What is in my studio?

First off, as you can imagine, my studio is filled with stuff....it is everywhere and looking at it all brings me great joy and visual pleasure. So I am starting a series on my blog called what is in my studio so you all can see what I consider my fabulous stuff. And since I buy other artist’s work from Etsy I thought I could also introduce you to some of my favorite Etsy artists.

These adorable plushes sit right next to my laptop where I write my blogs. They are from an etsy shop called Knitting Dreams.www.etsy.com/shop/knittingdreams They are very small and oh so cute. It takes awhile to get your plush, Aintzi the artist, makes them after you order your plush. And Aintzi is located in Spain so shipping takes a bit of time. But the wait is well worth it! Annie bought these two cuties for me for Christmas. I can never have just one of something....I usually have to have two or three. People ask me why don’t you just make your own stuffies like these...you can surely copy them. Trust me, you can never successfully copy someone else’s work...it never looks quite the same because your piece does not have the artist’s spirit in it. And of course I want to support other artists and their work just as I want them to support me.

Big Things and Me

Those of you who have known me for a long time know when I am on a road trip I love to search out what I call big items....you know those big advertising statues that you see along the road, big cows, spacemen, and cartoon characters. And then I like to have my picture taken with them. Sometimes it is just me standing by the statue, sometimes I can rope Gary into standing with me. When Annie was young she would always join me by a big animal but now ever since she was a teenager, she just rolls her eyes and tries to convince Gary not to even stop so I can get my picture taken much less join me standing by a cow udder. So I will be posting these pictures for you to see. 

This first series is from an antique mall in Illinois....not sure what town it is in but it is not far from St. Louis. Enjoy!

Look at my cute gerbil drawings

As you all know I love gerbils. I love having them in my studio while I work, I can watch their antics and they are SO cute! 

As always in faculty meetings I like to sketch while I listen. I always can process information better when I am drawing or doodling. And, of course, the drawing helps keep me awake. We have our faculty meetings in the same auditorium that I had my art history class in when I was a freshman at Washington University and five minutes into class I was usually dozing. And since sleeping is frowned upon in faculty meetings and I want to keep my job, I sketch.

At one of our last faculty meetings of the semester, I decided to sketch some gerbils. I realized that no one puts gerbils on greeting cards, fabric, wall art and wrapping paper. Hamsters and guinea pigs make appearances all the time but they are not nearly as cute as gerbils. And I have been assured by Monica Kelley, a gerbil breeder who sold me Hazel and Henrietta, gerbil products would snatched up by us gerbil lovers.

Should this be my next line of products?

Winners!

Remember I while back I asked all of you to explain this picture to me and the best explanation would win a prize. Well we have two winners....I could not decide whose explanation was best. So kudos to my friends Bob Fanter and Sally Masters. And now for your prize. Each of you go to my Etsy site www.etsy.com/shop/lindasolovic and pick out two prints you would like, email me and I will send them to you no charge! Now I know in Bob’s case, Gini will be picking out the prize but that is okay with me. The winning explanations are below:


Bob Fanter/Gini Bicket
We think the picture is a nightmare, not unlike those dreams where all kinds of weird things happen but everyone else thinks it is perfectly normal. That looks like Marilyn Monroe in the pink. The man's hairline suggests Nixon or maybe!-- Tom Hanks playing Carl Hanratty in Catch Me If You Can!-- and that's why there are fake checks and incriminating documents laying on the table in the foreground!--and he's wading in water with his suit on, perhaps he is about to be baptized. I don't think that is Scarlett O'Hara, it's more like Sara, plain and tall, emphasis on the plain. That thing at the top is either a weeping willow or a leaping whale. The girl with the rose is Gypsy Rose Lee, and the other girl is Scout from to Kill a Mockingbird and that bowling pin lamp thing is her costume for the school play and she doesn't want to wear it-- that's why she is hiding. That makes about as much sense as a nightmare.


Sally Masters
Okay, there was a storm or a flood or something at the top. The parents are on the right. One of the daughters (pink one) died and her memory drips into all of their lives. Her sister can't let go (rose reaching up to dead pink sister); another sister is lesbian but can't come out from under the table. The baby of the family is a crackhead (cracked lamp baby).
So thanks to you two (three) and send for your prize.

