House No. 191: Spice Rack House

House No. 191: Spice Rack House

design and plans

projected size: 16 in. x 32 in. x 8 in.

191/365; 07/10/11

A few years ago, I read a review by Frank Bruni of the late restaurant Elettaria entitled A Doll’s House with a Spice Rack. I remember little more about the review other than thinking that I absolutely had to have a dollhouse spice rack.

The design is based on Second Empire architecture.

 

The interior is going to be lined with chrome wire racks that hold 4 oz. glass spice bottles.

Many advance thanks to the Werepanda, who will be helping me with the power tools.

House No. 190: Portrait of Home

 

House No. 190: Portrait of Home

collaboration

undetermined size

190/365; 07/09/11

 

In addition to making a house everyday, I have a much bigger house project. It is over a hundred years old and about 3700 square feet of restoration project. When it was time to get some changes approved by our city's Architectural Review Board, I drew the plans that were part of the proposal.

 

 

Today I drew a simplified version of this drawing and started another collaboration on a house with Amy Black of Trademark Tattoo. She will be tattooing the this drawing onto my husband, who met with Amy today.

  

 

What kind of a good sport is he to get one of my daily houses permanently affixed to his person? That's my awesome werepanda!

 

House No. 189: Rose Cottage

House No. 189: Rose Cottage

upcycled cardstock

4.75 in. x 4.5 in. x 2.5 in.

189/365; 07/08/11

 

While I was working on this, I had stuck in my head Elvis Costello's A Good Year for the Roses, which is quite possibly the saddest song ever written and has nothing whatsoever to do with this house other than this house has roses on its roof. Still, it's a really great song, so I thought I'd mention it, salient point or not.

 

The cardstock came from Ralph lauern paint finish books that I have had in my scrap collection for over fifteen years. Some quite nice printing on those pieces.

House No. 188: Queen Anne House at Night

House No. 188: Queen Anne House at Night

colored pencil on upcycled matboard

10 in. x 10 in.

188/365; 07/07/11

Some more scavenged materials: this time a lovely piece of mat board discarded after being cut out of a larger piece to frame something. It is neatly beveled edges.

I wanted to work in reverse and create a ghostly glowing house in the moonlight, which is why I chose a high Victorian style, as they are ornate and always a bit eerie. Those Victorians were such a macabre bunch.

House No. 187: Homage to Cy Twombly

House No. 187: Homage to Cy Twombly

colored pencil on upcycled cardstock

5 in. x 7 in. x 4 in.

187/365; 07/06/11

I have a memory of first seeing the work of Cy Twombly — one of his blackboard paintings hanging adjacent to the coat check in the entrance of the Museum of Modern Art — when I was visiting during a high school art history field trip. I am not sure if my memory is accurate or created or even altogether fabricated.

It seems appropriate that I struggle to pinpoint that visual history in the thick fog of memory because that is how I view Twombly's work: impressions of visual and oral history in layers of imagining and reimagining, of remembering and forgetting and reinventing, all erased and re-drawn and partially obscured.

For the most part, the Abstract Expressionists struck me as all bravado and chest-thumping. Their work was machismo of cigars and bourbon and fast cars and sex. Not Twombly. His work, like his life, was elusive and introspective.

Unlike most of the hard-living Abstract Expressionists, Twombly lived into old age and continued to work and evolve. Yesterday, at 83, he left this world with a legacy of work that defines a moment in modern western art and continually redefined visual storytelling. For me, his work changed the way I saw and thought.

House No. 186: The Burrow, Part 1

House No. 186: The Burrow, Part 1
collaboration

undetermined size

186/365; 07/05/11

Today I started a collaboration on a house with Amy Black of Trademark Tattoo.

 

The Burrow is the home of the Weasleys, a wizarding family in the Harry Potter books. Their house is a mishmash described as looking pieced together and held up by magic. It reminds me of my crazy house, and in many ways, my life. Molly Weasley is my favorite character from the books. She is a fierce and awesome mother figure.

 

 

I started with a pencil sketch based on the descriptions of the Burrow in the Harry Potter books, and here you can see Amy’s notes and additions on my sketches. I can’t wait to see what Amy comes up with and the finished piece on me!

House No. 175: Cuckoo Clock

 

House No. 175: Cuckoo Clock
digital vector illustration
3 in. x 3 in.
175/365; 06/24/11

Today’s house is home to a cuckoo bird.

House No. 174: Little Found Object House

House No. 174: Little Found Object House
found plastic game pieces and repurposed card stock on found wood scrap
2 in. x 2 in. x 2.5 in.
174/365; 06/23/11

I found this block of scrap wood in the street in front of my office building and the plastic game pieces in a closet that I was cleaning out in my parents’ old house. The card stock is another piece from my paper samples collection.

