This 1920s dress from my sister-in-law will become part of Dori’s wedding dress.

I store everything in vintage suitcases and trunks, so I took EVERYTHING out in order to sort it by color and to sort fabric from trim from clothing. Things were still in a jumble from the move.

See? It took a very large coffee and some deep breathing to jump into the fray.

But the results were pleasing.

I found an old picnic basket to use as a “current projects” basket: the mustard silk and grey wool will become a skirt.

Trims go into one suitcase.

The wall behind my sewing machines also has many many pieces of trim & other inspirations.Once everything was sorted, I tagged all the suitcases with a color.So now that I’ve organized what’s IN the suitcases, I need to figure out how to stack them or store them well! Any ideas?

I splurged and got this original drawing by Amy Earles for myself for my birthday. It’s not here yet, but it got me thinking about how I’ve started collecting art from friends and the talented pools of the internet. I love my current house collection!

Over the entry coat nook is this encaustic painting by Kate Phillips. I love the movement and pendulum feel.

I have a few pieces by Eden Veaudry, she is one of my favorite artists. I want everyone to know about her work! It’s detailed & mesmerizing.

In the dining room is the ‘Lady Magic’ etching by Katy Horan and a silkscreen by Sanna Annukka. Witchy folklore ladies! Yes, I will redo that one last chair, some day…

Dancing bear by Nicole Boitos in the hallway.

& 3 tears by Mon Petit Fantome in the bedroom. (Today is his birthday, go say Happiest of Days!) The bedroom also has the wall of “everything else.”

& more I’ve talked about before…moving so much in the last few years I’ve amassed tiny bits here and there but havent really hung everything up! I still have a big stack that needs framing…but it’s finally starting to feel like a home around here!

Who are your favorite friend-artists, especially ones with blogs?

In order to soothe my autumn-needing-soul, I’ve started thinking about Dia de los Muertos already. Summer ends, the earth starts closing up shop for winter, the cycles of life surround us.  Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by cultures all over the planet.  All Souls’ Day in European folklore and folk belief, the Chinese Ghost Festival, Dia de los Muertos…

It’s my favorite holiday of the year, and this year will be particularly poignant as my grandfather passed away in April.

Last year was also incredibly intense. At the end of September 2008, our friend Kirsten Brydum was murdered in New Orleans. On the same day, I had a miscarriage. There were huge, beautiful altars for Kirsten, and for all women who’s lives are cut short by violence, and I created a personal walking altar for my loss.

In 2007, the Marigold Project asked the art collective I was part of to create an altar in the park.

This year it’s on a Monday, so hopefully will be a bit more serious – it usually is respectful, but things always get crazy here for some reason. By the way, they’re trying to raise funds for the city fees for this years event: please go chip in if you can.

I’m thinking of something different this year: I want to have my Family to manifest spell-costumes of wood-spirits, traditional still, yes, but more feral – I’m feeling a loss of our connection to that spirit-place, and want to honor it and resonate in it.

(Here’s a sign – I went to go look up images & found a slew of what I’d been thinking of had just now been posted to Tumblr. Collective unconscious.)

found image

found image

found image

Do you celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or All Souls? Do you have an altar, attend a procession, sit silently and wait for the voices of your ancestors?

I picked this painting up from Kyle Ranson the other day as part of his blow-out art sale. He was about to head to the east coast for another collab show in NYC with Monica Canilao (the work I saw for it is clutch-worthy! If you’re in NYC, go and buy it all. Then send it to me. Thanks.)  He also mentioned that he was going to work with Dan Higgs, at which point I freaked out. Crazy shaman magic!! I cannot wait to see the results. I have this theory that all art is religious — we use art to create our mythologies, from renaissance monotheism to nature iconography to the magical creatures popping up in art all over these days. Kyle takes biblical mythology and brings it into the realm of the shamanic and psychedelic.

He also has a crazy amazing band, Pale Hoarse, with the equally amazing Kim.

Pale Hoarse – Darkness Has Taken Over Me

While looking around his room, especially at the work for the collaborative show in NYC, I was struck by a simple thought: make stuff. Vocalized, this sounded like the dumbest, most obvious thing ever. Somehow, though, the chord it struck in my mind snapped me out of some of that treading water feeling I get in life – I can’t be productive enough, creative enough, I don’t have energy or drive. Talking with someone who lives life completely creatively and is surrounded by work was super inspiring and wake-up-call-ing. So yeah. What are you going to create today? Go make stuff.

This is Nicole and her mama when she was wee. What a gorgeous shot.

Maybe I’m feeling sentimental lately, but I’ve decided to do a series focusing on some amazing ladies whom I know. The first in the series is Nicole, who just sent me an amazing parcel filled with so many goodies. We’d lost touch after 1995 so Facebook is exciting and brought us to be friends again! I can’t wait til we’re on the same coast and can hang out.

Parcel treats!! View large and read the page!

Some of her prints! Amazing, I need to get frames for them. I especially love the bear.

We met while at art school in Philadelphia, and she is still in Philadelphia, making amazing art, tattooing, and creating magic for album covers!

Check out her site for more of her work, plus the tattoos she’s done!