Under the big top of life.

under the big top 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

I spent the weekend with Heather, and she so sweetly surprised me with 3 vintage children's books, which immediately inspired me and I couldn't wait to get home to begin incorporating some of the pages from the books into pieces of art. I featured the piece above as tribute to mi mejor amiga, because she is a little obsessed with the circus theme. *If you follow our blog or know us at all, this may not be a surprising bit of trivia.

Beside the new books, and Heather's grandmother's artwork (as mentioned in the last blog post), was an equally inspiring trip to the Folklife Festival this weekend. Heather's family and mine spent an afternoon enjoying sunshine, good food, music, people, and the Seattle Center International Fountain. We also discovered some cool art/artists, two of which being Sean Wilkinson (http://www.wilkyart.blogspot.com/) and Don De Leva (http://www.dollhedz.com/). We met them (and their supportive wives) in the booth they shared--they and their art seem to be good friends, reminding me a little of my art friend that I show with periodically [Heather]. I bought myself two little pieces, a mini canvas magnet by Sean Wilkinson, and a print by Don De Leva entitled Loco. Heather was particularly taken by a small painting by Don De Leva entitled Blue Skull, that can be seen on his website.

After our weekend of dinners, the beach, the park, Folklife, painting, and lots of laughter, we came together again today to visit Heather's grandmother at her retirement community in support of the opening day of her art show. I wish I had brought my camera, because after visiting Kathleen today, I have a new favorite by her, featuring two swans. *If you missed it, a few of her pieces are shown in our last blog post.

I think that's that for today. I just wanted to make note of a couple of cool links (the art friends) before I lost the thought, and to give appreciation to my friend Heather for picking up the vintage books for me, and also to pay a little tribute to Kathleen for showing her art, when it couldn't have been easy to gather it all up and put it out there for everyone to see--inspiring.

(jen)

*The piece below is a paper pillow created from vintage paper and hand stitched together, featuring a bird fashioned out of paper from one of my new vintage books. It's meant as a little 3D art piece, paying tribute to pillows (i love naps) and art.