Monster Town

Crafters Needed for the Handcar Regatta!

2008-08-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have been hard at work, helping to plan the first annual Great West End and Railroad Square Handcar Regatta and Exhibition of Mechanical and Artistic Wonders. A new festival in Santa Rosa that will have kinetic sculpture races on the railroad tracks, music all day, art, costumes, fun, sideshows, food and all kind of things.

There is also a craft show as part of it. We have several amazing crafters signed up already, like honeylux, treatzone, atelier choklit, Sarah Dungan and many others. We're also sponsored in part by Make and Craft magazines, which is very exciting.

We are still looking for participants. The vendor fee is $65 and we can provide a white pop up canopy if you don't have one of your own.

You can get the necessary forms here. And if you have questions you can email me.

And please spread the word on blogs or however to all of your crafty friends.

the garden in june

2008-06-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

artichoke gone to flower

figs are coming in

santa rosa plums ripening

zucchini

mix of lettuces

We have been busy in the garden, there is lots of work to be done.

We lost a lot of plants in the heat wave, and due to my stingy ways with water.

Our main veggie patch is two strips that are 3 feet wide by about 20 feet long. This is the area where the previous owners of the house grew their veggies too. The soil is lovely, but the only thing is that it is a bit too shady for optimum veggie growth, due to the two plum trees and the fig tree.

We have planted

10 different kinds of heirloom tomato
12 pepper plants (that aren't doing too well)
farmer's market blend of cut and come again lettuces
6 heads of romaine
6 heads of grand rapids lettuce
zucchini
pumpkin
spaghetti squash
butternut squash
2 kinds of cucumber
bright lights chard
2 kinds of corn
carrots
3 kinds of beets
kentucky wonder pole beans
dwarf italian bush beans
dragon tongue beans

reworking my store

2008-03-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a new version of my vintage store, Appleseed Vintage. I'm hoping that I will be able to make it look and function the way that I want it to. It will probably be a week or so before it's done, but it's been a long time coming.

I'm starting with freshening up the logo. And I'm switching it over to big cartel, because I don't really want to mess around with web design and a shopping cart and everything and big cartel has the clean and simple look that I am shooting for.

I have let the store languish unattended for far too long, and I have so much wonderful inventory to share.

peek!

2008-03-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hi. I have been working busily on the house and garden, and mothering my kids and trying to come up with more steady streams of income, more befitting a homeowner with a million expensive projects. I got a part time job, working at Ray Modern, and I love it. Those Kartell ghost chairs are more comfortable than you would think.

We made it through winter with no illnesses more serious than the flu. Oh and my friend Heidi and I got a grant from the Arts District Downtown Santa Rosa for a fun public art project that we proposed.

In not so good news, I have completely lost access to my flickr account due to computer troubles. I can't for the life of me remember my yahoo ID and so I can't sign in. I tried the prompting help things but I must have used a made up birthday or something and I just can't remember. Sigh. So now I have to start all over again. I have been a member of flickr since the start. I'm very sad about losing all of my contacts and photos.

happy new year!

2007-12-31T19:56:00.000-08:00

I hope that you all have the happiest of new years. I'm very eager to get started on 2008, just as soon as I get a full night of sleep and maybe a back massage.

It's been a busy and tiring month. We had two weeks of working on the house alongside Scott's folks, who worked like champs and really moved us along, and fed the whole crew each day to boot! Scott's Aunt and Uncle even drove 6 hours down to help us for a few days. It was really nice to get started on the house with family.

We primed and painted all of the bedrooms and the hallway. We pulled up the rust colored carpet and pads and found lovely wide plank oak floors underneath. We installed a tankless water heater to replace the existing one from 1971, and we updated some of the original electrical system of the house. And we put washer and dryer hook ups in the garage and installed a gas stove in the kitchen. Oh, and we demolished the wall between the kitchen and living room and removed the kitchen cabinet doors and shelves to get started on sanding, priming, and painting them. And then we started moving our things in.

We knew before hand that we have an overwhelming amount of posessions, but jeez louise, it is truly unbelievable. It took us a full two weeks, working every day, to move out of that house and clean it. We rented a truck two times. It was really disheartening to both of us, and now our pretty new house has a garage and carport piled high with boxes and furniture that won't fit in the house!

We had a big house full of things, a shed full of things, my studio with all of my paintings and art supplies and fabric stash and paper collection, and then my vintage store and ebay inventory, which is a lot bigger than I thought! ( I should have a sale!) And we had Scott's workshop full of tools and projects. I think we might literally have a million things!

We hope to get rid of 60% of what we have currently and really only keep things we need and truly love and respect.

But that's a job for 2008! We're ringing in the new year very quietly. I have a cold, and am curled up on the couch with tea and a blanket. We ordered pizza for dinner and we're going to play Mario Galaxy and maybe some bowling on the Wii. I'm hoping to be in bed before 10pm!

house painting

2007-11-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

new house photos

2007-11-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

Every time that we drag our realtor over to unlock our new house for us ...again, we get so excited that we forget to take photos. Scott said he thinks we have taken our worst house photos ever of the place.

