Mittens & Mojitos in Maine...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are well out there! Things here are really snowy and cold. We have had three major snow storms in the past week up here in Maine and while I adore snowy weather, I'm honestly not sure where they're going to put this snow if we get any more! But, I have been staying warm and busy and I have so many fun things to share.

To start, I have listed a ton of great new things in STAG this past week. It had been awhile and I had amassed some great items that are now yours for the taking! Including this amazing vintage game of Cooties still in its original box, a set of 1950's Boy Scout Membership cards all filled out for the same Scout and a pair of handmade wool mittens from the 1970's that appear unused! Plus, much more. Stop on by if you haven't been in awhile, things are always changing.

And, I recently entered a contest to "show your work space" via Instagram hosted by a men's clothing company for a chance to be published in a magazine and also win a gift certificate. I entered the shot below, of me styling some Stag product in my studio. I don't have any shots of myself working in my actual studio, and it so happens my Sweetie is also a photographer, so I had her help. I love how this came out: it's nice to have this shot even if I don't win.

I recently did some head shots for an author client of mine. She just finished writing several novels and needed dust jacket head shots. We decided that quirky was best, so I brought along some antique books and a plastic dinosaur and we had some fun! It's like finishing school meets the Pleistocene up in here! Such fun. She was very happy with how these turned out and so, I am as well. Take a look:

I have found some amazing work recently from two different artists that I want to share with you. To start, there's the work of Chris Turnham, who I found via Pinterest. His Tumblr site is full of wonderful, 1960's style illustrations of architecture, people, travel, etc. I love his color palette as well as his sense of mood. It's very hard to create a feeling of daylight or dusk or moodiness with solid swatches of color, but he does this effortlessly in each piece he creates. Take a gander at his site, above. Here is just a taste:

And the other artist I discovered via the Modcloth blog of all places. Mister Finch, as he's called, is a self-taught textile artist who sews absolutely amazing nature-based creations out of cloth, pipe cleaners, beads, you name it. His pieces are heartbreakingly realistic with a real sense of literary beauty. I look at that miniature suitcase full of a spiderweb and I think of Charlotte's Web and his birds are just too much. What beautiful work he does, don't you agree?

There is no better way to wrap up a snowy Maine weekend than driving a few towns away, finding a cozy bar with a fireplace and having a cocktail, don't you think? And that's just how I wrapped up the long, Valentine weekend with my Sweetie. It was so nice... I kind of like this season called winter in this place called New England.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Cheers! 5 Years!

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this week finds you doing well out there! This is a milestone post for me. Why? Because with this post I have been blogging here at Stapelia for 5 years. That's a good long time for a blog to last and so many things have been shared with you loyal readers. During that time I: started an art print business, a photography business and a vintage men's goods business, I have had my work published in The Huffington Post and Laughing Squid, I have collaborated on over 200 conceptual photography projects, I got an actual photography studio and my work has grown by leaps and bounds! This is a perfect time to take stock in my progress and I am very proud of all I have accomplished with the help of some pretty amazing people. Most importantly, I still love doing it, so here's to 5 more!

Speaking of business, there's so much to share this week! I mentioned last week painting that parasol for that children's hospital out in Seattle. Well, that is done and is winging its way out to the West Coast and I am really pleased with how it came out. Take a look. Fun, huh? I hope it adds a bit of cheer to that space and helps them raise funds for such an amazing place.

And I mentioned last post that I had found an amazing piece that I would be offering very soon in STAG. Well, I finally had time to take some shots of it and here it is! This is a vintage Sportsman brand bird hunting coat in amazing condition. This coat weighs a ton and it is fashioned out of rubber and heavy suede with a liner. Those buckles in the front and the name, really give it some great touches. Why is the coat so heavy? No clue. But I suspect it's to protect the hunter from bird shot, which is amazing. Such a neat piece and it can be yours very, very soon.

I am all about neat old pieces this week. A friend recently gave me this amazing vintage doctor's bag that her father used for years as a veterinarian. So much history here and yet the bag still looks great. I cherish this piece, so I decided to restore the leather and brass fittings to make it into a neat shelf piece. I've gathered all the necessary tools to make it pretty again, now I'll get to work. I'll take a shot when it's done.

