Whose Idea was This?

March 10, 2008

Daylight savings time, arggh! It was awfully dark and hard to get out of bed this morning…

Dog Cookies, Psychic Readings, and Snowmen

March 8, 2008

Either I’ve been reluctant to post lately because of a lack of images or because I’ve just been plain lazy (more likely). To make up here are a few tidbits from my neighborhood. There’s a new pet store in town, and they have dog cookies that look better than people cookies! This is also the place where Mochi got her new pink-polka-dot collar and leash, so that will probably be appearing in a drawing soon!

One of my favorite landmarks on the drive to our studio has closed, and I’m regretting that I never got up the courage to go inside, although I was sure it would make excellent material for some art. Don’t let the “open” sign fool you, there’s no one there anymore. As Russ says, you’d think they would have seen this coming?

I did however stop to take photos for future reference, and maybe if the building doesn’t sell soon and it gets warmer outside, I can do some drawings through the windows.

And best of all, we had a lovely snowfall this week — which was a nice reprieve from all the ice storms lately. We even got home early enough to build a snow man next to the sculpture in the front yard.

Mochi helped by biting off the carrot buttons. Now there’s a dog who loves her veggies!

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I have a theory…

February 20, 2008

Inspired by Illustration Friday and my friendly neighborhood moths. For related drawing, see yesterday’s post another moth-eaten sweater.

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Valentine

February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine’s Day!
And now that I’m home, I’ll post some photos tomorrow and see if you can guess where I’ve been!

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More Distressed Jean Projects

January 24, 2008

Yikes, someone dropped a plane-load of relatives off at our house over the MLK weekend, so it was off to the studio for Distressed Jeans 201 (for 101 see this post two years ago.)

Heather picked pink stars to spell her name and the Japanese symbol for Love, but I was a little surprised when Sol picked a Jane Sassaman fabric to wrap his name around the leg of his jeans…

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Evidence of Ghosts

October 31, 2007

After bringing the scaffolding home from the studio, rigging an old sushi restaurant sign on top, and lighting it for two nights, the neighborhood was primed for the KaBOOki HauNted SuSHi BaR.

We got around 600+ kids and lots of curious adults. It was great fun to have them explain their costumes before they ordered from the sushi bar, and actually turned into a long line for most the evening. Lots of ninja, goth cheerleaders, spider men and women, and a few chickens and dinosaurs.

Not many people have a Hoshizaki sushi cooler to serve candy. For the kids who actually WANTED sushi, I had to explain the chef called in sick, and we only had candy and cookies.

After most of the trick-or-treaters left, a ghost visited our house. I got this photo as evidence, but later found out the ghost was actually a remote-control invention built on a wheelchair base. I guess craziness attracts craziness. But what do you expect from a girl in a retro kimono, ghoul face, and swiss cheese watch?

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KaBOOki: The HAunTed SusHI BaR

October 31, 2007

We’re getting the snakes out for Halloween this year. I made these a few years ago — not sure what inspired me to create 30 foot long snakes but I guess living with a sculptor makes me want to work BIG. They are stuffed with foam packing peanuts, so they sound a little crunchy.

This year’s Halloween theme is KaBOOki: the HAunTed SusHI BaR. On the menu: squirrmy wormmy sushi rolls, miserable miso soup, Frankenstein tofu, ghastly green tea, and whatever else I can cook up, hehe.

Just kidding, we have lots of candy for the kids. LOTS of candy — we’ll probably get 500+ kids if the weather is nice. More pix later!

