Too. Much. Fun.

Breaking News:
Girlfriends meet up for art retreat in the One Red Chair Studio. Location different this year but
she found her way, Chelan to Bonney Lake, piece o' cake.

We managed to fit in a few games and o yes maybe a wee bit of shopping, too, (yes, wee...) but we really did do a lot of art!

Diane and Carol in the Red Chair Studio, Bonney Lake edition. 

A logo dance and another sneak peek

This is fun and shows the work that goes into creating logos and design.




Have been working many hours on the Megazine and am about 90% done! Here's another sneak peek of a page.

It's MOO-vin' along! Here's a preview.

I am making progress on the MegaZine that I told you about here. My ready date is mid-May. I'd love it if you'd look at the preview I put together and welcome any comments.  My plan is to create quarterly issues and sell them on Etsy and on the web site. There will be options for print and digital formats. Lots of details to work out but I am excited about it and over the halfway mark. I'm running this preview now to give a heads-up, then will probably remove it until it gets closer to publish date. Feedback and interest from you is most appreciated; I really mean that. You can comment below or email me separately.

I have added a page on the website to get on the mailing list. The list will be used for letting you know the magazine is ready and a discount code if  you order. If I get a newsletter out before then, I will also send you that if you are on the mailing list.  Otherwise, that mailing list stays safely tucked in the studio, under the cat on the red chair.

Here's the video. Or you can watch it on YouTube here. Thanks for watching!

https://youtu.be/UnQHOObiJsg

Homage to Playfulness

I was totally enchanted by this installation in Vancouver I mentioned in the last post. It's called A-Maze-ing Laughter and I defy you not to giggle, even at the photos, but especially at the site.

A few quick sketches I did on the scene

Things I Learned This Month

Oh, jees, January is over. Seemed long, and seemed short.  Between husbands and friends, we had broken clavicle, broken fibula, torn ligament, and displaced shoulder this month. Oh dear. I am intact, I state with gratitude, although the month isn't quite over. I hardly made any art, the studio is a disorganized mess I must deal with Very Soon, I neglected my journal, didn't get to the gym much. But yet I was busy and the days go fast.  I am on a fast-moving jet stream through life.

While at Starbucks (on my way to the gym to work off the chocolate croissant I ate despite my generous rating of pastry shelf of 6 out of 10), I thought about this stuff. And I drew some favorite characters from Plants vs. Zombies. These are my go-to Plants for defeating the rudest Zombies.

So here it is: Things I learned  (or re-learned) this month:

1.  Like pounds on the body, on and off, cluttering takes minutes; de-cluttering takes days. Weeks.

2.  It is not a good idea to overestimate the sophistication of 11-year olds.

3.  Procrastination has its rewards.

4.  I should listen to TED Radio more often.  Many driveway moments.

5.  To keep a decent disposition when the month is gray and days are short, I must either 1) make art or 2) plan travel.

6.  Paying a 90 Euro toll bill Italy for a jaunt which should have cost 5 Euros is painful.

And, finally.  If I don't have the Iceberg Lettuce in my arsenal, it's tough to beat the Explorer Zombie. (Okay. I already knew that.)

Having fun.

I've started a magazine project. Have an idea for the cover of this issue...very much a draft right now, but mooo-ving along. Fun and cows pretty much. Big learning curve, but my experience with developing newsletters digital and in cut-and-paste (Plum Pudding days in the 80s, when all the ads and brochures were cut-and-paste!) is helping a bit. Trying to find the right vehicle for it that won't cost too much to keep the magazine affordable. Probably digital, too.

I think it will be fun to build. Where my web site is All Things Art, and the blog is focused on art also, the magazine will be All Things Fun.  Why not?  I'm a fan of fun when you can get it or search it out.  It will still have an art focus, I suspect, since, because of copyright issues, it will need to be
pretty much my photos and artwork. Hoping to get some permissions from fellow artists along the way, too.

Wish me luck in my endeavors. Like any good resolve, I'm putting my intentions out there to keep me focused!

