Leonora Carrington

Here is a photo of Leonora with Max Ernst. She looks SO young. I suppose she was.

Her erie, preternatural subject matter never fails to stimulate my curiosity and move me. I fell in love with her work with the first image I ever saw, the cover of the book "Leonora Carrington, Surrealism, Alchemy and Art" I highly recommend it.

Heres a little known fact, Leonora actually made a couple tapestries in her day. Probably not woven herself, but I love a person with respect and appreciation for textiles.

A few greats from the last of the Surrealists...

The Meal of Lord Candlestick

Pastoral

The House Opposite

Leonora Carrington

Just found out Leonora Carrington died yesterday. She was one of my favorite artists.
She must have been about 94 now. Her work will be featured in the VAG surrealist exhibit opening this Saturday.
Here is a link to an article about her on the CBC website: http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/26/obit-carrington-leonora.html

oh puppers.....

Good news! My vespa ride last Sunday went really well! I got my speed up into 3rd gear and ventured out onto one of the busier streets around here. Was a little nerve wracking starting up at the light with all the other traffic, I wanted to get up to speed WAY faster than I think is possible with a manual transmission. So I was doing some super high revving and trying to change gears before it was ready. But, I didn’t stall out or anything, so yay!
Another discovery that most people would be unhappy about, I was actually kind of thrilled to find out because it means that maybe I’m not going as slow as I think I am, my speedometer is not working! Its a brand new bike, so its likely a wire that hasn’t been hooked up yet. A very nice mechanic is going to come take a look at it for me later today or tomorrow. Exciting. I can hardly wait to find out my speed.
So funny, I thought there was something a bit off there those first couple of rides. The needle seemed to be quite stationary, but then I was so worried about everything else that checking the speedometer was totally secondary. This last outing I felt a little more relaxed and in control.

I am posting a few photos of the last show I designed costumes for, “Twelfth Night” directed by the fabulous Thrasso Petras, set design, Jamie Nesbitt and lighting design Shannon Montgomery. I always hope to actually get these things posted BEFORE the show is over, but there just never seems to be time!

Twelfth Night - A few of the renderings....

Vespa!

Well, here it is, actual proof that I am riding my scooter! I still haven’t taken it above 2nd gear around the ‘hood’ but I’m hoping for better later today. Its raining, but I suppose I have to learn to ride in that too....I took motorcycle lessons, which went, well, how do I put it...the program would’ve been better suited to someone who isn’t me. The classroom stuff and the parking lot rides all were great (despite me dumping the bike 5 times in one day) but when it was time for the road ride...well, it was dark and raining and a bike I had never been on before, and thats when I called it. It all went way too fast for me. Most of the guys in the group all had some experience riding, I had zero, and really no great desire to ride a motorcycle, just really want to be able to ride my scooter without being a hazard....Heres keeping my fingers crossed that I will actually become proficient at this one day.

Slippers!

Here is my first crochet project! As you can see, nothing like the picture, but a slipper none the less. My problem is that I have no idea how to read a pattern, so I’ve totally winged it and taken detailed notes so hopefully I will be able to replicate it to some degree. Also, it seems that the slipper in the picture doesn’t actually come up very far at the sides and back. Its more of a slip on, which is not what I wanted at all, so I had to completely change the back and just make it all up, but its ok I think.