But we finally got some pretty good ones. These are sort of reference photos for us as we think of the work ahead. As you will see in the photos, there is a lot of stuff left on the property. Lots of cans and jars of mysterious toxic fluids, lots of wood and tools and just junk. But we are fine with it. A few days of clean up, several trips to the dump. We expect we will find some really neat things too.

Here's a link to Scott's photos.

we're buying a house!

2007-11-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

I still can't believe it's actually happening, but we are buying a house. They accepted our offer on Sunday night, and now things are moving forward! It's a little bungalow with three bedrooms and a huge beautiful yard with lots of fruit trees and room to garden and play and it also has a greenhouse!

It needs a lot of work, but I think it's going to be great for us.

Since I will now be in full on house obsession mode, I am starting a new blog about houses. More details soon.

happy halloween

2007-10-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

z's costume
s's costume by day
and by night....he is a painting with moving eyeballs

i like this

2007-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

open studios is fast approaching

2007-10-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm working on new paintings and gathering strength for open studios. It's my favorite event of the year. I'll be exhibiting again at Compound 21 on the corner of 21st and Harrison. October 20-21 from 11 am - 6 pm.

This year's participating artists (as far as I know ) will be:
Mati McDonough
Hugh D'Andrade
Tania Ketenjian
Susannah Bettag
Heidi Iverson
Will McCollum
and me

maude show photos

2007-09-12T16:45:00.001-07:00

DSC_0333.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Scott took this lovely series of photos of the show. I asked him to shoot it before it got dark, so these were actually taken before people showed up to see it.

If you want to, you can see the rest of the photos here.

many thanks

2007-09-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who came down to see the opening on Saturday evening. And a great big thank you to Jess and Stacy from Maude.

whirlwind

2007-09-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy and exciting couple of days! We're looking at houses and thinking about houses and talking about houses. And then back to school nights for the kids and finishing, framing and hanging the show, and orthodontist appointments and just lots going on.

Also, I broke the lcd on my camera. Frackersnappit!!! It was on the tripod and I guess the legs were wonky and I spun around and my camera fell and smashed a really cool ironstone pitcher and the lcd screen broke.

I hung the show at Maude this evening and it looks good. Jess and Stacy were really positive about it, so I feel less nervous than I sometimes do!

I hope to see you there tomorrow evening from 5:30-7:30. There's a show at Boomerang the same night that looks to be really cool so you can take in two shows.

feltmaking classes

2007-09-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

I am going to be offering two feltmaking workshops in September. Tentatively scheduled for September 22 and 29. Students will learn the fundamentals of soap and water feltmaking. We'll make a flat felt project and a resist project. With those two techniques in your pocket you can make everything from scarves and rugs to pouches, bags, seamless slippers and hats.

The class will be 4 hours long and includes materials and a light lunch in a beautiful garden setting in Santa Rosa. Cost of the workshop is $60. If you are interested, you can send me an email using that pretty little button there on the side that says email me.

Later I will teach an advanced class and a needlefelting class, and maybe one for kids because kids love making felt and it's really fun to do classes with kids!

Yeti Loves Seamonster

2007-09-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

I have joined in with a new project called Yeti Loves Seamonster, it focuses on etsy sellers who make things for kids. There is a blog and there will be artist made coloring pages for download. I'm going to work on mine after my show.

Look at this cute thing, and this one!

finishing up

2007-09-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm finishing up work on my show. Framing, editing out pieces and seeing where I have gaps andwhere I need different pieces. I'm out of practice. But I am loving the long hours of studio time and I'm trying to figure out how to organize myself so that I can do more art work, spend more time and really say the things that I'm trying to say.

I sent out a mailing through my email newsletter last night. If you are on the list and didn't get it, just let me know, and if you're not on the list, you can sign up here.

boys and girls

2007-08-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

more bowie goodness on merlin mann's kungfugrippe
Today i'm listening to early Bowie while I'm working.

And for girls...check out these beautiful bicycles. I think I love this one.

and here's life on mars, just because it's so good.

maude show details

2007-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

I used up all of my printer's ink making pretty cards for the Maude show. They are supposed to be blue, but the last ten or so came out pink! Oh well.

The opening is Saturday, September 8 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m at Maude.
133 1/2 Kentucky St. Suite F
Petaluma, CA

I have lots of new paintings, and if all goes well I will have some new prints too. I really hope that you will be able to make it.

making things helps too

2007-08-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Spring dropped by with a need and an idea for an artsy new accessory for an upcoming event that she's attending. I used to teach feltmaking, and when she told me her idea, I got out the wool and showed her what to do, and we made a very cool merino felt collar.

95 degree August weather maybe isn't the best for feltmaking, but it was worth it.