One fun thing I am doing is taking Carla Sonheim's Y is for Yellow year-long online class, because, not only is she a proponent of fun (Imaginary Animals, imaginary flowers, sidewalk crack animals, fairy tales, ummm...you think?), but the theme this year is alphabets!  Alphabets are my passion, one indication of which is on my book shelves where I combine my love of visually enchanting picture books with alphabet books illustrated to my cuppa tea.

If you've not tried a Carla Sonheim class, you might just want to go to her site and check 'em out.

Having some fun with A. Just a starter.

Sunday again...

Sunday's come and go so fast around here. Lots to enjoy in this, the longest daytime of the year. Ah! Sweet Summer. Here are some nuggets from recent papers, Brain Pickings, and my out-and-abouts.

Here's something I think you'll enjoy:

 
Student Design Award Winner - Curiosity: Exploration and Discovery from RSA Student Design Awards on Vimeo.

I saw this on Brain-Pickings, where I also liked an interview with Neil Gaiman (who grew up in libraries) on How Stories Last:

Stories should change you — good stories should change you.

Maurice Sendak, The Big Green Book by Robert Graves

Illustration by Maurice Sendak from 'The Big Green Book' by Robert Graves. 

Lucas Aoki

This is not my artwork. It is the work of Lucas Aoki from Argentina. It is from a funny and creative sketchbook I found here. It is also a reminder that, if you love to peek into sketchbooks (journals, drawers, and your sister's diary), you have hundreds to fascinate you here and possibly in your own city when sketchbooks tour the country. I wrote about it here.

And there is this creative and playful take on book covers  from May 3 NYTimes.
I think this looks like a whole lot of fun. I may have to try it. Stay tuned.

NY Times photo by Ray Defara

With the U.S. open in our backyard, golf is on our minds. I smiled at this quip from The Onion, quoted in today's Seattle times:

Bubba Watson horrified to learn two-thirds of Earth covered in water hazards.

Go Cubs..

A bit of catching up

Oh my I see I let August and September fly by with few visits here. But indeed I was a busy girl this summer...

tiling an outdoor table (we break a lot of dishes around here)....

 painting....

pictures for the walls...(inspired by Jill Mayberg)

and the walls...Good-bye turquoise: you were fun but it's time to go.

sewing....

colorful bedcovers (using a collection of vintage hankies)...

and new frocks for windows, 

downstairs.....

and up....There's those hankies again!

I still managed to read a lot of books, tho hardly touching my pile.

...and, best of all, having lifelong friends visit us for games (lots and lots of games), hanging around, and a side trip to Vancouver over the border, a hop skip and jump from Bellevue. 

Today's Sunday Papers Treat

I am such a sucker for interactive maps, visual encyclopedias, graphic data. And, baseball fan that I also am, though somewhat temporarily disenchanted with my frustrating Cubbies, I particularly love this map. It's highly interactive and you can find out much more detail, even to the city, about who your friends and neighbors follow. Who knows? You might be living next door to a White Sox fan. Oh dear.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/24/upshot/facebook-baseball-map.html#10,41.7495,-87.7957

http://nyti.ms/1tF5e2W

What a Sunday!

Designer chic football helmets to celebrate and another Downton Abbey. Go Hawks.

PBS

See all the helmets at http://media.bloomingdales.com/fashion-touchdown/mobile/

My song to the moon

Nora on Meryl

Chicken a la King

I re-created out an oldie but goodie for this month's postcard exchange. I don't rubberstamp as much as I used to, but I have great fun when I do sit down with them to. I enjoy humor and find that's what I usually create. I have stamps numbering in the thousands, having rubber-stamped since 1978, owning a store that sold them, and working at Stampa Barbara.  I'm whittling down, parting with many. I still use stamps for collage, textures, journal pages, and occasions of general silliness. My stamps are stained and well-used. I am a loose and free-wheeling stamper type and don't have the patience to keep them in pristine condition. They are still a go-to tool.

Rooster Elvis's suit is of course glittered!