Anahata Katkin

Take it away boys!

Well things around here have officially gotten too hectic to keep my desk in a funtional state any longer. I'm afraid I'm signing off until I can give my computer a new home. Just picture me up to my eyeballs in boxes, bags for goodwill and general chaos. (Some cool late 60's trucking pics here.)
Here's an old loose journal page I found while packing up. I did it a couple of days after taking Teesha's workshop at the True Colors event at the Art Bar in Cali- about 4 (?) years ago. I can practically taste my excitement to finally meet other mixed media artists when I look at this image- it takes me back. It was my very first exposure to other collage artists in person and was my first and only workshops I have ever taken thus far. (hmmm...Must take more) Thrilling though! Will see you on the flip side of the move!

Amy Butler

Alrighty. You know how I was talking about trying to be restrained about the choices for my new place? Well these images from Amy Butlers Inspiration page are NOT helping! Oh they are so gorgeous. i'm starting to get that shakey feeling- I can feel a cave in coming on! I mean who could live without these wild puff things and look at that furniture all redone in her great prints! I know, I know, a dab-L'-do-ya...But really? Just a dab?! But i want the whole enchilada. Oh and BTW, I don't sew. I confess. I am the worlds worst woman on a sewing machine. I hate them actually. And when kind people show me how to work them I just doze off like I'm listening to the waiter give me specials I don't care about. But these fabrics make me wish I had the patience and mind of someone who can sew. In fact I'm down right pissy that I don't know where to go get the goodies in the pictures. WHAT! You mean I actually have the MAKE them? Wierd. I plead laziness. But I suppose if there was inspiration to change my ways these pictures would do it!

I guess I'm starting a rare and unusual purple phase. That doesn't happen to me often these days. But so be it. Purple it is. This person came to life after trying to redo the header up there. The first drafts were too Krishna like- But I didn't want to scrap the idea entirely. But you can see what I mean here. I'm back in a faces and people phase too. I went through a stretch were I was more interested in plants and birds than faces. This face is actually from the image of the Child Christ.
I just love the eyes in this image. I'm not sure if I will put words on the top image up there or not. Any ideas for fitting quotes or a perfect greeting? Oh what?...You thought you came here for a drop of inspiration? No no silly bloggers - This week your here to give me advice. Yes, yes...It's all a plot to get great ideas out of you! Come come...play along.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone for all the furniture painting tips. I feel better about doing it now. I had almost decided it wasn't worth the effort. And also thank you for your sweet support with the new house. It's so appreciated over here. I am trying to tie up any loose ends in the studio before I pack thinsg up. So tonight I added a bunch of extra journal pages and photos to the website. Some of it's new some of it's not. But there's a better sampling now. Also just an FYI about the Spare Parts Books. They are getting down to the last batch of them. We already sold out of the Bird Brain Books. And for those of you who didn't see the earlier post - I am discontinuing all of my cut books. (I put them on sale as a way to move em out.) So this is the last of them... Cut book funeral coming soon.

Quick Question

Isn't there a new miracle product for painting furniture? I have a lovely big cabinet. (A reproduction french style) But it's big and black and we got it at Bombay Co. years ago. It just needs some white paint and it could be great. I am dreading the strip and sanding method and it's enough for me to bag the whole project. Isn't there any sort of freakish primer that I can use so I can just spray and then paint the damn thing? I mean we did put a man on the moon right? Many in fact. I think a hard core primer isn't too much to ask. (And while we are at it lets throw in an easy-peasy permanent hair removal miracle for us ladies! Been waiting on that "for-like-ever".) Anyhow...any ideas of how I can do this project in a day? I can't devote a week to a freakin paint and sanding job.

It's official!

Yep! We officially get the keys to our new house tomorrow! Thus the brainstorming and serious mental decorating has come to an all time high. I lie awake at night revamping every inch of the new property. I have completely sourced and decided nearly everything in my mind. That is of course, I'm sure, until i actually go shopping. I feel like a tight rubberband and after tomorrow we get to say ready-set-SHOP! BUT this time I am very clear that I don't want to fill my space up too much. it's not huge and.... well i like stuff. So tonight I decided to finally organize some of the inspiration from the internet searches. There is also half a journal full of magazine clippings about porch railings and shade structures and the perfect yellow paint for exterior doors. You are hereby warned that I will be obsessed with such details for many weeks and maybe far, far longer than the usual human should be. (many of the photo sources below came from Desire to Inspire's Blog. It's an incredible eye candy resource. She pulls from countless magazines and websites. If you are looking for an unnamed source check there.)
Ok (yellow bowel from Anthropology, some others from Domino) Since I have so much damn color in my stuff I have decided to be pretty white about the rest of it. Paint, shelves all that stuff. But lots of magenta accents and all. Anyhow. I have to put in a kitchen from scratch. A little one and I am debating open shelving. Big wooden beam style shelving. BUT this means a major commitment to only put pretty dishes out and not boxes of ritz crackers. ANy of you have open shelving that actually feels functional? I can't decide. Love the look- but I want to make sure I can deal. Oh and if any of you are master vessel potters and happen to want to fill my shelves with luxurious white pottery -that's all good with me!

