EDITOR'S LETTER • SOM0107 • BEST TO COME

Dear Readers,

Before world-renowned chef Julia Child passed away in 2004, she worked with writer Alex Purd'homme to author My Life in France — a book filled with her captivating autobiographical memoirs.

When we consider her celebrated achievements as a French chef, we may easily assume that she was born with natural culinary skills and a predisposition to all things French. 

Interestingly, Julia (who was born and raised in Pasadena, California) explains taht she didn't really learn to cook until after she got married at the age of 34, to her husband Paul Child. After four years of married life, Paul's work relocated them to Paris, France — a land with a culture, language and food that were completely new to her.

Says Julia: "In Paris ... I was surrounded by some of the best food in the world ... so it seemed only logical that I should learn how to cook ... good, traditional French home cooking. It was a revelation. I simply fell in love with that glorious food and those marvelous chefs. The longer we stayed there, the deeper my commitment became."

Whether it's Julia Child or other individuals who have achieved spectacular success in their field, it is not uncommon to learn that success is frequently preceded by passion, commitment and hard work.

The artwork of famous textile and collage artist Carolyn Quartermaine graces the cover of this special 10th anniversary issue of Somerset Studio. When we consider her accomplishments, we could also assume that things have always come easily for her. But as you will read in her Artist Portfolio (page 38), Carolyn was diligent in her studies and passionate in her efforts to refine her skills to develop into the artist that she is today.

In 1997, Somerset Studio was the second magazine to be launched by Stampington & Company. At the time, it was an audacious concept for a young publishing company ... a concept born out of a revelation that our community of paper and mixed-media artists deserved a magical space where we could gather to play, create, discover and share.

For the past 10 years, Somerset Studio has been the nation's leading publication in helping artists share their most innovative techniques used to design projects of the highest caliber. Many contributing artists offer stories similar to Julia Child — of not having started on their artistic journeys until well into their adult lives. Lisa Guerin, for example, shares her exquisite paper dolls (page 46) for an audience who might find it hard to believe that she had not begun making art until just a few years ago. But Lisa and most other artists, including Michelle Ward with her very cool magazine file project (page 90) and Connie Govea Stuart and her Victorian Vignettes (page 98), have discovered a truth similar to Julias: that the longer one stays within the world of paper and mixed-media, the deeper our commitments become.

In honor of Somerset Studio's 10th anniversary, we offer our gratitude to all of our contributing artists. Without your creative talent and generosity, we would not be where we are today. And the longer we have stayed, the stronger our commitment and resolve have become to continue publishing the very best magazines so that we can all continue to frolic together in a truly magical place that has come to be known as Somerset Studio.

Best to come,

Kellene Giloff & Jenny Doh

[This letter was published in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Somerset Studio.] 

PAPILLON • PART 2

Using the principles that I showed you in the immediate past post with Christine's foil and Sticky 2s, I applied the same techniques onto stretched canvas to create this.

To prepare the canvas, I first applied a layer of white gesso. Once dry, I used my finger to dip into water and then to some watercolor to then apply onto the canvas. (This is a technique I learned from Amy Hanna. It's super easy because if you apply too much color, you can dilute it by applying more water.)

Here's what the canvases look like when the watercolors have been applied and are in the process of drying. (They dry relatively quickly. Like 4 minutes.)

 

Next, I used the Sticky 2s and foil to apply onto the canvas.

Scalloped sheet music was added by punching a piece with a paper punch — like this. (After adhering the sheet music, I added some pencil markings to the canvas using Cretacolor pencils which I was turned onto by Lisa Kaus.)

Here's another piece I created using the same techniques on a larger stretched canvas: 

The prep was the same as the smaller pink one, but after the canvas was prepared with the watercolor, I created black polka dots using my VERY favorite polka dot technique (that I learned from Olivia Thomas) by using acrylic paint and the eraser of a regular pencil like this:

And the acrylic paint I used was the charcoal black by Claudine Hellmuth for Ranger.

The tags I used were first dyed and then I used the foil with the Sticky 2 in the center and gluestick on the edges.

To finish, I tied a piece of fabric cut on the bias, and a button embellishment tied with a bit of teal waxed polyester from Teesha Moore.

OK. I'm ready for Monday.

PAPILLON

You can tell by my collection of Christine Adolph art stamps that I'm a HUGE fan. I have more than one drawer dedicated to her images in my home studio.

And after seeing her inspiring video where she shows how to use some new products by Creative Imaginations — Sparkle Foils and Sticky 2s — I decided to try my hand at it with all the products. You might remember my talking about the red Moleskines that Kristen gave to me a while back. To one of the covers, this is what I did to it with the foil and Sticky 2s:

First, I used one of her stamps and brushed a mixture of 50/50 bleach and water to it. Then I stamped the image to the Moleskine. 

Once dry, I used my handy dandy Fiskars scissors and cut out one of the butterfly images from the Naturals Sticky 2s and burnished it to the top of the Moleskine. Once burnished, I took off the plastic film on top to reveal a tacky (almost invisible-to-the-eye) image of the butterfly.

Then I placed the foil sheet on top (shiny side up) and burnished again, causing the foil to release and adhere onto the tacky butterfly image.

And then I peeled off the foil to expose the foil image of the butterfly. Next, I used my favorite Coccoina gluestick to make marks on the edges and then burnish with black foil to add a nice frame to it all.

To finish, I added a few other embellishments. (The pink foil dots were created with a way cool Adhesive Dot Stamper by Elmer's.)

I'm happy with the way this turned out and can't wait to continue playing.

