thaw

cross your fingers, it feels like winter is breaking.

while motoring around on errands i just had to get out of the car to photograph some shagbark trees.

3x3

what's your lucky number?

find the poodle

can you find the poodle in this picture?

napoleon's there - at the top of the bed. wondering what's up with the new studio digs.


here's another little glimpse of my new studio space.
a gilt tassel on the end of a bench, it matches the chair, which matches the wacky lamps of a few posts back. it also matches a morning glorious mirror. all this gold metal furniture is very over the top and glizty tawdry. i adore shiny things.


a corner of the new studio. a moss green mohair chair that fits me perfectly. that's the thing about chairs the most people never get - a good chair, like a greatt pair of jeans, just fits your ass perfectly.

i'd show you more but the rest is a messy jumble. a nightmare really.

i <3 love

love has wings - it's old, it's trite, it's true.


harlequin


the jester


copper beach


blackbird


darkwing

my favorite bead to make is a winged heart.

happy valentine's day.

a bedroom valentine

i painted a huge floral mural in the old studio bedroom about 10 years ago - it made it an incredibly romantic space.

with simple warm white walls as a base i wildly brushed on layers and layers of thin metallic silver washes that covered the walls with stylized flowers.

i did the whole room in one afternoon.

to get a better idea of scale you can see a wall socket in the lower right hand corner of the picture above.

now, all my carefully collected & curated garage sale furniture is gone. all that's left are the satin and sheer art deco silver metal curtains and the chandelier.

the feel, a sort of voluptuous crustiness, was perfect for me. it was probably the most beloved and comfortable room i have ever had.

homeless bachelors thrown out by their girlfriends have summered there, photographers did shoots here, out of towners came for weddings, some famous musicians stayed the night, and many pairs of lovers were sheltered there.

the new residents are anxious to paint over it, i didn't blink when they started talking about what color they were painting the bedroom, but was devastated to hear it was going to be destroyed.

my romance dismantled.

a message from the tundra

it is freaking freezing here - so cold the kids didn't have school - as in sixteen below zero.

here's a pic of miss margaret at alfred university, where it is even colder, all bundled up and ready for classes. for some reason i find this snapshot of her hysterically funny. perhaps it's the wisps of blond hair that will not be contained or the glamorous sunglasses in stupid february.

you would never guess she's away at art school - snort.


i spent another day boxing up and letting go of studio stuff. today a third van load of furniture left with my favorite antique dealer. tomorrow i start in on the books, so many books so little shelf space.

tonight's burning question is what to do with my yarn stash?
it's completely s.a.b.l.e. (stash amassed beyond life expectancy)

golden suess-ey thing

in the midst of flaying all my possessions from old studio i junked up something for my new studio.

the most amazing vintage, over the top, gold leafed lamp. my husband was appalled and completely stumped, he stood there and said "you can't mean that lamp?"

it's like a giant dr. suess plant that was touched by king midas.

it acutally sort of matches a chair that i already have - and another lamp.

yes, there is a second lamp. different than this one but most certainly made by the same company. i promise to post pics of both lamps when the new studio room is complete - because two of anything make a great pair of earrings.

purgatory

i am purging my studio, and it's not pretty.
yet.

in the mid 80's i lived on the shore of lake ontario.
the day before yesterday i listed my entire hoard of beach glass on ebay.
i couldn't imagine throwing it away.
shouldn't someone want it to make all that jewelery that i never got around to?

the disassembling, packing, moving and ranting goes on.

audubon book

i have a crappy old audubon book that i make bird sketches from.

it is also my project of last resort, when there is nothing else i can do, i draw and paint in it.

my old studio is torn apart and my new studio is non-existent.

i'm nasty sick and my mood is worse.
all i have available to work with is my little bird book and a rotring ink pen.

* the date notations on the bottom of the pages are either days i painted from that image, or worked on that page.

yael naim - new soul
(yes, it's the song from the new mac air commercial)

machine quilting

the best thing you can do for winter depression is to take a class.
learn something = feel alive.

i took a class last week in machine quilting at quilting with margaret.
this is my practice piece of fabric.


you just strap a special foot on your machine called a darning foot and start drawing 900 miles an hour with thread.

yes, it's pretty spastic at first, but quickly things start to take shape.


some lumpy rabbits all in a row.


a bee.

i am still stupid sick - another trip to the doctor's tomorrow.

p/s julia nunes is now up to 3/4 of a million hits on her utube video (below) stunning huh?

into the sunshine

so, here she is again, one of my daughter's oldest friends - julia nunes.

she's featured on utube today - over 180,000 views since this morning! yes, you read that right one hundred and eighty thousand views.



we're all just pishing ourselves over this!