Happy (Belated) Birthday...Bruce Degen!

Yesterday was Illustrator, Bruce Degen's birthday. Born June 14, 1945 in Brooklyn, NY, Bruce earned his BFA from Cooper Union and his MFA from Pratt Institute. You may remember his work from the series Magic Schoolbus and unforgettable Ms. Frizzle! My sons were enamored with the books, the videos and the adventures that the "magic" schoolbus would take them on once all the school kids climbed onboard!

All stories/episodes were well written and perfectly executed with a good mix of fun and education. Some of our favorites included the Halloween episode, which taught the viewers about bats and echo location as they toured a haunted mansion on a field trip with kooky Ms. Frizzle wearing her bat earrings and crazy outfits, leading every adventure and driving the bus!

As well as the episode entitled, "For Lunch", where the Schoolbus travels down the throat of a boy and they learn about digestion. Let's not forget the episode, "Lost in Space" ...another great educational adventure! 

Bruce Degen also illustrated the wonderful, lyrical board book, Jamberry, another of our family's favorites.

The Commander Toad series; Jesse Bear books; Daddy is a Doodlebug and Shirley's Wonderful Baby are all illustrated by Bruce as well. He illustrated over 40 children's books.

Happy Belated Birthday Bruce Degen and thank you for sharing your creativity and talent with the world! 

Watercolor Wednesday!

When I was six years old, my grandfather owned a farm in the hills of West Virginia. After my grandfather's passing, my Dad would drive my brothers and me out to the farm on Saturdays in the summer. I loved being wedged in between by brothers, bouncing along in the old pick up truck along the dusty two lane roads. Upon arrival, we'd all set to work. Admittedly, I got off easy as my job was to stay away from the road and to play safely, while my Dad and brothers tended to the garden and mowing. I now understand why my brothers didn't share my delight in heading to the farm on weekends...there is a difference between work and play!

After un-sticking my legs from the bench seat, I'd scoot out of the truck, jump down and head off looking for my friends, the cows. I'd venture down the hill to the dark, coolness of the barn when the sun overhead grew too hot and I could feel my part burning between by piggy tails. Old tractors and farm implements filled one part of the barn. I didn't spend much time there, as I was afraid of spiders and my brother, George was always warning me to watch out for snakes. So instead I would shoo the cows out of the back of the barn and I'd meander out into the fields with them as they grazed (watching my step of course)!

I distinctly remember how tiger lilies and blackberry brambles were everywhere, drooping in the hot sun!

One summer the farmhouse was rented to a group of kids, "Hippies" as Dad called them. They were friendly and I remember them inviting me to come into the farmhouse kitchen where they were steaming tiger lilly blossoms and dipping them in butter. I also remember my brother yanking me out before I got to taste them!

As the sun gets hotter here, summer memories come flooding back! What's your favorite childhood summer memory?

Watercolor Wednesday!

Breakfast on the patio! One of my greatest joys is taking some time in the morning to sketch and to do so in our back yard where the birds are singing!

Adding some peonies out of disappointment that the peonies we planted last year, haven't matured enough to grant some blossoms...

Happy Watercolor Wednesday...make it a colorful day!

Watercolor Wednesday... Pattern making...who's your friend?

To some watercolor artists, liquid frisket is a must! Frisket? (I know what you are thinking... you start humming a tisket a tasket...while your brain summons up images of a steaming brisket coming out of the oven) So what is frisket?!!

Frisket is a rubber/latex-based, milky liquid that works as a color resist in watercolor painting. It is a bit like painting with curdled milk, but it is really helpful! If you have ever tried watercolor painting, you know that it is one of the hardest types of painting because water is so difficult to control! You are not only striving to keep it from running into other colors, but also maintaining the right balance of water and pigment to create the opacity and brightness of color that you wish for your painting. Frisket can be found at your local fine art supply store, for me it was Blick's (old Utrecht store) in the Short North area of Columbus, Ohio.

Frisket becomes your friend when you want white areas in your work, or clean areas that you wish to layer with pen or another medium. It blocks any pigments from bleeding into that desired white space. But...frisket, can be a bit like that friend of yours who is notoriously late for your coffee dates, it requires a little patience! You paint it on and need to allow it to dry completely before you launch into adding color! And it comes with the warning that exposure can cause allergic reactions, or damaging effects to the nervous and reproductive systems. So I don't advise you let your kids play with it...and if you use it, don't breathe it in, and try to reduce the exposure to your skin.

Having said that, the exciting part of the frisket process in painting, is removing the dried frisket after your finished watercolor painting is completely dried. You need to remove it gently (by rubbing it off) or it can tear your watercolor paper. The big reveal is a bit like that piece of bubble wrap that you can't stop popping! You peel off the frisket, see clean white space and your mind starts thinking of more patterns made possible by frisket! Try it (carefully) and enjoy!

