Visionary Arts Musem in Baltimore

This is really one of my favorite museums. The art never ceases to amaze me with the creativity and inventive use of materials. Here is some of there outdoor pieces.

I love this mosaic with mirrors. I'm imaging it in the middle of my garden.

This is all made with paper plates and fills a whole wall.

A throne with different crowns on the right.

These are made with Styrofoam coffee cups.

Huge intricate ship made of matchsticks.

Little saying on the wall of the bathroom that hits home.

Just a happy little ring from the gift shop.

Lexington Market, Baltimore

In the little bit of downtime I have, I try to really pack it in. I thought along with the museums that I would do a Eastern Market tour. Here's my first in that series, the Lexington Market to get some crab cakes.

Faidley's...yum. I had arrived after they had closed early but they graciously made me a crab cake.

Bite first, photo later:)

Baltimore ACC Show

Well, at long last finally here at the ACC show in Baltimore. This is my wholesale booth with out all the kids stuff and I must say that it looks clean, uncluttered and I love the new pictures. It was a lot of work to get to this point, restocking quickly from Fall/Winter and creating line sheets and sale cards for wholesale. I must say it went rather well, I picked up some solid accounts across the country. The booth has been rest with kids stuff to, now onto 3 days of retail. There is incredible work here and have met some talented hat makers. More pics to follow

Sailboat Dreams

Working hard trying to restock on all of the kids coats. I see sailboats, flowers and trains in my dreams:-)

Sitting in on the jury for Krasl Art Fair

Sitting in on the jury for the Krasl Art Fair in South Bend, Michigan with my friend Judy Zeddies has been quite an educational experience. Suddenly I have a better handle on what juries are looking at and it gives me ideas on how to portray my work better to be able to get into more of my dream shows. Now to reshoot my images and booth shots. One more step along the way.

"Hat a Day" Wrap Up

Well, it's been a few days now and I'd like to say that I'm all caught up on sleep but it is just on to the next thing trying to catch up on the backlog of work. I thought that I'd revisit the project for a moment and reflect on how I thought that it went.

 I had a few things in mind when I started.  I wanted to have an outlet for some built up creative energy from working straight production and selling at lots of shows culminating with the craziness of the holiday season. January is always difficult for an artist with the focus on bookkeeping, taxes and applying to shows. This project enabled me to focus my attention creatively and create 31 one of a kind hats without regard to time, costs and production concerns. I ended up with quite a few great hats. The photographs of the hats can be used to jury into shows as well as a body of work for a show and sale at the end of the project.

I also wanted to use it as an opportunity to help me get a handle on learning more of how to use social media for my business and better connect with my customers. My blog now begins with a sizable body of work and I got posting down to where it was second nature. I hope that all of you have enjoyed checking out the hats each day and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as well as seeing the direction this blog takes as it develops a life of it's own.

Hat #31 - Esme Hat

Felt in a bit of a celebratory mood with the last hat of the Hat a Day Project. The Esme Hat is a black polar fleece hat with swirls of colored fleece exploding around the crown.

Front view of the Esme hat

Detail of Esme Hat

Beautiful warm day spent torn between cutting hats and coats and applying for show thinking of doing some gardening work. Could it really be January? The last of my late nights making wild hats for the Hat a Day Project. Hooray! Fireworks!.....

Hat #30 - Dakota Hat

The Dakota hat is a grey mink hat with a micro fleece lining and earflaps that come down when it is really cold. It has an eight-panel crown with a edging band.

This is my third try making a fur hat and I have a newfound respect for people that make them. It’s not easy.

Front view of the Dakota hat

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I spent the morning in Madison, Wisconsin visiting with my friend Jean. I got some scones at my favorite breakfast place, Lazy Jane’s and bought a pogo stick at the St Vinnie’s across the street. This is a shot of the state capitol building on a grey day and reminds me of my new hat, funny how things seep into your subconscious.

Hat #29 - Celeste Hat

I have wanted to work on fur hats and have been working with this vintage black Persian lamb coat that a friend gave me. The hat that I made before (the Ursala hat) was a two-part hat that you could Velcro the fur off and on. This hat is sewn with the fleece so machine washablility becomes an issue but I wanted to give it a try. It is really a beautiful hat.

Front view of the Celeste hat

Detail of Celeste Hat

This image is from last Sunday when I went skiing with my friend Barb but it really speaks to the day today. It is really about friendship. I made and posted my hat early today so that I could head up to Madison to see my friend Jean who is in town visiting her parents. The hat is named after my friend Celeste who I got a chance to see this week as well. I feel rich for friends and they are foremost in my thoughts today.

Hat #28 - Bonnie Hat

I can definitely see a transition from my “Downton Abbey” phase to my obsession with the running stitch. Played with creating a band around the crown of the hat with a mix of techniques and textures. This three dot vintage button sets it of nicely.

Front view of the Bonnie hat

Detail of Bonnie Hat

I spent the day working on production to try and restock after the busy holiday season so I headed over to my book collection. This image is from one of my ethnic costume books the People from the Golden Triangle. I like the variety of textures as well as the strong circle shapes from the coin.

Hat #27 - Annette Hat

I was working on cutting today and generated these triangle pieces. I saved them in case they were useful and ended up making this hat out of them, channeling my inner circus tent. It is a combination of applique and hook rugging techniques.

Front view of the Annette

Detail of Annette Hat

Hanging out with our friends Les, Celeste and Eli tonight, finished my hat on our way there and shot it at their house. Found my hat twin in this piece from Linda Hoffhines

Hat #26 - Zelda Hat

I worked with more of the running stitch with this hat, jumping over the wide black satin band and exploding like fireworks on the top of the hat.

Side view of the Zelda hat

Detail of the Zelda hat showing the top of the hat

I went to a performance of Hubbard Street Dance Studio’s new works at the Museum of Contemporary Art tonight. Very cool work, I must say it’s one of my favorite dance companies.

Hat #25 - Yolanda Hat

The Yolanda Hat is a medium sized beret in a black sweater faced fleece with stitching in a half swirl, starting at the base of the brim. The running stitches are in browns and paprika.

Side view of the Yolanda hat

Detail of the Yolanda hat showing the top of the hat

This ceramic piece is by Alan Lerner and I like the broken up stitched look of the lines.

Hat #24 - Xena Hat

When I started making this hat I forgot that this was going to be the Xena hat. It could have been pink with flowers. Funny how things turn out:)

Front view of the Xena Hat

Detail of Xena hat

and it's Xena herself