Today I baked a cherry chocolate cake to celebrate my grandma’s 89th birthday. I ran off without my cake decorating supplies trying to beat the snow on the highways and had to improvise with a ziploc bag to pipe the frosting.. It’s always nice to come back ‘home’ for a few days and sometimes even nice to put my oven mitts back on (ref: former life as an over-stressed bakery owner).
I really like pillows (and I can sew them pretty easily), I really like going to thrift stores and antique stores, and I really like bursts of color — especially on dark backgrounds.. from left to right, top to bottom:
1. My gigantic dark brown couch with a bunch of colorful pillows (including one of Ben Franklin.. don’t ask)
2. A handkerchief that I found at an antique store and sewed into a pillow (one dolluh)
3. I found this hand embroidered work of art in a dirty old frame at a thrift store (50 cents).. I took it out, cleaned it up and sewed it into a pillow.
4. This was a flour sack (although, a think it was more decorative than functional) that I found at an antique store for a buck and turned into a pillow.
5. This was a hand stitched dish towel that I found at a thrift store and sewed into a pillow.
6. I didn’t make this one, but it’s awesome. I found it at a thrift store for like 25 cents.
Left to right, top to bottom:
1. Animation station
2. Supply shelves
3. Printing table
4. Thrift store chair
5. Things to look at, remind, think about, etc.
6. Cutting table
When I was in high school, I didn’t go out much and instead sat around listening to music most of the time – my best friend was a dj at the local AM country station.. And twice m’life later, I pretty much still do the same thing.. I spent the better part of my weekend sifting through crates, boxes, bins, etc., of records at record stores, thrift stores and antique stores in town… And during the time that I wasn’t doing that, I’ve been listening to a lot of these folks, whilst cutting paper of course:
From right to left, top to bottom:
1. Jerry Jeff Walker – Driftin’ Way of Life
2. John Prine
3. The Pennywhistlers – Folksongs of Eastern Europe
4. Songs of Leonard Cohen
5. Peter, Paul and Mary – See What Tomorrow Brings (in my mind, I’m the fourth member)
6. Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters
Surely more of these to come…
From right to left, top to bottom
1. Part of my bookshelf
2. Candide by Voltaire
3. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
4. Winesburg, Ohio (all time favorite) by Sherwood Anderson
5. Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
6. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
I like to bend the corners of the pages to mark where I’m at. I also like to underline and make notes. I also like how books look and smell. Long live books in print…
From left to right, top to bottom:
1. Ball jars full of couscous, green split peas, basmati rice, lentil beans, yellow split peas, and almonds & cranberries
2. Fresh juice from my juicer (carrots, apple, mandarin oranges & a big chunk of ginger)
3. My tea pot from a garage sale
4. Wooden utensils
5. Glass ornaments made by my friend, Thomas Spake
6. Trivet from the thrift store
From left to right, top to bottom:
1. My old batik bedspread (served as inspiration for the curtain in this painting)
2. My boot collection (the first pair inspired this painting)
3. A necklace that I found in my attic about 20 years ago
4. Book on the floor next to my bed that I’ve been meaning to read
5. A poster that I bought when I was 16 that has traveled with me to and fro
6. My favorite belt