New York, New York

Just back from a great few days with friends in NYC. One of our usual foursome was in from London while two of us took the train from Boston. We were missing our fourth, but still managed to have our usual adventures. Probably tops on the list would be our wild ride in a pedi-cab to get us to the theater on time. As our fearless driver pedaled the us through crowded streets and around traffic jams, we giggled and held on for dear life. It was certainly a different perspective than the normal one we would get in a cab. Not to mention the wonderful wind-blown look that added a certain flair to all our hairstyles.

The train ride was actually more exciting than I thought it would be. I have spent so much time flying lately, that I forgot about the beauty that can be seen when traveling on ground instead of air. The city was visually stimulating as always and I had forgotten about the scale of New York. All in all, it was a visual feast of sorts and I hope to return soon.

Scraphead Has Changed Hands!

Scraphead is now under new ownership and Michelle Powell has taken over the site. She has a HUGE sale going on now in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day! There will be a storewide sale, 40% off all day Saturday and then 30% off on Sunday! Check it out here: http://scraphead.com/

The Colors are Back!

Spring is finally here in New England finally and all sorts of beautiful colors are replacing the dreary monotone grays of winter. Cherry blossom trees, tulips, hyacinths, azaleas, lilacs are popping up all around me and I am so grateful. The splash of pinks, greens, purples lift my spirits and inspire my art. I am working on some new designs based on these colors and hope to be able to capture the hopefulness of Spring.

Meanwhile, I am featured at the Shutterfly blog this week and you can see it here: http://www.shutterfly.typepad.com/ I have created a group of vintage, heirloom style designs that you can pick up for free. They also work well with my "Stamp Collection", available at Scraphead.

The Grand Design

I see now that I am and will always be a designer first, and anything that comes between me and my art... won't last. And although I can create graphic designs under pressure, I realize that I can't create "art" (such as illustration, drawings, etc.) on a timeline. So, for now I am planning to create at a more relaxed pace and you can still find my digiscrap products at Scraphead.

I just completed a few designs for the Shutterfly blog and I enjoyed every moment of creation. Here is the sample layout for the Heirloom Quick Page I made for readers of the blog. I have a huge collection of antique photos (including this one of me) that I am planning to scrap now that I finally have some time.

Art and Business... and Incompatible Pair for Me?

These past few months have been hectic and somewhat exasperating with my digiscrap store... new people coming in, others going. And me, returning to a question that cropped up for me years ago, which is can art and business be combined in a way that doesn't diminish the pleasure of creating the art.

It all goes back to my pottery days when I discovered how much I enjoyed sinking my hands into a cool, mushy lump of clay and creating something beautiful and often unexpected. I guess alot of the enjoyment was in the process... another fact I need to [ay attention to in the future. So, I would make these wonderful ceramic objects and then indulge in the second round of pleasure, painting them. After a few years I began to teach ceramic painting and quickly realized that teaching others meant I couldn't be creating my own art too. That was where I realized that I need to "do", not "teach". After that I moved into the next logical phase, which was buying my own kiln and becoming proficient at the firing stages of ceramics. It was during this period that I created a recipe plate which included floral designs plus a treasured recipe that I hand-lettered. Word spread and the plates became very popular. Then, my work was featured in the Boston Globe and I was flooded with commissions. You would think this would be a good thing, but in fact it turned out to be the end of my pleasure in pottery. Some 250 recipe plates later, I was so sick of painting and firing that I haven't touched my kiln since (2003). I know that clay will always interest me and I will return to it again some day, but strictly for the pleasure. Not for the money.

Graphic design has always been about business (more than art) for me. When a client pays you, you are essentially creating what they envision (with some professional guidance from me if needed). So that has never been a conflict for me. But digital scrap design is a whole other category and I am not sure if I can enjoy this creative process once it gets intertwined with the business end. Anyone have any input?

Stealing Art

I guess it is inevitable that when you sell art online, some jerk will decide to steal and make it their own. For the purpose of profit of course. So I have discovered that my twiggy frames were hijacked by some person claiming to be a photographer. This person used my frames to create a poorly designed photo collage and is now selling it at Shutterstock (not be confused with Shutterfly). I have to jump through some legal hoops to get them removed. How annoying.

Sixty-Seven Chairs and Not a Place to Sit

Okay, so I have a fetish for small chairs. I have been collecting them forever, but as I get more choosy about them, there are less for me to buy. My smallest is abou 1 inch and the largest about 20 inches. I love looking at them, especially when grouped together. My favorite would have to be the Breuer Wassily reproduction, which unfortunately was also the most expensive. I try to understand where this obsession came from and I guess it began with my childhood fascination for miniatures. But now, I rule out all standard miniature chairs as they are made to dollhouse scale (1 inch=1 foot) and they are too common. I suppose half the fun is the search and I do love the hunt.