Just When You Think No One Cares

So I've got a friend who takes great pictures. Her name is Jen Jones. I met Jen when I lived in St. Augustine. We hit it off, hung out twice, and then we both moved. Since we have a lot in common we've stayed in touch. This time last year Jen was going to Argentina with some friends. They were going to be there to ride snowboards, run a girls-only snowboard camp, encourage recycling, and build a green house. Despite this heavy itinerary Jen brought some Florida Scarves for her friends and they took some great pictures. Cool (for me) huh?

But the point is that I wanted to share with you what these girls are involved in. They use their talents and skills to live incredible lives, inspiring girls (and boys), and bring awareness to important causes through shredding. Basically I think they prove that it is cool to care, about yourslef, your community, and your environment. There is plenty of room in this world for us all to be exactly who we want to be, and do what we want to do, without it becoming a detriment to our neighbor. Here's the video from their project last summer. (Yea, there's a couple of hoodie hats in some shots :)

As you can see by this video, all of these people have dedicated their free time to caring about our world. There are many projects for good, started by people like this everyday. If this inspires you, do some research and join a project of your own. There were a couple of websites that go up at the end of this video. They are definitely noteworthy, so here they are again:
www.thisisonelife.com
www.keepabreast.org
www.protectourwinters.org (I'm nt sure if this one was listed, but it is mondo-important)

And now if you don't mind I'd like to share the rest of Jen's photos for Florida Scarf:

That's Jen.

On a personal note, going back through these pictures and video is getting me real pumped for this winter :) You didn't know I was a shredder, did you?



Regeneration Clayworks Studio

A trip to New Jersey isn't complete for me without a trip to my mom's place. She is fortunate enough to live and work on creek front property. Many Flo Sca fans are familiar with my clay buttons, which come from collaborations between her and I in her studio.

 I love creating art with her in this space. It is full of, not just work to be completed, but also works from our past.



Like this number, shown above. What the heck was I thinking? What the heck is my mom thinking, to still have it hanging? At least it matches the paper lantern :)



This is something my mom is working on for me currently. (By currently I mean for the past couple of years. I guess it isn't that pressing to finish.) It is a Geze ski binding. By now you could probably say it's an antique. A while back a friend mounted it to some MDF for me. The binding doubles as a beer bottle opener. Cool, huh? My mom thought it would be much cooler as the center piece in a mosaic. I agree. Some of the tiles she's using are awesome, like the black/red heart that Frankie made.

Anyway, on this trip home I decided to grab some extra shots of my mother's wonderland to introduce you to the source of much of her inspiration. Something to find joy in if you have a scarf with some of her buttons, or one of her tiles, or boxes, or mosaics.

If these shots inspire you to take a trip to my shop, please do.

If these shots inspire you to take a trip to my mom's shop, please do too.

Treasure Buttons

Today is my first day in NJ visiting my mom. She found some new cool buttons for my scarves. I'm excited to get home and use them. The first bunch are these crazy, heavy, bronze casted masks from the other side of the world. She bought them at Earth Tones in Merchantville, NJ. The second set are handmade of clay. The woman that made them is Marcia Hovland, and you can find more from her at her etsy shop.

Thanks Mom!

Hello Bluebird

Unless you live in the Reading, Pennsylvania area, you may have thought the title of this post was suggestive of a great retro adventure I just had full of meriment, and song, and pretty dresses, and guys, and dolls......

And in a way this is correct. I just had a visit with my friend Alex at her boutique on Penn Avenue, in West Reading. For those unfamiliar it is a wonderful shop full of colorful treats and magnificent gifts. I am fortunate enough that Hello Bluebird adds Florida Scarf to its collection in the Fall and Winter.

I have found that when you are small business, that moves a lot, retailers for your work come and go. I am thankful that with all the changes, Florida Scarf has been able to maintain a wonderful business relationship with Hello Bluebird for three years. Also, there is a mutual admiration between Alex and I, for style, creativity, saavy, and ethics. The relationship that we have established is a rarity in this industry.

