mat

Before Christmas I got it into my head that I would sew coasters. By the time I got through the second or third piece, this idea turned out to be boring in both process and result, and also pretty poor on consistency of execution. But I didn't mind sewing little random squares that ended up looking a lot like homemade pancakes, so the question became, now what to do? I re-classified a few coasters as something I'm calling "vase mats", and that made it more fun. And then with some others, I'm doing some patchwork experimentation. I haven't tried to set a vase on this one yet, I'll try that crazy triple fusion of ideas tomorrow maybe. It would be interesting if I had a lot more of them (i.e. more than one.). Check back in several many months from now...?

my eyes see

Just looking around the studio, there's a lot piled around (truly, piled) so I plucked this out this morning. This little thing been hanging around for a while and is inspired by an ongoing collaborative postcard project that I do with my friend Lynne. I'm not sure where this postcard is going from here, so maybe the next step is to send it to Lynne to work her magic on it.

The book page is salvaged from one of Sam's favorites when he was a baby, The Eye Book. The little sticker inside the tea wrapper flap shows a little monkey that says *don't forget!*. And there's the little peanut himself, peeking out from inside the pocket.

the pixie hat

That's what they called it in the 1970's issue of Sunset's "Gifts You Can Make". Basically it's just two half circles sewn into a cone (one for outside, one for lining). Pretty easy, but I tried to butch it up a bit by sewing down the "pixie" point of the cone and using a tan canvas. Added bonus, I also found out that Sam stays sitting still if you photograph him while sipping OJ!



Here it is again form the back, rotated 90 degrees so the points face a different direction. You can see the basic shape. Easy, right?!! I want to try to make it again, probably a little bigger. I might even try a really big one for me (pixie point intact? Hmmm....)

strip mall signage

I have a big fascination with strip mall signage. I like the pattern the text makes, the density and variety of information packed into repeating uniform rectangles. I first started noticing it a few years ago, one week in summer. I took a million pictures of various locations in San Diego and LA. That's when I was living in Holland and everything in the US suddenly looked really colorful and new and kinda unconsciously wonderfully artless.

This is the one by my house that I see everyday. I want to make a screen print of it? A drawing? I don't know, something!

that and twenty cents

I found these magazines at the library book store. They cost ten cents each, and probably have more useful instruction in them than some of my $$$ classes at art school:


Studying design basics fascinates me, um, but I don't know why. I'm also really interested in theoretical mathematics, and brick laying, and I think that's somehow all related. Building complexity from simplicity. Universal structures and patterns. Men in suits sketching Mickey Mouse.


Oh my goodness, my automatic blog saver reminds me, I'm up way too late for this kind of discussion.

laziness, chip board, ephemera, etc.

More art submitted for the city gallery; the peach tree piece is already up, so they're turning stuff around pretty quick right now. I'll find out this week if these ones are going in the next show. Based on these pieces, the theme might have been "art in 60 seconds". Is it bad when the framing takes longer than the drawing? When your materials have so much acid in them, they'll crumble in a month? Heck no, I say! ha ha. Makes them more of the moment. As my dad has said, I'm here for a good time, not a long time. They're NFS, anyway. And as they fall apart, I'll just watch them turn into something new. :-)

By the way, did anyone read the recent quote from Phillipe Starck where he says he's basically lazy, and his favorite piece is always the next one? (I'd look it up, but uh, I'm kind of lazy too. Or busy? Or tired? They all blend together sometimes.) Anyway, not really related to this post, except for maybe the lazy part, but interesting!

hailey's plane

Something leftover from the city map that my neice drew on our driveway. Her city was HUGE, the hospital HUGE, the airport and zoo HUGE, with a road that took up the whole span of asphalt. To watch her go is a fascination. She always thinks big and fast and direct, kinda the opposite of me. Very instructional, and I eagerly study her work! There's a lot to learn form a 7 year old....