Surtex Show 2012

It is always so much fun to go to the Surtex show as well as walk the New York Stationary Show. This year Gary and I were joined by Annie, of course, and our intern Chi-Wen Lee. The work at the Surtex show is amazing...so many talented artists work to look at and meet. Here are some pics of the show, my work in Sheila’s booth and images of the work from some of the artists we met. I got to meet several of my favorite illustrators including Helen Dardick and Carolyn Gavin. I also got to visit with a former student, Emily Kleinman, who works for Galison/ Mudpuppy.

Here are the Surtex artists we met whose work we loved.

The Comstocks

Caleb Gray

Erin McMorris

Carolyn Gavin/Ecojot

Feng Liang

Helen Dardick

Paper + Cloth

New York New York...I love you.

I am not sure why but New York energizes me like no other city. I hate crowds...they do not bother me there.....I am not a great walker....I can walk for miles there. Long lines,waiting to get places, riding public transportation, getting lost...these things would drive me insane anywhere else but when I am in New York I am on board. I get a buzz on and I can go for hours and hours, all day long, much to the chagrin of my family members.

The first day we went to Brooklyn to go to the Keith Haring retrospective. The Brooklyn Museum is a lovely museum and the show was fabulous. To see all the real paintings...especially the really big ones was a real delight. At the end of the show there is a place where you can draw on ipads and make your own patterns. Gary, Annie and I made patterns. Can you guess which one is mine?

After the museum, we went to meet the fabulous illustrator Melinda Beck and her two charming girls, Chloe and Simone, for lunch. I met Melinda when she came to St. Louis to speak at Washington University. She had a day in town and wanted to spend the day junking and wanted to know if anyone could take her. Guess who had the fun task of taking her antiquing on Cherokee Street? Turns out we like the same kind of stuff and after bonding over treasures and trinkets we have kept in touch. After lunch we walked to the studio she shares with her husband Jordon Isip, a wonderful illustrator also, who also teaches at Parsons. It is always such a delight to see an artist’s studio...it is such a personal space and I loved looking all of her work that was in progress.

Flea Markets Finds this Summer

Well another summer is drawing to a close so I thought I would share with you all the odd things I saw but did not buy at the flea markets and antique malls I went to this summer.

Play Ball!

This scared the wits out of me when I turned around and saw it.

Who wants to start a bowling league this fall?

Two brothers painted on paneling

Actually I REALLY wanted this....it is a Holt Howard pitcher but it was $125....too pricey for me

A little coconut purse for you

Would you want to eat off these?

Is this cookie jar for human or dog cookies

Not sure what these are..elephant, owl and frog?

Who wouldn’t want this in their man cave?

One light for your bedroom , one for your TV

Wonder if Eames designed this?

I am sure this is a real page turner

A lovely painting for your rec room

Doesn’t get much uglier that this

So what do you need to do...I can’t remember

Words escape me

The new green tea

On My Living Room Wall

 I usually have several projects I am working on in my spare time that have nothing to do with my licensing business. I do these projects when I watch TV at night or on the weekends. Working on these projects leads to new directions or skills that I end up using in my artwork. This fall I am taking a rug hooking class which I am enjoying. I have taught myself how to make stuffies, quilts, paper dying, fabric dying. paper making and rubber stamp carving. I  thought today I would share with you the paper and fabric wall hanging that is over my living room couch. The size of the artwork is 80" x 49".