Vintage Hats

Lynne, a photographer friend from San Diego, recently came to stay with us.  We had such a good time photographing together around these familiar haunts of mine, and it was refreshing to see our area anew through her eyes.  These hats are from a local store where I shop, but I had never asked before if I could photograph them.  I'm glad Lynne did!  I can't wait to see her take on them.  Here're mine...

The model here was added later.  She is Candace, one of my former students.

The Impossible Project

Recently my daughter and I went to NYC to meet an artist friend visiting from Brazil.  After a wonderful time walking around in Chinatown, we wound up at 425 Broadway at the gallery of the new Polaroid film company, The Impossible Project.  An amazing space, and an even more amazing product.  I have long been a fan of the SX-70 camera, and the possibilities for creativity that it affords.  Dean and I taught SX-70 manipulation classes in the '90s, as well as the making of Polaroid transfers, and we still own 17 Polaroid SX-70 cameras!  So how glad are we that we can now buy the film again!  It's not cheap, this analog world, but I scraped my pennies together and got 4 boxes of various films.  They're very fussy as to storage, too, temperature, and such, so we'll see how it works.  I have a shoot planned for Monday with a beautiful model, and I'll fire off a few shots with some of the Silver Shade.

Here's my friend Rogerio from Brazil, taken in the Impossible Project gallery space.

Please be patient with me!!!!

I've been playing around with my blog, and I fear I have done some real damage!  I've put a new template up and saved the wrong one, so, my old  blog is gone!  Or at least all of my widgets are missing [ I tell ya, if I ever thought I'd live to see the day when I was lamenting the loss of my "widgets" {rolls eyes, shakes head}...]  The saddest thing is, I've lost that lovely Paris page...

So, now it remains for me to spend tomorrow learning how to navigate this new template, which has no navigation bar on top!!!!  And no way to get to the dashboard from here that I can see.  I've been at this for 3 hours and I feel some garment rending coming on, so, since the garden is calling, I'm outa here.
Oh, and this is not Everafter Farm, but a sweet cottage nearby.
UPDATE!  I did it!!  I got Paris back!!  It's amazing what a measly 8 hours on the computer can accomplish.

Somerset at last!

I kind of always thought that I'd see my work in Somerset Studio, the Mixed Media publication.  But month after month, I never could get up the nerve to submit my work . Then the publisher of all the Somerset publications. Kellene Gillhof, [bless her heart!] discovered my photography online, and invited me to be in Somerset Digital Studio!  I was so nervous, but I managed to get the article written last November and the magazine came out on March 1st.  I loved doing it and working with the Editor Jana Holstein was so much fun.  I thought they did a bang-up job on the article, giving me 8 pages, with 15 photos! I know some of you who are now following the blog came here through the article, so you know what an fabulous publication Somerset Digital is.  My friend Mario von Middendorf is also a featured artist in this issue, and he is incredible.  The next issue will come out Sept.1, 2010.  You can buy it at better newstands or order it ">here

Slated for Salem

Nature Girls

On Friday night we held a fundraiser for our old town courthouse.  55 Artists were invited to make art on pieces of slate from a nearby slate quarry.  The event, called "Slated for Salem" for a big success, with yummy hors d'oeuvres, wine, and a rousing auction of all of our artwork.  Above is my mixed media piece, called "Nature Girls",and below is Crickett's photo and mixed media "Moonlight Solitude".  And, yes, she stole my moon!!!

Resurrection day in Paris

Only 10 minutes before Easter is over, and I just wanted to say I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed day.  We certainly did!  The weather was so fine: mid 70s with a lovely breeze, sunshine, and spring flowers in bloom.  We went down to Albany after church to visit several friends, and share a family dinner with Gregg and his family.  It was wonderful.  I ate so much sushi...before the ham!
The image I'm posting here is a new process I'm trying.  Still painterly, but lighter, fresher, more like watercolour than the old darker oil paint look.  Which I still love, of course.  But it's fun to try something new.  I'll be puting more of our Paris Pix on the Paris page, which is now on the link bar at the top of this page.

A Virtual Visit from an Old Friend

I had the nicest surprise yesterday. An old friend from my online art days, Lloydene Cook, found my article in Somerset Digital and contacted me via Facebook. It was so great to hear from this lovely lady who was the creator and moderater of my favorite virtual Salon, BELLE PAPIER. I did many mixed media swaps with the members of that group, and have that artwork, which I received in trade, to this day.  I also fondly remember the "zines" that Lloydene and her friend would hand assemble, with photocopied pages of our artwork, and very special "inclusions" ranging from snippets of pretty ribbons and fibers to stickers and sprinkles and tiny charms.

I went looking in my my old files and found a couple of pieces of artwork that I did during that time 10 years ago.  The Via was a cover for our  Belle Papier Address book and the collage was sold in 2000.  The Travel card was made as a thank you to the Bigelow Foundation, who awarded me an all-expense paid month in Paris. Those were some good, creative days!

