The Garden of Pink Shadows

later that same day...

...this is what I was inspired to make. I've had these old rustic hangers forever and I've always sort of envisioned them as bird perches. Or those little bird swings in cages. I always thought it was the cutest thing to see a bird swinging on one of those swings. Tho generally I don't like the idea of caged birds..

Anyway, I have a few old feather birds like this one, and in a variation of the Mayflower Wreaths I made earlier in the month I thought I'd make some Flowering Bird Swings. Or something like that..

I have about nine more hangers but only about 5 more birds. I need more birds!

the reward of hard work!

 
Cleaning is a good thing! I was so happy to come up to my studio this morning and find it bright, sunny, and (well, relatively!) neat! Did fairies do it in the night? (I wish!) Sweet smelling too, thanks to this little bowl of potpourri - I got a big bag of it in a shop last week. It's called.. the Scent of Spring, I think, and it smells glorious. I can't quite identify what the smell is.. lilies? lilacs? both..? I'm really sensitive to smell and hate anything fake smelling. But this is wonderful. Its full of dried and paper flowers, berries and stuff and a tiny bowl is enough to scent the room.

Look what came in the mail yesterday! This wonderful, colorful book so rich in images! I'm not really sure if I'd make "Fabric Jewelry" - but there are so many ideas that could be applied to other things.. And just the cover in itself is so inspiring! Also peeking out behind is the new Cath Kidstone catalog - more inspiration! I just love that little appliqued cottage tea cosy.. I don't really need a tea cozy.. but if I did I'd definitely want that one!

And when I look up from those bright inspirations on my desk, this is what I see. You may recall this piece from the Spring issue of Erraticus. I had so much fun making it and have a few similar pieces in the works. Lots of pastel, wallpaper bits and doodling. I've ordered some square, wrapped canvas blocks and I'm going to do some similar stuff on them. Now that I've gotten things cleaned up, sunny and bright, I'm so inspired to get working on the Summer issue!

So.. take my advice.. if you've been putting off (completing) your studio spring clean - DO IT! - you will be so happy you did!

little peeks

I think I'm finally starting to make some progress on (cleaning) my studio. I think I've been working on it since... JANUARY?? Unfortunately (or so it seemed for a long while!) I started out, back in Jan., by pulling things out, going through them, throwing stuff out - and I made such a worse mess it was just depressing. Then I made the mistake of trying to do some projects on top of the mess.. even worse!

I'm sitting here right now with the afternoon light coming in.. so many little corners look so pretty now - pretty combinations of pinks, reds, oranges and blues. I wish I could capture it! I just took a few photos but they just don't capture the delicate light..

There's just not enough light to capture without a tripod, I guess. I wish I could just pick up a camera and "click" - capture the moment as I see it!

I threw a big old raw linen duvet cover over my little loveseat - it's wrinkly, but it's linen, right?? And I threw a few pieces of Amy Butler and other fabrics over the existing cushions in colors of pink, brown, aqua - a couple of old hankies, one a Connecticut map and one a cute graphic of a tree full of birds and nests. I'm going to sew all of these into cushion covers. Maybe some large pompom trim on the edge of the Amy Butler one? And I really really need to hang some art. I actually may create art for the space.

Most of the art is comprised of little vignettes of constantly changing.. stuff! Like this beloved Pigeon card propped against the lid of an old card box (oh, appropriate! I just thought of that..!) Being a New York City kid, I love pigeons (I know most NYC adults do not!) I used to follow them around in Central Park, entranced by all the color variations in their feathers. Every time I see on in CT I say "hello pigeon!" - my kids think I'm crazy! :-)

New things in my shop!

New things in my shop!, originally uploaded by melissamh.

I just added a bunch of new things to my etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8352

Beautiful springtime sheets of Victorian scraps - flowers, roses, letters ad doves. Two more original mixed media bird collages. A tiny wreath I made of vintage wallpapers cut into butterfly shapes. And some fun old bird dominoes!

Go visit my shop and check it all out!

I love Selvedge magazine... Have you ever seen it? It's from the UK, a beautiful small heavyweight magazine on textile and textile design. Full of beautiful photos like the one above - even the ads are beautiful. But.. it's $20 an issue! I pretty much draw the line at the $8 British or French home design magazines! (Ok, occasionally I'll spring for one of the Somerset $14 special issues..)

You used to be able to download a pdf of the current issue of Selvedge online, but they no longer seem to do that. However, I see now there is a new service (Exacteditions) where you can subscribe to an online edition of Selvedge. It's still not cheap - about $48 - but subscription gives you access to a whole year of back issues and if you click on THIS you can see a free trial issue. The current issue with the green cover is even more beautiful. So, if you don't want to spring for the $48 online subscription (or $90 paper subscription) you can do what I do - leaf thru a copy while sipping a latte at the bookstore cafe (try not to drool however!)

thoughts and creations

Yesterday was such a beautiful day (today is shaping up to be just as nice!) and though it isn't easy to work on a laptop outside, I was sitting out on the back porch writing a nice long post to my blog. I thought - uh oh, I better save the draft as I go along (tho I was nearly done by the time I thought this) but as soon as I hit the button I realized my mistake! I didn't have wireless connection out on the porch! And the whole thing was lost.. sigh...

