Charlie and the doll

Our cat Charlie likes to take advantage of (rare) opportunities to sneak into my studio, dig through open bins of Barbie dolls, and dart off with a hairy blonde or two stuck between his teeth. Usually I have to chase him down before he damages my precious materials! However, this time since it wasn't an actual Barbie doll he nabbed, I told him he could keep his new friend. To say he loves it would be an understatement… happy friday everyone!

barbie art from back in the day!

At the top of the stairs in my parents house…

…hangs the collection of Barbies I transformed back in high school art class.
I thought it would be fun to share some pics! It's interesting to look back and see a path from where it all started.

man-barbie

zebra-barbie

carrot-barbie (this ones my favorite)

trippy-hippy-barbie

solid-silver-barbie

Merry Merry

(vintage imagery from: plan59)

I'm visiting with family for Christmas and will be taking an official blogging break until after the new year. Sincerest thanks for your support and kindness throughout 2008! It's been an amazing year; I feel like I've accomplished so much. I'm ready for a new and exciting year of endless possibility and creativity… and I wish for you the same.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

the review

Dave and I went to see the movie I mentioned in last Friday's blog post, Who Does She Think She Is? and wow. This film is so. good. REALLY. Hopefully you're fortunate enough to have it traveling to a city near you. (If not it will also be coming out on DVD!)

I was all goosebumps and tears through a good majority of this film. The movie follow various working artists dealing with the struggles, as well as the joys involved in making art, cultivating relationships and raising children. It examines these complexities while questioning the way our society often forces women to choose between mothering and a career in art.

Under-appreciated, under-represented and generally lacking support by society women have a more difficult time pursuing art careers than men, despite the record number of women enrolled in college art programs. The film makes its point extraordinarily well without beating you over the head with its message. The imagery, the soundtrack and the inspiring, compelling artists the film follows left me feeling elated and determined. Please see this film and tell me what you think!

more info on their website: whodoesshethinksheis.net
NY Times review: movies.nytimes.com

Absence

I apologize, yet again my friends, for my absence on the blog. My family has been dealt yet another blow as we have just experienced the third death in my family in the past year and a half. Every time I think I get an inch closer to healing, something else seems to happen.

Onward…

I'll be posting images of that surprise I mentioned a while back this week! Sorry for the delay. The necklace above is a new piece that will be listed on etsy soon. Still debating on whether I should darken the piece with a patina yet or not… any thoughts?

The funniest quote ever in reference to my work:

"Not for everyone, but then neither is McDonalds"

uh… okay.

(found on the HGTV message boards. Some rather funny and amusing postings about my work there lately.)

Dave and I had a really nice Easter weekend upstate and enjoyed the time with our families. Here's us after stuffing ourselves silly at Easter Brunch with lovely Lake George in the background.

(Dave's wearing an awesome Arther Hash pink chainsaw pin! Love it.)

Holiday

We're heading upstate to visit with family and I'll be taking an official blogging break until after the new year. My sincere thanks for your support and kindness throughout 2007. I'm ready for a new and exciting year full of possibility and positivity and I wish for you the same. Happy Holidays everyone!

(fantastic vintage imagery including the illustration above from: plan59)

autumn in new york; part II

Taken last weekend in Lake George. The other place I call home.

void

There's been a sudden death in my family this week, so I'm in upstate NY and will not be blogging again until I get back to Brooklyn on Monday. For now I leave you with a quote from the book I'm currently reading, which I feel is all too appropriate…

"We have no way of knowing that the funeral itself will be anodyne, a kind of narcotic regression in which we are wrapped in the care of others and the gravity and meaning of the occasion. Nor can we know ahead of the fact (and here lies the heart of the difference between grief as we imagine it and grief as it is) the unending absence that follows, the void, the very opposite of meaning, the relentless succession of moments during which we will confront the experience of meaninglessness itself."

- Joan Didion
The Year of Magical Thinking

What I did on my Summer Vacation

A view from the deck outside the house we rented in Cape Cod. We swam every day in this gorgeous, clean, perfect temperature lake… pure bliss!

See that little speck of sand between the trees? I swam all the way there AND back with Dave and Byron one lovely afternoon. Talk about feeling accomplished! It was totally exhilarating.

And of course, we took in the stunning ocean views.