 

If anyone knows what game these pieces belong to, please let me know. I am very curious. I suspect it is some type of triangular dominoes.

House No. 173: Neoclassical Mansion

House No. 173: Neoclassical Mansion
pencil, colored pencil, ink, and paper on found object
5 in. x 4.5 in. x 1.25 in.
173/365; 06/22/11

Today's house started with a dollhouse fireplace that the WerePanda and I bought at Replacements during a trip through North Carolina.

And some paper samples from my endless supply.

Add some illustration, and voilà, a neoclassical mansion fit for the American Southeast.

By the way, if you like the decorative arts, you must go to Replacements to see their private collection. It is amazing.

House No. 172: Paisley House

House No. 172: Paisley House
gel pen on paper
11.5 in. x 5.5 in.
172/365; 06/21/11

Inspired by paisley patterns and colors, a bright and sunny illustration for the longest day of the year. Happy summer!

House No. 171: Huguenot House

House No. 171: Huguenot House
colored pencil on paper
9 in. x 12 in.
171/365; 06/20/11

Today’s house is a little stone dwelling like those built by the French Calvanists in the Hudson River Valley during the eighteenth century. Drawn with waxy woodless colored pencils on heavy paper.

Monday Meet the Neighbors, Heather Addley of 365 Days of Me

My dear friend and fellow 365er Heather Addley is a Richmond-based photographer who is taking daily self portraits and posting them at her blog,  365 Days of Me.

Portrait #123

I love the way Heather captures images. They are always beautifully composed and illuminate details that might otherwise be overlooked. Every photo, whether a landscape or a detail shot, is a portrait. I love Heather’s eye.

Portrait #31

Portrait #34

Portrait #114 

I really enjoy seeing Heather’s examination of portraiture, of the self and other, of masterpiece of art, of herself, of the female form, and of her body.

Portrait #28  

Portrait #46

Portrait #169 

Heather and I worked together for one of my houses back in January, and she is amazing to work with.

House No. 11 Home in My Skin

 

House No. 170: Wedgwood House

House No. 170: Wedgwood House
acrylic on repurposed heavy cardstock
6 in. x 7 in. x 8 in.
170/365; 06/19/11

I found this heavy blue card stock in recycling, and the color immediately brought Wedgwood Jasperware to mind. I am a fan of Wedgwood, particularly the black Jasperware. I love the contrast of it. The blue Jasperware is so ubiquitous that its shade of blue is frequently called Wedgwood Blue.

For today’s house, I studied details of the Hellenic-style ornamentation used to decorate the porcelain, and then worked from my sketches to paint the house that I fabricated from the cardstock. I based the shape of the house on the Greek Revival style, with a low-pitched roof and gable-facing facade, to coordinate with the neoclassic style of ornamentation.

House No. 169: Grey Tree House

House No. 169: Grey Tree House
collage, pencil, and ink on matboard
7 in. x 6 in.
169/365; 06/18/11

Today’s house is an homage to Misha at 365 Trees. (What up, Misha? Shout out to a fellow 365er!) I have made a couple other tree houses already, and I am certain this is not my last of the year.

I started with a photo of a tree that I had clipped aeons ago and glued it to yet another piece of scavenged stock. (Again saved from my classroom’s trash.) This one was a thick piece of mat board with a lovely creamy texture. There is some vellum collaged on there as well. There are a few types of graphite and inks on the surface.

House No. 168: Bavarian Castle

House No. 168: Bavarian Castle
ink and paint on paper
11 in. x 5.5 in.
168/365; 06/17/11

Today's house is a drawing based on Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, which was built by King Ludwig II in the late nineteenth century. While working on more houses based in fairy tales, I have been studying more fantasy architecture and like to sketch these structures to learn about them and get ideas.

I was first introduced to Castle Neuschwanstein by the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I recently bought that movie on DVD, and I have to confess that I still love it. I'm a sucker for musicals and Dick Van Dyke, what can I say.

The paper that I drew on here was a scrap scavenged from my classroom before it was thrown away. It came with the paint on it, and I liked fitting the castle into the paint. I used the blue streaks for the rock cliffs and the clouds.

House No. 167: Number 7 Eccles Street, Dublin

House No. 167: Number 7 Eccles Street, Dublin
pencil on paper
12 in. x 9 in.
167/365; 06/16/11

In honor of Bloomsday, I offer a portrait of Leopold Bloom’s house, Number Seven Eccles Street, in front of a rough map of Dublin with a sketch of the front door to Number Seven, now preserved in the James Joyce Centre, and a portrait of Mr. Bloom himself.