Things have been very quiet on this blog. Life, art and everything else have kept me from posting. Add the muse to that list of distractions or problems. She seems to have taken leave again from the blog world, bopping back from time to time, long enough for me to eek out a post here and there, and then off she flies again. Damn her. That chick is in serious trouble when I get my hands on her. Really though, the thing that has kept me from blogging most is this fact: I feel that the wheels are turning again in my life as an artist and other things have often been clawing their way to front of the line, begging for attention.
I'm still working on my book illustration work. And I am still writing. Got some deadlines to meet this summer and a picture book dummy to rework. There's a YA still cooking on a back burner (well, maybe it is really in another kitchen altogether), I have a chapter book manuscript that I want to turn into a graphic novel for the younger set, and a brand new idea for a book character and story line has popped up that has really got me excited. Just need a few more hours in the day, that's all.
But my experience getting ready for Surtex, as well as enjoying making the shift to my new studio, have provided a distraction of the best kid, and I am following the wind, which has always been my habit.
At Surtex, I had the pleasure of meeting some lovely people from a fabric company who seem to really "get" what it is I love to do. They will be bringing out a collection of my fabric designs, which they hope to debut at Quilt Market in Houston in October, and which will should hit the shelves come the first of the year.
After working in fiber arts years ago, the fact that I am returning to textiles is incredibly exciting for me. I would find it even more strange if somehow I end up making dolls and puppets again. But--I'll wait and see on that front. As the details and designs get closer to reality, I will eventually post more about them. In the meantime, I am branching off onto a new blog that will be fewer words and more pictures:
I'll still be posting here at Cats and Jammer when I want to write more and attempt to wax poetic. Sometime a gal's just got to go on and on about something that speaks to her. This is the "I have something to talk about " blog. But once Design Rocket is going full steam, Ill be looking to share lots of pictures over there. Check that blog for posts about collecting, design, art, collecting, decorating, textiles, collecting, and--did I mention?--collecting. (Don't I sound like someone who went and indulged her thrift shop/antique habit yesterday?)
Which is really what this blog originally started out to be all about years ago, anyway. Now it will have it's own forum.
One thing though: If I am going to write on 2 blogs, I have to do something about that missing muse....
Great to hear about the fabric! I loved your black background retro patterns. Would love a chair cover with it!
Posted by: Holli | June 15, 2009 at 07:59 PM
Thanks, Holli! I can't wait to have my own bolt to make things from!
Posted by: Barbara Johansen Newman | June 18, 2009 at 11:00 PM
I would like to create a banner for my boyfriend whom left to visit
his family for the vacations, but "Greeting home" appears over used.
What's something else I could say that gets the message across?.
Posted by: Windy | September 14, 2012 at 08:39 AM