birdie chair

well i actually painted my chair yesterday while watchng "notes on a scandal"....therefore i had to paint something cheerie to take up for the evil judy dench. anyway i tried to make my birdies in an uncompromising position.

de ja' vu

so, yesterday , my friend Alessandra and I were talking about finding so many designers out there that are stealing our ideas...not literally, but feeling like as soon as we get a certain idea, we find someone else doing it. like a strange de ja' vu or iconic vision. are there so many of us on the same page? as a painter i was always looking at mentor artists for ideas but was always able to come up with my own ideas that could be associated with other artists, but never felt like i was copying what i saw. but this new art of craft has this face so familiar that we all see the same thing? not really sure how to put what i'm thinking...but we all do sketches...we look and see and find tons of work we love....certain subjects, especially birds are big now....i absolutly love them..hence my new bird line. but making new images without feeling like i'm copying is getting quite tough in this field. anyway, here are some great pillow by threesheets that were posted on design*sponge, by another jenny....i really love these even though they remind me , perhaps too much like Lucienne Day as well as many of my doodles in my sketchbook. You can check out more about Lucienne Day here.

the meekins chair

here is yet another chair design by PHS alumni David Meekins, class of '05. nice padding dave!

flower chair

another one of our chair-e-ty entries from a PHS alumni , Annett Deamond, '70! flower power !!! we could use some of that now!

looking for new peoples

design*sponge posted work by one of her favorite Brooklyn artists:dan-ah Kim. my students should all look at her silkscreens....since this is what they are doing now ...so go look and get inspired! now

waiting for louie

so i'm very depressed having to take louie to the vet and having him stay there until friday. vets should have visiting rooms and petting times so i can go visit and see him. ...give him scratchies and listen to his stories. louie is a big talker. poor chuckie is moaping around, with the rest of us. there there Chucks, louie will be home soon!

Tricia's Chair

Here is the first chair pics that I've received for our chair-e-ty next Thursday. I love the fact that the wooden parts show through in the negative. Nice Job Tricia!

chair-e-ty...save the date!

save the date for May 3rd....Parkville HS is having a chair-e-ty to raise money for our art scholarship fund. we keep churning out more and more future art students, many actually wanting to be art teachers, so we thought we would try to raise our amounts of what we give to our very hard working dedicated, graduating art students. the chair-e-ty is an auction of wooden "retired" chairs that have been artistically manipulated by Parkville High Alumni Artists, as well as staff and area artists. Carroll Cook, photo teacher at the Carver Center for the Arts, is celebrating his 40th. high school reunion by being our guest speaker, as well as one of the chair artist. Other chair artists include Jonathon Maxwell,Duane Sabiston,Marcia Metzler,Denise Webster,Tricia Lane, James Bullough,Christina Gagliano,Angie Dunn,John Deamond, Annett Deamond, Becca Bridges, Amy Reid, Ben Plum, Dave Meekins, Chelsea Grubbs, and current art staff of PHS, myself, Anne Talman, Jim Hesser, Ryan Twentey and Paul Pavik. Chairs will be auctioned via silent auction that will end at 8:30 that evening. Carroll speaks at 7PM, doors open at 6:30. Student artwork will also be displayed...and of course we will also provide refreshments! I will post pictures of chairs as we receive them.

the new sweat shop

this is the busy busy time of year in which a hundred things happen all at once. i wanted to back track a little and show pics of my new sweat shop. the french yellow mustard color has been so uplifting...it's become a favorite of louie's too!

letter press horray!

Tricia and I just got back from our letterpress extravaganza in Brooklyn NY and became instantly addicted! Now I need to really sell some stuff so I can buy a letterpress! We printed our first set of cards. We’re planning on selling the set as a mixed set of four cards; two from each of us. Kelly was such a sweetheart. We’re hoping to go back up for edition number 2 in the fall.

