cookin' with talent....

I was totally jazzed when David Cook won Idol last night...How cool was his performance with ZZ Top? He's so original...he had me when he sang his version of this song...

the crutch of the matter

Who's that on crutches? Jesse...yesterday I spent most of it with my son in the hospital...having x-rays and getting his foot wrapped up. He didn't break it thank goodness...just landed on it wrong...and he's getting around on crutches for a couple of weeks...

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
--Elizabeth Stone--

More at sketching the itch...

moo over and sketch the itch...

Hot off the presses is the Summer 2008 issue of Somerset Gallery magazine in which appears a piece of my art I called "Unruly Girls Next Door." I used my MOO cards with my girls sketches on them. It was originally for an article I wrote on MOO cards when they had just hit the market and were hot miniature calling cards. MOOS are a terrific way to spread your site address around, the printing is nice and it's a unique business card for artists to hand out anywhere.

Sometimes I feel like I have a split personality. There is this serious, introspective art that I create when I get into this inner space. And then there is this fun, happy, art I create to kind of blow off steam and just make art in all it's unruliness....
Case in point...sketching. How I love the art of sketching. I have enjoyed bringing forth my unruly girls with their fashionista style...I always had an interest in fashion design since I was a little kid. But now I am wanting to sketch more...illustrate more, get better and better and take a pen and paper with me where ever I go to interpret my life around me. I have a lot to learn...but as with anything...practice makes perfect and I am itching to learn. So I created a blog called Sketching the Itch and I just launched it to inspire me to keep drawing and moving ahead with my desire to sketch, sketch, sketch! This site will be light on words and be a journal of my sketching. When I have the time I linger over other blogs and sites with wonderful sketches popping off the pages and I have decided to list as many sketch sites on this blog as I can so I would have them at my fingertips to check them often. So if you come across any cool sketch sites put them in a comment on the site and I will add them to the sidebar for all to see.

Don't forget that my Doodle Day doodle is up on EBAY to benefit Neurofibromatosis, Inc. 100% of the final sale price will support this deserving charity hosted by Gillian Anderson. This is an original sketch made by me especially for Doodle Day with ink and watercolors. Only hours left to bid...Good Luck.

It's hotter than blazes outside...nearly 100' today...what's with that...so it's a good time to kick back and make some art in my studio.

Fun link...How many of me? Click here to find out.

unruly is as unruly does...

Check out my Unruly Ways at Artsmiths...

my mom's hands...

These are my Mom's hands, and I would like to give a big hug to my own very special Mummy on this Mother's Day... She's the best...and always has been.Here she is running my Danny Thomas Lines with me while I was in the bathtub. It was brilliant really...a night time ritual and one that worked...me being contained in one space made learning my lines for the show a breeze. My Mom was always there for me...coloring with me in my coloring book, playing Barbies with me, teaching me to knit to pass the time on the set. I was blessed...to have a Mom that was always by my side and doing what Mom's do best...

Doodle Day is underway...I made this doodle to help this charity where 100% of the final sale price will support Neurofibromatosis, Inc. Take a look at my sister Veronica's doodle also... and my old pal Bill Mumy's doodle is up on Ebay too...Don't you want a celebrities original doodle hanging on your wall??? Here's a link to the Doodle Day site if your want more information... What a great Mothers Day gift...! A doodle drawing!

Speaking of Mom's...I was invited the other night by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to attend the "A Mothers Day Salute to TV Moms." It was a fun event.
It is always a pleasure to visit with the lovely Marjorie Lord, my TV Mom of seven years. When we filmed the show I thought she was the most glamorous woman ever, with her flouncy skirts and pearls, but I also admired her spunk. She could deliver a one liner with the best of them. Still beaming and charming today...
There were plenty of other TV Moms being recognized at this occasion...Meredith Baxter, Diahann Carroll, Bonnie Franklin, Marion Ross, Cloris Leachman to name a few...

I also saw lots of my childhood friends from my show biz life (whose TV Moms were being honored), including Jon Provost, Tony Dow, Jerry Mathers, Valerie Bertinelli, Charlie Sheen and
Anne Archer (Marjorie's real-life daughter)...It's like going to a grammer school reunion when one attends these events, since so many memories from my childhood weaved it's way among these characters. It was totally a blast.

Hope Sunday is a special day for Mom's everywhere...

sun day...

...it was a beautiful day today...luckily I was able to get outside for awhile and plant a few new veggies in my potager garden. With the sun we have been having here...I hope to see them sprouting up soon...

Rummaging through some old pics, I found this goofy picture of sister Veronica and me larking around in a sports shop when we were kids. We always had fun together...not much has changed today...crazy...funny...sister. It was Vee's birthday a couple of weeks ago...Happy Birthday Sis...

Yeah Lakers...
Here's Jesse watching the game today with Peyton...a die hard fan just like Jesse!

Have you checked out my ETSY store? Lots of olios adorned with my photo/art in my unruly shop.

Til later...

loose ends...

I've been busy...there are many loose ends I have been wrapping up...and I have contacted a bad case of spring fever cleaning. My studio looks like such a mess...and I have 3 projects in progress on my table. And...only I can do it or I won't be able to find anything.

