A Field Journal

Slide Projector: Portrait of Isabella Coymans

2009-11-06T01:35:00.000-08:00

After a long break through the summer I think it's time I resume the Slide Projector Series - there are some favorites I've had noted for a while to share. Last Spring I took a seminar on the Dutch Golden Age: glassy oils of still life canvases, coils of lemon rind and pewter pitchers so perfectly real, tables set with plentiful bounty, fruit and floral, all so exquisitely lush. And the genre scenes, with their interiors so wonderfully calm, the figures within so well poised. Amidst all this I can't say pure portraiture was my clear favorite, but this Frans Hals hasn't left my memory. There's such a delicious tension between restraint and gaiety. And the costume - the silken folds of deep black, the cream lace of the scalloped collar, the gray violet bow - is magnificently accented by cranberry blooms, like the rose that trails out of the frame. All of this, cast in a radiant light against the tawny dusk of the background, has almost a wintry quality about it, doesn't it?

Sugar and Spice

2009-10-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying an usual anticipation for Halloween this year. Buying carmels and granny smith apples for some weekend confections. Reading Sleepy Hollow instead of textbooks. And - on a weekend visiting home - driving out to the farm off of Woods Valley Road for its annual pumpkin patch. From the road you can see the distant pumpkin pickers, wandering past great clusters of orange orbs. To the east a fine dust coats the white barn on the neighboring land and to the west giant pumpkins dot the dried fields, their burnt red hide decaying sweetly in the heat of California autumn. Back at school, these miniature pumpkins were sensible. Since I didn't have the array of glitter colors to make these, I "adjusted" the natural pumpkin colors by giving each a coat of acrylic craft paint before covering them in sugary, iridescent white glitter.With all this talk of pumpkins and November just around the corner, I'm already awaiting Thanksgiving. The scent of cloves and allspice, the warmth that emanates from the oven, and to borrow a phrase from Washington Irving, "the most luxurious of pies."

I Spied October

2009-10-28T02:15:00.000-07:00

Color, lovely dark and deep is how I think of October. Golds and red and umber. And warm nostalgia for autumns past - maple trees and east coast vacations, brown suede shoes and school years not yet devoid of their newness. I photographed a collection of papers and trifles that seem to capture the month and they rather reminded me of the "I, Spy" books my brother and I had as children. For some reason those slight hardcovers only came down from the shelves in winter; we'd sit on either side of my mother and see who could first spot the be-riddled objects each time she turned the page. So in the spirit of colder evenings and old fashioned indoor pastimes, I created a handmade "I Spied October" booklet.
After taking the picture, I wrote a riddle to include all the objects. Bay leaves in bronze, a spool of gold thread.
Deep olive velvet and words to be read.
A farmhouse facade, a still life emblazoned,
Floral and fiery, luxurious and brazen.
In chestnut and ivory, two bits of down,
Five pins and a ribbon in taffeta brown.
Tiny bouquet of glass petal and wire,
Sepia valley with lonesome white spire.
Lady in linen and black satin brim,
Antique brass button, tarnished and dim.
Papers, a snapshot, a glittering four,
In a deep maple orange, one button more.
A gentle winged beauty called to watch over,
And the muse of this poem, a gilded October.The front cover is printed on vellum. The back cover is a pocket created by sewing the short sides of the last two pages together - inside the pocket I tucked a mini craft envelope with a tiny magnifying glass enclosed (from an eye glass repair kit - I added gold paint to the rim and a seam binding bow to the handle).Beneath the vellum front cover is a thin layer of sewing pattern paper. You can just see through to the "I, Spy" photograph beneath.A page instructs the reader on "How to Play."And of course no game is complete without a solution.A page printed on vellum breaks the riddle down into numbered objects. Then the following page shows the original photo with corresponding numbers on each of the objects.You can commemorate October by making a book of your own. Find the download and instructions below.

Click the button above to download the printable pages of the book. Pages are 4 inches by 6 inches - you can cut papers to size and print on a photo printer. For the look above, print pages one and five on vellum. Pages two and six are best printed on photo-friendly papers. Print the remaining pages on papers of your choice (card stock or even kraft paper!). You can also add additional papers to customize your book - I added a page cut from an old sewing pattern between pages one and two. If you'd like to have a pocket in the back cover of your book, place pages six and seven back to back and sew short edges together using a zigzag stitch. Now align all the pages of your book together and sew with a zigzag stitch along the spine. Enjoy!

