This one girl...

Hi again- here is the contributor update I mentioned earlier-

Leslie of onegirldesignwrks will be joining sketchy! She creates some lovely stuff. What really resonates with me is that she is not content to do just paper, nor jewelry, nor fiber. Nope. She just has to take it all on. And photography too. And probably lots of other stuff, if I had to guess! Check out her wares at her etsy shop.

Now you probably think I like her work just because I'm obsessed with raw edges lately... well, you're right. But I'm also loving this, so there. It reminds me of Michael Kenna's Calais Lace series, which is simply stunning. I have his book- a gift from my friend Pami.

Can't wait to hear what is on your mind, Leslie- write soon!

-A

please, mr. thief, steal this crap

So I know I'm no Picasso, but it would be a bit of a relief if some kind thief would help me out with my storage issues.

ta ta for now,

Annie & Mlle. Cranklee McStinkbottom

PS- I have news on the contributor front! Will post about it soon!

pins: needles and stripes

i'm in! or on! holy mackerel, i knew i was always one or two steps behind the latest, (why, yes, we did only recently get voice mail) but this is just out of reach for me as it is all so foreign, time-consuming and abysmal. i would have signed on earlier but i got caught in the vortex, visiting all kinds of super sites, wishing i had made this, thinking i had made that, wondering when i would make anything at all.
i'm honored to be included here - thank you, and i shall now fill you in on me: mom to lovebug, aka bug, aka emi kiyomi rebecca stephens. she's 2 and 4 months. when you ask her what color her hair is, she says 'orange.' and it's true. the girl is 1/4 japanese for crying out loud. we live in vancouver, british columbia with the best dad and husband ever. we see bald eagles on the way to the grocery store. and we all love to wear stripes.
i'm thinking of a book project - a travelling, collaborative book project. details to be announced. who wants in?
drip is amazing.
kelli
needle sketch soon.

how products happen: head to object

Erica, I am ripping you off. Totally.

I don't have an art director- I don't have a boss. I sometimes get a thumbs up or thumbs down from Matt, but usually I get "it's interesting". Hm. Ambivalence.

I never think in a straight line, and I rarely do all my thinking at once. Usually I don't even realize I've been thinking about something, but clearly I have been, because suddenly a solution comes to mind based on what I have been problem-solving without really problem-solving. Does that make sense?

I realized it was happening today- I caught myself in process. Whew!

I was wanting a coaster other than the kleenex on my desk. I thought a lot about the old flour sack towel. I did some work for the tax man. I liked round. I thought about the coffee table we might someday have (I hate coffee tables, but I want one, or something loosely based on a coffee table to go in front of the couch), if I ever find something I like, and how I probably will want to protect the surface from scratches (unless it turns out to be something like this, which I really want for in front of the wood stove). So soft is it. And machine washable- heck yes, thumbs up! Which reminded me that I need to do a machine-washing test on something for these recycled materials for a dog bed that I've been thinking about. And you know, we don't really have super-sweaty glasses here because it is typically bone dry, so I don't really need anything that will act as an impenetrable barrier (Matt suggested I pop in a layer of Gore-Tex- better than "interesting"). More attractive and lasting than the kleenex, but not marble with cork backing (yarf).

Back to the old towel, back to my exposed seams, thinking about the drips becoming the design, and then I kind of laughed thinking how I'm a total drip for thinking about a mini-quilt to catch my coffee drips. And the word drip stuck. Real drips with the word drip hand embriodered. Buh-bye, excel spreadsheets, huhllo embroidery hoop, coffee colored thread and the once-again rescued flour sack towel.

And here we are- I have 2 of these little puppies. Obviously I didn't take the time to switch out the foot on my Necchi, so these are rough, and they haven't been washed yet to fray the edges, but hot diggity it was a fun 45 minutes! And the photographing was fun, too. And Miss Lovely slept through it all! Hooray! I'm looking forward to making more... AFTER I get those stupid spreadsheets done, I swear.

