Celebrating gifts of Charley Harper and Cavallini

Growing up in Cincinnati, OH, the work of Charley Harper surrounded me. We lived next to Winton Woods and spent lots of time there as kids; all the park signage was designed by Charley Harper. He lived one suburb over from us. My mom worked part time at her friend's shop - they carried his work and frequently saw he and his wife Edie. As far as I knew, they were 'just' local artists. Little did I know, huh?

Anyhoo, I loved his spare style way back then, when I was too young to get how good it was (and still is). As a teen, I cursed my way through my one and only cross stitch effort, Fishful Thinking, by Edie (see below). To this day it hangs in my parent's living room, more a testament to Edie's keen design than my needle work, ha!

Anyhoo, these days I enjoy collecting any type of Charley Harper item, Christmas ornaments for sure and I was thrilled to add Brrrrrdbath to my tree (see above). I also got the book, Charles Harper's Birds and Words, a recently re-issued book of Harper's own commentary regarding the birds that he drew. It is a gem that every Harper fan should own. Not only does it have so many of his pieces, it is chock full of his humor, just delightful! And I got a Charley Coffee mug which I will use at the store. Nice haul, huh?

If you are unfamiliar with his work, check it out here. Very cool stuff, realistic yet with clean lines and a graphic design aesthetic. I adore it.













Speaking of stuff I love.....
Last night I attended a party with some arty friends. We do a gift exchange and I decided to assemble a group of my own 'favorite things' a la Oprah. Clever me had assembled a few small items that included a Cavallini Notebook, birds of course, indeed one of my favorite things. It was well received by the group then we moved to the next gift, also a Cavallini Notebook plus a tin of Postcards; the next gift was a Calendar; the next another Notebook. It was absolutely hilarious. Like minded souls I suppose.

Happy New Year everyone. Look for the Blue Moon, what an auspicious sign for 2010!!!

Tuckered Out

This little kitty is catching up on his sleep. There have been little kiddos in the house - grand kids followed by my niece and nephew. This little kitty has run and scampered and rolled and jumped and scratched (yeah, I caught him using the tree as a scratching post) and has gotten very little sleep. Because he can.not.miss.any.thing.
Everyone is gone now and Jasper is sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. He is so cute. I want to crawl onto that feather bed and curl up with him because I am exhausted too.
But the peoples of our house have work and parties and more work and more parties. Perhaps 2010 will bring some sleep....

This is your brain on Christmas

Oy, I am fried. I've been working at the store; cranking projects for the book; readying my house for the holidays; shopping; wrapping; baking (ok, not really, that's planned for tomorrow) and preparing for my brother and his family to arrive. I am going so many different directions I truly do run into myself.

All this being prelude to the idiocy of this story you are about to hear. Ahem.

Last night, John was heading off to bed around 10-ish, his usual time as he likes to read in bed for an hour or so before he goes to sleep. Normally (what is normal anyhoo!!?!) I do this too but the last few nights I've stayed up till about 12 or 1 doing one of the items mentioned above and yeah, you can really shop that late if you use the Internet.

Wrapping gifts was on last night's agenda and my office was set up with supplies. I clicked on to my Netflix Instant Queue so I could watch Art 21 (which is the bestest PBS show, you should check it out) while I worked. Both the cats were in and out of my office, rolling around in piles of wrapping debris as cats will do. They were especially interested in the skinny ribbon, the kind that is good for curling.


So, I finished all the packages and breathed a sigh of relief. I decided to shut my office door to prevent the cats from becoming curious during the night and walking all over the gifts, chewing on ribbons, etc. And that's when my 'brain on Christmas' event happened.......I shut Jasper Johns in my office.

Oh lordy, I couldn't find him this morning and that is when I realized the error of my ways. He bolted out of the office like a shot, headed straight for his litter box. I will confess he was a very good boy with the packages, something just short of a miracle. Here is his sweet little face, showing me how innocent he can be......

And, in other news, I received a wonderful gift in the mail the other day, this fabulous purse from my friend Deb Trotter. Deb has signed a licensing contract with Icon (manufacturer of upscale arty shoes & purses) and this is her design on a purse. How cool is that!??!? And how lucky am I to be the gift recipient. In the words of Deb, Yee ha!!!


















Happy Holidays everyone!!!!

On the Easel

This is the painting currently 'on the easel' in my studio. Sadly, it has been there for a few weeks, as have the little ones down on the floor. I've been finishing most of my smaller works while I am at the Store/Gallery. I love the fact I am to paint while I am there and I am getting better at continuing to work while people watch me. At first I would stop what I was doing and talk to them (cause it felt impolite to not talk), but I seriously think they just prefer to watch.

