gainsborough
 dont't you think?
& doesn't she make a great portrait theme?






“Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don't abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book.”



― Patti Smith

amen!

urn where patti keeps the ashes of her soulmate, robert mapelthorpe himself an extraordinary artist

Monday, February 13, 2012

a week of mixed media

it's been quite a week. we had richard's son visiting from costa rica and a live concert by richard's other son scott and lots of things to do with mine and all the things in between the rushes.  it's been incredibly windy and cold, especially at night so mostly staying indoors.  so i decided to join in tag tuesday again this week, staying busy with my hands.





i find that collaborative projects that challenge you bring out the best in my creativity.  i push my boundaries and experiment with new textures and materials and surprise myself most of the time.i am also participating in the prayer flag project where i get to make a garland with all my personal prayers for the year in my crazy fabric collages.  i plan to hang it in the wind on my balcony overlooking the ocean so the breezes will carry those prayers to the sky. stay tuned for a few of them coming up this week.