Oh Those French

I went to a friends house for breakfast the other day and she has an infant, who in turn has many wonderful toys. The dad is French, so this little girl receives many French goodies. I was delighted by this soft book- recently I have been wanting to create some soft-books of my own, so I've been looking for examples- and of course the images are so French. Would you ever find these kind of pictures in an American children's book? Probably not, unless it was sex ed. It's great to see a book with no inhibitions.

I Sent It Off

So the send-off date and when I actually send it usually vary by about 3 days. Cheers all around because it is gone and hopefully will make somebody happy within the next couple of days (I sent it priority). Now my life is complete. And a little bit calmer. I just wanted to thank everyone again for participating in the swap. I hope you all had as fun as I did. My sac is made from a dress given to me by a friend when she was trying to clean out her apartment before a move. I had an idea of how I wanted it to look and freestyled it. I am really excited, because it actually turned out as I had imagined. I haven't really wanted to sew since my fashion school days, but my last two projects came out so successfully (in my eyes), that I might want to start a line of bags. But then, doesn't everyone? I know my line would have a lot of pockets. I love pockets, especially secret ones.

Summer Sac Swap Send-Off

Well today is the send-off day for the swap. I know, I thought the day would never come either! Well it is here, and if you are like me, I've been so busy, that I haven't been able to get all my items together into the sac...just yet. Most likely by tomorrow. So swapper- it will be a day late. I think I can speak for us all when I say that if you are going to be a day late, even two, no big deal, but if it is more than that, please contact your swapper so that they don't harass the mail person without cause. If you have misplaced any of the information I sent you, just email me and I would be happy to give you the information. If you don't receive a package, or email, please email me, and I will email your swapper to find out what's up. I know that many packages have already been sent, and I am excited to see what people have received. Please post pix on the flickr group site. (I just peeked and saw SawbiiWabii's fabulous swap collection.) I hope that everyone has a wonderful experience with this swap.

Chihuly at Legion of Honor

San Francisco is quite the place to see good art exhibits right now. Most of the Chihuly work is currently at the De Young Museum, but a couple of the nicest pieces are at the Legion of Honor complementing the Women Impressionist's exhibit. I highly recommend both as well as the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the SFMOMA. The day I went to the Legion of Honor was so beautiful- no fog and in the eighties. The perfect condition to see this Chihuly wonder.

Sense of Space

My favorite part of traveling outside of my realm, aka NYC, is experiencing the energy of other places. To me each city or place has a very distinct personality and I enjoy getting to know it. The energy is almost tangible- the feel of the air, the scents of the plants, and the reactions of people who you meet. Sometimes I like to daydream and think about what people in China are doing while I sit on a bench/subway in New York, or how it might be to be in Brazil at a certain moment (lying on the beach preferably), because I am one tiny individual living my life, and there are millions of other people living in their cities, towns, boondocks, experiencing a totally different reality. I think it is important to appreciate a sense of place, especially your own.

New York Through the Eyes of a 3 Year Old

Every day I see my 3 year old becoming more and more like me, via doing and saying the things I do. I say "Oh my goodness", she says "Oh my goodness". I like to draw in my sketchbook, she likes to draw in her sketchbook (yes, she's had one since she was 1 and a half and it is pretty amazing). I like to take pictures of all things and now, yes, she likes to take pictures of all things. Recently she took her Barbie camera to the park and on the way, this is one picture that I think turned out quite nicely. It is somewhere in the low eighties on Amsterdam. The really funny ones were the random shots of parents and children that she took in the park.

Oh Where Do the Days Go?

It's been so long. Again. Here are some close-ups of the work I did at Crown Point Press. It was so great to immerse myself into my own work for a week, but I'm now back with two kiddies full time for the summer months, and it's next to impossible to do anything but focus on them.

Yellow Burst

How beautiful are the patterns in this photograph? I was at the bus top where I saw this plant and loved the beauty of it. Of course it is a weed and you see millions of them growing all over the roadsides and beyond in California, but I had to take a photo regardless and I love it. There was a girl sitting on a bench near this plant who looked at me like I was crazy. I guess a reality check is always nice. I joined Spoonflower and think that I would like to make a fabric pattern inspired by this photo.

Crown Point Press

Where have I been you ask...well I have been fully immersed in a Crown Point Press workshop in San Francisco. Learning to etch with copper plates has been on top of my to do list for a long time, and finally my wish has come true. All week I have acted as a sponge and have learned many different etching processes. See that middle seat up above? That is where I have been making some wonderful discoveries. Below are some of the first proofs of my plates. There is so much more to tell, but I am exhausted, so I will wait until next week.

Sac Swap Update

Well, there isn't that much to update, but I thought I'd write a check up post. All the swapper emails have been sent out, so if you did not receive your information, PLEASE email me. There was one address that I had difficulties with, but other than that, I think that all emails were received. I hope that everyone is enjoying their summers and rejuvenating. I know I am, hence the lack of posts. I have been finding little things here and there for my swapper, but I still don't have a theme. I think that many of my items will be bits and pieces of my travels, but also artwork and random drawings that I have made. Another swapper, paintedfishstudio, suggested possibly having friends, who live in places where her swapper would love to travel to, send some trinkets. I thinks that is a great idea if your friends are motivated, or owe you a favor;) Does anyone have any other ideas that might be helpful? I am so curious to hear.

