Spring Has Finally Sprung!

A beautiful day in Maine...seems as though it has taken forever - and a day!  With that said, I feel as though the "Busy Season" is just around the corner.   My new Sugar Magnolia Collection has been accepted well already.  With so many new designs completed and many more in the works, it seems as though the collection could be endless!  With a rich brown leather handle, brass swivel hooks and linen - the look is classic and a bit utilitarian.  My new design "Mermaid Thoughts" will be available on Friday.  I look forward to adding a few more mermaid "poses" to the line.  Perfect for those beachy, coastal trips...short and long!

Sugar Magnolia

So we are one month into 2013...all resolutions have been broken (really no surprise there) and I am thinking that THIS month will be the month to get back on track.  Crap, yesterday was the 1st and nope, not back on track.  Oh well.

With the odd weather we have been having, I found myself on Thursday, at home, without power, and feeling inspired.  I spent the morning painting in very faint, natural light with what is the beginning of the Sugar Magnolia Collection. This one is for my grandmother.

Spring was always "officially" here when the magnolia tree across the street from her church was in bloom.  It's beautiful, hearty pink, saucer shaped flowers were an explosion on their crooked branches.  And every spring, one of us would start a conversation "Did you see the magnolia tree?"  Now, every spring I drive by it and think to myself "you should see the magnolia tree."

I am very excited to roll out the Sugar Magnolia Collection. It will encompass an array of botanical inspirations...what I truly love to paint.  I think she would have approved.  She would have told me how to do it, but would have approved.  Bossing me around was one of her specialties. LOL 

I miss that...

August 20th

This has been such a hot summer, I feel that my creativity has been zapped a bit.  August 20th was my 7th wedding anniversary and what better way to celebrate than here.  It also helped get my creativity back up and running! 

When I asked my husband to go with me to Port Clyde and collect mussel shells, well he was less than excited.  But reluctantly, he went.  The morning was perfect - sun shining and a light breeze that sends the salt of the ocean onto your skin.  The tide was low and because it was early morn, the sand reminded me of a continuous sheet of suede - still wet from the tide that just rolled out.  Every so often the track of a bird or an animal would be visible, lightly disturbing the perfect span of beach.  I often take this for granted and it is days like these that make me appreciate where I live.  Many of my customers ask what inspires me.  And although I have 4 seasons of changes and beauty, it is more than my natural surroundings.  For me, it is completing a piece that was created for a reason or in a special moment.  I have created pieces in sadness after I have lost loved ones, or during happier times, one of them being when I was getting married.  Although the beauty of the day definitely is inspirational, what will be more meaningful is when whatever is created from the shells we collected takes me back to this day.  And when I share those stories with my customers, it takes them there as well.  That is what inspires me.

So, You Think You're a Tourist

My brother Jamie recently came to visit and he brought his new girlfriend (who's name is also Jamie - oh, what fun we had with that).  He had a full itinerary planned to give her the full "Maine experience".  I was actually quite impressed with the ground they covered in 3 days.  My brother grew up in this area but it was amusing to me that he was able to fully take on the tourist role.  There were wine tastings at Cellardoor Winery, alot of shopping in Rockland (and yes, he did quite well at Uptown Studio), Camden and Belfast, fishing on N. Pond, swimming at Megunticook and many great meals along the way.  The highlight of his trip was the sail cruise out of Camden where his main objective was to see a Puffin.  Now I must admit, I am a native Mainer and have never seen one myself.  And neither had he.  And he had done his homework - he knew all the Puffin "stats" and the chances of a Puffin siting.  He was suprised that I had not done a Puffin Pillow.  He said if I painted one, it would be his (where did this fondness of Puffins come from?).  So here is my interpretation of the Puffin. 

I know you are wondering, did he see one on his cruise - no.  Does he now own a Puffin Pillow - yes.  I guess one out of two isn't bad. Thanks for the visit Jamie and Jamie. 

So Who Made the Swan?

The Swan has quickly become the store mascot.  And when I first discovered the "bones" (the form holding this piece together), I never thought it would receive the attention it has.  The most common question from our customers - So who made the swan?

My gal pal Mis and I were scrounging through antique shops, flea markets and barns at the end of last summer (I love anything vintage).  We walked into an antique shop in Searsport, and there it was; a wire topiary filled with moss.  My first words... "I have to have it".  Mis, who is also my master negotiator wheeled and dealed with the owner and soon it was in the back of my car.  At that time, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but knew it would be something fabulous.  How could it not; it was huge (as I would have told my grandmother - "it makes a statement").  It wasn't until December, and needing a great window display, did the idea come to me.  I am glad the month was mild temperature wise as I collected mussel shells for hours on the beach.  Armed with a glue gun and hundreds of shells...well you see where I am going with this.  There have been many offers to buy it, hundreds of photos snapped of it, but for now, it is the first thing you see as you walk in the door - our beloved store mascot.

Just Wipe 'Em Down...

Why it has taken me this long to finally paint on floor cloths - not sure.  My medium of choice for 20 plus years was oils.  And my canvas, well the bigger the better has always been my motto.  My grandmother always asked me "why do you paint on these huge canvases?"  My response - "it makes a statement."  So the fact that I have been solely focused on textiles for the past 2 years moving from wall covering paintings to 20"x20" pillows - well I know my grandmother would have approved (more economical)  But now I have found the floor cloth - I just can't seem to get away from my "roots".  These are functional art - just wipe em down.  This one is being shipped to California on Monday.  Safe travels giant Humpback Whale!   

Vintage...Already?

My first "real" camera was a Nikon 35mm;  that was back in the early 80's.  I have it faithfully stored in my closet, in its original camera bag.  Hidden in its various pockets are a few programs from events I would attend and photograph.  Today, I am not even sure if I can get film for my treasured piece.  How can it be vintage already?  It seems like yesterday I was mailing my rolls of film and impatiently waiting for their return to see the final shots.  The anticipation of the unknown!  This is my Ode to My Nikon 35mm.  My how time flies...