Fashion, turn to the left....

Yeah I love fashion, I don't love the image of woman that is being shown as the norm as of late. I can not open a mag and identify with a skeleton in clothes...or the 12 year olds being used to portray women, in these magazines or on the runway. Designers change your sample size from a size zero to a size 10 or something! But I love fashion the running performance art piece that is fabric and vision and art!

I came across a blog about 6 months ago written by Tavi Gevinson, a teenager who LOVES fashion ...as I read her posts I was totally blow away.
Tavi Gevinson is amazingly fun to read, a true lady of independent thoughts and feelings. Her blog is hysterical and her insights are a great cross between geeky teenager and the Hapers Bazaar freelance writer that she is!
She is currently attending Fashion week and is loading pics of her favs as well as showing up in fashion mags herself! She has quite a style of her own and it now rubbing shoulders with all the designers she so loves!
Hats off to you young lady...you remind us all to keep our heads down and do what you love!!

I can not say that at 12 or 13 I was as articulate about my interest in clothes and looking cool, I like many my age...I spent time studying the "cool kids" and seeing what they wore, trying to dress like them was short lived for me and my style burst out and all over the floor of my room and blew open the doors of many a vintage shop. This lead to me being teased about my "sense of style" or lack there of it, by many....but hey kids will be kids. Some of us just do it better!

Decorate yourself!!

Sweet little nothings....

Valentines day....I had a few decades where it was a really sucky holiday.
Crappy boys, crappy memories, heartbreak, stomachaches...crappy times...but then I started working on seeing things differently and it started to shift.

I think the meaning of life is simple....LOVE. I know it sounds sort of hallmarky...but I think that if we all found a deep wonderful love (and it can be in anywhere; a person, a job, a path) that we would find happiness and want that goodness for all other beings. A sense of compassion, and empathy.

So I do my part to try and put that out into the universe...one simple way at a time.
This year it is a potato print valentine...I got a great sense of calm making these in the middle of the chaos of my daily life.
Today I carried my little bag filled with Valentines with me everywhere and handed out homemade valentines where I saw fit. I felt like I was in school again, except this time I had so many valentines in my bag I could give them away and make everyone feel loved and seen.

Be that little bird, go do that sweet little something...plus there is a lot of chocolate round about now.

My Goddaughter

My beautiful goddaughter is almost 5 years old....she is a daring, bold, curious, joyful young lady.

I had plans yesterday to go down to Manhattan Beach to attend the first board meeting for the Los Angeles Printmakers Society. I was sad because this meant I would miss my goddaughters birthday party at the local skating rink and I had yet to see her roller skate.
I woke up yesterday with out the alarm clock I had set and realized I would never make it in time for the meeting....but I could make her party!
I looked at my husband and said " I'm going roller skating with Gabi !"
What was going to be a disappointment was now a joy !

I have a history with roller skating that only a few people really know about, I practically lived in my roller skates between the ages of 7-12 years old.

The visit to the roller rink was AMAZING!! Those places never change, thank goodness...the funny carpets and loud music, the crappy food and prizes and the sweet sweet sound of wheels on the hardwood floor!

My husband was afraid I would break a wrist or hurt myself, but once I hit the rink it was his jaw that hit the floor. According to him I pack some "mad ninja skills on the skates"

My goddaughter was excited, I was excited and her sister Sierra was there with a friend and it reminded me of days gone by:

Sierra and Emma were a little nervous on the wheels with that loopy sense of balance

Now being super model height I was ready to hit the floor....I handed the camera over to my husband and he took a few pictures:

hitting the rink

He asked me to pose and stand still...with the number of tumblers around me I was afraid to cause another accident. (point in case)

I got Sierra off the wall and after convincing her that I would not let her fall she allowed me to take her around the rink

skating backwards as the girls learned to skate forwards

The birthday girl was a natural and it was a blast to see her with her best friends enjoying her party!

Happy birthday little goofball!!

Newest Linocut

I worked way too long on this one....but it is the second in a series I am doing on "Fading Memories".

I am still working on the inking I would like, but the image came out pretty close to how I was imaging it.

Not titled as of yet.

And the nominees are....

Local gallery owner Sylvia White is holding a "Be A Saint" Art Auction to benefit local Ventura artists and give away a $1000 art grant to a randomly selected artist that is in the show. The call went out two weeks ago, only Ventura Artists (living or working in Ventura) could apply. The grant is to be awarded and spent within city limits. Great idea!!

Over 280 "quality applications" were submitted of which 35 artists were selected for the Auction. I submitted work along with a lot of my fellow artists....here are the images that made it.

Although I am not among them, fellow Inkspot member Ginny Furmanski is!
Ginny is very deserving of this honor and I have my fingers crossed that she will do great things should she win the grant!

If you have the funds, check out this unique Art Auction and help support the arts!
Here is a link to the gallery and the fundraiser