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Tagged again

October 23, 2007

I’ve been tagged again by Thelma and Jane. This happened to me earlier this summer, and I blew it off, so now I’m trying to make amends. Also I’m tagging Judy, Susan, Cynthia, Roz, Susie, Sandy, and Joanie they don’t seem to have been tagged yet, and they seem like good sports. Apparently you have to list 7 odd things about yourself, and pass it on to the next seven:

1. When I was a kid I used to obsessively draw and collect ladybugs.

2. I spent all day on this stupid ladybug. (Okay, there was also lots of blog surfing, reading Photoshop tutorials, and checking the mailbox for a show rejection I’m expecting. Oh yeah, and that emergency trip to Barnes and Noble to look at books, and then there was that hour that I spent trying to draw my brain…)

3. I don’t like donuts, except for the white powdered mini ones that are full of chemicals that I buy at gas station shops (I do squeeze them first to see if they are remotely fresh.)

4. I like to look at Japanese craft books, although I can’t read them.

5. Sometimes, okay a lot of times, I accidentally swallow my gum. My husband says it’s building up inside my stomach, and someday I’ll explode.

6. I am just relearning how to use Layers in Photoshop because somehow I forgot everything I knew.

7. My brain is like a funnel. It takes a lot in, but there seems to be a leak.

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Thread Said

June 2, 2007

I’ve been having lots of ideas for new things to try, and here’s another doodle — I’m calling it the Thread Said series. Don’t know where it’s going though, just playing around. I think it’s important to play, and summer seems like a good time to do it.

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The Artist Statement

June 1, 2007

Sherrie asked what I meant by “Artist Statement” in the last post. It’s not a silly question — I didn’t know what one was before I started entering shows a few years ago. But you get asked for them a lot, sometimes in the entry form, or later, if you’re accepted into the show. There are also lots of other ways to use an artist statement.

I like what Ariane Goodwin says about it, “Most importantly, an artist statement enriches an artist’s connection to their work….Understanding and naming what we do through language is not to have the beauty or mystery dismantled; though, as artists, we often fear this.” Alyson B. Stanfield also offers an e-book and consulting on her website to help you write one.

Usually they’re short, but I just entered a show that allowed an artist statement of up to 500 words, so I used them all. I’d been writing stuff on planes for the last month, so I had lots of words to choose from. Planes are a good place to write stuff you’ve been putting off, because you’re trapped, there’s no escape!

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Habitat for Birds

May 4, 2007

Recently I made friends with Carla through her cool shop called Patische Decor. I love her shop, so I keep going there to buy gifts for people, but it’s just an excuse to hang out and soak up the atmosphere. Tonight Carla is hosting an auction of artist-designed bird houses to raise money for Habitats for Humanity, so I donated mine.

I made this bird house a couple of years ago while my niece was visiting. When I showed her this book of funky projects, she liked the idea of decorating bird houses, so we bought a couple and each did our own thing. Mine is covered with French tomato juice labels and stamped with Japanese kanji for hope, love, and prosperity. The little border garden is made of shells.

Although I love the house, it’s just another thing gathering dust — I even put it in this quilt as one of those things that is mysteriously cluttering up my house. I’m finding it’s nice to give these things away.

There are probably 25 bird houses decorated with everything imaginable– from bottle caps to coffee beans. Chandler made this stripey one, with clever legs made out of coat hooks. Too bad I can’t be at the auction tonight. Carla said she may get a bag of feathers and toss them all over the shop. I love the way she thinks! I wish she’d come decorate my house, minus the bird feathers.

Update: There were 32 bird houses, and the auction raised over a thousand dollars for Habit for Humanity. Yay!

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Alaska Special Delivery

April 30, 2007

A beautifully wrapped package arrived this weekend, and I can’t decide what’s better — the wrapping or the contents. As for the wrapping, I’ve never seen such a creative job, especially the magic cloth on the outside. How do I know it’s magic? It’s covered in magic sparkles, that’s how.

But the contents are really better. Fabric, lots of it. And whoever sent it must have known I’m still working on my pink and blue quilt. Thanks my Alaskan friend, Debra! Don’t get cold feet, check out her beautiful gallery of quilts!

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Pin Cushion Genius!

April 16, 2007

I have many wrist-pincushions that I’ve tried over the past few years. One came from discount sewing stores and are uncomfortable and ugly. (although Kayne always wore the same one on Project Runway.) I had great hopes for the one I got from a French sewing company last fall. But alas, it’s very heavy on top and always rolls to the backside of my wrist, and the pins make a strange pattern due to the circular magnetic field.

