I leave tomorrow for a bit of time in my old stomping grounds.  I lived in NYC for almost 10 years and it is truly my favorite city on earth.  There’s no place else for me as far as inspiration and the feeling that dreams can become a reality with perseverance and hard work.  So it’s a real treat to be able to get back. I’ll be teaching two classes for the New York City Polymer Clay guild this weekend-  really looking forward to that.

I pursued a career in theater and dance while in NYC and hope to be able to catch a couple good shows this time. If anyone reading this would like to do a home exchange in 2010 or 2011, I would be interested in exchanging my beautful home on the California Mendocino coast for a place in NYC. Let me know!

This is from the Rockefeller Center Building.

Here’s another drawing I did of a beautiful mirror in one of the bedrooms at La Cascade.  It’s all tooled silver with faceted glass.  I’m sure it was from one of the Vide Greniers.

Every summer, every Sunday, there are flea markets to go to in the surrounding villages.  Not only for great shopping,, but it’s also a great way to explore the wonderful charming villages and usually includes as an added benefit a beautiful drive through the French countryside of rolling hills and sunflower fields.

The Vide Greniers are a combination of people truly “emptying out their attics” and more professional antique dealers.  I have found fabulous things from both the regular villagers and the dealers.  What they might consider junk from the attic is what we would consider priceless french antiques.  It’s a great treasure hunt.  And prices are usually very low. Come join me!

I’ll start showing a few of my “drawing a day” from this summers’ workshops in France.  La Cascade has been beautifully restored and decorated by Gwen.  Each room has its own feel and is furnished with lovely things collected from the French flea markets, called Vide Greniers, which translates as “Empty the Attic”.  We all have great fun attending these markets during my workshops.

Here is a drawing from one of the bedrooms.  A beautiful ivy sits on a lovely old wooden stand by the window. I only used pen and ink, no pencil first.  When I use pencil I spend most of my time erasing to try to get it “right”.  With a pen I just forge ahead and accept it as it is.  This seems to work better for me.  I may at some point do some light watercolor on them.

I plan to use these in different ways- as transfers on polymer clay, or fabric or ??????

More pics in a couple days.  Please let me know if you’d like info on the 2010 workshops!