The Olive Library

Dying Sunflowers in the Poppy Sunlight

2010-08-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to go out and try more sunset lighting this past weekend. I currently don't have any in-town prospects to photograph, so I had to use myself. My neighbor next door has had this beautiful yard of sunflowers all summer, and I've just adored them everyday as they remind me of Vincent and all the books I have been reading on him lately. The flowers are nearly all dead now as fall approaches; all that's left is the seeded middles and a few last petals. It was time to take my chances, before the moment passed me by (ref Athlete).

I also made this hair bow on Saturday, its chiffon flowers-a bit much for everyday wear, Carly made me the rose earrings and the pearls are a give from my Father. :)

DW on painting Sunflowers via Vincent van Gogh's character "I find them complex, always somewhere between living and dying, half human as they turn to the sun, a little disgusting, but you know? They're a challenge!"

This one doesn't have petals, but its Todd's favorite.

PS-OH not all the petals in the pics are from Sunflowers-some of them might be daisies! (for all you Botanists and Harry Potter Herbology lovers out there.)

THE LEGACY.
by John Donne

WHEN last I died, and, dear, I die
As often as from thee I go,
Though it be but an hour ago
—And lovers' hours be full eternity—
I can remember yet, that I
Something did say, and something did bestow ;
Though I be dead, which sent me, I might be
Mine own executor, and legacy.

It's A Very Very Late Rainbow Cake

2010-08-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

Todd made his first cake this weekend at 2am. I helped just a little with mixing the fun rainbow colors. He made the icing pink and put T + S on it for me! So sweet, and it tasted just the same.

Theodus Didn't Mean to Steal the Salt

2010-08-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try to attempt a collage after being inspired by Edwardo Recife and Franny from catchmeifyoufran.

I used mostly 16th & 17th century field guides that are no longer under copy-write laws for this collage. There's some undertones of French and Italian influence in it along with the factor of "beauty by tension", which I'm a big fan of. I found that I could think of an entire story after seeing this collage come to life, as I did not plan anything out prior to staring at a blank slate.

I'm happy with in light that its my first real collage. I do plan to try again.

I hope you like it.

-Sarah

Out Of Town for Love...and The Short Adventures in Paper Boats and Paper Hats

2010-07-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here's our Chicago Paper Anniversary Trip Photos. I hope you enjoy them.

(Photos by me -(and some by Todd ;)

ps- if you noticed a lot of running towards the camera it was because Todd wanted to add explosions to the photos in post, as if we were in a Doctor Who episode! We also made all of our little paper props to celebrate and remember, and the large yellow map was from my brothers trip to Chicago. All in all, we had such a lovely time in Chicago, visiting the museums, beaches, book stores, popcorn stands, second city comedy club and lots more!

My New Method in Science Introspection

2010-07-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Time has been passing under a constant cloud of dreams, journal entries and oil painting for me. I nearly forgot that I had claimed almost a month ago to add some more photographs from our Chicago trip, which you can see in my next blog entry later today, if you'd like.

I'm so consumed because I've recently began to realize that more than anything, I want to paint...my empty journals are becoming full and my mind has been happy. I dream about the color pink nearly every night which is said to represent love, joy, sweetness, happiness, affection and kindness-being in love or healing through love is also implied with this color. I think I've just finally realized after all these years what I desire the most to do. I've been keeping a private journal-one that's been empty for nearly 10 years, a gift from my father, and its wonderful that I can finally write in it with purpose and not feel hesitant to waste the precious page space with the mundane.

I know most people associate me with photographs....but photography, seems ordinary and flat to me now for the most part. Often times I only want to do it for the clients happiness and not my own...and for the extra cash too. I'm not saying I've given up on it completely-as its possible I may be open to working with a lovely girl named Eden, later this year. However, I've found that there are other ways to make side cash for my pretty dresses and "sarahthings". I've picked up an extra job (as a side job from my university library marketing day to day work) participating in a creative mind study that pays well, so I'm pretty excited about that. Its also in my plans to do watercolors to rest while my oil paints dry and to sell these for prints. I'm not sure if I will share them with the general public so if you would like to see some after awhile you are welcome to email me.

***Its really nice to have a husband like Todd around, one who knows exactly who he is for encouragement. Sooo, anniversary photos next for posting today!

An Anniversary Lived, Laughed, Caked and Traveled

2010-06-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick preview of some of our anniversary adventures lately. These two photos were taken on our actual date, and the first on was right on the exact minutes to the hour from when we got married last year. Todd wore his wedding suit, with an different tie, and I wore the dress I sewed recently.

