Leanne Shapton-Illustrated patterns

I just saw this article on the New York Times blog about Leanne Shapton.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/04/27/opinion/20110427_SHAPTON_PATTERNS.html

Art director, illustrator, designer, she has a series of creative activities she does each day of the week. These are the Wednesday patterns. What a great idea...painting your life.

I went to NY

I was in New York the second week of April for Printsource. I stayed at the Beekman Tower Hotel, which had a lovely bar and restaurant on the top floor with wrap around view of the city and east river. The trip was a whirlwind, I went to four museums and one play on Broadway...there is never enough time to do it all in New York City..but I tried. I saw a great show at the Guggenheim: The Great Upheaval. I also went to the Japan Society where I saw "Goodbye Kitty" a show about contemporary Japanese artists who combine their modern vision with traditional materials.

Looking down from the top floor at the Guggenheim

Notes to the victims of the japan earthquake and tsunami at the japan society

The lights of Broadway. I saw "High" with Kathleen Turner

View of the east river from the top of the Beekman Tower Hotel

The Guild Girls after setting up our stand at Printsource.

Haute Trash Fashion Show Seattle

Last weekend was the Haute Trash Fashion show, an event I love to attend every year. All the garments are made from recycled materials that were destined for a landfill. There are some very creative outfits! I loved Carmen Miranda and the Tango dress made of potato chip and snack bags. I want to enter next year.

Carmen Miranda outfit made from a papasan chair

Bubble wrap Bride

Tango dress made from snack bags.

Drifts of Cherry Blossoms mean Spring in Seattle

Birdhouses as Surface Design

Check out these cool pictures from the Pattern People's blog:

http://www.patternpeople.com/coolness-birdhouses/

Printsource Preview

I've been furiously working on new designs for Printsource which is happening in NYC on April 12 and 13. Some of the work I create by hand usually starting with a line drawing or painting. Other work is created entirely on the computer. I hope to have 100 prints by April 2 so I've been working furiously. Here's a preview.

Evidence of the Hand

I'm starting a new series of photographs called "Evidence of the Hand" and eventually want to do a show on this subject. It concerns looking at the handwork involved in making whether it be a sweater, or a piece of art.

beads and threads

Here are pictures from the first series in Evidence of the Hand. I found a beat up sweater at Goodwill by the pound. The lining was shot but I decided to upcycle the beads and save the beautiful beaded handwork for use on something else. I even love the label inside the sweater.