Sunday, August 31, 2008

August Suppers






Borscht, with red, yellow, white and pink beets.

Coconut eis and orange chocolate for dessert

Simple Borscht
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 medium garden onions (white or Spanish), sliced
3 cloves fresh garlic, sliced thinly
3 medium garden potatoes (white or red skinned), halved & sliced
4 medium beets and their tops, halved & sliced
3-4 Tbsp fresh dill, snipped finely
If you're using fresh garden beets they're so flavourful you needn't make a stock, simply use fresh water.

Warm the oil and salt in a heavy soup pot and add the garlic and onion. Sauté a few minutes and add the potatoes, beets and dill. Continue sautéing until everything is golden and flavours are blending, about 10 minutes.
Add the water and raise the heat, allowing the soup to come to the boil. Cover and turn the heat to low. When the vegetables are tender, add the chopped beet tops and adjust and the seasoning to taste, adding a few twists of fresh ground black pepper if you like. Garnish with a small dollop of yogurt and a little sprig of dill.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

FUR and VELVET


A 25 cent pink velevet pin cushion from Dressew, Vancouver - 337 West Hastings

& four metres of tangerine velvet ...to be sewn into curtains for my new apartment


A pink pig and a kangaroo fashioned with dyed rabbit fur. From Chinatown, Vancouver.

The background is Maggie's quilt.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

LAMPS







at Vancouver Architectural Antiques

...where Chera found the perfect school house pendant lamp for her dining room

Monday, August 25, 2008

Shinzi Katoh



A new favorite artist + designer, SHINZI KATOH

(postcard and lunchbox above and below, Shinzi in Holland)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday, August 15, 2008

One Sleep


My last night in the Yukon.

I went for a walk to the beaver pond and out to Paul Gort and Jen Williams' house for a bbq. Many nice salads, and Jen made rice krispies squares for dessert.

Reminded me of another Yukon time, making rice krispies sculptures with Shary at the Res in Dawson, 2002 ... in honor of the rice krispies sculptress herself: Wonder Koch's grandma, who sends her a rice krispies lambs every Easter.

Great to visit and see Paul and Jen's studios. Paul is a fine woodworker and Jen is an artist.

(I should've brought my camera. Still bad at this, I can't quite get over the feeling of being invasive or a show-off).

To Vancouver tomorrow morning to meet up with Chera & go see little Alice the gerbil !

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Dressing


in linen.
My favorite in all seasons.

I made up a dress for myself this summer very (very) similar to the "Pear Dress" pictured here, from the Pip-Squeak Chapeau label, without knowing of it, without knowing the label even existed. They're making beautiful clothing!
(2 differences: I put fluorescent yellow velvet ribbon in the cap sleeves and neckline rather than elastic, & my hem is straight, hitting 1 1/2 inches below the knee). Once I get a model (Sonja?) I'll post the dress and a few other things I've sewn lately.

Pip-Squeak Chapeau is (in part) Sveda Dresher. (I fancy her hand-knit black toque/scarf for fall).
She also makes dolls! They remind me of the Inu dolls.
P-SC's underwear certainly bear a mention as well - lovely linen and cotton things.

It's heartening to find out that what you thought was a unique design is also someone else's (maybe briefly deflating too, but who can't use a little deflating?) I love that ideas and aesthetics can in some way align despite certain degrees of separation. And, as Hélene Cixous said, how wonderfully reassuring it is to know one is not alone! That a like mind is a potential friend.

My designs all seem (to me) derivative of 14th-18thc French and German folk costume - in the case of this dress what I considered a gunny sack tied with baling twine -orphanwear.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And below, a man with truly good style who I mentioned already this week. I like this linen suit with matching shirt and the subtle striped banana tie very much in this green room with tall windows, an oval cutout in the wall, and 15 dead animals.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Maggie's Garden




When we buried Maggie we covered her grave with soil and scattered wild flower seeds.
They've come up!
The littlest flowers, they're like her.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

PINK INSULATION


In Chera and Scott's new house.
I love it - like felt.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Thinking Tents


an Anglo Saxon geteld tent with candy stripes

A canvas wall tent.

...thinking of a new tent installation.

Below are images of tents from my exhibition May Day at the FoFA gallery in Montréal which opened May 1st, 2007.

a sultan's tent in the May Day drawing (5' x 26')

The little felt tent above is a miniaturised version (1/13th the size) of the felt tent below.
They were installed next to each other in separate vitrines.
installing the mountain (or molehill as my sister called it)

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Working Inside a Drawing


One of 20 drawings and 4 banners I made in summer 2006 during a residency at de Overslag in Eindhoven, NL.
Chris' summer studio tent looks so much like it.

(Installation view below.
dwngs: 14 x 17 " on vellum, banners: 7" x 11' on paper, wound with wood dowels)

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Summer Studio


My friend Chris Kline has set up this beautiful space to work out at his cottage on Lake Mazinaw. He makes graceful paintings and drawings with great precision and delicacy. They're serene.
Chris and I share a great affection for W. Anderson.

Chris Kline, 2007
Effasura
acrylic on poplin fabric, pine and plywood stretcher
3' x 5'

Friday, August 8, 2008

Friday Breakfast + Linen Tea Towels


Birds, Hedgehogs and Dots.
Coffee, Blueberries and Watermelon.

Getting last things packed up for the move.
I found out yesterday that 1/2 of what I own has now arrived in Montréal, which means i'm about 1/3 of the way there.

A Summer Bonnet


Shaker, with blue silk lining and ribbon.
What a beauty, tho not one from my collection, unfortunately, she's for sale here.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Cranes + Cats for Alice



Cover is quilted cotton with unbleached quilt batting and a wide opening for crawling inside the wiener cave. Interior is a twin duvet folded in 1/8ths to make a square and covered with a zip-off flannel cover in lilac and chocolate brown.