laura's hat

we went out to celebrate bday's last night at Rocket to venus in Hampden.i gave laura one of my new hats for her bday. had to have her model it so you can see how the hat looks on an actual head. i can't take credit for the pattern nor the fabric....its a pattern from Lotta Jandotter's book: simple sewing....a must have! the packaging is great, with beautiful photo's, clear written and hand drawn directions and pattern pieces included! the fabic is denyse schmidt of course! these will aslo be at the artist market at Artscape!

sneak preview

so here are some quick shots from the sweat shop...a variety of birdy tote bags, pillows and hats!!!! i found a good use for the left over fabrics from my aprons.
remember...all will be for sale at the peas & carrots booth at Artscape: July 20,21,22.

happy 44

sorry i haven't posted in a bit. its been the end of school, leave for Williamsburg, come home entertain family guests, off to the Eastern shore, back to school for 2 EYE days, then busy in the sweat shop. i've also been scanning the family slides and i found my two favorite birthday pictures from the past. my hair was so white!!!! i was my pop's blondie. you can see him and my other great grandfather in the one picture. i love the dress my mom is wearing in the other picture. i love that neck line as well as that shade of green. i love that everyone was so dressed up to sit in the back yard. i think we kept our dresses on for the first five minutes before they came off.
birthdays at 44 are going to the Y to have the turnstile sing you Happy Birthday and dinner out with my guy!

Charley Harper

today was exam day #2, and i gave my three remaining studio students their questionaire of an exam that i give that simply ask students to respond honestly on how they grew as artist, who inspired them and so forth. In reflection i must say that Charley Harper, who i only discovered this past year, thanks to Todd Oldhamwas my biggest inspiration for my bird party series. i sadly learned today that Charley Harper. passed away over the weekend. I happily learned that Todd Oldham wrote a book on charley that just came out ! I'm going have to ask real nicely for this one for the up and coming bday! You can check it out here.

Creature comforts (talking politicians)

i was motivated after watching tonight' s episode of creature comforts...to look for a good one to post. i thought this one pert-ti-nent...enjoy

Women In Art

thanks jo for putting this to my attention...a great little history in art, amazing transitions....

a new inspiration

i'm finding that one of my difficulties of being a painter, is well, when i don't paint, which i must confess hasn't happened seriously since the painting studio went to the basement in pieces, about 6 months ago, i tend to feel like i'm not an artist. i feel guilty. i feel like i am a phoney studio art teacher and i hate that. but just because i'm not painting doesn't mean i'm not being an artist. i make stuff now. i make bird pillows and tote bags and eye glass cases and pencil and brush cases and aprons....and i draw and plan in my sketchbooks and i do some printmaking..and i try to make all of my units of instruction based around a form of art that i need practice in and i do those assignments, not just to practice but to reinforce why i give such assignments to my students...and to prove that they are possible to do in a certain frame of time in a certain high level of quality. i really love the feeling of production. and production of a well crafted craft! its a different feeling from painting. not as selfish. you think of who is going to wear this apron and how will they put it on and how will they use this pocket and adjust the straps.

it is how artist are i tell myself and my stundets...we go off on tangents, experiment, try new things....but to make what i now do feel the same way, the same satisfied feeling that one feels once completing a successful painting....that is what i'm shooting for.

so thank you design*sponge in introducing people who do the same ...art work, live and make "craft" their art. thanks for introducing Laura Normandin. i love her work. i love how beautiful and simple her "mersey seat" series is. this is some of it here. check the rest of her work and what she does here.

new blogs

after graduation today, I've been mainly sewing and procrastinating by searching on line. i love how the web works..you go to one site and it leads you to hundred...no thousands of others. my most recent finds have been in my looking for crafters in near-by cities...philly is my recent location i found many more links from the Betsy Ross site. as i find those i like i add them to my links for easy assess. having a fascination and a strong attraction to the aesthetics of the 40's to the early 60's.....i am drawn to any thing related to such especially in design. i found a great blog called book-by-its-cover.com. i posted pics from the children's book section that most appeal to me. i love the green and red...i can't seem to get away from these two compliments of The Lollypop Factory by Mary Elting/ Jeanne Bendick. i do not recall this particular book but owning many like i from my childhood. having a teacher for a mother insured you of many books!

the marraige of denise and betsy

so i thought i would make a new dress to wear for graduation tomorrow...have to have someting to look forward to. anyway i bought this great fabric from Denyse Schmidt called Katie Jump Rope - Daisy Bunch, Geranium, from Cia's Palette. i had this great girlie dress pattern from betsy ross. i made some adjustments making the straps a bit wider to pass the dress code. i really love following betsy ross patterns. they are very user friendly with room for adjustments...plus you follow a simple step by step book with hand drawn illustrations !