But none comes close to how great this one that Julian made for me. It’s light, balanced, easy to snap on and off with the top-secret Julian wrist band. And it’s made with wonderful colored fabrics. Thanks Julian!

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Support Art Teachers

March 11, 2007

This is a T-shirt Russ often wears at sculpture installations. Although Russ and I aren’t teachers, we’ve always done what little we could to support art teachers in our area — things like giving poster board for school art exhibitions, helping facilitate school art exchanges with other countries, and when school budgets are being cut, helping run a campaign for a friend to get on the school board and support the arts.

So even though our studio is not in top form, when the Missouri Art Education Association still wanted to tour the studio last weekend as part of their annual conference, we worked hard to make it good for them.

I was pleased to find out the teachers worked with all ages…grade school through college. After the tour, we attended their banquet, met some great folks, and it was fun to read through the schedule for the whole weekend — tons of workshops to inspire creativity and introduce new techniques to take back to students.

There were 470 teachers at the conference this year. These conferences are good for the teachers, especially some who are the lone art teacher in a school, or even for several schools, since some budgets are so low teachers travel to two or more. What I didn’t realize until talking to several teachers is they feel like they are last area in schools to encourage creativity in our kids. Other curriculum teachers are working so hard to get ready for tests that are now mandated by the government, that they no longer have time for any creative learning projects such as pen pal exchanges with other cultures.

My reaction to this was surprise and sadness. How do kids deal with this kind of rigid environment? Since I was a kid who started in a non-traditional school atmosphere and had a hard time dealing with the transition to public schools, it was only the special and creative projects that helped me hang on. It seems inevitable there will be more dropouts and rebellion — and on the other hand, the loss creativity and innovation in our kids is something our country will severely regret.

Anyway, try to support your local art teachers. They need all the help they can get!

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Refrigerator Art

January 7, 2007

Around here we celebrate the New Year’s most all of January. Some people make New Year’s resolutions on January one, but I usually have to start with something like a rough sketch and fiddle around with it for the whole month.

This arrangement is on a refrigerator in our kitchen. I’ve covered it with magnetic letters that I got at a vintage salvage place in Chattanooga called “Estate of Confusion.” The magnetic letters were all brown, so I sprayed them with Krylon paint. At the center is the schedule of classes (aerobic, step, spinning, combat) at the gym near our studio. I guess it shows that most of my New Year’s ideas have to do with health and fitness. Here’s some resolutions I’ve been thinking about:

Cardio workouts five days a week
Drink a glass of of milk every morning
Eat more vegetables
Get a better haircut
Use more ribbon

When our nieces and nephews visit, they like to play around with the letters on the refrigerator which why I put them there. If they are missing a letter to spell something, they can use a Scrabble letter to fill in. You can turn anything that’s not too heavy into magnet art by getting a roll of magnetic stuff at an office supply store. It’s easy to cut with scissors, and already has adhesive on one side.

We call this refrigerator our beverage refrigerator. There’s also a lot of sauces in there. If we ever finish remodeling our kitchen, we’ll have to find another place to store all those bottles and my magnetic art.

Here’s where we store everything else. Magnets don’t stick to it because it’s stainless steel. Russ took the doors off and polished them with his magic tools at the studio. The patterns he said were inspired by something — can you guess what?

So far we haven’t met anyone else who has his-and-hers art refrigerators!

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keep looking »

Whose Idea was This?

Dog Cookies, Psychic Readings, and Snowmen

I have a theory…

Valentine

More Distressed Jean Projects

Evidence of Ghosts

KaBOOki: The HAunTed SusHI BaR

Tagged again

Thread Said

The Artist Statement

Habitat for Birds

Alaska Special Delivery

Pin Cushion Genius!

Support Art Teachers

Refrigerator Art

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