While She Naps

I'm back!

I'm back and it was an amazing experience.  David and I spent the day on Friday setting everything up and he was so incredibly generous with his time. He built half a dozen shelves from reclaimed wood to display my birds and his smaller paintings.

And he brought with him an amazing collection of natural findings - feathers and gourds, turtle shells and a deer skull - to put out with our work. 

When it  was all up it really was a neat show to see.

This pedestal was orange and we had a very sweet intern paint it white.

The opening was really fun, too.  I think Kelly has a picture of me and David together.  I'll post it when I get it from her. I learned a lot by watching people interact with the birds.  The flying birds got a lot interest.  All five of them were sold before the opening party. I had a lot of requests to make a mobile.  More pictures from the show, prices and availability can be found on the Young Blood Flickr page.

I spent Saturday walking around Virginia Highlands and Little Five Points, eating and shopping.  I stopped at a spa and got my nails done.  I started and finished Homemade Life - what a joy of a book. 

And then I flew home to these little faces.  We made hamantashen this afternoon because we are celebrating Purim at nursery school tomorrow.

 

Stella will be dressing as...you guessed it, a princess/fairy/ballerina (same costume as Halloween).  And Roxanne?  Haman, of course.  The villain.  Always the villain. She is showing me her Haman grogger in this picture, and her new pirate skully rubber duck. 

It was great to get away - especially to a warm place where the daffodils were already blooming - but it is great to be home again. 

see you there!

I'm off this afternoon for Atlanta!  I'm so excited, but suddenly I'm afraid I'm going to miss my two little girls an awful lot. 

Here is a another small sampling of what I will be exhibiting.

Prices will run generally similar to what they've been in my shop.  Please call (404-254-4127) or email Kelly (ybgallery@mindspring.com) at Young Blood  if you'd like to purchase a bird - the owl pictured here has already sold!

And I now have photo greeting cards of my birds available in my shop!  This is something I've wanted to do for so long.  Between the photography of my amazing sister-in-law, Jacquie, and my awesome friend, Lisa, the cards look really nice.  I put together two different four-packs and you can check them out here.

Thank you, everyone, for your words of encouragement and for your constant inspiration these past few months.  This community and our ongoing conversation has a huge impact on my artistic life, and my life in general. Thank you.

in the studio today

Working on two pieces at once.

new color palette

A new color palette for the next few months. Orange, navy, cream and gray.  This owl is the first bird in a series of six for a show in the late spring.


I love this patchwork fabric. I wrapped his feet with orange thread over the torn strips of cream.  New colors make me happy.

"Birds of a Feather"

My show at Young Blood Gallery in Atlanta with the amazing David Hale opens next week on Saturday night, March 7. 

I will be there and if you are in the area, I hope you will, too.  I'd love to meet you.  I have made 17 original soft sculpture birds for this show, my most cohesive collection yet.  All of them will be for sale through the gallery. More information to follow next week.  I will also have cards featuring photos of eight of the birds for sale on my Etsy shop beginning the Thursday before the opening.  

As the time draws nearer I'm getting more and more excited and nervous.  This is certainly the biggest exhibition of my soft sculptures as of yet and David's paintings are so incredible (check out this one!).  And the icing on the cake is a trip all by myself to Atlanta.  An airplane ride free of lollipops and coloring books.  Car trips with no car seats to buckle.  And the freedom to come and go as I please.  This will be longest I have been alone in nearly five years. 

Lila

I couldn't resist making another.  This is Lila and she is a little sweetheart.  Her dress is a piece of vintage fabric from my rarely opened box of purple fabrics.  And it is adorned with two vintage garter buttons.  She is up in my shop now.  

Roxanne and I took part in a kid's ATC swap and her cards are all finished and ready to mail.  What an awesome vacation week project.  Our five swap partners are scattered all over the country and we found their cities on our map.  We looked at their names and guessed what each of them would like and then she made little collages for each of them from bits of origami paper, old maps, and pages from an old natural history encyclopedia.  Lots of glitter glue was applied, of course, and now they are ready to mail. 

little lark

I made another little lark, this one for the shop.  I hope you'll check it out.

My mom is visiting this week and we are on school vacation so not a ton of sewing going on.  But fun projects are in the works for next week.  Looking forward to seeing you then.

little lark

A little spring lark for a special project.

Zoe - a cloth doll

Last night I couldn't resist the urge to  make a doll. Meet Zoe.

I first drew up the pattern for this doll nearly two years ago and I always liked her. What a fun project! I love picking fabrics and embellishments for dolls. The choices are nearly endless.

Zoe's dress is a lovely green vintage fabric with two little white vintage flower buttons.

Her hair is deep purple wool felt with a wool felt flower.  And her ballet shoes are wool felt, too, with little satin bows. I sewed her shoes to her feet so that they won't get lost during playtime.

Yeah!  Making this doll was so much fun for me. Zoe is up in my shop now if your are interested.  Have a great day.

for Lisa

Today I finished an owl I made for Lisa. 

About a month ago Lisa took more than 300 amazing photos of my birds and I made this owl for her as a way of saying thank you.  I hope she likes it.

Besides being a incredible photographer, Lisa now has her own Etsy shop where she sells the jewelry and mobiles she makes.  Hooray for creative friends.