Art filled Lunch in DC

The Renwick Museum http://americanart.si.edu/renwick/ (which is a whole 2 blocks away) is one of my favorite lunchtime haunts. There is a guard stationed inside that looks through your purse and bags before you can enter. As she was going through my purse, she told me that the permanent collection on the second floor had been changed and that they are installing a new exhibit on the first floor. I walked up the long stair case to the salon and saw lots of beautiful paintings that I had not seen before.

The exhibit that really caught my eye was Beth Lipman's Bancketje (Banquet). This piece of art is a twenty-foot-long oak table overflowing with 400 blown and lampworked glass objects. There are even pieces on the floor that look like they fell off the table and broke. Very cool.

While I was there I looked at all the books in the gift shop one that caught my eye is Handmade Nation http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Nation-Rise-Craft-Design/dp/1568987870 and the author is going to do a screening of her film and book signing on July 16 at the Renwick. Wow, I put that on my calendar right away. "Faythe Levine, co-author of Handmade Nation, traveled 19,000 miles documenting the do-it-yourself movement across America and has decided to travel a bit further to Washington, D.C. Enjoy a screening and a discussion of her wildly popular documentary Handmade Nation.Book signing follows." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apPrJtMyvNI

http://indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com//\

It's always a nice break in the workday to see beautiful, thought provoking art. I also found out that you can take photos of the permanent collection if you don't use flash. So I will be returning with my camera and share some of the wonderful art.

Prince Jack

Here's a picture of Prince Jack with Grandma Eileen and Grandma Linda. I used photoshop to add some fun images. I'm going to make postcards and mail them out to family.

Doll class update

This is what I have so far. It's done except the head is not really attached and I always seem to add more stuff.

I never think that something new is going to be hard. I have to say that I've been struggling with the doll class. First the boots and gloves were way to small (my seams were too big). I saved the boots but will need to make new gloves. When I sewed the doll the belt got sewed to the crotch which prevented me from turning it. I ended up with a hole in the crotch and one arm where the stitches pulled out - because now I'm barley leaving a seam allowance. The slit I used to turn the doll was about 4 inches long. I had a terrible time turning the legs and arms. Stuffing went OK. I made a doll about 10 years ago and still had a set of tubs and rods used for turning - I would not have been able to turn the arms and legs with out this tool.

The class challenged me to try something new. The first time through is always a learning experience. I have two more heads and I feel sure that I will have an easier time finishing them.

Thanks to Chaska Peacock http://www.artalchemystudio.com/ and Georgina Diaz http://lloronaarts.blogspot.com/ for hosting the class. I can't wait to see the other dolls!

Birthday Party

It was a beautiful day! The party was fun and the cheesecake was fabulous! Jack was having a wonderful time he is 4 weeks old now and I finally got to hold him.

Tree down

Last Sunday I was reading when I heard what sounded like a very large motorcycle in front of the house. When the sound didn't stop I went to see what all the fuss was about. To my surprise there was a van stuck in the ditch in front of the house and 3 police cars. Then I noticed the van had a tree stuck to the back of it. The van had taken out a row of about 8 little trees before it hit a 30 foot pine tree in the front yard. The van got towed but the trees are still where they were a week ago. They are all the neighbor's trees. I watched the pine tree grow up over the last 16 years. I hope that it will be replaced.

Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake

I will do just about anything to avoid cleaning my studio. Today I just had to spend the day making a chocolate strawberry cheesecake (the bottom layer is chocolate and the top layer is traditional cheesecake with sliced strawberries in the batter), chocolate coverd strawberries and an attempt to make chocolate leaves. I got some leaves from the rose bushes washed and dryed them then put chocolate on the bottom side of the leaf and put the in the fridge. I will try to peel the chocolate off the leaves and put them on top of the cheesecake.

UPDATE on chocolate leaves - I guess you have to put a thick layer of melted chocolate on the leaves. I got a few bits and pieces of leaves but mostly the rose leaf stuck to the chocolate or it just melted in my hand. The cheese cake was a bit hit, everyone said it was the best ever!!

The cheesecake is for Cat's 40th birthday celebration tomorrow. We also bought a traditional birthday cake from German bakery this morning. I'll get to see Jack tomorrow (he's 4 weeks old now) will be taking tons of pictures.

Great Stuff from Sister Joan

I received a package packed full of all kinds of interesting stuff today from my friend, and art sister Joan. Joan, Judy and Jan adopted me into their family as one of their sisters and even call me J-Linda. There are so many things that inspire me, I can't wait to use them. Some of them will be incorporated in my steampunk doll. Thank you Joan for being the greatest sister ever!

This is the first time I've received an art gift "just because". Here are a few photos of my new stuff:

This beautiful mirror is now in my purse!

I'm going to try and turn this glove into a doll!

The dolls I make are from larger alphabet blocks - I wonder if I could make mini dolls using these tiny blocks?

Doll heads - Just baked!

Here are my three doll heads. I just took them out of the oven to cool off. I still need to hang some things from their horns. This was first lesson in the online Steampunk Doll class. I think I'm going to use the purple one for the class.

A Beautiful Evening in DC

We took the Vespa scooter on a tour of our old neighborhoods in Washington, DC last night. We stopped to get a hamburger, fries and onion rings a Z-burger (I took some TUMS when we got home just in case the onion rings decided to cause problems) then on to our old Cleveland Park neighborhood. We drove by the Shorham hotel (we got married there in 1983). It looked so big and beautiful, I had no idea it had 834 rooms. We drove by the 3 apartments we lived in - the old neighborhood is a happening place now. Every seat in every outside cafe was taken, everyone looked happy to be out and about. We drove by the National Cathedral where a graduation was just getting out and everywhere you looked you saw beautiful young women in white summer dresses (with very high heels) and a single red rose. Downtown on the mall folks were enjoying the sites. What a lovely evening on the scooter!

Dream doll

I took the dream doll to Stifel and Capra tonight http://www.stifelandcapra.com/index.php I noticed one of my dolls had sold so I took this one in to place on the empty hook. Everyone was setting up yummy tables of food for the First Friday celebration! Now if it would only stop raining we could all get some much needed sunshine to improve our cloudy moods!

I am the LUCKY WINNER

I will be taking my first online class - I am the lucky winner of the free Steampunk Doll class. I've very, very excited and will be blogging about the class and posting the results! I can only hope that my doll is just as fun and funky as this one!