Something Shiny

When I was a high school art student, I had a teacher who hated watercolors.  This didn't particularly occur to me at the time, but looking back on it, I can recall working in watercolors only as a curriculum requirement fulfillment--maybe once a year for four years.  The rest of the time was spent on charcoal, collage, oil (until a government decree announced that it be eradicated from the classroom as a hazard) and of course, my absolute least personal favorite...acrylics.  My teacher LOVED acrylics.  Easy to mix, easy to clean up, lightning fast drying and cheap--it was the ultimate medium for an 84 minute double class period.  She also seemed to like working "up" as in on an easel--something you simply cannot do with watercolors.  As a result, I never got particularly good at watercolors and the whole idea fell off my radar completely until just a few years ago.  I forget how this happened exactly, but I was working on a project that required painting and I decided to do a watercolor.  Not having any paper in my stash, I went to my local mom and pop art supply store to pick up a block and all they had was Arches Cold Press paper, so I bought a small one without looking at the price.

When I went to pay for it, I nearly fainted.  How much???  For TWENTY SHEETS OF PAPER???  The lady who owns the store just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Have you ever used this before?"  Um, no (in my head: All I've ever used is the free acid filled crap from high school and since it's all turned yellow, I didn't want to use it).  She promised me that I wouldn't regret the purchase and holy crap was she right!  As I ran my brush over the paper, the color seemed to jump off the page--I was in a state of artistic nirvana and I haven't looked back.  It was a true aha moment.  Since then, I've noticed that every single serious artist I know swears by this product, so it appears I am very late to the party.  Oh well, better late than never.  I wonder if good 'ol Mrs. Henning ever tried Arches...

I've since found that Dick Blick is the best place to buy it if you don't want to have to get a home equity loan to buy paper.  It's always 43% off list price.  Actually, everything is cheaper at Dick Blick.  I'm lucky enough to have one in Philadelphia, but you can always buy online.

Anyway, one of the things I have always liked to paint are things with a lot of reflective surfaces.  It's one of those things that seems like it should be really hard, but isn't as long as you are able to really see what you're painting--you simply paint what you see as opposed to what you think it should look like.

I recently completed this piece, which was so much fun--I mean, what could be more reflective than mary janes?  I just listed it in my Etsy store here--the perfect thing as a shower or new baby gift or for a special little girl who loves party shoes.

~ESM

The Earnest Little Mouse

I have been an Etsy buyer and seller for a couple of years now and while I have had some really wonderful experiences with my own customers, periodically I stumble across another artist who is so talented it simply takes my breath away.  This almost always happens by pure happenstance because I am completely special needs when it comes to searching.  If I don't know what I'm looking for, then how can I find it?  This is where it helps to "follow" other people who have similar taste to yours.  The other day I was randomly searching around and came across a little felted critter.  Intrigued, I clicked on the link, which led me to the Felting Dreams shop, or Johana Molina.  Then I found the sweet little mouse pictured above.  I was so overwhelmed with cuteness, I almost fell off my chair.

I mean, come on.  Look at that face.  She is confident, earnest and eager to face the world with nothing but personal gumption and whatever is in that backpack.

Allow me to mention that I am NOT a knick knack person.  The surfaces in my house are covered mostly with books and the idea of having small objects that need dusting does not thrill me.  But I could not get her out of my mind.

This little guy also made an impression since (believe it or not) he really looks like LAM.  Same wire-rimmed glasses and he has a leather bound document carrier that is the exact same color as this one.  I showed them to LAM, who, instead of looking at me like I was crazy, said, "Oh my God, they are so cute."  Uh, what?  You're a guy remember?  You think these are cute???  "Well, yeah--look their little feet really look like mouse feet."  Um, ok.  I went back and looked to see where the seller was located.  Santiago, Chile.  Wow--that's a hike.  Then I read her feedback.  All 800 of them.  Holy Cow!  Each one was more glowing than the next.  Her buyers love her and many, many of them are repeat customers.  I couldn't stand it anymore.  I needed felted mice.  Needed them with all my heart and soul because every single time I looked at them, they made me want to weep with joy, or cuteness or whatever.  Then the problem became WHICH ones to buy?  LAM mentioned that I had a birthday coming up and me ordering a couple would solve this problem for him nicely.  Thanks a lot.  Ok, so here are a few of my favorites:

Not only is Johana a genius at felting small critters, but her photography is brilliant.  The backgrounds somehow make them come alive and look even more adorable.

I'm amazed at how each one seems to have a personality.  This guy looks like he's just seen something delightful that has taken him by surprise.

