Friday, August 31, 2007

last day of August...

it's been flying by!

but it's been great too...

here's what's new for the day:

i just finished this dreamy, colorful painting and have prints in my shop today. i've been in one of those moods lately with lots of imaginary scenarios that i would love to find myself in. like floating around a lake on a swan's back, surrounded by technicolor lilypads...oh, how i wish! :o)

i just put etta the baby owling in the shop yesterday morning and by afternoon she was already adopted! so etta is one happy owling and very excited to be on her way to the east coast today - enjoy your new home etta!

this is gilespi the baby owling plush...he is currently in construction but will shortly be hooting and happy. for now he has to deal with a sharp needle sewing delicious sherbert orange floss onto his eyelids - ouch! and the pretty thing above his head is a once huge and lively dahlia that has been fading from the bottom up. i can't bear to toss it with the center still looking so pretty!

& ahhhh....this was so nice last night and worth repeating today too...watermelon frescas! take a cold watermelon and toss chunks of it into the blender with some handfuls of ice. sink yourself into a comfy spot and drink up the liquid ambrosia :o)

happy labor day weekend everyone!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Melting in the studio

we're having an awfully warm week here in san jose, cali - whew! phylo and i are hanging in the studio - i'm trying to be productive and he is of course sacked out. sanguine (our tuxedo cat) is sprawled under the bed, where she believes is the coolest place to be.

I just posted etta the owl in the shop today! she's ella the owl's sister and they look really cute together. their names are taken from two ladies i love and sang their hearts out - ella fitzgerald and etta james. they were not sisters, but my owlings are.

etta looks great with orange!


i thought i would start featuring some of my current faves and finds on etsy and flickr...

the gorgeous, mod print above is by jenn ski. i love her patterns and colors and the oh so cool vibe of all her work. great stuff - check her out at etsy and at her blog.


and...there's the fabulous and dreamy yumi yumi

this is 'lazy bunny' who will soon be mine!
she also has a great blog


time to go pour a big glass of minty ice water...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Flora and Fauna - of the whimsical variety

not sure if whimsical is still a 'bad' word to me. for awhile i was completely tired of it as it was used for anything the least bit different or slightly cute. but i'm going to try and embrace whimsical and whimsy again - they really are fun to use. and what else could be used in their place? sigh...i used to be a walking thesaurus but my brain has become so mushy!

this little elephant came out so delightful...
i named the piece 'oh so happy' - it's what i think of with this color combination and floating leaves and all the pattern. it just makes you smile. 'oh so happy' is in the shop...

this is ella the baby owl plush :o) she's a cutie! as many folks know i'm not a 'pink' person by nature - i rarely wear pink, and when i do i prefer the shades of magenta, raspberry, coral - you know, with some saturation. but i've been loving that really light shade of pink (okay, this owling is more like cotton candy pink) for some of my animal creatures and it seems to be making several little girls out there (and plenty of grown up girls too!) very happy. so i'll keep it up :o) this was a really pretty pink velvet so how i could i not use it anyway?

ella is in my shop!

& i have two new 'wooly flora' brooches available. i've decided to name my 'wooly flora' creations this season. so the above wooly is Alice - as in wonderland (it has that sort of 'mad hatter tea party' quality to it - so fun. and the wooly below is Whimsy (yep, i've really taken the plunge into whimsical land, so sorry!). the Whimsy brooch reminds me of something from a children's book illustration of gardens. maybe i'll have to do one of those someday. though, maybe i was thinking of the 'neverland nursery' mural i painted a few years ago?

both of the new brooches, Alice & Whimsy, are available and in my shop...come visit me there!

see you tomorrow...i'm off to felt and paint, then do a gazillion errands. it's a 'spare the air' day in the bay area so i might have to put off the laundry for another day ;o)

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

swans & elephants, and my newest polka dotted accessory

flurries of activity in the studio...yay!

i've been working on some new paintings and should have one of them (available prints) in my shop today! the adorable little elephant will look perfect all framed up and hung in a special spot - maybe a children's bedroom? a playroom?

believe it or not...this is a pretty tidy workspace for me :o) my studio/office is not so forgiving and whenever i pull one thing out to work with i lose half my walking space. & if i don't put things away right away (tsk! tsk!!) it just, of course, starts to pile up which makes me feel completely claustrophobic...throat constricting as i write this. so what to do?? i just don't know what to get rid of yet...but i know a studio purge is in my near future. maybe i'll offer up some items i don't need anymore...


this is a new wooly flora brooch in yummy colors i needle felted...along with a painting called 'all i hear' that i did for a cool show a few months ago. maybe i should make a print?

i thought the brooch would look lovely on the girl in the painting.
find it in my shop later today too!