Maybe after my show I'll make a feltmaking tutorial. It's really so much fun and it's not hard.crazy bright roving, all laid out
hot water and soap
Spring, fulling the scarf on a washboard
She even let me take a photo of her in the finished product. Well, almost finished, just needs a button.

you know what helps?

2007-08-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

so on a morning where you are rushing to get the kids off to school and feeling overwhelmed with work and lack of money and you accidentally start a small fire in your kitchen before you have even had tea, it helps to play old beastie boys really loudly after everyone is gone.

"got a peg leg at the end of my stump-a....."

that is all.

new tags for etsy items

2007-08-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

I made these tags yesterday for my t-shirts and other items. I screenprinted an all over design on some heavy paper from SCRAP, and cut it into strips, punched a hole and voila! tags!

printed peels?

2007-08-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

I keep a little bowl on the counter for vegetable scraps and things that go out to the compost. I noticed these peels from an asian pear (from our tree), and they looked as though they head been printed with beautiful dark stripes, like in an engraving.

Pretty, don't you think?

first day of school

2007-08-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

My daughter started school today. Her first day in a new school. My son started last week at a different school because he is in 8th grade now! (eep!). This is their first time going to school five days a week. I homeschooled them for the first several years and then they went to a part time school, part time homeschool program. Big changes for all of us.

Here's Z with a happy face on. She woke up so eager and excited today. I hope she feels the same way when I pick her up this afternoon.

sewing

2007-08-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've been having fun sewing lately. I'm making lots of these little crayon roll ups for kids.

product shots

2007-08-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

I spent a good portion of the day shooting photos for ebay and appleseed. I took nearly 200 photos of just things.

a few new small blocks

2007-08-24T15:01:00.001-07:00

old embroidery

2007-08-24T14:58:00.001-07:00

I found these when I was cleaning out some boxes in my studio. Old embroideries on hand dyed and printed linen that I did a few years back. Maybe three or four years ago. I'm trying to decide what to do with them.

new paintings for maude show

2007-08-23T13:04:00.001-07:00

a work in progress, just a few layers in.
more works in progress. collage paintings still need encaustic. the floating seedling painting might get some more work, not sure. they might need to have eyes.
two new alphabet paintings and a small block painting that i'm keeping, on the shelf above my work table.

sketches

2007-08-23T12:55:00.001-07:00

It feels weird to post sketches. It's kind of like walking around in your underwear or something, but I'm thinking a lot about sketching. I'm trying to make my paintings feel more loose, more free, and a little less sad.

sketches for t-shirt designs
two minute morning collage

show at maude

2007-08-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm having a show at a children's boutique in Petaluma. The store is called Maude and it's really amazing. Everything is lovingly chosen and has a certain quality. The shop owners love handmade things and seek out gorgeous handcrafted things.

The space is beautiful too, and I'm very happy that I'll be showing there. (I should have taken a photo of the space as a whole.)

shelf at Maude, with Heidi's dolls (bottom shelf) on a stack of handmade bedding. Ashley G prints, and little toys.
tabletop at Maude. Felt slippers and waldorf toys.
handmade clothes and Heidi's dolls

These gorgeous dolls are handmade by one of the shop owners,.

Maude
133 1/2 Kentucky St.
Petaluma, CA

what did i do?

2007-08-16T08:05:00.001-07:00

oh! was that hydrangea supposed to be in the ground?

computer troubles

2007-08-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

A broken power cord has left me off line for the past week, that is why I haven't been around at all.

more later.

new work in progress

2007-08-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

These are some new, vintage paper collages on wood, waiting for me to draw on them and cover them in wax. I bought a new kind of paste and I really like it. It's easy to work with and for some reason isn't as messy as the Yes Paste that I used to use.

fixing up my studio

2007-08-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

I have been working on fixing up my studio space, organizing and cleaning off my work surfaces and setting up spaces for certain kinds of work. It's very satisfying.

Lately I have been letting this room become one of those "junk rooms". The room where you plunk down all the cluttery junk that you don't know how to deal with, and then just close the door. That is no good. I am beyond lucky to have this room and a supportive family that values my creative work. So why am I not in here painting every day?

I've been thinking a lot about art making and why I haven't been working on things the way I should be, and what it might mean that I let my studio get this way. I'm still mulling it over, but I'm also trying to just get back to it.

I hung up a bunch of my paintings all together on one wall, along with a giant work in progress. That big white panel just has the background laid in and it is huge! Much larger than I normally work. I think it's over four feet tall!

I also made this little clipboard type thing so that I can hang up drawings and photos. It was very easy. I used a glue gun and I hot glued clothespins to an extra strip of wooden molding that was hanging around in my studio.

