Skip to main content

The Art Lives On

Sometimes my curiosity about artists gets the better of me, and I go in search of information on them. In this case my search was spurred by the second panel of the tote that I was making from a vintage curtain for the March edition of my calendar project. While I was embroidering the panel I saw a copyright stamp on the fabric, and later decided to do a Goodle search on Cheri Blum, the artist.

Sadly she passed away in 2003 at the heart-breaking young age of 34. This is part of the reason I've always devoted my free time to my own creativity. You never know how much time you'll have in life for your art.

Cheri's work lives on in the home decor industry; her art has a timeless, effortless style that I think will continue to appeal for a long time. I was certainly swayed by it to thrift the curtain I'm using for this project; it was her painting on the edges (of narcissus, as it happens, not paperwhites) that caught my eye.

I decided to get my butt in gear and finish this project in a much better frame of mind, to pay homage to an artist gone too soon.

Once I finished hand-quilting, embroidering and appliqueing the two side panels I cut up the rest of the curtain to finish the tote. I used the rod pocket to make the handles, and lined the interior with the solid fabric from the curtain. As it's linen it came together beautifully.

I just read this morning that Dash Crofts passed away a couple of days before I finished the tote. Most of you are probably too young to remember Seals & Crofts, but their song Summer Breeze was one of my favorites growing up. It still plays in my head whenever we go to the beach. So I have Cheri and Dash to thank for reminding me that life is too short to fret over limitations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love Triangle

The Inheritors (also known as The Heirs ) is an older k-drama that is more like an American soap opera, and yet has one of the best high-school love triangles I've ever seen. As the illegitimate son of a wealthy conglomerate chairman, Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) was exiled to study in California so that his older half-brother could be groomed to step into their father's shoes. Instead he mostly surfs and goofs off. He meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who comes to LA in order to escape her dismal life in Korea while bringing wedding money to her older sister, only to find out her sister has lied about her marriage, and is living in squalor. After the sister takes the money and runs off, leaving Eun-sang with no place to stay, Tan ends up alternately taking care of her and making her situation worse. He also falls for her, but she finally connects with a friend and returns to Korea. The money her sister took ends up forcing Eun-sang and her speech-impaired mom to mov...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pretties

While at the antique mall where my donated throws were being sold I saw this pretty portait of a frog made out of beads, brooches, necklaces and other bling, and had to take a photo of it. This artist is so clever with how they recycle vintage jewelry and findings into new art. That day this little guy came home with me. He was cheap, made from a very old crazy quilt, very shabby, and has a serene quality that primitives sometimes possess. He'll be hanging out with me in the sewing room. Was it necessary to buy this? Nope. Do I regret the purchase? Nope. I also bought this apothecary jar filled with buttons, threads and other wonders. If you want to sort through it with me, check out more pics here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Glorious. Kinda

Writing up my thoughts on the Chinese drama You are my Glory is going to be one of those head-scratchers; I liked it, it got annoying, I liked it anyway, it got more annoying. In the end I was left feeling like most of the last third of the series was smacking me on the nose for being a romantic and wishing, not for the first time, I was a screenwriter who could get hired to fix this script. Anyway, okay. The premise for this series is actually pretty good: poor but brilliant aerospace engineer Yu Tu (played by the fabulously handsome Yang Yang) crosses paths with fabulously wealth but not-too-bright actress Qiao Jingjing (portrayed by the genuinely pretty Dilraba Dilmurat) who was his high school classmate. He's looking for a new job that pays better; she's in hot water due to an inappropriate product endorsement snafu, and they end up spending a lot of time together. It's a cross between Notting Hill and Apollo Thirteen, sorta kinda. Yu Tu is in a life crisis ...
Post a Comment
Read more