When you think of a bluebird, images that come to mind are that of a petite bird, of pleasing color, and cheerful song. These are the exact same images that greet you upon entering Alex's shop. If my scarves were birds they would definitely not all be bluebirds. Some are bluebirds, and some are also close relatives, but others can be cardinals, or as vastly different as, say, a parrot. Dare I even suggest some are crows. Because of this I enjoy setting up a meeting with Alex and letting her comb through a large majority of my collection to choose what's right for her business. Fortunately/unfortunately for Alex our meeting yesterday took three hours. Yikes, right? I say fortunately because it gave us a nice amount of time to catch up, as we haven't seen one another in over a year. It is also fortunate because she really put a lot of effort in choosing the Flo Sca collection that embodies her ideals. But "unfortunately" because it was probably exhausting, and like any shop owner she had, like, 8 million other things to do that day. To top it off I was snaping shots for this blog post. I do appreciate all her effort and appreciation for what I do. I use my relationship with her as a standard for how I function with all of my retail accounts. She doesn't make me feel like she is anymore important than me, and that is so important. If life outside of internet selling was always this wonderful I think I'd throw my computer out a window :)

Anyway. There is a wonderful Florida Scarf collection (with some new surprises) at Hello Bluebird for this season. In addition to the brick & mortar located at 609 Penn Ave, you can also find the shop at http://www.blluebird.net/

If you ever get there, tell Alex I said , "hello."

You Never Know What You're Gonna Get

So this is a photograph of the bottom half of a dress that I picked up at a thrift shop. I absolutely loved the print. The bottom half was obviously pleated so I thought I could make a cute skirt out of it. I am showing it with the chunk of sweater because somehow I would like to turn that into the waste band. (I just have no idea how. Send me an email if you've got any ideas for me.) This dress also caught my eye because it had matching covered buttons. And Flo Sca always needs new and cool buttons.

The colors in this print are just perfect I think.

I got right home and got to work with this fabric. I have made a couple of scarves with them already.

Here's one.

I sewed this one in my new, bigger style. I really like it with the hanging flap. It'll be great to pull this up over your face when it's cold and windy. It also makes a nice neck  line when worn down.

I used the covered buttons here too.

In sewing this piece, something from the dress's tag cuaght my eye. I don't know why, I never do this, but I decided to google the garment's brand.

LESLIE FAY

 A clothing business founded by Fred Pomerantz. In 1942, Fred Pomerantz began making uniforms for the women in the US armed services. The government had done a study of statistic concerning the measurements of the typical female figure, and this information was provided to Pomerantz in order to help him make uniforms that properly fit.

After the war ended, Pomerantz decided to produce a line of women’s clothing using the same sizing as he had used during the war. In 1947 he founded Leslie Fay, which he named after his daughter. Leslie Fay became a major maker of affordable and attractive dresses and sportswear marketed toward the middle aged.......

I thought this was quite interesting on a few levels. It kinda-cracked me up that the history behind this brand was not ordinary. I have looked up the brand names of some of my other pieces since, and not all are this interesting. Oh well.

And stay tuned to see if I ever get around to sewing that skirt :)

La Femme au Chapeau

Isn't this classic? When you create a self portrait while reading you will look more scholarly if your shirt matches the color of the book.

Seriously though, I am reading this book I found at the library. The title and author are of little consequence. More importantly I am reading it because I liked the way it looked. Is that shallow?

It is small, and red, the copyright date is 1933, and the word Paris is on the first page. Now do you think I'm shallow?

As luck would have it I'm enjoying the book. It's been a couple of weeks since I've picked up a book. I've been focused on other things. It happens. But it isn't until I (randomly) go back to doing something I enjoy, that I remember how much I enjoy doing it.

Here is my favorite quote so far:

"I like a view, but I like to sit with my back to it."

I think this quote can mean different things to different people. For me it means that we all have different ways of enjoying how we live (the same) life.

There is also a great story in the book. (if you are an artist)

I'll give you the short.