Loose end 1:
I have been meaning to post this rowdy awesome necklace made by my friend Deb Trotter.
It was such a surprise when I received it as a gift from Deb...and I love the cowgirl spirit she embraces in her art.
Deb has also written a short article on the Artsmiths site. Check it out when you get a minute.
I was out and about the other day and the traffic was absurd. Where are all those people going? Ahhh LA...so busy all the time...but...I took a shortcut past my old house...the one I lived in over 26 years ago...and I had to stop and look at the House of Fleurs....I planted alot of those rose bushes and over the years they have gone fantastically wild. You can hardly see the house from the explosion of roses. and I was thrilled to see that who ever lives here now has nurtured those roses as one can see.
I loved this house...but once Becca was born it just was too small...and so we moved to a house we love. But I could not stop myself from reflecting on the good times I had in this home. It was a charmer...
Well back to work...sorting and cleaning and organizing and finishing up those looming deadlines.
I should take a note from Peyton...next life I think I will come back as a sheltie.

old time laughs

along the el camino real...

So here is part deux of my trip up north to Monterey. We enjoyed visiting the beautiful rugged coastline of California. Even though it was brisk and windy...it seemed to sweep the cobwebs away...
We also visited three California Missions...Mission San Antonio de Padua, Mission San Juan Bautista and Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soladad.

I have this fascination with the California Missions. It's not the religious affiliation but more the history that intrigues me. This is California's history...be it good or bad...history helps us learn from our mistakes...


The planning of the missions had spaced them roughly a day's horse ride or a three-day walk from one mission to the next along the highway known as the El Camino Real, which means the kings' "royal way."The missions are among California's oldest structures and are evidence of a time when the Western world was changing. The Church and government expected the missions to support themselves from farming and growing crops.
Some missions were built in more ideal situations while others experienced devastating earthquakes, winds and floods. While only a few of these historical buildings are supported by the state, others have created groups to sustain the missions. It has taken time but through the generosity of visitors many have been able to rebuild.

Some are worn down and tired, others are modest, a few are elegant...but they all make for fascinating study.

For me it is a step through time, as I meander their pathways and enjoy the peace and serenity within the mission walls.

I'm almost halfway through visiting all 21 missions.

hit the road jack...

Well my bags were packed last Sunday and I was ready to go...

Among my clothes were my art supplies for the classes I would be teaching at Asilomar on the 15th and 16th. Monday was a day off so me and my hubby were able to take a drive and enjoy the beauty of the coast...but more about that in a later post...

I want to share some of the artwork that my amazing students made. In the first class I taught we worked non stop and made a variety of backgrounds with paint, plastic wrap, implements, gesso, and other techniques that are in my book Mixed Emulsions.
Then we made small 1 inch x 1 inch pieces out of those backgrounds and created some small pieces in a big way...We were so busy and involved that before I knew it class was over and I had not shot everyones amazing art...but here are a few pieces I was able to snap at the end of the class...
The next day was my class Simpatico - the marriage of black and white photography and color. I showed everyone how to paint photographs with oils and a variety of other materials...like acrylics, markers, and oil sticks. We experimented with a variety of prints...ones professionally printed and ones run through computer printers, and discovered that even though the emulsions may vary widely any picture can be painted on successfully. We had tons of fun stamping into and onto the images and the creativity was flowing. I loved the variety of photos and the individual interpretations the artists gave their art.
Don't these pieces rock?
I had such a great time with my wonderful, eager to learn, inventive, creative, first time and experienced students in both classes. Art is inspiring when you can learn techniques and then interpret them in your own way...everyone embraced that freedom to express themselves which made it a great experience for all...thanks for inspiring ME!...
If any of you are reading this post and you see your art here, write a comment and tell us which piece is yours...
Asilomar was a relaxed and beautiful place to visit. All in all...it was terrific time.

mumma mia

Happy Birthday to my amazing Mum...

It was actually yesterday but I was on the road returning from
the Monterey coast and the Asilomar art retreat.
Will be posting about that really soon...

looking ahead...

I have been very busy...Did I hint that I am writing another book with Sarah Fishburn? There is research to do and deadlines to meet. I'm feeling on top of it now and directing my attention to Asilomar and the classes I am teaching there this coming week. Leaving on Sunday...and looking forward to the break, taking some pictures, making and teaching some art. Just getting away and breathing some coastline fresh air.
One class is about making small art and art mosaic pieces...
The other class is called 'Simpatico'...the marriage of black and white photography and color. I'm teaching how to hand paint photographs with oils and other things...
I'll share the results when I return...
....and now to pack

amazing feets or not tonight i have a headache...

I just had to share this with you...pull up your chair, pause my music on the sidebar, take a few minutes and prepare to be amazed...
How is this possible...?
It gives new meaning to the word...balance...

art is for everyone...

How amazing is this...

a harbinger to spring...

I've been wearing some new jewels on my ears...Earrings that were made especially for me by the talented jeweler Deryn Mentock. I just cannot get enough of them....I dig these jewels big time...

I bought this other pair also with the bead...for dressier occasions. Love the details and how they look like little wings on my ears.

And then to top it all off...I had to get this beautiful nest necklace...how special is this?
A harbinger to Spring... and all that is new.

I am restless. I am athirst for faraway things.
My soul goes out in a longing to touch the skirt of the dim distance.

O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy flute! I forget, I ever forget,
that I have no wings to fly, that I am bound in this spot evermore.

Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener 1915

happy day...

HAPPY EASTER!

HAPPY SPRING!

Becca & Jesse a while back....
Have a great day...