Five in Gold

2009-10-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

Above, figures one through five in gold. Gold frames, that is. An old and mismatched assortment, all of them somewhere between gilt and tarnish. Inside them, crystalline windows of convex glass, numbers painted bronze. And the papers - the florals seem as though they could have covered antiquated walls, peeling down through centuries, in graceful sloth. This arrangement is for Project Wedding, made from vintage frames and store bought scrapbook papers. Get the how-to and lots more photos at Project Wedding!

Meet Me at the Fair

2009-10-08T01:50:00.000-07:00

In my home county, the fair came in early June. Just after the weather warmed and just before the horses ran at Del Mar. The time suited it. The Ferris wheel was at the far western edge; from its height you could look down on a ribbon of two lane highway or out beyond, where two low, tawny hills gave way to beach and sea. It was place wrapped in the promise of summer.I suppose that's why I'd rather forgotten that the fairs of storybooks are autumn affairs. Places for prize pigs and blue ribbon pies. Calico dresses, golden hay bales and cloud streaked harvest skies. Where storybook children run through carnival light in in the briskness of late September air, leaping from carousel horses to spend their nickels on gluttonously dipped apples, bright red and caramel. Such things are best in fall, so I'm quite glad the early days of October brought us to a new county fair and its amusements. Lanky-legged lambs, rambunctious pigs and brown spotted calves. The dust kicked up by hooves in paddocks. The slow spin of the Ferris wheel overhead. The midway lights by night. Folded quilts. Jars of honey. Corndogs from stands. And a three minute wait for photobooth prints."Don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there."

A Housewarming

2009-09-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

In the spring, the gingerbread trim got a final coat of varnish, tiny paper buds bloomed in the window boxes and the last waif of a shingle met that gabled roof. All through the summer the Buttercup Cottage patiently waited for a housewarming, and at last here it is. With bunting over the threshold and all. It belongs to an old fashioned breed - building model planes or constructing a tiny railroad. The kind of hobby with no terribly necessary ends and no particular deadlines. Worked on intermittently, dreamed about often and delayed oftener. Leaving saw dust on the work bench, paint on bristles and sweet contentment in the not-quite-finished.
But not-quite-finished is not to say neglected. Of course the Buttercup will need some furnishings and lamplight. Curtains perhaps. A braided rug. Oh, the possibilities for all things small! Which brings me to second surprise I made - a desktop in two colorways. "The sweetest things are the smallest things," it reads. Always true in a dollhouse; on occasion, true in life.
If you'd like to use the desktop in Peach (above) or Pink (below), click the button that corresponds to your screen resolution. Right click the image and select add as desktop background. These desktop designs are free for personal use and enjoyment and not meant for commercial purposes of any kind.

Fanfare

2009-09-23T02:08:00.000-07:00

I'm never in a rush to see summer go. And here, it never seems in a hurry to leave. There'll be signs of its departure. A certain shift in the light, earlier sunset, and latent color in the liquidambars. But it will persist a little past its calendarial rights, interjecting spells of heat and languor in the sensible world of gray cardigans and early morning lectures. Perhaps it's the seriousness of autumn I'm most reluctant to adopt, being too lately incompatible with its stern and scheduled demeanor. Nevertheless, the carelessness of June, July and August is about to slip behind a veil, as foreign and faraway as arid winds, peachy sands and Moroccan arches. Sandallwood fans purchased last week inspired this tutorial for Project Wedding - you can find the full details over there!

Lantern and Cherry Blossom

2009-09-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

I bring you another party at Apt. 10! This time Nikki turned 21 and I put together a table for the gathering we hosted Saturday night. Nikki issued invites weeks ago but we really didn't begin any food, drink and decoration plans until Friday afternoon, so there was some hasty grocery shopping and whirlwind DIY-ing.
Click here to see the rest of this post after the jump.

