New York

It is good to be back in New York. I never lived in Manhattan (although I worked in Soho), and I forgot how very crowded it is. I don’t miss that aspect. I have been doing a lot of looking, eating, shopping and being. I never took the time to make small talk with anyone when I lived here, but I have been talking to strangers lately and actually, it’s kind of nice. I will try to do more of that in my “real” life– because I have met some interesting people, and plus, you never know. I was always in such a hurry here, it’s so nice not to be in a hurry anymore.

@ the Museum of Modern Art

Wall Cushions at MoMA

Flowers in Fort Greene (on the way to the Brooklyn Flea)

Pretty houses in Fort Greene

I’m here for a few more days, and will hopefully post some more inspiration when I get home. I actually do miss Montana. I saw a few herds of pronghorn and some strange desert winter landscapes on the way to the Billings airport (I turned to Paul and asked if he felt like we were on Mars), and I’m excited about the onset of Spring. I hope.

Quilted Art

I worked on some patchwork pieces on New Year’s Eve & Day (exciting times around here, I tell you). I think that some of them will become pillows, but this one is for a local art show. I figured that the last time I tried to paint I was basically trying to paint fabric, so why not just quilt?

 

I used some hand dyed wool, flannel, suiting and cotton. This was my first attemp with the triangles, and I think they came out pretty well. Although I must say that I cannot WAIT till I get to use my walking foot! Here’s a closeup.

Peep peep!

Yay for Luggage + Shop Sneak Peek

Yay, my luggage came home at 7:30 this morning, with all the contents safe and sound. 

Once I get a chance to take some good photos, I’ll be adding three more cake hats to my etsy shop. These three are special because they flew to Edmonton (Canada) and back just to be with you. Fun. I put the finishing pom-poms on this morning.

 

I added a few new button necklaces last night, in case you’re interested. I sold one to my high school history teacher while at a Christmas Eve party– that was pretty cool. She also owns the first (and only) painting I ever sold.

Go outside!

Yesterday’s weather was gorgeous. I’m not quite understanding how the city can be blanketed in snow one day and70 degrees and sunny the next, but I’m not complaining! It really makes me appreciate the lovely days.

These are some of the leaves popping  up around downtown. They are so pretty!! Most of them are already falling off in droves and rustling around the sidewalks and streets. 

 

I also wandered across campus, where I passed these sidewalk stencils (at a sorority house, I believe), some juicy looking berries, and the duck ponds. The ducks are a little crazy- they all came traipsing over once I sat down to say hello. And begged for bread, of course.

I came back exhausted, but rejuvenated. I need to remember to go outside (for more than ten minutes) more often! More pics on flickr.

Autumn!

It’s already Fall, which became clear to me because of the color in the trees on the way to work.  Right after I realized this, I heard on NPR that there would be snowshowers this weekend. This seemed unbelieveable as it was nearly 80 degrees on Friday. I woke up Saturday morning excited to peep out the window: nothing. There was snow in the mountains, but nothing on the ground. But later in the day, on the way back from the studio, there was snow(look closely), and more obviously, horses. They moved them to this pasture near the road, where I can see them all together.

This morning I insisted we hike, since yesterday was rainy (mostly shower, only slightly snow) and today was gorgeous. We didn’t stay long because there are always things to do, but I loved all of the colors in the leaves! I never feel like I get to observe enough, I could stand over plants and stare at horses through fences for hours.

After that, Paul went to the studio. I stayed home and cleaned up, then decided to cook him an early birthday meal (it’s tomorrow). I made baked breaded acorn squash, rosemary lemon chicken and a little spinach salad. It was delicious! And there is squash leftover. I love fall, with all of it’s oddly shaped gourds. I definitely need to make something with pumpkin soon.

P.S. If you are participating in the Patchwork Swap, you should have received an email from me by now. If you didn’t, please email me to let me know.

Oilcloth Place Mats

This week I worked up some pretty placemats to brighten our eating area. I bought this pretty print in Austin, and previously used it to transform my air conditioning box into a “table” (nice camoflauge). Since I don’t need an air conditioner in Montana, I once again had the pretty fabric. It was a royal pain to sew, and as I was working on theseI thought of a couple of ways the project could have been much easier, but alas, I am stubborn. Were I to do it again, I would have sandwiched the oilcloth together (wrong sides facing) and used a bias tape around the edge to sew them together. This would eliminate both the hassle of turning the placemats inside out, the sewing through four layers of oilcloth, and the drag on the machine (oilcloth likes to stick!). Or, I could have pinked the edges and sewn them together. But I didn’ t want water seeping in, and I wanted them to be completely wipeable (hence no fabric bias  tape). Now I know!

All in all, it was worth the challenge. I secretly like testing the bounds of my cheap-o sewing machine by feeding it different materials.

Inspiration on the Road: Beading

I finally uploaded some of my photos from the trip down here (all out of order, of course!) and wanted to share these two from the Utah Field House of Natural History. Mostly, the place was full of fossils and dinosaurs, which, after seeing all of the shifting layers of earth on the drive down, is now infinitely more interesting to me. But these Native American wares were also hiding out. I love the motifs, especially on the boots.

Home

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we arrived safely in Bozeman last night, greeted by a glowing orange sun setting over the Bridger Mountains. The trip was amazing–we drove through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming and then, Montana. Over the 2500 miles we got to stop and see old friends and beautiful landscapes (my favorite being the Badlands in South Dakota). I’ll do a full update when I get set up– but it might be a while.

Color Inspiration

Tomorrow is moving day, and we’ve been running around like crazy packing things, sweeping up dust, and deciding if throwing away a 2″ square decorative box will save me space in the truck, in the long run. I’m pretty much set at this point, everything is cancelled and in order. 

I wanted to share these two paintings that I saw at the MoMA the other day. They both use the same color palette and a similar layout with completely different outcomes, and I like each result.

Succulent Eggplants by by Beatriz Milhazes, 1996

Creative Artists Agency (Los Angeles) by Sarah Morris, 2005

I love these colors together, too, so I’m filing them away for a project someday.

I’m putting away the laptop now, and we’ll be on the road for the rest of the week. I’m really excited because we’re driving through parts of the country that I have never even seen. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

Friday: Blue

I’ve been writing all of these posts ahead of time (it’s Tuesday right now, and Paul is 5 hours from being here, not to mention Friday is my last day of work, so you can see why!). Blue is kind of a hard color for me, because I automatically imagine a darker blue, which isn’t one of my personal favorites. But then I started thinking about the transition I’m about to make, and looking at photos of New York and Bozeman, and I reconsidered blue.

 

This is a spot near the North Cove in Battery Park which I discovered on a walking tour when I first moved to New York. The tour was during the day, and the guide mentioned the blue lights at night. I wanted to go back to see them, but somehow four years slipped away. So when we were downtown for a concert last year, I went back with Paul and Alexa. It’s a gorgeous little secret spot. I always wished I had someone to take there.

Luminous reflections of Times Square in the rain. Possibly more exciting than the actual hyper buildings, in my opinion. I love taking photos in the rain.

That photo reminded me of this one, the Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone. The water gets cooler the further it gets from the spring, and different bacteria grow in the different temperatures. Hence the color variation. Nature is so amazing!

And finally, a big blue sky outside of the MSU art studios. I can’t wait to get back to it.