My mirrors have been selling like gang-busters which is cool. I am putting sayings on them now, (of course I forgot to take any pictures), but things like "Beauty is as Beauty does", "You look mahvelous" and my personal fave, "Like what you see."

These days, my works move back and forth between my Common Denominator series and my Abstracts. I find the works are merging together more which has been my intent all along, but it is on the s-l-o-w- train, ha, ha, ha.

My head is all over the place today. You ever have those days? When there are so many ideas fighting for space in your head, it is just crazy? There are Book projects occupying every inch of table space in the studio. I need to bring some to fruition though as it feels a bit wild right now. FUN (and fresh) stuff though and I can't wait to share them all with you.

Happy Monday everybody.

Paper Art

Yesterday on Great Day St. Louis they referred to me as a 'Paper artist'. Ah, how I wish......geez, I am simply a painter as I certainly lack the discipline, dexterity and attention to detail (not to mention patience) to be a Paper Artist. Check out some fabulous ones here.

And yes, the video of my appearance is up! You can see it here. Thanks so much for all the kind words and support. It means sooooo much to me. And thanks to all the talented folks at Great Day - they certainly made me feel at home.

It's a Great Day, St. Louis (I hope.....)

If you're in the St. Louis area, check out Channel 4 (KMOV) at 10am. I am going to be on Great Day St. Louis (wish me well as I am nervous. duh). I'll be doing a Paste Painted Paper Demo and small project.
If you miss it, or you're not local, I believe you can check out this link after the show and see my segment. I don't know how quickly it will be posted.
To sign up for the class at Wood Icing (see sidebar), call the store (or stop by) (636) 536-5345.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis

Very cool animation meets mural.
And I really do need to get to work now (ahem) after messing around on the blasted machine for the past hour.....

Is it really December

As a child I remember adults talking about how quickly time passed and I never quite got it. Especially in December cause it just seemed to drag and drag as I opened the little windows on my Advent calendar, convinced that Christmas was never going to arrive.

And now I move at warp speed. Presumably I am an adult now. Yikes, how did that happen!??!

We had the Grand Opening for the Wood Icing store over the weekend. It was well attended and I am so grateful for my friends who came out, thankyouthankyouthankyou. We made tons of free ornaments with kids and adults I am guessing we may do this all month? You'll have to stop by to see, wink, wink. And yep, I think we can count on Greg to be shooting more free Facebook photos too as that was just too much fun. I wore a reptile headpiece for one of mine. Ahem. It wasn't pretty.

I have updated my sidebar with workshop offerings near and far. I have also posted a link to my December newsletter, so you can click here if you would like to read it and you aren't already on my mailing list.

Cross another one off the list

This is a recently finished commission that I delivered last week. The painting is 30" x 40" on canvas and incorporates a lot of symbolism that is personal to this particular family. Very cool stuff; they were quite inventive in their approach to the process and I think the final result is a testament to their thoughtful involvement. They saw a larger piece of mine (at a show) and asked me to do something similar only with their special collage elements. I was very pleased with how it turned out and I think they are happy too which pleases me immensely.

For the Birds

I am still on this bird kick. Me and half the world I guess; birds remain crazy popular right now and I like working with them. These are my latest, on 9x12 panels. I enjoy working on the rigid surface for a change, it is so different from canvas and even quite different from the claybord I typically use. These are all headed to the store/gallery, that being Wood Icing. One is spoken for already but I could actually see these all hanging together. They are priced at $140 each if anyone is interested, let me know.

Still on the easel is a 30x40 commission that is almost done. And a piece for my brother and his wife, hopefully they aren't reading this. The commission is canvas, the other is claybord - it is interesting moving back and forth between the two, kind of challenging in its own way. Pictures coming soon.

Valley Ridge Registration Opens Monday

I am honored to be teaching at Valley Ridge in 2010. Last year was my first time and it was a special experience that utterly transformed me. It is hard to explain the 'Valley Ridge' experience; it is just such a lovely place to teach and to learn - safe, cozy and comfy, yet also perfectly spacious and beautiful, with nice people and really really good food. I loved it!!

So I can't wait till I am there again in April for back to back classes that are brand new and not being offered anywhere else.

The first one is called Take Three: The Magic of Color Triads is Revealed. This is the class I sooooo wish had been offered to me. I have wasted so much paint over the years, messing around making mud. It took years of study and experimentation for me to gain control over color. This class cuts right to the chase as I share all the things I have learned about color.

