Solo Show at Muse Coffee

The newest series, “Shades of Grey”, explores the tension created when the focal point (a person’s face) is overshadowed by a red object on a grey page. Our eye is trained to look at the face, however the brain overrides that desire by forcing the eye to jump to the red object. The tension that is created encourages you pause to contemplate the story of the composition.

Check it out through Jan. 2009 at Muse Coffee (on 10th Ave. W.) on Queen Anne in Seattle.

Tues. Tea - Floating Leaves

In attempt to blog more, I decided that I should set aside certain days of the week to write about particular subjects. You may have noticed that on Fridays I partake in Illustration Friday. Well, T is for Tuesday and Tea, and I being what my family loving calls a "Tea Snob" gives me the opportunity to share my view of what real tea is!
That brings to me to a lovely Taiwanese teashop in Ballard (Seattle) called Floating Leaves. The owner Shuiwen is one of the kindest people I've met - not to mention she knows tea! Floating Leaves sells teas that will please even the pickiest tea geeks (I bought a 1979 Pu-erh Toucha a couple of years ago) or Shuiwen will help (with the utmost patience) guide the novice. If you haven't tried oolong tea (that isn't in a tea bag), you will be amazed at the flavors that await you! Alishan High Mountain Oolong is one of my favorites, although I have to admit I'm stuck on pu-erh these days!
and for those of you who are curious about how I got the label "Tea Snob", it is because I refuse to drink the family favorite tea (did you know in Canada they drink ALOT of tea?) - Red Rose - which is just the tea dust left over after they've processed all the tea leaves for black tea. It's like eating bread crumbs from a box when what you want is a fresh loaf of artisan bread.

Good Morning Fushia!

Fuschias are definitely a favorite of mine - especially the hardy ones! This one comes back in my garden every year, even if we have a heavy frost over the winter. It seems to me if I was a hummingbird, this would be the ideal place to stop for a snack, but I've never seen a hummingbird near it. I wonder if the nectar has been bred out of it to make room for color or resistance (hate it when that happens to plants, especially roses - whose main goal in life should be to smell pretty, but few do these days).

Good Morning - Poppy!

So it's a sunny weekend and I am off at the Mill Creek festival - I just wanted to share with you the pink poppies that are blooming in my garden. For those of you who have visited my garden in the summer, this is probably nothing new. For everyone else, let's just say for 2 months out of the year I have a garden that would make the Wicked Witch of the West proud - poppies have taken over despite my efforts to remove seed pods and pull out plants. I have 2 different varieties of red annual poppies, 2 different varieties of Oriental poppies (those are the perennial type), these pink ones and of course some California poppies. If anyone wants poppy seeds, let me know...

etsyRAIN.com at Mill Creek Festival

Here's a peek at some of my friends that will be at the festival with me, my new tent, my new credit card machine, my new Greeting Cards (woohoo - professionally printed), and other new stuff like magnets, soldered microscope slide ornaments, and...

Totes2Go: totally cool re-usable fabric shopping bags that fold up into a nice neat little pouch when not in use.

World of Whimm: totally cool kids costumes!

NueToMe: recycled childrens clothing (like little girls t-shirt dresses)

RozsSaxSeattle: very cute handmade fashion accessories

Woven Chains: fantastic chain maille jewelry (you've gotta see her keychains, betcha won't be able to put it down!)

Made@Home: Homemade play dough with the coolest colors

FloatingPalace: very cute linoluem block print cards

Oh yea, park at the park and ride and ride the shuttle in - saves the hassle of trying to find non-existent parking at the fair.

what's up with the weather?

So those of you who live in the Seattle area have to be asking yourself the same question. First, for the past I-don't-know-how-many days we've been having some real heat - like upper 8o's-lower 90's. This alone is unheard of in Seattle, since historically we only get a week of real heat in August. My flower garden is screaming for water - and my house is like a dry sauna!

And then, last night, there was HAIL at 2:30 am - and lots of it - hard hail - the kind that wakes you up from a deep sleep at 2:30am! I don't even want to question what that did to my flower garden. AND, because that surely is not enough to kvetch about, there have been thunder storms since about 2:25am and still going strong at 6am. Obviously I don't know if they continued through the hail storm, because the hail hitting the roof was way to loud, but I'm guessing there was thunder somewhere in the Seattle area, which we would've heard if the hail wasn't crashing down since we are on a hill and we hear everything for miles around.

And of course, I heard and continue to hear all this because I have to sleep with the windows open because it is a sauna in the house...