On the Menu I made Thai chicken tortilla spring rolls (with mozzarella, white bean sprouts, carrot and cilantro) - an appetizer I finally got around to duplicating at home earlier in the week, after liking them so much at CPK. They turned out delicious and made for promising party food. To go with them: homemade sweet and spicy peanut sauce for dipping. For drinks Nikki mixed up a refreshing cranberry-pineapple rum punch, and for dessert I made four layer chocolate pudding cups.Decorations Plans for a trip to Chinatown for paper lanterns and other goods fell through, so I made do with what I had at home and I'm so glad I did. The three accordion lanterns I bought in January established the color and theme for the table. The whole thing unfolded kind of casual and colorful. I set out two stacks of left over napkins for a mix and match look, hung the lanterns with generous ribbon yardage, letting it cascade haphazardly onto the table. For height I put straws and cutlery in glasses and jars. Re-purposed baking ramekins served as sauce bowls and vintage aqua trays from my picnic basket were used as informal servingware.Photoshop, Paper, Scissors Friday night I remembered the unsightly striped cocktail umbrellas I found over a year ago in the clearance bin at Michael's. I knew I'd impulsively bought them for just such a project as refashioning them into cherry blossom parasols. I carefully cut away the old striped paper and glued on a new cherry blossom design I illustrated and printed. I also decided to adapt the parasol illustration into a sheet of patterned paper (a swatch is above) from which I made simple hanging lanterns with bright red tassels, handmade from a skein of embroidery thread. From the paper scraps I cut strips to fasten around glass tea light holders (with double stick tape) to bring a little more of the pattern to the table.
I hope our guests enjoyed the food, drink and catching up and that you all enjoyed the photos! Lesson learned: do some last minute party planning - it will really stretch your creativity. And finally, Happy Birthday Nikki!

Butterfly

2009-09-04T02:09:00.000-07:00

Silken wings, thin as paper, light as down. Proof that nature only requires two dimensions to create beauty. And such beauty translates well to paper. The perfect subjects to draw or paint, though this time I used photocopied vintage images. Cut along intricate edges and fashioned into little clips, they're holding escort cards (made to mimic specimen tags) for Project Wedding, but I think they'd be equally dear gathering stray papers.

LA Story

2009-09-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

{1} Once upon a Friday, just before I left for home, Alice took the last northbound train into Union Station. The next morning morning she, Nikki and I quickly breakfasted at Apartment 10 and set out to do some touristy wandering in Beverly Hills. We walked Rodeo Drive from Little Santa Monica to Wilshire, finding ourselves among the crowds of Saturday sightseers, stopping before particularly pretty windows - ones with Tiffany diamonds, ivory gowns, and golden brocades.

{2} Early afternoon found us in the Miracle Mile district, walking about the third floor gallery of the Craft and Folk Art Museum. We were there to see an exhibition of artwork inspired by the shadow boxes of Joseph Cornell. The pieces by this artist were my favorite, but all afforded so many strange and lovely old things to look at - Victorian cards, butterflies under glass, vials and one cent postage stamps, match boxes, skeleton keys, bingo cards, tin birds, rusted sewing needles and a logo cut from a Western Union telegram.
{3} By the time daylight started to fade our party of four (now plus Brett), had enjoyed dinner from a picnic basket in the middle of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. All summer long, they host movie screenings on an open lawn, and this particular Saturday, Singin' in the Rain flickered before us.{4} We drove home via Sunset. Don't cities look their best at night? All the unsightly details whisked away in the twinkle of streetlights and marquees.
{5} Sunday brought my parents on the 12:15 train, we met them downtown, inside the cavernous waiting room at Union Station. Back at Apartment 10 a group of six sat down to a homemade lunch of cool salad, warm bread, and farfalle pasta and pesto. As delicious, merry and memorable a few hours as our sweltering little kitchen ever saw.
{6} Our aforementioned drive to Union Station was by way of the Fairfax flea market where I hurriedly purchased a box of thread and notions. After the lunch dishes were washed and dried I sat down to look more closely at my find: lots of wooden spools, a handful of paper bobbins, six thimbles, pink satin ribbon, a snippet of crocheted trim and a minty green case of needles.

There and Back Again

2009-09-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

I spent the waning days of August back home. Three months of summer and a ten week internship concluded, last week marked the start of the tepid heat and carefree hours of late summer. There are certain things I'm always grateful for while home and they're the same things I miss once I leave. In summertime its the airy curtains and open windows, the family chatter, the deep wood of old furniture, the welcomed cool of shade and grass and garden hoses and after a day full of such things, the ceaseless echo of nighttime crickets.
P.S. If you missed these photos (and their descriptions) in last month's guest series over at Decor8, here's the link.

