After getting a hold of a small kiln and spending almost a month playing around with clay and glaze, I have acquired the proper perspective to no longer think that anything made from ceramic is too expensive. We had fun experimenting, but boy was it a lot of work!
Bisque fired clay in the kiln.
Close-up of bisque fired clay in the kiln.
Sanding and glazing. It seemed like it took forever!
Final piece. Price: $18 million dollars.
Next stop: Welding!
I created an art piece: “your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”
This painting reflects on a Buddha quote and the symbol of abundance, the pomegranate.
5×7 acrylic on canvas
It is one of 16 that are pulled together into a painting titled “Common thread.” See below:
Boo!
I can’t tell you why, but my best friend CC loves skulls. Not real ones, pink ones. So when trying out a new pattern for a tote, I embellished the front with a orange embroidered pink skull-and-crossbones. I kind of like it!
These necklaces are a pretty place to hold my treasures: “Find a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.” I don’t know why I say it whenever I find a penny because it is admittedly dorky. The other day, though, I had the time to stop myself to think about it and that’s when it hit me: The act of picking something up that is as insignificant as a penny shows your gratitude for the littlest things in life. Isn’t gratitude the secret to good luck? I think it is! So now I never pass up the opportunity to get one penny richer!
The necklaces are made from seed beads, vintage buttons, felted sweaters, and decorated with embroidery and needle felting. In addition to that penny I find, these pendants are a pretty place to put a treasured photo. Here are other ones I have made: click here.
xoxSarah
Four years in the making, our Italy trip is on the horizon. I am most excited about visiting Vernazza (pictured above) in Cinque Terre, since our plans looked dashed last October after rains and mudslides devastated this and other towns in the region. Most restaurants and shops are open according to the website Save Vernazza. The finishing touches to my packing list are building pages to journal on (see below).
CC and I scoured thrift shops for coffee table books with beautiful images of Italy and the countryside/seaside. I found a 50 year old book on Rome with gorgeous black and white images of Roman life, and another book about sea-side living that offered colorful plates of delicate flora and fauna living in the harsh environment. A third book gave me sweeping views of the country. These pages will follow us and be filled with our experiences in Rome, Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Florence.
My kit includes:
• prepared pages
• blunt scissors that I can put in my carry on
• watercolor pencils and small paintbrush
• white pencils to write on uncoated paper
• paint pens to write on glossy paper, and offer contrast in the darker areas on the pages
• glue stick
• poloroid pogo for adding of-the-moment pics to the layouts
Of course, I will be blogging along the way so tune back in September.
xoxSarah
Every year The HOW conference attracts several people from my department as well as several hundred other creatives from around the world. This time it was in Boston and I couldn’t wait to get back and see how Boston has changed since I last lived there fifteen years ago. I took extra days off from work and brought my husband along to show him around.
Even though I used to live in Boston, I have never given much thought to eating oysters. My husband was anxious to try them so the first night we were directed to B&G Oysters in the South End. The menu was extensive so we asked our waiter to order for the uninitiated and she brought ten oysters (2 each of 5) from the waters off New York all the way to Nova Scotia. Our favorite were the Wellfleet Oysters from Massachusetts. We ordered these every might we were in Boston. Yum!
This menu was the best way to be introduced to the subtitles of oysters. We were amazed at the flavor differences!
Most of our time was spent in the South End, but one day we hiked it up to Cambridge to check out Harvard. We spent some time in the Yard watching the summer students check in, then we walked around town to see what we could find. The image of this book store (above) has inspired a painting that I am working on, and the pic below is where we got lunch.
Clover Food Lab is a great place to eat if you are ever in Cambridge, Ma. Here is what it’s all about, as excerpted from the website:
“We’re here to make food you love, the kind you talk about and look forward to eating. The Clover Food Lab is serving up a new type of fast food. This food is local, it’s just-cut, when we can it is organic.
I always loved the food trucks at MIT when I was a student. September 2008 I thought: what better way to kick things off pre-restaurant than with a truck of our own. A bunch of things fell into place and here we are. Now we have restaurants and trucks around Boston and Cambridge.
The menu will be changing with the seasons, and we’ll keep the latest posted on this site. You can expect french fries made from just-cut PEI potatoes, fresh juices like you’ve never had before, perfect sandwiches, and we’ll be ladling out just-made soups in the winter, salads in the summer.
