It's as Plain as Black and White

Waving Goodbye to Christmas

All Aboard!

Halcyon Days Begin

Halcyon Days are traditionally the two weeks around the Winter Solstice, this year beginning December 14, a time of prosperity and peace. The ancient Greeks believed this to be a period when the seas were calm enough to allow the Kingfisher (halcyon) to lie quietly afloat on its nest at sea. Here's to calm weather.

My Studio

I am fortunate to have a space in this beautiful Italianate house in the small river town of Frenchtown, New Jersey. A former B&B, now a spa, there is a room on the second floor that is just right for me. I can have my computer table, my art table, and there's plenty of room left over for a sofa. Here's my space:

Frenchtown sits right on the Delaware River... with a beautiful walking path alongside. And my building sits right between a wine store and a cafe with good coffee... what else could I need?

Some chickens on the trail, maybe. For inspiration.

Green Greeting Cards

These cards are part of Design Design's Green2 collection. Each card is made from Green-e certified paper that is process chlorine-free and acid-free. All cards, envelopes and boxes and labels are made from recycled paper, and the boxes are constructed without the use of glue. It's great to be a part of a conscientious design movement.

My boxed greeting cards are available here.

Halloween Etiquette

I always panic about having enough candy on Halloween. This year, since it falls on a Saturday, I really don't know what to do. We live in a neighborhood that is "safe" to trick-or-treat in, and so families from other towns bring their kids over to ours. We could have 50 kids or 300, we never can tell. So I'm interested to find out how everyone distributes their candy -- do you let the kids take their own? Do you put the candy right in the bags for them? Do you tell them "take one" or "take two"? Or do you put a bowl of candy on the porch and go hide in the basement?

Flea Market Find #3: I Can Say No More

This garage-sale find either needs no explanation or needs a lot of explanation. No I don't know what it smells like, the package is sealed (and will stay that way!)

Beware the Spinning Pumpkin Head

It's the season for my spinning pumpkin head card by Design Design, Inc. They did a magnificent job producing the card, it's exactly as I envisioned it. WoooOOOOO! (click on image to get the spinning effect)

The Secret Life of Dioramas

I discovered a new passion this past week while on vacation in British Columbia. I had left my camera at home and thus had to buy a new cheap one for use on the trip. We happened to visit the Museum of Miniatures in Victoria; it was filled with 80+ dioramas of scenes from history and fantasy. At the museum I started testing the camera's macro lens on some of the little objects in the scenes, and discovered what a different story they tell when looked at up close. Tiny little figures frozen in time and place, poetically posed, dusty and still.

What Are You Looking At?

If you've ever been suspicious of those crows wandering around in your yard, you'll like my new Halloween card from Great Arrow. Great Arrow publishes gorgeous hand-silkscreened greeting cards that have a richness and saturation that cannot be replicated by standard lithography. You can read more about the company here. Hey and if you're inspired my card can be purchased online here.

Winter Whirl Collection

It's late August, it must be time for Christmas! I'm so happy to announce the arrival of my Winter Whirl tabletop and giftwrap collection. This design is a contemporary take on a traditional holiday, available in plates, napkins, tissue, guest towels and more. All coming to an upscale store near you, and also available for purchase here.

MoMA Card and Ornaments

I am delighted to announce that my Holiday card for the Museum of Modern Art in New York is now available! I am honored to be a part of their card program. The award-winning MoMA holiday card program has been in existence for more than a half century. Initially, the Museum invited artists whose work was represented in the collection to create original designs, including Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, and Andy Warhol. They have expanded the program over the years to include images from MoMA's permanent collection as well as new designs by talented contemporary graphic artists, illustrators, and designers. In addition to my boxed Multicolored Snowflake, the museum has also made felt ornaments out of the design.

Flea Market Find #2: I Know You're Jealous...

A commemorative plate of the New Jersey Turnpike! Yes! Construction of the 122-mile-long Turnpike took 2 years, from 1950 to 1952. Rest stops include: Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Thomas Edison and Alexander Hamilton. Simon and Garfunkel referenced it in the song, "America", Harold and Kumar speak of the Turnpike, and both Al Gore and Bruce Springsteen have traveled its byways. You yourself may one day "enjoy" a ride on one of the most heavily traveled highways in the U.S.

Autumn already!

I'm not ready for Autumn yet, but I am excited to see these samples which arrived in the mail today. My Autumn Leaves garden flags available at a Lowe's near you!

Garlic Scapes

Ok so I bought these at the farm market out of curiosity. Garlic scapes, apparently only available for a few weeks each year, are the stem from which the seed head of the bulb is formed. The scape grows, becoming loopy and floppy and delicious to eat. People use them in dips, pasta, soup, salads, you name it. The ones I bought here proved too tough to eat, sadly --notice how straight the stems are... and tough, woody :-(. But I did make a pesto out of the tenderest of them, with pine nuts, olive oil, parm and a few basil leaves, these scapes added the mildest and freshest garlic flavor I've ever had.

Kutztown Folk Festival

Every year, we go to this Pennsylvania Dutch Festival in Kutztown, PA. It's not your normal summerfestival: it features traditional crafts, German Orators, Cloggers and a small farm engine demonstration tent. Here are some suggestions of cool things to do when you are there:

Have a Hickory Smoked Sausage and a Homemade Root Beer...

Eat some of the giant roast Ox (thankfully out of the picture)

Check out the staggering number of quilts in the Quilt Barn...

Try your hand at Wheat Weaving....

Or have your photo taken with this dude. What a blast!

Creative Problem Solving

I'm a firm believer in the power of the imagination. Every problem has a solution, although it may not be apparent at first. Sometimes you have to really stretch your mind to see something in a different way. Take for example, a pig -- this view of the pig is ordinary. But what happens when you start to think about it from different angles?

Defending our Way of Life

Spotted at the parade on the 4th...

Got the Blues

It's that time again in New Jersey....Keep your eye on 'em, they won't last long!

Flea Market Find #1: The Eye of the Beholder

Designers spend a lot of time staring at things. I mean, staring at them trying to figure out how they came to be the way they are. Thinking about the process of creation. Take this alarming little vase I found at a local flea market this weekend: Someone had to 1) CONCEIVE of this figure, 2) get it out of their mind by DRAWING it, 3) more people became involved as a sculpture and a mold had to be made from it, 4) yet others cast, glazed, fired, painted and gilded it, 5) someone put it in a box and others drove a truck taking it to a store where some nice person had to sell it to another nice person who looked at it for 4o years and finally got tired of it and had their daughter put it up for sale for $1 at the flea market so I could see it, laugh and buy it.

Now isn't that marvellous?

Favorite New Cards

This new design of mine is available as blank boxed notes.  I love how they turned out, they have glitter on them and are so fun.  You can buy them here.

Where do ideas come from?

My mother, who lives in Arizona, sent me this photo of an amazing Mesquite Bug that was found in her pool.  They rescued it, dried it off and sent it on its way to dazzle someone else.

Mesquite Bug

Navajo Rug

Pueblo Jug

Bike Helmet

It's That Time of Year!

This is my best-selling greeting card.  I did it with Design Design, Inc in 2005 and it continues to sell well every year.  The trick in designing greeting cards is to come up with an original take on a familiar subject, which frankly is not always that easy to do.  This grad image would also make great gift bags or tableware.  You can buy the card online here.