(The living room above is from Australian Voge Living, the cool bed with the pattern spread is from Elle Decor.)
In my mind I'm thinking, simple- white-resraint-try-try-try. But then I realize how we just are who we are. I feel a sense of self acceptance and dread all at the same time. I don't want to live inside of a pinata all the time but I LOVE color. When I put these little pages together tonight I was laughing at myself as I saw all this pattern and stuff. I thought I had collected great examples of color and space and white clean airy-ness. But look- it's me all over again! Happy pinata girl. Oh well. In my anticipation I did break down tonight and buy these pillows from Absoluut's Etsy store! I couldn't believe how great they will go with my half finished magenta painting. The rest of these goodies are inspiration and goodies I love. (Bed and chair from sources here)

CUTE!

When we first started PaPaYa! we tried a line of T-shirts and hoodies. I had no idea how difficult that part of wholesale could be. It totally drove me nuts. I didn't like it that much. Keeping up with all the sizes and variables was so much tougher than paper. But there have been a ton of requests for clothing and bags and I just end up making the gagg faces when I hear it. BUT! I went and finally played around with Cafe Press and I love the results! Now you can have access to designs on some new items but I don't have to mess with stocking them. I also added some items I wouldn't normally offer through PaPaYa! but are fun for me to make none the less. I am not sure if I will keep at this but it's fun for now! To see the stuff I'm starting out with have a look-see right here...

Hope

I have very few sympathy cards in PaPaYa! I don't believe in sympathy as much as compassion. This image attempts to express what can be so diffiuclt to say. I don't know though. Something about her is a bit fairy-like and I try to avoid that since I already have that kind of style. I would hate to be mechandised next to the (nearly x rated) Native American airbrushed Romance greeting cards. (Do you know the ones I mean?) I like her face though. I may edit out the draped clothing and all of that. We'll see. Ok in response to the helpful feedback in this post I changed thimngs up a bit so she wasn't so bratty. Whatchya think? I never do "sympathy" cards because most of them do feel a bit "I told you so."
But in the realm of good news I actually got my Costa Rica trip I have been talking about all year. YES! Finally in my hands. Dates and all. No more dreaming and wishing. Isn't that a good feeling! I leave for CR the day after the August workshop actually! (There are two spaces left) Anyone have good suggestion for your favorite must see places or lodging there? I have three wonderful weeks to look forward to and a whole country to see.

Marie Project Continued...

There is a blog frenzy happening right now that you might enjoy. A few posts back I shared some of the Marie Zine with you here. But I wanted to give a little more of it and send you off to see some other artists postings about the project!
This lovely picture to the left is from Pam's juicy posting about the zine. It's a must see with lots of close ups and extra photos that were not in the zine. And this photo just below here is from the talented Lisa Kaus' blog. Her artwork was a three dimensional asemblage that was actually my favorite piece in the book! (you have to go see) This photo shows all the extra contributions and goodies the artists made. All hiding just under the tissue paper! More of those details here.
The participants were: Anne Bagby, Mindy Carpenter, Amy Hanna, Lisa Hoffman, Lisa Kaus, Pam Garrison, Melissa McCobb Hubbel, Teesha Moore, Lynne Perella, Judi Riesch, Lesley Riley, Beryl Taylor, Tara Walsch, Michelle Ward, and Linda Warlyn and me.This is one of two pages by Judy Reisch. Below is Mindy Carpenter's page, oneof my "inserts", and Ann Bagby's contribution.

Initially I tried to do "Insert" pages that matched the artwork of each participant. Meant to be the backsides of the main pages. The printing went a bit haywire (Kinda like trying to get the text and these photos to line up here!) but this was the set with Ann Bagby's. Her contribution below.

below is another of my simple inserts & A Pink Diva Marie by Tara Jenelle Walsch.
And below down there is Teesha Moore's page with the swan. Now the really juicy details are posted on oodles of the artists blogs here's the recap lineup for you to go check out:
Pam Garrison's detailed post featuring hers and Amy Hanna's pieces. Michelle Ward who rocked the special extras by offering a limited Marie rubber stamp set AND hand cast fleur de li's and suprised us all with a wonderful magazine cover called The Rolling Throne! Lisa Kaus's amazing image and post right here. Lisa Hoffman's coverage has some great close ups of the extra's and her "extreme cake" contribution! Lynne Perrella shows us her Marie theatre that was actually a vellum inclusion in the zine as well as her Marie Doll. And of course there is more from me here. And finally I would just love to make mention about Linda Warlyn's Extras. They just topped it all off. There are good pictures of her starry packs right here, thanks to Lisa Hoffman. This group came together in large part because of Lynne Perrella's collaboration savvy. We each threw some names into the pot and began to make the Marie zine mix. Some said yes, some said no. And in the end the cake was just right. The project was simply an excerise in creative play and the delight of sharing. (Unfortunatley there is no duplicate or extra copies for sale of this zine- it was just for fun.) So we wanted to let you in on as much of it as possible. I will update the links here as people add to their posts and blogs.

Already the workshop is half full! (UPDATE 7/10: Out of 25 spaces we have only 5 spaces left for the weekend!) Word goes out locally today. (I gave you guys a head start) If you have any questions you can post them below and I will email you in response. Or you can email me directly at inspirationengine@yahoo.com. Or phone 541-488-0641 xt 1.