x-mas studio sale...

yep folks, it that time of year again! i bet that this year, more than ever, you've decided to procrasinate on that last-minute holiday shopping. well, then here's a slice of good news!
OPEN STUDIO this weekend!!!

Joining us this time around is:

Yoshi Sislay --- http://blog.sislay.co.uk/ -- a japanese artist/illustrator
Sandrín --- jewellery
Chisato Kuroki --- www.chisato-ceramica.blogspot.com --- ceramic artist
and me!!

Here are the details:

Saturday December 19, 2009
7:00pm - 10:00pm
MILA I FONTANALS 52 bajos

and for the early birds,
SUNDAY DECEMEBER 20, 2009
11:00am - 2:30pm

As per usual, there will be wine and chow for the nighthawks. This will be my last open studio at this studio, so it would be great if you could come by and say goodbye together with me!

Gente! este fin de hacemos unas puertas abiertas-edición: cagatío! también os puedo contar que habrá gente nueva que significa nuevas cosas para ver! los detalles están arriba y estaría encantada que vinierais porque será mi ultima expo en este taller, snif! snif!
bueno os espero el sabado con copa en mano...

coming soon to a mailbox near you...

well, here are those cards i've been making...

ho! ho! ho!

presentando las tarjetas navideñas del 2009!

jo! jo! jo!

santa's workshop on mars...

after what feels like a decade... i'm back! in all actuality i was being exploited at my "real" job and it takes and drains my life away. i dig it sometimes but in terms of creative output... i have been dead.
anywho... with all these catalan resin pasta shapes promoting holiday spirit round town, i couldn't help but create today, on the last shred of a quasi-long weekend. here's a slice of what those who i love and miss will receive(very soon!) in their mail boxes. if anyone here knows someone at hallmark or any other card design company... hook a woman up! i love making cards!

uff... recién salida de un día de descanso, una se da cuenta de que la explotación laboral agota la creatividad a cualquiera. pero, por suerte, unes galetes me han salvado! esas creaciones de resina ambientando el espíritu navideño condal me han inspirado para mover el esqueleto y crear! aquí, una mínima parte de lo que mis mas queridos amigos y familia recibirán pronto(muy pronto!) en sus buzones.

si alguien sabe de una empresa adonde podría crear postales cada día, sis plau! dimelo!! me encanta hacer postales!!!!

thanks everyone...

just wanted to thank everyone that popped by the studio last night. it was a great turnout and i really appreciated the positive feedback.
thanks everyone!!

i've posted some pics of what was on display for those of you far away or who simply were unable to attend. drop a line if you feel like it.

gracias a todos que vinieron ayer. lo pasamos muy bien y estoy agradecida por los bonitos comentarios. gracias everybody!

aqui unas fotitos para los que no pudieron venir...

open studio

hello!
just wanted to announce that my studiomates and i will be hosting an open studio this SATURDAY OCTOBER 17, 2009.
there will be lots of new stuff to see and WINE!

i'll send a refresher tomorrow as i'm just heading out the door. but, it'd be great to see you so leave an open gap between afternoon and dinner.

here's the details:
OPEN STUDIO
MILA I FONTANALS 52-54 (in gracia, close to the market)
7:30 - 10:00
and if you're an early riser, we'll also have the studio open on sunday morning from 10:00am to 2:00pm.

if you've got any questions, send me a line!
hope to see you there!!


talleres abiertos este sabado!! para ver la info exacta mirar a la dirección de arriba.
habrán bastantes cosas nuevas... experimentos y procesos. vuestras opiniones ayudaran mucho!
y como siempre, habrá vino y buen ambiente.

venir si tenéis un hueco entre la tarde y cena, estaría super veros!!
pues na! hasta el sabado!

la meva casa es la teva casa...

okay...
so i got them out of the kiln and proceeded to take numerous blurry photos. this one isn't but it doesn't matter because i ain't just finished with these houses yet.
more to come once i get my hands on a saw and some wood stain...

cuando saque estas casas del horno saque fotos borrosas y terribles. pero, como no están terminadas no me importa tanto. solo es un sneak-peek hasta que tenga la oportunidad de obtener una sierra y tinte de madera... hasta entonces, nos vemos!

fearful tragedies of the sea...

call it living by the sea but lately i've had the hankering to get some sailor stories into the 3rd dimension. have you read, "the road," by james hanley? "poor sailor," by s.a. harkham which is inspired by the fantastic, "at sea," by guy maupassant?
well, you should.
once i got my fancy on to make some sailor dolls with accompanying gear and tale i looked into sailor stories and came across those.
do you know any others?

yesterday i went into the studio with these sketches under my arm. it's funny how sometimes when you start doing something the only thing you really want to do is go home, make cookies, cake or lord knows whatever other laborious baked good. but then, if you stick with it(and i mean stick with it) you get to this point where you become utterly engrossed. this can happen a lot with me and head building. at the beginning they're just SO ugly and sans a shred of personality. but then, the little mo' fo's starting getting grit and you can't stop until you're done.
i guess that's what the folks back home would call inspiration.
well... i left that studio one happy lass last night. quite happy with the sketch/object translation. these kids got spunk!
now.. only the appendages follow.



