hidden.talents.2

A few things I have been working for the big Hidden Talents event this Thursday.



Lots happening this week and I'll be posting it all right here. 
So stop by for more updates to the MAKE.GOOD Home Accessories Collection.

hidden.talents

The amazing textile mecca that is Maharam holds an event every year to showcase the Hidden Talents of architect and designers in the Boston area. I was asked to participate this year and will have a "booth" where my work will sit for all to see and hopefully buy.
It is such an exciting opportunity and I have been working hard to make items that are both beautiful and functional.


One of the items I will be showcase is a hand stenciled and sewn table runner. I made this delicate grass stencil for a clutch and it seems to work well as a table runner. The fabric is an oatmeal linen my mom gave me years ago. It was one among many in her stack of beautiful fabrics from the days she made coats for Talbots. My mom taught me most of what I know about design. She has a great eye and I like to think that I inherited that from her.

starting.something.2

I've carried this fortune around with me for about three years. It has lived inside that little plastic aperture in my wallet where my photo ID goes. I look at it maybe 3, 4 times a day and I always think..."Ok, bring it on, I'm waiting!"


This past week I realized something. It's time to get that fortune out of my wallet and live the best years of my life starting now!

This past week I became an independent designer and the ruler of my own fate! 
MAKE.GOOD studio will be my new adventure!
It all started with this blog and now I'm turning it into a business.
It's too exciting for words, but it's also scary and the most stress I've experienced in my life.


For those of you out there who read my blog thank you for the encouragement. I look forward to sharing the best years of my life with all of you!...and please pass the blog link along to everyone you know.


Stay tuned...www.MAKEGOODstudio.com is in the works and will be on line very soon.
Until then, Happy Sunday and happy living.

mobile.homes

If you are lucky enough to have experienced a Calder sculpture, you know the beauty of those gently floating colored shapes breathing in and out like slow moving creatures emerging from thin air.

(Image: Calder Foundation)Sumac II, 1952

I have always dreamt of designing and making my own mobile; to create an ephemeral work, one that is both substance and air, stillness and movement, shadow and light

But until I find the courage to tackle my own version of a Calder, I've been working on a project for a cute little baby mobile...

It started with paper houses. The colored planes that make up the houses interlock. I use no glue or fasteners.

The next version in wood is already in the works. I chose birch plywood with it's beautiful lines and pattern to animate the little objects.

..Maybe the slowly moving houses in the sky will inspire one or two future architects.

sketching.memory.5

Disaster!
The screen printing didn't work out so well. If I had to guess, I would say it's a flaw in my emulsion spreading technique. But the beauty of it is I can try again. And I will! Just as soon as I figure out how to remove the emulsion from the screen... Another liquid to spread and another tricky technique to tackle. Later.


One positive thing that happened is that while frustration was setting in, I decided to counter act with an activity that I know well, drawing. Ah, back in my comfort zone where results are...mostly positive.

sketching.memory.4

A little (well) know fact about me is that I start many project and never finish any of them. Well, dear readers, I'm working very hard on changing that. This blog and you are my bit step toward change.
I imagine that thousands of you read my posts and then eagerly await the next one, wanting to see how an inspiration walk turns into a final work.
Today may just be that day!



I finally took the plunge and burned the screen for printing. Hmmm....the emulsion ran and pooled a little bit. I'm hoping that a "mistake" turns into a happy accident.

I'll be throwing some ink down for a "Happy Village Happy Home" print!
STAY TUNED...

sketching.memory.3

On a cloudy day like today, I daydream about the endless blue skies of summers spent in Portugal.
As a young girl, I was lucky enough to spend most of my summers at my family's home in coastal Portugal. You see, my parents, my brother and I immigrated to the USA when I was just 4 years old. A life changing experience, it is one that, none the less, offered me the unique perspective of belonging to two countries. It also meant vacationing in Portugal for two months in the summers!
I love the beached, and the beautiful colors of Portugal. I still vacation there as often as I can, but when I can't be there in form, I go there in my mind.

This is what you see out the window of the second floor dining room of our little house.
The blue sky is just fading away as the day wears on...
                            

...and this is what I see when I dream. (Acrylic on canvas painting from memory)

sketching.memory.2

I'm taking the next step with the sketching exercise from the other day. I'm calling this the Happy Village print.
The plan is to turn the sketch into two positives to be screen printed. The image shows the two separated layers drawn with india ink on acetate.

My obsession with text continues. The letters are vinyl stick on and repeat the words
"HAPPY VILLAGE HAPPY HOME".
At this stage I only have one row of text, but am considering filling the entire area above the image with the repeating words. That sounds like a lot of work, and me and tweezers don't always get along so well.
I think it's time for a break, clear my head,  and decide later. Some food may help with the shaky hand and those tweezers.

sketching.memory

Yesterday on my inspiration walk I found myself drawn to how rooftops meet sky. The outline of house, chimney, peak cut into a field of blue and sit as a solid in the void of the sky.I have always been fascinated by this relationship.

Most of the time I walk around and everything above eye level goes unnoticed. This is probably true for a lot of people who live in cities. But a slight tilt of the head and there it is, the beautiful edge of how buildings meet blue canvas.

I have done painting of this condition and continue to explore it in different ways. These sketches are another one of those explorations. I did them while sitting on the train, one hand propping up my sketchbook. To the fascination of the woman sitting next to me, I drew what I remembered...

And the way you remember it is never how it really is.

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Today was a long day. I was glad to at least have had the early morning for an inspiration walk.

Looking at the images now, I think I was flying in the sky just above the built world.

poster.schedule

Faced this morning with the mundane task of making a mundane schedule, I took the challenge and ran with it.

The finished product turned out pretty nice, I'd say.

It's funny that when looked at vertically, the way I have it here, it could be an analysis graphic of a skyscraper. The gray bar is the skyscraper and the colored bars, lines, numbers and letters are stats of some sort.

Hmmm I may have to test this technique out on my next building analysis project.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Dale Carnegie

...or a pretty poster!

looking.out

This is my window to the world.

The word "LIFE" reminds me that from in here I mustn't forget what's out there.