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about this series of collages I've been working on - inspired by the beautiful bird song I hear every day, and the lovely pink blossoming apple tree outside my studio window - and a wonderful collection of vintage wallpaper I recently purchased from Donna of Under the Red Roof Etsy shop. Donna was so sweet to send me some lovely patterns of small flowers and graphics which I love to cut up and use in bits and pieces in collage.

These are made on canvas board (I've covered the back with patterned paper or fabric) but I think I may order some of those blocky square canvases as well.

So.. I was musing about this in what I was writing yesterday.. I've been thinking for a long time of doing a special issue of my zine (or just a similar small publication) of my art only - pages from my art journal, perhaps some older work I have never shared, and several step by step pieces showing the progress of how I create a piece like these ones and maybe some more 3d pieces like my shadow boxes &/or more craft stuff. What do you think? Would anyone be interested in something like this?

I have thought of either printing it up just like my zine (5x8", full color, 32 pages approx.) - or of having it printed up by one of those publication services - or maybe not as a printed publication, maybe as a downloadable pdf?

Anyway.. I'd love to hear some feedback on this idea! What do you think?

 

May Flowers

Oh no.. I just wrote a long post then lost it! Boo hoo! Well, I need to run out now so I'll try again later. I'll leave you with this (if I do say so myself!) lovely image of one of my new Little Mayflower Wreaths - just one of the new items I added to my Etsy shop today.

I will write more later! Lots of news to share!

Meliscellania is ReOpened!

Happy May Day! I have just completed updated my Etsy Shop, Meliscellania, with new items, old favorites, and several original mixed media collages made by me - like this lovely Blue Jay above singing in a fantasy tree of vintage wallpaper, paint, flowers and hand drawn details.

Also available are some of my favorite 1930's bird guide illustrations - I use these often in my work. Each page has two lovely illustrations and text. There are many other goodies - so go take a peek for yourself!

Etsy Shop Re-Opening Tomorrow!

I will be reopening my Etsy shop - Meliscellania - tomorrow, May 1st! Here are a few little peeks at what will be in store.. Lace Shelf Edging from Taiwan, vintage school phrases and letter tiles to use in collage, tiny glass chickens filled with pink and white goodies, beautifully illustrated pages from antique bird guides - and several pieces of original, springy art by me!

Please stop by my shop tomorrow - everything should be up by noon, eastern time.

What I've been up to..

Hi everyone! I feel like I've been gone from my "online life" for so long. It's been nice to take a break but I feel disconnected. I intended to re open my Etsy shop May 1st, and I think I'll still do so, but I really haven't geared up for it. To tell you the truth, I thought that as I cleaned out my studio I'd find lots and lots of stuff to package up and sell as collage packets, etc - but I really didn't find much! I threw out a lot of stuff, and organized a lot of stuff - and I still have more to go - but there have been no big windfalls of buried treasures! Mostly just junk unfortunately..

I did come across one thing I'd forgotten about - a whole tin of old school "phrases" so I thought I'd bundle up some of these and offer them in the shop. They are cute little "captions" for collages, aren't they? I love the old typewriter font.. I'm so sad I no longer have my old Smith Corolla electric typewriter which typed pretty much exactly like what's on those phrase cards. I used to type poetry on it when I was a teenager.. I can't remember now if it died and I got rid of it, or if in some move when I just had too much stuff I let it go.. (I do tend to purge sometimes!) but now I regret it!!

Probably from being overwhelmed by all the junk, I've been craving simplicity. I made a few little hanging collage like the one at top ("twisp!") from a sweet old children's book of birds - some are quite simple like that one with a bit of seagrass wallpaper, a couple are more complicated like the one above with bits of vintage wallpaper and flowers and buttons on small painted canvases. I'll be offering these up for sale as well as postcards of the images. I had a lot of fun with these!

You can also see from my studio cupboard how much I've been simplifying and clearing out - well, if you remember what it looked like before you can! This lousy flash photo doesn't really do it justice - without the garish flash it looks very sweet and clean - unlike the other side of the room which still needs some work! I'll show more, and hopefully better photos when I'm done!

So.. I have not accomplished all I hoped to but boy have I been enjoying these beautiful days we've been having. Even the rainy days like today have been so pretty with everything greening up and coming into bloom. Pretty soon our apple tree will be covered in pink white blossoms - then I may have to disappear for a while again!