A Bit of Earth

2009-08-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

Growing up my dad was always cultivating things in the backyard. At one point or another there were tomatoes, corn, carrots, peas, oranges, strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, pumpkins and a consistent assortment of herbs. The green figs stand out in earliest memory, honey-sweet and salmony pink on the inside. The plum tree had deep violet bark and a knotty, convoluted trunk. Its fruit was of the tartest variety, but in springtime its spindly branches were sprinkled with delicate blossoms whose petals fell away in the slightest wind. And right around the time school started again, the apples started falling to the ground, green, blushed with deep red. We'd haul them back to the house in buckets after dinner, and I'd help my mother measure oatmeal and brown sugar for apple crisp. I miss that away at school - having a "bit of earth," in the words of Mary Lennox. There's something almost noble, about gardening, perhaps it's the requisite patience or maybe it's simply the pure and basic reliance on nature. Up at school I've been gingerly tending a windowsill garden since the spring, learning along the way just how green my thumb isn't. Too much water, too little water, too much sun, seeds that never sprout, pesky bugs that won't go away. Oh, my. But I finally have some healthy new seedlings in tiny terracotta pots, complete with homemade plant stakes (Popsicle sticks + chalkboard paint). And the zinnias are even ready for a larger home!

Pretty Maids

2009-08-19T01:20:00.000-07:00

Those vintage stamps from the flea market left me craving envelopes, labels and postmarked paper which ultimately led to this "bridesmaid's guide" I created for Project Wedding. It's kind of like a mailable inspiration board. You can download the template to make a little accordion fold booklet, fill in relevant details (important dates, the dress shop's card, fabric swatches, etc.) and tuck it all into an A2 envelope. And even if you're not planning a wedding, there's a handy set of apple green address labels included in the download! Find it all here.

Craft Closet Part II

2009-08-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's finally finished! A rosy, colorful little room behind an ordinary closet door. A place for buttons and rickrack and ribbon, for planning, making, drawing and painting. It's been in progress for a while - I shared illustrated plans back in May and I've been slowly collecting things since December starting with the sewing table I bought without having any closet dimensions handy - luckily it fit perfectly.The table is absolutely my favorite part of the closet. I found it on Craigslist for $15 and my dad adjusted it so it would work with my sewing machine and even made an additional piece to fill in the "hole" in the tabletop when the sewing machine is removed. This means it can double as a craft table. I sanded it, gave it a few coats of paint (Ionic Sky, by Behr), topped it off with water based polyurethane for extra durability and added a knob I've been saving for just the right project.
Pegboards just seemed like the most practical solution for frequently used and awkwardly shaped tools, but at the same time I wanted to dedicate some of the very limited wall space for a writable surface (to make lists and quickly jot ideas) -the chalkboard-pegboard was born! I originally planned to make them magnetic as well, but from what I read magnetic paint is both expensive and not always successful. Making these was a quick project and I'm satisfied with the results; I use them with a set of fine tip liquid chalk pens which work well for writing in between the pegboard holes. Right on the inside of the door a memo board hangs from a pink satin ribbon. This was a must since I'm always collecting interesting paper things - postcards from museum gift shops, old photographs from the flea market, pretty calling cards and vintage stamps. It's also a great place to pin loose drawings or notes.The top shelf provides the bulk of storage - it has a lot of depth and vertical space. I love the way everything up there acquires a pinkish glow from the paper lantern that hangs from the ceiling. I've been using those stacking plastic storage boxes for craft supplies for a few years - they're inexpensive, visually neutral and easy to find in case I need more. As part of the closet project I made some magnetic chalkboard labels with extra paint so in the event of future rearranging and reorganizing, I can change what the labels say and where they're situated on the box.
I couldn't feel more fortunate to have a place to entirely dedicate to creative pursuits. I hope this inspires you to set a side a little time and space - however small it might be for the things you love to do!

Paper Lace

2009-07-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

This week the heat wave ended. The hydrangeas under the back stairs faded from bright pink to mauve. And a few nights ago, a cool dewy breeze foreshadowed fall. I refuse to take their melancholy hints; autumn really is a long way off. Only in late September do classes resume and temperatures drop. But the light in the kitchen on Wednesday afternoon was disconcertingly fall-like, warm and quickly fading. It made for a certain haziness in these photos. But still, in all the layers of white you find summer once again; everything seems sensibly engineered for lightness and cool - walls like cream organdy, the openwork of paper doilies, the midair suspension of scalloped lace. The garland is for Project Wedding - it's so simple to make and equally lovely to sit under whether your watching a bride walk down the aisle or the day fade into dusk outside the back door.