I highly doubt that I am alone in this kind of wandering, start/stop then go for it thinking. And usually these ideas take a while to stew- this was just a lucky nooner of an idea.

Also exciting? I got my paper napkins up on my site. Fingers crossed, please please please God I won't find them at Target or Pottery Barn (worse yet, Kohl's or Walmart) for Back To School next year. I have been afraid to put them out there for years....

Speaking of, I really need to get a move-on with that stinking site. Vision has been so hazy and photography is such a killer for me... I don't naturally think in 2d.

And go check out the darling shoes Matt gave Miss Lovely for Valentine's Day- you will die!

-Annie

I need a coaster...

I drink a lot of coffee. Correction: I used to drink a lot of coffee. I have cut myself back to the 4-cup mark on my coffee pot a day. Not easy. Especially since Matt (husband) enforced a strict caffeine ban on me many months ago for my own good and the good of the one who was in utero. I hate it when he is right about something.

This recent reduction was done by me, for me. Better to savor the bit that I get. What I really love is the ritual- making it, smelling it brewing, pouring it into my favorite cup(s), walking upstairs with it... and promptly getting the inevitable dribbles all over me and my desk.

Actually, I hate the last part. I am in love with these coffee cups (begin, create are my favorites), but unfortunately the lip is a little wonky, and one always get drips down the side, no matter how carefully one sips. These drips are currently being caught by a kleenex 'coaster' on my desk. Not attractive. (I promise it isn't a used kleenex)

So I need a coaster. I am thinking about my undying love of muslin, but also feeling inspired by the ratty towel project I undertook for the february whiplash for whipup. I'm feeling guilty about the remains of that towel- since I started to recyle it, I should finish recycling it, right?

I think I want a round coaster, and the design will be all about the stains becoming the design.

but what i really need to be doing is working on spreadsheets for my tax man. yuck-o. thinking about this coaster issue has been a fantastic distraction from the task at hand!

xoxo

annie

WOW

Hi- via whipup.net, check out Shiso Mama. WOW.

Oh, self-discipline, where art thou? (Somewhere checking out the oscars gowns and baubles on people.com, I'm afraid)

- sigh -

Annie

Evolution of a Image

First post for Erica! Yee-haw! Here it goes:

The creative process can be extremely frustrating, especially when you are dealing with other people's thought and ideas (i.e. clients, art directors, publishers....) Details you would never think about changing if you were creating this image on your own suddenly become sticking points that have to be dealt with. It would be nice if one would get a "Perfect! It's just what I had in mind!" every time you create something but that is just not the reality. It makes me wonder if I am too lenient on myself when I create an image just for me. Where is my inner art director to guide the image to become better than what I had originally envisioned? Is she out to lunch? I am going to have to find her I think.

Here is an example of an initial sketch:

This is about version 4 I think. Notice the change in the faces and hand postion of the middle girl:
Here is the approved sketch (about version 6). The girl on the right has completely changed.



Final! Even more changes, note the addition of the blue ball of yarn.
The most important thing I have learned is to stay flexible and do not under any circumstances take requests for changes personally.

i stink at drawing

Part of why I should be sketching 5 minutes a day is because I stink - stink! - at drawing. I don't have the patience. It's not a natural thing for me. If I could just get comfortable with it, get over the self-consciousness, I think I'd be in better shape.

The biggest best thing in my art arsenal is my wacom tablet. Its just not scary like a blank piece of paper, you know? Undo, delete, erase, asta luego to whatever stupid thing I just did, and I can just move on without record of my lameness. I have the pleasure of forgetting my blech, and I can just sigh a happy sigh of contented denial and move on...

Here are 2 things I've been wanting to make that I keep chickening out about because I don't really know how to sew:

And the horse I rode in on:

Goodnight!

Annie

'Conversations at the Kitchen Table'

Well, here is the wall hanging I have been working on. I think it looks great. But, boy did it take it's sweet time felting down to size. I used another fiber person's wool fober for the ground and the rate of shrinkage wasn't quite what mine was, so for a piece that was to finish 72 inches long (it started 90") it wouldn't go below 7' for the longest time. I had to call in Tom to the rescue! He slapped the felt silly and it shrunk to 6'4", do-able for the customer. Whew.


