Tag Archives: studio

July update

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geesh, it’s July already. How did that happen?

Scheduled for this month-

7/6- 7/17 I will be spending every afternoon taking a class in Adobe Suite– stay tuned for vast improvements or total meltdown in my web presence.

7/11- Boston Handmade Marketplace in Union Square, Somerville. Click through for all the info.

7/26- 7/31- I will be in Orlando, Florida at the CHA show, helping my sister-in-law. I have no idea what this will be like. I may not have a minute to spare, or then again, maybe I will. Suggestions for interesting places and possible meet-ups would be great.

I seem to have misplaced my creative juice, muse, mojo, juju, whatever you want to call it. I have one doll finished that I haven’t photographed yet- I will sometime when it stops raining.

I’ve been working on the room-

It moves forward. My daughter is coming home for a visit at the end of July and that needs to be my deadline- hmm, I seem to  make these deadlines all the time- otherwise, I am not sure where she will sleep. I have covered up any possible sleeping surfaces with stuff out of this room.

I have also been doing some dyeing and over-dyeing, hoping to get inspired again.

It has been fun. And positive in several ways- mostly it fills the need to create and so keeps me from the funk that I fall into when I do not. It keeps me from going to the thrift shop and buying more woolies- which is not so bad except that since I am going to be moving my studio, I shouldn’t be bringing more stuff into it right now. And, I am taking fabrics that I won’t use-ie yuck colors or previous dyeing mistakes or just boring- and turning them into something terrific. And, that red on the left- I used some old dye that I picked up somewhere… did someone give it to me or was it from an estate sale? The box cost 15 cents and the illustration style makes me think 40’s at the latest. Maybe later I will post pictures. Anyway, such fun using up the old stuff.

other goings on

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I had breakfast with Lilla this morning. It is such fun to spend an hour or two with someone who speaks the same language- you know, art and the internet and all. No explaining. We blabbed about our families, then moved on to show-and-tell. First me-

Then Lilla- she had all kinds of goodies from the artists she represents-

A wonderful way to start the day!

I’ve got plans for my long weekend. No, I will not be relaxing in a beach chair. I will be planting my tomatoes, making containers this way again. I might experiment with some wool sweaters- the cotton started to disintegrate very quickly although that didn’t actually cause any problems. I will be planting the following varieties- one plant of each- noted for my records.

-Carbon

-Bush Goliath

-La Roma

-Nepal

-Taxi

-Washington Cherry

And, I am hoping to make some major progress on my studio/former bedroom project. As of today, all the walls and baseboards are primed. The windows are close to being ready to prime… as you’ve probably noticed, I get overly obsessed with details and it makes getting a project like this finished practically impossible.

Lastly, in the best of all possible worlds, I will make myself some summer clothes. A skirt, shirt, jumper? We’ll see. I’ve got the fabric… that is the easy part!

girls in progress

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Have I mentioned that I have an intern working for me now? She is helping me cut and stuff. And, knowing that she is going to be with me for an afternoon gets me organized. We are working on girls. And I went a bit nuts… I just got so excited about all the ideas in my head and the colors in my shelves- I now have 15 dolls in progress- Yikes! And there is still a few more in my head… but I am ignoring them until I get some of these done.

Right now, they are in many stages- from all sewed together, with face and hair (just need to do the dress and all those little extras) to cut out in a pile.

After they are cut out, I put the pieces for each doll into an individual ziplock bag. I also put any other fabric I am planning on using for that doll into the bag. As I sew the parts and stuff them, they stay together in their bags until the doll is all together and ready to be dressed. At that point, I like to look at them sitting around the studio. In the photo below, you can see one doll that is mostly finished and then all the plastic bags.

Hopefully I will have some finished girls to show you soon.

projects this wednesday

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well, I can’t post a picture of the project I just finished because it is a birthday present and I just mailed it out today- so I will post pictures when I know it has arrived. But, there is always something else.

I’m thinking about glasses and nerdy girls.

And, the studio project creeps forward. This was from last weekend-

And now- look what was delivered today! I found this ten drawer flat file at a recycle place in Boston called Extras for Creative Learning. I brought some supplies over last week to donate and had a big score! It needs a little cleaning up and some paint, but it is helping me think about how I will be organizing my new space. Also, giving me some more incentive to keep moving forward.

Another thing- have you ever heard that expression- “Nature abhors a vacuum”? Well, I think artists’ abhor open spaces- well empty tabletops anyway. I cleared most of the stuff out of the room to work on it, but somehow I seem to have started a new art project in there… I’m going to have to go back in there and rein things in again!