personal playground

paintings for sale

2011-09-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, visitors. i'm not sure, nor do i really have any full fleshed idea of how to go about the sale of my artwork but that's what i will be working on for the next year however (insert word that starts with 'd' that means to go retardley slow, that i can't think of... so the slow process begins here... ahhh. anywho! The small trees i am looking at repainting/remaking some of them so if anyone is interested or has any leads as to where i can show or sell some of these works please let me know. OR if you can think of that 'd' word i am still tryin to think of let me know. i also started the balloon series well actually it's either done or waiting to be tweaked again.
xo

perhaps the beginning

2011-06-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

hi again. Esme is asleep and i need to get something up here. that makes it sound like a guilt thing but no i do actually value and hope others do too this blog however dusty it may get between posts. as for the painting andrew and i love Albuquerque and we needed something in our living room on this big white wall.
reminiscent of the sandia mountains, calling from memory the big skies ... this is what happened. it's plesant enough to look at all the time sorta like a personalized hotel painting but brighter... that might be a good idea for a series, like the southwest hotel room and have all pictures of this nature but with my hand visible in the work, cuz it seems like most hotel paintings from prints have no trace of human hands and maybe worse the new 'modern' look just appears like a computer spit it out on paper. maybe i say all this dissapointedly because we can't afford to stay in the fancy hotels where they actually have real peoples real work on the walls. huh.
BTW Esme is so awesome! babies are like pure sugar love and they are fascinating at that. summer is progressing nicely. i hope you all remember michael J. on the 25, his great legacy lives on.

totally grade school art project

2011-03-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

back to the crafts posting. i had all this tissue from some presents i got over the weekend at our baby shower, let me tell you this baby has no idea what kind of crazy world it will be entering. a world where a corporation gives you a mile long list of "must haves" that ost of the world could never dream of having, or better yet would just complicate things more if they DID have some of these things. like today i just found out that one, a nursing mother that is, can express breast milk without a pump, for the purposes of storage or to release a surplus. fancy that!
I didn't get the simple pump that i put on my registry and now i am thankful because it may not even be necessary. besides the seemingly endless phone calls to insurance to see if they were covering the homebirth putting things on our registry has been the next most stressful thing. but the showers are over and we have some really great stuff that has about the life span of open guacamole, ok a little longer than that but only by a few months. we are 37 weeks today! andrew and i ready but i don't think the little critter is done fattening up my body doesn't seem ready either, no practice contractions or dropping yet. my mind is really the only part that's ready.
now that i went off on that tangent i'll tell you about this glass with tissue paper. well that's really all to tell. i used acrylic gel matte Golden brand to glue the tissue on. it really makes a nice little glow. we bought a huge ikea pack of tea lights for our oil disspenser then ran out of oil but i had this glass from a candle that we used and it must be spring inspiration is coming back.

living below our landlord

2011-03-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

so this is an unusual post and i wouldn't normally think to commit such an act of self indulgence well i would think to do it but not actually do it... here we are anyway.

about landlords and living under them, i mean literally in our current situtuation.

when we were looking for a place one of our main criterion was laundry in the building. Of course when we were looking our *i'll refrain from name calling here* landlord, was very proud to inform us there was a washer and dryer that they would be willing, due to thier GRAcious genrous natures, to let us use them.

well that gave poor me, who's few kicks in life reside in mundane things such as having laundry in their building, the impression that this place has (had) laundry.

well the short is, now it doesn't. we have been without this convience, which i believe few would agree laundry in your building is less in the category of convenience and more in the category of necessity.

as i went to pay rent on the 1st yesterday with a check filled out, all but the amount, i was hoping for some kind of consideration and adjustment not expecting more than 30 dollars off our already, really too high for this 2 bedroom that's really a one bedroom with an office, rent.

well he was ready with no hesitation and some aggressive defense. he firmly stated that the full amount was fair, and that no where in the 15 page ,seriously have you ever signed a lease for an apartment that long?, was there any agreement to the building having laundry. then as a tactic he has used in the past, he let's me know how much he has suffered in letting us use THEIR laundry with NO charge.

If he wants to charge us, charge us! I just want to do our laundry, is that so much to ask!?

he came down with the novel of a lease in his hand spouting off the paragraph and page in which it states that he has the smallest weener on the block and there is no such agreement to laundry. Based on principal i shouldn't have wrote the whole amount right there but you never know what a boy who pretends to be a man might do. i wasn't about to have him throwing a tantrum in our living space, honetsly his demeanor was so disgusting i just wrote it and tryed to get him out as quick as possible. plus we were on our way to feast and "conflict and contention are in no-wise permited".

obviously the issue still has me in its clutch, but ooo it feels so nice to vent here, since i know noone really reads this. if you do read this feel free to leave comments, what would you have done. oh and BTW there is no promise of the machines being fixed... if you are reading this and are one of those people who has kindly let us use thier machines, thank you, thank you, thank you.

what's more interesting is what becomes so important to us...lol for me it's laundry, i guess i really am a full fledged house wife.

