Oct 7th, 2009
Degrees of separation
In the spring of 2006, I signed up for my first secret pal swap. My goal was to make some new friends, and I’ve certainly succeeded. I’ve kept in touch with my downstream pal in that swap, Arianna, and through her have also gotten to know her very excellent sister Bethany.
Arianna and Bethany recently sent me a box of surprises: a set of notecards (with patterns!) by the Yarn Girls and a very cool little snack pouch they’d made for Sylvia out of hedgehog-print fabric. (Sylvia’s first words upon seeing it? “Can I use it right now?)
A couple of weeks ago Bethany and her friend launched a new website and asked people to vote on which logo to use. I offered my opinion and ended up winning (thanks to the random number generator) a prize! The prize arrived in the mail yesterday–and boy, is it cool. I got some art in the mail! It’s not every day I can say this, that’s for sure.
On the left you see a beautiful print (matted, even!) with “Backyard Garden” on it. (Bethany, can you tell me a bit about this?) And on the right, a banana-print card with Bethany’s note on the back, and a set of notecards.
I love it! Now I just have to figure out where to hang it!
5 Responses to “Degrees of separation”
Dang, that banana print card is REALISTIC!
I love that banana! That would be so cool framed and hung in the kitchen (although I’ve never seen your kitchen). Fun!
You hear that, Bethany? People are loving that banana card!
First of all, thank you! I should make higher end prints of that banana.
The bad news is the lease of my studio is up in a couple of months, the good news is I will be doing much more watercolor/gouache at home.
Backyard Garden. Hmmm, I don’t know what to say. Melanie and I work by sending a design file back and forth over the computer daily (which means each work on it every other day)…I think I started with the beans and strawberries because when we started the piece I was actually getting beans and strawberries in the garden — but not many. The art was probably the best thing that came of my garden this year! There’s a grid you can’t see very well in the picture, but I was also doing square foot gardening — I told Melanie about it and she added it in. The work is usually a combination of personal experiences, aesthetics, and the pure fun of building off each other’s work. It’s truly challenging and wonderful. I look forward to it each day, whether it’s my half hour to add to the current piece or whether I am just looking forward to seeing what Melanie has done.
P.S. Marsha, the rest of your prize (to be printed then mailed) can be seen on our website! http://www.julytwentyfourth.com