No, I haven’t taken up smoking…

July 7, 2008

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…but I’ve been collecting retro melamine ashtrays that make great brush/water holders for painting. And they come in great colors (I have bigger yellow and green ones at my studio.)

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This is a small one, which is good for travel, especially on a boat where your brushes might roll overboard. The watercolor pencils roll also, but at least they float when they hit the water, so you have time to dive in and retrieve them.

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Also for travel, I like using old watercolor tins to carry small brushes. They work better than anything new I can find, and add a nice flavor to the process.

Filed Under journeys, painting, process | 6 Comments 

Acrylic Ink Sketches

June 30, 2008

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Doing some sketches for new ideas. I love using these acrylic inks by Daler-Rowney, especially the pearlescent ones. And who could resist with great names for colors like Waterfall Green, Galactic Blue, or Hot Mama Red?

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Filed Under drawings, mixed media, painting, process | 2 Comments 

Open Space, New Projects and Fear

June 28, 2008

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When I redid my office, I wanted a blank slate — with big project tables and open space to think up new projects. Then I saw a documentary about the architecture of a traditional Japanese house, and I understood what I had been striving for. There is no assigned function for rooms. The objects that are brought into the space define the function of the space.

Here’s one of my project tables, a little cluttered, but flexible space to work. Glass shelves held up by glass bricks, a piece of rusty metal for a magnet board. I’m thinking about painting the wall with magnetic paint (actually it’s not magnetic, it just makes the wall metallic so that magnets stick to it. Anyone tried that stuff?) But I don’t want to hang art on it. I like the white wall, like cloud, like a dream that hasn’t yet developed.

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On the other project table, I’ve brought in a small pin board to study my research. The internet is great for research, I especially am loving Flickr for inspirational photos. Photos like this or these. I don’t copy the photos into my art, only use them as inspiration for things to draw.

Working with new ideas is fun, exciting, but also scary. I wonder if I can really make my crazy ideas work… they seem pretty good in my head, but when I try to write about them or make them real, not sure how well that’s going to work.

Filed Under Inspiration, process, studio | 3 Comments 

Postcards from the Past

June 27, 2008

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These are some old postcards from my collection that have always intrigued me. I’ve always been fascinated by old monuments and far-away places, so I’m excited to get started on a new series…Today!!

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Filed Under Inspiration | 2 Comments 

ThreadLines 2008 deadline approaches

June 5, 2008

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It’s fun to get snail mail these days when most everything comes by email. The best part is looking at all the beautiful stamps and interesting postmarks.

The entries are starting pile up for the ThreadLines 2008 exhibition. Tomorrow should be another heavy day for the mailman, since it’s the final deadline. I told him not to worry, next week should be much lighter. He said he still likes our building best, because it has a friendly dog.

Do you recognize your stamps?

Filed Under exhibitions | 4 Comments 

Sew “Modern” vintage sewing machine

May 26, 2008

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As promised, here’s my prize snag at the 51st Brownsville flea market and craft festival. It’s a Modern sewing machine made in Japan, and actually my eagle-eyed husband spotted it sitting inside an ugly white plastic case in the mud just outside of a woman’s tent who said it belonged to her mother. Rather than carry it back to her car at the end of the festival, she sold it cheap. And luckily for me, my husband agreed to carry it to our truck.
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Filed Under technology | 20 Comments 

Moving a Sculpture, or this weekend reminds me why I make quilts

May 25, 2008

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We finally got back up to Omaha to pick up this sculpture purchased at the Bemis Art Auction last fall. It will be a fun Memorial weekend project to move it back home for our new sculpture garden collection.

bemis2.jpg It’s very heavy and awkward to move — took six guys to drag it to the edge of the loading dock at the Bemis, before it could be lifted with a fork truck. Opps, lost a wheel. bemis3.jpg

bemis4.jpg Actually it the end, it worked better to take off all the wheels and load them separately. bemis5.jpg

Oh well, if the wheels really worked, it would just spin in a circle anyway. The sculpture is very heavy and now the truck and trailer is difficult to drive on the highway. Although it was a beautiful evening in old downtown Omaha last night, today the forecast is for heavy storms, wind and hail. Should be a exciting trip home!

Also stopped yesterday at the 51st Brownsville, NE historic flea market and craft festival. Wait till you see what I got there…

Filed Under other artists, sculpture | 2 Comments 

Creative To Do Lists

May 22, 2008

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Since recently I’ve had little time to make art, I got the idea to make creative to-do lists in my moleskine. The idea was to do an experimental page each morning, and since it was only a to-do list, I felt no inhibitions about creating a great work of art. It was merely a chance to experiment with different media.

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Each day that I did a new page, I immediately felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and was able to go about my day with new energy. Now I’m trying to decide if I should continue the habit. Am I the only one who is constantly tinkering with my schedule, hoping to find the perfect creative routine?

Filed Under mixed media | 7 Comments 

Portable Drawing Door Table

May 12, 2008

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Now that the really hard physical work is over, we’re having fun arranging areas of the newly renovated offices and gallery.

Here’s a drawing desk I built using an old black door and some dusty sawhorses I found in the warehouse. I like that the hinges are still attached (except when I busted my ankle on one as I was moving the door into the room). The door knob is still attached to the other side, which makes is easy to carry around.

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Last week while I was recuperating from the painting marathon, I decided to do a to-do-list drawing or collage (more on that tomorrow) each day along with the silly rule that I couldn’t open my laptop until it was done.

We know how well that worked — I’m way behind on emails and blog posts. That silly rule is hereby tossed out the window, and this week I’ll try to remedy my email backlog.