thanks for sharing this experience with me.

the atlas collection

2011-02-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

here are more books i made as party favors for my(our) baby shower. all the images are from an older atlas. lined notebook paper was used to fill them. they have about 20-30 pages each. i stamped the back with a little heart and my initials with a little 'thank you!', the guests chose which one they liked. making these out of recycled materials feels like i am making progress in 'simplifying' life. it keeps my hands and mind busy and there is a final product that can be reused in which lies the reward i suppose.

coasters

2011-02-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

quilted coasters an excuse to do little embroideries and to use the smallest of fabric scraps. good for condensation although there is no drinking of icy beverages this time of year. :) even though the past few days have been a heat wave here in chicago today reaching a sunny 40.

other crafts

2011-02-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

makin' books. i randomly watched a youtube video on making journals expecting it to be something i would have to gradually warm up to thinking there were too many steps and tools but i happened upon a relatively simple instruction and the process seemed possible. i wish i weren't so prone to instant or really quick gratification but ... the best i can in this case is share the info here and try to think about what good i can really do instead of making this junk for myself. :)

fun little project

2011-01-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

well i had this odd painting and i thought it was silly by itself so i put it in a frame of sorts and added a veil to make it more interesting i guess. it was fun to make but what would someone do with something like this? i suppose it could be used as a stage if you wanted to make a stop animation, just add some little figures, and a story. strangely crafting this frame out of a cardboard box was really exciting then realizing i could sew into it to add the veil, maybe it's the gratification that an object is being made. although i need to work up to some kind of framing or display for the tree paintings. which i will need to get ready soon Feb 19th soon.

imagination, abiquiu

2011-01-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

this is reminiscent of Abiquiu, a town in New Mecxico North of Santa Fe. The Dar al Islam campus is located there. We didn't find out that the remote almost deserted mosque we saw was part of a school. this is just an imagination from memories. Abiquiu is an interesting town, Georgia O'Keefe lived there for many years we met a man who told us that and she paid for his schooling. new mexico is a mystical place.

2011-01-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

the pouch of pooches.
i tore strips of the poodle fabric then wove them into a new sold piece. obviously it's for novelty use but it fits some of the essential sewing tools so it's not completely useless. you could also hang it on a door knob and leave love notes in it.

this was constructed while we were still in japan but i finally put the button on it the other day :)

2010-12-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

hi. here is another painting. i did this for andrew.

i call him "adventure man", the painting, not andrew, although the title applies to him as well.

there's not so much to say, the symbols are quaintly obvious. i chose green for the balloons because it's the color of the heart chakra, where he acquires the extra lift to propel his contraption.

i have been doing more painting...

2010-12-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hello friends, this is a painting i finished recently it's on canvas board
which makes it seem like a grade school students work but materials are materials. over the summer i was into imagining time/space travel vehicles. this is not a vehicle per se but more of a portal into space. perhaps there is an elevator in the shaft and lodging, entertainment facilities, offices, whatever on the side. the power is in the base. what do you do in space once you get there...? that's the real question. Andrew and i wanted to take a road trip out to albuquerque just for something to do but what would we do when we got there? the planning is really more the pleasure, the imagining is it. the realization is the a dark cloud of truth. everything is everything and nothing by itself or together, really.

well i spiffy-ed up the blog i hope you like it. i wish it meant that we would be creating and posting at a faster rate but alas, i fear not.

shirt & purse

2010-12-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

i made this purse from a pattern in this book and i absolutely love it. i decided to not do the applique and leave it plain and it is so perfect. it's by far one of my favorite projects to date and it was super easy. i'll have to take a better picture of it one of these days though.

i made this shirt over the summer. i kind of hate the collar, it feels huge when i wear it, but i've found it works well with layering. i don't know how easy it is to see but its a really small black and white gingham.

summer dress

2010-10-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

this is a dress i made over the summer and am just getting around to picturing and posting it.
during summer '10 i was really into the sailor theme like many other fashion fans, everything
red white blue and the in between blue and white i.e. navy sky blue royal blue ect.
i made the pattern for this dress by measurements paper and mixed up memories of pattern making.
i like the buttons and the zipper, the bodice is lined with a thin cotton, also the waistband but not the bottom.
i really like how stiff the fabric is it makes it look like doll clothes or something.
p.s. sorry it's been so long, so i will have a work space again but since we left japan no sewing machine. :(

wedding wear

2010-07-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

we watched the music video of katy perry's hot n cold song, that's the dress/outfit A.S. wanted to wear at her wedding. so we went shopping for fabric. i made some adjustments to the design in the end making the skirt knee length and filling it with tulle, making it more bubbly instead of long and flowie. i'm not sure if A. ever got the pink fishnets to go with it but in the end i think we both felt really good about the outfit it wasn't a costume like we may have both thought it would be in the beginning. these pictures are from the night before we moved all of our stuff out of our house to leave japan, sorry i'm not a photographer.