Tea Towels

doing a little research on printed tea towels..just bought some retro dishtowel yardage to make my own tea towel design. here are some of my favorites i plan to use for inspiration:

MichelleBrusegaard
earth dish towels
artgoodies
rockpaperscissorsart
MrPS

ham on the brain

so i've been promoted to Easter entertainer for the family...and also appointed ham queen. i'm up for it just never cooked a ham before. i hear it's easy...you're simply re-heating it...get the spiral cut...get the honey glaze....do i put pineapple on it?? Remembering those ham feast pictures with the woman in her glamorous apron and hair do with the beautiful ham with anointed pineapple rings. We’ve finished painting and our rooms..new bedroom and sewing room/office. Awaiting fabric I ordered from cia's. oh so exciting.
Once I’m done I’ll post pics. Otherwise, any advice on the ham…dearly needed please!

a little braggin'

decided to take a break from painting my sewing room/office to check in on some chores i have to do like beginning to take digitals of my AP students work. looked on my iphoto to find these janet fish copies we did in class. each student had a section to study and blow-up. the final murals look great! the final size is 40" X 60" for both. still trying to find some plexi that won't cost an arm and a leg to put these up at school. any suggestions?

for Tricia

Spent today switching rooms as well as painting our new bedroom. Will posts pics soon. only had an instant to make a post. started doing some quick searching and found this beaut. Tricia and I were talking about how to present fiber pieces and she mentioned something about framing fibers with embroidery hoops. found this on happy mundane blog.

Paint Explosive!

Check out this ad that was posted on design sponge yesterday...very cool! paint explosions!

a new site

A new discovery...make's blog. , the winning blog for best craft for 2007! where I found today's posts on British artist Benedict Radcliffe who created this amazing, full-scale sculpture of a Subaru Impreza. It looks like a computer model overlayed on a street photo, but it's real, complete with Yokohama wire frame tires.

Apparently local traffic cops weren't pleased that the art was parked outside of the gallery on the street, as over the course of a few days, it was issued a few parking tickets!

pass it on

Check out bookhou. for these great bags, pillows, furniture, etc.

drawings for letter press ideas

had a great day with my sketchbook as well as being lazy in front of the big flat screen. these are the two favorite ideas for now.
i love snow days!!!!

snow day dreaming

another snow day off! i love these unexpected days off. you learn to convince yourself that the weatherman is wrong the night before so you don't get your hopes up. you set your coffeemaker, do your homework(sometimes) and set the alarm...hit the snooze as you usually do, not looking out the window yet.do the very sleepy eye walk to the computer to check your email for the school's out email...and there it was. Schools closed due to inclement weather! i try to sleep but that coffee aroma wakes me up and I know it will turn itself off at 8:10AM. So i'm up at 8:15 for a stale cup of coffee and some jenny time in my studio space. we're in the process of moving me. i need a separate space between painting and sewing. so painting is going in the basement, where it probaly should have been from the get go. I am currently in the master bedroom. so we are moving our bedroom to its rightful place and i will be taking our curent bedroom for my sewing room/office. its very exciting but moving slowly. i really want to go back to my sewing machine. i keep thinking about new apron designs. something faster yet still having that vintage look. i was looking at angry chicken this morning at her tie one on post. thinking about Joyce Cheney's too expensive to afford book on aprons Aprons-Icons of the American Home. These aprons are my favorites...really love the chickens!

Letter Press ideas

thanks to my buddy tricia and her friend kelly blair., i get to do my first letterpress . this being a new process for me i did lots of research.
thanks todesign sponge. for posting a wonderful guide for letterpress. Here are some of my favorites.
HelloLucky.
Firecrackerpress.
SugarBeanPress.
PaperCupDesign.

chairs on the brain

I really love designsponge...on certain days I feel like she is reading my mind.I am sponsoring a chair-e-ty at my school. Our school decided to replace the old 50's metal and wooden chairs with these horrible plastic and metal chairs. I know the later will not last as long as the original chairs endured. I've invited alumni students of Parkville High School as well as alumni faculty along with other artist/teachers. I'm excited about this event. Anyway, after a day teaching and organazing and chairs on my brain...design sponge shares a site on this amazing sculptor Doris Salcedo. ms. salcedo is a colombian sculptor who often uses furniture in her work. the installation above was created for the international istanbul biennale in 2003 and included over 1550 chairs stacked between two city buildings.