Jason Rohlf

Yesterday I took a few minutes to check out the current exhibit at Tory Folliard Gallery on Milwaukee Street. They have a great show up right now, although they typically have a great show up everytime I stop in. the artist that caught my eye and whom I have not mentioned here before was Jason Rohlf. A friend introduced me to his work a while ago, but I had not seen the work in person.

Neither of the works above are what is showing at Tory Folliard, but I felt the image of that piece did not do justice to the work. He is from the Milwaukee area, but moved to Brooklyn in the 90's and shows pretty consistently. I admit, I had a hard time finding a website or any contact info for him, so my reference is only to the local gallery. If you have an opportunity to see his work in person, I would recommend it! The layers of collaged material and varnish give insight to the artistic process, which left me standing as close as I could get to the work, looking through the layers and absorbing the colors as best I could.

Mary Flanagan Woolens

As I was saying, on Friday I had the pleasure of visiting the workshop of Mary and Scott, of Mary Flanagan Woolens. I have been using their wool exclusively on my pillows for about a year, purchased from Purl.
They are located in Pickett, WI in a house surrounded by farmland and green fields with hay rolled up neatly and cows grazing quietly. As my mother and I navigated the back roads, we relied on a GPS tracker/map/stern voice of reason "No, turn RIGHT on Hwy B! You missed it! Turn around!" Of course, looking at a tiny screen in my lap (I was not driving) rather than the real life scenery and directional signage caused us to drive in the wrong direction for 20 minutes, but oh well. It was still pretty. I love driving through the country and imagining rebuilding the interior of a beautiful barn to be a multi-functional studio with sky lights and vast fields of wildflowers and maybe a few chickens.


It was so interesting to learn a bit more about the process and background of Mary and Scott. They hand dye all of their wool, giving it a consistent dye saturation and reliable color. I am always drawn to the "Party Mix" collection myself, but the range of other colors is really impressive. I brought home a 6-pack of patterned wools, dyed to match my usual solid Party Mix collection - I think it will be perfect for the Fall collection of pillows.


If you would like to catch up with Mary and Scott, they will be at the Hand-Hooked Rug Show in Green Lake, WI. It is open to the public and will be at the Green Lake Conference Center on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 from 5:30 to 8:00 pm and all day Wednesday the 17th from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm. You can also see their traveling schedule for trade and non-trade here.


Thanks again Mary & Scott- I hope to stop by again in the near future!

hi there

This past weekend was a really fantastic one. I will be sharing more about my trip to visit Mary and Scott of Mary Flanagan Woolens later today or tomorrow morning, but I wanted to let you all know that I am here! I have just been too busy to write a real post lately, which is a good thing.

I finally made it to the Farmer's Market at Cathedral Square park on Saturday. This is something I have been meaning to do all summer, but for one reason or the other it hasn't worked out. It isn't a big market by any means, but it was great for flowers and produce. Of course it started raining the minute i got there, but that was not a deterrent for me!
Other activities from the weekend include an awesome estate sale where I picked up great vintage tea towels and wire baskets, hanging out with my mom whom I don't see enough of, setting up a projector and having movie night in our backyard and watching "Wet Hot American Summer" with friends, setting up a tent and camping in our own yard, and swimming in a pool that overlooks the beautiful lake while sipping mimosas with girlfriends. Yep, I packed all that in.

More to come...

field trip

Today is a very exciting day - I am heading to Pickett, WI to visit Mary and Scott of Mary Flanagan Woolens. I have been using their wool felt on my pillows for the past year and I love the color saturations and quality of the hand-dyed wool. After purchasing from Purl repeatedly, I did a little research and discovered that Mary Flanagan is based in my neck of the woods!

So off I go on a little field trip. I will share my experience here next week - have a great weekend!

new pillow, etc.

I have a new pillow ready to go to Blush (located on the corner of Water Street & Buffalo in Milwaukee). I will also be updating my etsy shop in the next week or so...

more fabric love

Round Flowers by Seven Islands:

Robot Line by Kokka:

Hot Couturier #12 from Contemporary Cloth:

Menagerie, also by Kokka:


fun choices for a modern child's room, or really any room...

Purl Soho
Contemporary Cloth

just kidding, here i am!

i am dream shopping while i enjoy my morning coffee, and if i had a regularly paying job i would possibly splurge on these:

i am actually in love with them. oh, Frye. Tom wears Frye's for motorcycling, and i want to match him. Or, I just want super amazing quality boots that i will wear until i am dead, and i think these are it. I can't explain my fascination with this pair - they are the right combination of awesome and cowgirl and i think they have a good sense of humor. they Facebooked me and I accepted.
I am also obsessed with this dress from Anthropologie, but alas. The life of a freelancer does not require cute outfits on most days.

