While She Naps

new photos

The CD of photos that my friend Elena took came in yesterday's mail.  They are really super! I'm so glad I took the time to have good photos taken before all my birds fly off.  Here are a few of my favorites

See the whole set starting here.  I'm thinking of having some packs of cards printed up to put on Etsy. What you do you think?  A six pack of assorted cards? 

I want to say thank you to Kristen from Schmancy for this write up on the Plush You blog yesterday and I wanted to let you know that beginning next week there will be some birds for sale at Moss in Savannah, GA.

Well, I'm making my television debut. Don't get too excited, it's not Martha. On Monday I am being interviewed by Wellesley Public Access Television. The producers saw my blog and would like to do a piece about me and my work. I asked if I could please come to their studio, but no, they are coming to my house to film me in my "studio."  Yes, my studio is actually our bedroom.  Oh my.   What should I wear?  How can I possibly neaten up all that fabric in time? 

I Think It's Time II

"I Think It's Time II"
mixed media sculpture

A nesting pair of soft sculpture birds and a working vintage darkroom timer.  This will be in the Paper Boat show in April.

As I've been sewing these past few weeks I've been listening to recorded books through Librivox.  Last week I listened to A Tale of Two Cities and this week Silas Marner.  Both excellent classics that I missed somehow up until now. 

But what was really special about them for me is that they both have characters that engage in obsessive textile art.  Madame Defarge knits and knits the roster of the French Revolution  and Silas Marner weaves and weaves away his isolation and sorrow.  Dickens and Eliot describe so well the repetitive sounds of the knitting needles and the loom. These beautiful descriptions have been really wonderful to hear over the repetitive whir of my sewing machine. 

small bird (brown and yellow), some mail, and some press

A new small bird for the show at Paper Boat.  I had a mild freak out the other night after having finished 14 pieces for Artstream and then realizing that I have this other show right around the corner and only 8 finished sculptures.  I spent some time separating the bodies of work and thinking about what I actually need to do to get it all finished and now I am feeling more in control.  Lots of sewing in the next four weeks, though!

The show at Paper Boat  will be called "Feather Your Nest."  It will be a two-person show with Amy Rice.  Here are all of Amy's pieces for our show.  Now you see why I better get my act in gear!  The show will go up the first week of April and the opening will be April 18 if you live in the Milwaukee area.  I won't be able to go, so if you do get there please take some pictures for me!  You can check here to see the full schedule of everyone showing at Paper Boat this year.  Some very cool people. I wish I lived closer!

I wanted to mention an incredible package that arrived here last week and has been making me so very happy.  Terry from andsewitgoes read in one of my blog posts about how my supply of vintage wooden spools had gotten low.  She offered to mail me her collection for the price of postage. And oh my, what a collection it is!  This is a photo of a few of my favorites, but keep in mind that this is only a tiny fraction of what came.

Isn't that big one amazing?  And those bobbin-sized spools - I'd never seen those before.  Many of the spools still have thread on them, but many more are empty.  I have filled up an old typeset drawer with the empty ones in the hopes that when I finally get new shelving for my studio I will hang this on the wall above.

I like it! Thank you, Terry!  You really made my week.

And last, but not least today, there is a four-page spread in the March-April issue of Somerset Studio about me. 

I just got a copy in the mail yesterday so I'm assuming it will be available at newstands relatively soon.  The editor contacted me in September to do an interview and it has been a pretty fun experience to see my work featured in a magazine.

Okay, that's it for today.  Whew. 

wading bird with aqua feathers

The very last of 14 pieces for Artstream.  Here he is sitting on the shelf in our family room.  I am coming to like photographing my work as it might be if you bought it, sitting on the mantle or on a bookshelf. 

And here is a closer picture, this time in our living room perched on top of Charlie's grandfather's trunk (he was also a Charles Glassenberg) with a collage of print blocks behind. 

It feels good to have finished this body of work.  I have a few last minute bits to finish of and then I can drive it all up to New Hampshire.  You can now read about the show on the Artstream website.

It is school vacation week this week.  Roxanne is going to a little vacation nature camp three mornings, but otherwise we are home, hanging out.  The weather is bright and sunny today so perhaps some outdoor time later.   I am very ready for spring!

wading bird in white

Another snowy day and another white bird.  We had a two hour delay this morning which gave us just enough time to build a lovely snowwoman and a snowdog companion before it began pouring rain and we had to scurry off to school.  They are now sadly melting into puddles on the front lawn.

My friend Elena Clamen came over to photograph all the birds yesterday. I'm pretty excited to see how they look through someone else's lens. 

One more bird to make and then lots of wrapping and shipping.  Here are the details on the Artstream
show. It will be called "Stories and Tales" and will include work by Abby Glassenberg, Alena Hennessy, Darryl Berger and Tara Hogan.  The opening will be March 7th from 5-7 p.m. and the show runs from March 5th through March 31st.  I will be at the opening, by myself (Wow! I feel like I almost never go anywhere alone!  This is exciting in and of itself.)  Please come say hello.

a third small raptor (fall colors)

I finished this small raptor today. Yes, I just made three of these in a row.  As I've mentioned before, I like to make things in threes.

Here she is with her friend.

I would photograph all three together, but the third one is getting ready for an opening tomorrow night in Phoenix at The Trunk Space.  More information on that show, if you live in the Phoenix area and would like to check it out, can be found here.

I finished this piece, Nest of Thread (Trois), last week.  I found another vintage flour sack and decided to make another one of these.  I like this design. I'm nearly out of full vintage wooden spools now.

Things are moving into high gear around here as I get ready to ship everything to Artstream and then a month later to Paper Boat.  I have two more birds to make and then all the final things that need to be taken care of - checking to be sure that everything is perfect, pricing all the sculptures, signing the collages, and wrapping everything securely.   It is a little stressful, but in a good way.

small raptor

A new small raptor.  The grey fabric was actually originally a white large scale floral print that I overdyed.  Charlie says she looks Egyptian with those eyes.

I love wool stuffing. It is such a pleasure to work with - really soft and fluffy and it smells like lanolin. It has some different properties than Buffalo Batt Superfluff (which is what I'd been buying wholesale before), but it hasn't taken long to get used to how the wool stuffs.  And now I'm addicted. Unless I need to make something that will be machine washable, there will be no going back. 

Wool stuffing is only about a dollar and a quarter more per pound when you order directly from West Earl Woolen Mill (717-859-2241), less than half the price of the same product at A Child's Dream Come True .  And like buying any high quality material - Kona cottons, glass-headed pins, good scissors - it is totally worth it if you use it every day.

My friend, Elena, is coming over next weekend to photograph all my current work before I have to package everything up and ship it off for upcoming shows.  Having everything photographed professionally is something I've wanted to do for so many months.

I have a Nikon Coolpix 4300 that is four years old. It's a crappy camera and I am no great photographer.  I'd love to eventually get a good camera and really learn how photograph my sculptures in an artful and interesting way. But for now, I'm hoping that with the pictures  Elena takes I might be able to put together an artist website with a portfolio of my work.  That's been on the long-term goals list since last summer and now it just might happen.