3.2.10 Color Swatch

P A N T O N E  2 9 2

The sky that says play with me, yup you finally can in May blue. Chalky happy blue. Kid smiles blue. Inhale a teensy deeper blue. Rest in your palm blue. Found in a San Francisco thrift store embroidered Mexican blouse blue. Little more muscle than a whisper blue. Found on the edge of a yellow pear blue. Panty hose in the eighth grade blue. Homesick for Maine blue. Tra-la-la blue. Ride your bike blue. Come home to me blue. Was it Crayola's cornflower blue? Me thinks it so blue. Sweet blue. Oh baby yes! blue.

Artist Trading Card Night

I'm starting to organize another artist trading card night for Providence the end of March. If you missed the one we did last year here's your chance to connect with a group of wonderful, diverse artists. There were about 40 of us last year that spent 2 hours trading original pieces of art measuring 2.5" x 3.5" The range of styles and mediums were incredible. Tiny photos, sculptures, die cuts, collage, stamped, stiched, cartoons, paintings and everything in between. Our youngest artist was 5 and I'm guesing we had some folks in their 70's there. Visual artists tend to not socialize much out side of openings so this was a pressure free way to get to know a lot of local artists and get beyond small talk. Everyone had there own mini show going. There's no money exchanged, just ideas, emails and little teeny masterpieces. I'm hoping we can get some writers involved this year. trading mini novelas, plays, or sonnets. I'm working on a date and location now. But March 31, downtown Providence, a childrens' trade starting at 6 and adults at 7:30.  So get out those tiny canvases and stay posted for the info blast soon.

Graffiti Surprise in 100 Years

"An artist is always alone - if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness"-Henry Miller 
My sweetheart, Paul, is one of three photographers asked by AS220 to respond to and interpret the renovation of the Mercantile Building on Weybosset Street in Providence, RI. The last building AS220 transformed, the Dreyfus Hotel, now houses their admin offices, printshop, gallery and the restaurant Local 121. Describing The Dreyfus, a huge body of work by Paul Clancy, David Ellis, Erik Gould, Scott Lapham, Susan Mobley and the students of Photo Memory, was presented in the fall of 2007 and wonderfully represented the range of talent and vision of these artists. Many great discoveries and stories of past lives of the building came to the surface while these artist recorded the building being dismantled and brought to life again. Now it's the Mercantiles' turn and I've gotten to tag along a few times while Paul has shot there. One warm day last fall I  brought with me a big bag of drawing materials. The walls are large and were coming down so I thought it would be fun to use some large charcoal. Grandma does graffiti. What I found worked well were some charred logs from my fire pit out back. Why not? That's what the stuff is made from and these walls are big.  It's kind of spooky in there so I also brought with me a tiny oil painting by the founder of the Providence Art Club, self taught artist, George Whitaker. I hung it next to me on the wall while I worked. This tiny landscape is over a hundred years old and speaks to me so much about the difference between being alone and lonely. One of my favorite objects I've ever bought myself. A lovely fact I recently stumbled upon is George Whitaker's studio was in the Mercantile 100 years ago. So as I've watched them bury my drawing under new shiny wall studs I can't help but wonder if someone 100 years from now will discover my work beneath sheet-rock and be as touched by it as I've been by Mr. Whitaker's painting of the tiny figure in the field circled in light. Paul and I have a piece of work entitled Mercantile:Two Part Intervention that will be part of the AS220 show at the CCRI Knight Campus Gallery till March 4th with an opening Feb. 4th.

Idea Boards for Trafford

Kismet Design

"Trafford. Not exactly a surf and turf place"

-my friend, Charlie Gerrior after seeing the logo and interior concepts.


Sometimes, mostly daily, I do a little entry into a gratitude journal. One of those itty bitty moleskins, writing with my bright yellow fountain pen. Helps me stay away from spiraling downward. Today I listed the clients I have right now. ALL of them. A few years ago I swore off clients that didn't get me and the funny thing is, it worked. I've miraculously attracted folks who love my work, advice and let me do work I'm proud of and find creatively rewarding. The Kane family has made the gratitude list more than a few times. They own a very popular, small restaurant in Westport, Marguerittes, where there is a line consistently out the door on weekends and all of the family pitches in. The food is flavorful, made from stuff pulled from the earth locally and recently. Oh and they all have beautiful smiles they flash frequently. Hired a few years ago to design a new interior, menu and make some art for the walls, I sighed and whispered "pinch me" Now I get to do it again. This time son, Trafford, is getting his own place with sister Heather and his parents in and out to help keep it running smoothly. While doing naming and logo development, I did some research and found Trafford's name actually means where the water meets the street. Kismet because Trafford's will reside on Water Street in Warren RI, surrounded by water on 3 sides, upstairs and down. I'm  pulling in some RI artist talent and combing my usual flea market and junk stores for the nifties that will make the place fun and hopefully visually, as delightful as the food. The work is in the nice evolving conceptual stage. Everything is possible, even loving my clients.

The castle project in process. Slotting, folding, curling and stapling. Oh and lots of thread and tape help. We use left over printing proofs but cereal boxes, oatmeal containers and paper towels tubes will get you there too.