Sending in the Clowns

As promised, the clowns are here. My friend Sara needs to have a medical procedure today and what better way to cheer up her day than to send in the clowns. Now as I may have mentioned, Sara hates clowns. So once I know something like this about a friend, as a sign of affection, I cannot resist bombarding my friend with dumb images. It is a wonder I have any friends.I have been sending Sara clowns for years ever since we lived across the street from each other. That was 15 years ago. It is amazing how much bad clown art there is in the world. To me, of course, all clown art is bad even the Red Skelton paintings which, believe it or not, some people collect. I always find at least 1-2 pieces of bad clown art in any flea market or antique mall I go to. My friend Robin posts on Facebook oddities she sees when she goes out junking and there is always clown art in the group of images. Thanks to Robin for several of the following images.

Sara has the warmest heart and a most generous spirit. The day we left to go to China to pick up Annie she got up at 4:00 AM with a plate of cookies for us to eat on our long plane trip. So Sara this is for you. I’m sending in the clowns. 

Timeless Treasures Projects With My Fabric

Emily Cohen at Timeless Treasures wrote me to ask if I could design and make a couple of projects using my new fabric line.Timeless Treasures wanted to put the projects in their booth at the Quilt Market to show the cute things you could make with my fabric. Also they planned to offer free patterns for the projects on their blog and website. Sheila, my rep,thought this was a wonderful idea...of course she did not have to think up an idea and then figure out how to do it. But really I do love to think up these kinds of projects so I set about planning what I would make.I knew I wanted one of the projects to be a plush of some sort and maybe a pillow. I needed a project where I could combine all of my fabrics into one item. So I came up with two house pillows and a Best Buddies plush. You can go to the Timeless Treasures blog to see an article about me and find the patterns.

http://www.sewtimeless.net/?p=384

Here are the projects.

I decided to to do two friends using a rabbit and a cat. My friend Joyce helped me figure out how to make the pattern for this. It was she who suggested I link the arms together which I think really made the piece. I am so proud of it....I loved making the clothes and especially love the little purse.

The house pillow patterns were easier to design and make. I piece quilts so I worked from a house quilt pattern. I loved filling the window boxes with all different kinds of flower embellishments all of which I have in bins in my studio

Hope you like my patterns and you will make one of my projects for your home.

On The Road Again

I needed to go down to the Ozarks this weekend to do some work at my mom’s condo and I needed someone to go along with me. Gary and Annie were busy so I asked my friend Joyce if she was up for a little adventure. I tried to convince her to go saying we could shop at the outlet mall but that did not work. Joyce hates all big box stores...remember she is the friend that sits in the car while I shop IKEA... and it turns out she hates outlets as well. So I convinced her to go by saying we could swing up to Columbia MO, see some galleries and fabric stores and then go down to the lake. Joyce went to Mizzou for college and she loves to relive her college days haunting her old stomping grounds. So she agreed to go and drive to boot.

So off we went. We saw some great art in la dee da galleries and we were both hungry so we stopped for ice cream at a place called Sparky’s. What a lucky break that we chose this ice cream parlor. Not only did we get a treat for our stomachs we got a treat for our eyes. The parlor was decorated with all kinds of lovely paintings....just like a gallery. So I snapped some photos of the best paintings so you could enjoy them too...frankly I do not understand why these are not in a real gallery.

First up, it is not easy to shoot paintings on a wall while you are holding an ice cream cone. I cropped all of the following photos but I am going to include this one to show you how most of my images looked before I cropped them.

Bet you’re whistlin’ the Magnum PI themesong

This is some wrasslin’ huh?

Did Hulk really make an appearance at the Bluth’s Banana Stand?

This is for Jana, I think of you when I see a picture of Loretta.

I am not sure what to make of this.

The question is is this a lion, monkey, Chewbacca or 
a Planet of the Apes extra?

So I was unaware that there might be gay wrestlers 
in Mexico...must be okay because the Madonna seems happy.

Miss Sophia Loren

Hurry boaters...The Apocalypse is coming!

The magic of music...it can make a piano rise off the floor.

This piece of artwork reminds me of the beautiful painting that was hanging across from my rep Sheila’s bed at the Cheshire Inn when she last visited me in St. Louis. Imagine this looking at you all night long.

This painter is in advertising...great product placement.

Hawaii is a beautiful place to visit and meet aliens.

And last but not least the what the heck is going on in this painting. I think that might be George Wallace or George W...it that Scarlet O’Hara... comment on what you think is going on and the best answer will get a little surprise from me.

 

Now I know you are all thinking that any collection of paintings which are this spectacular should have some clowns in it and you would be right...there were lots of clowns. But that is going to be another blog post dedicated to the lover of everything clowns, my friend Sara. So check back for that post...you will not want to miss it!