My second class is called All on Board for Mixed Media.
In this class we will work on a variety of boards - claybord, gesso board, MDF, wood panel, etc. We'll learn the ins and outs and why you would choose one type over another.

Just click over to the Valley Ridge site and check out the amazing lineup of teachers for yourself. Remember, registration opens Monday, 12/07.

Dance Inspiration

As an artist, I always aspire to do something that has never been done before. You know how it is.....you come up with something you think is so friggin' cool and you start doing it then you pick up a magazine and see 'your' technique. Sometimes I think there is nothing that is truly new. There must certainly be a collective creative vein that runs subconscious throughout every artistic community. Thus what you think is 'yours' has actually been done by tons of people for hundreds of years and, although it will be changed slightly and deemed 'new', it is still very much the same.

Luckily, since we are all individuals with our own specific DNA codes, whatever we do IS precisely ours and no one could ever do it the same way. That is the magic of it all.



So why did I title this blog post about Dance? Well, I continue to be amazed by the dance scene. It seems there are people discovering new things all the time. Hence this dance called Jerking. If you click on the link, you will see a slide show by the NY Times that explains the street gang origins of this young dance. Is it really new? I don't know and I don't really care. I mainly admire the ingenuity of these street kids and am influenced by their spontaneity and energy, just as I am influenced by anything r-a-w. Graffiti for instance. Love it!! And I am certainly not the first to explore it.

Here are a couple of my new pieces, graffiti and dance and bird inspired. My obsession with spray paint continues, as you can see. I built up the texture with tissue paper, not the way you might think, but I got really goopy with it, made snakes with tissue and gel medium. I especially like the family piece.

ps.....if you like these stencils, you can get them here from the fabulous Ginny Carter Smallenburg.

Hey Mr. Postman

I've been a crafting diva today, making envelopes out of old calendar pages. It started simply enough.....I wanted to send postcards for my holiday gigs to my collectors. I had 2 postcards to send, one from a gallery and the other was a listing of places my work is available right now. I got all my addresses together, found postage and ugh, wouldn't you know it - I did not have any 6x9 envelopes.

I had previously promised myself that I was not leaving the house today because I desperately needed to nest with John and the kitties. So, I rummaged around in the studio and found these old calendars, dating back nearly 10 years. Can you say 'pack rat'? Ahem. At least I was able to find them, ha!

Anyhoo, here is the stack, ready to go out in tomorrow's mail. I am hopeful they will bring a smile to the recipient's face.

Puzzling People

We are puzzle people. Jigsaw puzzles to be specific, where all ages of family cluster around the table, shoulders hunched, working as a team. It is good clean fun and I have an entire table in my living room devoted to our puzzle madness. It is so bad we get 'puzzle neck.'

Our vacation this year involved a puzzle. Of course. Sure we were at the beach, but it gets dark and you gotta come in at some point. Our friends brought this monster puzzle of ocean life. It was absolutely the coolest thing ever, 3,000 pieces that were incredibly similar, or so it seemed. The size was exactly the same as the dining table in our beach house. Good thing your lap can hold a plate, huh? Cause the table was quickly converted to Puzzle Central. Certain people (names not shown to protect the guilty) were at the table when I went to bed and were still there when I woke up.

Yesterday we got the coolest gift ever from recent house guests, Chris & Debbie. They were collaborators in the beach house vacation so they know of our puzzle mania, or is that addiction, ahem. Chris and I finished a big 'hot air balloon' puzzle while they were here. We're kinda related to Chris and Debbie - Chris is the brother of my step son-in-law (how is that for convoluted?). Anyway, we adore them and would actually choose them as relatives, you know what I mean?

But I digress. They sent us this uber cool gift, a puzzle of our house and surrounding land. It is waaaayyyyy cool. Looks really hard too. You can check out this company to order one cause this would make a perfect holiday gift.
(no affiliation, bbb, just a neato product that I wanted to share)

Wood Icing is Here!

Wood Icing is now open at Chesterfield Mall in Chesterfield, MO. We are part gallery, part classroom space, part frame shop. We have instructors who specialize in a variety of media including Mixed media collage, Acrylic painting, Faux Finishing of furniture and cabinetry, Photoshop and Digital Photography.

We have lots of fun gift ideas in all price ranges. Some artsy wall art, supplies, such as stencils and rubber stamps, fantastic photography. I have my line of Reproductions and Greeting cards for sale. My friend Heather has her adorable tree necklaces - among other things, of course! We will have guest artists join us during weekends through the holidays.

