August 25, 2008

Juliet


Juliet is quiet and thoughtful. She loves pretty things, especially flowers. She can spend hours outside reading a good book or writing in her journal. Her favorite color is lavender.

Juliet is a commission for baby Kaylin, and she's off to her new home as we speak!

August 22, 2008

OK. Ok. No posts for a week...


Happy friday! I've been spending time with my visiting family, so no posts for the past week. I was cleaning out my sewing studio to allow my family somewhere to sleep while they were visiting, (which means no sewing this week, bummer!) and found this. It's the bit of fabric I use to test if I've threaded my machine properly and I thought it was interesting to note the progress through colors of stitches of the various projects I've been involved with since May. Starting from the left, are all the greens etc that I used on the Totoro piece, then the blues for Mega Man, the yellow/pinks/grays/black for the Kali project, and lastly the colors for Christopher Clodhopper. I'll have more posts and new projects after this weekend. So have a great weekend everyone!

August 14, 2008

I am 8-Bit project - "Ode to Mega Man"






Growing up with boy cousins as our closest "play dates" necessarily introduced my sister and I to the world of video games. We were absolutely thrilled when our Dad come home one summer afternoon with this amazing new invention- INTELLIVISON! We marveled at our ability to maneuver a supremely simple pixelated character across the screen. Of course, my dad promised my mom this new toy was educational, and he bought the obligatory "Electric Company Math Fun" game for us to play (MUCH to our dismay!), along with Snafu, Armor Battle, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Night Stalker, etc. My sister would thrill in horror as she watched me play Dungeons and Dragons, and we'd hear that electronic growling or hissing before we entered the next room- meaning a confrontation with either a dragon or giant cobra was inevitable. The frustration of getting eaten by the silent but deadly brain lurking in the room adjoining the one with the dragon...@$!$#!

So what does all this have to do with my choosing Mega Man as my piece for the show you ask? Not much, other than to give you some idea of how many choices I had to weed through before landing on Mega Man. When we got our first Nintendo, it was amazing! We played Super Mario Bros. for hours, Zelda until my mom thought her ears would bleed from the "irritating" theme music, Contra and Life Force until we could get through the game without dying once (using the obligatory Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A select start code for 30 men), and Mega Man until I'd pounded every robot and defeated the evil Dr. Wily for good- or so we thought... who knew there would be video game sequels? :D
I won't even get into the time I severely sprained my ankle over Christmas break in Jr. High jumping hurdles on the power pad while playing Track and Field...

Mega Man was my absolute favorite game, and I spent hours on it. The characters were cute, (more like the cartoons I loved) much more developed than the original Mario Bros, and my sister would watch and cheer me on all afternoon as I played. (How cool was it that his eyes would blink if you left him standing still long enough! :)
I decided to do my own version of Mega Man rather than create an exact replica of him-where's the fun in that? :) I felt that I had to honor the simplicity of the design of the early games, which meant I had to create a look that had pixels. I couldn't find any patterned fabric that was pixelated, so I used strips from 5 different fabrics in each color way to sew together and create my own version of pixels. You can see this process on an earlier post in July. That was definitely the most tedious and involved part of the whole project- but worth it in the end. I wanted him to look a little more angry and determined, and I made the facial features look uneven like they were pixelated as well. He was a blast to make, I wish I'd had time to get one of the stage boss robots done too, but no such luck. Bummer! For more WIP progress pics, head over to my flickr page.

BTW- Ben got me the "10th anniversary Mega Man Collection" on Gamecube, and I tried playing Mega Man again, and boy am I out of practice! All the fine grained control of the Wii system has spoiled me... gotta get back to my roots and play some more!

August 12, 2008

i am 8-Bit


For all you video game lovers out there, the 4th annual i am 8-Bit art show opens this thursday August 14th in LA. There are some really great artists participating in the show, it looks like it'll be a lot of fun! A stroll down memory lane for some of you, I'm sure. It brought back a lot of fond memories for me.:D
They've moved to a larger space on Hollywood Blvd. this year, so the foot traffic should be great. I'll be posting my piece in the next day or so, and you can check out Ben's pieces for the show here.