Happy crafting. :)

PS: In order to make the butterfly "pop," I used a white gel pen to do some highlighting/accenting marks.

CUTE AS A JUNEBUG

Check out this lovely bag made of burlap and gathered fabric. So cute, don't you think?

It was created by Gladys & Celia Hanning — a mother/daughter design team with a love for all things vintage. Check out the littlest and cutest tyke from this family — a total cutie pie.

Gladys and Celia will be putting on an event titled Mad Hatter Vintage Flea Market in Spokane, Washington this coming October 2nd & 3rd. 

I hope you'll check out the details here and consider joining this creative group for what will most certainly be an event to remember.

IN THE MOOD FOR OLES

After years of working together with Lori Oles, I was finally able to meet her live and in person today, as she came all the way from Arkansas to visit Stampington headquarters. One thing I learned is that I had been mispronouncing her last name all these years. Her last name is pronounced so that it rhymes with "bowls." :)

The thing about Lori Oles' art is that every time I see it, it gets me in a special mood. And that special mood was generously hand-delivered to me by her today ...

 

 

What is the name of this mood that her work puts us in? Romantic? Nostalgic? I'm not sure if those words fully capture the mood. But the thing is that I can spot Lori's breathtaking work from a mile away. 

Accompanying Lori were two of her good friends Michelle and Melissa. It was great fun getting to know them as well, and to witness all of their good energy and support that they have for Lori.

THE POINT OF HER PEN

Believe it or not, the designs on these cards are not generated by a computer or other fancy technology. It's the result of a true pen-to-paper process. Well, actually, it's a pointed pen that is used by the amazing Linda Schneider to create these incredible designs.

Years ago when we did the "Lingerie" issue of Somerset Studio, I had the pleasure of working with Linda to introduce our readers to her pointed pen magic. Since that debut, Linda has been on fire in terms of so much success that has come her way along her journey as a calligrapher. Here she is signing a copy of her terrific self-published book for me. 

And the greatest thing about Linda is that just as strong as her raw talent is her raw humility. She is a class act who lends her ideas with complete sincerity, generosity and grace. (A concoction of attributes that lead to what we could classify as a "phenom" or a "force to be reckoned with.")

Stay tuned to our publications including Art Quilting Studio, that will continue casting light on the work of this PHENOM.

LOVE MUCH

Check out these lovely crown pins. They are what Amy Hanna presented to her guests at a birthday lunch that we had for her today.  What a great idea, don't you think? I ended up with the one on the left with the pink and blue stones, which I love.

Here we all are as we posed to celebrate the special occasion. Amy has a really terrific circle of friends ... so fun ... including of course our cute-as-a-button Pam Garrison.

 

A few years ago, Amy, Pam and I took a road trip to northern California. (You might remember the photo below that we took from that road trip. We were young pups then.) It's incredible how fast the years have passed, and how many art adventures (both on the road and off the road) we've had over the years. And best of all, the friendships we've developed and enjoyed through it all.

Check out this amazing piece of art that Pam presented to Amy in honor of her birthday. I love it. It's so happy and so clear about what we all ought to do as this thing called life whizzes by. 

 

Well, I think we should do it. Yes, let's do it. Let's make a decision right here and now to LOVE MUCH.

HOMEWORK MANAGEMENT

Today was Monica's first day back to school as an 8th grader. And Andrew is right behind her as he will start his school in a couple more weeks as a 6th grader. Time sure flies by. Are they the greatest looking kids or what?

I have mixed feelings about the whole back-to-school thing. It's exciting to see the kids reconnect with all their classmates and get them all back into the routine of learning but I have to tell ya that along with all that comes the H O M E W O R K. If there's one thing I truly dread in life is homework management in the Doh/Mouet household. During the academic year, after Gerardo and I get home from work, this is what it looks like at our house:

 

Sometimes it gets frickin' intense. Essays to write, tests to study for, computations to compute, answers to answer ... it really and truly wears me out. And from a parent's perspective, you never feel like you do enough (or do it right) in terms of homework management. You frequently think: "I didn't quiz them hard enough" or "I shouldn't have offered so many ideas for the essay. I should have made them think longer" ...

But the thing to keep in mind, I suppose, is that they grow up and make choices and learn in spite of our best or not-so-best efforts. Look at how little they once were. So for the next 9 months, Gerardo and I will be embroiled in homework management from the hours of 7-10 at night. And though I dread it now, I do bet that 10 years from now, I'll yearn to have it all back. 

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW

Q: How come it's treiCdesigns.com instead of tracidesigns.com?

A: Well, you gotta watch this video to find out the answer — directly from Traci Bautista herself.

PETER'S PEACE

Well, it was that time of year again last night ... time to attend Zoofari — the annual gala event to support The Santa Ana Zoo. You might remember my talking about it last year here. This year, the theme was The Funky Monkey, where the decor and music and colors of the night took us back to the 1960s. Super fun.

During the silent auction, we were able to secure this beautiful photograph by Bill Dow, one of the Giant Anteaters (the male one) now living at The Santa Ana Zoo. There is also a female anteater living at the zoo. We are hoping that they will eventually make baby anteaters!

 

As you may recall here, after we broke ground to start building the home for this pair, we embarked on a campaign to raise funds to secure the naming rights for the male anteater. One of the great things we were able to announce to the guests during Zoofari was that through the support of UCIrvine and the UCI Alumni Association and various community friends, the male anteater is now officially named Peter ... as in Peter the Anteater. 

The anteaters are officially out of "quarentine" and will gradually become more visible at the zoo. Hope you'll consider making a trip out to see these awesome creatures. Peace. Out.