Earl Schmearl

I think the milk and bread industries sponsored Earl. We did get all the lawn furniture and garden tools put away. But he hasn't amounted amount to much so far. This little video by my son-in-law, Alex Chen, captures what Earl did best today. Made some waves and giggles.

Uppercase and Feeling Bookish

Uppercase, the incredible magazine, gallery, book and papergoods store in Calgary just put together an exhibition of over 40 best of book designs sent in from readers entitled Feeling Bookish. The call for submissions was to design a cover that is a self portrait of your life. Uppercase gallery will show the work in their gallery at Art Central, opening tonight. For those of us who have to work tomorrow and can't pull off the drive to Canada, Uppercase is offering their magazine subscribers a peek at the majority of submissions in their upcoming Issue No. 7. Here is the link to their site and to their blog with more info about the show. Below is a winning submissions by Andrea Armstrong who sees herself as Chicken Girl, a title very close to my heart.

Good Bye to an Amazing Talent

As a young art director in the mid eighties, I was very fortunate to hire calligrapher Raphael Boguslav for a lettering project. My brief encounter with him, which included a visit to his studio, an impromptu piano solo, and a lunch he prepared for us from his garden, left a powerful impression on me. His dedication to exploring every possible combination of forms, paper, inks, and pens followed me for the next 25 years and influenced how I have arrived at answers for my own projects. A true renaissance man, Raphael was hit while riding his scooter in Newport recently and died shortly after. Take five minutes to watch the video/interview and I promise you'll be inspired, shown here. Raphael was a dear friend of my friend, Pat Hegnauer, and the clock you see at the end of the video was a gift to her. His site can be found here.

The Color of Candlelight

Paul and I get to work in candlelight again. Mole Hollow Candles has asked us to shoot their product line and packaging design for the new site we're launching this fall. We had so much fun concepting and shooting a series of lifestyle shots for them last year. I feel so lucky when I have a client who trusts me with so many aspects of their branding. Logo, packaging, photo, and now the site. They also let me sneak one of my vivipary paintings into each shot. Art and commerce?

Heavenly Blue Shibori

These beautiful samples of shibori dyeing are from John Kubiniec of Big Rig Quilting. A client and friend, John just started his long arm quilt finishing business this spring. He was recently tapped by McCalls Patterns for their next Great Designer Competition. Visit his blog here for more of his work and details about what he does. It was fun to work on his logo and now on to his website.

Moonlight Sonata in my pocket

The place that inspired Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Years ago I discovered during a period of great sadness, that the color blue has a powerful uplifting effect on me. Is it because of blue skies? I have a few pieces of jewelry and clothing I wear purposefully for this reason. One is a pocket watch I emptied and put one of Paul's photos in. This photo was taken from a ferry, looking across the Balaton Lake in Hungary. The body of water that inspired Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Taken with velvia film and Paul's handmade lens this image hasn't been adjusted in Photoshop. It came out of the camera this way. Apparently this body of water is filled with minerals, is a turquoise green during the day and is filled with some unusual fish. It's also known for plenty of thunder storms. What I love about it is the feeling of hope and moving through the storms nearby.

Moonlight Sonata in a pocket.

Poem for Monday

I tried really hard to embrace the gray this morning. It looks like we're sandwiched between 5 days of rain. I think I'll go for the blue this week. This is a poem my dear of dears, Pat Hegnauer wrote for me when I took her to one of the most beautiful places I know, mid coast Maine. When we have a few summer rainy days in a row, I tend to yearn for Maine's big clear blue skies. Maine resident Eric Hopkins, painter of countless coastal islands there, captures the color and my heart ache for "Vacationland" This painting is called Three Points and more of his work can be found here.

Blueberry Girl

-Pat Hegnauer
The blueberry girl coos
and ruffles her breast to nest
and hatch remembrance
of Grandmother's geography;
maple mountains, cedar seas,
and spiced stands of balsam.

Standing rocky yards away
from the Pemaquid light
she glows bright at eventide,
casts her memory fore and aft
in shadows of the deep rills
and channeled ocean slabs.

She hunts miles on thin roads
for sea-lavender and scallops,
picks lobster from her smile,
bathes in the chamomile stars
cascading down the wide
black northern nights.

Her family bones are tangled
deep in stoney soil and fierce farms,
hunkered on the salty slopes,
and grassy dells patched in forests
greening to the bouldered bays
where inlets wait for tides and sky.

How To Be Alone

From my grandmother's home, Prince Edward Island, Tanya Davis has just found a new fan. Thank you lovely Leigh for introducing me to this beautiful voice.

Fun Friday

You guys were amazing this week helping me grow my follower list. We added close to 40 new peeps. I'll be sending some little packages of color vivipary to Thea and Maria. Please let me know if I've missed anyone. Some of you have sent new friends my way but it may not be clear yet in the follower list who they are. Have a beautiful weekend and keep your eyes open for those lovely sighs of summer yellow.

I Really Like Walter Feldman

As many of you know I get a little wobbly before a show. I think it's just what we get for wiring as artists. If we're sensitive to all the beauty around us why wouldn't we be sensitive to the criticism? I find showing and talking about my work to some trusted people just before, really helps. Gets me ready to let the work go and finally stand on my feet. I made a trip to the Little Compton studio of artist Walter Feldman this week and shared my work. I met Walter a few years ago because I sat across from him at a restaurant that has 10 of my collages on their walls. He asked the waitress who's work it was... he really liked it. We started talking and he told me he did a little painting, too and gave me his number if I wanted to get together. Walter is a charming 85 who has a lovely wife Barbara. When I came home and casually mentioned the encounter to Paul he nearly fell off his chair. "Walter Feldman likes your work? Sweetie this is great!" "Who's Walter Feldman?" I asked. Here and here are links to his work. A little intimidated to say the least, I brought my pile to him on Monday and with in minutes felt inspired rather than intimidated. He knew immediately which works were tied to my heart and which weren't. And how to tweek the ones that weren't quite singing yet. I felt so lucky to have this time with him. Some how we got around to this blog and the friends I'm finding on it and he asked "What is a blog, anyway and do you think I need a website?" So guess who get's to do a little payback and bringing Walter up to speed on this blogging thing?