In the Good Old Summertime

2009-07-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

The weekend felt like a welcome pause, suspended somewhere between Friday and Monday, like a coastal haze in July, at once heavy and light. Sunday afternoon brimmed with the stuff summer is made of, seaside amusement parks, sandy hot dog stands, and the far off tinkle of a carousel organ. We channeled childhood on the swing sets at the old Muscle Beach, waded in the Pacific and rode the Ferris wheel after dark - thus crossing that "first summer in Los Angeles" rite of passage, off our lists. At the end of the day, two utterly exhausted girls returned to Apt. 10 and emptied cameras full of pictures.

I like to think about what it was like in the old days, the women with Edwardian hats and billowing skirts in an opening day promenade, the raucous of be-knickered little boys clamoring for a ride on the Whirlwind Dipper, the vanished La Monica ballroom, echoing twenties jazz and wartime swing across the water, the waves and the decades rolling by.

Summer Swizzle

2009-07-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was as lazy a day as I've had in a while; I was home for the weekend, and decided to while away the afternoon outside, picking lemons and spearmint, running around on the grass with my terrier and watching a giant jar of tea steep in the sun. It was a true summer day - long, light, hot and carefree. With the rest of the weekend I reunited with old friends, roasted marshmallows over backyard bonfires and found myself greeting great aunts and second cousins at a huge family barbecue. Anyway, with summer, iced tea sipping and entertaining on the agenda I came up with these swizzle sticks for Project Wedding. Set a bundle of these little beauties out at the drink table, alongside some alphabet stickers to ensure your guests don't misplace their glasses. Get the details and more inspiration at Project Wedding!

Hometown Holiday

2009-07-05T22:43:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been loving the city: driving down the Sunset strip on the way home from work, taking my pick of weekend flea markets and discovering a great little fabric shop on the Westside. But there's still no place like your hometown for the Fourth of July, so that's just where we went for the long weekend - home to open lanes, open land and the Terrace Park fireworks. I brought along vintage trims in red white and blue (all from a box of old notions I found several weeks ago at the flea market). I decided to hand stitch them together to make a trio of tricolor cockades, which are quite fittingly, a very 18th century piece of insignia.

"It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with ...Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." John Adams to Abigail, July 3, 1776

Tea Light Lanterns: A Tutorial

2009-06-30T00:02:00.001-07:00

Another tutorial I created is up at Project Wedding! I like to think of these as instant lanterns - in their unembellished form, they come together so easily from a few simple materials. These in particular remind me of an organdy dress, with their soft, ladylike details and cool simplicity. Make a batch for your next twilit summer celebration - you can find the full instructions and supplies list over at Project Wedding.

Slide Projector: The Pre-Raphaelites

2009-06-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Dear me, somewhere between ending another school year and starting an internship, two weeks have quickly slipped by without a post. But this means I have a backlog of projects to share with you in the coming weeks (the craft closet is approaching completion and the dollhouse is finally going to be unveiled!). Before I completely abandon academics for the summer I wanted to add to the "Slide Projector" series with a group of artists I studied during the year.It's at the end of the first floor corridor, behind the dove gray door on the right. Room 1542, where the daydreamiest of students drift off on a bit of time travel. Not to the oft frequented Parisian exhibitions of most 19th century art history courses, but to England. To the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their circle, a thoroughly fascinating band of romantics, brooding and avant-garde, with the requisite starry eyed poet among them. They were fascinated by the medieval, and displaced by the shock of industrialism's soot and steam. Onto the banks of Ophelia's watery grave, across fields after rain, a vibrancy of color and gloried nature spills from their brushes, tempered by a compelling quality of the mysterious and the unsaid.

Little Italy

2009-06-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I took a day trip with my parents and their friends to Little Italy, San Diego - an unexplored place in a familiar city.
We rode by train. Down the coast to Union Station, where we met with colored tile, old radiators, window panes and light through a Spanish arcade.
It was sunny and blue enough for a new summer dress. Pink and white stripes and lots of fabric in the skirt - to my detriment with wind gusts off the nearby harbor.
We strolled through the late morning's street market and bought daisies for two dollars a bunch.
The afternoon we filled with lunch and a tour; painted ceilings and stained glass, chocolate gelato, neighborhood history and being tourists in our own backyard.
With the end of the day, mom and I explored two more blocks plus a coffee shop, rejoining the others on the 7 o'clock train for all points north.

