Fancy Egypt!

Last night was the big fancy Egyptian Event at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis for the opening of two new Egyptian Exhibits. My twin sister Jer has been working on both of these Exhibits so my whole family went to "wow" at everything. She has been working with Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. He has that big fancy title, but mostly he spends his time in tunnels and tombs underground. Jer has been working on projects here and in Egypt. All of the folks she has been working with in Egypt are fabulous and several of them were able to attend last nights big hoo-haa. There is a documentary out now about Jer's journey to make these exhibits and it totally makes me cry-I am so proud of her.

So yes, we all got dressed up! Jer looked like an Egyptian Goddess in a green beaded and pleated gown with a special headpiece I made just for the event. I wore the champagne silk empire waisted gown with the peacock headpiece, our younger sister Kimi wore a dress that is similar in shape to mine but in black, our mom had on a gorgeous combo of black and turquoise and our dad had on a new white dinner jacket. Zahi looked fabulous in a tux! We are all used to seeing him in his famous hat and covered in dust and dirt. Oh, and I did paint my toes and wear some fancy shoes-ooh la la! Photos are promised!

(and yes, I always have to make a silly face in photos-ugh!)

The Mermaid's Bath

The Gorgeous, Talented and Amazing Woman behind the "Mermaid's Bath" who happens to be one of my oldest friends. She is one of the hardest workers I know and she plays as hard as she works. She doesn't have any sisters so I am lucky to fill that role when I can. We can be silly, do "girly" things and even make clothes for dolls and have tea parties-all the things she wanted to do as a little girl and dreamed that sisters did(if only she knew that my sisters and I were just smacking each other around-ok, not true, well, kind of-just a little....). She is moving away so we must say "Good Bye" to the Mermaid's Bath. I am going to miss her, her creativity, understanding and fearlessness!

She is my favourite model for photographs. She can morph into whomever I need her to be and she does it so wonderfully!

She famoulsy "poised" for this photograph of one of the Pre-Raphealite "Ophelia" paintings for me(well, she almost died of hypothermia but would not get out of the freezing water! She is as stubborn as me!).

Glass bottom boat fun!

A Woodcut a friend of our's did for her Wedding Invitation that she framed and put on this little shelf she painted.

A photo I put in a frame I painted to match the walls

Fish Ornanments "swim" by amongst the grape vines. When you take a bath in here with the lights off and all the candles lit, you really feel that you at the bottom of the sea! Fantastic!

Another one of my photos in a hand painted frame plus, we collected tons of vintage bottles in aquas, purples and clear and she would arrange them shells and stones

A shelf that we found in Santa Fe, NM and nearly killed each other fighting over! We agreed it was for the greater good that it should go in the Mermaid's bathroom. We were right.

A statue that a friend of our's was not happy with and was going to throw out! We said "NO!" and saved her. We love her. Artists can be so weird about their work. Ha!

More sand and shells and a gorgeous wood sculpture from my friend's travels.

I sent her my "Madonna of New Orlean's" in an antique Nicho that we got in Alburquere, NM. I am thinking that we probably fought over this too(we are like sisters in this way) but I was fighting for it to make something for her so I prevailed!

She made a little bench over the dresser in the bathroom which is so pretty. We have had a 15 year love affair with all beaded and embroidered pillows and send them back and forth. The last one she sent me was for Christmas last year and it is brown with bronze and teal beads-yippee!

There is also another woodcut of a crab that our friend made.

More of the bench. Now I am just getting sadder. She has used that Body Shop Body Butter for 20 years! I would also send or bring her a jar of it. When I first met her, I asked her if she had some lotion and she let me borrow this. OK, I can still send it to her. I just loved this little area. We loved moving stuff around in it. I am still sad! I will miss her!

The whole bench!

More Mermaids swimming!

The window has a gorgeous view of Mountains. It is just insane! And she made a gorgeous little silk curtain out of fabric she got from living in India-also insanely gorgeous.

More Treasure!

So, I am sad. One of my best friends is moving out of the States to a very far away country. She has an amazing house of her own that was once an barn. She has worked so hard over the years to turn it into an amazing house of magic and fairy tales. I am lucky as I got to help. Each room has a theme-by colour or country or story. The design inside is so fun too. She is a great lover of plants and has a green house attached to her house with vines climbing up the walls inside her house. She even has a pond out back with a glass bottom boat. Also outside she has everykind of garden you can imagine. It is a paradise of some kind, but after all these years she is tired of keeping it up-a lot of hard work and I understand. But, I had to post some photos. Each photo reminds that when she got the barn house it was completely white inside with nothing but a hardwood floor. Slowly, over many years, she would add one thing after another and when I came for visits I got to be a part of this. Magic does exisit. Sometimes it grows slowly when you aren't watching.

This bathroom was like that. First it was just a pale aqua colour. Then we did one wash then another and another on top of that. Then I came to visit again and she had added all the grape vines-fabulous! Next, whenever I was out and if i found something "Mermaid" I would send it to her and she would find a place for it. Then, for holidays and Birthdays, I would make her art that had a Mermaid feel and that would get added too. One trip we went to great swimming hole and took underwater photos that she had blown up and framed in blue and green beaded frames and then added them to the room. Trips to the coast would mean more shells and sand in the bathroom. Trips all over the world would mean amazing wooden Mermaids and other sculptures. It all grew so slowly but wow-there it is! I am wishing her all the best on this next phase of her life and I will always remember this magical house. And yes, there are many other rooms which are equally as awesome...

My Mom and Art

This is my beautiful, fun-loving and creative Mom, Annie

Here is a Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead in Mexico which honours one's deceased loved ones with joy, light and celebration)Shrine I sent up at the Indianapolis Art Center to honour my Grandmothers Sally and Gingie and my Great Auntie Fagella complete with monotype portraits I did of each of them(of course they needed to be wearing super glamorous clothing and tiaras!) and photographs, their favourite makeup products, Russian Chocolates and Tea, and some Love Letters from me.