Just back from Paris

My darling and I took a short trip to Paris this past week, and despite a harrowing trip down to JFK in a sleet storm, a three hour wait at the airport for a plane, and a 3 hour "rest" on the tarmac before takeoff, we actually arrived in our hotel room 23 hours after we left the farm. It was a grand time, though, and the weather was perfect, despite the reports back home that we were in a tornado. It did rain, but only at night, or when we were in a museum or restaurant. I never even got to use my gorgeous new umbrella from Kate Abbot! We were half hoping to find the perfect apartment for sale, but to be honest our pocketbook is not big enough to buy us that pied a terre that we see in our heads. I don't have my pix edited yet, but I thought I'd put up some shots from 2007, and the apartment on Montparnasse Blvd.where Angie and I stayed [Thanks to the kindness of strangers] for 2 weeks. This is the apartment in my head!

Another Look at our Paris apartment

There's my friend Angie on the couch!

Some of the Lovely Homes Near Us

I love driving around our beautiful county, and drinking in the bucolic sights. Or, as they say, I [heart] NY! [As much as the kids try to teach me how to make that heart symbol, it always comes out >3 for me!!] As much as I love France, I have to say that our little neck of the woods is just about as scenic as anything I've ever seen abroad. [ Ok. So France is pretty much equal.] Or at least it suits our aesthetic. I especially love the cozy little farms, with smoke curling from the chimneys, and animals hanging out in the barnyard or in the pasture. I've started photographing these country places and making prints to give to the inhabitants. It's a wonderful way to meet the neighbors!

November's Golden Glow

Getting in to the City

I was happy to finally get to the Big Apple a couple of times before Thanksgiving. I went to the Met to see the Vermeer show, which was wonderful, of course, and the gem in that show was "The Milkmaid", which I had failed to see in Amsterdam last winter. The next trip was with Dean to see the Christmas show at Radio City. You can certainly see why they call it a "Spectacular". The Rockettes take my breath away with their sheer perfection. We LOVE the 3-D sleighride with Santa through the streets of New York, but the best part of the show, every year, is the living Nativity scene, complete with sheep and a camel. It's hard to believe in this Humanistic age that they still read the story from Luke. Just about every one around us was crying at the end when the 3 Kings and shepherds lift their arms to Heaven, as everyone sings"Hark the Herald Angels Sing". After the show we walked around and looked at the amazing decorating of some of the stores. Unfortunately Bergdorf's wasn't up and ready yet, but Anthropologie was like a museum installation! I talked to one of the young artists putting finishing touches on a display, and learned that there is a design team for each store and once a month they brainstorm how to use recycled stuff to make art and then change all the decs in the store. Look what they can do with stttyrofoam cups!
After Anthro [ where I did buy a little something for Crickett]we moseied on over to McKenzie-Childs to check out their Christmas decor. Wild,whimsical and festive. Wouldn't want that look in my home necessarily, but I just love to look it every time I go to their store. And I must get more birch trees in the mudroom!

Scenes from McKenzie-Childs and Anthropologie

 

 

Bergdorf's Window---Not Quite Ready

 

A Look Back At Provence

Today I bought a few new books on France. We had seen Taschen's Paris at Anthropologie last week and fallen in love with it. Great big photos of so many places that we recognize. I also got a wonderful Provencal cookbook, "Provence The Beautiful",which I had seen at Jill's house. The recipes look good, but, of course, it's the photos that always hook me. Here are a few of the photos from my art workshop in Provence with The Georgi Girls in September 2008.

A window in Bonnieux

The gardens at La Louve, now owned by Judy Pillsbury, and only open two days a year. We were there on one of the days! http://www.recreatingeden.com/index.php?pid=8&season=04&episode=41

A door in Gordes

The Abbaye ouside of Gordes

The Approach to Bonnieux

Bonnieux

This darling old man was celebrating his 90th birthday the day we landed in Bonnieux. He invited Holly and I in to his house to show us his view...

...which was spectacular! It's the very top picture. I'm not good at this blogging thing, and I couldn't make it appear HERE!

Anyway, I chose this area because it was the same place where one of my favorite movies "A Good Year" was filmed. Oh, I know, it's a chickflick, but such a delicious one, and one I watch it over and over, just for the scenery and the music, and well, let's admit it, the romance! I learned to love Russell Crowe in this, as well as the beautiful Marion Cotillard, and I just love the music, as well. This section of the Luberon is the most lovely in Provence...or so we gals believe. Not too far from Aix-en-Provence, and very near the chic town of Gordes [where Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott both have villas]

I plan to lead another Digital Photography workshop here next spring. so contact me if you're interested!

Laundry in Aix

L'Abbaye de la Senanque