This sweet girl looks hopeful, but concerned--almost maternal.

This one seems as though he would really like a piece of cheese--so long as it isn't too much trouble...

This one is so glad to see you she can hardly stand herself.

And this one would like it very much if you could just be a little bit quieter while she reads her book aloud to the class.

It was a tough choice, but in the end I went with the first two that caught my attention--the girl in the pink sweater with the pink scarf and the boy who looks like LAM.  I simply cannot wait for them to arrive.

When I pinned these on Pinterest, I had likes and re-pins within nanoseconds.  One woman posted that she thought they were adorable, but really expensive.  Well, not if you think about it.  I don't know how to needle felt wool and I suspect it would take some time to learn it to get this good (and I promise you that it could take FOREVER to learn how to make these facial expressions).  Simply being able to perform the craft is only half of the task.  Also, I suspect they take at least several hours to make--maybe longer depending on the detail.  Once you subtract Etsy fees and Paypal or credit card fees, well, how much do you like to make per hour?  Just some food for thought.

For those on a budget, Johana also offers postcards of her creations.  I wonder, has she ever considered a stop-motion photographic children's book?  Set in their natural environment, the mice and their friends could have wonderful adventures.  What an idea!

~ESM

Muchas Gracias to Johana for allowing me to share these little guys with all of my readers!  I hope you all enjoyed them and will check out her shop.

Happy Valentine's Day

More than bacon loves pancakes!

Have a great Valentine's Day everyone.

~ESM

Focus

Some days it's easy to lose focus and forget what's important, you know, eyes on the ball.  Nose to the grindstone.  This seems to happen to me in some fashion every day around 4:00.  I deal with this the way Sheldon Cooper deals with everything--by offering myself a hot beverage.

I'm not quite there yet, but I feel it coming on.  How do you all keep your eyes on the ball?

~ESM

The Happy Zone

Finally, at long last, I've managed to both carve out a corner of sanity and give purpose to a space that previously had none.  If you'll forgive the lousy lighting in this photo, I wanted to show what the space looked like while I was in the middle of working on a new piece and in a state of zen, and had completely lost track of time.  After many fits and starts, my new table and stool are finally installed, as well as the little LED bendy light that I mentioned earlier.  The light works well, but as I suspected, does not throw off a lot of light.  It is good for adding some extra light directly onto a work in progress, or as I mentioned before, illuminating from underneath.  The magnet is STRONG, so I can attach it to any metal surface and it's not going to fall and it does take batteries if you want to use it without the cord.  I did not know this when I bought it, so it was a nice surprise.  Since I have a day job, I am working here 90% of the time when it's dark outside.  I put the table in front of the window so that on the rare occasion I am working during the day, I can soak up as much light as possible, as well as gazing out the window and watching the world go by.  I'm still moving things around to try and find the best lighting solution.  Honestly, it's driving me crazy.  I feel like Goldilocks--this one is too bright, this one is too soft, this one distorts colors, etc. So far, this setup (as strange as it looks) seems to work pretty well, but could be a smidge better.  Still, I'm not complaining.  The mirror helps reflect what there is in a sort of non-threatening way.  Another unanticipated good thing is the shape of the seat on the stool.  It is wide enough that I can sit indian style and I find myself doing this more often than not.  Weird, I know.

I had a little bit of unexpected free time yesterday, so I treated myself to a couple new watercolor wash brushes.  Since my existing collection is from high school (I wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not), a couple new tools were desperately in order.  I love these Princeton Neptune Aquarelle wash brushes.  They work, feel and look fantastic.  I love how the handles look like sea glass.  Good tools really do make things so much nicer!