This is a painted portrait I did of my Mom and Dad on their Wedding Day for their 40th Wedding Anniversary which was a few years ago. To me, they still look just like this and they will always have these huge smiles! It made me so happy that this portrait brought tears to my Mom's eyes and surprised my Dad. It is because of them that I am trying my best to make art!

More Motherly things-Little Us in the Snow, Pretty Fleurs and My favourite Ladies all together~

So, it is almost too late for this. It is late in the day. But it is American Mother's Day today. My Mom is the real creative one. She doesn't call it creative though. She just calls it making what you need. You need a skirt? You better learn to sew. You are bored? Then pick up a pencil and some paper and draw in the woods all day. When I are a little older, she gave me some watercolour paints-the $3.00 kind you get at any store. In school, my 2 sisters and I were alwasy having to make some kind of project and she was always on board to help us. We could always count on her and that was huge.

My Mom is also a fabulous Model for me to take photos of!

My Mom turns 1 year old! And, my twin Jer and I were pushed in that same black pram!

My Mom, the pretty ballerina and hot College Girl at Daytona Beach!

My Mom with the 3 of us making "Natural Art" as in old fashioned Mud Pies. My twin Jer holds one out for our Dad to photograph while My Mom holds little sister Kimi and I play with her hair.

But, it wasn't just her. My Dad made things too. He took wonderful photographs and gave me my first little camera. He quickly saw how much I liked it so he moved me up to a 1969 Pentax 35 mm manual camera that I will always love.

My Dad as a tiny baby boy smelling his "blankey" with his cousin and as a tough Army guy.

My Mom and Dad at an Engagement Party and My Dad escorting me to one of My Art Show Openings

And, where would my mom be without her Mom? Laughing Water(aka Sally, we called her Nonnie) had gorgeous jet black hair and deep black eyes. She made everything too and not so much because it was always fun, but because she lived through the Great Depression and WWII and she had to. This idea of "Save Everything and make it yourself" definitely went on to my Mom and then to my sisters and me. It didn't always work and it wasn't always fun. My Mom's family wasn't rich and my Mom told me the story of trying to make her dream dress for a fancy dance. She couldn't get it right and got so frustrated that she flushed it down the toilet! Well, that just made everything worse-plumbing wise too. They also had fabulous vegetable gardens, fruit trees, flower gardens and my Grandfather even made a loom to weave rugs out of bread bags during the war(this Grandfather was too old for WWII being 50 when my mom was born). Everyone just painted and drew as well. My Grandfather(Pop) set up a dark room in the basement so he could print his own photographs as well. They all had it going on!

A friend of mine models Nonnie's Wedding Gown that she made for herself. It is made of dark blue silk velvet with burgundy silk velvet trim and a matching little cap. It is just gorgeous!

There are also stories of Nonnie trying her best to cook with nothing and it not working out and how the whole pie/cake/whatever going flying out the window while my funny Grandfather tried to catch it. My Mom always tells me that I come from a long line of "Throwers" Ha!

Jer and Me as little girls and Me and Jer dressed up for Halloween as well, bigger girls.

And, then there is my Dad's Mom-the lovely and hilarious Leila Virgina aka "Gingie aka "Mom". She had 4 sisters and they all looked alike-very tiny with very curly red hair, fair skin and freckles and big smiles. During WWII, they all moved into the big family house and took care of everyone's families together. They all sewed to make clothes, knitted to make sweaters, had gardens for flowers and vegetables, did needlepoint to decorate the house and on and on. I loved visiting that house-so full of magic and laughter. My Mom said that the first time she met her future Mother-In-Law she very worried as all the sisters looked so much alike!

Sassy Gingie in her High School Graduation photo and a photo of me which shows that I do like plaid and the curly red hair thing.

Little Us-Jer, Kimi, and me. My Mom made these dresses for us as she did so many. They would all start out as long dresses with long sleeves. Then, as we grew, they would become shorter dresses with short or cap sleeves. The next step was a little sundress and finally a mini skirt and vest! I also loved wearing my hair like this. The braid is still strong with me.

Well, now there is my twin sister. She has 2 little boys who are 3 and 6. She works a fulltime high stress job since this world is CRAZY! You would think she would never have time to do anything creative with her boys but wait. Just this morning my 6 year nephew called me screaming. It turns out that Mommy had drawn out an amazing treasure map that looked just like the one that Indiana Jones and Mutt used. She told Zach and his brother Sky to put on their Indiana Jones and Mutt clothes and to take the map to the sandbox. My twin had drawn all kind of "scary things" on the map like quick sand, poisonious darts and other dangers. As the boys went on their quest, Jer made like 20 costumes changes too to match these dangers. The boys made it through each trial and what did they find? A Crystal Skull that lights up! They were so excited that they didn't realize that Jer had taken a clear skull for trick or treating and stuck a light stick in it. So, creativity won again and made my nephews day(well week or month or more!). This is so much like something my Mom would have planned out and done for us.

This is what Zach looks like when he is super excited!

Some handsome boys and their Auntie and Me holding a little Sky.

So, now the cheesy bit. Thank you Moms, Grandmothers, Aunties, Great Aunties, Grandads, Dads, Uncles, Friends, and more for teaching me whatever you did about making things which is really what "ART" is and ART is what I love.

My painter teacher and one of my special folks Leo.

My Printmaking Professor and all around beloved dear friend Barbara Elam.

My Classy and Sassy Great Aunt Fagella in NYC circa 1920s and with me as I give her a doll I made for her which included pieces of her favourite vintage jewelry.