While She Naps

Feather Your Nest!

"Feather Your Nest" opens this Friday, April 4, at Paper Boat in Milwaukee, WI.  I will have these ten pieces in the show and the amazing Amy Rice will have so many beautiful paintings up, too.  The opening party will be on April 18 if you live near Milwaukee.  I know Amy will be there and I surely will be in spirit!  All work will be for sale through the gallery's Flickr site.  I hope you'll check it out.

You may remember a few weeks ago the local television station came over to visit me in my "studio" (read our bedroom) and to do a little interview with me.  Well, the show has aired and you can actually view it on the web.  It is the very last segment of "Wellesley This Week" which you can view here.  I am at the very, very end.  I hope you'll be nice.  It is nerve wracking to be on television, even if it is only local television.

And last, but certainly not least, I have some very big and very good news.  At long last I will have a real and official website.  My friend, Kim, from Three Graces Gallery, and I have been hard at work these last few weeks designing and tweaking things and I am so excited!  So this Friday I hope you will take a moment to check out abbyglassenberg.com!

penguin

A sketch.

A prototype.

And a penguin looking hopefully down at his egg.

just a little post

We are all afflicted with a stomach bug right now - actually everybody except Roxanne.  I'm really hoping she'll avoid this one, but it seems awfully contagious.  Poor little Stella has had a rough go of it - so much puking and so much dirty laundry.  I'm hoping we'll all be on the mend by this weekend.  I have a fun new bird on my desk, just sitting there waiting to be worked on, but all I can do is sleep. 

In more exciting news, my upcoming show with Amy got a nice mention on Juxtapoz on Friday.  You can read it here.

And "Stories and Tales" at Artstream is only up for a few more days (it closes on Monday).  Many of my very favorite birds have been sold, but this one is still available through Artstream's online shop. 

I love this wading bird - the colors and textures on the wings and the deep red beak. 

Now to go eat a little bowl of white rice then off to bed early.

two chicks

You didn't think I could stop with just one, did you?  They seem rather interested in those peels of birch bark.

chick

A newly hatched chick! So much fun to make.  She is up in the shop right now.

This afternoon is devoted to making Purim costumes. I've got one Queen Esther and one Vashti and yards and yards of sparkly purple and gold fabric.  It should be a fun afternoon sewing with mommy!

"Feather Your Nest" postcard

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday!

A pack of postcards for my upcoming show with Amy Rice at Paper Boat.  Faythe did such a good job with these. Thank you! Amy's image is on the front and mine on the back. Don't you think they speak to each other?   

At the end of this week I'll be packing up the 10 pieces for this show and getting them ready to ship.  So exciting!

4! and some experiments

My big girl turned four on Saturday and the party on Sunday was very sweet. Just the right number of kids and very homemade.  We read some springtime stories, played a little jumping game, and did two little crafts, one of which was making wool felt bird puppets which was a big hit.  The kids had flower-shaped pasta and broccoli trees for lunch, and ice cream and cake for dessert.

At the last minuet Roxanne opted for no Happy Birthday song and no candles, so we just wished her well and dug in.  And she only had to escape upstairs for a short spell. Overall a pretty good fourth birthday for a pretty special kid.

My mom was in town the last few days and between spending time with her and all the birthday preparations I didn't have much time to sew.  Before the weekend I was experimenting with some with Tyvek Home Wrap and made the body of a raptor.  Sewing Tyvek was pretty cool.

I painted his legs with stainless steel paint.  I guess I'm not sure where to go from here. I am setting him aside for a while.  I also attempted to sew a bird from the clear plastic case our mattress pad came in.  I liked the idea of the viewer being able to see the wool and the wire armature inside, but turning the clear plastic right side out proved to be really difficult so I set that one aside, too.

I planning even more experiment with new materials and new designs. Although I love to have shows booked, and I already have several more on the calendar for many months from now, I equally love having nothing looming to prepare for.  The total freedom to make what I want, to play really, is so wonderful. 

small brown bird 2

small brown bird 2

(the painting behind it is by the amazing Brigid McCabe)

This bird is the last of 10 pieces for Paper Boat.  I feel really good about each of them, like the colors and the overall look of the birds tie together as a cohesive whole. I will post a mosaic before the show goes up in early April. Amy's  work looks amazing. We seem to like some of the same colors and clearly share a fondness for birds.  I think this is going to be a fun show.

This weekend my big girl turns 4. For us, each of Roxanne's four years has really felt like a full year.  We don't have many, "Wow, where did the time go?" feelings.  Part of this is because she is our first child so all the ground she walks is new ground for us. But part of this is because she is such an intense kid in every way. She seems to feel and experience everything to the utmost, and we along with her.

This year we have finally begun to understand her better and she has had such a better year at 3 then at 2 and we are so thankful for that.

This year she also brought us Mop and Isabel, her two imaginary friends. They are dogs.  And their mother, Pipe (yes, Pipe), and Susanna, her imaginary cat. This menagerie of imaginary companions have been a daily part of our lives since last May and I think they are wonderful.  I know them very well. They are members of our family.

 

We have a small birthday party planned for Sunday and Roxanne is very excited. As you may remember from last year's party, Roxanne hates hearing the Happy Birthday song sung, but this year she announced that we can sing to her as long as we whisper.  I think this is just perfect.

At first she didn't want any kids at all to come to the party, just our grown-up friends, but after coming up with many, many craft project ideas to do at the party, she has decided it would be okay to have three of her classmates over. And she has chosen "Spring" as the theme. I am excited to bake and decorate her cake later in the week and to put the celebration together. 

a great show, and a wading bird

photo by Rainer

I had a great time last night at the opening.  There was a small, but interested crowd and Susan couldn't have been more welcoming.  And my name is on the window! So very nice.  Some work sold before I had even arrived, but many are still available here.

I finished this wading bird this morning for the Paper Boat show. His head cocked nicely. This is always a surprise for me. I cut the bird pattern pieces with the grain of the fabric intentionally going in different directions and hope for an interesting result.  I am always happy when they turn out this way.  I tried to select colors for the feathers that would tie together the collection - warm yellows and oranges and some black and gray.  Just one more piece and the set of ten for this show will be done.

Spring is finally on its way here. Roxanne spotted the tips of the tulips we planted on Halloween popping up in the garden today!  And I am brimming with new ideas and new materials to experiment with once the last bird for Paper Boat is completed. 

tonight

"Stories and Tales" opens tonight, Friday, March 7
5-7 pm
Artstream, Rochester, NH

I'm hoping to hit the road this afternoon around 3:00 to avoid major traffic. And I'm going by myself.  Wow!

For the many people who have patiently waited and inquired about birds, I'm excited to say that you can now preview my work on Artstream's online shop and this evening it will all officially be for sale. Prices will range from $110-$350.  I hope you are able to get the piece that you wanted!

Thank you to everyone for all of your support and comments throughout these five months that I have been preparing for this show.  Your presence, your kind words, and your own creative output have spurred me on and helped me to create this body of work. You guys are the best!