make/believe

peek a boo . . . .

2010-01-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

winter squirrels

wrapping the BQE

2010-01-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

winter in New York . . . at the Plaza.

2010-01-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

hey, stop thief!

2009-11-22T14:35:00.001-08:00

if you look closely, you'll see the head of a sunflower that this rascally squirrel chewed off it's stem and ran off with.

the constant fascination with our birdfeeder

2009-11-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

this little bird seemed to find the birdfeeder a good place to have a nap.

utterly devoted to naptime, he kept resting even while the feeder was getting other visitors.

she seems to wonder what exactly it is that he's up to.

finally, a gimpse of his sleepy face.

Brooklyn sunset. . .

2009-10-06T03:55:00.000-07:00

k* shoes, fall 09!

2009-09-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

this one is roxxi, originally inspired by Roxxi (aka Maggi).

it's wild to see this process in shoes after doing this for so long with clothes. starting with a drawing and then seeing it get modified by reality. this is fairly different then my very first drawing, but it's become it's own thing, a different shoe, a real one!

roxxi in nude....
and this one is beatrix. . .
Keiko's k* event at the Standard Hotel in the Meat Packing district was awesome. I'm sad I didn't take any pictures. I was so overwhelmed by the really positive response to everything (not just my 2 styles) we made for fall 09 and all the samples for sp 10. It was awesome!

Dad will have to help me with learning to light my products better, because happily I might start moonlighting as a product photographer . . .

so cheers! here's what I've been doing "on the side" since January . ..

xoxo

2009-08-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

tuesdays were hard last august also. at least this is the last one for the year.

inspiration for k* shoe drawing

2009-08-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

our real inspiration is Lauren Becall from the 40's, but i have this photo of My Phong's shoes that she wore to my birthday party that i totally love. all off center and off kilter . .

some how her strapy shoes and the tiled floors fall in line with my thoughts on a modern 1940's Becall for Fall 10 for k* . . . .

I still believe in magic. . .

2009-08-13T03:49:00.000-07:00

and I still love the sight of the moon on a clear night.

I still prefer the bright side, and I still see all the good, everywhere.

good is in full bloom.

Where is the shade in the night time?

2009-08-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

it is annoyingly hot and muggy for 10pm. While this photo is not from today, it's the one I thought of in my file of "to be posted", seemed the best showing the sunshine. or the shade.

I've been revisiting my thoughts on how I want to use this space, I'm sure I want to be using it, posting more, maybe writing more. I've been reading so much lately I might be going back to the beginning of the circle and instead I want to distract myself with the photos, hats, shoes and dresses.. .. I might start shooting the shoes, hats and dresses.

just as soon as it's cool enough to be productive in the studio again. oh and maybe when I start spending more evenings in the studio again . ..

yep, that sounds good.

from my walk to Daniel's house

2009-08-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'm very behind, I don't remember which sunday night this was from, but it was a lovely evening, we finished his curtains and 4 bottles of wine. to get there I walked past the Brooklyn Museum and the Botanical Gardens (I've yet to go into either of these places). It was a good walk to get there.

We'll have to do it again soon.

fourth of July from Brooklyn,

2009-07-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

these are from my fourth of july, totally different then Briana's weekend, with the nephews and nature. . . . we had a bbq in the back yard, and even Brown Bear passed out from the sunny day and too much beer. . .

tibor on his island

2009-07-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

jeffrey goes for a swim

2009-07-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

2009-07-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

instead, we used the little blow up pool and my hat to fill this little rock crevice with water.

2009-07-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

due to a very belated application of sunscreen, jeff and i swam the boys over to the shady side of the river and he swam back to constuct this fancy shady shelter.

you can see a little blow up pool in the top picture. the boys were not so sure about the river and so jeff was trying to find a flat spot to fill this with water so they could splash around.

there were no flat spots.

a lovely end to my beautiful summer vacation weekend

2009-07-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

our gorgeous, i mean handsome, nephews at the washougal river.

the next day

2009-07-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

i was eating breakfast (potatoes from our garden, sauteed with that lovely arugula and a fried egg) when our brother called to see if i wanted to go to the river. hell ya!

2009-07-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

and i gardened.

and in between meals on the fourth

2009-07-10T16:24:00.001-07:00

i cleaned the house.

and hung our new painting by martha.

the evening of the fourth

2009-07-10T15:55:00.001-07:00

the evening of the fourth, troy brought home some salmon fillets-- they'd been sampling them at new seasons that day... one of the delicious perks of his job, hopefully enough to offset the kooks.
we had them, grilled, with a grilled nectarine, snap pea, shaved fennel and basil slaw with local feta and arugula.

doesn't that look delicious??

then we watched the neighborhood fireworks from our front porch. i drank a little too much rose but luckily didn't handle any explosives.

summer vacation in one long weekend, cont.

2009-07-10T15:49:00.001-07:00

for breakfast, i had leftovers from the nicoise salad-- potatoes, peas and artichoke sauteed and on toast with a soft boiled egg. it was actually the first time i'd ever made a soft boiled egg.
i finished the book, by the way, before the weekends end. "monsters of templeton". it was very good. the rock keeps the pages from turning.

Grand Central

2009-07-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

I think this might be my first photo in my "Tibor" project, since it's a train station I think it counts for the kinds of things he likes. maybe it's a stretch . . . but I like it.

art school comes to NY or welcome to NY Aubrey!

2009-07-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite fellow photo majors (from my undergrad experience at PNCA) to sit for has recently moved to NY for grad school in photography. so this last weekend, I sat for her again. it's been 7 or 8 years since she's photographed me. it was really cool to see her still working. her stuff is still really amazing. it's inspiring to be in this space again, with art projects abounding, be they mine or someone else's.

anyway, this was the floor from the shoot, my shoes, her shoes and her girlfriend/photo assistant's shoes with ribbons of my silk sewing scraps. . . .

a perfect summer vacation rolled up into one long weekend: in photos & words

2009-07-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Friday was like a welcome surprise. I hadn't known about the day off due to the holiday. Now that--after 4 years of work--the bones of the garden were there, I’d bought flowers to plant over the weekend.
But I didn’t plant flowers on Friday.
I cleaned a little. I read. In the sun, lounging around like a teenage summer. I made hard-boiled eggs and aioli. And then I thought: nicoise salad. The perfect summertime meal when the temperature hits 90 and keeps going.

But in typical Portland fashion the day was at its hottest in the evening, still too hot to eat. We sipped on our sangria-- so easy to drink--and had some chilled beet soup with horseradish, dill and buttermilk and waited for the sun to go down.

So many things come from our garden-- the potatoes are the first we've ever grown. In fact, I wasn't even sure how to harvest them. They are the best potatoes ever.

Artichoke, peas, lettuce all fresh picked from the garden. Seared ahi. Aioli. Delicious.

Chocolate ice cream with cherries for dessert. Decadent, beautiful summer.

my trip to Beacon

2009-07-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

I love meeting the babies of the brilliant people I know. especially these people, since I've known them forever. and since I knew Justin was smitten with Paula from the first time he talked about her. I wish the photos of Ruby with Paula turned out as well as these.

It's such a beautiful family!

garden update.

2009-07-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

1 of the thyme plants didn't make it. and the other 2 are fighting pretty hard. i keep thinking i should just make something with it and eat it before i lose it fully.

otherwise the basil is doing well! it must be the view.

Place of Refuge

2009-06-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

2009-06-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

2009-06-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

so this wall is like 15 feet deep and all hand-layed stone-- with no mortar.

the sand is purely bleached coral and black lava. pretty gorgeous.

this turtle crawled up on the shore while we were walking around-- it was the first sea turtle we saw there (it being our first day).

2009-06-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hawaii!

2009-06-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

window garden update

2009-06-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

in addition to keeping my basil (from seeds!) alive, I bought more from the farmers market and that too seems to like the window garden. I also added thyme. sadly the parsley, it's not happy. it's stunted. but I love it and water it anyway. . .

work in progress

2009-06-22T18:46:00.001-07:00

at some point I'll have to take these pieces down to work on something else, since this one doesn't need to be finished. but she's still charming me.

I'm not usually one for white dresses. The beginning dresses for my thesis were all white. Maybe that's where I start over. Maybe I'm beginning again. Maybe that's why it's so slow going. Maybe I will actually finish a white dress, it is the summer after all, good time for white sundresses. . . we'll see.

sunny weekend

2009-06-19T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm still catching up, although these are from Brooklyn, my friend Marisa has an awesome roof and we sat in the sun and drank champaign. My step brother was in town from LA. not the traditional sight seeing, somehow this seemed more fun. I hope he had a good time.

succulent

2009-06-17T17:21:00.001-07:00

still catching up from my trip, this one's from my walk with dad in LA. I love it. it's sort of apropos for this week. it feels hopeful. after May, my optimism is finally returning. I hope my sleep also returns.

Isabella's tea party

2009-06-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

I came across more photos from my trip "home" that I had forgotten to post. (like the branches of my family, I have many "homes". it appears, home is where ever my family is; portland, LA and brooklyn.)

This is my Aunt's back yard. And the tea party that is just living there. I loved it, lighthearted and charming.

While I was staying with her, my Aunt reminded me to use my imagination more; the BQE that I can hear from my bedroom window, it's the ocean darling.

Dear Aunt Co Co, thank you for the reminding, it is the ocean.

last of my LA sidewalks

2009-06-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

same flowers, but different color then my Brooklyn sidewalk . . .

destiny

2009-05-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

walking in LA

2009-05-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Dad and I went for a walk in Tara's neighborhood, before the BBQ at her house (she's still in Portland and couldn't come).

We brought her flowers back from our walk to the store. They'll be waiting with her husband when she gets home.

Fyo. . .

2009-05-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

more birds. . .

2009-05-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ode to Mike

2009-05-25T11:42:00.001-07:00

The baby cradle Mike made for Fyo is a really beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It's really obvious how much he loved wood working, and that he made this for Fyo with a lot of love.

I think he'd love that the toys it's filled with are the Muppets from Sesame Street and Einstein.

Dear Mike, we miss you already. . .

my boys (nephews) with Uncle Troy

2009-05-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

One of the blessings this last week, was seeing the nephews together. Attila just kept saying to Fyo, "baby! baby! baby!".

and of course they all love love love Uncle Troy . . .

I don't know if this is actually a good picture, but it's the only one I have of the 3 of them together. I do love seeing Tibor's eyes peeking out over the stool. The oldest and the shyest!

at Aunt CoCo's cement resource

2009-05-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have a few shots from this field trip, but these 2 are my favorite. The day of this adventure I got these shots, 3 cement birds and the worst sunburn I've had in at least 20 years across my shoulders.

for the flight home.

2009-05-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

progress

2009-05-19T11:31:00.001-07:00

my little herbs before I left for portland. I hope they are still happy when I get home again.

my new kitchen

2009-05-19T11:30:00.002-07:00

my first collaboration with Faletti

2009-05-19T11:30:00.001-07:00

working my way backwards . . .

2009-05-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

christine clark, installed

2009-05-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

here's the installation of christine clark's work that i brought home from her april "22 gauge" show at nine gallery. love it!

shoe litter

2009-04-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

forgive the bad color cast to this snap shot. I was working on the shoe comments for k* last night, shooting shoes in the studio and turned around and realized I'd made a collage of discarded shoes on my floor. . . . seemed fitting somehow.

april heat wave, sunny sunday

2009-04-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had brunch all afternoon in the back yard. Kids and adult feet in the kiddie pool. lots and lots of food. It was like a holiday, it's not normally 90 degrees in NY in April. Just last week if felt like the edge of winter . . .

salt water bath

2009-04-28T03:29:00.000-07:00

birthday . . .

2009-04-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

it was an emotional one this year . . . good and hard. so far this is par for the course with 2009.

I feel raw. and open. and ready to begin.

for my birthday I am renewing my new years resolution, calling it a resolution for my new age.

this feels right. and even in the face of all the heartache, I have a new skin emerging. tender and pink.

but also bright and shiny.

I am trusting myself more, committing to listening to myself and sharing my voice.

I am excited about some of the projects and goals I have already going on. And I'm taking deep breaths and trusting that there is very sweet fruit on the horizon for all the projects and goals I want to begin.

namaste

2009-03-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

2009-03-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

2009-03-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

more walls at fort worden in port townsend

2009-03-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

walls at fort worden in port townsend

2009-03-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

lentemente

2009-03-10T03:43:00.000-07:00

snow cupcakes in bryant park in march

2009-03-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

from LA LA land

2009-02-08T05:04:00.000-08:00

2009-01-19T16:44:00.000-08:00

today was balmy in the high 20's and low 30's. it was such a relief after saturday being about 6. i even enjoyed the snow.

