Mr. Gary

I made this for my studio to say how much I love my husband.

Amy Ruppel

I love birds in particular images of birds. My mom and dad loved to watch and feed birds and my friend Laurie loves to buy bird items in flea markets. So over time I began to love to draw birds and collect bird images.

One of my favorite bird artists is Amy Ruppel. I have one of her bird pieces right next to me on my desk. And one year when I really wanted some of her bird cards for my birthday and I could not buy them unless I was a wholesale dealer, I wrote to her asking if she had any sample cards...I usually get a bunch of sample cards whenever I do a greeting card.....and that I would be willing to buy them from her if she had any extra cards. She did me one better, she sent me the four images as prints signed! I was thrilled. (Now please do not write to her for this request!) After I received the prints I made a special Amy bird and sent it to her.

Here is Amy’s website and Etsy site. www.amyruppel.com, www.etsy.com/shop/aruppel She has sales online of her artwork, just get on her mailing list and from time to time she will have a sale. That is how I got the piece of artwork in my studio. And now on her Etsy site she has prints and I have been seeing her work in licensed products.

Look at the fun we had in NYC

Here are just some random pics of all the fun we had in New York. We saw the Letterman Show, ate loads of chinese dumplings, went to many shops in the Soho area Melinda Beck suggested we would enjoy, walked in Times Square and all in all had a wonderful time. Chi-Wen went with us for a whole day. Can’t wait to go back.

former student Hannah who is a page at Letterman