Introducing: Frances Clover!

Frances Clover: my new pup (labradoodle and australian shepherd mix)
frannie and her sister zinnia who lives nearby...

my fabric obsessions for this fall.

more tweed.
I just returned from Seattle where I was working on a collaboration with meadow starts with p...part of an artist in residence program that andrew peterson runs called: fifty-five-oh-six. A wonderful chaotic exploration of play that will result in my own book project based on my time there as well as a short video. I'm sure I will be blabbering on about this as it progresses...so, for now I thought I would share a few images of some tweed portfolios and cases for i-pods that I have been working on just for fun.

way back when I lived in ann arbor, I worked in a book conservation lab at a university of michigan library/museum. It was so wonderful roaming through the archives everyday as I learned to repair old books and documents...I have been a bit nostalgic for this era lately. The majority of my time was really spent building "folders" and boxes to protect items from damage...and now a few years later this has evolved into a subconscious obsession to create little boxes and containers for precious papers and well worn books. I have some old prints and drawings around that I am making this tweed portfolio for...and may list some cases similar to this in the tangible shop.

2011 calendar!!!

opal
sapphire
peridot
ruby
moonstone/pearl
emerald
diamond
aquamarine
amethyst
garnet

Ok, lots of images. The calendars are ready!!! I just put them in the online store, but only a few images can be shown on etsy, so I wanted to have all of the monthly images available for reference here.

Each month has the corresponding gemstone...It was so fun to pull together odds and ends from my sketchbooks with these big raw gemstones. I have been staring at the big rocky bluffs near where I live and went to an excellent lecture on meteorites last night, so the jagged look of these colored birthstones has been really present in my visual mind lately.

The whole process also made me create collages that somehow remind me of each month, and hopefully set up a good starting off point for each month as it comes throughout 2011. April, for example includes a sketch of my mom when she was younger. Her birthday is in April. April and diamonds always bring mom to mind. :)

Enjoy! and please feel free to ask me any questions if you are curious.

calendar sneak peek

a sample from my (in the works) calendar for 2011. mix of small sketches with images of gemstones that correspond to each month/birthstone. i am a ruby, so july will be pretty special.

i should have these all set for printing by late next week.

i think i'll go sit by the river

I sort of locked myself in this past weekend and finally got down to some making. lots of tweed portfolios, journals, etc. on the way...I will be pulling together the images and posting them in the store over the next few days....Struggling with so many ideas, but not enough hours in the day.

I saw a moose climbing a huge hill on my way to work yesterday. long walks through the changing scenery, trips to the river. This fall is so lovely and has only just begun.

Oh, here's a song about a river I love: