Summertime...

...and the livin' is easy, puppies are lounging...
...and the poppies grow high.

My first commission!

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to be really busy working on a project, and well, here it is! It's my first commission, one of my clients asked me to make it for her bedroom. The brief was that the canvases had to be 18 x 30, with a turquoise background - and possibly include some cherry blossoms. The turnaround time was fairly quick - about 3 weeks. I had an idea about composition right from the start - I wanted the little birds to be looking at one another, and to kind of do my own take on the traditional Chinese scroll painting. Once I decided to use papercuts, "coloured in" with Chiyogami paper, it all came together. I really enjoyed working on these - the process of making the cuts and choosing the patterned paper was a lot of fun.
This is a closeup of one of the birds, which shows the detail and pattern in the paper a bit better...
...and here are the cherry blossoms. It was such an honour to be asked to do this commission - I so admire my clients taste and style, and she really put a lot of faith in me. She'd only seen my books, never any other work I'd done, but still asked me to do these for her. Doing this project has really given me a boost and opened some new possibilities for me. I will be working on some smaller versions of these canvases over the summer, and I'm really excited about it. I'll keep you posted...

The kind of week it's been...

....I accidentally drove down a footpath on campus (it was a wide one, ok!) and had to back up 100 metres to get out....I was wearing these very slippery - but very comfy - flats this morning and on my way to get coffee I fell down and skinned my leg...I am such a novice dog owner that I was using the wrong brush on Milo and he developed all these matts in his fur that wouldn't come out and - as you can see, he has now been shorn within an inch of his life. Sigh...little things, but they add up!

...On the upside - I have a long weekend coming up...I'm happy with how my new project is going...and my grandma is visiting soon. There's always a silver lining - and I think Milo looks sort of cute this way!

....UPDATE - I just managed to spill a hot cup of tea all over my desk, myself, my chair...Friday cannot come soon enough!

Right Here, Right Now....

It's a beautiful Saturday morning...I'm trying to think of what to do with these Chinoiserie panels I found at Value Village...
There are fresh lilacs on the mantel...I've drunk so much coffee that I'm getting heart palpitations...
I really like this mirror my mom gave me...I'm feeling very inspired, but I'm still managing to procrastinate!

Albums

This always happens, I sign off and say that I'm not going to post on my blog for a while because I've been busy - and then suddenly, I'm more compelled to post than usual! A couple of people have asked about the album that was on display in my studio photos, so I thought I'd post a couple of images. I love this particular paper - I like to that that maybe if Hiroshige had lived through the psychadelic 60's, he might have created something like this in his "pink period."

This is the album open - I love the combo of pink and red, so I used red paper for the pages, and interleaved them with vellum.

While I love the bright coloured papers, sometimes I like to work with a more subdued pallette. This paper pattern always reminds me of the 1940's.

Some old black and white photos would look lovely on these pages. Now, I really must sign off - if you'd like to see more albums, please check out my flickr page. Cheerio!

More Studio How-To

My studio makeover was featured as a "flickr find" over on Apartment Therapy hometech today! This prompted me to post my final requested "how-to" - the paper hanger. It's so simple, really simple...
I just screwed curtain harware in to the wall - this is from Umbra, and I chose it because of the way it sticks out from the wall. Then, I got two lengths of chain and some dowels from the hardware store...
Then, it's just a matter of hanging the chain from the curtain hardware, sticking the dowels through the links in the chain and - voila! Hang your papers, and you're done.

Now, I'll just share one final detail of my studio, and stop talking about it! Last week, I found this kimono in the $2 bin of my favorite used clothing shop. The colours go exactly with my studio, and it nicely fills up my once empty wall. I've been busy working in here over the last few days, and it's great to have such a functional space, and be surrounded by the things I love. Actually, I'm going to be so busy in here, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next. I am working on a special project, and it's going to take up a lot of my time over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for the details....