Personal Hero: Patrick Blanc

I love Patrick Blanc. My heart beats a little faster when I look at the amazing living installations he's done up the sides of buildings and in other unlikely spaces. There's a sense of magic and adventure to what he's created, as well as a feeling of nature "reclaiming" space. Patrick Blanc himself is weird and wild, dyeing his hair green and wearing green, as if he too is trying to become a plant in his huge living murals. I think he's fearless and I admire this.

He's such an inspiration that Brendan and I have decided that should our next place have an appropriate space, we want to build our own vertical garden to enjoy year-round when our outside garden sleeps during the winter. We found a great blog by a guy in NYC who built a greenwall in his home with his wife. The whole blog has helpful information in it, answering questions, making material lists, etc. DIY GREENWALLS.

Dear Spring

Dear Spring,
You can't get here fast enough. I'm sick of snow everywhere and short days. I miss my tulips and daffodils. (Picture below is from our 2009 garden).

Engagement Photo Session

One of the things that Brendan and I want to do is engagement photos. We plan on using these for our "save the dates" and such, and just for our own fun so that we have something to remember this particular and unique time in our lives. And in doing the research, there are some things we've definitely decided against:

1. balloons
2. being in a field or a tree
3. having photos that look like shots from a catalog
4. soft-focus light

Some things we want to focus on:

1. something creative with a sense of whimsy
2. comedy and humor (we like to think of ourselves as funny folks. Brendan in particular gets my sides splitting many times a day).
3. bright, cheery and colorful
4. handmade

All this thinking was spurred by a post on The Inspired Bride.
I think sitting down and deciding certain likes/dislikes was really helpful in our brainstorming session last night. And our idea evolved quickly to something we're both enthusiastic about. We'll be using my co-op gallery space to build a small set based off of a poem. And thankfully I have a hefty amount of large pieces of foamboard left over from previous projects that will finally get used!

Some clues:
1. proscenium arch
2. a boat
3. stars and a moon

Can't wait to get these done and share them!

The Naming of Things

Yaaaargh...sometimes, I hate naming my artwork. Sometimes I'm lucky and a title pops into my brain while I'm making the piece or shortly after, but some pieces are just too....mysterious for me to title. Thing is, I think naming things "Untitled" is a total cop-out and I really try to avoid it as much as possible. I always appreciate when someone titles their work, even if I think the title is stupid or pretentious. I appreciate their effort. Times like this though, I wish I could title things like classical composers did like a personal favorite piece of music of mine "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565, 2nd Movement, Orchestral Arrangement" (which I first saw when I was a little kid from Fantasia, shown below). Unfortunately from that title one has no idea what that would sound like or the feelings that it could possibly evoke.



Anyway, here's my latest unnamed piece, sans the full installation solution. But you get the idea:

When life gives you snow, make a snow whale!

After all that snow finished falling, there wasn't much to do except play! (click on the photos to see them much bigger!)

So Sarah and I decided to build a snow whale in my backyard.

Here we are cutting the perimeter of the beast, and pressing in the sides to start shaping it.

The whale's face and it's tail.


It's taking shape! Looking like a whale!

All done. Sarah's fiance Brian came over to survey our work while Brendan snapped photos.

Niiiiiiiiiice!

Yet another snow day in Philly

Ahhh.....another snowed-in day in Philly. It's been snowing for many hours now, and is supposed to snow for a further several hours. Already schools and businesses are closed for tomorrow. It's a wintery, slushy mess out there, best enjoyed from cozy indoors or simply to play in for sledding and snowmen. Today my besties Christiana and Sarah came over for crafting, movies and making homemade pretzels. Mmmmm....!

THUMBS WAY UP!

Also we found a butterfly fluttering in my house. We put him on our rosemary bush that's currently residing in our in-house growing station. He's got a lil' heart on his wing!

WIP - You are my Avatar

WIP - You are my Avatar
Originally uploaded by Elizabeth J. Smith

Started this late last night. Can't wait to get it done. Perhaps for Valentine's Day?