Good News for Shrunken Wool...

Just received word that my House Pillows (handmade entirely from previously-cherished-sweaters-subsequently-shrunk-by-well-intentioned-laundry-helpers) will be...

featured in the Autumn 2016 issue of GreenCraft Magazine!

Don't forget! Abbyf studio has a give & get program that works like this...for every donation of clean, usable, 100% wool sweaters, you receive 10% off your next abbyf etsy purchase or commission!

Spring Break...ReDO!

With our weather fluctuating between warm and sunny to cold and gray, I would happily redo Spring Break and hop a plane back to California! We had a wonderful trip, flying directly into Oakland, CA, dining with my awesome nephew, driving on to hike in Yosemite National Park, and days later, driving to Los Angeles.  Just bumming around with my hubby and our boys is a joy for me...and one I recognize is fleeting as they continue to grow and spread their wings!

As if hiking in Yosemite was not monumental enough, once we settled into L.A., we visited one of my long-admired, funky places, Watts Towers!

Admittedly, Watts is in a questionable neighborhood, but I was so glad to see it honored and protected as the world changes around it. I was tickled that even the neighbors across the street paid homage to this historic relic.

It has been said that Watts Towers is the largest structure ever made by one person.  For years, it has been questioned how it fits into the world, Architecture? Yes! Sculpture? Yes! Folk Art? Absolutely! However you classify it...this amazing, tireless effort of one man, Simon Rodia, is a must see!  Every section that your eye rests upon tends to pull you in as you discover interesting bits and pieces- shards of pottery, impressions in the cement itself, broken bottles to seashells!

It is amazing when you get up close to examine the towers, which rise to 100 feet and were completely manmade in that no scaffolding, bolts, screws, rivets, welding or even blueprints/plans were used in the construction! Simon scaled to the top of each tower, cement bucket in hand,  as he continued to build upward. 

HIstory paints a picture of Rodia as a poor, Italian immigrant, known to be a hot head. He was married, with two sons and a daughter, and having worked as a laborer in Seattle, moved to Oakland, California around 1904, where a community of Italian immigrants was growing. Three years later, in 1907, Rodia was unhappy and took to drinking following the death of his daughter, Bel. The marriage dissolved in 1912. From there he moved around the US and returned to California with his third wife, settling into a house on a triangular lot, at the end of a dead end, at 1765 East 107th Street in Watts, CA (between Los Angeles and Long Beach).

A long time laborer and very experienced cement worker, Rodia, 42 years old in 1921, spent every free moment after work and on weekends building his structures. Although he had been in the United States for 26 years at this point, his thick Italian accent made him unable to communicate with neighbors (or others who might have been able to assist with his construction). Sadly, his wife left him, feeling neglected by him due to his unwavering focus on his project.

To visit today, you may take your own tour around the outside of the fenced in structure, or you can pay for an interior tour of the towers. Short on time, we opted out of the interior tour and walked around it after spending some time in the adjacent Art Center which houses information on Rodia and the entire history, as well as a small gallery that exhibits local artists' work.

There is a wonderful book written by Bud Goldstone and Arloa Paquin Goldstone, who knew Simon Rodia personally, entitled, The Los Angeles Watts Towers. I encourage you to check it out for more history on this cherished creation!

What wondrous thing would you create if you donated all of your free time and energy, for thirty four years? Hmmm... I guess I could argue that I am already nineteen years into two of my own wondrous things...I think I will call them the Feinknopf Towers!

I hear Spring is coming...

What a joy it is to wake to birds singing! Spring is coming...fingers crossed!

Many artists have had birds as their muse, myself included, and I was thrilled to recently come across another artist's "take" on our feathered friends...here are some fun birds by artist, Vicki Sawyer!

Prints and Blank Cards of my watercolor birds (seen below) are available by directly emailing or fb messaging me. (Etsy shop in progress and coming soon) Please check out my website galleries for additional samples of birds, florals and other designs available for purchase! Happy Spring!

Getting Grounded

So we are now into February and some of us are probably trying to hang on to our New Year's Resolutions...if you are like me, I haven't given up on mine, I am just seemingly having to work harder at getting grounded in the day-to-day! While I am one who loves journals, notebooks and sketchbooks, I also embrace technology to help me and if not using the general note app that comes with my phone, I also use Evernote...the popular and wonderful resource to keep track of all of my loose ends, thoughts, ideas, plans, stuff and sometimes, admittedly... junk!

When I get overwhelmed I always turn to a few coaches for their perspectives, their blogs typically turn me around quickly! A few of my favorite biz-coaches' blogs are:  Alyson Stanfeld's www.artbizcoach.com; Mary Edwards' www.coachingforartists.com and Lesley Riley's Practical Grounding for the Creative Spirit at www.lesleyriley.com!  All three of these women come from a creative background and can completely relate to the fears, roadblocks, derailments that artists face! Check them out if you too are struggling to get grounded...many offer mini or extended workshops, webinars and one-on-one counseling to get your creative caboose back on track! Good luck getting grounded!

