good things

Thursday I visited Shelley at Bow Street Flowers (here). It is exactly what a flower shop should be. Like something out of a story book. I made quite a fool of myself, I was so excited. Pink door! Shabby blue and green tables! Bunnies! Delphiniums! The bunny house! Beauty and whimsy everywhere. I did not want to leave, but Shelley, who is as sweet and kind as you would expect the owner of the perfect flower shop to be, told me I can come back. She gave me a pretty vase filled with lilies of the valley--the fragrance filled my car and now my kitchen. 

This is my favorite time of year. Every evening, I sit on the deck and read and sometimes I look up and contemplate trees, shrubs and flowers, wild rabbits bounding across the yard, bird songs, squirrels chasing, occasional glimpses of chipmunks scampering around the edges of things. And for those moments all seems peaceful and good.

inside the flower

I have been thinking about nature large and small. A couple of posts ago I wrote that I wished I were a bee or a wee fairy, and could climb inside a flower. Sometimes when I look at the lilies of the valley blooming in my yard, or the last lilacs, I want to inhale them and stay, find "heaven in a wild flower". (see Auguries of Innocence by William Blake here).

I read this Georgia O'Keeffe quote twenty years ago, and never forgot it: 

Everyone has many associations with a flower - the idea of flowers...nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small - we haven't time, and to see it takes time, like to have a friend takes time. So I said to myself -- I'll paint what I see -- what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking the time to look at it -- I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see. 

Pink Tulip, O'Keeffe, 1926 oil on canvas, 36" x 30"

Seeing a flower, finding eternity in a grain of sand the way Blake did, is possible for almost anyone outside of prison. Experiencing nature on a larger scale is not as easy. I've written a bit here about my childhood in the woods of Virginia, the rivers of Maryland, the California mountains and coast--how these environments are integral to who I am. My father worked for the Environmental Protection Agency. I helped develop an environmental education program for a camp and after school program I worked for during college.

That frequent intimate connection with big nature faded when I moved to New York, had children, urban jobs, a complicated life. When we bought our house in the Catskills ten years ago I found it again. We had been looking at charming old farmhouses, but then we saw this waterfall, and time stopped. 

The house is an ugly boxy 80's thing - the interior was entirely painted the color of Silly Putty - every wall, every piece of molding, even the ceiling fans. The kitchen and bathroom cabinets and counters are still Silly Putty colored laminate. But houses can be changed, and we fell in love with the waterfall, the creek, the surrounding woods--an entire wilderness environment.

I felt like I belonged there; like my vision had been fuzzy but now it was clear. That I could really see nature again, write about it. Paint. It was wonderful to see my children wading and wandering, exploring without limits.

                                

When I opened the store I had the idea of sharing my love for nature with my customers, recreating it somehow, inside. I've accomplished that to some degree. But now, when I go to the country, I spend most of my time in the store. I take walks around our property, but I don't go hiking or do anything in depth. I don't have the time to look at everything up close, to breathe, to really see it. I want to be outside again. And have time to linger at the farmer's market, try kayaking, explore new places. And maybe get involved in environmental education again.

So I will be closing the store, a bittersweet decision. Sad, but also a relief.

                                                Jack in the Pulpit No. V,  O'Keeffe, 1930, oil on canvas 48" x 30"

"In the woods near two large spring houses, wild Jack-in-the-pulpits grew -- both the large dark ones and the small green ones. The year I painted them I had gone to the lake early in March. Remembering the art lessons of my high school days I looked at the Jacks with great interest. I did a set of six paintings of them. The first painting was very realistic. The last one had only the Jack from the flower."

*Quotations and flower paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe.

Hudson, continued

A few of you mentioned the exteriors in the first picture of my last post. Here are a few more buildings in Hudson. They don't do it justice, but will give you an idea of the variety of architecture. The above is on Warren Street, the town's main drag. Orange!

The green building is a tea house. Settled by the Dutch in the 17th century, Hudson became home to New England whalers and sea-faring merchants in the 18th century--they brought their ships up the Hudson River to hide them from the British Navy.

 Many Quakers settled in Hudson. This white building is the Quaker Meeting house. The other is the guest house I wrote about in my last post. The houses in the following pictures are within a block of it.

In the 19th century knitting mills and other small industries flourished, but by the end of that century Hudson, like so many industrial towns, began a steep decline.

It's a pretty 2-hour train ride along the Hudson River from Manhattan to Hudson, and in the 80's gentrification began. Antique dealers started setting up shop in the 90's, and now there are an abundance of them, as well as plenty of eating establishments and two bookstores, but it's still a little funky and run down.

For me, it's at that perfect stage of gentrification--not too busy or upscale, but vital and interesting.

  I was delighted to discover a route from my home in Massachusetts to the Catskills that takes me right through Hudson. I'll be going back soon.

a bee or a wee fairy

Last week on my way to the Catskills I spent a night in the 18th century river town of Hudson, New York. My son came down from Albany for dinner, and I stayed at a guest house, the dark grey building in the picture above. The small white one is the Quaker Meeting House. It looks very staid from the front,

but I perched in the treetop suite, behind the main building.

I read on my little porch, and Emma the dog visited me.