More to come soon.

xx
Sarah

A Paper Anniversary Swirling Inside a Lemon Frock

2010-06-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago I watched Pan's Labryrinth for the very first time. It was strange of me to wait so long on a foreign fantastical story, but I'm happy I did. I was really inspired by the simplicity of Ofelia's clothes. How underneath the desires of others to wear elaborate dresses she preferred to wear something really basic. There's always something warming about the absence of complicated design. I immediately began to dream of making some.

Yellow, Sweet, Happy.

I searched for patterns that may fit into the ideas in my mind for a simple romantic dress, but atlas there were none. I finally just decided to mold and make my own (and without the Switzerland pattern making paper I really wanted to purchase). Basically, ended up just using pattern paper from ones I had already purchased and drawing over them with magic markers after measuring myself and other dresses I own. I have no idea if my technique was efficient or appropriate, as this is only my third dress ever sewn, but it seemed to work out okay.

I just completed this project last night. The timing couldn't have been better as its just in time for our one year wedding anniversary, where one celebrates by giving gifts made of paper to each other- how lovely is that? I plan to wear it a few times this week. The first, on the night of our paper anniversary, to where my husband has surprised reserved us a romantic dinner for two and the other to a gallery date to drown myself into some of my most beloved art of all time. Maybe to stand there looking up at paintings from the hands of my heroes, it will make me happy to know I spent so much time making something myself, just for the occasion.

*photo taken in my living room by me, with the little blue bird that attended our wedding last year.

Book Love Under a Tree

2010-06-06T06:25:00.001-07:00

Its been a long while since I've actually accepted a photography client, but Teresa and Colin won my heart over. They are both full of life and have an infinite love for all things literature and intelligence. We took these these photos one week after they tied the knot. Teresa being so busy this past year with completing her PHD in chemistry had absolutely no time to do anything before they wanted to get married. In that, I think having these photos really made this moment in time more special for them, and I really wanted to be the one that put a smile on their faces. Below are some of my favorites from the day. I hope you enjoy them.

Sarah

**ps Special thanks to Todd & Joey!

OH AND

That beautiful card catalogue was a wedding gift to Todd and I from the library I work for. Isn't it lovely?

Break the Strings and Remember Always

2010-05-22T08:40:00.001-07:00

Each of our passions, even love, has a stomach that must not be overloaded. We must in all things write the word finis in time; we must restrain ourselves, when it becomes urgent, draw the bolt on the appetite, play a fantasia on the violin, then break the strings with our own hand.

(p. 135) Les Miserables

May Life be Filled with Dreams

2010-05-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

Todd's favorite new photo of me.

Ribbon Book Banners say Love Best

2010-05-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is a preview of the shoot I just did for the adorable couple, Teresa & Colin. They both love books and each other so we were inspired to make a book wall! I also made this banner for them to hold out of recycled vintage books. Oh and to top it off we also had a 1920s style picnic. It was one amazing Saturday! More to come.

Pink Trees and Memories

2010-04-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

*One more from the Medical School Courtyard. I like to take photos on holidays, knowing they will be special in the future.

Spring, Science, Tulips and Jonquils

2010-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Surprise Tulips from Todd. He didn't remember that the red ones were my favorite, but he got them anyway. How adorable. I got him a bucket full of candy that he enjoys napping with. Also, this is one of my most favorite courtyards at Vanderbilt. Its private access and it leads to the Vanderbilt University Medical School, as seen behind me.
more about this look here. (click to see larger)

Jonquils like the one in my hair I think are so pretty, they always remind me of dreaming and hillsides. OH and Easter. I hope everyone had a great Easter. I did spend part of the weekend painting some bunnies to celebrate the holiday. One's a boy and ones a girl. Of course.
more about this look here. (ps-the shoes in this pic, i've had for 15 years, and they were my grandmothers before that)

xxx
Sarah

Perfect Hour One Kite Two Friends

2010-03-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I basically stayed home for its entirety, aside from a trip to the fabric store for new spring material, the donation place to give away unwanteds (goodbye derby roller blades that remind me of sad times, I will not miss you-and you hurt my feet anyway) and to Borders at midnight with Todd to ahem buy New Moon. Will I apologize for that last one? Never. Maybe its bad, but I love it so much.

Anyway! It was really nice to not have any plans and to not be social. I used a lot of my time playing with fabrics and cutting out shapes and sewing.