~ESM

A Stupendous Boy

I know I've mentioned this guy before from time to time, but I had a conversation with one of my etsy customers yesterday that compelled me to mention him again.  She had recently lost her Border Collie and had purchased one of my cards as a tribute to her late companion.  Before I tell you how these cards came to be, allow me to back up for a minute.  The cards were a tribute, not just to Nick, but to all great dogs everywhere.  Nick came into our lives almost completely by accident.  He was a rescue--"found" in a rowhouse in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia with his three brothers, about 30 other dogs and 80 cats.  It was just about the worst animal hoarding situation I had ever heard of.  Suffering from sarcoptic mange, the animals were distributed to various shelters and rescues.  Nick and his brothers made their way to Mid Atlantic Border Collie rescue, a group we had adopted Zoe from a couple years earlier.  Zoe is in the background of this photo and it says a lot about her.  She prefers to be in the background and detests having her picture taken.  When she came to us (she has her own story) she was a neurotic mess.  Afraid of absolutely everything but other animals, we worked hard to socialize her and ease her fears, but we could only bring her so far.  She needed another dog in the house.  She needed cannon fodder.  She needed Nick.  Nick fears NOTHING and I really, really mean that.  He is awesome and he knows it.  Life and everything and just about everyone is also awesome as far as he is concerned.  The director of the rescue thought he was just what Zoe needed and she needed to get him out of her facility.  Because of his mange, he was quarantined outside.  By December, he had recovered, grew some of his hair back and needed to be inside and learn some manners.  The problem was LAM.  He didn't think we needed another dog.  We agreed to "foster" Nick, with hopes that the match would stick.  Needless to say, he never left.  We named him "Quick Nick" after BMW Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld (and because we got him at Christmastime, it seemed to fit).  He also, like all Border Collies, runs insanely fast.

Since Nick feels compelled to participate in every human activity that there is to offer, I bought him this costume to help me pass out candy on Halloween.  I'm not a big fan of dressing dogs, but he absolutely revels in wearing his "supersuit".  I suspect all of the neighborhood kids going ga-ga over him may have something to do with it.  When I took this picture, I couldn't get over how full of himself he looked and that gave birth to the following drawing:

Which turned into a greeting card...

And a fridge magnet.  Sadly, I don't know many people who have magnetic refrigerators anymore, but they stick great on office filing cabinets!

Since putting these up in my etsy shop, I have received so many wonderful letters and messages from customers letting me know how much they enjoy the image, either in tribute to a companion who has passed or as a reminder of one who is still with them.  Not surprisingly, many of them are rescues.  I treasure each and every comment that I receive and always love hearing stories about other people's pets and the wonderful things they bring to all of our lives.

~ESM

Making Juices Flow

I have Hurricane Sandy to thank for finally enlightening me to the usefulness of an iPad.  Like every other Apple product, I wanted one as soon as they came out, but could not justify the price for something that didn't seem to have a purpose other than being a very large iPhone that can't make phone calls.  I asked people--what do you use your iPad for?  I got all sorts of answers that almost exclusively started off with, "I LOVE my iPad!".  Ok, but why do you love it?  What does it do that the phone and your laptop can't do?  I never got an answer that made me want to rip out the credit card, but during the storm, I came to that conclusion on my own.  We lost power for a couple of days and the single worst thing about it (besides the lack of heat and a fridge full of spoiled food) was not having access to the internet.  I very much realize how "first world" this problem is, but it's also reality.  I do almost all of my business online.  When the office was out of commission, I had all calls routed to my cell phone so I could speak to and help our customers.  Sadly, I couldn't do anything other than talk to them, which wasn't acceptable.  LAM commented that it would be nice if the phone was a little bit larger so that we could actually work off it and the iPad just sort of appeared.  Since it has the ability to run off of wifi or a cell tower, I could make it work no matter what.  Fast forward to iPad ownership, which of course fascilitated the really nice Tory Burch leather case.

I was lucky enough to find a black one, although the beige is also nice.  One thing that I learned while looking for a high quality case is that the higher the quality, the more they weigh.  This one seemed to have many plusses, not the least of which was the scrummy leather (it is buttery soft and feels great in your hands) and it was lighter than every other leather option I found.  And it was on sale.  As I left the store, I again noticed what I have come to refer to as the "Starbucks Effect", that is, the bag was beautiful.  Great logo, great colors, thick printed paper and long fabric handles so I could carry it on my shoulder.  I instantly felt a notch more chic.

As I spent more time getting to know the iPad, I realized the great wealth of free drawing apps that are available.  Of course, I immediately downloaded "Paper" and "Sketchbook".  About five minutes after I started playing around with these apps, I realized that drawing with your finger gets old fast and so started researching for a stylus.  I had no idea how many of these little suckers are actually out there on the market, but after weighing all the pros and cons, I settled on the Wacom Bamboo .

I think as a product, they are all limited in some way and I will always prefer drawing with an actual pen or pencil, but it's a WHOLE lot better than trying to draw with a mouse.  This stylus is fairly precise and I love the way you can do autofill, watercolor washes and airbrush techniques, which led me to my very first iPad digital project.  Every year, I search high and low for the perfect Christmas card--one that sums up what we are all about as a family which is NOT the traditional HO HO HO schlock that is peddalled in every retail outlet in the country.  LAM has been saying for years that I should design my own cards, and while I always thought it was a good idea, the whole digital medium seemed to mystify me.  Until now.  And so I present to you, what will hopefully be the first in a series:

The car is a '72 2002tii--the very beginning of everything.  We don't have ours anymore, but it will always be a part of us.  As you can see, Nick is driving--chomping at the bit to go faster, while Zoe braces her paws on the dashboard in terror.  I can't wait to see them printed up.