Last night I saw Mama Mia! and I have to say it was SO GOOD. I didn't think i would like it, but I was taken with the Grecian scenery and dreams of ditching my entire life here and moving to Greece, working in a bar, and dancing with locals. I have that same dream about Spain and even Mexico. I could be happy with that life, but I think the student loan officers would find me somehow.
I also loved the emphasis on all the gorgeous Josef Frank textiles:

it was all so visually delicious.

over and out.

EDIT:: did you know Urban Outfitters saves your CC#, so all you have to do is hit "yes, send them to me i need them right now" and all of a sudden you have ordered boots you can't afford with one click? it's true. i almost hit that fateful button, then i closed the window! oh, the torture! i am going to still think it over. the boots are also available on Zappos, for $4 more.

hi there

working on a variety of things, getting nothing done, enjoying it all.

I have a lovely houseguest in town this weekend, so I am signing off for the rest of the weekend. Next week is going to be very busy too, but I will try to update at some point!
have a great weekend -

monday?

here is a peek at something I am working on, which I will show you in full next month...


Tom planted a variety of sunflower seeds at the beginning of summer, and in the past few days, the bees have been doing a lot of work.

tom's birthday was yesterday, and I baked him an apple pie:

...and we went to Big Bay Beach on Lake Michigan to swim. The waves were HUGE and we were knocked around for a couple of hours before my extremities went numb and the sun faded. i slept like a baby last night.

hello, friday

whew! what a week. Sorry for my lack of posting, but I have been fumigating the house and cleaning like crazy. I think it worked, but I feel that the fleas are planning their revenge attack and it's only a matter of time. bugs. Nori keeps laying down for naps in weird places, like behind the couch. He only stays for a minute before hopping onto the couch, as though he was just making sure that behind the couch is not nicer than on the couch.

I have also been helping a friend paint murals at a high school this week, which has been interesting and makes me want to paint my designs large scale on someone's wall. The funny part is that one of the things he was painting was designed with my work as inspiration, and when he realized he had subconsciously done that, he just called me in to do it instead. I thought that was nice.

Anyway, I will be back in a couple of hours with something more interesting, hopefully! I am working on many things today, so I will have something to share soon...

EDIT: here is a link to the site of Mike McGuinness, muralist extraordinaire....

www.dweldesign.com

pests

oh man.

the little Nori has a major case of fleas. I am horrified to admit it, because it makes me feel dirty, as though my house is packed with junk floor to ceiling and i have 10 cats and there are cobwebs and trash items everywhere. This is not the case though, it's just that the dog is a host that keeps inviting guests to come back and stay longer. So today I will be making trips to the laundromat, hoping my vaccuum holds up, and just cleaning the hell out of EVERYTHING. It will be nice to have a house that is so clean, but i have a hard time believing it will really work. the fleas are still out there. Frontline doesn't seem to work.

Have you dealt with this before? Any tips? HELP ME, PLEASE.

lake winnebago

my mom lives with her hubby on Lake Winnebago, and I wonder how they get anything done with all that beautiful water lolling around back there. Each year she has a "back yard camp-out" for my sisters and I and our respective families, and every year I wonder why I don't spend every weekend there.
Thanks mom and Bernie for a great weekend!

Today I have so many things on my plate, I am not entirely sure where to start. I will try to share something with you today or tomorrow though!

my first demo derby

On Friday I attended my first Demo Derby. If you have never been to one, I highly recommend it. There is something about the base value of watching cars crash into each other until they are left a mangled, smokey mess that makes your head completely empty out and all you can do is laugh. The other fun thing is people watching, but I will let you draw your own conclusions on that. 
The Zipper - most awful ride ever:

I have more images from the rest of the weekend, but they are so opposite of these that I have to post them separately.....

eek design

"We disregard what we've got, always chasing what we've not"
~Slovak proverb


"Fear is worse than misfortune itself"
~Slovak proverb

These gorgeous illustrations come from the lovely Erin Paisley of eek design. I have always been charmed by her drawings and other creations because everything she does just feels inherently good and romantic and honest. Does that make sense?
I love the proverbs as much as the imagery and I think i need both of these works side by side to serve as a daily reminder while I am on my little independent artist journey. Maybe I will hang them above my "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" poster, and it will be my daily affirmation wall.

She has so much more at her etsy shop - definitely worth checking out!

Thanks to Erin for permission to post her images!