I'll post photos of the rest of the space as I finish it.

the dog ate my painting

2007-08-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

The dog ate my painting.......

and the roots of my corn plants...

and also

smurfette. she ate smurfette's face right off.

also she ate my red shoes, but that's too sad to show a picture of.

appleseed updates

2007-07-31T15:50:00.001-07:00

I have been busy working on updating my vintage store. I'm so excited about the things that I have for sale right now, and the new logo that I designed. I wish that I had the resources to make my own store, just the way I want it to look, but for now I have my items in an ebay store.

I'm still adding things, and I'll be adding things regularly, especially on Mondays.

But you might like this, or this, or these.

etsy update

2007-07-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

I'm adding new items to my etsy shop, including some larger original pieces and some t-shirts for kids and adults.

Etsy
Buy Handmade
monstertown

Meet Bowie !

2007-07-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

We adopted a puppy this weekend! We named her Bowie. She is a 6 month old border collie mix and she's cute as can be.

new print

2007-06-26T12:27:00.001-07:00

I finally made a new print! And I'm finally feeling better. It has been a long couple of months, but the acupuncture and various tinctures and things are helping and I feel about 90% of normal today.

These little prints are for sale in my etsy shop!

colour lovers

2007-06-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Have you tried Colour Lovers yet? It's so much fun! I've just started to explore it, and I made my first colour palette. I was playing around with colour ideas for a new design project that I just took on, doing a new logo and identity for a local children's photographer.

And I made this one, inspired by the colors in this vintage child's dress:

Also, I'm feeling pretty much better now. I still have a lingering cough and not all of my energy, but I'm going to see an acupuncturist this week and I have hopes that it will help.

slowly feeling better

2007-06-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

pineapple guava in bloom

seriously...i'm sick...and bored

2007-05-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

I am so bored. So bored that I'm writing a boring blog post about how boring it is to be sick in bed on a beautiful day in May. I don't know why I'm getting sick so often, or why recovery is taking so long. I am feeling kind of whiny and sorry for myself.

Here are some pictures to look at.

Jellyfish

2007-05-24T11:54:00.001-07:00

MontereyAq-9893.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

So, despite the pneumonia, I went down to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium with Scott and the kids on a school field trip. Probably not the best idea, but I did it anyway. I had never been there before, and I really wanted to go. The jellyfish exhibit was amazing. The whole place was incredible. I wish that we could have a wall of jellyfish in our house.

To see more photos of the aquarium, take a look at Scott's blog.

not again!

2007-05-24T11:02:00.001-07:00

I've been under the weather for the past couple of weeks, and haven't been getting better, and it turns out that I have pneumonia. Sad. I have been sick so many times this past year, I can't even believe it. So I'm trying to stay in bed, and I'm taking antibiotics...again.

toys!

2007-05-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

this is Fig and Fig's little friend. I made them both from felted wool sweaters.
this is Amaryllis....I got her on etsy from Look What I Can Do
my daughter loves this toy. It's very well made, I absolutely recommend her work.
these guys were made by my friend Heidi. i took this photo at the alchemy craft fair where i was a vendor a few weeks ago.

happy mother's day

2007-05-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Here are some photos of my sweet, and increasingly gigantic, bundles of joy. These photos are part of a fun little series that we took at China Camp.

lemon poppy seed bread

2007-05-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

before baking
mmmm.....after baking....

I try to bake quick bread or muffins once a week, because they're so easy and so tasty. My kids call it breakfast bread. There's a basic recipe that you can use to make pretty much any kind of quick bread. Here's my lemon poppy seed variation:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
3/4 cup sugar
1T. baking powder
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or melted butter if you prefer)
1 1/4 cup milk
zest of two lemons
2 T poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
Combine the dry ingredients including the poppy seeds and lemon zest. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir it all together until it is well mixed, but you don't need to stir it too much. It can be lumpy.
Pour it into the loak pan and bake it for 40 minutes or so, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry. Cool it on a rack if you've got one.

2007-05-08T10:42:00.001-07:00

DSC07896, originally uploaded by monster town.

um...hi

2007-05-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted since March 16! That's just shocking. I've been keeping this blog for nearly three years now, and I'm not sure I've ever gone this long without posting.

I've been trying to spend less time on the computer, and I've been working on my garden, which is coming along nicely.

A few family news items: my son turned 13!, my daughter has re-started her blog and would appreciate any nice comments.

A few things to look at on the internets :
Carson Ellis has a blog of drawings.
Bill Moyers interviews Jon Stewart and of course it's excellent.

And a photo:
a little ceramic hedgehog, found at a thrift store.

work in progress

2007-03-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Friday is the day to show some work in progress, right? This painting is nearly done, but it needs something. Not sure what. It will probably look much different when it is finished

these are pants!

2007-03-14T21:02:00.001-07:00

these are pants!, originally uploaded by monster town.

today's photo

wasp on sink

2007-03-09T15:41:00.001-08:00

wasp on sink, originally uploaded by monster town.

I'm still doing the photo project, here is my photo from today.

A beautiful, but scary wasp flew in to my studio and stayed for two days. I took photos both days, this one was my favorite...and I had to get really close.

