Portland is a very cool city. At least I think it is...from the small downtown area we covered over the weekend. It has a nice "small town" vibe to it which for a city is rare I think. We arrived early and got to check in to the hotel, and spent the afternoon walking around downtown. We came across a cigar/magazine shop that both J and myself went nuts over. For those of you who do not know Jeffery, he is an avid cigar fan and spends most of his personal money on cigars and cigar related items. Well...that and grooming products, but that is another story altogether. We are both huge magazine readers and this particular store had more magazines than anyplace I had ever seen. They had the current issues of my favorite foreign magazines, Elle Decoration and Living Etc, and they had one of my favorites that I can hardly ever find, the Australian Vogue Living.
It was in the Vogue Living that I became aware of an Australian poster artist Martin Sharp. I like his art very much. Speaking of art...I registered for my painting class this week! I am so excited! Classes don't start until April so that will give me plenty of time to think of subject matter. It's been so long since I have been in a classroom environment, I hardly know what to expect.
Some good news...my book proposals have been accepted, and now it's onto the dummy stage (the dummy is basically the sketch of what the finished book will look like once the text has been written and the illustrations completed). Once the dummy is created, then the books need to get shopped around to a publisher, so keep your finger's crossed for me!
Guess what I'll be working on this weekend?
I am going to meet a friend for some caffeinated beverages shortly, so I need to hop to it!
Have a good week!
February 18, 2005
The week has gone by so quickly! I have been busy doing the silly little things of life: pick up dry cleaning, get hair cut, wash car....all in preparation for going to Portland this weekend. Jeff and I are so very excited to get away. Hooray for mini-vacations! I am REALLY looking forward to eating a fabulous meal, and checking out the city of Portland.
I think it was my friend Carrie who told me about an article written by Steve Martin in the back of The New Yorker where he talked about having writer's block. I don't read the New Yorker and this was a while ago so I am paraphrasing. He talked about how he liked having writer's block because he knew that his mind was absorbing and storing new influences and inspirations that would one day coming rushing out of him when it was ready to. I really liked that point of view. It's such a wonderful way to view what usually is a painful and frustrating situation.
Some new influences and inspirations I have been soaking up:
On to consumerism! I got the Spring 2005 West Elm catalog in the mail this week and I think this collection is my favorite so far. Some stand outs include:
February 11, 2005
I recently did The Great Closet Purge of 2005. I bagged up a lot of items I have been hanging on to for sentimental reasons. The state of my wardrobe is a little embarrassing. I tend not to make clothing a priority in terms of how my money is spent. I got one of those C&C California T-Shirts for Christmas, and I love it. However, I would never have bought it myself. 50$ for a T-Shirt? A T-Shirt that is going to get stained and ruined and fade? I hardly ever wear it because it's a hand washable. Hand wash a T-Shirt! What nonsense! (I washed it on the delicates cycle with some woolite and it seemed to survive just fine.) I am divided you see, because when I put the T-Shirt on, it's soooo soft, and the sleeves are extra long and they sort of bell out, and it feels really good and I want a million more.
One of my new favorite sites lately has been Contemporary Cloth shown to me by Jennifer Connelly. I love so much of this fabric! I love the Abacus in Red, and the Kensington just to name a few. Thank you Jennifer!
For Jim Flora fans out there, here is a site where you can buy his original art. Drool, drool, drool. Link via wardomatic via loobylu.
I have no plans for the weekend, really. I am going to try to start Nicholas Nickelby. I am hoping to continue to file my magazine clipping inspirations which have been abandoned, perhaps go to the library?
Another Friday! I think I am going to start updating only once a week, on Fridays. After four years of blogging, I am finding it more and more difficult. I don't know why that is...burn out I guess. So instead of giving up altogether (because I don't want to) I am scaling back. We'll see how it goes. It's funny...there seem to be more and more wonderful blogs popping up all of the time, but I am finding it harder and harder to find things of interest. That doesn't make sense!
It has been somewhat of a stressful week. J's mom has taken ill and it's scary and tense, and all of that stuff you can imagine.
I got measured for my sloper pattern yesterday. That was interesting. Me standing in my undies in a tiny bathroom getting a million measurements. I had yellow sticky dots plastered all over my torso, a couple of strings tied around my neck and waist, and two tape measures dangling down my sides. The lady doing the measuring was so kind, she really put me at ease, so it wasn't all that embarrassing.I am one of those people who gets embarrassed really really easily, at the slightest thing, so I did better than I was expecting.
I am thinking of expanding my artistic horizons this year. I took a 3-D Design class once that had us carving items out of wood. I LOVED IT. I keep meaning to take it up again, and I have decided that this is the year. I am tired of Adobe Illustrator. There I said it. I need some new inspiration. I am also thinking of taking a painting class that is offered in the evenings from a local community college. I have come to the realization that I would like to have a gallery show some day with actual paintings painted with paint. I never thought I wanted that, it never really interested me..but I am finding myself more and more drawn to the idea.
My favorite link of the week: Carnets de digestionvia Boing Boing. One to two hours a day...now that is discipline. I find it hard lately to spend two minutes a day with my sketchbook without wanting to chuck it out the window.