I have two more runners to do by the end of nextweek, fiber should arrive any second. The funny thing about the next two, is they are almost the same design, and almost the same colors.







Also, we had a Valentine's Day Blizzard. I love how our house and garden looks all covered in 18 inches of snow.

OH! and I keep forgetting to mention that I am trying accupuncture for my allergies. I go this morning for my 3rd session. Very interesting...very interesting.

just have to share

http://sparkwest.blogspot.com/2007/02/spit-up-smock-cont.html

I love the photo all the way at the bottom of the post. The graphics are just so darn cool, don't you think?

contributor update!

The talented Jill Bliss from blissen.com will be joining us in March... should be great! I've been a big fan of that sweet blissen for a long, long time...

More later!

xoxo & valentine's love to ya

annie

i shouldn't be doing this

I'm supposed to be putting my whip up spit up smock together. but the red thread was just too tempting...

annie

we went & looked at this house yesterday- fell madly in love with it. it is just out of reach. if i could quick get a great job with a salary that would afford primo in-our-home childcare, we'd be all over it. we'd finally get to talk seriously about bringing horses into the family! but... not yet.

i am still having creative issues with vday. i make matt cards every year, and this year... i'm stumped. this is the best i've got:

Matt used to be a race car driver- road racing. None of that nascar nonsense (he is a racing snob- i.e. nascar is dumb because they only turn left), he is an F1 man. His car was so cute- early model VW Scirocco, painted bright yellow. I never cared about cars or racing until he took me to see a vintage rally- now THAT was cool.

Nicole's Post

So here's the wall hanging I am working on, this picture is unfelted, and it will shrink when finished. I love the colors and action. I am ready to wet and begin felting now. The piece is called Red X's, and I have done it now three times, all different sizes but all similar color palette. For some reason today it is reminding me of Chocolate!!!! Hmmmm wonder why?

Oh by the way Annie,
I just had someone from The Mission Mountains in Montana ask if I would consider do a workshop there? Maybe we can get a western mountain tour for this summer? OK, now I am thinking about it - more.

I'll post a photo of the piece finished!

Hypnotizing Babs

Happy Sunday! You know I did not like that movie. I was expecting funny not sad.

OK, so my brother and new sister-in-law came to visit yesterday. They live in San Diego, and were visiting my parents in SOPO, ME...drove over for the day. I made a de-lish-us lunch. Chicken and potato hash, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus (then broiled so the prosc. is crispy) and then made a very yummy cake. None of the foods I made I had ever made before, and they were all quite tasty. Get this, the name of the cake I made, and this is the only reason I made it, is the St. Louis Ooey Gooey Berry Butter Cake, kind of like a white sour cream cake topped with a cheese cake topping, and yummy as well.

The most interesting thing about their visit is my SIL showed me how to hypnotize Babette. I have never been able to do this and have read about people being able to do this to their bunnies. She did it once to show me and then I tried, and it works! I am going to practice it with Babs. It apparently is reminiscent to baby bunnies mommies carrying their babies and really zones them out, you can lay them on their backs! and they just lay there! In case you don't remember Babette she is angora grey and white spots with black Cleopatra eyes. She is 8 years old this month and I can't believe we haven't been able to do this to her or her brother their whole lives! Our princess......


Oh well, I gotta get a felt laid out, it has beautiful fall-ish colors and very linear and splashy type motifs, and will be used by the customer as a wall hanging. I'll take a pic when it is done.

troubles with l-o-v-e

I have to create some sweetsie lovey table decorations for the red & pink dinner I'm putting together. I am planning on cutting big-ish hearts out of brown craft paper, then loosely painting them with polka dots, etc. Needs to be quick, not a big time investment... and I started doing some quick little sketches to get the old juices flowing, and clearly, I am just not that sweet. Like, I hate Easter decorations. Love Easter, like lambs & bunnies & chicks just fine, but i hate Easter decorations. They are so... splenda.

