happy holidays!

Just a little post to wish everyone a very happy holidays. I hope that 2007 was a good year for you and that 2008 is full of new, exciting and inspiring adventures.
I will be spending a quiet week listening to my favorite x-mas tunes ("That's What I Want For Christmas" by Nancy Wilson and every song on the 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi Trio), visiting with friends and enjoying a bit of relaxation.
Hope that you all get to spend some time with friends and family!

Here's this year's card! A bit of drawing and a bit of collage.

the process

My holiday cards have been quite the process this year. I started with one thing, changed it to another, and then went back to the original plan with minor alterations. I think with all the newness in my life right now I had trouble focusing and making a decision.

So now they are all in the works and I am only slightly behind schedule. I am off to Seattle this week for work (the first week of my new job!) but will be bringing them along to attend to in the evenings. I like to have a little project with me when I travel. It's like bringing a piece of home with you.

great outdoors

We finally got outside today after too many days spent indoors. We visited our old neighborhood out by the ocean and walked around Sutro Baths and Land's End. They are sprucing things up around there, which, I guess, is good to see, though I missed all the overgrown underbrush and maze of trails crisscrossing everywhere. Some parts of the cliff trail are still as wild and dangerous as they ever were with 10ft high fennel and worn footpaths that lead to secret clearings under the trees. All in all, it was a good day.

change is good

So my last day at my old job came this week and I felt that I had to post a little something. I was there for a very long time and I would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t spent so much of my adult life there. It was hard to say goodbye to the people I really enjoyed working alongside (tears!) but I am excited for my new job and new opportunities. Over the last few years I have seen many of the people that I worked closely with go on to great, new things. And now it’s my turn. These days, since we spend so much of our time working, it’s hard not to think of co-workers as some kind of extended family. You share time, dreams, successes and failures with them. As much as you may want to stay close, it’s often difficult to do. I still see some folks and I wish I could see the rest more frequently than I do. Just know that I think of you often. Here’s just a tiny, tiny fraction of the folks I have met over the years.

almost ready...

Spent the last couple weeks getting my stuff ready for the little show in LA at The Harmony Gallery. I made lots of new things for the show and it's certainly been hectic. Hectic but really, really satisfying. I attempted to document all the work with my camera and/or scanner. I still need to get a macro lens but I guess that will have to wait for the next round of work. Tomorrow I will ship everything and I am sort of sad to say goodbye to all my creations. They are like little babies that you fuss over and then may never see again. I hope that they all end up in good homes. :)

dream come true!

So I made it onto design*sponge , which was one of my secret dreams, thanks again to my friend Chris . I didn't even see the post, which went on line Friday, until this morning. When I did I nearly fell off my chair. I love this site and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my name and my work there. I am truly, truly honored.
Some of the pieces she showed in the posting will be available at the show in LA in a couple weeks (see my last blog post).

Upcoming art show

I have a show with my good friend Chris Bettig opening in Los Angeles on November 16. It's at The Harmony Gallery, 5911 Franklin Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028. I will be showing some new collages and Chris will be showing some new drawings. I am planning on being there for the opening and spending the weekend in LA. Stop on by, check out the show and say hi!

sweater is now complete

the sweater i began last month is finished! i invested in some nice yarn, though not as nice as the one specified in the pattern, and used my travel time to make something for myself. the pattern, from Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, is brilliant. it's all in the round with simple but nice looking increases and decreases. and the neckline, cuffs and hem are all finished in a way i haven't done before: you knit in a hem and separate it from the body of the sweater by a purl row. you just turn the hem under and sew it down and you have a nice purl edge that looks quite professional.

now i will try to set aside the knitting for a while. i will be home for a while and will be attempting to prepare for an art show i will be in early next year.

plates & mugs now available!

i am so excited to announce that the new plate and mug designs that i did for Urban Outfitters are going to be available very soon! i was able to pick these up in one of the New York City stores and soon they will be in all locations. i don't know yet if they will be available on the website but i will let you know when i find out. both are part of an artist designed series of products and will have my name and website printed on the bottom.
the ceramic dishes and mugs both retail for $14. get them while they last!