-ESM

Oooh Minty

Since I have started playing with my new waterbrush and watercolor pencils, it has occurred to me that my pens, pencils, brushes, erasers, etc do not a have a proper home for life on the go.  Normally, I would keep these items in a pencil cup on my desk in my studio or in a drawer, but this does not work when I want to take them with me, so today I began the search for a pencil case.  Something I haven't owned since the first grade.  The first place I looked has become my favorite go-to website for all things pen and pencil: Jet Pens.  If you are looking for Japanese pens, pencils, erasers, funky office supplies, notebooks and cases of all sorts this is the place to look.  They have a wide variety of cases, but these gorgeous leather offerings seriously made me swoon.  The color makes me think of summertime and clear ocean water and fabulous destinations to sketch and the leather looks incredible.  I cannot wait for them to arrive.

The Waterbrush

I don't know how I've managed to miss this for so long, but I recently discovered waterbrushes.  Suddenly all of my excuses for not doing watercolors anymore have disappeared.  I can take these little suckers anywhere since they fit right into a pencil case and with watercolor pencils, there is not a big need to mess around with sloppy paints or gouaches, at least not on the fly in my little moleskine.  Very late last night while watching tv in bed, I started to play for the first time.  My technique needs perfecting, but I like the effect.  I am dreaming of capri sandals and warmer weather.  It's cold and rainy in Philadelphia, but it's Italy in my sketchbook.

The Impulse Fabric

I have no idea why, but this pink and blue fishy fabric caught my eye and I had to have it.  After pondering for a while on what purpose it might serve, I came across a pattern online for a fabric basket.  I spent most of the weekend re-organizing my linen closet, so I thought it would make a great place to stash hotel samples, soaps and travel size items.  The fish would be cheery inside the closet and brighten things up.  Since I have a nasty habit of following directions carefully, but not reading them beforehand, I missed the sizing of the basket until I was halfway finished and noticed that it was turning out to be incredibly small.  The finished product is roughly 6x5x4--about the size of a large makeup bag. It is adorable, but I'm still at a loss as to how it could be used.  Any ideas?

First product from the fabric haul

More to come like this-I'm pretty happy with the finished product.  I think it looks pretty fab on the dishwasher!  Waverly fabrics make everything look better.

Fabrigasm Weekend

I have been a super frustrated individual for some months now because two things happened in my life that created a great conflict.  One, I discovered Amy Butler fabrics (yes, apparently I HAVE been living under a rock, but more on that later) and two, could not find a single store within reasonable driving distance of my house that carried them.  I am happy to tell you that as of this weekend, not only has that problem been solved, but I have been led straight into an addiction that is sure to increase the rewards points on my Visa card straight into complimentary Hawaiian vacation territory.

The first thing that pushed me down the evil path of destruction was my good friend Sarah telling me about a wholesale home dec fabric outlet in Delaware.  Yup, wholesale, outlet--tax free.  Stick a fork in me.  Interior Alternatives is a veritable wonderland of high end wholesale fabric that I nearly fainted when I walked through the door.  One problem--not a single bolt of Amy Butler fabric in sight.  One giant armload of bargains later, I was happy, but still unfulfilled.  Sunday brought another cloudy, semi-chilly day, which allowed me to feel less guilty about not working outside and broadening my retail search.  I had been on the Amy Butler website earlier and looked up store locations with zero success.  Fabrics on the Hill in Chestnut Hill, PA was suggested and yielded nothing but being yelled at for having the audacity to enter with a coffee cup in my hand.  I get it, but I am an adult and had they been nice about it, I might have not have turned on my heel and marched out the door upon realizing that they didn't have what I was looking for and then had no desire to give them any business.  With a little more diligent examination, the search showed a store in Narberth called Cloth and Bobbin.  Hmm, my curiosity was piqued and after reading the glowing reviews on Yelp.com, I couldn't wait to visit.  I wasn't disappointed.  They didn't carry the entire Amy line, but had all of the quilting fabrics as well as some others that I might never have found.  Their owner Johanna was one of the nicest, most welcoming shop owners I have encountered in a long time and I can't wait to return.  A quick shot of my weekend haul is shown below.  I cannot wait to dig in!