So this sweetsy heart thing for a surly girl is just not easy- or at least not easy today. Maybe because Matt brought home the Break Up last night? I was so glad they didn't get back together at the end of the movie. And I was SO glad that Matt & I never had to break up- I just could not bear doing that with him, which is, I guess, why we're married.

So I'll just be sucking it up and being uninspired. Unless a lightning bolt strikes.


And I am definitely looking forward to making these for the Pink Potluck. I told everyone that dessert would be a pink potluck, so good luck & get creative...



I'm totally not sure about the Pam. Will they be slimey? But if I don't Pam, could I get them out of the tin? Slimey jello would be gross, but stuck jello would be a bummer.

Much, much LOVE,
Annie

Figured out the image thing!! WooHoo!

HEY!!!! I did it! I consulted with my IT guy and needed to remove the pop-up blocker, and voila bebe, je suis ici!


So here's a great shot of me showing off my new black and white 'do. I have to say it was months and months of careful and very special highlighting that acheived this effect. And these are my current specs (They are from Target, Nicole Millers and irredecsent). I love their look but they are over two years old and the plastic is turning and I have lost one of the bling spots in the corner, and the lenses are getting funky. Oh yes and, this is the most important thing ...I need bi-focals. Yup I hit 45 this past year and I have to either take them off to work up close (like drawing and painting) or look over or under them...and that's getting old! I do love the black and white glasses look and think they will go great with my new specialized haircolor. You know I have had big black glasses back in the 80's. They were "eyebrow" glasses, and like everything else in the early 80's BIG! Too funny to put them on now.

I heard from the gal who is trying to sell my felt work to a big client in Massachusetts. Unbelievably, she presented 40 artists . I was one. And they were very excited about my work. Though I designed a BIG installment for the space, it is a less travelled space in their complex, so they are now thinking they wouldn't necessarily put as much $ into that one piece. This gal has a lot of juggling to do, and will be meeting again with them in the next few weeks, to hopefully get more specific. The rendering represents a space of 8' H x 20' W. Needless to say I think this will be a long process, like all of my custom work.

copyrighted 2007

am i a pointer sister?

i mean, cause i'm so excited?

erica and kelli will be contributors!

erica, are you somewhere in the vicinity of the strait of juan de fuca? kelli is in that vicinity.

nic, i'm just going for it and sharing the yak test photo since you were having upload issues- i hope the animation works, cause that is the best part! (drat. not working.)

tom & nicole

!!!

Annie

Feb 8

Howdy! Nicole here... I have no idea if this will make it to your-our delish blog. I hope so, I am still trying to figure it out. Today will be day one for me just to say hi and to try to get a picture of me on. Keep your fingers crossed!

So far I have successfully posted and am now editing but still trying to figure adding a picture to the post...Not successful yet...I keep clicking the photo icon and am not getting another window to select images from my data base. Do I have to download Picasa? TaTa for now

spit up smock

I am sending to a post I just put up on my other blog for explanation of this sketch...

http://sparkwest.blogspot.com/2007/02/whip-up-challenge-february.html

Thoughts?

-Annie

My view this a.m.

Good morning!

Two things:

1. The view out the upstairs window this a.m. - the peak of the Grand (Teton).

2. A thing I did late late late when I couldn't sleep the night before last. Would be interested to hear about other people's color obsessions and/or soundtracks...



Miss Lovely has her 4 month check up this a.m.- can't wait to find out just how much she's grown! But scared to death of the shots... we had a bad experience with the last round at 2 mo checkup- there was blood. Her sweet, precious blood. I sobbed, got very dizzy, and the nurse made me put my head between my knees. Humiliating.

Have a great day!

Annie

[lame] inaugural sketch

Here it is, the very first sketch. The blue sucker from the hospital, my tool of choice this past week with a sick Miss Lovely, forever immortalized. The mini tot stapler is a true vintage, from my mother's desk... I have one little box of staples that I have moved with me everywhere since I was in college. And the goldfish... yum. Can't believe Miss Lovely will soon be eating these right along with me?