new web page

my friend Chris (http://www.themountainlabel.com/) helped me with this simple web page that is now up and running. right now it just links to my photos on Flickr and this blog but eventually i will make it a real site. i feel like just doing this simple thing was a huge task and i can't imagine the work that lay ahead of me. i am excited and hopeful for the future and grateful for all the feedback and help that i have had.

focus, focus, focus

My time is limited this month as I am traveling back and forth between San Francisco and New York every weekend for work (by choice!). Traveling is an odd thing. You hurry, hurry, hurry and then you sit and wait and wait and wait. I am fully prepared for the waiting with a big knit project (a simple sweater, watch for posts of it coming soon!) and can completely focus on that while I fly or relax before bed, but I am struggling to focus on other projects that are actually more important. Happily, I was able to squeeze in some work on more collages this weekend and I was able to actually finish and photograph the one shown here (rosemary in white; pencil, ink, thread and mixed media on paper; 7" x 7")
I am off to the airport again shortly and hope to get a wee bit of work done before that. Wish me luck! I will try to post this week while I am in NYC.

peachy illustrations

I was thinking about book illustrations that I loved as a kid and some of my all time favorites are by illustrator Nancy Ekholm Burkert. She illustrated a number of books I have, The Fir Tree, The Nightingale and the one shown here, James and the Giant Peach. I just love her work and thought I would share it. The seagulls in the center image are just amazing!

magnolia

here's a drawing/painting i did a while ago but never did much with. i was inspired by some beautiful photographs of magnolia blossoms at the time. have to say that i love the magnolia. we had one in our backyard when i was growing up and it was always magical when it bloomed every spring.

i am now in the process of photographing and documenting all of the work i currently have and this little guy was in the "to photograph" pile. all this cataloging and organizing is challenging for me but it will be worth it in the end. watch for more photos of my new and older work on Flickr!

inspired

just got the new National Geographic today and saw this photo of shoes from an article on bodies found in the bogs of Europe. amazing photos. the shoes were found with one of the ancient bodies. so incredible.
the article and the image reminded me of a scarf i knit last year that i was photographing today.

knitting temptation

I’ve been thinking about the temptation of knitting the last few days. I can’t figure out if knitting is an obsession or an addiction or both. I could have a thousand other things to do but I will often pick up the needles and get to work. Admittedly, it’s a healthy obsession/addiction (that fills the void so well when flying, waiting for a movie to start, or watching crappy TV shows), but that doesn’t make it any easier for me to deal with. I currently have so much on my plate (web page design, collages, sewing projects to complete as well as just the basics like grocery shopping, phoning friends and cleaning my abode) but of course, the minute I saw a great new pattern I was somehow able to fit shopping at the knitting store and casting on 144 stitches into my schedule. I often have to give myself knitting time limits so that I don’t neglect every other thing in my life. Judging by the amount of yarn stores, craft websites and magazines, I am guessing that I am not the only one out here that feels like this.
For me I think it’s the immediacy of creating something, the lure of perfect stitches, the feel of the yarn in your fingers and the zone-out factor that are all part of the appeal. And it still does fascinate me that in any given hand-knitted object the creator has touched every inch of yarn and has crafted each individual stitch.
Anyhow, here’s a detail of the dress and little bag that I finished for my friend’s 6 month old baby. The dress is for her 1st birthday. Apparently, I just HAD to finish it even though she won’t fit into it for 6 months. See what I mean?

color!

here's a work in progress shot of a piece i started the other night. i want to start to integrate more color into my drawings and collages. lately they have been pretty muted with mainly ink or pencil drawing but i don't want to get stuck in a rut.

this piece started out very different but wasn't working so i pasted some new paper over the crap drawing and began again.

gold

a 6" x 6" collage on paper i just finished. i incorporated a knitted swatch as well as drawing and hand stitching.

new moo cards

i got my new moo cards last week. it was my first order of them and i might change around the images next time. i wasn't as happy with my crops as i thought i would be but they are fine for now.

new collage

6"x6" collage on paper with drawing. i am working on a whole series of small pieces with similar elements.

stitches

I'm working on some new pieces that incorporate multiple layers, different opacities and even some knitting swatches. I'm not quite sure if the knitting is actually working but since I do so much knitting I wanted to see if it would work in with my collage work.

I will try to post more images as I work, though this blogging is a whole new animal. An animal that I have yet to tame.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!