I've been thinking about my resolutions, trying to refine what they'll be for this year. so many good things seem to be coming for this year, i want to find the best way to focus on bringing those things to fruition. also thinking of making some for every month. maybe that will help to stay focused on them.

anyway, i'll post them when they're ready.

2009-01-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

2009-01-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

2009-01-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

2009-01-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

central park this morning

2009-01-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

it's funny, i spend so much of my time in manhattan in bad neighborhoods (read mid-town) i forget there is more to it then crowded streets and tourists.

then randomly like today, i got off the subway and was standing in front of the plaza hotel, home of eloise and looking at central park. and even on the grey morning i could see the storybook side of the city.

on my way back to the office, the sun had come out and the sky was blue with little puffs of white clouds.

2009-01-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

2009-01-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

new shoes!

2009-01-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

maybe to help with my job hunt, no?

2009-01-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

2009-01-05T17:42:00.001-08:00

2009-01-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

jan 1

2009-01-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

saturday

2009-01-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

so yesterday and today i put together and painted the inside and outside of my new "image library" and then i cut the leather off a pair of shoes i've never really enjoyed wearing to use it for my portfolio. it feels pretty awesome. just waiting for the paint to dry to file all the magazine tears, sketches and swatches . ..

and below are a couple more from new years eve, one more i really like of the steam and the other one of Dom, Jenn and Stephen, you can see how cold we were, Jenn's wearing a fur hat and still has her hood up! everyone with red noses and cheeks . . .

my new years eve, bee hive dress

2009-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

vintage silk satin with coat weight wool, fully lined in silk taffeta!

and as it turned out, with wind chill it was negative 5 degrees as we watched the steam whistles. but fun was had.

cheers to 2009, may it be full of many blessings for everyone!

2008-12-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a recent breakfast Troy and I had. I made bread. It was snowing and it had been a long time since I'd made bread from scratch. Seemed like the thing to do. And it was.

2008-12-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

2008-12-29T16:39:00.001-08:00

new picture, post show...

2008-11-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

i know we haven't decided how we want to continue to use the blog... but i'm ready to start being creative again and stop with the lists and the to-do's. it was nice to go to the gallery yesterday and take in the price list and just look around; a feeling of completion.

installing make/believe

2008-11-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

installing the show at waterstone-- a three day process....

installing make/believe

2008-11-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

friends and family came over to help us mount photos on panels, add hardware and make origami cranes for the fear dress.

show up

2008-11-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

so it's up! and i think the people that came to the preview show liked it. oddly we both forgot to take pictures of people in the space and each other. My friend Morgan brought her daughter also wearing a tutu, that was very festive, and the nephews were a little uneasy with all the peoples but it was a good evening. . . cheers!

so for the east coasters, this is a little of what the show looks like, but in real life it's all in focus. . .

lists.

2008-10-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

we have:

prints

panels

dresses

collage

drawings

origami paper

a small work party

hopes that the work party will grow in attendance

we'll eat:

indian food

chili

bagels

errands:

hardware store

art supply store

grocery store

what will I wear?

create:

artist statements

thread drawings

printed blog entries

find:

other objects

drawings

photos

etc

map dresses

2008-10-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't get quite as far on the map dresses as i thought i would last night. but i did decide to give them darts to help give them shape and to wire the seams.

and they are a weird minature. the arm holes turned out really small, but the bodies aren't super small. i'm debating about sewing in some tuck pleats to make them more proportional. tonight i'll photo at least one and post it so you can see.

I do like the wiring in the seams, i am pretty sure i can do this and still pack them up and bring them with me. I'm not forseeing much sleep friday night.

in other thoughts, woke up this morning with panic that the photo printing place might send my prints to me here and not remember that you are picking them up together, must now send neurotic email it Phil. cheers.

lists.

2008-10-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

To pick up/have delivered:

prints

panels

To buy:

hardware for the back of panels

hardware for installation

archival spray adhesive

cotton rag paper

numbers or something for individual installation pieces (for sale list)

fishing line

xacto blades

liquor

therapy

To do:

write artist statements

fear dress, done until portland.