So keep an eye on this site to follow the journey.” —Ayr Muir, Founder, CEO
Another great discovery came the next day. The SoWa Open Market is in the South End whcih happens every Sunday. It is comprised of a fresh food market, craft market, and inside the huge brick building are antique stalls filled with hours’ worth of discoveries.
I wish we were living in the South End so we could shop here every weekend. Boston, and especially this neighborhood, seems very livable.
Of course, what’s a craft market without a vintage trailer selling vintage clothing? This canned ham was the cutest booth at the Market, although I saved all my pennies to shop at Stone House Studio. Betsy’s jewelry is the most inventive use of synthetic, low fire clay (think Sculpey) I have ever seen. Check it out…
It ended up being a perfect last day in Boston. We walked a few blocks over from the market to find two more great shops:
Lekker, which means “good” in Dutch, is a fabulous contemporary home gallery with so many good things I had a hard time limiting my purchases.
Gifted was another super find. I was excited to find inexpensive enamel bangles that could be mistaken for Kate Spade’s.It was getting to the point that we needed to start thinking about getting to the airport. We made our way north in search of a restaurant. On the way I snapped a few images in the neighborhood I have come to love…
To top off a vacation of culinary delights, we were fortunate enough to be directed to a superb restaurant for brunch — Stephi’s on Tremont. Along with the world-class Bloody Marys (see the menu below), I ordered a salad that topped off a super tasty trip.
Pecan goat cheese fritter salad served over field greens with spiced pecans, ripe sliced pears, brioche croutons and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!
(Fresh fruit salad in background)
Perfect ending to a perfect vacation.
Once in a while the creative team will break to do a fun group project. Last week we took list of words near and dear to philosophy (miracle, hope and grace) and photographed representative images. Our little team — my friends Randy and Rachel and I — decided to marvel in the beauty just outside our office doors. These images I see everyday going to and leaving from work. I am a lucky girl, indeed.
I hope your days are filled with miracles, hope and grace.
xoxSarah
Recently, the Ladies and I hit the Indian School Road Stretch and the Melrose Curve for a day of antiquing. We made good use of the day and hit all the usual spots: Zinnia’s on Melrose, Modern Manor, Q’cumberz, and Smarty Pants. Plus, we discovered a few new places: Willows Home & Garden and Rust and Roses, and had lunch at Bertha’s Cafe—Yum!
What has been inspiring me lately is the reusing and upcycling of old rust buckets. Literally. My inspiration comes from the patio at Windsor where they have collected old buckets and odd containers to plant desert specimens. Since my front door get’s blasted with sun in the summer, I decided it is the time to rework the look of my entrance. The photos above are the result. The photos below are more inspiration from Rust & Roses on the Melrose Curve.
I recently traveled to New York City to attend the Luxe Pack tradeshow. It is my favorite time of year in the City, the month of May, because the weather is fabulous even if it is raining and the City is at a steady pace and generally in a good mood. Fortunately, we received 75 degrees with sun for five straight days, and there was no better time or place to be. The tradeshow was packed with top tier packaging manufacturers covering all aspects of fine packaging from beautiful booze bottles to inventive cosmetic packaging. It was great to meet new people in the industry and shop for upcoming projects.
In between times we had spans of time to stroll the streets of SoHo. Once day we hit upon the Mondrian Hotel SoHo which has a spectacular bar located in a greenhouse. Since I can’t pass up a greenhouse, we had to stop in. Happy hour was upon us so I ordered what I thought would be fitting for a beautiful day in a beautiful city — the No. 5 (Bombay Sapphire East Gin, Maraschino Liqueur, fresh grapefruit juice, fresh lime squeeze and simple syrup with a fresh basil leaf on top for muddling). I found my Summer drink! It was light, refreshing, and perfect as the sun was setting on yet another great day in New York.
When the show was over and the weekend hit, I was headed up the Hudson to my sister’s retreat in Red Hook. There we cooked and crafted and enjoyed the fresh cool weather. I noticed my sister framed and hung in her master bedroom two bird paintings she bought from me a few years ago. It reminds me of my first love of painting and how I need to get back to it. It’s been too long!
The last day of my trip, we walked around her property collecting little green things, rocks and sand to make terrariums. My sister was all prepared for us with several jars waiting to be filled with our treasures. It was the end of a great trip I will not soon forget.
The Discovery Palette!