 It's about Matisse and how he and his family were in such despair when Gertrude Stein, and her brother, purchased La Femme au Chapeau. It was during the first autumn salon in Paris. As Stein writes, "There were a number of attractive pictures there, but there was one that was not attractive. It infuriated the public. they tried to scratch the paint off."

For whatever reason, Gertrude Stein loved it, this painting of a woman with a hat, and wanted to buy it. She recalls it was five hundred francs. In making the deal the purchase secretary explained that you never gave the artist their asking price. The secretary advised her to offer four hundred francs. She did, and Matisse refused. Not knowing why she agreed to the five hundred francs. She loved the painting so much, despite the public's hatred toward it. After this situation the Steins and the Matisses became great friends. What Gertrude didn't know until later was how much that purchase meant to the Matisses.

So the Matisses were on hard times. He was supposed to be in Paris studying Pharmacy, but started painting instead. He had some small early successes. (beginner's luck :) What followed thereafter would be known as a "starving artist" scenario. Then came that first autumn salon. His La Femme au Chapeau was accepted, hung, derided and attacked, and sold. (this is an all too familiar roller coaster for most of us) Matisse was so distraught over the public opinion of the painting that he would have jumped on the offer of four hundred francs, but his wife said no. This was due to the fact that they needed the money for food, rent, and winter clothes for their children. The reason I enjoy the story is because Madame Matisse argued, "if the buyers like it enough to make an offer, then they like it enough to pay full price."

As an artist this is something you know, but need to be reminded of.

And Matisse goes on to have a successful enough career and become a but of a collector himself.

On another note. Here is a painting I found. I love it. It is the craziest painting of the beach I have ever seen. As a matter of fact, I think it is rather Fauve. Don't you?

For records sake, I did not paint this, and do not know who did.

Later!

11th Annual Juried Exhibition in Ozark

I can't believe that it's been over a year now that we've been living in Alabama. This art competition in Ozark is the first thing I participated in when we moved here last summer. Phil and I have come a long way. More significantly, my art has come a long way. Like last year, this year I have two entries. The first is a chair lift at a ski resort and the second is a girl. I didn't realize until recently, but I guess I like painting girls and resort vacation themes. (maybe I should start to combo the two)

I'm sure you've seen these works before, but here are my entries.

( I appologize for the picture being kinda-bunk. I took it with my phone.)

Those of you that have seen Eat Cake before will be delighted to see it framed and decorated.

The other painting is a portrait of a chair lift at The Canyons in Utah.

The chair lift exemplifies my love of winter sports, and also that of the use of spray paint in combination with oils. I handmade the canvas it is on. It's a bear of a canvas. (for my standards anyway)

Eat Cake is a celebration of the quirks of feminity. It's a page in a chapter of a book about the love/hate relationship that I (and all women) have with fashion and society. This piece is also a celebration of the art making technique of collage, and garbage art, and the marriage of found objects.

Both of these pieces, along with many others from great artists in my area will be on display at the Ann Rudd Art Center in downtown Ozark, AL until September 23, 2011. The opening reception is August 13th at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

From the entries I have seen so far, it will be a wonderful show to come and see. I am excited for the reception. This show has wonderful prizes thanks to the Alabama State Arts Council.

Oh, before I forget...

I took some photos of my process of making a picture frame out of garbage.

If you're interested read on, it's a semi-tutorial.

First I get a huge cardboard box and measure out the three sides of the frame.

Then I cut the cardboard on my lines. From here I fold it to make sure my calculations were correct.

Then I cover the cardboard in the most ridiculous fabric scrap I can find. Mod Podge works perfect.

Once the glue dries on the fabric frame I glue the canvas down in the center. That's when the fun really starts. I dig through my boxes of tchotchky to see what else I can find to glue down around the painting. Here I have chosen a couple of big fake flowers, flowers I constructed from old lace trim, some vintage buttons, and also some painted wooden buttons.

And what, may I ask, would a piece of art from me be if it didn't have an anchor?

Allow a few mintues for everything to dry before testing on a wall.