So last I left you with my basement woes...

I think it looked something like photo A - the shine in the picture is about 1" of water. We estimated that ~500 gallons of water poured in through the weak concrete floor (it rained so hard in Seattle that the ground water rose). The vibration of the washing machine wore a hole right through the cement into the dirt layer below. It was gross to say the least.

Check out what it looks like now - 2+ tons of cement later (ok, that includes hauling old cement out of the basement by the bucket and carrying 60 lb. bags into the basement). My new floor. It's so pretty, I don't want to cover it up with the rubber mats I had down before. :)

Oh, and there are drains, french drains and a sump pump. Bring on the rain!

Talk about leaps...

So I finally did it - I took the leap and hired a rep to help me with wholesale and other sales. Bonnie at Lady Nin seemed to be a great fit. It was a lot like finding a nanny for my baby. I was a little skeptical about letting just anyone spend time with Norm, but Bonnie is great. She bonded with Norm right away. She understood his personality and was able to deal with all of his "quirks" right off tht bat.

Bonnie sells artwork from many Northwest artists - you should check out her website. I am honored to be in such company.

click here to go to Lady Nin's Art Festival

The day the music died....

On Monday 12/3/07 Seattle got a lot of rain. So much rain in fact that our basement flooded. We baled out over 200 gallons of water in an 8 hour period, trying to save my studio... We finally gave up trying to beat the gush, and just put everything up on plastic bins. Fortunately after 2 1/2 hours of more rain, the water stopped seeping through the cement floors and walls. The cement started to crumble in spots, like under the washing machine. Needless to say, it will be a while before I sit down to start anything new in the studio (it's kinda a mess).

The funny thing is, from 8:30am Mon. until 7am Tues. morning time stopped. I was oblivious to the world revolving around me - nothing was happening except the water pouring into my basement. Then Tues. morning I woke up and realized that almost 24 hours worth of stuff happened and I had to play catch up... and then I got caught in a downpour again in the parking lot, on the way to my car, with my arms full of stuff from Costco!

The photos: #1 & 2 - the water coming in albeit contained by every towel & rag in the house. #3 the hole where the washing machine foot broke all the way through the weakened concrete #4 where's my desk?

EtsyRain Mystery Grab Bags are here!

Etsy Rain is the Seattle Street Team of artists & craftspeople that sell their wares on Etsy.com Just in time for the holidays, we all teamed up and put together grab bags. Each grab bag has $50 worth of stuff from 5 sellers - but you pay only $25! What a deal! Here are the sellers who are participating in the kids/baby's grab bags:

glitzconcepts.etsy.com
sycamorebaby.etsy.com
lasesigns.etsy.com
tomatotomato.etsy.com
artbynorm.etsy.com (me)

and these sellers are in the "general" grab bags:

kneek.etsy.com

imakecutestuff.etsy.com

wiretree.etsy.com

scarywhitegirl.etsy.com

baublesbyhand.etsy.com

kimberlyatstir.etsy.com

livewire.etsy.com

wovenchains.etsy.com

emmakat.etsy.com

sweetpeacardsgifts.etsy.com

How much would it be to open up a box of stuff that you got from some very creative people in Seattle? Here is my listing for a kids grab bag: MYSTERY GRAB BAG Now get shopping!

Norm and the Grinch

I will be at All For Kids Books at 2900 NE Blakely St. (1 block behind University Village) in Seattle on Sunday, Nov. 18th from noon-5.

There will be an art sale as well as a celebration for the Grinch's 50th Birthday! Imagine that, Norm gets to meet the Grinch. How cool is that?

First Thurs. Artwalk in Pioneer Square! Nov. 1, 2007

The Seattle Etsy Street Team (from here on out known as EtsyRain) is having an Art Sale during the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square.


For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Pioneer Square Artwalk, the first Thursday of every month galleries in the hip & artsy Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle stay open late, the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has free admission, and many artists hold their show openings on that night.


It's a lot of fun, a lot of walking, and a lot of checking out great art!

We'll be there until about 10-ish, right around the corner from Al Boccalino and the Pioneer Square Saloon, just under the viaduct!

http://www.stirboutique.com/kick_off_the_holidays.html

Stop by and say Hi!

the Fall Thing Art & Craft Show

'tis the season for art & craft fairs. I will be selling in at least 3 before Thanksgiving - come check it out if you have the chance! (Sat. 10/20, Phinney Ridge Community Center in Seattle)