& if you were sweet and kept reading then you get to see me in my new glasses :o)

these are the most rad frames!! check out the polka dots and cut metal sides - delicious! they're by a hoity toity company from paris and were marked down to a decently affordable amount. thanks to charlie for pointing out that sunglass frames work just fine for everyday glasses. love 'em!


Friday, August 24, 2007

Alphabet soup and Miles the owl baby

so i've missed posting for the last couple of days - many apologies! but i have many lovely things to share that i've been hard at work on :o)

first...the alphabet project!!


i just completed this and dropped it off yesterday - yay! this mural (or rather 'giant illustration'?) project was for a classroom in redwood city. this classroom for k-2nd graders has a fantastic, devoted teacher who really wanted to make his classroom the coolest place to be. i helped him pick colors to paint the space, then went to work on these babies. they will be hung at the front of the classroom - high on the wall, filling the space.

the challenge was getting in the whole alphabet with interesting objects for each letter, plus the numbers 1-10 and things to stand for the numbers as well. mission accomplished...! and it was TOO much fun - totally enjoyed it. i also painted a set of cabinets in the classroom to represent shapes and colors.

more pics of this project on my flickr page and i'll also post it with more info and pics on my mural studio blog at some point soon.


'd' is for daschund dog!

'w' is for walrus...

'n' is for narwhal obviously!

& 'm' is for a marvelously striped minnow


Also to share...Miles the owl baby plush is currently for sale in my shop!
Etsy is having some issues with its view counter so my little guy is showing up as though only one person has viewed him - poor little guy! please make him feel better by paying him a visit! :o)


Tuesday, August 21, 2007

3 owl babies...

these little guys are all pinned up and ready to sew! wish i had just a few minutes more to complete them but it will have to wait till post phylo walk and post finishing of some large mural pieces (more on those later!). the little owl babies will be in my shop either today or tomorrow!

now, if i could just maintain a clear train of thought between phylo whines i could finish this :o)

well...alright, i'll just post this quickly...phylo gets his bath on sunday afternoons and this was from last weekend. bath time is always hilarious (for us) and tragically devastating for him. note that the poor little boy is sitting on his tail!


ok...see you tomorrow!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Global Cooling?


now that's something to think about...

we seem so far off from actually being able to reverse climate change, but i love the optimism and cheerful defiance of this statement from 'darwin design clothing company'. it's a mini company of 3 lovely folks, plus darwin the cat :o)

they currently offer 4 gorgeous shirts, each hand screened with a different endangered species - the gentoo penguin, the arctic polar bear, the bengal tiger, and the red-eyed tree frog. each of the shirts carries a message and lets the shirt bearer proudly support a change toward doing things a little differently, while also contributing to the 'earth island institute' which has been fighting global climate change since 1982.

i love what they're doing and just need to decide which 't' i want! as many of you know, i am also passionate about the animals on our planet (from the local abandoned/abused animals from my own neighborhood, to the big cats of india) and it makes me beyond ecstatic when i see people stepping up and doing something for the better. it's so true of that statement...'if we all did a little'...

Check out darwin design clothing and pick up a tee!



Friday, August 17, 2007

oh technology...

why must it be so hard for me...??

i had a bit of a rough day trying to be a technological genius and get an email out to my mailing list. how difficult is it sending an email? apparently, it can be a real challenge!

for those of you who received some slightly odd messages from me today, please know that they were not what i intended. this is what my 'devon industry mail' update should have looked like. Pretty cute right? At least better than just a sprinkling of links and a copyright notice...i'm terribly sorry! i promise to get the kinks worked out...calling all I.T. people! :o)

i did post a new lovely wooly flora in my shop:it's actually more of a magenta than the deep purple it appears to be.