Filed Under drawings, studio | 5 Comments 

And Now for Something Completely Different

May 11, 2008

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At our old house, we had a fish pond with lots of beautiful koi fish with names like Casper, Skeletor, Wabi, Goldilocks, and the Sharkey Brothers. One day a fish appeared, it wasn’t a koi so we suspected that someone who had tired of their aquarium had graced our pond during the night with this contribution.

We named the fish Nessie, because it only appeared close to the surface infrequently, maybe once a month, like the mysterious Loch Ness Monster. When Nessie did appear, she would swim sideways. Someone told me this might be due to a problem with her air-bladder — something I guess fish have to help them move through water?

Anyway, sometimes I think artists are a little like Nessie. They disappear sometimes for a long time, and then when they do appear, they swim sideways.

I guess I’ve been on the bottom of the pond, probably for longer than ever since I started this blog about three years ago. Now I’ll try to get you caught up, and to start off, we’re doing something completely different….

white paint. Those of you who have been to the studio know it was packed full to gills with color. Now it’s going all white. As in White.

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Filed Under studio | 3 Comments 

Boutique Hotel for Pets and other SF Adventures

April 26, 2008

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I love staying at boutique hotels with flavor. This one is pet-friendly, and sorry that we couldn’t bring the pooch, when I saw this doggie-size vintage truck bed. It took traveling halfway across the country for me to realize my dog has been so deprived of art furniture, but this will have to be remedied upon the return home!

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A quick stop at Japan town turned long, as usual, with lots of perusing of pockets of interest at one of our favorite stores, Soko Hardware. With pockets and bags weighed down from speciality Japanese tools and dishes, we toured the rest of the district, happily it looks much revived and alive compared to last visit.

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Fancy cakes were tempting, maybe more for drawing than eating, but in the end, selected a Geisha Float by a Fake Waterful.

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The day wrapped up with a fancy-pants dinner at the SFMOMA. Here’s a shot from looking up from the lobby, which is where the dinner was held. That colorful spot is “One Way Color Tunnel” by Olafur Eliasson on the fifth floor that is beautiful purple-blue-pink going one direction, and gray on the return. Mystery how it works, but I was a real chicken about walking on the grid five floors over space so didn’t take too long to consider it.

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Filed Under journeys | 7 Comments 

Mosiacs at Dallas International Terminal D

April 25, 2008

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Never had much chance in Dallas to look at at art, but a three-hour layover gave me plenty of time to study a big collection of what they tell me is eight million dollars of public art installed at the International Terminal D.

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I especially enjoyed a series of mosaics in the floor. These are photos of Jane Helslander’s “Floating in Space: A Waltz.” What is it about mosaics that are so intriquing? Is it the way the tiny fragments fit together to make a bigger image?

Here are some more photos on Flickr.

Filed Under journeys, other artists | 3 Comments 

Studio Makeover Continues

April 20, 2008

red_lamp2.jpg Here’s the retro red lamp I found at a flea market yesterday. As the new bamboo floor goes in, I’m getting more and more excited about the possibilties of the new aesthetic that we can play around with in our front offices.

My office is finished! because the floor guy was a real sweetheart and agreed to work all weekend to try to finish up.

Now what to do with the walls? As you can see, the bottom of the walls have been patched after damage from the flood, but the color is the old style. We were thinking white walls, but that may be too bland. Also the doors have to be replaced.

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In case you don’t remember, this was the old floor before the floor machine crunched it up into little bits. Pretty active, that’s why the intense wall colors.

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I’m loving this new floor and have been walking around in my socks and sitting in the empty rooms. The floor and the glue used to put it down are green — a sustainable strand bamboo from Canada called “Synergy.”

Filed Under studio | 5 Comments 

Why I Love Spring: by Guest Blogger Mochi

April 18, 2008

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grass — springy, boingy green grass
fuzzy balls flying through the air
worms and bugs, but especially worms
crazy birds and baby squirrels
good smelling wind in the trees
warm sun on the patio
late evenings in the yard with light in the sky
late night walks in the dark
my new pink polka-dot collar
but especially flying fuzzy balls
when they don’t hit the cars in the next door parking lot

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Filed Under mochi | 3 Comments 

Studio Article in Cloth Paper Scissors

April 13, 2008

cps_studios1.jpg I can’t believe April is already half over, and I haven’t yet told you about this article. Last December Patricia Bolton asked me to submit some information about my studio for a special edition of the magazine Cloth Paper Scissors.

Having a lot photos for this blog and just general shutter-bugitis, I sent some in with a brief written tour.

cps_studios3.jpgcps_studios2.jpgSo here’s the result. You can pick up a copy at bookstores, or order online here. There’s lots of fabulous studios featured, I’m loving Jane Davila’s studio and of course, Sara Lechner’s — had to crack up at her story of buying 75 sets of shelves. And I thought I was crazy!

Also lots of great organizational tips for studios. Seems ironic that the article would come out just as we’re trying to finish up renovating the front of what CPS calls the “art factory,” but never fear — the part in the magazine remains true to the photos, so you’ll be seeing the real deal.

Meanwhile I’m sooo excited, can hardly wait until tomorrow when they will start installing the new bamboo floor in the front offices. Hope the finished product is worth all the agony of moving out again and the dust and noise.

We’re going for a complete change of aesthetic — more like a gallery feel, so it will be fun to have something different and better for photographing art than the old orange-black floor (it has been Halloween 24-7 for eight years — enough already!)

Filed Under media, studio | 12 Comments 


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