August 10, 2008

Tickets for the Totoro Forest Project Auction


Here's the skinny on the tickets, if anyone out there is interested in attending. Tickets go on sale Monday August 11th at 10 am Pacific time. There are 4 levels of tickets available for purchase, as explained in the official blurb below:

Many of you have been wondering when and how you can buy tickets for the upcoming Totoro Forest Art Auction Benefit Event to be held here at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA on September 6th. Finally we are ready to start selling these online! The first pre-sale will start monday 8/11 at 10am. Here's the options available - Please note that all tickets include the stunning Art of Totoro Forest Book (worth $40)

Forest Friend - 100$ regular admission + book.
Forest Sponsor - 200$ includes admission + book + signed limited edition print
Forest Champion - $300 includes middle VIP live auction seating + book + signed limited edition print + gift certificate to Blowfish Sushi
Forest Hero - $500 includes front VIP live auction seating + book + an original drawing by one of the artists

Tickets will go on sale at this LINK exactly at 10AM Monday! We have a rather limited numbers of tickets so we suggest acting quickly if you want to be part of this event. Remember many of the donating artists will be in attendance, this will be a night to remember!! All the "Totoro inspired" art is up for preview at TotoroForestProject.org. All proceed will be donated to the Totoro Forest Foundation!!

Thanks in advance to any of you have have already donated to the Project, or are planning on attending!

August 8, 2008

Hannah



Don't be fooled by her deep blue eyes and lovely smile. Hannah is one of the top litigators at the firm of Rabbit, Rabbitt, and Hare. Her opponents treat her with absolute respect, especially when she walks into the courtroom in her navy blue power suit! When not working her usual 70 - 80 hour work weeks, Hannah likes to relax on the beach with a good book and an ice cold glass of tropical punch.
Hannah is made from fleece, felt, printed cotton, corduroy, ribbon, ricrac,and buttons. She has hand embroidered details and measures 9.5" X 14".

I was flipping channels the other day and came across the ubiquitous "Law and Order" re-runs (GA- GUNK!), which gave me the inspiration for Hannah. Those tough lady lawyers rock! :) I seriously think you could find an episode of "Law and Order" and its many spin offs (SVU happens to be my favorite) on tv at any given hour of the day or night!

August 5, 2008

Neville




Neville is an accountant who is in love with the 1970s. He spends his weekends combing vintage and thrift stores for suits from that decade. His favorite is this brown corduroy ensemble, especially with his loud brown shirt and yellow swirly tie. He considers himself quite stylin'.
Although not made in the 70s, his favorite movie is "Anchorman" with Will Ferrell. He LOVES the fashion statements made in that film.
Neville is made from corduroy, felt, printed cotton, and flannel. He has hand embroidered details and a vintage button. He measures 9.5"X13.5"

I found this fabric on the 75% off table at our local craft store (hard to believe, I know! :D ) and knew immediately what I was going to do with it. It reminds me of a couch, hassock, and chair living room set that my parents had when I was growing up in the 70s. The furniture was made out of scratchy acrylic fibers though. Definitely not as comfy or huggable as this soft corduroy. I took the inspiration for Neville's suit from my memories of some of my Dad's lovely plaid suits from that era, including the wide lapels in coordinating SOLID fabric (usually velveteen- OMG!), and bizarre buttoned large pockets. For more WIP pics, head over to my flickr page.

August 2, 2008

Christopher Clodhopper



A shy and artistic fellow, Christopher likes to spend his days painting beautiful watercolors, or strumming on his bass. He spends his evenings relaxing at home by the fireplace with his two cats. He always wears his "lucky" hat and socks. He won a painting competition while wearing them, so now he never takes them off. (Except to wash his socks, of course!) Christopher is off to visit his good friend Chris for awhile - Chris dislocated and broke his arm recently, so he could use a little help around the house, and some company while he recovers from his surgery.