2008-10-27T18:10:00.001-07:00

i have a small confession. as much as i've been so cranky working on this project and as difficult as it proved to be to create this original idea of all these fears, the sewing part of all this, makes me feel like myself again. i was telling stephen yesterday the history of my sewing machines. it surprises me some times how long dress making has been a part of my life. but it's generally such a comfort, it's a much better way of life, then not sewing, not creating.

i still feel like i have so much to learn, i have all those sleeves to conquer . . .

ps sorry for the poor image, tulle is really hard to focus on. ha ha ha, i didn't mean it like that.

for me to wear.

2008-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

i think it will look better on me then on isabel . . . and there are still some tweaking i'd like to do, but tweaking isn't on the schedule until tuesday or wednesday . . . thoughts?

thoughts?

2008-10-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

in honor of Fyo's birth i did not find any armholes last night, instead i drank wine with my friends and celebrated the baby.

so here's where i am now, i think she could have another layer of skirt tiered under the skirt there, just to make it a little be longer, it feels like a weird proportion. Maggi however loved it. she thought it looked like a ballerina. . .

so imagine the black cranes in the bodice and strung through the skirt

the bodice before it was a bodice

2008-10-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

not as lost

2008-10-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

i'm not posting a picture because it doesn't look that different from yesterday. but i'm making progress with it. this is going to sound really silly, but i can't find the armholes. and i have to be really sure about where they are, once i cut them out, it's over.

tomorrow's goal, commit to the armholes.

oh my god.

2008-10-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

this is such a problem.

tutu of fear?

2008-10-21T18:03:00.001-07:00

if this was a dress, it would want to be made like this:somehow i'm not sure if i can just trust this dress. here's my problem, my first idea about how to make this isn't as lovely as those pleats (harpers bazaar says pleats should be resting now. but these pleats won't have it.) and my colors, ps, my red/brown tulle looks terrible with my red origami paper. new color idea? some kind of pattern? writing on ribbon?

so, what are your thoughts? I almost called you (well i did) but I almost asked your voice mail if we really needed this "sculpture". it wants to be a tutu. does that work? at all?

and i suddenly want to make a pleated tulle skirt to match my after five hat for our opening. it's so rare, the opportunities to wear tulle skirts and after five hats.

drowning in red tulle and loving it.

2008-10-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

one of the things i love about working with tulle is that it's like water colors. layering it by itself and adding in different colors and layering that all together totally changes the feel. i added orange to the red last night and i love it, but it looked really happy and not fearful. i don't want it to look terrified, that's not the kind of fear i wanted to get at. so tonight i added a really good brown and it changed the color in a good way.

I'm still working on what this dress looks like, my direction of how to make it completely changed during one of my naps this weekend. i think i like this kind of shape. it needs some kind of bodice.

anyway. tell me what you think.

i don't know if you can see this in the photo, but i am really enjoying the sloppy angled pleats.

Oh! and i thought i could make a cocktail hat for wednesday nights opening, an old fashioned after five. I mean, since i don't have time to make a new dress . . . .

the fear dress

2008-10-19T16:07:00.001-07:00

this is the beginning of what we've called the fear dress, i love the red tulle, i love working with tulle, and i love how adding the origami squares will change this.

i had another thought though, which was what will i do with this dress when it's done. where will it live?

so now i think, not quite life size is good.

night pictures i'm thinking of using for snap shots.

2008-10-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

i'm starting to let the bottom one go, i suddenly have like 10 to print as "snap shots" and that seems like way too many.

for writing

2008-10-17T18:25:00.001-07:00

a couple of weeks ago we went to see the fleet foxes, who i believe are from gig harbor washington. and it was amazing.

but while listening, i couldn't help thinking about how i wanted someday for my east coast life to be more a part of my west coast life and vice versa.

maybe this is a small side effect of our show. this is the first time i'm bringing this much of my east coast life home. even sans stephen.

as soon as i left dad at my house on his last night here and went to stephen's to sleep, i realized i didn't take a single photo of him the whole time he was here. it just seemed so normal seeing him, even though it's been nearly 2 years. . . and we talked about cameras the whole time. we're such photo geeks together, except that i never take pictures.

i regret now not photoing his hands.