Seedling Kit Favors

2009-05-27T01:52:00.001-07:00

I'm pleased to announce I'm contributing at Project Wedding! So if you'd like to learn how to make these little seedling kit gift boxes (or just see more pictures of them) head over to the tutorial page.

Two Days, Three Museums

2009-05-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

My what an outing filled weekend! I made it to three museums and even caught Road to Morocco on the big screen Friday night. The Getty and The Norton Simon I had visited before, but I was so unprepared for The Huntington - expansive gardens complete with classical statues, colonnaded gallery buildings, sweeping lawns a conservatory. Simply glorious; we must go back to see it all! And now some sketches and notes from each destination (click each image for larger view)...The Getty Center, Friday Afternoon
Assignment: Observe, take notes and prepare for presentation on Gerard ter Borch's The Music Lesson, for art history class on Dutch Baroque painting.
Distractions: Taking in views of the city below, enjoying the weather on a cafe chair in the sun. Exploring the permanent collection of 18th century decorative arts (again), and admiring chandeliers. Seeing the special exhibitions - my highlights: (1) monumental volumes of illuminated manuscripts on book stands under glass (2) Portrait photography from the 19th century (among others) (3) design drawings for 18th century decorative objects and architectural elements.
The Norton Simon, Saturday Midday
Assignment: Meet Dutch Baroque class in the 17th century gallery and listen to classmate's presentations. Admire genre scenes and amazingly luscious still life paintings by Flemish and Dutch artists.
Distractions: Sunshine and water lilies in the sculpture garden. Degas pastels in the 19th century wing. Savoring my second visit.The Huntington, Saturday Afternoon
Assignment: View Weng collection painting and calligraphy exhibit at the Boone Gallery and observe the Chinese Garden for Art History of China class.
Distractions: Playing with calligraphy pens at the hands-on exhibit. Taking in the grounds and gardens and wishing we had more time to see the art galleries. Admiring weeping willows and classical statues in the rose garden, all the while feeling a bit like Mary Lennox. Loveliest place.

Craft Closet

2009-05-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our apartment has two closets right off of the living room. One for music, the other for art; just perfectly in line with the interests of Apartment No. 10's two inhabitants. Nikki's shallow, doubled-doored space is already replete with keyboard, guitar, Beatles album covers and cozy stacks of Irving Berlin sheet music. Unfortunately I must report that my 16 square feet are still in the planning stages, but the pieces are starting to come together. This week I thought I would record my plans with ink and watercolor. You can click on the first and third images to see them larger.
Table: Classic sewing table, a $15 Craigslist find. It came complete with an older (probably '70s), iron Singer, but I'm planning to use it with my new (and first!) sewing machine, which is supposed to be prime for novice sewers. The table itself has been sanded and adjusted by my dad to be compatable with the new machine. The next three day weekend I'm headed back home to paint it.
Shelving: Mostly existing. The closet has a fairly deep shelf that wraps in an "L" shape around it's perimenter, in addition to two corner shelves (represented by the dashed lines in the floorplan above). I'm also planning to add a narrow shelf (picture ledge from IKEA) above the table, to catch smaller supplies and keep the work area clear.
Storage: Mostly clear containers of plastic and glass, existing and new. Bins, boxes, apothecary jars, etc. Trays for different paper types, from vellum to vintage.
Lighting: Lantern from Chinatown plus a pair of wall mounted lights (IKEA).
Printing Station: An existing cart. For printer, paper cutter, paper trays, storage boxes (to hold flatcards and envelopes), and spiral pads of watercolor and drawing papers.
Walls: I'm still hunting for the perfect pair of frames (or frame), which I plan to paint a high gloss white and use for my pegboard project. I came so very close to settling on one last Sunday at the flea market. As for the pegboard itself, I have an unconventional idea that I can't wait to try out.
I hope you've enjoyed these illustrated plans; I can't wait until it's finished and I can share the real thing!

My Dreams Have Petals

2009-05-01T04:45:00.000-07:00

This place. Such a favorite. We revisited weeks ago on a spring break excursion. It's a hillside by the coast, planted with rows and rows of ranunculus. When I was very small we called it "rainbow hill" after the way the strands of petaled color seamlessly met the sky. There were fewer buildings then. Still when you're in the midst of it, with the dust of the road, the bright of noon, and a blue ribbon of sea in the distance, you find yourself quelling the impulse to run down the steeply plowed furrows and gather the largest bunch of ruffled blooms you've ever seen.