Come visit!!! You will enter the mall near Houlihan's and you can find us on the upper level by Sears. Open Wed - Sat from 11- 8 and Sunday from 11-6; closed Monday and Tuesday.

Dance keeps you young

Love this!!! She is apparently 80 years old? One report says she is 92. I heard the guy is her grandson.
Thanks to my friend Marian for sharing this.

Where Women Create

I don't believe I have ever 'plugged' a magazine here on my blog, but I guess the time has come.....I have been browsing through the pages of Where Women Create and simply put, I can.not.get.enough. I swear I am salivating as I turn the pages.

This issue features, among others, the amazing Patience Brewster, Winslow's Home and Janice Lowry. Go buy it. Now.
Then come back here and let's talk.

Ok, first, Patience Brewster. Oh my. I have bought her cards for years but I rarely give them away because I can't part with them. I lost site of her for awhile, but found her again recently. Her story tugs at my heart strings. I lovelovelove her art so very much, she is a modern day Beatrix Potter of sorts or at least it seems that way to me. The delicate nature of her illustrations is just so special; if you know me well, you probably realize that I like animals more than lots of people. I sense this coming through in the work of Patience Brewster. She seems like a beautiful human being, both inside and out.

Winslow's Home is a store here in St. Louis. It is enchanting, like entering a kinder and more gentile era. Daft as I sometimes am(it is on their sign, duh), I didn't realize there was also a farm. They are the vision of Ann Sheehan Lipton - I am so glad her her store is in St. Louis, how sweet is that!?!? Reading her story makes me want to chuck it all to raise chickens and plant vegetables.

And finally, the legacy of Janice Lowry is celebrated. Obviously, the magazine didn't realize she would die before their feature was published. All I can say is that I am grateful the feature was written and so many glorious pictures were taken. She must have been a truly amazing woman. What an incredible tribute to her life's work.

So, if you are still here, go buy the magazine already. There is so much more that I haven't mentioned. True eye candy. Try not to slobber on your copy.

(ps.....I have no affiliation, wasn't paid to say this, blahblahblah....its just a great mag)

Extreme Sheep LED Art

You gotta love it! The site of sheep in lighted blankets just cracks me up. And they are so compliant. Good fun for a Thursday. Thanks to Art Fair Insiders for tipping me off to this.

Artsy Fartsy

I had a lovely weekend at home (yippeeee) filled with all sorts of arty events. Friday started off with a play, Secret Order at The Studio. We met up with a group of friends for dinner which included a flight in incredible Zinfandel wines. I loved 'Nine x Nine' Old Vine Zin 06 from Lodi. I am going to see if I can find a bottle or two today; it was so fruity and jammy you could roll it around in your mouth, yumyumyum.

Saturday I met up with my dear dear friend Theresa, who has been part of my life for nearly 20 years. She is the kind of friend who knows where all the bodies are buried (joke) and still loves me anyway. We have been thru thick and thin, but have found ourselves at different places in recent years. So it felt especially good to connect. We roamed around an Artist's Boutique where I got earrings (ok, I should have been buying gifts, but I did that too!!!) from the incredible Diane Balber. The ones I got are oxidized silver yet they have some teeny tiny pearls on them, a great blend of classic and funky. Diane has such a great sense of style, I adore her.

Saturday night I went to see THIS (obviously I wasn't in Santa Rosa, but I thought this video captured the energy of the show Claire and I saw)!!!!


Sunday was 'stay at home' day with my sweetie pie John. We took a nice walk, I made art, he watched football, then we cooked dinner together. A perfect day, just divine. I cooked scallops in the cookware that we just got from Costco. Geez, this stuff is a deal!! Exceptional quality for such a reasonable cost.

So join me in a collective ahhhhh of thanks.....for such a restorative weekend.

Why oh why

Seems like this Photoshop class is bringing out my secrets. Today I will confess to liking dead flowers (and yeah, I love them when they are living too!). I put them on my scanner and also take pictures of them. Not all flowers look cool dead, but I especially like tulips as they assume a completely new persona.

I am off to 'The Mall' again today. I haven't talked about this, but an announcement is coming very very soon, word of a new retail and B-I-G classroom space right here in Chesterfield, MO. And lest you think we have left you out if you don't live in STL, there is a gorgeous Drury Inn so close you could throw a rock. So I feel sure you will want to organize your arty get together with us. Stay tuned......