If I Were a White Book, I'd Live Here

There's something about hotel decor. It's bigger than life. It's bold. It's something you'd never have in your house. The Lorien Hotel in Alexandria, VA, is a boutique (Klimpton) hotel. I've stayed here before and am always fascinated by the "book room." It's an area off the lobby where they provide complimentary coffee in the morning and wine in the evening, both of which I've enjoyed. It's a calming room with just enough interest to offset the sterile personality.

One wall, about 15 feet long, floor to ceiling, is solid bookshelves with every single book wrapped in a white-enamel paper book jacket. White and off-white plaster decorations serve as bookends and break up the monotony of the books. Shelves are painted a soft tan. I am actually quite taken with this wall, whereas some people come in and are completely put off and angered by it. To me, the entire wall is a piece of art. The people angered say things like "How could they cover up the titles of those books?" "Why would anyone do that?" "Who does these things?"


The rug in the room has a soft fudge border with a grey-blue interior. A sofa, about the color of the border, faces the book shelves and has four oversized end pillows. Rather than the usual 14" sized pillows, these are 24" square. Two are soft blue; two are cream. Other furniture includes gray leather cubes, matching the interior of the rug. In front of the book shelves is a black lacquer drop-leaf table with an over-sized white porcelain rose and a black iron bird sculpture. The table lamp has a clear glass base and a white shade.

The coffee table in front of the sofa is an 8 ft. long leather ottoman. On top of it is a wooden tray that covers the majority of the tufted leather. In the tray is a tall, white square vase with fresh white hydrangeas, a white lacquer box and a gi-normous hand that I absolutely love!



Two tan wing backs and two dark blue club chairs complete the setting.
But there's one more thing. Above the sofa is mirror, 8 ft. long, 4 ft. tall. It's as if the designer wanted to be sure that you could see (and enjoy) the white book art anywhere you sat. With the placement of that mirror, you never lose sight of the books. And that's why I think it's art.

Sweet Dreams

This little piece was my test experiment for painting a quilt. I actually love the way this looks even though the lettering stinks and the border is sloppy. The letters were drawn in glue and painted around with textile paint then colored in with fabric markers. I love the idea of this piece and would like to do one "for real." For now, Lucy will tuck her baby dolls in with this one which hopefully will result in sweet dreams for all.

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Baby Quilt

The quilt is finished and hard to photograph. Here's a collage of the blocks.

And for a slideshow

I'm playing around with Picasa and the web album possibilities. This is a slide show of some art projects I've done over the past few years. A few of Sam's & Henry's are thrown in for good measure.

Sunday, Sunday

For some reason, I've tried to do as many different things as I possibly could cram into today. I'm worn out but I just keep going, keep moving, it's as if I can't stop or relax or slow down. I'll sit down for a minute then !pop! I'm up again. It started at 6:00 a.m. this morning. I went for a bike ride, some hills that made me work and sweat, came home, showered, made coffee, made pumpkin-raisin muffins, caulked a fountain that was leaking, and then proceeded to undertake a project of a hand-painted baby quilt I've had on my list for a while. I had already drawn my pictures, so today I started by putting down glue resist and then I paced waiting for it to dry. I almost started to paint the bench that's on the front porch, but even I realized that was too much for today. I read for a while waiting for the glue to dry (Empty Without You, Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt; fascinating) and then I ended up painting all day. I'd paint, hang the piece on a clothes hangar and put it outside under the patio umbrella to dry. Go back inside, clean the water, clean the table, put down new paper towels, and start all over again. Today was so hot that by they time I went outside with the next piece, the first one was already dry. Compliments of the hot Oklahoma sun.

Some of the pieces I painted twice just to get more color. One, I completely did over because the colors and design didn't fit with the others. I ended up painting five "pictures" and four pieces that were color only. My idea is to have 3 rows of 3 -- picture, color, picture; color, picture, color; etc. While my painted pieces "cured" in the dryer, I whipped up some of the Barefoot Contessa's Pecan Oatmeal Raisin cookies (except these are actually walnut oatmeal raisin; just had a taste of one and whoa! are they good.) My painted fabric is now in the washer and will have to air dry when it's finished before I can do anything more. THANK GOODNESS for that! I think it's time for a glass of wine. That way I'll have to sit down.

The Candle Card

Here's a picture of the birthday candle card I made last weekend. The best part of the experience is opening it to the interlacing candles. I learned a lot with this exercise and would definitely be able to improve on the next one. Because I didn't really have a plan and had not done one before, I ended up having to overlap and add a few small candles to get to the desired number. It worked out and gave it a somewhat avant garde look. The double color paper (one side hot pink; one side orange) was a nice touch and gave it more flair (flare:)

Now that I understand how the interlacing idea works (when you glue a candle to one side of the peak, it lays one direction; gluing to the other side, then, lays the opposite direction, the idea being to alternate spots on the peak to get the interlacing), I know to determine the number of candles per peak and plan the number of peaks accordingly. This card was about 4 inches tall.

