A Lovely, Quiet Holiday Gift Gallery

The annual Pink House Holiday Gift Gallery is open on Fridays from 11am to 8pm and Saturdays from 11am to 5pm through December 23rd, as well as when the Open signs are out or by appointment. Lots of "doing" for friends in need this year, so call me when you can make it to the Pink House. I'd love to see you. 

And so many wonderful gifts! Many by talented artist friends, some made by me, all carefully selected to help you find the Special Something for your Special Someone! And I am happy to ship to you or your dear ones!

Pilllows and Plant Prints 

The Eco Prints Department

The Gift Solution - a Gift Certificate for a workshop or scarf or tiny birdhouse or .....

Wool Hats by Ann Clarke I

Wool Hats by Ann Clarke II

Crepe de Chine Silk Scarves by Pat Pauly

Colorful Linen Pillows by Pat Pauly

Rustic Pillows by Cris

Fragrant Candles

Little Framed Eco Prints

Zen Rocks by Chad Pattison

Lots more for Heart and Home.  Hope to see you soon! 

Really? Fabric Dye?!

I bought this sideboard a few months ago for my little kitchen. It is perfect in every way - right size, drawers and cabinets to hold just the right stuff, great price, AND some history, as an added bonus. The tale is that this piece of furniture came out of a cottage on Lower Saranac Lake that Mark Twain used to rent in summers. No cigars burns to definitely authenticate it, but I'm going with it anyway!

The finish was dark, though, and some areas needed to be shored up a bit. After lots of sanding to get some of that old finish off and some repairs, it was moved into my studio for its real face lift.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to add color to the surface. After much searching around and talking with a woodworker artist friend, I found instructions on ProChem's website on how to use the powdered fiber reactive dyes I already have to dye wood. (Please read my comment to Laura to see how I added a sealer/finish. The dye is water soluble when applied.)

I primed then painted the insides of the drawers with some great colors. Then, with some trepidation, I mixed up my dye with equal parts water and rubbing alcohol and started. Wow! It was much easier than (and about as messy as) I had expected. But even more beautiful! What a satisfying project.

 

 Now I'm thinking about how to add some Mark Twain-related embellishments. I think he would be pleased.

Holiday Open Studio on Saturday

My chickadee drawing on organza, then over fabric and hand stitched. A little more to do on these. (Thanks for the idea, Valerie Komkov Hill in Quilting Arts!)

Mini collages turned into little hanging art works.



Also paper lanterns, little books, and cards. Selected art on sale.

See you on Saturday, December 13 from 10 to 5. With over a foot of new snow, the Adirondack woods will be beautiful!

NICHE Studio with fresh snow today

A Bird, A Book, A Show

 I'm thinking about birds a lot. It's the season for that. On our recent trip, my husband took some bird photos that I love. This one - a Red-winged Blackbird - really grabbed me.

Then there's the annual Bird Art exhibit that is part of the Great Adirondack Birding Festival at the Paul Smith's College VIC the first weekend in June.

Mix those things up with Jean Wells' book - Journey to Inspired Art Quilting - that I have been exploring, and I have something to push me along with a new piece.

Stay tuned for how the bird fits in.









I also have to tell all my Adirondack buddies that we now have a greatly expanded selection of beautiful fabrics right here in Saranac Lake, at Beth Gallagher's Piece by Piece Studio. Go see for yourself!

Have You Seen an Art-O-Matic?

This girl is admiring the little piece of art she got from the refurbished old cigarette machine purchased a few years ago by two forward-thinking artists in our town - Todd Smith and Matt Burnett. in this photo, it was placed on the sidewalk for one of our summer art walks, and the crowd was literally lined up down the street to put in their $1 tokens to get a piece of art created by our local artists. Artists were asked to create little works of art of a size to fit into a little box the size of a pack of cigarettes. Great fun for all, and a nice PR machine for all of us in the Saranac Lake arts community. In some places it is called an "Art-O-Matic". We named ours the "Smokin' Art Machine". Very Cool.

This summer, Matt is going to set up the Art Machine at the Wild Center - the natural history museum of the Adirondacks. Another Very Cool part of the Adirondacks. The pluses of having the Art Machine there include having the machine indoors all summer with someone trained to maintain it (i.e. knowing when it needs a gentle nudge to get the tokens down the chute and when it needs a vigorous kick).

So, the reason for me to even bring this up is that Matt invited local artists to make more little pieces for the machine. I didn't have too much time, and I decided to try something I kept thinking about but have never done - making some fabric collage and cutting the collage into little pieces to fit into the Art Machine boxes as I was preparing for our long trip in April and early May. Here was my process:

Add caption

I fused fabric scraps to a canvas backing.

Then I stitched over the fabric pieces.

 Once stitched, I flipped the collage and marked the sizes I needed. Then I cut them apart with my rotary cutter. When I turned them over, I was delighted with the little rectangles. Each one was a little work of art! I packed them up for our trip, along with my embroidery supplies and decorated each piece as we covered the miles. Can I part with them now?!

MiniPortfolio from Provence

April 13
I am preparing for a May exhibit at the Left Bank Cafe in Saranac Lake of the watercolor sketches I made while traveling in Provence quite a few years ago.

After I finished scanning most of my paintings, I wanted to keep track of them. I also wanted to make a little flag book, after being inspired by my students' little books last week. Sometimes great ideas collide!

Heart Art

Our co-op gallery, NorthWind Fine Arts, opened our Valentine show last night. Three other galleries in Saranac Lake had openings as well, and I got to each one. Some pretty fine work all around. 

Ginger Leaf Love

Morning Glory Love

My contribution to our group show included these two mixed media collages. I used photographs of my once-was garden, fixed them up a bit with Paint.net (very cool editing program), and printed them on sumi paper. The sumi paper is great for collage. It runs through my printer beautifully with no carrier sheet and adheres perfectly to the acrylic-painted canvas with acrylic matte medium.

And Valentine cards! Who doesn't need Valentine cards?! In addition to selling my cards at the gallery, I have printed several designs from my original watercolor cards to sell at Saranac Lake's Community Store. Some samples:

EXPLORATIONS Exhibit

Layers of beach

My artwork is hung now at the Pendragon Theater in Saranac Lake. It is an interesting venue - the lobby of the little community theater here. It is just the right size for the number of pieces I wanted to show, and apparently people really do look at the art. I already sold two large-ish pieces. I am gratified at the nice response I am getting in this community.

My little fiber collages are nicely mounted and framed, and the series looks complete in the simple maple frames my sweet Ron made for them. The last of the ten was based on an mental image I had while riding in Gail's tiny boat with my Silver Fox girlfriends one Sunday afternoon, after swimming and picnicking on Lower Saranac Lake. It was such a clear blue and green day, and I imagined - almost believed - I was soaring above the river, floating in that blueness.

Raven over Second Pond

 The next two weeks will be full of family and friends visiting here at our little cabins. It will be a pleasure to slow down and enjoy the last beautiful days of summer with all of them.