There are a lot of beautiful photos in the 30dayphoto flickr group. Which you can join at any time.

Look at this one from Michelle of Lemon Head Designs. She's a professional photographer and crafter of really cool baby things.

And this one from will n' heidi. Will's the one taking the photos, and Heidi is often the subject.

I'll show you some more from the other members tomorrow, but my pizza is in the oven and needs attention.

magnolia

2007-03-06T17:21:00.001-08:00

magnolia, originally uploaded by monster town.

Springtime here amazes me anew each year. Do you see how many blossoms are on this tree?

brooke and the birthday chicken

2007-03-05T18:33:00.001-08:00

brooke and the birthday chicken, originally uploaded by monster town.

30 Day Photo Project number 3

i love this idea

2007-03-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

This is a really lovely idea and far better than cramming your favorite fabrics in some kind of horrible plastic bin.

I already have far too many embroidery hoops.

30 Day Photo number 2

2007-03-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

I made some homemade pasta for lunch, it has poppy seeds in it, and I served it with olive oil, salt and pepper and juice from a Meyer lemon. yum.

if you have to buy gasoline

2007-03-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

The Sierra Club has just published their "Pick Your Poison" guide. If you drive a car, and you buy gasoline, this guide will let you know the best and worst companies to buy from based on their environmental records.

30 Day Photo number 1

2007-03-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

This is probably not the best photo that I took today, but it's a rainbow! So it just wins by it's very nature, right? There were rainbows all over the place today. I like those blue trucks too.

After that, my daughter took about a hundred photos (for real) at the orthodontist's office while my son was having his appointment.

cherry blossoms

2007-03-01T14:00:00.001-08:00

cherry blossoms, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

This is Scott's first 30 Day Photo picture. It is so pretty I kind of want to eat it.

You'd never guess that he is spending 12 hours a day in an office, and that this is right outside of his door.

He set up a flickr group for the challenge, so come on and join us!

wii!!!

2007-03-01T13:58:00.001-08:00

DudeandWalterMii.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

We got a Nintendo Wii. It is so much fun!

Here are some Big Lebowski mii's that Scott and I made. He made the Dude, and I made Walter.

lichen

2007-02-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

Do you think there's much of a market for lichen photography? Because I think that's what I want to do now. I want to be a lichen photographer.

a photo each day in March

2007-02-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, now I'm ready to set myself a new challenge. I think that I have been bored lately, a little depressed, lacking focus.

I'm going to commit to taking one photo worth looking at each day and posting it here to my blog, and on flickr.

macro photo of buds on a dogwood tree
If anyone else out there wants to do the same thing, that would be really fun, and we could have a flickr group and I could post links on my blog to others who are participating.

new camera

2007-02-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

My little Sony point and shoot camera finally died after one too many trips to the beach. I upgraded to a Nikon D50, and I'm still getting to know it. It's been raining every day, so I haven't been able to go out and take many photos, but I'm pretty excited about it.

Christian Carlos Fund

2007-02-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

The auction to benefit Christian Carlos is live now. You can bid on all of the items here.

Many thanks to the lovely Claire for putting this on.

is flickr down?

2007-02-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or is flickr down? I haven't been able to access it all day today, or yesterday.

sonoma coast in february...or why i love california

2007-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

The kids and I went to the coast today for some tidepooling, rock collecting and sand digging. It was absolutely gorgeous out there today. I love Northern California. The beach in winter is often so much nicer than it is in summer. Today it was around 65 degrees and the winds were mild.

Scott Johnson Photography

2007-02-07T10:40:00.001-08:00

DSC_9277.jpg, originally uploaded by ScottyJ.

Scott is having his first show of photography. This Saturday from 5-7 p.m. at Free Mind Media in Santa Rosa.

It is going to be beautiful.

more photos here.

closer to carbon

2007-02-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a video that my kids and some other neighborhood kids acted in.
It was directed by Benjy Young. The kids really loved working with him. He's a film maker, but he's also a rigger. He rigged up the flying harness so that little Djuna could fly up into this gargantuan redwood tree.

of flu and fashion

2007-01-31T17:12:00.000-08:00

What a week this has been. My daughter fell ill with a raging case of the influenza that is going around here. It came on suddenly and lingered for...oh I don't know, what day is it now? A long time. And despite fanatical hand washing, I picked it up too. A much milder version of it, but still I am wiped out and I pretty much can't do a thing except to lie in bed and watch the very addictive Project Catwalk...and Project Runway too.

I watched the whole first season of the British Project Catwalk and it was great. They are much nicer to each other on British reality tv.

We don't have cable, so thank goodness for itunes.

Anyhow, now I have signed up for the wardrobe refashion challenge. Should be fun!

2007-01-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

I found this cute home made vintage apron for one dollar a few weeks ago. It even has a towel attached to it! I will wear it while I'm painting so that I don't ruin my clothes anymore.

apartment therapy auction

2007-01-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

My piece is up for bidding right now in the Apartment Therapy auction to benefit DrawBridge.