New Year's Resolutions...who started the guilt?

As we cross over, into the new year, some of us are formulating our New Year's Resolutions, while others are already breaking them! Our whole-hearted goals to "try to do "X" in the new year... try to lose weight; try to eat healthier and exercise more; try to be more organized or better at a particular skill, are all well intentioned ones. But often these goals/resolutions are never met, leaving us feeling sheepish and guilty. So who started this tradition? Who brought on this annual guilt?

The history of this tradition of stating a self-improvement goal, hearkens back to the Babylonians, who would make promises to their gods that they would return borrowed items and pay outstanding debts in the new year.

The Romans, continued it from there by praying to their god, Janus, (for whom the month of January is named), the two-faced god who looks backward at the previous year, and forward into the new year. In addition to being the patron of endings and beginnings, Janus was also the patron of arches, doorways and bridges, where a two headed statue was erected in 62 B.C. on the bridge that crosses Rome's Tiber River to Tiber Island. It is said to be good luck if you touch the head of this statue when crossing the bridge!

Resolution trends this year point toward Mindfulness as well as the pursuit of Happiness. Dr. Timothy J. Sharp published a book entitled, 100 Ways to Happiness (a guide for busy people), that is a small, but surprisingly impactful resource for tips on tweaking one's thoughts while incorporating daily practices in order to reach long term happiness! 

While I could always exercise more and hone a few skills, I think I am going with FOCUS in the new year. While falling under the umbrella of mindfulness, for me it means no more multi-tasking my way through each day, but rather being present to every encounter, especially those moments where something can be learned if I just exercise a little more patience! 

What are your resolutions? Are they still in tact? Good luck in the new year!

Holiday shopping made easy...

If you are trying to complete your holiday shopping, while finding meaningful and unique gifts for those on your list... please consider handmade art!

My framed fabric collages are hanging and available at the Bexley Natural Market, (508 North Cassady Avenue, Columbus, Ohio) stop in and check them out...if you see one that you'd like just email me directly! ( afeinknopf@gmail.com)  AND...

Be sure to pop in and check out all the handmade goodies at Urban Emporium (2260 East Main Street, Columbus, Ohio)...I currently have wool holiday pillows and ornaments available there as well!

Ready for the Holidays?!?!

HALLOWEEN IS OVER...

With Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hannuka right around the corner, the pressure is officially on to put away the Halloween candy (or at least stop eating it momentarily) and to start getting the house ready for celebrating! 

Looking for some cute additions to your holiday decor? Need a holiday hostess gift? My repurposed sweater pillows are currently available at Urban Emporium in Bexley!

Fall pillows, now in the shop, will yield to Holiday and Winter-themed pillows moving forward!

Also plush ornaments will be coming soon, in time to trim your tree! Check 'em out!

(www.shopurbanemporium.com)

Enjoy it while it lasts...

I had the privilege of time to take a walk over the weekend and enjoy the fall foliage that is bursting into color around us!  I encourage you to enjoy it while you can, before the gray skies become our low Columbus, Ohio ceiling for six months! If you have never been...check out the numerous and beautiful opportunities to "be one with nature" at any of our city's FREE metro parks! Maps and more information can be found at www.metroparks.net!  Those of you with young children, the metro park system is a real gem of a resource for activities and events! Enjoy! 

Watercolor Wednesday...Felt Fall!

Today is the first day of fall! I hope everyone gets a moment to enjoy the sunshine, even for a brief moment! The felt illustrations in this blogpost are from a fabric children's book I created, entitled, (of course) Fall!

Enjoy!

Watercolor Wednesday... Woe is Me.

I was horrified to read this morning's article entitled, "5 of 37 charged so far in hazing death", sharing the story of Baruch College freshman, Michael Deng who in 2013 was blindfolded and forced to wear a heavy backpack as future fraternity "brothers" tackled him repeatedly in a hazing ritual known as "glass ceiling", until he dropped unconscious, and died a day later.

As a mother of a college freshman it haunts and sickens me and reminds me of the 60 Minutes story of a freshman student in Colorado being hazed to death via alcohol. My heart breaks for all of the young men who have died from hazing, while just trying to belong.

It saddens me so to think of this young man stepping up to join a group, that through the fraternal RUSH social events and meet-and-greets, he had obviously come to like, trust and wish to be their fraternal brother, in an organization that he obviously admired. He was choosing them by wanting to join and agreeing to accept their terms. He held up his end of the bargain, he went to their rented house off campus, where he allowed them to blindfold him, probably nervous wondering what might befall him, but also probably trusting that the hazing he was about to endure wouldn't be that bad... that there exists an unspoken line that the "brothers in charge" would surely not cross.

