RED HAT

I continue to work on my portraits of dolls.
I have received as a Christmas present from my fabulous husband a Wacom Cintiq 21UX drawing tablet.
I cannot wait to begin working on my images on this tablet that allows me to paint right onto the display.

RED HAT

Treasures

My fascination with old dolls and toys continues as my collection expands.

Why discarded and beaten up toys continue to fascinate me is beyond my understanding, but I am certain that there is some deep and dark psychological secret that I have buried deep within my soul behind it.

I just know that there is something about the rustic and worn surfaces of certain toys and dolls that fascinates me and makes me want to have them.

When I photograph these objects I establish a connection with them, they no longer are only dirty and discarded toys; instead they take on a character of sorts that seem to fit right into a narrative that together we create. This connection is fascinating to me and as strange and crazy as it may sound a collaboration of sorts is established between me the photographer and this inanimate object. I am back in the playpen where toys are no longer toys but friends and collaborators that come to life. The strangeness of their appearances adds to the drama and my creative juices begin running.

I am currently working on series with my dolls where they pose as princesses or brides for a portrait decked out with bridal crowns. I have given them names that derive from childhood memories of women back in my town that were considered different in some ways and therefore have held my fascination and admiration through time. I am real excited about this project and following are some of the images that are beginning to take shape. The photographs will be printed in size 20x20 inches.

BERND NABER

http://vimeo.com/25229844

"Messing up is a given, you just have to be humble about it. A piece develops out of itself. You have to see what can come out of it. That's the big difference between art and craft." Bernd Naber

kudos:  http://stylelikeu.com/

Occupation: Fine Artist

In his signature white Ray-Bans that are a dead giveaway to his philosophical and artistic flair, Bernd speaks of his art as if it were a metaphor for life: “You can’t know everything, so you have to trust in the unknown…your choices, sometimes you don’t know if you’re making misjudgments but even those have a reason.” Thus his spontaneous move to NYC from his home of Hamburg, Germany in the ’70s with his first night spent at the infamous CBGB’s and his passion for taking on overwhelmingly gigantic living spaces, where he slowly transforms them into his own magically raw lair that become for him just another work of art. “I work with distressed things and I bring it to a point where everything comes together out of building and destruction. It comes from essence, that’s why it’s all interesting.” When making his monumental installations, if things are too easy, “the artwork doesn’t hold by itself.” It’s all about the process and if things don’t work out at first, they’ll come out better in the end, Bernd feels.
Things just happen, Bernd says when referring to his aesthetic. I am as obsessed with his chandeliers all over the floor and tables as I am with his use of two scarves at once, which he wears with his cashmere blazers and coats. Even as he apologized for his good clothes being packed away while things were under construction, he kept coming out in things like a red Issey Miyake suit from the ’80s and not just your “everyday” red fedora that he wears with all winter white – I can only imagine what was stored in the suitcases.

If you love Bernd, you may also like Ronald Sosinski, Ludget Delcy and Edmundo Desnoes.

Cy Twombly

Cy Twombly, Idiosyncratic Painter, Dies at 83

Cy Twombly

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Iris Apfel’s Exuberant Apartment Homes: architecturaldigest.com

Iris Apfel's Exuberant Apartment

Needle in a Haystack

The quote "Needle in Haystack" has always rung true for me.  I have spent many a time and energy searching for things both small and large while knowing very well that I will never find them.
While on a boating trip once I lost a ring; it fell overboard as I was leisurely playing with it on my finger.  I jumped right into the water and dived for it; I was furious when I couldn't find it.  Bizarre !!!

Being an avid stitcher, adding embellishments to my pictures gives me great pleasure.  I like the free flow of different stitches; this gives me the tactile experience that I so often miss in my photography.  The process of stitching onto images creates an extra layer of meaning to the work as well as the satisfying sensation of piercing and pricking something.
Needlework can be therapeutic.  While making stitches and adding thread colors to an image the mind goes into a place of piece where I am able to let it prick and prowl along with the needle.

But not all needles are created equal.  Shopping for needles can be a treacherous experience.  Here in the US some stores have entire isles devoted to sewing needles.  There are tapestry needles, embroidery needles, patchwork needles, and all purpose sewing needles to name a few on display.  Prices are varied; there are the brands where you can pay $5 for a single gold needle or $2 for a pack of twelve that come in different lengths and needle point sharpness.

Standing at 5 feet and 8 inches I have had to let down hems on pants, skirts and dresses as well as lengthening sleeves on shirts and jackets on store bought clothes my entire adult life.  But as of late this has become hard for me to do, because even if sewing needles come in gold nowadays and in different lengths and sharpness nothing has been done to improve the needle eye size.  It is still tiny and as I get older the needle eye grows even smaller to my eyes.  I find myself spending more time trying to thread the needle than it takes me to fix a hem on a dress.  This is frustrating to say the least.  What ever happened to the power of the Baby Boom generation movement?  I am well aware that in order to sew a perfect suitable hem you need a thin sharp pointed needle that leaves the least noticeable mark on the garment.  But enough already; needle designers and manufacturers must grow up and begin to look at the eye of the needle through  past middle age delicate eyes if they intend to keep us roaming the isles of their precious needles.