tashina knight

How sad.

“ON Nov. 1, just two months shy of its 50th birthday, the plastic pink flamingo went extinct. Or more accurately, it stopped reproducing, when its manufacturer, Union Products, shut down the factory in Leominster, Mass.
…
In 1957, the flamingo that would become lawn-art king was invented by a
young Union Products designer with the fitting name of Don
Featherstone. Sears sold the bird for $2.76 a pair: “Place in garden,
lawn, to beautify landscape,” the 1957 catalog read. Working-class
homeowners readily planted it on their modest lawns — a nod to the
marble or bronze sculpture on vaster properties — and art critics
promptly pegged it as a prime example of the despicable spread of
kitsch. In the 1960s, the suburban lawn flamingo — cheap,
mass-produced, artificial and unusually neon pink — was widely reviled
as the dregs of bad taste.

” -from the New York Times

Yesterday was Stitch, Austin’s statement to the fashion world. Here I am all ready to go.

The show was in downtown Austin and consisted of 75 vendors, a fashion show with 18 designers showing 4 looks each and a couple of bands playing. (I unfortunately missed seeing the band Irving which was half the reason I went because it turned out that they didn’t play until 1am and I turn into a pumpkin at midnight.)

When my husband and I arrived, we headed upstairs to get an overview of the floor.

I overheard more than one person suggest that the lighting could have been better and I would agree with that. The quality of the clothes at the booths was good and they ideas were very creative. Handmade Julz gave me a free button – excellent advertising! (Mine is #53s). Her images are very representative of what I saw at the show on t-shirts and jewelry and bags. Birds and deer were everywhere. Next to the stage was a little display with the show posters, which I quite liked.

I had originally thought that Irving was playing at 8pm, which is what their web site said, so we were standing right next to the runway waiting for the band to start. People started stacking up all around me. After looking at the handouts (which I had stuck in my purse upon arriving) I realized that I had the schedule wrong and that the fashion show was going to be in another 45 mintues. We went ahead and stayed at the front and it made me wish for a better camera than my old utilitarian 3.2 megapixel Sony.
We had such a great view. (Funny note: The stage was about neck level, so as the models came over and stood in front of you, you had to avert your eyes or see more than the models wanted to show. It was the first year in that location and maybe they hadn’t thought of that.) I’m going to put these in the order they came on the stage. I will try to add in designers when I figure them out (leave a comment if you know any). I couldn’t watch and write at the same time and I wasn’t familiar with any of the designers before the show.

This one may be Laced with Romance.

This model gave us a little show of her pantaloons. She was having fun.

I thought this was quite interesting although it’s one of the only pieces I couldn’t imagine wearing. Note the audience member at the other end of the runway with the pincushion head band.

The next model came down the runway with what looked like a cape on and as she got to the end she flung her arms wide.

The next one is Lawless Revolution Wear.

The next two are by the mother and daughter team (one paints and one sews) Hot Pink Pistol with jewelry by Naughty Secretary Club. The designs are hand painted. Beautifully done and my personal favorite.

I also wanted to show you the monsters at my favorite booth. They are by Miss Monster. 

This one was guarding a little refreshment. Would you have dared to take it from him?

And it’s only two weeks until the Armadillo Christmas Festival in the same location. Hopefully, I can get some photos there too.

what  areyou waiting for?, originally uploaded by tashina.

The Illustration Friday theme this week is "Clear". I’ve been unclear about a lot of things lately. What sort of art am I meant to do? I’m 42. Am I sure I don’t want kids? Is one dog enough or does he need a friend (husband says one is plenty. Ha!)? Do I have the motivation to lose the last 10 pounds?

When I need to get clear, the best thing to do is to get outside of my own head and try something new!

This is acrylic and ink on watercolor paper. It’s about 10" x 12" and has glued on crocheted flowers (not crocheted by me- sigh - I need to learn how) and scrapbooking stickers for letters.

If you’re in the Austin area, don’t forget that  STITCH is tomorrow evening. A bonus for me is that the band Irving will be playing and I’d pay to see them alone.  There will be vendors and a runway show. It’s my first year going because I’ve been in Austin only a little more than a year and didn’t know about it last year.

I am planning on going to more workshops and such in the New Year. If anyone knows of Texas craft events, please let me know. I’ll definitely be going to the Houston quilt show which I missed this year. And I wouldn’t miss the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar (in the same building Stitch is held) which was lots of fun last year.

I’m thinking of some classes at Southwest School of Art and Craft although some of them are weekly and I live a little to far away to commute to San Antonio every week. I also will be headed to my home town of San Diego, maybe in the middle of the year. I miss my favorite Japanese bookstore! I’m not much of a traveler and hate to fly so I generally stick close to home. I read about the fast-paced lives of some bloggers, in New York one week and LA the next, and think I probably wouldn’t enjoy that. I traveled some when I was younger and lived in London for 7 months, but now I’m much more of a homebody.

littlepainting, originally uploaded by tashina.Just a little watercolor and ink on a 4″ x 4″ watercolor block. The block came as a sample with an Artists & Illustrators magazine (a British art magazine). I didn’t really want the issue, but I couldn’t resist the watercolor block.

I’m going to give this blogging thing another try. I do like blogging, but I’ve spent the last year or so very confused as to my artistic direction. If you look a few entries back, I had decided to be a ceramic artist. And before that I was taking a City & Guilds course in quilting. The truth is I just want to do everything.

At the same time, I have the fear that so many artists share, at least those of us that haven’t found a single true calling in art. I wonder if I should concentrate on one particular medium so that I can master it. If I don’t, will I be mediocre in 10 mediums rather than an expert in one? I have to admit that the choice is largely taken from me as I really want to do too many things to stick to any one.

My resolution - which should be simple - is to do what I enjoy for the next year. No pressure, just have fun with art for awhile. I’ll be working mostly on watercolors and acrylic paintings, mixed media, and fiber arts. I’ll throw in a little sculptural work and maybe even learn to crochet once my mother moves to Austin next Spring. (She’s the crochet master and tells me she would have taught me when I was young if I didn’t cry every time she tried.)

I’m also going to try to branch out a little in my submissions. I’ve been published 3 times in the last couple years in Somerset Studio (page 100 of the current issue is my latest). I’m going to send in my entry to Haute Handbags 2 this week, and then I’m thinking of working on a submission for FiberArts.
My other resolution is to get out more. I’ve been moving around a lot in the past couple of years - San Diego to Temecula to Pleasanton to Dublin (California) to Austin - and since I’ve been here I’ve been cocooning. I’m headed to San Antionio in the next week or two to take a look around and I’m going to explore my own town a lot more too.