Journal Fun

This particular journal was started in January 2008, when I was teaching art at St. James School. While it was enjoyable, and I really liked the kids and the staff (my sister in law Barbara teaches 7th grade there), I missed being out in the professional art world. I decided it was time to do an whole new portfolio, and I would take it out to textile companies. I was a freelance illustrator for years, and before that, had worked designing fabrics. And when the boys were small, and we lived in Los Angeles, I did my own line of hand painted children's furniture, which I sold through a wonderful store--Imagine That. They were so hugely popular that they had three branches--West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Sherman Oaks. It was a great outlet for me, and I loved working with them. But when we moved back East, I could never duplicate what I was doing out there--the market was too different. So, I started working as a substitute teacher, and then got a job teaching art. But it was as if I lost part of my identity, not doing my artwork. Not that I ever stopped doing it, but I wasn't selling it. So this journal kind of reflects that period of time when I was putting together my new portfolio, and getting ready to go out with it. I set my sights on Michael Miller Fabrics, and that was my goal---to work with them. I ended up doing my Modern Home collection for them, and my Old West collection.

Fooling around:

These are two doodle pages from last year, just done on notebook paper. I'm in the mode right now of making books of everything. I just organized all my vintage scrap that I've been collecting since our flea market -going- days in LA. I had it all in different folders, in this filing cabinet in the basement. But now I put everything in acetate sheets, and made a book out of it. I also made a decor-inspiration book, which was all my favorite pages of the now defunct Country Home Magazine, and Country Living. Pictures of rooms decorated with vintage, garage sale, side of the road items with chipped paint and rusted patinas. I had STACKS of these magazines going back to 1996, when the whole Shabby Chic cottage style started. And I'm also trying to archive all my Ruby Ritz material, and see what kind of form I can get it into. Lulu.com is a website for self publishing, and they have all kinds of sizes and formats. So we'll see what happens...maybe I'll just get some made up for gifts. What do you call it when you're just trying to organize all your material? Anyway, if you're not keeping a journal, I advise starting one!
I stick everything in mine, and it's a real hodge podge of stuff. You can take any notebook that you think will work, and paint over the cover, or decoupage something on it. It's nice if you have one that has a combination of blank and lined pages. Use any kind of supplies that you want: colored pencils, cut outs, rubber stamps, paint, old photographs (or better yet, copies of them), and even pieces of fabric. The more texture the better. I also buy antique books and glue the old, yellowed pages into my journal. Then, paint, stamp, or do whatever right on them. I like the idea of a journal being a sketchbook and an experimental place for new ideas. xoxox

Pop-Up Art Show

This past weekend we put on a fabulous Pop-Up Art Show! It was held in the space for the proposed Morristown EcoCenter, and it was sponsored by Sustainable Morristown, and the Arts Council of the Morris Area. It was a huge success--and we had live music played by Morristown High School students, and we had yummy food and plenty of wine + beer. It was truly a blast! The fun part was that my husband David and my son David both put paintings in the show. The one to the left is called Death, done by David Noonan sr. The True Cost of War is mine, and of course, so is Natural Beauty. Tearful Killer is done by David Noonan Sr, and Secret Star (the one with the little Mario figure in it) is done by David C. Noonan. He wanted to be in the show, and was so inspired when he was there helping us hang it, that he went home and whipped up his own painting. It's the first art show for both David's. An art show is a wonderful thing to put on, and the energy is very catching.....everyone works so hard to decide what goes where, and when something unexpected comes in that just pulls the whole thing together, it's truly inspiring. We have to do it more often! I can see how having a gallery would be an absolute blast. Hmmm...a gallery-bookstore-antiques shop-coffee house? Is that a possibility in the not so far future? We certainly know enough people who could contribute.....

More collecting

Ahh...the lost art of Penmanship! In this Collier's Encyclopedia from 1882 there are several chapters on writing and penmanship. They even have illustrations showing the correct way to sit and hold one's pen, as I guess now there are manuals on the proper way to sit at a keyboard. Posture perfect! But look at how beautiful the writing was...it was truly an art form. All the flourishes and swirls, and even the difference between a "Ladies hand", and a "Standard" one. And this book was 50 cents at a barn sale! More reasons to head out on a chilly & rainy saturday morning in April. David's cousin Bobby Cramer & his talented wife Holly have a wonderful old house and a barn they painted blue...and it's full of great stuff. Bobby does restorations and has a magnificent garden, and Holly makes all kinds of quilts, creatures, painted boxes, and jewelry. It's always inspiring to see them and their talented daughter Leigh, who writes stories and paints. Family fun!

We Love Old Books!

And, we love bookstores. In our family, they've always been a major destination for us. Our boys grew up going to author's signings, and in Los Angeles, we would hang out at our friend Julie Von Zerneck's Portrait of a Bookstore for hours. My husband David has always bought books on the street in NYC, and has a pretty amazing collection. He has an early paperback copy of the Sun Also Rises, called Fiesta. I've been collecting vintage children's books. Yesterday we were at a local used bookstore where we always find a treat. I got the Burgess Bird Book For Children, which is in perfect condition, and it was published in 1927. At this shop, the older the book, the cheaper it is. This beauty was only $7.50. Of course, you can get any book on ebay, but there's something special about picking through the stacks at an old bookstore, a library sale, or a flea market.  At one time I worked at a middle school, and the librarian had carts full of young adult books that she was "deleting". Some of them were incredibly collectible, with stunning artwork on the covers. One was an edition of Black Beauty, my favorite childhood book, that must have been from the turn of the century....it doesn't even have a date on it. Another was a Robert Heinlein book from 1951, called The Rolling Stones, in fabulous, mid century condition. There's something so innocent about the way these old children's books are written, and of course, the illustrations and design are just to die for. We have one room in our house that's a library, but it seems like every other room has shelves or just plain piles of books. Can you have too many? We're debating that question constantly. I think my favorite things are old comfortable chairs, books, flea market treasures, and of course, a great cup of coffee. Put all those things together, and you have a perfect environment, don't you think? Our friend Julie in LA has just that. Portrait of a Bookstore on Tujunga in North Hollywood is connected to the Aroma Cafe, and she has great books, fabulous antique finds, and even a terrace outside to enjoy it all. It's a winning combination!