i'm also gearing up for much wool and felt goodness to come!! i have plans for new scarf designs as well as more flowers...and maybe some animals...? yes, i can't wait!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Perry with the pink nose

perry is the newest little lapdog plush around here...he is a ball of fluff! and his little pink embroidered nose is pretty darn cute i must add. i've been playing with different ideas for my soft sculpture pups and love the idea of adding more sewn details...hence the felt flower/bead on the rump. Perry is in my shop today...


phylo (my real life romping pup) got his little mitts on one of my felt beads yesterday and for some reason is using it like chewing gum. he's not actually trying to eat it, just chew it. it's hilarious to watch...like a little cow with its cud :o)

i'll be on etsy's showcase page tomorrow so i'm trying to finish up a handful of fun items to post...back to sewing & painting & felting!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

sylvester the owl and friends


those of you i chatted with at Anno Domini's Street Mrkt this August might remember me sewing up these little guys :o)

the mini owl's name is sylvester, the fuzzy lapdog puppy is perry, and the little stuffed 'owlette' is one from a series of 18 owls that are printed with my gocco machine. they're each unique and have delicious smelling dried lavender inside. all at my shop...well, perry will be there later today or tomorrow but check it out anyway!



we're also just busily continuing with our new norm of cleaning/remodeling our house. it's SUCH a neat place - we adore it and are thankful for it, but it does need a fair share of work! somewhat frustrating for me because i would love to just jump in and paint some lovely scenery around the dining room, or paint a sky in the living room. but most of the walls & ceiling need attention before any painting can be done. they either need scraping and sanding plus repainting, removal of acoustic ceiling tile (yes, ugh!) and repairing of the drywall, or maybe even refloating with more plaster. then comes priming, then finally painting, then finally, oh maybe yes...murals and more murals :o)



so till then we are chipping away on what we can...sometimes literally - this past week we put a rug under our dining table - actually a 'flor' (carpet tiles - yes!). we love it and so do the animals. i think the colors make it cozy... the wall color will eventually be a sky blue (i'm over the 'goldfish tangerine' shade - yes, i painted it - after painting it a grayish purple). then the ceiling i'll paint with a night sky mural. and maybe eventually i'll paint woodland scenery between the molding going around the room - like you're looking through the woodwork to the environment beyond...it'll be wonderful and magical. so, lots of plans...not very much time!

more pics of our place...and many other things at my flickr page - look under set labeled 'haus'

Monday, August 13, 2007

cassandra the soft spoken elephant

the newest plushie animal in my shop! cassandra is a really adorable elephant and i've been enjoying her company in my studio over the last few days :o) she has soulful, kind eyes and stands on her own, using her trunk for balance as well. it was fun for me to sew up a new type of soft sculpture animal - adding more complicated sewing to my animal characters gives me all sorts of ideas...i see several future plush projects, including my little girl characters from my paintings. stay tuned for those! & check out my new pics at flickr - lots of our ongoing kitchen project and more photos from the garden.





Thursday, August 9, 2007

In my shop today

I've been working on a few new art pieces like the one above called 'drizzly'. It's an ink drawing from my sketchbook that I've colored digitally. I love how these are coming out and will hopefully have more soon. In the meantime, check out the 3 new pieces including 'drizzly'...


This piece is pretty darn sweet...called 'spring humming'. I love girls and birds and flowers and polka dots - it's true.

To show you another view of things - this is how I package my prints; signed print on stiff backing board, within a clear sleeve (both board and sleeve are reusable). This print is wonderful in an 'alice in wonderland' kind of way - it's called 'le petit jardin'.

Also new in my shop are little owl plushies that have gorgeously scented lavender inside. I took a teeny owl sketch of mine and gocco printed my image onto different lovely fabrics like wools and velvets. I have 18 little owls for sale and that's it - the screen is no good for fabrics anymore. There are two in the shop right now but I will be listing the rest of them over the next few days. They are all different from each other and oh so cute & delicious smelling :o)

A pink velvet owl plushie, with lavender inside. Pick them up in my shop!

And thanks to all who came out to the 'Street Mrkt' hosted by Anno Domini Gallery!! It was really fun with amazing live music - who was that first band?? First Friday's of the month are really starting to be a happening time in San Jose, now with all the galleries lined up on S. 1st Street. Believe me, I get so excited when I see these kinds of things here...it makes me have hope for San Jose!