Saturday, February 21, 2009

Friday's Field trip

I love old houses. I love my retro, one-speed blue bicycle with a basket and a "I heart my bike" bell. So Friday's bike ride through some of my favorite Denton neighborhoods was just the medicine I needed to end the work week.

My friend Callie accompanied me and with cameras in hand we took off toward Oak, Egan and Congress Street.

I was born in Denton and have loved this town for as long as I can remember. It's nice to have roots somewhere, for memories to be connected with certain places and with certain people. And while so many of the houses I photographed are ones that I have grown up driving by, I so rarely stop to study them, to look at how beautiful and often quirky they really are. 

My oldest, life-long friend grew up in a little house at 810 Congress, and since she moved out about 14 years ago, I believe that house has been painted ever color imaginable, which we laugh about often. It's a great house, and yesterday as I rode past it, I just had to stop for a moment and remember. I had to remember getting splinters in my feet from the old wooden floors and camping in her backyard as we attempted to catch fireflies in glass jars. 

It's sad sometimes to feel as though life is quickly slipping through my fingers, like I can't reclaim the last 23 years. They have been good years, and I'm glad I have this place — Denton, Texas — to help me remember what a blessing life has been as it enables me to dream about the future.




Operation Cupcake

What better way to spend a Saturday than to bake goodies for people you love? My friend Catie, who more acurately fits in the "sister" category, has dreams of opening her own bakery someday, and her specialty — cupcakes! 

The other night while eating Indian food with her family, we decided it would be fun to bake for all of our friends, for newcomers at church and for people who may be going through difficult times right now. The result ended up being something I like to affectionately call "Operation Cupcake."

Catie was the baking master mind. I served as her sous-chef and also made little, handmade labels for our cupcake creations.

We wanted to broaden our cupcake horizons, so we decided to make layered cupcakes. Just like you would layer a cake, only more bite-sized. The results ended up being just as cute as they were tasty.  Catie and I enjoyed coming up with names for our baked goods as well. While "three story cupcakes" and "breast cancer awareness cupcakes" were both in the running, we finally decided on calling our creation "Obama cupcakes." I mean, why not name your chocolate and vanilla cupcakes after your newly appointed, biracial president? We found this to be both fitting and honoring.

I enjoyed getting to spend a day in the kitchen with Catie, hearing her talk about the collages she's looking at and singing along to The Weepies' music as though we were Deb Talen herself...

"In days to come when your heart feels undone may you always find an open hand."

Catie talks about whispering words of blessing over her creations, praying for the people to whom she's giving her treats. I hope the recipients of our cupcakes felt half as blessed as we did making them. 







Friday, February 20, 2009

Lend me a hand

I have long had a fetish with hand sculptures and have been collecting them since I was freshman in high school. 

For my fifteenth birthday I was given a gift card to my favorite local store, Sleeping Lizards, where I found this eclectic wooden hand. I'm not sure what originally persuaded me to buy the hand, but I had no idea that it would be the first among many hands that I would eventually collect. 

Since then, I notice them everywhere — in gift shops, international artisan markets and antique stores. I'm running out space to put them, but when I see one, I always feel compelled to buy it. 

Something I love about collections is how people in your life can share in your excitement for a certain object. For instance, since my Auntie Em learned of my collection she is always on the hunt for a good hand sculpture. When I was at university, she would send me letters with hand buttons or hand soap or hand stickers stuffed inside. 

And some of my favorite sculptures have been ones that friends have given me. One Christmas my friend Amanda became giddy each time she referenced my Christmas present, assuring me that I would love it. She had bought me this metal hand sculpture, and to this day it remains a favorite. 

I'm a strong believer in collections because I come from a family of collectors. Whether it's green depression glass, vintage globes or stained glass windows, there are some objects that I will forever see and think of certain people, which is so special to me.

The hand sculptures in my photos are a few of my favorites. I have found that the ones I love the most have a rustic feel to them and are usually crafted by artisans. Whether the sculptures are wooden and carved with lifelines, or whether they have long Indian-style fingers, I am always on the look for new ones. So if you know of a location where hand sculptures are sold, please let me know.

Oh, and I have found that hand sculptures make great jewelry displays!








Thursday, February 19, 2009

All Torn Up

One of my life heros has been my elementary art teacher. I always loved art class as a child, which I largely attribute to Mrs. Ruestmann's ability to translate her craft into a more malleable, five-year-old form without watering it down. 

I still have my second grade version of Vincent Van Gough's "Starry Night" and keenly remember learning about the primary colored squares in Piet Mondrian artwork, which I later learned to call neo-plasticism.

So when Mrs. Ruestmann invited me to her house the other night to make collages, I was so excited to see what fun project I would come home with.

The collage process is simple. Take a heavy watercolor paper (Mrs. Ruestmann and I used Aquarius II, but I later used gemini, which worked just as well) and cover it in Matte Medium. At this point you can decorate your "canvas" in any sort of paper you have on hand. And be creative; we used dress patterns and wrapping paper, as well as handmade papers.

 Put another layer of Matte Medium on top of your paper, and let dry. Once all your paper is dry, turn over your canvas and measure and cut your large paper into smaller sections. Now you can add a focal point using any sort of ephemera, stamps or stickers you have stashed away.






At last!

Before leaving for Spain my friend Lael drew a sketch for me of a statue she saw when she was last in Barcelona. She presented my handmade gift with a little note on the side instructing me to scout out this particular statue.

I have loved her drawing and carried it across Africa and then finally into Europe with me, tied up, with other beloved objects, in my favorite vintage scarf. It then sat on my desk in Barcelona, giving me a beautiful piece of relief when my studies felt overwhelming. But as hard and as often as I looked for the statue in Spain, I never could find it. I soon learned that there are a multitude of statues in Barcelona, each one teasing me upon realization that it was not the particular one I was searching for.

I left Barcelona, a little disheartened to have never found the statue in Lael's sketch.

Fast forward two and a half months to the Sunday afternoon when my dad and I decided to take field trip to our favorite Denton local: Recycled Books and Records. We needed to buy a present for mom and planned to look for a glass cake plate at the nearby antique store. But as always the aroma of used books and the knowledge that we would find all sorts of treasures inside Recycled's purple walls soon lured us in.

While my dad thumbed through 19050s sheet music, I wandered around the three-story maze, and that's when I saw it. Pulled off the shelf, lying on the ground like it was just waiting for me to peruse, there was a photo book about modernism in Spanish art. Having recently discovered a love for Antonio Gaudi, I initially grabbed the book in hopes of finding photos of Sagrada Familia or Pablo Picasso's acclaimed hangout, Cautro Gatos.

But instead, I opened the pages and saw a photo of the sketch I had carried around for so long. Here she is.


The heart of the matter

I bragged to some girlfriends Friday evening over coffee and dessert how I am immune to the effects of caffeine, especially late at night. 

Reality check.

Apparently, I'm not as stalwart as I was during my college days when I could drink three cups of coffee to accompany late-night writing and then, without fail, fall asleep on cue. 

Quite the contrary. I was so alert after returning home from Dallas on Friday night, I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. making handmade Valentines to garnish my home. 

But the results far outweighed my lack of sleep. And while March is quickly approaching, I can't seem to part with my Valentine decorations. I love them, as they are both a colorful addition to my home and a reminder of the kind heart of my God.