Bunches of Blue

I love hydrangeas and thought you might too when you saw these delicious pictures that don't begin to do justice to the blue flowers...but one can always imagine. I love the flowers of summer and I love painting them even more. I wish there was a watercolor pigment that came close to the hydrangea blue.

Budapest Rooftops

This is a shot looking towards the Buda side of Budapest and I am so inspired by the rooftops, particularly the spires, domes, and...well I don't even know what they are called. What is the official name of a bubble tower? Regardless, they caught my attention all over Budapest.

Budapest

I've been living the life of a Hungarian in the beautiful city of Budapest for the past ten days. Wow, I love the feel of a European city. New York is great, but it doesn't have the history found in Europe. Every building has something to look at, be it some sort of emblem, or a scene of Roman gladiators fighting- it's all there if you look for it. I'm still sleep deprived, but it was all worth it.

Last Chance

Thank you all for the wonderful response to the swap! I've been busy with life in general and haven't been able to post much, but I want to let everyone know that this is the last chance. I will be pairing up swappers tonight, so if you are interested in joining the swap please email me before 6pm eastern time.

Riverside Park

One of the special qualities I love about NYC is that there are many hidden places you can go that are calm and quiet and make you feel like you are not in one of the biggest cities in the world. This is the 91st street garden that is beautiful year round. Joggers, bikers, and walkers use this path throughout the day so it is also a good location to people-watch. I love to sit on a bench and relax and draw. You may also recognize this location because it was a scene in "You've Got Mail". You can see the Hudson River and New Jersey through the trees (not in this shot) and the one reminder that you are in the city is the Amtrack train line that runs underneath this path.

112 and Broadway

I was thinking about living in New York City, and how I don't post many pictures of just being in the city. I take it for granted that I can jump on the subway and go to Soho, Chelsea, Nolita, Harlem, and even Brooklyn;) So I thought I would start to post photos of nice views that I see from random New York City corners. This is the view that you see facing east when you are on the corner of 112th and Broadway. Isn't the Cathedral amazing? As you can imagine it is much more breathtaking in person. It is also a good location because there is a Pinkberry a few steps away.

It's all about the Matryoshka

I received my dolls from Abbey and they are fantastic. Everyone did great work. I'm so glad that I motivated and was able to participate. You can see all of the dolls on flickr.
More groups Silent Dreamer, Studio Tau, Vert Pistache
Bowdenisms (mine is the big one), Bricolagelife

Three Dolls

A print I created in yesterday's class. We were doing basic foam printing, and one of the students used a little too much paint. I loved how her white on brown print turned out, so I decided to use her extra paint to create a white on red print...or triple print I should say.

Summer Sac Swap

Okay ladies (and gentlemen) drum roll please…. I have decided to do a swap, so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that it will be embraced by the masses. You may live in or be visiting places that other swappers are dreaming of and would love to go to. Why not collect stuff for someone else so that they can live vicariously?

1. Construct a Sack/Bag to hold treasures. This can be a simple as a brown bag with drawings or a more intricate sewn bag. It could be a spice sack from Marrakech or a beautiful Japanese fabric made up into a bag.
2. Sack contains things from cities you visit during the summer or from place you live. Items may include: Photographs, maps, postcards, trinkets, menus, business cards, ephemera, rocks, shells, sticks, pressed flowers, fabric, beads, sketches you have drawn…You all get the idea. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt for your swapper- find them interesting things for inspiration.

This is fun and supposed to be a way to put together a fun collection of things throughout the summer. There are two important dates: September 2 is the date you should have everything finished and be posting photos in the Flickr group. September 8 is the send-off date. By mid-September each of us will receive a sack of goodies to jump start the fall, and time when we are beginning to think about the holiday gift making- okay maybe not that soon…but soon enough. Here are the Rules...

1. At no time may you stress about this swap. If you feel you need to stress, then go find a little trinket or rock to put in your swapper’s sack.
2. The summer sack is a container that holds lots of goodies. I want the creator to decide what it is all about, the only requirement is that you can honestly describe it as one of the best gifts you have ever given, and the maker has to want it so much themselves that it is very difficult to send to their swapper.

If this sounds like the swap for you, send an email to pixiewinkle@gmail.com with the following information:

1. Name, Address, Email, Blog
2. Where will you visit/live this summer?
   
3. List the top three places you wish you could travel to this summer.
4. What are your favorite colors?
5. What type of creativity projects do you do?
6. Other things your swapper might like to know about you.
   
7. Your sign.

The last day of sign up is June 16. No extensions because I will be off to travel the world (not really, but it sounds nice;)

My Little Felt Pouch

I know it's been awhile since I've last posted, but here's a little something for inspiration. I was a part of the Functional Felt Swap where each participant had to craft a felt something or other for their swapper. This is what I came up with. I was inspired by the below artwork that I saw in the Anthropologie gallery at the Rockefeller Center, so I decided to try to construct a flower. I wish I knew how to felt from scratch because it would have made my flower that more interesting, but I'll just add "learning to felt" to my long list of things to do in my life!
I love seeing everyone's finished projects, and I have to say that I'm glad to be a part of the "finished" group. Hope my swapper likes her pouch.