some printed matters

Yesterday delivered to my door was the brand new premiere edition of 'Somerset Home' magazine.

I must say it is beautifully presented and chock full of innovative ideas. What a thrill to have the article I wrote on my 'Picture Poetry Banners' appear in this new magazine. Right now it's only yearly, but they are hoping to expand it into a quarterly publication. With all the interest in home and feathering our nests, I think it will do quite well if people know about it. If you feel like being inspired you can purchase it at Barnes & Noble or at Borders August 1st...or you can order it through the mail at Stampington & Company direct.



I also just received the new summer edition of the ARTitude zine where Suz published a cool article, written by the lovely Sarah Fishburn, on the collaborative bracelet swap we participated in through The Creative Underground. Suz also added my altered book and photography piece 'book of departure' to the gallery page. Thanks Suz!

Well, it's back to the drawing board for me. Even though the heat has let up some, it's Sunday, and I'm getting in some serious art time, grateful every minute that the electricity is on.

chad city

I created this piece I call 'chad city' for an exhibit that runs from July 28 - September 17, 2006 called "Do not Fold, Bend, Spindle or Mutilate: Computer Punch Card Art."
It's a punch card exhibition at the Visual Arts Center at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
All art was created on the punch cards that were sent to participating artists...If anyone sees the exhibit, let me know. I don't think I'm heading that way anytime soon.
Here is the link to view the entire exhibit. It's so unique...check it out...
I'm on page 2
Washington Pavilion Punchcard exhibit

plunged into darkness

It was July 22 at 5:00 pm...suddenly everything electrical stopped. No lights, no computer, no Air Conditioning. Outside it was 110 degrees...and inside we slowly watched the temperature plunge, the refridgerater was silent, I recharged my cell phone in the car with the ac blasting...everyones world was suddenly different.

By 8:00 the house became pitch dark...and we started to light the candles I had gathered to get some semblance of light. Our flashlights swung around the room, my eyes strained to see, everything became 10 times as difficult.

It was a hot and sticky weekend in LA.
At 5:00pm my cousin and her husband arrived from England for a visit with us. Little did they know they were walking into an inferno...
Last night we stayed at a friends house to cool down and get some much needed rest.
My angel of a friend.
July 24th...
This morning the DWP told us on the phone there were 17,000 homes without electricity...we were one of them. We had no idea how long the darkness would last. At noon I tossed everything out of the refridgerator...
at 3:00pm everything roared into action and there was electricity once again.
I was elated...
2 days of darkness....thank goodness for the light!

openings in heaven

Dorothy Nell
January 30, 1919 - July 17, 2006
I made this art in memory of my mother-in-law Dorothy Nell. She passed away today July 17, 2006 at 3:30am.
She was kind and sweet and had a fiesty sense of humor. She was a terrific grandmother and a wonderful mother-in-law. We will miss her spirited energy...

Perhaps they are not stars,
but rather openings in heaven
where the love of our lost ones pours through
and shines down upon us
to let us know they are happy.

Eskimo Proverb

geisha - pond - bridge & koi

Made some art today, just finished these atc's...

tis a small world

It's the weekend already, and in LA...it's hot, hot, hot...
While waiting for my coffee to brew this morning I turned on the TV and caught the very end of 'Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events'...I was dragged into watching it and I had forgotten that the end credits to this movie are my all time favorites. The line drawings mesmerised me once again, like they had the first time I saw them.
How cool are those credits!
So I type Brett Helquist into Google and go on to discover that it was Brett Helquist that illustrated my friend Jim Hart's book "Capt.Hook : The Adventures of a Notorious Youth" I had never made the connection...
The Hart's kids and my kids played many hours together when the filming of 'Hook' (which Jim wrote) was taking place...
what a small world it is...
I also found this very interesting website if you love words...'international words from a British viewpoint' World Wide Words I grew up in a British household, and so many of these phrases are familiar to me. If you are ever looking for words or phrases for your art...this might be a good resource to add to your favorites.

All in all it's been a pretty productive morning...can't wait to see what the afternoon holds...

a wild weekend

I can't say I have gotten a lot of sleep the last couple of days. I have been working 18 hour days with Sarah Fishburn, friend, artist and co-author. Sarah and I are writing a book together and with our publishers deadlines nipping at our heels, Sarah took the weekend out from her road trip to stay with me at my home and put in some serious worktime. Here's a picture of us just before she hit the road again today with her daughter and grandchildren heading up to San Francisco for the last leg of her trip. We're tired but satisfied with the amount of work we got done despite a few hiccups we encountered. We did enjoy being in the same workspace together (instead of our usual email flurries) and got especially giggly and silly at 1:30 am this morning...
I can't say anything else about the book at this point...but you'll hear about it on the blog as soon as I'm told I can get the word out. I will say it's coming together very nicely and it's cool to see this dream that started well over a year ago finally blooming into reality.
I'm going to try and take it easy tomorrow...catch up on some sleep, putter in the garden and maybe watch a movie or two. Got to replenish myself so I can begin working again after the holiday weekend...

Wishing you all a safe and peaceful time this July 4th, whatever you do...