dress

2010-07-26T05:22:00.001-07:00

i made this dress for a beautiful lady i know and yes i agreed to do it the night before a big move, maybe i'm crazy but she was such a big help to us in takamatsu, plus about one of the most charming people i've ever met. i wanted to do something. she had been telling me i have this fabric...i have this fabric can you do something with it. so eventually i took the fabric and it was actually sewn into a large tube not woven but sewn together so i worked with that. we discovered at the fitting it could be worn two ways! great!
on another note she looks royal in it. we are about the same size except T is taller, anyway, when i tryed it on blagh it looked awful with my blonde hair and light skin. but it looks chic on her. i really feel like her father in law picked the prefect fabric for her, she could where it with earthy sandals for a trip to the grocery store and throw a little black cardigan with some cute flats for dinner. not to be OTT about this but i was thankful T gave me the opportunity to make something i am proud of and she looks great in! she's so radiant anyway it's hard to make T look bad ;)

clothes

2010-07-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

a shirt.

clothes

2010-06-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

a dress.

t-shirt

2010-06-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

i made this a couple weeks ago, and i want to make some more soon. it's a cotton jersey and super comfy and easy to make. i left off sleeves for the summer and i think i like it more that way.

apron

2010-06-17T21:13:00.001-07:00

the back is a tie.

embroidery

2010-06-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

another embroidery.
knits are not good for embroidery but it can be done!

jewlerys

2010-06-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

this is a set i made awhile ago
i would like to make more key
adornments. the bracelet has a little
key that's the metal thing and
it fastens by a button the necklace
as well.

2010-06-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

a tube dress.

RA RA Reemake

2010-05-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

this skirt was a pair of andrew's man capris which he stopped wearing,
now it has ruffles.

an embroidered pair of jeans back pocket. just for fun. its a peony.

and another re-make i bought this skirt for 400 yen it was to small come to find out so i put a panel of denim between one of the zippers now it fits.

knits

2010-05-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

this took me about 2 years to finish. leaving it for months on end. it was fun to knit. tiny and time consuming. the pattern was interesting not quite lace but it has that appeal. the pattern called for cotton yarn, its a rowan pattern from their spring 2008 book so rowan yarn of course which is really expensive, instead i bought a nice sock yarn in its place, much cheaper. the feel and drape are much different i'm sure than if i would have used cotton but... maa maa.だいじょうぶう.

the glove come camera case

2010-05-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

I coveted these gloves for about 3 months then i lost one after i finally bought them haha (God's humor) anyway i couldn't let go of the lone rider so the fingers and thumb came off and i sewed the openings closed.
now its a soft and suitable protector for our camera!

Purses and skirt

2010-05-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

I made this last summer. I found this ribbon with the sewing stuff my grandma gave me, so i used it for the strap.

Here's another purse I made last summer...
And finally.. my current project which i may be abandoning for now, i got some really cute fabric yesterday that I really want to use....

T remake

2010-05-05T18:53:00.001-07:00

this is one of andrew's old shirts that was too stretched out for him to feel comfortable in so
i cut the sleeves off and the seem at the bottom which is the ruffled collar at the top back,
the front is slouchy naturally without the collar seem & from the weight of the fabric,
the arm holes are basted into a tucked looking seem,
it's a little frumpy but the fabric is nice and couldn't go to waste, motai nai!
it's good casual summer wear.

garden

2010-04-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

andrew read about a method to build a vegetable garden easy and anywhere. square foot gardening. with about 3 bags of soil a bag of compost and 2 bags of peet moss the box was filled. we bought small plants to secure results hehe, we're beginners.
the players: we have cherry tomatoe in the top left spinach seeds working underground next to him and a beautiful lavender plant top right. in the middle basil lettuce and mr. hairy onion guy. at the bottom another tomatoe, a pepper and a lady strawberry in the corner! so far so good.
we anchored some other plants of our fancy at the corners.
Shikoku has such a conducive climate for growth.*
but alas we will leave before it gets crazy at least we got to plant, alhamdullalah.

an older creation

2010-04-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

this neckwear was created when we lived in lincoln square, after andres and i first got married. I didn't know guitar strings had to be changed at all and so often (for a particular sound) there were old metal strings laying around and i got this really cool pendant (the bull) from Cherokee North Carolina, its a great little town we visited twice next to the blue ridge mountains. Cherokee is quiet and lovely in the fall and early spring but Gattlenburg on the other side is the commercial side its beautiful in its own bizarre circus kind of way but we enjoyed Cherokee more. anyway i put the bull on a pink string and then with a bead some guitar strings and love...

2010-04-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

the reverseable computer envelope.

Emily's newish projects

2010-04-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

here's my Seattle skirt, you can kind of see the messed up zipper in the side view one.

And here's the dress that turned into a skirt... I still have to fix the waistband so it's a little bunchy.

to begin

2010-04-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

this blog will attempt to add extra pressure for us (emie & angie) to create and share the objects we have crafted with love from thread yarn fabric and all the necessary tools required to construct them. please follow this blog and post if you find it enjoyable.