Well, cross they did, and then shamelessly attempted to cover it up.

Yes, measures are being taken by the college and the fraternity, but soon after the media turns off their microphones to chase the next story, and the article becomes buried in the back of the paper, the world will forget.  Young men will continue to rush fraternities in the hopes of being accepted, of wearing the greek letters of a social organization that they hold in great esteem, but they may do so blindly in the name of trust.   Not all fraternities are just about the party.  Wouldn't it be nice to hear of the great, philanthropic accomplishments of a fraternity and how as a team of bonded brothers, through a never-wavering, never-broken trust they solved a worldly problem...and not created one?

Well, now as each "brother" involved receives their sentence, I wonder if they too will stand,  feet shackled, at the door of the prison, nervous about what might befall them, but realizing there isn't a trusted "brother" within the prison who will save them when the line gets crossed.

Such a sad, unnecessary and costly lesson for all.  I pray for all of them and their families, more so, I pray we stop the bullying on the playgrounds, the cyber bullying and the collegiate hazing, because tears can't do it alone.

Watercolor Wednesday...

The last time I looked, we were in summer (you know, that season that is hot, humid, buggy but beautiful)...gardens were exploding everywhere with lush color!  Now I am hearing the first scuttling of dry leaves along the sidewalk, as acorns are dropping and the screech of the squirrel replaces the cicada's whine! Ahh Fall...the onset of earth tones and orange, cooler temperatures and a smokey hint in the air of a cozy fire somewhere...I'm ready, bring it on! 

All illustrations seen here or on my site are available by email request, in the form of blank notecards (4x6", 5x7") or as mini posters!

Woodturning...way cool!

This is the spread from my Columbus Monthly Home & Garden interview with Devon Palmer, local Woodturner and Craftsman.  He turns downed and blighted trees into beautifully crafted bowls and art pieces.  I encourage you check out his website (www.devonpalmer.com) and seek out his work!  He teaches locally if you want to try woodturning for yourself! 

Where's the waaaa? :(

I just packed up my eighteen year old son, my first born, my buddy, and I drove him into northern Ohio, through Amish country, where I moved he and his prized possessions into an antiquated, non-air conditioned space, half the square footage of what he has lived in for the last eighteen years!

I left him with cleaning supplies (which I'm sure will sit untouched), enough snacks to get him through what I had hoped would be a few weeks, but probably 24 hours, and a laminated key card hanging around his neck that will open every door to his future, paying for things along the way. God help us all if he loses that card.

I tried to anticipate his every need and I spewed nonstop advice, my tried and true tips on how to handle his accumulation of laundry, etc., (only to learn that the Cross Country Team has a dedicated drop-off laundry service). (What the?!!! I could have been at the pool that summer I spent teaching him how to use a washer, dryer and iron)!!! 

I fretted and fussed. I reminded and reassured. I hugged and was hugged back and then I left after being politely dismissed (he had a team meeting, the clock was ticking).  I drove back through Amish country, arrived home, explained to the dogs that he will no longer be their breakfast provider, they'd have to kiss up to his brother. (Dumbstruck they stared longingly toward his seat at the dining room table.)

Ah yes, the dining room table, always set for four, now awkwardly set for three, reminiscent of the cartoon depicting the King dining at one end of a LONG table, with a candelabra, as his only companion.

I was good. I didn't call or text. I didn't watch the clock wondering what he was doing (I knew it didn't involve cracking open the cleaning supplies). I waited with faith and sure enough my phone buzzed. A text stating he was back in his room after a team dinner, met his R.A and he's nice, already finding friends and that all was well! I played it cool, texting back a raised thumb and a blushing emoji., (okay not blushing... kissing).

It has been several days and I have not shed a tear yet! Where's the waaaa? Sure I am stumbling over "triggers" like his messy bathroom and a forgotten pair of shoes, but no leakage... my floodgates are secure and my well seems to be dry... am I a bad mother for not crying? How long should I wait for the other shoe to drop? I know he is in a good place, a safe place and an encouraging environment academically and athletically. I know he will thrive like the sweaty plants in his terrarium that we so carefully transported.  I also have already learned that whatever I may have forgotten to teach him in preparing for his flight from the nest, he will eventually figure it out and be fine. I have also learned that the more you let go, they seemingly get closer (like that stray cat you ignore that ends up meowing and rubbing against your shin). 

I can say this with certainty as my phone buzzed again and I got an "I love you and thanks for everything", alongside a kissing emoji and a raised thumb! Oh yeah...kissing, not just blushing!!!

Now I'm off to reassure the dogs and to introduce his brother to the laundry room! Good luck to all my fellow moms as their babies fly from the nest! No worries, they will spread their wings, then undoubtedly send a note through a homing pigeon, asking for money!