And at night it turns tomato...

These first two snaps are the dining room before painting,
but after prep.

Pale, washed out, hardly a shade worthy of a second glance.

Lisa, Eleanor (on chair), Jean, Cat (in periwinkle), Mindy
*all my thanks*

oh, and moi

See that tea tin on the windowsill?
It's "Get Gorgeous",
the inspiration for the color...

The painting's over, but the party lingers on.

The Behr "watermelon" dining room,
just as I had always imagined it.
And it only took one coat!

Lipstick Ranch's Collage Camp!

In the holiday 2009-2010 (!!!) issue of Pasticcio coming up later this year, Angela and I will be featuring the amazing KC Willis (lipstickranch.com) in our Art Array interview. Yeah, I know there's another issue coming out between now and then. That Art Array interview person will be a surprise for now... This is a PRE-preview sneak tease post ...
Besides constructing her beautiful fabric collages, KC runs the kind of summer camp most of us wish we would have been sent to years ago. Whether sleep away camps or stay-at-home slumber parties are more your style, pay a visit to the KC Willis Collage Camp, where you can celebrate your inner Wild Woman. Once you leave camp behind, I guarantee you will possess enough fabric and fiber skills and techniques to go forth and translate into your own delicious "artifacts". Check it out; I think there's an empty bunk and a place at the campfire waiting for ya.

My Time of Day

My time of day is the dark time
A couple of deals before dawn
When the street belongs to the cop
And the janitor with the mop
And the grocery clerks are all gone.

When the smell of the rainwashed pavement
Comes up clean, and fresh, and cold
And the streetlamp light
Fills the gutter with gold

That's my time of day
My time of day.

1950
Frank Loesser

What's on the shelf?

Thought I would include a couple of my recent reviews in the next few posts.
Let's start with The Art of Paper Cutting by Henya Melichson:



Henya Melichson is a member of an elite cadre of current artists who excel at the intricate and exacting, yet bold art of paper cutting. Beginning her career traditionally as a painter, she has been creating detailed papercuts for over 20 years. From elaborate semi-historical scenes to more contemporary holiday theme designs, she displays amazing skill and flair. The Art of Paper Cutting includes a varied selection of her work (love the "Indian Elephant" and "Woman in Leaf"!), along with a lovely overview of papercutting around the world, a technique tutorial, and a lesson in composition for papercutters. There are three dozen projects with step by step instructions, though those projects do NOT include templates. Because of the extreme detail of some of them, beginning paper cut artists will probably find them inspiring more than replicable. There are 13 actual templates included from which bookmarks, bookplates, and more can be designed and constructed.

It's the coolest job in the world (and maybe the hardest?) being a mother. So many ways to screw up, and so many ways to do good - every day of the year. I know it's pure chez, but! My kids totally give me my greatest joys and cause me, a relatively optimistic person, my craziest worries. I love them all fervently, almost as much as I love their dad (um, that's a joke, a reference to an interesting book by Ayelet Waldman...). Actually I really do love them all equally, but each differently. The same is true with grandkids. Equally, but differently. I hope that's something they will always remember, how much I cherish them, even when I may lose it in the moment...

Anyway. Mother's Day is cool, like the job itself, but also, kinda hard when your own mum's gone. I mean, I can still hear mine whenever I speak, nuances of voice and cadence, and sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see a glimpse of her. We were never best friends, but I loved her fiercely, and feel badly for all the times I let her down or disappointed. I was too often selfish, or maybe I am simply too much myself to have been successful at trying to be the perfect daughter for my particular mother, still, I wish I had been. If only she had had "anudder" daughter...On the other hand, she always said she didn't really like or trust women. And that with good reason! She did have a few girlfriends throughout her life...They were certainly better than I was at being there for her. Argh! This all sounds a bit morose for Mother's Day. I don't mean that! Happy Mother's Day, all y'all!!!!

21st century cake

If I was getting married as myself in 2009, instead of me, as still practically a kid in 1973, this might be the very cake I would want! I wish I had a pic of the entire cake to show you.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday, Corina!
(swinging on a porch in Napa...she so totally rocks...)