empecer algo aveces me cuesta más que ir a misa. últimamente me veo muy interesada en hacer muñecos inspirados en los cuentos de marineros. esas antiguas fabulas de tragedia que te llenan tanto de tristeza. si os interesa, haz referencia a las referencias de arriba.
ayer fui al taller con estos dibujos en mano y me senté para hacer los personajes. cuando empiezas algo así, lo único que realmente quieres hacer es volver a casa y hacer de pastelero(thanks dad!). pero si te pones, y repito, te pones, pues surge algo muy entretenido. yo me pierdo, en serio. y na, pues que estoy contenta con la forma que salieron mis personajes en respeto a los bocetos.
ahora solo faltan los brazos y las piernas....

vomit rocker pins!!!!!!!!!

last night me and my vomit rocker pin went out for a stroll. there are a bunch of free concerts in and about barcelona this weekend and i thought it would be the ideal occasion to launch my newest felt action.
the original vomit rocker pin was inspired by my good pal, blanco. he's an original rocker although not in the vomit sense. i made one for him on his birthday... but i added the "rock on!" hand for added rockerness.
gonna make a limited edition run of these bad boys. let me know if you want one and if you want it to be a joey or a ramona.

ayer estrene mis vomit rocker pins!!! estamos en la merce y como hay conciertos a tot arreu pensé que seria la ocasión ideal.
estos pins vienen inspirados por mi amigo blanco, un rocker autentico. hice una para su cumple pero sin la mano. ese saludo le da un extra umf... lo que buscaba!
voy hacer una edición limitada entonces si queréis, dime lo! ah! dime si quieres un joey o una ramona ya que los penados cambian un poco.

been building...

hey there,
here is some of the stuff i've been getting up to at the studio. bird brain remembered to bring the camera today, so here is the stuff i shot to give a sneak peak, pre-glazing.

aqui hay unas cositas que estoy haciendo en el taller, de barro. las casitas son cajitas y serán sitios discretos adonde podrán guardar una variedad de cosas. aun no están esmaltadas. esta semana tengo la intención de acabarlas y cocerlas... cruzar los dedos para mi!





some of the houses(can't decide if all) are going to have little smokies coming out of their chimneys. fun!!
algunas de las casas tendrán humo saliendo de su chimenea(no se si ponerlo en todas!!)



and finally, the factory i had to make. in my mind, it'll be part of a situation which will involve some dolls. maybe cards... and maybe even some picnic accessories. we'll have to wait and see.
y finalmente una fabrica que deseaba hacer. sera parte de una cosa mas grande adonde habrá muñecos y cartas(para jugar!)... y quizás accesorios de picnic también. aún esta en fase creación. haber lo que sale.

molly (before)...

it's easy to get distracted when you've got so many things on the back burner. I go from dolls to houses back to dolls then to boats. all these things that i'm itching to finish... plus, then there's those pins i wrote about. i still haven't taken a photo yet!! tsk.. tsk.. yes, i also agree.
give a girl a break. they will make it here... soon!

the pic featured here is molly. she's one of the dolls i've been working on. her arm fell off in mid doll creating madness leading to a pause and heavier application of epoxy. post this post, i'm back to the needle with her and hopefully by mid afternoon, she will be finished!
i'll post the after when the girl tells me she's ready.
hope you're well out there!

conga...

just got back from a two-week hiatus with the ma and pa. the month of august in spain leaves you with basically no other choice than to holiday. this year's venture was not too far away. my itinerary? eat, sleep, sew and go for the occasional swim with two of spain's finest hosts, my very own parents. it was great fun and i can proudly say that i had the fortunate opportunity to get the scoop on what's troubling the minds of the borderlining elderly in these, our modern times.

anyway. fronted a conga-line with the magical tunes of the handsome fellow pictured above. rocked white pants just before the upcoming labour day(whoo hoo!), and shook hands with a jellyfish that seemed a little hungry and scared. vacationing with your folks can taint even the sanest of minds especially when all you do is sleep, eat, sew and go for an occasional swim.

i'll post some pics of the upcoming sellable ditties asap! they are cute and ready for fall(which is just around the bend!) sweater weather, here we come!

he estado de vacaciones con mis padres estas ultimas semanas. como podáis imaginar, españa y trabajo en agosto, como que no van. en fin... ejercí mi derecho de hacer poco en ese tiempo pero conseguí trabajar y terminar algunas de mis inquietudes fieltresticas(es decir, cosas hechas con fieltro).
haber si mañana hago unas fotitos y podéis ver lo que pronto, pero muy pronto puede llegar a tu casa y en tu jersey! otoño, te doy la bienvenida!!

see you soon.

david...

here's another part of a series that i worked on. a further study of portraiture while reminiscing the heavily decorated walls of yesteryear.

they were sisters...

testing, testing...
here's a double panel drawing i'm working on at leisure. the idea is to do the original in watercolour and this fancy schmansy scan in digital colour.
i will then compare and contrast. the hope is that then you will too.

will post a triple whammy when ready.
hope you are all well out there.