"Mippy, let's try and make this a YES! visit, all right?"

-Levi 

A big spool of thread and roll of tape. That's it. Usually all it takes to keep the busiest boy in the universe content. When my grandson, Levi is here for a visit it can exhaust both of us to negotiate what we should do for the day. He's just been allowed, with adult supervision, to strike a match to build a fire outside or light a candle. And Paul is right- "Give a boy a stick and he's happy. Give a boy fire on the end of that stick and he's incredibly happy" So after a swing on the swing or slide down the fireman's pole it begins.."kind of cold don't you think, Mippy, we could use a fire... wouldn't you like a nice toasted marsh-mellow.... still have those old sparkling birthday candles?" So my fail safe fallbacks of thread and tape are just handed to him and he begins. Focussed for at least 45 minutes while a wild all encompassing "turaptsion" is constructed on one side of the living room, a plan to ensnare his unsuspecting mother when she arrives is hatched. We've added to the short list of easy yeses the paper castle project. Some left over card stock from a printing job 15 years ago and 4 basic construction methods. Slotting. Folding. Curling. Stapling. He's getting them all down. Sometimes Levi does the construction, sometimes he just supervises and sometimes he improvises the script that moves the bad and good guys around the castle. I keep the little mess up behind the sofa, the goal being it eventually reaches 6 foot high. It keeps the yeses coming for awhile. "Then maybe a little s'more cooking in the fireplace?... Mippy, puleeese?"

Imperfect Present

I gave myself a nice gift this holiday. I got to sit and make pomanders any time I wanted with no guilt. Poking dried cloves into plump oranges was heaven. Then when I gave them to friends it was a gift all over again. Such a simple thing to connect me to my senses and bring joy to my peeps. These are so easy I just winged which is why the lovely imperfection of mold appears on one of mine. I'm going to make some with Levi this weekend, my 6 year old grandson. If you don't want the mold click here for real directions. Your fingertips will smell so nice for hours.

"Just perfect"
-Marth Stewart
The "P" word. It has followed me all my life and here's the big confession- I really thought into my late 20's, somewhere down deep, it should be sought after and could possibly be obtained. I'm a graphic designer and my work is about moving things tiny itty moves to left or right. So it's a hard one to let go of "being right" personally when professionally I spend so much time making things "look right" Then about 10 years ago I decide to take it out of my vocabulary completely. I found if I don't say it it is less likely I'll strive for it. But what replaces it? "Oh that looks so... complete on you?" "Wow that is the most whole color with your eyes". "I found the most incredibly beautiful on the planet art today on etsy?" Makes you stop and think doesn't it? Perfection is hard to replace isn't it? I love that Japan elevates the mending of broken ceramics to an art form called kintsugi. Cracks in broken pottery are carefully mended with lacquer and fine gold powder. The tea-ceremony embraces the beauty of imperfection. I picked up a book about Wabi Sabi 10 years ago and fell in love with the concept but when I went to describe it to friends it was hard to find the right words to give it justice. Got lost in Americano world. I'm getting better.  Barbara Bloom's show on being broken helped. Mary Oliver helps with her poem Wild Geese. Any poem that starts with- "You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees" makes me stop. So rather than resolutions for the year I like the idea of observing my relationship with a word. A word I can include in my daily conversations and thinking more often. The "I" word. Imperfection. "That looks just so... imperfect on you".

"In order to survive as an artist you must have three things- the skin of a rhino. the tenacity of a bulldog, and a nice home to come home to" -Stella Adler
I was tickled pink when I saw the nice posting Christine did on my house church on Etsy today. And really touched by the comments people made. The same with when Amy on Design Sponge posted us in a sneak peek last August. There's something about living in a church or school or firehouse that seems to appeal to many folks. It's been a gift having the church as a home and studio and gathering place for all the wonderful artists, writers, musicians, performers, and chefs in my life. It seems to be every artist's dream.  A dream that at times has made me cry, giggle, grow as an artist, get unbelievably frustrated and ready to scream uncle. Not for sissies. So I've been testing out an idea with friends and I think today is the official launch day of a new project. Church Membership. I hope this doesn't offend because I am really respectful and loving of all things spiritual. I know the difference between the Church and my church. The offer is, for the annual fee of $100 you can buy a membership to my church. The money will go towards, yup, keeping this place afloat and me making art. Each year it'll vary a little, but with your yearly membership you'll get A.) a fabulous paper hat made just for you that is guaranteed to change your thinking. Wearing it will make you a little happier and less serious. B.) A c.d. of sounds Paul's recorded here at the church that will do the same, crickets, the peepers out back, my chickens saying good morning, chopping wood, friend's laughing, growing grass... in a case with a few beautiful photos and original art tucked in. C.) An invite to a potluck church supper in the meadow behind the church. This event will happen annually in the back meadow with lots of art, poetry, puppets, idea swapping and most likely my friend, Morgan's hot air balloon tethered nearby. I'm shooting for 1000 members yearly. Think this is doable? Wanna be part of Alice's Restaurant?