Sketching with a wiggling babe on your lap adds a whole new challenge- kind of like drawing with your non-dominant hand. They should do this in Drawing 101... it would promote the use of birth control among art students across the country, as well as remind these students that their art is not the center of the universe. There are other forces, such as drool and spit up, that clearly deserve attention and resolution.



-Annie

Day One

Aye yi yi... I hope this flies.

Here's the deal: I am totally, completely pathetic when it comes to independently maintaining creative momentum. There is a darling baby girl to take care of, loads of laundry to be washed, dishes to be done, delicious distractions... and truth be told, I am a performer. I thrive on being depended upon and do my best work for other people. Working/doing/taking care of me? Finishing my website?

Sigh. Not so much.

I'm also marooned in a tiny town on the western side of the Tetons. My creative peeps are all a plane ride away from sharing a pot of tea over our sketchbooks. What I'd love to have in my life again is thoughtful, supportive, hilarious dialogue with like-minded people engaged in creative pursuits. I'd love this little blog to be a spot to post a little sketch or idea a day, share and find inspiration, feedback, encouragement and supportive critique. I always feel guilty about not taking just 5 minutes each day to do a little sketching/journaling- if I knew people were holding me accountable for participating, well shoot, I just might have to do it!

I have a long list of people I admire that I would love to do this with- some close friends, some mere acquaintances, some complete strangers... and I am 100% positive that all of these people will think I am a huge dork for proposing this.

But what the heck? Maybe it'll be great. Maybe it will bite the dust. Maybe it will turn into an experience that will inspire a sitcom (I lived in Santa Monica and worked in West Hollywood as a designer for a while- in a wacky way I was shocked that none of my clients ever proposed I star in a sitcom based on my life. I mean, come ON!). Or maybe not. The point is, I don't know what life this idea will take on, but I have nothing to lose besides being labeled a creative geek, so I'm just gonna hang it out there and send some invitations...

Here's a quick list of people I admire that I will send invites to just to get started:
[eeeegads! so scary to make this public- I feel like I'm a 7th grader begging to be friends with the cool kids, know what I mean?]

http://shimandsons.typepad.com/
http://www.anh-minh.com/weblog/
http://lauranormandin.com/
http://www.goodonpaperdesign.com/About/About.html
http://www.ericamulherin.com/
http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/
http://www.rosylittlethings.com/
http://www.festivefibers.com/
http://www.lisacongdon.com/index.html
http://www.artistgirlfriday.com/index.html
http://www.papage.com/index.html
http://www.jillbliss.com/

There are so many more neat-o people to invite, some are missing websites... I'll post about them at a later date.

Obviously, there will be ground rules-

1. You can't be mean. Ever.

2. You have to be funny, or at least willing to acknowledge how funny everyone else is (an appreciative audience is indispensible, don't you think?!).

3. You have to contribute a quick sketch or link or musing of some type at least once a week, and you have to leave at least 2 comments a week. This will only work if we have dialogue!

4. You have to be willing to be cast as a character in the sitcom, should Hollywood come a-knockin'.

5. MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOU/ME/WE MUST TREAT EACH OTHER WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT AS ARTISTS. THIS INCLUDES GIVING CREATIVE CREDIT WHEN/WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, CONDUCTING ONESELF WITH INTEGRITY, AND HONORING THAT ALL SUBMISSIONS ARE COPYRIGHT OF THE SUBMITTING ARTISTS. This needs to be a safe place to bounce ideas around and share inspiration without fear of being ripped off. Capiche?

So be looking for your email invitation! It appears that I can set up lots of people as authors (I'm new to this blog thing, veterans, please email suggestions how best to execute), so as soon as you let me know you're in, I'll set you up.

Ok. Fingers are crossed. I'm going to click publish and see what happens... really. I am.

!!!!!

-Annie