January

Do people watch more TV in January? It must be the #1 month for cocooning. It's BITTER cold, we've had snowstorm after snowstorm, no one has any extra money or energy, and we're all in that post holiday funk. It must be why American Idol premieres with those two 2 hour episodes a week. Right now it's Sunday night, and my husband David is watching the Jets game and America's Funniest Home Videos. And Jim Gaffigan is on one of the comedy channels doing his hilarious bit about bacon, so David's watching him too.

I grew up in a TV family. My brother & sister & I watched it CONSTANTLY. We would get up at 6 on Saturday mornings and watch it till noon, and every day after school. We would watch it at night after homework till our bedtime. Our dad had a store that sold all kinds of electronic equipment, so we had one of the first color TVs, and everyone came over to our house to watch it. I read books and comics all the time, but I watched a lot of TV.

We have two flat screens in our house. One's in the basement, and the boys can play games on it, and our big one's in the TV room right off the kitchen. It seems like if we're home, it's always on. The HD quality is amazing. This afternoon I curled up in my corner of the couch and watched Hannah and Her Sisters on TCM. It was such a relaxing thing to do on a freezing cold Sunday...watch one of my favorite movies under a quilt. I guess there are people who still claim not to watch any TV, but everyone I know, especially family members, watch a ton of it. And plenty of junk, like The Jersey Shore (which I do watch) and Biggest Losers (which I don't). Mad Men is top tier TV, as is Curb Your Enthusiasm, and documentaries like American Masters, and I guess Million Dollar Money Drop is pretty close to the bottom. But right now it's too cold and snowy to do much else....( there are under 60 days till the

First Day of Spring)....so I'll probably be under my quilt in my corner of the couch watching something or other.

Bob Dylan In America

I'm reading the new Sean Wilentz bio of Bob, a  Christmas present from my husband David. It starts out tracing the roots of the liberal-lefty-Commie elements of American folk music, and surprisingly, it goes back to Aaron Copland. (In 1934, he won the Communist Song Award!)
 It also turns out that Copland's young protege was Leonard Bernstein....and Clifford Odets and Elia Kazan were all part of this left wing group.
  Pete Seeger's father, Charles was a folk music collector, along with John Lomax and his son, Alan. Pete Seeger dropped out of Harvard, and worked with Alan at the Library of Congress, where the Lomaxes created the Archive of American Folk Song.  Alan discovered and recorded a young songwriter named Woody Guthrie, who then teamed up with Seeger and a group of folk artists to form the Almanac Singers. They promoted union organizing, racial justice, and other left wing causes. In the late 1940s, the Almanacs evolved into The Weavers, who had a number one hit with "Good Night Irene", which was a 1933 Leadbelly song discovered by the Lomaxes. The Weavers introduced the younger generation and Bob Dylan to the music of Woody Guthrie. Of course, Pete Seeger was named a "subversive", and the group was blacklisted. (The 1963 cover of Bob's album "Freewheelin" features him and his girlfriend Suze Rotolo, whose parents were New York City intellectuals and Communists, as well.)
This was all kind of news to me, the American Communist connection with folk music...though I knew about Pete Seeger & The Weavers being blacklisted. I wonder what it was about Communism that was so attractive during the 30s and 40s to all these artists, writers, and musicians. I guess it sounded good at the time...
Recently I was up late, and watched (for the 3rd or 4th time) the Martin Scorcese documentary "No Direction Home, which was divided in two parts so perfectly, and I was really primed to get this new biography. We just can't seem to get enough of Bob, from his folk period through his going-electric-mid-to-late 60s. It's all so brilliant, and he was just exploding with creativity. Was anyone ever as cool? No one could wear a checked suit & a top hat with more style. But then, I love his Rolling Thunder Review phase too, where he tours with Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and others. He was really our spokesperson, whether he liked it or not--we grew up with him, just like we did with The Beatles.

Collecting

 I love vintage cards! These are the latest score from a Poughkeepsie junk shop on Route 9, and I got an entire box for $1. For some reason, they're easy to find, and they're usually really cheap. These are from the bottom end of the Christmas card market, and are kind of cheesy, but who can resist them? The Santa ones are all covered with dusty red flocking, and the kitten on the sled is a little pathetic. I like the dry brush style ornaments, they look very late 50s to me. The cards are all done by Whitman. I have some vintage paper dolls, and the Whitman ones are all done using this technique. I guess it was the style of their in house illustrators. Another detail: all the vintage Christmas cards I have are done on paper, as opposed to card stock, so it's pretty amazing that they've lasted this long, especially the ones from the 40s. And the box that these came in was from an old massage vibrator. It was so awful looking, that I actually decoupaged over it!

But, I do like the Eloise Wilkins style children dancing around Santa and riding on his sled... they're really pretty sweet.