The First Line

I've spent the entire day, off and on, worrying about and working on my book project. My day looks something like this: Write 12 lines in 2mm letters. Cut candle wicks and put felt pads on chair legs. Write 12 lines in 3mm letters. Trim tree branches and suckers. Write letters using a fluid-writer. Fill bird feeder and sweep utility room. Go to Target. Mix a lovely green gauche, try it in several different pen nibs. Make a decision. Write first page for book (the title only, for crying out loud). Photocopy, cut 'n paste for layout. Go to friend's house to see new grandbaby. Do pencil layout for rest of book that might work. Take a deep breath. Write the first line which is "A Story About Three Bowls." Have a glass of wine even though I don't like my "w" in Bowls.

The question now is do I have another 8 hours to devote to writing the next line???

The Empty Bowl

I have a project for my class that is to make a manuscript book with Japanese binding. The actual construction is very simple, but trying to figure out what to put inside is the killer. I started practicing my letters yesterday and wanted a paragraph or story to write out. Serendipity prevailed and I have the text for my book. About bowls -- the text of which I'll share another time.

A couple of things. One, Reggie keeps saying practice with good materials, good paper, good ink. I'm discovering that it's almost as important to practice with good words, good thoughts, good quotes. Because you're writing so slowly, the words and intent of the words become part of you without you really knowing it. Two, it goes without saying that good music effects the practice. My music for this entire course has been Joshua Bell, Romance of the Violin. I start that music and my body just relaxes. I even think my cat likes it:) and misses it when I don't practice.

I'll confess. I had my practice sheet scanned to insert here, but when it was enlarged, I didn't like the way it looked. It looks okay small (2mm letters) but not good enough to enlarge. Maybe later:)

The Creativity Censor

One of these pieces will be the beginning of at least one May project. Which makes me think immediately of the downside of defining "create" in terms of something you can show off. For the month of May, that's how I will define it, but for the rest of the time, I like to think of it in broader terms. I like to think of it as how we connect with the world around us. The choices we make in how we express ourselves. That's art too.

I hate hearing people say "I'm not creative." I can say "I'm creative" and feel okay about it, but just this morning I looked at an application for joining an artist coalition to support it, and one of the boxes to check was "I am an artist" -- and I paused. I didn't know whether I should check it. Crazy. What did they mean by artist? Is it your job? do you sell? We're all artists is what I always say, and yet I couldn't check the box for some reason. I know that as innate as our desire is for self expression, we censor ourselves and judge ourselves way too much. I am so guilty.

Everyday in May

The French Toast Girl posted a challenge on her blog to commit to create something every day in the month of May. I'm thinking about it. Her rules: they can be tiny. Or crap. Collages. Photos. Writings. Anything you want -- the idea being that life functions better when you create s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g.

I know that waking each day knowing I'm going to create something changes the quality of my day. It's something about the intention. So, creating makes for a better day. Still, I postpone, procrastinate, diddle. Something about being human.

Austin Fine Arts Festival

It was a perfect day for an arts festival. It was sunny, it was warm; everyone was in a good mood because the rain was over and the tents were back up. There were hundreds of inspirations, but here are a few of the artists that grabbed my eye and made me go "Wow" ---

Diana Stetson, who is always a favorite for me. One of her pieces had this delicious quote: "Find yourself a cup of tea. The teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things." Her work is such a peaceful combination of words, elements, color.

Then there was Andrew Carson. He had to be ecstatic that the wind was helping him show off his kinetic sculptures. So whimsical, so delightful. Everyone walked away with a smile on their face, wishing they had the nerve or the cash to buy one.

The piece I wanted most to buy but didn't was the cast bronze piece that looked like origami unfolding. You really had to touch it to believe it wasn't paper. Who was this masked artist? I have no idea who the artist is. So sad.

Another standout for me was an artist from Abiqui, NM who used the metal from old automobiles for the frames of his photographs. The photographs were pictures of the earth or nature that mirrored the patina of the frame surrounding it. No manipulation of color, just art, a sense of the purist.

Paper Expressions was such an unremarkable name for the most remarkable art created by artists Hetty and Norman Metzger. They create this incredible texture and color with hundreds of tiny folded boxes that absolutely mesmerize the eye. A visual feast.

A few art web sites I picked up from business cards --
dianastetson.com
windsculpture.com
dupontstudio.com
artistlarrysmith.com
rebeccataylorstudio.com
guilloume.com
njmetals.com

A Pencil Width

Kathleen Norris wrote an essay in which she talks about the differences in the landscapes of New York City and the Dakota flatlands. She writes that someone who sees beauty in the busyness of New York might be challenged to see beauty in the flatlands. The eye has to work to see beauty in slight variations; has to become sensitized to see and appreciate small differences.

I'm in the middle of learning Roman letters using a broad-edge pen and then using a pencil to actually draw the letters; I'm learning to see what a difference a pencil point width can make in a shape; how little it takes to create elegance or lose it. These slight variations, these little changes should become part of our everyday life. Sometimes I think we get in the trap of thinking that change has to be dramatic to make a difference or be worthwhile. We think we have to run a marathon when walking 10 minutes might be enough. Well, maybe 30:)

I love the idea that small changes can make big differences. It makes it all so attainable. It's just about noticing, about being aware. Sensitizing eye, heart and mind.