I will also be donating work to the auction to benefit Christian Flores Carlos being organized by the lovely Claire. She is looking for other donations of art and craft work, so if you think that you can donate with either money or work, please do. This fundraiser will start in about a month.

our art collection on apartmenttherapy

2007-01-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hey, look! Our art collection is on apartmenttherapy !

We need to get the rest of it photographed too. We went to Ikea this past weekend and got some frames for our small prints.

heath ceramics

2007-01-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that I have mentioned my love of Edith Heath's ceramics here before. I just love the stuff. The glazes are so beautiful, the shapes are so elegant, and it's sturdy and strong and just pretty much perfect.

Our local museum has realized the greatness of Heath as well and they are putting on an exhibit ...a Heath exhibit!!! It opens this Saturday, January 20. And when I read the blurb about it I find out that it's in conjunction with the publication of a book!!!! And then I ordered the book in about three seconds flat! I love you, internet.

All of this pottery love makes me feel like a total nerd by the way, because now every time I think of Heath pottery, which unsurprisingly is embarrassingly often, I think of the time that I met the man who makes the molds for Heath.

I guess he is a friend of my friend Andy, and he came to open studios and when they were talking near me, I heard him talking about Heath and my ears perked up, and then they went up to see Laurel's work and I said to Scott, "I think that guy is from Heath" and he said, "Oh, I didn't tell you before? Yeah, he totally works for Heath, he's the mold maker." and I think that I was gone before he finished that sentence.

I went up to her studio too, trying to act all casual, but I was flustered and I felt like...well just very nerdy and kind of starstruck, and I started talking to the guy about Heath and he was really nice and friendly.

And then later, Laurel told me that the whole time I was talking to the guy, I was clutching a drawing that my little friend Djuna had made for me that said "I Love You." I was clutching an "I Love You" picture and pointing it at the Heath guy! And I was probably all red too. ...sigh.

catalog

2007-01-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

thrift store painting on burlap
shrinky dinks by Will Smith
sculpture by Laurel Roth and a painting that she bought for Scott from Adobe Books and I can't remember who painted it but it's awesome. Pirate ship on cardboard.

It's "art month" on Apartment Therapy, and they are asking people to photograph the way that they display art in their homes. Scott and I have a pretty big art collection, and it's growing all the time. We have lots of pieces that are waiting for frames, or to be hung and I have a bit of a difficult time figuring out where to put it all without it looking chaotic.

Our collection is mostly from local artists and San Francisco artists, with some thrift store pieces and some tiny showcase prints for good measure. I decided that I probably should catalog it in some way, so I'm taking photos and putting them in a set on flickr.

auction preview

2007-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

I am donating a piece to the Apartment Therapy SF charity auction to benefit DrawBridge, an arts program for homeless children. I am trying to decide which piece would be best to give.

I'm kind of leaning toward the house piece, because a lot of the children who use the program draw houses.

Any thoughts?

sewing

2007-01-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

This is a tea cozy that I made for Laurel for xmas. We gave her a cute little beehouse teapot, and so I made this guy to keep her tea warm while she's working in the studio. It's made from a wool sweater that I felted in the washing machine, the little blue parts of the eyes are cashmere.

She thought that it looked like Scott.

I also made this pincushion for her from the same sweater and some vintage fabric.
It feels good to be sewing again, except that my machine really did not enjoy sewing through two thick layers of felted wool.

bright orange kitchen

2007-01-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

I am so pleased to have my camera back, and for the lovely winter break that we had. Scott and I spent a good deal of time cooking and working on the house, and it was very nice.

These photos are from in our bright orange scullery. We got a set of really cool hanging panels for xmas from Larissa and Aaron, they are made by Koizol, and they are very fun and cheerful. They cast beautiful shadows too.

We keep wishing that we could paint our house. It's nice to have a rental that isn't sterile and white, but wow, the red and green living room, leading in to the purple, orange and yellow kitchen with the green ceiling can be a bit much sometimes.

The second photo shows the shadows cast on our little collection of Todd Barricklow pieces. Todd is in the upcoming "Close Calls" show at the Headlands. This show looks really good and I can't wait to see it. Also Todd's modded espresso machine is on the Make Blog!

happy new year

2007-01-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

Our holidays were merry. I surely hope that yours were too! I haven't posted in a while because I've been thinking and hibernating and trying to figure out what to do with this next year.

My camera is finally back from being repaired, so I plan to begin posting again in earnest.

Also, I'm adding some paintings to my etsy shop.

weaving with kids

2006-12-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

My daughter is working on weaving. She pulled out the loom that I got for her a while This is good for her, she gets frustrated pretty easily, but this has been a breeze. The loom is well made, easy for kids to use, and the results are very nice!