This past weekend, I went up north to a small town called Monmouth, to see a good friend perform in Doubt. The show was amazing, and I had wanted to see the inside of that theater for years. It is absolutely beautiful inside. Roughly 100 years old, this theater and library were built in literally the middle of nowhere for the people in Monmouth and neighboring towns. The craftsmanship and architectural details were astounding for a space in such a rural area. Wow. People really valued craftsmanship in everything they did back then no matter the location. One of the many reasons I adore old architecture. Take a look at some pics I took.

And speaking of beautiful, here are some pics I took of a beautiful sunset I saw when I was down at my studio in Saco the other evening and also some pretty, fresh flowers. Such a rarity this time of year. I love them.

And speaking of vintage beauty, I want to wrap up with an amazing company I recently discovered that makes gorgeous vintage-inspired signage of all kinds. I found the Sideshow Sign Co. via Pinterest and I was blown away. The website, the fonts, the construction by hand of all these beautiful signs, I was in heaven looking at it all. Some people really just get it. They get great aesthetic, they understand craftsmanship, they maintain a consistent level of quality. This company gets it. Take a look at some examples of their work. Amazing.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

As The Days Get Longer...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well out there, as usual! Gosh, there is so much to share, this will be a long post full of pretty things… ready?

To start, let's get the business out of the way. I mentioned last post that I was going to be doing a fine portrait series entitled 1910 that channels sort of an explorer-meets-fashion vibe. Well, the pieces are falling into place for that series and I am getting really excited about it! I designed a mini logo for the series itself both to help give it a unified watermark when the images are done and also to identify it as a series in my portfolio. I went really simple and included the signature crown from my logo as well as my initials to tie it all together. Here it is. What do you think? I also ran it over a photo just to make sure it held up and I believe it does. Subtle, simple and classy are the buzz words for my new work!

And speaking of business, I have found some absolutely amazing pieces recently that are going to go up into STAG very soon. Several amazing vintage coats, including the Windmill Fashion brand coat I mentioned last post for the ladies, the buffalo plaid hunting coat pictured below (I took that for a test drive to work the other day and wow, is that a nice coat! You boys sure are lucky it's too big for me…), and another piece that I will have to get some shots of to share next post. Some of these pieces will be used in the 1910 series before I sell them because they deserve to be photographed properly and the buffalo plaid coat also has pants to go with it and I will be photographing a man in that entire suit very soon! (That shoot will look a bit like the below shot, only less geeky and awkward and more trendy… ha!)

And speaking of stylish plaids, that brown and plaid coat below is my new winter coat! It is a Penfield brand winter coat for the ladies! My sweetheart gave me the heads up about a used one at a local consignment shop and I fell in love with it. It was cheap, stylish and in great shape, so winning all around! I was so happy to find some buffalo plaid that's also a bit girly because I love men's fashion but I wear women's fashion. When the two meet, I am a happy girl.

And lastly, I was asked several months ago to paint a piece for a children's hospital in Seattle. They do an annual fundraiser where painted parasols are auctioned off to benefit the hospital and artists from all over the country are donating pieces. I started mine this past weekend and there are a few process shots below. I am doing an animal carousel themed parasol and I am really excited with how it's coming along so far! It's so nice to do the occasional commission to keep my hand in painting a bit and when I'm not painting all the time I tend to enjoy it much more. I will show more shots as I proceed with this fun project!

And speaking of fun, I have to share this amazing lime cheesecake my friends made for my honey's birthday recently. I didn't even know you could make a lime cheesecake, but they did it and what fun decorations they added! Wow. So pretty. And it tasted delicious as well! We did some serious celebrating and had such a good time. Goodness, I have some amazing people in my life. I am so lucky.

To wrap up, I have recently found the work of an amazing photographer I wanted to share with you. I first discovered Christopher Payne's work with his Asylum series several years back. (A couple of those shots are below.) Stark, beautiful, well-composed with a great eye for color, Payne's work immediately drew me in. I can't say that I'm a big journalistic photography fan, preferring people-based work, typically. But his work hints at the people in these spaces as much as the spaces themselves, I think. Then he did an amazing series called Textiles, that covers textile mills in the Northeast and South and then there's his Steinway series. All are breathtakingly beautiful and you owe it to yourselves to really take some time to enjoy his work. Pieces from all series are shown below.

I will send you off into your weeks with this beautiful Maine sunset I got to experience the other night. Yes, it was that pretty in real life. Goodness, Maine is such a beautiful place to live, you guys.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...