thinking inside the box

So I've decided that today is opposite day.

A day where I will appreciate weeds and black flies...

A day where I will not declare "I'm bored" to my husband...(well, I'll try)

A day where I will love pulling ticks off cats...

A day where I won't go in CVS and buy more make up than I know what to do with.

(Really, look in my makeup drawer.....you'd think I was auditioning for Barnum and Bailey....or looking to marry a t.v. evangelist.)

A day where I will think "inside" the box.

That's right.I don't quite know what it is about the intrigue of something in a box.

Ergo the marketing genius of the Happy Meal, Cracker Jax and even those Chinese take out containers.

So, indulge me if I piggy-back on someone elses brilliance ...I am adding my own spin of inside a box.....as a

kind of a 3-D visual treat.

So here are some of my new paintings ....some on wood, some on canvas....some with fancy-smanchy vintage trims...some without.

So on opposite day...don't you dare think OUTSIDE the box!

Giddy-Up WWC!

It's Here!

(Well, to us subscribers that is.)

The 3rd Summer Issue of

"Where Women Create"

So jump on the bandwagon and snatch up your own copy.

If you missed the boat for this issues subscription and you are extra nice

you can score a copy through

http://earthangelstoys.com/

or email

Jen@earthangelstoys.com

or at your local Barnes and Noble

oh yes, Did I mention that my studio is featured??!!

As well as a bevy of gawkable, awe inspiring , creative spaces.

milling about, sewing oats

I've heard it said that if you surround yourself with really good looking people you will appear better looking by association. Hmm, I don't know that I want to hang out with a bunch of Amazonian supermodels. I don't see how that would help my cause...or stature.

Ergo, I will opt for hanging around with really talented people.

One in particular is good friend Stephanie Lloyd.

Mostly known for her antique furniture business and hip, cool cat findings.

She is trying on this new hat of designing these "plain-grain" Market Bags.

Fashioned and hand-sewn from well traveled, antique , European grain sacks...trimmed with vintage horse tack....they are the real deal. These bags tell tall tales and long stories much like Stephanie herself! (it's true, sorry Steph)

I can almost hear J. Petermans voice in my head: (ahem... here I go)

"Envision the calloused hands that wove the coarse linen...knowing that the bags would travel to lands they would never themselves see.

Stenciling almost inappropriately fanciful with more care than calligraphers hand.

Filled with golden nuggets of grain or precious seeds of pearls mined from rich German and French soil....and then off to market and farm.

Beguiling, yet befitting that some cultures considered this currency. As some civilizations were known as rich only by what they grew...."

I was thrilled and honored to get one of the first...beautifully stenciled with farm tools , name of a German town and date of origin....I categorize these as wearable art.

Thanks for your talent Stephanie...with one of these slung on my shoulder, you do in fact, make me look better by association!!!

For now Stephanie is just offering these goodies to the wholesale trade...

If you would like to contact her on terms or availability email oldsunnybrook@yahoo.com

or watch for her upcoming website at http://www.StephanieLloyd.com

A few more of Stephanie's upholstery designs...

A+ students

Pick your canvas!

the subject matter

Sheryl and her daughters hard at work

Marcella, Amanda and Zoe in a creative state

So, what's better to do on a rainy Sunday morning?

Learn to paint!

And could there be a better setting than Schuyler Pond Home and Garden?

I had a hard time concentrating surrounded by all the frills and finery's.

Somehow, I powered through.

As you can see the first painting class was a raging success!

These gals came ready, willing and certainly able.

Unbelievably, only one of the girls had taken a painting class before.

hmmm, I do feel a bit nervous that these students may have surpassed the teacher!

have some class

Calling all hidden-artists

A few seats still available for the March 29th painting class...

I will will hold up my right hand , place my left hand on a palette and swear to do my best to instruct!

the details:

Sunday, March 29th 10am-noon

at the bodaciously, bucolic Schuyler Pond Home and Garden

Saratoga Springs , New York

518-581-8422

jdlanne@aol.com

$120/per person

all materials included

as well as a delicious light brunch!

the mission:

to start and complete(fingers crossed) your own floral painting!

Be there or be square!

call or email for further details

California, here I come...

warning: shameless plug

~California won't come to me, so I'm going to California~

Looking forward to meeting all you West-coasters!

shameless

Shameless....a word that describes so many things.

first of all, the name of the song that was played for my husbands and my first wedding dance. Doubly shameless as we didn't pick a song and left it up to the band.

Sadly, they were quite astute.

Shameless, also describing the way I decorate.

I don't know what it's called....hmmm...possibly "farmhouse frilly"...or "barnyard baubles"...or "pasture posh"...or my fav "depression era decorums."

Anything discarded, overly loved and worn....imperfect.

My dream house? With morbid curiosity you may inquire...

Imagine an overgrown abandoned farmhouse...swayback barns, crooked weathervanes, tobacco stained wallpaper, bare light bulbs, fanciful furnishings paired with farm wares.

Like diamonds wrapped in grainsacks.

So thanks To Jen http://www.earthangelstoys.blogspot.com/ for admiring my shameless style.

It's nice to know I'm not alone.......