We have a Harrisville peg loom.

installation photos

2006-12-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

here are some photos for you of us putting the show up at moxie. I think that all of these were taken by my daughter, except for the last one, which I took.
1.some of my work up on the wall
2. some of Todd's work on the floor, getting ready for the wall
3.a skirt made by Violet Crabtree (the girl with the best name that ever was)
4. my tea (strong irish with milk of course) in one of Todd's pint glasses
5.my robot son. isn't he cute?

art show tomorrow at moxie

2006-12-08T14:10:00.001-08:00

I am getting ready to go and hang the show at Moxie. It's been a bit of a struggle because of this lingering cold that has morphed into an evil sinus infection that is making it very difficult to think and function.

Saturday, December 9 5-8pm
Moxie
600 Mendocino Ave. Santa Rosa, CA

Todd Barricklow and me

new t-shirts on etsy

2006-12-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

I'm working on posting some of my shirts on etsy. If you wanted one at Open Studios, and I didn't have your size, I probably do now! I have large and extra large shirts being printed right now, also I'm making the monster chase shirt in kid sizes! 2T, 4T and 6T on American Apparel shirts.

They are $22 and shipping is free! Also, if you're in Los Angeles, you can find some of my things at the fabulous shop, Reform School.

til further notice

2006-12-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

sick yet again, plus my camera is in the shop for repairs!

news

2006-11-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have a show at Moxie on December 9. The opening party will be from 5pm-8pm.

I was going to do it all by myself, but it's better with a friend, so Todd Barricklow will be joining me and showing a new series of tag drawings.

I'll have new work too, and I think both Todd and I plan to have plenty of work for under $50 for holiday gift giving.

green sweater

2006-11-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

new photo project

2006-11-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

Time for another 30dayphoto project I think, to get me back into taking photos, and back to posting. Anybody want to join me? I did this last year and it was wonderfully challenging and fun. You just take a photo everyday for a month. A good photo that you like, and you post it to your blog and/or flickr with a tag "30dayphoto". It will be extra challenging during the holidays maybe, but it also could be really fun and push you to take a different kind of holiday photo.

My art website launched. I still have work to do on it. The writing is not what I want it to be. Also I need to photograph more work for the gallery, and I want to have a way to have sales.

been gone so long

2006-11-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

I've missed posting here. I've been strangely sick though, and had no energy for my computer. I had a bunch of tests done and am waiting to hear back. (not to worry though, I should be just fine)

I do feel much better now, and am planning to get back to normal life, and regular posting.

Scott and I went to Mammoth for his work this weekend. It was amazingly gorgeous. I've never been to the Sierras before and they really are as beautiful and majestic as people say. I wish that we could have stayed longer, we were there for less than 24 hours.

Girl Caught in the Wind

2006-10-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

Djuna, not blowing so hard, originally uploaded by little green.

The super creative costume made by my friend Spring for her daughter to wear. Her hair and dress are wired to make it look like the wind is blowing, and the inside out umbrella with the leaves is a brilliant touch!

They got a mention on the make blog!

Spring is so talented!

hi there...remember me?

2006-10-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

I think that I've recovered from open studios now! It was so fun and very tiring! I didn't take many photos because I was so busy talking with people and watching people and looking at all of the art.

I bought a few pieces and traded for some things and sold some things and it was excellent.

It took me a while to recover.

And then there's Halloween! My favorite holiday. (my photos of the kids are on Scott's computer, so I'll show those soon) S is going as a zombie nerd. He picked out some amazing clothes at various thrift stores, and his costume is creepy and nerdy as can be. He has a briefcase to collect his trick or treating candy in.

Z was going to be something, I can't remember what. Something weird. And then just a few days ago she decided to be the headless horseman! We had to scramble a bit, but I think we made it work.

Scott and I got to go to a real grown up's Halloween party, so we went as skeletons. I was inspired by the series of photos of last years Dia De Los Muertos in the mission. The ones that Gage made his paintings of. Oh, and Scott had his first pieces in a gallery show, he put two Day of the Dead photos in the "Calacas" show at Boomerang, and one sold!

This was one of my favorite costumes from the party. My friend Justine and her sister dressed up as the twins from the famous Diane Arbus photograph.

new shirts!

2006-10-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

The shirts are being printed today! Here's a sneak preview being worn by Scott. I have this design and two others. This is a two color print, black and discharge ink on an American Apparel shirt.

2006-10-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Free Hugs !

Okay, one more you tube video. This one is so beautiful too. I found it through mecozy who found it through superhero. thanks Shash and Andrea!

2006-10-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

one week of art works

I found this video on youtube, if you have a few minutes, you really should watch it. It shows a group of Japanese artists making paintings on a big canvas or wall, painting them out and starting over.

visitors

2006-10-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Bees are always flying in to my studio, attracted by the beeswax scent, I suppose. This guy was was the first to actually keep bumping in to the paintings. I managed to snap a few photos before he flew back out through the open door.

breaking news

2006-10-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

My good friend Todd Barricklow was one of three winners of the Sonoma County Arts Council "Emerging Artist's Award" this year and he won a lovely grant and there will be three shows featuring the three award recipients.

