It's out! The 2010 Diary... and I illustrated the Nov. 17 page. Get your copies here.
Nice, big pages, and in three languages, illustrated by some of the hottest artists and crafters around. Here's what the diary looks like:
Get it while it's hot!
There's something about living in an urban environment. I miss the overwhelming population, what seemed to be an unlimited amount of bus numbers, a rainbow of train colors: pink to get there; purple to head up north; brown, west; the small, isolated "secret" parks and patches of greenery. Most of all, I miss the anonymity of being in the city. When all you are is a face in the crowd. Only when you bother to look and actually see across your train compartment or break your routine to look up from your book and realize that someone's been studying your face since they boarded the same bus does your world get an interruption: perhaps a reminder that there are always people to share life with. All you have to do is to reach out. But artist Sophie Blackwell, in her series, Missed Connections, celebrates the temporal and fragile nature of such urban interactions. "Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down," Blackwell writes in her blog. Here are a few more of those Missed Connections:
and
New York-inspired art has never looked so sweet!
A typhoon ravaged Manila, my city. I am Manila-born and bred. This whole event made my heart cry in panic. I have spent so much time away from home. I left when I was 15, and came back for every summer break, some Christmas breaks, and worked as a magazine girl between college and grad school. I was an architecture intern for what was intended to be a brief Wintersession break that turned into a grad school leave. My last visit was to document this building for my grad school thesis years ago. Between then and now, I don't know what I was thinking not going home. I guess I wanted to be as grown up as I can be before even taking a vacation because I know so well in my heart that the next time I go back will be for good. If not, I'll have to fake my own kidnapping to seal the deal. All these intentions were fine, until last Saturday. I was tuned into a certain news channel from home at 5 a.m. because I had to be somehwere by 7 am. Horrors!!! I can't explain the destruction My Manila experienced. It looked apocalyptic on TV... Seriously, like a bad sci-fi movie: cars floated, animals trying to climb up windows, fearing for their lives, everyone's grandma's furniture breathing its last breath and the image that will forever stay with me: children riding an "island" made of debris and water plants, literally washed away by the tide created by the strong current, courtesy of the tormenting rains. So, the lesson of this is: go back home. Stop trying to grow up. Enough! You've done enough growing up. You've had enough experience away. Embrace the retracing process. Make peace with the transition. It's time to give back.
I am donating 30% of all sales from my etsy shop to relief for the people of Manila. I have a day job and am so slow with new things for the shop, but down the road, there will be a section just for this, where 100% of sales from that section will be for donation purposes. Wish I wasn't so slow, but the relief efforts for this terrible calamity will be for a very long time, so every little bit counts.
Image Credit: Me. Charcoal, Cancas, Acrylics, Photocopy of a Filipino Courting Chair, punched out vintage book on St. Augustine, red thread, carved beeswax, gold dust.
I am proud of Momo!! He has been sneaking into the studio lately, as I am spending
more time in there. It's as if he's saying, "What are you doing? What's more
important than playing with me?"
He has been doing well wih his diet plan. Sadly, the doctor admonished me
for his weight the last time we went to the vet. Good as Momo is, he nevertheless tries:
But I won't have it. He ends up looking like this all the time:
Good boy, Momo!!!
September is a busy gifting month for me. This kokeshi is for my sister, Maria. I bought the
form from Muluc. I then hand-painted, lacquered, and decopaged the piece with decorative paper
and vintage book pages. Here's a close up of her face:
Here's the top view:
Finally, here she is with my kokeshi gang in the office:
Here's a piece for my mom's 55th! Oil pastels, acrylics,decorative papers, lacquered on canvas
stuffed with polyfil. Here she is in progress:
Busy, busy in the studio!! Paintings and dolls have taken over, from inspiration, to my brain, to the studio! I've drawn up a schedule of all the artistic endeavors that I'd like to try through the end of the year:
I am on board with these, full force!
Once upon a Saturday morning, a lady named Bluzaza turned 30.
And I made this for her...
oil and charcoal on canvas
stuffed with polyfil
decoupaged with various decorative papers
acrylic paint
pages from a very vintage dictionary
a wooden tray
stamped, painted and lacquered
Happy birthday, Bluzaza!!!
Okay, confession time: I have never outgrown my fasination for, love for, fondness of, deisre to hug, squeeze and collect dolls. I know I am not alone on this one. So today's post is dedicated to these creatures. I've always loved them, but moreso now that I have experienced making some of them. It is always an exciting to see what comes out of the studio by way of dolls. Lately, I have been playing with a fundraising idea that will involve dolls. I am still in prayer about it. I don't know how well it will fly, and I very well know the commitmentthat is involved for fundraising. I am giving myself this weekend to mull it over. So, while thinking of this fundraiser, I found these adorable dolls from Jess Brown. They are made of muslin and linen which are dipped in Persian black tea in order to create the variations in skin color tones. She uses various findings, ribbons and textiles from her flea market trips with her daughter, Stella. She blogs here. I love her creations. Here, have a look at more:
Penelope.
Stella's Woven Play Doll
Here's another set of dolls from Little Sprout. They are made in her Redwood City studio, and are just totally adorable. I hope her etsy shop opens soon!
Charlotte
Claire
Sam
Or they can also hang from your neck, like these ones by Lenora Dame , from her Bohemian collection:
With that, happy weekend, everyone! Love and sweetness to you all the way!
