cassie and sam

playing with dolls again

i made my first polymer clay doll recently. she was made for a project barbara and i are working on....creating an autumn crone to celebrate the coming of fall.

i used an earring holder as armature; which is why she has shoulders like a quarterback. i made the head under barbara's direction. i had no idea how to even start to sculpt a face. much harder than i would have imagined.

the hair was fun, tho.

her skirt is made of hand dyed silk; the leaf is an applique cut from an old jacket.

waiting for the storm

sitting here in brooklyn, new york at 10 pm.,anticipating irene's arrival. the storm of historic proportions is due to strike this area around 2 am. already the thunder and lightening and rain seems abundant- can't even imagine what it will be like when it actually hits.
like many others, i'm hoping this is just a case of much ado over nothing much. however, the hype and evacuations are unprecidented. as far as i can recall the mta has Never ceased running in anticipation of anything...So this sounds like something the likes of which we've never seen before.
i expected to ride out the storm with barbara, but she went to stay with her mom. now its just me and the cats and i feel oddly vulnerable.

sapphire with her "baby"

coney island

i went to coney island the other day and it had me thinking how it seems every generation has its own take on the area. once a swanky resort area, coney island had faded considerably by the time i got to know it. i remember my folks discussing when coney boasted the famous amusement parks...dreamland, luna park and steeplechase. all of them were destroyed by fire, i believe, but a version of steeplechase still existed when i was a kid...and seemed as magical to me as the stories i heard of coney island's history. the conversations always ended with someone sighing wistfully...."it's not what it was when i was a kid"...

some of the new rides made me dizzy just watching. of course some of the old standards looked as intimidating as ever. most of the games and food were still the same.

coney island is still a fun place to spend the day....but, its not what it was when I was a kid....

a new painting "crossing over"

introducing ....sapphire skye

homecoming

sam and kohl welcome the little one.

NEW BABY

here she is after being adopted

yesterday there was a new baby at the shawn casey animal rescue. she is somewhere between six months to a year old and weighs four and a half pounds.

painting ties for father's day

photos by barbara valianti over at "reading the sky". visit her blog for some breathtaking images of sunsets.
applying the color


preparing the dyes

at a recent craft show

some new painted silks

painter of the wind

i've been watching a korean historical drama, "the painter of the wind." there are 20 wonderful episodes in this story of a young painter in korea,circa 1774.Highly recommended.
in one scene there is a discussion about painting. one student offers:

"perhaps painting is to reminisce"

perhaps.

how say you?

ps

"new home/new life/new name",says charles of sean casey animal rescue. based on that advice, "butterfly" is now "cassie"

new member of the family

welcome butterfly! this new addition to the household arrived christmas day from the sean casey animal shelter. she was rescued from a hoarder house with 56 other cats.
the first five years of her life were spent in a cage.
she's free now and running around her new home like a kitten.
just this afternoon a friend described my apartment as a "playground for cats". there's lots of stuff to climb on and hide in and butterfly is exploring every inch.