The second show is coming up this Saturday at Blue Gum Gallery right outside of Santa Rosa, and it's "Emerging Artists and Friends". Todd has invited me to hang some pieces in the show too! How exciting! I went yesterday and put a some things up.

I want to talk more about Todd's work, because it's brilliant. But I can't quite get the right words together at the moment. Hopefully later today I'll come up with something coherent.

I feel funny about having Arts Council-y people see my work. I feel a little bit naked and dumb. But oh well. We all have to stretch and try new things, right? My work looks so un-serious next to the other stuff.

laurel

2006-10-04T07:50:00.001-07:00

Another artist and friend from Compound 21 is Laurel Roth, who is generously allowing me to share her space. Her work is beautiful, fascinating and so intricate you can't even believe it. Her recent body of work is about nature in urban environments; nature, and people. She takes things like bits of plants from the street, cigarette butts, layers of paint from old buildings and fake fingernails from the dollar store and makes them in to these incredible things.

She carves old billiard balls into realistic bird skulls and fashions little bodies and wings for the birds and...well, you just have to see it.

This piece is called "peeps" and it's from last year. It's one of my favorites.

and this one is unbelievable. the skull is hand carved and the body is made up of fake fingernails and barrettes that she painted, oh and fake eyelashes. this bird took many many hours of delicate work.

Another body of work she's got going on is in collaboration with her boyfriend, Andy Diaz Hope, and it's mainly installation work. They've done installations at galleries all over the place, New York, Chicago I think, and probably other places. This week, on Thursday, they are doing one at Frey Norris, here in San Francisco as part of the "Who's Afraid of San Francisco" show. I will be attending, and I'm super excited.

I saw one of their installations at the Marin Headlands open studios and it was brilliant. I really covet the little pill people and pill angels and pill devils. They are so tiny and cool.

Here is what Frey Norris has to say about Laurel and Andy's work:

Laurel Roth and Andy Diaz Hope will collaborate on two projects for this exhibition. The first relates to intravenous drug culture and the second to California's history of "Sundown Towns," communities that posted warnings to minorities, most often African Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, Chinese and Jews, that they were expected to vacate the town by sundown. Laurel Roth's work is about finding patterns of adaptation, ecology and anthropology in an urban environment. Her sculptures are made from leftovers of city life – second-hand billiard balls and salvaged acrylic block, pharmaceuticals, 99 cent store beauty products, and fragments of street plants - deconstructed, carved, polished, and reassembled. Andy Diaz Hope's two most recent series are "Everybody is Somebody's Terrorist" focusing on hand knit balaclavas that transform their wearers into terrorists, documented in photos and films, and "The Morning After Portraits," portraits of strangers and friends using rows of custom manufactured colored capsules glued to a white foundation.

And then I could say a lot of stuff about how incredible I think Laurel is as a person, and how glad I am to know her but she might get embarrassed and scowl at me.

eve of my b-day

2006-10-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

something i got for my birthday
something scott got for his in august (made by heidi!)

tomorrow i will be 35. and i don't think listening to two hours of elliott smith on repeat all day long is helping my slight case of pre-birthday melancholy. maybe ice cream and the unicorns will help! ooh, they're canadian! like i am originally.

working hard

2006-10-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

I gathered all of my paintings together and hung them up in my studio, a bit haphazardly, but it is helping to see that I do have a fair amount of work ready. I have some new small collage pieces too that I'm pretty excited about.

I sent out my newsletter thing about open studios today. I'm hoping that it worked and looks good. If you didn't get one, and you want one, sign up here.

It's going to be at Compound 21 and it's going to be great. I think I'll pop in here each day to talk about one of the artists who will be exhibiting there too. The resident artists there are all incredible, and so kind to let me show along with them.

First off, is Mati McDonough. I imagine that most people who check in here are aware of Mati's work, because it's incredible, and she is always busy and always progressing. Besides that, she is also funny and smart and thoughtful and interesting and pretty.

I can't wait to see what she will have this year for open studios. I got a print last year and I adore it.

Her etsy shop is pretty cleaned out but there are still four paintings to look at.

taking a small break

2006-09-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

small blocks cut and ready for painting on my studio table

close up of a new painting

oh my! Open Studios is just two weeks away now, and I'm freaking out a bit. So much to do, so I'm going to stop posting on and, even more importantly, reading blogs until after Open Studios is over with.

I might post some new paintings here and just pop in and say hi, but I have to get myself off of the computer!

want to stay updated?

2006-09-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hi friendly readers,
I'm working on setting up a mailing list for letting people know about upcoming shows and other exciting art-related news.

For now it's just an email newsletter, but someday I'll send out pretty postcards too.

If you're interested in signing up, that would be cool, and you can click here.