Were you able to experience any part of the eclipse on October 14th? I live where the moon covered the sun about 80%. One of my favorite parts was looking at the shadows on the ground. All those waves look like clouds in the sky or waves in the sea.
On My Work (Art) Table
Recently, I had spectacular art failure when I tried to order these music cards I designed. I learned that I absolutely need to make sure that the backgrounds for the PNG images are white and not transparent because apparently all sorts of weirdness can happen when transferring the files to the printer! I'm horrified--but also fascinated--by the weird abstracts that were the result of this error. I'm tempted to cut them up and use them for some sort of collage. Luckily I had ordered just a test set of six, so the damage was limited.
In the Kitchen
Have you ever heard of opera cake? Traditionally, it's a French cake made with almond sponge, coffee syrup, and chocolate ganache. It's named for the levels of an opera house. I enjoyed my first slice of opera cake while watching the new season of The Great British Baking Show. The slice came from a local bakery and used cookie dough and caramel flavors instead of the traditional ones. Delicious!
What I'm Reading
Do you remember reading The Snowy Day as a child? I'm still reading some picture books and studying the illustrations. The 50th anniversary edition contains a section on the author/illustrator, how he came to write the book, and how it changed his life. Absolutely fascinating!
I also checked out The Complete Pattern Directory by Elizabeth Wilhide which was amazing, if a bit overwhelming. It was super interesting to see patterns organized by subject, not date, so you could study the differences. Sometimes it was very hard to guess at the dates as styles go in and out of fashion. This might be a reference book that I'll try to buy in the future because it feels like the kind of book where you could always discover something new inside. It's not a new book (published in 2018), but copies still appear to be available for sale as of this writing.
On My Library Hold List
I'm waiting for a few books including Making It So by Patrick Stewart, The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. The Violin Conspiracy is the book chosen by the Fort Collins Reads program, One Book, One City. Lessons in Chemistry also has a local connection in that a Fort Collins native directed the first two TV episodes of the TV show.
What I'm Watching
I watched the ten episodes of The Other Black Girl on Hulu. I'd read the book earlier, but the TV show felt different with a spookier thriller vibe right up front. It takes place in the world of publishing and I could tell that the author used some of her real-life experience to create such an authentic setting. I also really liked the casting, particularly for the main characters of Nella and Hazel. If you've read the book, be warned that the show definitely made some changes to the point that I looked it up online after to make sure I wasn't remembering it wrong!
Art I Admired
Have you seen Artist Painstakingly Recreates Ordinary Objects in Beautiful Porcelain? I'm fascinated by works of art that are made to look like they are created out of different materials than they actually are. That porcelain shoe is amazing!
Made Me Laugh
Does it count if you make yourself laugh? I entered the Spoonflower "witty wordplay" challenge because nothing is more fun than illustrating a pun! There are 500+ entries, so if mine doesn't make you laugh, maybe one of the others will!
New in the Shop
I've been making a few small, simple items for sale: treble clef necklace, copper triangle earrings, headphone earrings, and sparkly heart stitch markers.
See you in November!