Fiber Is Good For You

 

In my free time, I've been building a portfolio for the Display Coordinator position at Anthropologie. While I was researching project ideas I came across a book I bought on Amazon, but never got a chance to look at. In between each project there is a collection of artists who work with unusual materials. Since I've been messing around with crochet, I was particularly drawn to Abigail Doan, a fiber artist. She makes the most beautiful installations using various crocheted fibers.

 

I came across her blog on google, and have been spending too much time trying to read all her older posts. The artists she blogs about are truely inspirational.

My Etsy shop is OPEN!!!

It's finally happened! I've been working on opening up an Etsy gallery for a very long time. It's so exciting to finally see it all put together, I hope you will all take the time to check it out. If you have any feedback I would really appreciate it. Now it's back to painting (and fine tuning the shop).

Miss Olive Snook

A couple of months ago my best friend called me about an abandoned litter of kittens. One of her friends found them when he went to get his little brother's ball out of the neighbor's back yard. His neighbor's cat had delivered a litter of kittens six weeks earlier, and I guess they decided not to take them when they moved out. He kept an eye on the kittens for a couple of days, and when it was obvious that the mother cat was not coming back, he took the kittens. They have all found homes by now, and I know for a fact, that one of those kittens is horribly spoiled. Her name is Miss Olive Snook, after the character on Pushing Daisies. 

I have had a few cats in my life, and all of them have a very definite personality; adorably grumpy, dangerously mellow, paranoid, homicidal, and persistently, obsessively affectionate. It was immediately clear that Olive is cheerfully disobedient and adorably annoying. She wants to be a part of everything. She has already figured out how to open doors, and cabinets, and has been in, and on, almost everything in the house! She has to play all the time, with anything she can get her paws on (feet). I thought cats were supposed to sleep more?

maya*made and farm houses

Lately I've been dreaming about living in a farm house or an old barn. I was on flickr looking up reconstructed barns, when I came across this great blog called maya*made. She lives in the country and her mother just converted an old barn. The pictures are AMAZING! I felt like I was on vacation after visiting her blog. She has so many neat ideas I don't know where to start. I think this is my new favorite.

Hand Lettering

I came across this blog a while ago and fell in love with all the hand lettering. I've mentioned before, my interest in typography. I love how expressive something so simple can be. It's a great blog to look at if you are interested in graphic design or illustration. It is so simple. Just a black marker and paper, but she has obviously developed a great sense of line and layout. If I were a teacher I would use this as an assignment for my students.

flickr

I've been looking at other people's photographs more carefully lately trying to figure out how they get the results that they do. One photographer I am particularly fascinated with right now takes some really great portraits. I don't know how he does it. I imagine taking great photographs of people is really difficult. I came across New-ars photographs a few months ago when I was doing some design research for a DVD cover. I don't know how he has come across so many great subjects especially since he seems pretty young. Maybe he just has a group of really beautiful friends? Anyways, when I look at some of his work I feel like I'm seeing something hidden and private and If I look long enough I might learn a secret. That, and it's always nice to look at pretty people ;)

First Attempts

I started using my new camera this last weekend. I was playing with different f-stops and aperture speeds, trying to see what would happen. The results didn't vary as much as I had hoped, but then that is what experimenting is for. I finished reading Creative Camera Control, which is a really great book to start out with. I had to read it a couple times to understand everything, but now I understand the basics of how cameras works. I think I'm going to get THIS book on low light and night time photography next. Anyways, two of the pictures are of roses in front of my parent's house and the last one is a picture taken by the guy who sold me the camera. (his are better)

Yay Nikon!

I bought my first serious camera on Monday! It's a Nikon 35mm SLR camera kit that I found used on Amazon. After calculating cost on having slides done professionally against doing them myself I decided I'd rather DIY it. As an image junkie I've dreamed about having a "real" camera for years. The closest I've ever come is a crappy point and shoot pentax digital, that never took great pictures. I want to take pictures exactly as I see them in that moment instead of slightly darker and with different colors. The art world still hasn't caught up to the digital age, and requires that all portfolios be submitted in 35mm slide format so I didn't have to spend too much on a great camera. Now I can start selling my paintings, and document them as they are finished. Maybe I'll even start blogging more if I have some decent images to share? I've actually completed a bunch of projects over the last few months but I would have had to borrow a camera in order to photograph them. Maybe now I can blog about them.