salut!

different strokes...

there's different strokes for different folks as the old saying goes.

under the devastating wrath of photoshop, i beg for patience as every waking second has me doubting how much more of it's b.s. i can stand.

choco cinco con los principiantes de fotoshop! maldita sea!!!!

back to work...

there have been things:
end of year madness. moving. re-moving. more madness. summer intensives...
en fin...
we've finally got the internet up and running and very shortly (as in very, very shortly) i'll have more time on my hands than any unemployed roamer!
so... i declare to make a list of to do's and to (at the very least) attempt to do them(i know you've heard that one before!)

this means: my postings will be more than what recent records have shown.

brevemente...
estaré dando mas vidilla a este blog (espero!)
no se fía hoy, pero mañana si!

aqui: un viejo dibujo de la cual me gustaría hacer grabados. sabe alguien de un sitio en barcelona adonde puedo hacerlo?

open studio

after almost a month with no word, i'm here to announce that we're having an open studio shin-dig on SATURDAY JUNE 6, 2009. There will be tunes, vino and lots of ceramic goodies to look at! please come if you can!
Here's the official details:

OPEN STUDIO
Saturday June 6, 2009.
c/Mila y Fontanals 52-54 (big mutha-ass brown doors @ street level)
7:00 - 10:00
Bring one, or two, or three or four!

despues de casi un mes sin escribir anuncio: PUERTAS ABIERTAS en el taller!! Será este SABADO 6 de JUNIO. Habra música, vino y tesoros de barro! venir!!
Los detailles estan en la parte de arriba. Trae a quien quieras!

let the good times roll...

p.s. check out chisato (my studio mate´s) work
http://www.chisato-ceramica.blogspot.com/

happy mama's day...

for all the moms who have waited for their children to just come home, this one's for you.
we (heart) you.

plants and animals

spread the word.... plants and animals are coming to town!!
it sure feels like christmas this spring... not only are they playing once, but twice! check out the primavera sound site for more details... a little freebie there will be on the sunday!

here's the myspacio for further deets: http://www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals

vienen plants and animals a primavera sound este año!!!!! y no solo una vez... dos! si no tienes entrada para primavera, no hace falta, una de las dos actuaciones son GRATIS!!!
ah... que bueno tener un poco de canadá cerca de casa!

in flight

for every reason there is a season...

gettin´ old

keeping with the theme of detached heads, this is margaret. she's travelled quite a bit. her last trip was about 750km. (all the way to madrid!!). nestled in the warmth of my parents house she received love for a couple of months until one afternoon (just before siesta) my mom tried to move the table which tipped her over. needless to say, that head popped right off! luckily i was there to witness the whole thing and shortly after the devastating event i ran over to the hardware store and bought some epoxy putty. i'm not sure if you know about epoxy putty but let me tell you... it is great! way better than that pesky regular epoxy, especially, when mending a broken neck.

by the way, in this pic she is seamless!

ayer me comentaron que no había forma de entender mi inglés! voy a intentar hacer esto en ambas lenguas... así también practico y dejo a mis lectores castellano parlantes a salvo de demasiados ¨phrasal verbs o collocations." os parece?

el mi anterior post vimos el tema de decapitaciones. siguiendo con este tema os presento a margaret (o mejor... margarita/marga-- como quieras). margarita ha viajado mucho. su ultimo viaje fue a madrid unos 750m desde aquí. traslada a un ambiente familiar y cálido (como es la casa de mis padres) recibió mucho amor y cariño hasta que un buen día en un intento fallido de mover la mesa se cayó. y como una palomita saltando en una cazuela, pop! allá fue su cabeza! estuve de testigo de la escena completa! después del choque inicial salí pitando a una ferretería adonde compre masilla epoxi. no se si lo conocéis pero déjame deciros que es la hostia!! no tiene nada que ver con un epoxi normal especialmente cuando arreglando cuellos partidos!

p.d. en esta foto podemos ver a una margarita antes del accidente. un minuto de silencio por favor...

the guests have arrived/los invitados han llegado

there are times when ideas should rest safely in my sketchbook or in my mind. i really thought this was a hoot one dark rainy day in my studio. what do you think?

tomás in the sky with diamonds

this is tomás. he´s a navel-gazer and he loves his mom. born in the hills of catalunya, he has a deep appreciation for green spaces and all pork fare! yum!
he can be reached at 555-5555 (area code: 55)

things to look forward to...

there comes a point in every woman's life where office casual and accompanying parrot on shoulder are simply not an option. i near this junction.

redecorating

taking things apart only to put them back together again.
it's spring!

at the crossroads...

decisions, deciding, decided.

vladmir told us he was expecting family

vladmir did indeed tell us he was expecting family. it's nice to see that other countries also appreciate sports socks...

sam and dave and other black and whites

i´ve always been a huge fan of cross-hatching. maurice sendak, robert crumb... they sure knew how to work a nib. while in buenos aires, i encountered the work of photographer, félix nadar.

his photographs got me thinking about the potential of portraiture and so, it´s something that´s been on my mind. here are some portraits drawn and cross-hatched from a little while back.