because the Makery is not always fresh on Mondays

If you have a shop on Etsy, you're probably aware of the excitement this week over the ability to (finally) change your shop's name.  While I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to take advantage of this one-time opportunity for my other shop, it was a no-brainer when it came to the shop devoted to the Makery.  Since "makery" was taken when I started this project in spring 2009, I went with "freshonmondays" since the idea was to post a new project every Monday.  But even when I was posting projects every week, they wouldn't necessarily make it to my shop.  The Makery wasn't exactly "fresh on Mondays" and, even though I thought that shop name had a little bit of a rock band ring to it, it always kinda bugged me.  So now my shop is Makery Fresh, a spin on the phrase "bakery fresh."  Hopefully, regardless of how often I add new products, they'll always be "makery fresh."

Little Android dude's got flower power!

On that note, how about a new, ready to send, limited edition Android phone case?  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I have a ton of patterned felt all ready to go. Now it's just a matter of sewing these together a few evenings a week.  Wednesdays are a good night for catching up, with almost every TV show I watch on at the same time. Woo!

work of art - part deux

That's right! The competition reality TV show the art world loves to hate is back! I don't know about you but I can't wait. Maybe it's because I don't dedicate much time to making my own work anymore, nor have I ever felt comfortable with the title artist (and certainly wouldn't call myself that lately) but I have spent a little time in the art world - paying a few dues, at least, on both sides of the easel, I might add - and I just don't see what's not to love! This quote from Jerry Saltz from this interview sums it up for me:

"I often spend time on the show thinking, 'I wish the art was better.' But I spend a lot of time walking around Chelsea thinking, 'I wish the art was better.'" 

Don't think, precious artists, that because you're not applying to be on this show (and you know you've at least thought about it), that your work is any better than any of the work produced in response to the challenges the producers create (which, I might add, is not all that different from art school). And if you're making work in response to the show (get a grip, indeed), you're participating in this particular, low, low corner of culture.

Seriously, though, I thoroughly enjoyed last season and absolutely intend to watch this season, which starts tonight, on Bravo, at 9 pm. In a nutshell, like any good competition based reality television show, Work of Art inspired me. When I watch Amazing Race I picture myself zip lining through jungles and not screaming at Neal for reading the map wrong. When I watch So You Think You Can Dance I find myself looking up dance centers that offer classes for adults who are clearly beyond their prime. And when I watch Work of Art, I feel excited about the Art World again and want to spend more time in the studio. Heck, I don't get that feeling from most art I see in galleries and museums. So which is the low art again? Because, forgive me, but sometimes I get a little confused.

Will you be watching?

I am 34 today

Actually, my birthday was yesterday (this year marks the fifth birthday commemorated on this blog - I wrote previously about turning 33, 31 [not sure why I skipped 32], 30, and 29) and in the spirit of the Makery, while I don't have any new projects to share (fresh on Mondays my foot, right?), I thought I'd hand out an award(s) for "Best Birthday Card Ever."

But first, a runner's up award goes to a pal who sent me this via the Facebook (as my birthday was also Columbus Day, which is a holiday when schools in California close for mysterious teacher work days but we're too PC to actually, openly celebrate):

Pretty good, huh? But the award for 1st Place Best Birthday Card Ever will have to go to Neal for the preschool newsletter inspired birthday card he presented to me upon picking up our son yesterday.  The front:

And the back:

Our son started preschool recently and we get a newsletter each month so we've been talking a lot lately about how fun preschool is, how exciting it is to look at the calendar each day and see what fun activity lies ahead (I don't know what "Counting Crows" means but I'm sure it'll be fun!).  And the version he created is so close to the original that I totally believed him, for a few seconds at least, when he handed it to me in the car, saying he'd found it in our son's folder. I was all, what the what?!...Pretty sweet, don't you think?