So as you can see above-this is my first embroidery project! It only took me forever, even though it looks pretty simple. It's for an 8x10 wall hanging, and I'll probably frame it in wood or mat it in white. I has three stitches to it: back stitch, satin stitch, and my favorite the french knot-or the dot dot dots. I learned these by looking reading through a book in the fabric store Saturday afternoon.

Side note: I also learned from my Father over the phone that my Yaya loved to embroider and that amazingly enough he knows how to knit and likes it (he even claimed to knit too tight-sounds like me). So I asked him to teach me and and said, "My God, its so simple, Sarah." I guess that means I'll have to force him into it this April...

PS- sorry this is such a bad photo-I need a new card for my SRL.

I hope everyone had a good weekend too!
~
sarah x

Yellow Horses Ride on Pretty Starful Maps

2010-03-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

cartography-terrestrial-and-celestrial!

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been blogging. I caught a monster cold, then had to plan a few birthday surprises for Todd and my friend Carly! On the creative front I have managed to make a necklace and try learning embroidery, but otherwise I haven't been too productive with art or sewing this past week.

Hopefully this weekend I wont make any plans and just be a shut-in to paint paint paint.

Have a good day-hopefully not a cold one.

PS-I see pink trees here in Nashville! Hello Springtime. I love you.

Four Hundred and Twenty Six Dots

2010-02-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

Olive Green Polka Dots.

After learning how to straight stitch on a few pillows in January, I sewed this, my very first dress. Here are some photos to share with you. Its not perfect, and it took me longer than normal because I was reading how-to books on a learning curve, but I finally ended up with this dress a week and a half later.

Its just a simple scoop neck, side zipper with pleats, and altered some to not be below my knees as the pattern called. I actually tried adding my own lining to the skirt part of the dress and sewed it in incorrectly as I applied it to my actual skirt, instead of just letting it hang. You can kinda tell below:

More about the whole look here on lookbook.nu:
http://lookbook.nu/look/527023-Four-Hundred-and-Twenty-Six-Dots

Thanks for visiting I'm off to watch my brother play Legends of Zelda now with Todd. He's trying to beat it in 2 hours! I hope you all had a very lovely weekend.

xxx~
Sarah

Blueberry Monsters Love Ice Cream

2010-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Last night I was stuck on what to do next with a more intense painting. So Todd asked me to warm up/relax by drawing him eating from a bowl filled with ice cream. He held his hand up to his face for about 2 secs laughed and walked out of the doorway. When he came back a minute or so later, I had drawn him as a monster eating blueberry ice cream gluberland style.

Anyway! I hope you all have a good Friday. I'm looking forward to family coming to stay over the weekend, warmer weather, handwritten letters, packages of shoes coming in the mail, finding the perfect white dress, and hopefully finishing the art piece I was stuck on last night.

Beda Dress-Anthropologie/Dolce Vita Sofia Boot

PS-Now I kinda want to draw all my friends as monsters just to laugh at them.

Meridies had Vintage Maps and European Paintings in His Ship

2010-02-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the library to scan in my new header and background seen on this blog. I painted them both fairly quickly yesterday and while I was waiting for it to load, found a shelf full of Atlases. So exciting.

I knew the oversized books were there, but I hadn't look though them in years. Every since the last big snow, when we visited a friends house full of maps and record players, I've been wanting to explore them once more for old map sketches. Some show drawings of little sea lions eating fish and others of sharks traveling waters and of course sailing ships, as seen above in the Britannia map. I'd like to do some decorating with these also, they make the home warm and nostalgic with heritage.

From the weekend:

Though Flaming June was missing, we did get to see many other works from the rotation of courtesy of Museo de Arte de Ponce this weekend.

Among those we liked and saw with our own eyes were:

"Portrait of a Gentleman"
by Bartholomeus van der Helst
(the collar alone was phenomenal-just perfect)

Judith con la Cabeza de Holofernes
Lucas Cranach the Elder
(what a sneaky lunatic)

Sir John Everett Millais
oil on canvas, 1857
The Escape of a Heretic, 1559
(The story was interesting of him breaking in to free his love from being executed-and you can see he tied up the priest in the process.)

Miss Gladys M. Holman Hunt (The School of Nature)
William Holman Hunt. Museo
(He had actually painted his 16 year old daughter, and then replaced her head with a more mature woman-which I found weird)

There were many more we liked, but they not available online for some reason.

OH Also, upstairs was a Greek Hero's section full of mostly terracotta pots, but some old statues and sculptures (mostly of Hercules). I learned I was most like the Greek Hero ATHENA.

The best part for Todd was seeing this Greek war helmet.