It could have been furnished by my store.

I fell flat out in love with this marvelous little garden room/porch.

It is the time of year when I wish I was a bee, flitting from flower to flower. Or a wee fairy--I would climb inside a lily of the valley. There is a big robin who splashes daily in my bird bath. We are becoming friends.

weekend in the Catskills

Quiet in the store, but it looked nice. 

There were festivities.

An opening in the art gallery next door;

  a Cinco de Mayo birthday party which involved 

huge quantities of Mexican food, 

laughter, carrot cake, four French bulldogs and a giant full moon. 

Fresh eggs for breakfast. Blueberry muffins. 

A waterfall. Forget Me Nots galore.

I went to an auction

 I had to have this sign. Maybe I should start selling hot dogs in the store. Of course they'd have to be locally sourced, no pesticides, no antibiotics, grass, (organic, of course) fed, humanely slaughtered hot dogs. :)

 The graphics on this side of the sign were singing to me.

 This racy green Haeger cornucopia vase was a steal.

 Hand-colored lithograph, probably mid 19th century. Butterflies and birds never go out of style.

Pantry Queen bread box, tea caddy, and sugar tin. The sugar tin is missing its top, but I think it would look nifty with a jar filled with wildflowers in it. There is a green milking stool peeking out beneath the bread box.

I leave early for the Catskills. The store is now open every Friday. Just letting you know, in case you're in the area.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jen

Meet Iowa Jewel Julie

Owls of the Night

When I was planning Country Weekend I had to have Iowa Jewel's collage kits—they epitomized my vision for the store: creative, vintage, and whimsical. 

Life on a Dairy Farm

When I contacted Julie she was enthusiastic--she even created special packaging and custom kits for the store. Visting her Etsy store (here) always makes me happy; exploring Lets go Canoeing, Birds in Winter, The Bermuda Triangle, Sherlock Holmes, Fears and Phobias, Circus Dreams, Along the Rocky Coast, Alfred Hitchcock, Firefly Magic, Our Mysterious Moon, and much, much more, fires up my imagination. 

 The Artist in You

You can also find prints and other vintage ephemera on Iowa Jewel. 

owl and bird print

 Julie obviously loves what she does and has fun doing it. I recently discovered that she reads this blog, and was delighted when she agreed to do a little q and a, which I know that you'll enjoy. (As always, click on pictures to enlarge. Captions have links if you want to see more.)

Picasso

Tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to making collage kits.

I live in a small town in Iowa with my husband and three kitty cats. My biggest dream is to travel the world but until that day comes I am happy to visit everywhere my imagination can take me in collage kit land. 

Let's Go Camping in the Desert

When I was little, my sister and I would make collages out of pictures from magazines and make up stories about adventures we would have traveling. It made the whole wide world come alive for me.  I have always found great joy and contentment in creating.

Where do you get the materials for the kits? 

I go to garage, library and book sales. I also shop on eBay and Amazon. Most of my books are children’s, science/reference and travel themed and are from the early 1900’s through the 70’s.  I have way over a 1,000 books, they are in every nook and cranny of our small house; let’s just say I have a very understanding husband!

Julie and her books

Where do you get your ideas for themes?

Mostly from my never-ending imagination! I am inspired by romantic places around the world. California is special to me. My love for animals and nature shows up a lot! I also love science and old Hollywood. I combined two of those in my Mad Scientist and Evil Doctor kits which are inspired by 1950's horror movies.

Mad Scientist in the Laboratory

A lot of times I come across an image that I fall in love with and end up building a whole kit around that one picture. That happened with my San Juan Capistrano kit. Also I get many requests from my customers for custom kits, and they have ideas that I would never have thought of on my own.

The African Queen

Tell us about your work space and work habits. Do you work on several kits at once or one at a time?

I have a small (10x 10) studio that I share with my husband. Since I don’t have a lot of room, I am always looking for more efficient ways to store all the things I use making my kits. I also do my packing and shipping here so sometimes I set up a portable table and use our dining room table for overflow!  I have 2 long tables that my husband made for me and many shelves to hold my supplies.  I spend most of my time here so I am happy to have a big window that looks out over our beautiful backyard and lets in lots of natural light.

I usually listen to music on my laptop when I am creating.  Sometimes I watch movies and they influence the kits I make or I watch the movie that I am making a kit of to help me with images I will add. Example: when making Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound kit and watching the movie I included a real fork to go along with a famous scene where Ingrid Bergman draws lines with a fork on the table cloth.  I enjoy writing stories to go along with my kits too.

I am always working on many kits at once!  Right now I am making a journal for a friend and woodland animal kits for a custom order.  I keep a list of each kit I sell so I can remake one like it and I have a list of all the kits I want to make and am collecting images for too.

Julie in her studio

Do you ever hear from people who've bought your kits?

Yes!  I get lots of feedback and it’s all been positive!  I am so blest to be able to create something I love as a job that brings so much fun and happiness into other people’s lives.

What amazes me is all the different things my customers use my kits for.  Scrapbooking, travel journals and collage art are probably the main things but just recently one of my skunk kits was used at a skunk rescue fundraiser and mad scientist kits for decorations at child’s birthday party in Australia!

I Want to be an Archeologist