Ballet
There are no words that can describe this...
moved to tears.
What better way to.....
Celebrate my 100'th post on this blog than with a trip out to the country?
we had such a wonderful time this weekend with our friends, who invited us out to share Memorial Day weekend with them at their country home. It was very much needed for all of us to get out of the city, relax in the fresh air, eat good food, canoe on lakes, eat chips and dip...you know the sort of thing. We had such fun- thank you Maureen and Ian for being so good to us!
And I've also been printing:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
work for a client
cards for the special day
available in my shop
and overall getting ready for the show this weekend!
UPDATE:::: I will be at the Art Star Craft Bazaar this weekend. Saturday and Sunday. The official site can give you more info.
ART STAR CRAFT BAZAAR
custom note set
This custom note set I just finished. It was the first project that I worked on in the new studio and it couldn't have gone any better. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. My client ordered them for her son and daughter-in-law who are celebrating their first wedding anniversary. The traditional gift is paper - and I think she came up with a perfect idea for a gift for them. Good job Diane! And thank you :)
custom note set
printed on Cranes Lettra 100% cotton paper
gold and grey ink
set of 30 with matching envelopes
sneak peak at the shop
Here's a little sneak peak at the shop...It's not all cleaned up and ready to see, so i'm just going to put a little peak. It's so purdy.... My Dad and I re-wired the press this saturday...Thanks Dad!!!
Women in war zones :::: silent auction
My collage series of The Democratic of the Congo- women- will be a part of the silent auction to support the film Women in War Zones
June 14th 7-10 pm
at the Cirle of Hope 1125 South Broad St. 2nd Floor
About a year ago I joined the Philly Business Lady's hosted by the fabulous ladies over at Art Star Craft Bazaar and organized by Joy from the blog Oh Joy! and the sationery line Nantaka Joy (good luck at the stationery show Joy!) and the first couple of meetups all us ladies brought in what it was we "do". Business wise- craft wise- didn't matter. At the time I hadn't even started to do letterpress printing - i was working on this series of collages about the women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who had suffered such human tragedy and pain beyond anything I could ever imagine - before- during- and after the genocide. I was also working a lot on fabric dolls.
So at the meeting I brought in a painting that I had recently finished and some other stuff- and when i put it out there- a woman who was also at the meeting Jenny Jaskey who runs a gallery in the Northern Liberties section of Philly said "I've seen your work before! my friend Brad is doing a film about this and I've somehow seen your work..."
which I thought odd since I had never shown this series before and hadn't really put it out there other than on flickr. So that night i came home and googled a little and found the website for the film. I e-mailed brad letting him know that if ever he was looking to do some kind of collaboration with me and the pieces that I was making that I would be more than happy! And now a year later- they are holding a silent auction to raise money to complete the film and I've been asked to show the work! I'm really thrilled- not only about the totally round about way that this came to be- but also because of how amazing of a project this is to be a part of.
What started the series for me was an initial interest that was thrust forward after having watched an Oprah show one day. She had send Lisa Ling to the Congo to interview several women about their lives and I was sobbing for days. And at one moment Oprah looked at the TV and said " there- now you know and you can't just sit there and pretend like you don't...you've gotta do something" and she's right. So that something for me was to create art and try to reach out to others through my art.
How we moved the Chandler & Price this weekend
click on the images below to see the whole thing:::::
Please click on my FLICKR link on the side bar of this page to get all the details of the move::::
Tomorrow...a new press
image from Briar Press
Tomorrow I will be picking up a new printing press and some drawers of type from Virginia with my Dad and Pavel. This is my last big purchase for some time now. The shop will be in full swing come May and it will be downtown! That's right, I will be moving my whole enterprise to Old City right on 3rd street. I'll be posting the official address and store name where you can come visit me soon. The shop will be open for studio visits and tours for those of you who have been wanting to see what it is I do...really.
So please keep your eyes on the blog for the new info some time within the next two weeks and photos of the move. It's going to be a lot of hard work- thanks Dad and Pavel in advance- this isn't the most fun activity you can imagine for a weekend "off" so I won't make a habit out of moving all this iron around. 
and for those of you who didn't get to see in my earlier post because the photo wasn't great- this is more or less the paper cutter I just bought- though mine is bigger that the one in the photo. If any of you Philly artists need to cut some serious paper down in either quantity or size- feel free to shoot me an e-mail I would be glad to help you out.
Art Star Craft Bazaar
Saturday May 31st 11-7 and Sunday June 1st 11-5
I'm IN!!!!!
Very excited about this fun outdoor craft event in the Penn's Landing
area of Philadelphia. It was a juried event- with 150 artists
participating from all over.
Please do stop by and say hello if you're in the area
Art Star Craft Bazaar
click on site for detailed directions!
Adorable print by artist Julie West available here to purchase for $20 (I bought one :) )
100's of daff's
I remember so well how the front of our house used to look when we first bought it. Overgrown, neglected, lots of weeds, overwhelming really. But we went at it little by little. What is interesting about a home is that- if you buy in the winter- you don't really know what's in the ground. In our case- by the time we started to clean up the yard- we didn't care either. Our mission was to get rid of everything and start from new. For those of you who don't know or never saw our home, it used to be a mechanic's shop in our backyard- and it was full of trash and debris- and weeds, did I mention the weeds yet?
So we chopped everything to the ground- almost everything- and started all over again. And so I've planted over 20 plants in our yard (including 4 trees) roses, crepe myrtle's, decorative grass, perennial flowers, hasta- and last fall we planted 100 tulips and 100 daffodil bulbs. So now this year (top photo) spring has truly sprung in our front yard. And there's a four year old who just LOVES to pick them. And you know what- she can- she can pick as many as she likes.
If I were a kid and I could pick daff's every day when I got home from school I would have been happy as can be. Now we're just waiting for the tulips to pop out.
One of the plants we had no idea about was the flowering quince (2nd photo) This is probably one of the most stunning plants I've ever seen. And cutting it to the quick didn't seem to bother it. Like a rose it came back in full force. And in the late summer it has quince fruits that grow around the bottom. They are so pretty, don't you think?
