week 43 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:
I’ve been thinking about my Mother’s treasures lately. This tiny perfume bottle had real gold flecks floating in the fragrance – you could shake it like a snow globe and they would swirl around.
Some strange stems – for new mushrooms- they are getting curvier and curvier.
And a painting – I started 2013 with the intention to draw and paint more (and I definitely have) and another effort in that direction is a class I’m taking with Lilla Rogers Studio. My assignment this week was to create art for plates using botanical imagery ( bromeliads or something similar). I made this little painting and below that you can see my mockup for a set of plates – I named the set Utopia.
week 42 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:
week 41 in my “this is where i am from” year long project: I remember when I was 10 or so, alone in my room, noticing that I was experiencing an exquisite moment. I was lying on my bed reading Anne of Greene Gables. It was late in the day on a Sunday and almost to cold too have the window open- but not quite.
week 40 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:
(click for larger image)
Made to order boats are on sale now through October 1st. Each boat has a little bird pilot. Or you can find a sewing pattern to make your own here.
week 39 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:
I loved halloween. I loved making costumes and my most favorite of all was my big fig newton costume – I was 10 or 11. I spent weeks working on it. The fabric was shimmery and I learned the song and the dance (note the jazz hands). So much fun to make but not so much fun to wear – it was pretty awkward and it rained on halloween that year so I was a soggy, cold, uncomfortable newton.
Owls. And a blue velvet songbird.
I get pretty excited about fall and to celebrate I pulled out my houndstooth wool. I’m also working on a blue velvet songbird and another owl made from a textile from Sri Threads. It is one of my all time most favorite fabrics – I can barely stand to use it. I think if I had miles of it I would never get tired of it. Here’s a closer look – it’s a thick heavy weave and the pattern is incredible.
And I made a little more progress on the songbird.
Another fall ritual for me is taking a group of little birds out to prospect park for a photo ( I do it every spring too). It was a big adventure.
week 38 in my “this is where i am from” year long project: 
When I am frustrated, or stuck or unhappy with my brain I always benefit from constraints and happenstance. That is where I was this week so today I chose a subject: the swamp (the swamp I loved) behind the house I grew up in in Massachusetts and worked with what was on hand: The Sunday Times. As an exercise I recommend it – it worked well for me today – I feel the gears turning again.
A group of little birds – I’m finishing them right now and they’re going to Prospect Park tomorrow for a photo. I’m working on toadstools tonight as well – made from the antique quilt fragments.
And a recently finished piece – Emile – a gentle rat made from mrs. brown’s skirt.
week 37 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:
In the winter of 1976 I had occasion to have dinner with a large group of fully outfitted revolutionary war enthusiasts and re-enactors. I had on plaid russet colored polyester and acrylic elastic waist pants and a slightly shimmery blue polyester shirt with a giant collar that I bought with my own money. It all felt pretty awkward. There was a particularly excruciatingly long moment where I had to stand on the little town hall stage and have my picture taken. I remember wondering “how much worse is this going to get?” and wishing the little stage would swallow me up, and being super into the dudes in costumes. Being 11 is no joke.
week 36 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:
The far northern edge of my map – the high tension lines. There were wild blueberries around the lines and a rocky stream that ran down a long hill. I dug clay out of the stream bed and made useless little things. The stream had a little haphazard bridge over it where it intersected a well used path through the woods and on the other side of that became a little swamp with lilly pads and white lotus flowers.