I Sewed My Heart Tight and Found You In It

2010-02-17T10:13:00.001-08:00

.
I spent part of last week making this dress for a Valentines day wear.

It's only the second dress I've ever sewn since getting my machine as a gift in December. I made it from red linen fabric and used just part of a vogue pattern, the top of it was sketched to get ideas for embellishments, and eventually I decided to go with the biggest bow I could possibly put on it! Bows are great, why not go big? I still wanted to keep it a pretty simple piece to offset the gigantic bow, so I just left it plain throughout the rest of the dress as seen below.

<3

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I Love Weird Pillow Talk

2010-02-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQAk_T9SBbw

I think this is really funny that my husband, Todd, is the main front image of this video, topless in bed with a bunch of puppets-(me being one of them)...The video has some of the Nations BIGGEST GEEKS. It was complied by Olga Numes and Elaine Doyle and its really adorable.

FULL CREDITS LIST
01. We love momentum - Elaine Doyle & Olga Nunes
02. I love to engineer - David Beaumont & Google Zurich
03. I love this bakery -- Hank Green (Brotherhood2.0, Nerdfighters)
04. I love the blogosphere -- Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing)
05. I love the whole world - Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy)
06. And all its messed up folks -- Lawrence Lessig
07. Boomdeyada Boomdeyada -- Miss Cellania (Neatorama)
08. I love your suffering -- Allan Amato
09. I love cryptography -- Bruce Schneier
10. I love entangled sheets -- Olga Nunes, Belinda Casas, Chuck Martinez, Jeremy James, Joanna Gaunder, Lee Israel
11. And kite photography -- Charissa Gilreath
12. I love the whole world -- Jason Kottke (kottke.org)
13. I love a mystery -- Neil Gaiman
14. Boomdeyada Boomdeyada -- Mr. Toast
15. Boomdeyada Boomdeyada -- MC Frontalot
16. I love elections - Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden (Making Light)
17. I love transistors -- MC Frontalot
18. I love weird pillow talk -- Team Genius
19. I love your sister -- Neil Gaiman & Maddy Gaiman
20. I love the whole world -- Octavio Coleman Esq.
21. The future's pretty cool - Wil Wheaton
22. Boomdeyada Boomdeyada - Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden (Making Light)
23. Boomdeyada Boomdeyada - Team Genius

Mostly I'm happy that Todd's face is on his favorite authors web-journal. It doesn't really matter in a grand scheme, but its definitely fun irony that whenever Todd was young he read the book, Neverwhere, by Neil and decided that his fate was to be a writer. Now he's on his 2nd novel and has a story in a comic book coming out this year!

It hit WIRED too, one of my favorite magazines. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/02/we-love-xkcd/

And here's me and the puppet I acted with. HEY It wasn't easy spooning under kiddy sheets, with strangers, in a dress, holding puppets sewn by boys...

.

By the way, my favorite book by Neil Gaiman is Coraline. You should read it if you haven't-its currently a movie and up for an Oscar.

The Lovely Bones and The Trip Post Home

2009-12-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

Started the evening fully intending to read The Lovely Bones...and ended it with Todd taking Crayola marker to my face. (See there's his cute hand in the lower left corner.)

Of course, he didn't stop at just my eye...but those self portraits you could use against me in the case of SARAH VERSES THE WORLDS CRAYOLAS (because she ate them).

Lead Balloons On a Foggy Day

2009-12-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Lead Balloons
by me

Fog and mist, toil and hiss.
Laid creatures bounded within coiled mountains.
Out they come, one by one.
Foiled in scales of fancy armor.

In a war to end all wars, they CHARGED!
In the mist, in the toil, in the hiss!
They charged and charged and charged again.

With their shiny scales flying, and their small teeth biting.
They collided and COLLIDED into the vapor of The Nothings.

And so it was told, again and again.
That the creatures, one by tiny one, ran so very far, that well, they lost.

the end.

***I'm sorry for two things. 1. that I haven't blogged in so long. 2. that I can't remember where I found this cute painting as seen above. When I locate the artist. I will reference.

Pleasant Kite Flying Trees, Sweeps and Floating Seas

2009-07-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

*even more!

Sherbert Pink Balloon Looks

2009-07-06T10:29:00.001-07:00

**one of my favorites that i took of them that day. click to enlarge.

Magic Tree Walls and Robins Egg Pink

2009-06-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

This photo of me in my wedding dress, with my gorgeous bridesmaids.
More importantly tho, it was taken by two girls, twins, friends and wonderfully amazing photographers-see more of their work here: lookingglassphotography.