There's rumor this may become an annual vacation destination with Dave's family! (I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed for that!) But for now, it's back to hot, humid, dirty ol' Brooklyn and also back to work…sigh.

I'll be sharing pics of what's exciting and new in my studio later this week so stay tuned.

Smudge and Charlie in da house

D and I are leaving for summer vacation today - a week in Cape Cod with his family! Should be a great time. Smudge is home from the hospital AGAIN after being re-admitted for a third stay last Friday. He appears to be doing better so far (read: not urinating all over the house) but I feel awful to put him right back in a cage now that we're going away. Alas, this vacation has been planned for months. I do feel good however that the Dr.'s will be able to keep an eye on him and properly administer his meds while we're gone. Poor lil' guy…


And on that note, I might as well leave you with another bit of cuteness from his brother, Charlie, asleep in the Barbie house…

See you August 6th! Have a wonderful week!

Healing

Smudge has returned from the hospital, fingers crossed this time it's for good! He was re-admitted after he was released last time because he re-blocked AGAIN two days later, which apparently is fairly common. We brought him home on Wednesday and so far so good as far as the blockage goes.

However, we're having some issues since his return with him urinating wherever he pleases - ALL over the apartment! Needless to say it's been driving D and I a bit crazy, but as the Dr. says, at least he's peeing! (sigh)

He has been walking slower than usual and it's pretty obvious he's still in some pain, but he's been very cuddly and I think he's happy to be home again. I just hope the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory are doing their job.

He's now sporting his new haircut… a "Lion Cut" as it's called. He really does look like a little lion being orange and all! Too cute. My dad would laugh himself silly if he saw him! Once he saw a woman on TV that had given her long-haired cat a lion cut and with the southern inflections in her voice she kept calling it a "Liiiiiiiiine cut" so my father would often walk around the house imitating her and announcing he was going to give Emma (mom and dad's cat) a "Liiiiiiiiiine cut!" Silliness.

At first I thought Smudge looked kind-of ridiculous, but now I think he looks adorable this way and I'll probably continue to have him shaved once a year. It's so much easier for him (and us) to manage! No more dreadlocks! And in this heat, I'm sure it's a relief to him. He feels like a soft little peach.

So that's the conclusion to the heartache that has been my life lately. It's been an emotional couple of weeks but I'm hopeful he's officially on the mend. Now I can maybe get back to the business of life as usual and start blogging regularly again. Thanks for your patience and your kind well wishes.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

a busy week

I've been absent this week as far as blog posts but it's been an incredibly busy week for me! We returned from Cape May on Monday night and went straight to Webster Hall in Manhattan to see LCD Soundsystem in concert (awesome show but surrounded by annoying, disrespectful fellow concert-goers, more on that another time) and then on Thursday night D and I went to see Andrew Bird and Joan as Police Woman at Webster Hall (again)… and being that Andrew Bird is one of my favorite favorite FAVORITE musicians of course it was an AMAZING performance. We missed Joan though, but thankfully we've seen her play before.

(Andrew, but not at the Webster show)

Then on Friday I left NYC again and am visiting with my mom and sister upstate for the weekend … I'll likely be posting regularly again starting Tuesday. I realize I skipped "thankful thursday" this past week so look for it this thursday instead.

A different kind of pencil…

Does anyone remember these?! (I wonder if they still make them?) My grandmother passed away quite a few years ago but her house on Lake George is just now getting prepared to be sold. This past weekend I went through the remaining "junk" household items with my mom and D and unearthed this old stained glass window art I made as a kid!

My gram used to sit my sister and I down at the kitchen table and let us go nuts with colors, filling in the various frames with small plastic beads and then baking them in her oven. I can remember the excitement and anticipation I felt while awaiting the reveal. She proudly displayed these "artworks" in her windows for years to follow.

She was a really fun grandma and very creative. An aspiring painter herself, her home was filled with lake scenes and nature inspired works she had painted throughout her 93 years of life. (I like to think both my red hair and creativity came from her, so perhaps I'll also inherit some of her longevity.)

I wanted to show this because I think it's kind of cool and strange to see the connection between the epoxy resin work I do currently, and these "window art trinkets" from when I was a kid. Strikingly similar concept don't you think?

Oh, and I've not forgotten about today's "Thankful Thursday" post, but it will have to wait until later today… stay tuned!