Anna Mavromatis: on my ephemera...

"in progress" views...

2012-01-28T22:30:00.001-06:00

first thing in the morning view...

following day - late afternoon view

while flying...

2012-01-15T11:34:00.000-06:00

Hard to believe my last post was from Hawaii... I didn't mean to be absent from this blog for that long, but holidays, family visiting extravaganza(!!!), decorating the house and then redecorating it again, finally getting back to work with a vengeance, and here we are in mid January... how can time go by so very fast?!?!?!?

Well, Hawaii was exactly what I expected it to be: fantastic!!! Of course being in the company of some very loved ones it's always a guarantee for memorable times. The sunsets, the flora, the lit torches everywhere in the cool crisp night air, the waterfalls and densely green hills of Maui, the sounds, the light, the ever changing blue in the water and sky...

And then the looong flight back home made so much more bearable having my iPad at hand. I tend to read a lot while traveling, but I also take breaks using it as a magical sketch pad. I say magical because drawing with the tip of my finger gives a totally different result and feel from my usual sketching mode...

Here is a quick drawing executed at around 40,000 feet above the Pacific...

shadow theatre...

2011-12-18T11:59:00.000-06:00

in Hawaii!

playing in the sand and having my shadow experience the cold Pacific...

green, etc....

2011-12-17T11:56:00.000-06:00

in Hawaii!

Green colors, green shapes...

becoming in love with green somewhere in the islands of Hawaii!

blues, etc...

2011-12-16T12:30:00.002-06:00

in Hawaii!

visiting the islands and mesmerized by the intensity of colors (and everything else) surrounding me...

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-04T22:25:00.002-06:00

Again it's this time of the year when all the glitter and all the joy is intermingled with nostalgia for Christmases past, with emotions still raw generated from life mark events that just so happened to happen around Christmas, with memories of final farewells forever fresh in my mind's landscape...
Nevertheless the special glow of the season's celebrations, the hope carried by the miracle of birth, the glorious sounds of music listened and followed every year with the exact same anticipation and feelings of soothing calmness and joy, these are the best reminders of how great it is to be alive and to be willing and happy to participate once again in this global celebration of life and light.
I wish all my friends, wherever they are, to be immersed into the spirit of the season and to be happy participants in celebrations surrounded with their loved ones.
Happy Christmas!

my Art & my iPhone...

2011-11-15T23:31:00.000-06:00

Left: original iPhone photograph | right: PS Express/Soft Focus, Reduce Noise, Exposure

It's obvious I have been "working" and having fun at the same time!!! These images are showing how easy it's becoming to get addicted not only to my type of work..., but also to the "fun" of documenting it with the iphone camera. So here it is my new post responding to Dave's Apps Recipe Book Project.

Instagram/Kelvin

Left: Camera+/Borders/Dark Grit | right: CameraBag/Magazine

Left: Grungetastic/Beached 3 | right: Grungetastic/something random... I don't remember

summer remains...

2011-11-02T17:15:00.001-05:00

Dried weed cuttings from my summer garden in a "vase" made of paper!
Yesterday, while folding strips of paper for an unrelated work, I ended up shaping/constructing a few objects that I am kind of falling in love with...

I love my iPhone!

2011-10-29T22:19:00.004-05:00

Apps used: {L} OldPhotoPRO/sepia {R} Best Camera

Apps used: {L} ColorSplash {R} OldPhotoPRO/cyanotype

{L} original iPhone photo App used: {R} Camera Bag: Mono

For fun, for visual notes, for research on the go, even (as in this case) for narcissistic purposes..., my iPhone has been THE most reliable, user friendly and always brilliantly delivering camera! In these examples are some of the results of this afternoon's play time, using some of the apps I have downloaded to give extra pizazz to my photos and to also impress people who still think they can live without an iPhone!

This post is my contribution to Clearer Reflections online collaboration for "Dave's Apps Recipe Book Project".

Home views...

2011-10-13T01:30:00.000-05:00

...somewhere in Athens

at my home, sweet home!

with ever growing appreciation...

2011-10-06T02:02:00.000-05:00

Thank you!

touching history...

2011-09-27T12:00:00.002-05:00

Walking by the Roman Agora, entering a Byzantine marvel of a church transformed into a muslim temple many centuries ago and back again into a center of christianity, stepping through paths among tomb stones of the city's jews who lived and called Thessaloniki "home" until Hitler's army transported them with one way ticket to concentration camps, experiencing all that this morning, during a short distance walk- a few city blocks that house remains of thousands of years history, its glories and shame.
On my way back I stopped at the old market and bought Greek mountain tea, the same one that has been growing wild in my homeland's mountains for ever...

Byzantine encounters...

2011-09-22T16:43:00.000-05:00

in Athens, Greece!

Back in my homeland since Monday and totally enchanted by the unique sights belonging to so many historical times from antiquity, still standing side by side under the bluest of skies, in the golden yellow sunlight of Attica. So many special places for ever associated with endless memories from my childhood...

unkept...

2011-09-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

someone's back yard in a Brooklyn neighborhood!

samples of nature's glorious generosity: so abundant, so unique, so free for all!

high fashion, colours, textures, nature...

2011-08-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

on display in San Francisco and Bay area...

summer collages

2011-08-16T15:01:00.000-05:00

Works done during different studio sessions, through different processes, and yet belonging so much in this hot summer's mood, "views", thoughts...

New York in sizzling reds and hot pinks...

2011-08-07T22:34:00.000-05:00

what can I say? I do LOVE New York!

New York in silence...

2011-07-30T21:35:00.001-05:00

Everything in New York is not colorful, fancy, excitedly vibrant or triumphantly loud.

Along my walks I see a lot standing still, subtly marking the passage of time in silence, presenting decay and neglect in an almost theatrical setting; as if allowing the destructive signs of wear and tear to assume a dignified aura, something reminiscent of the old and decrepit, but oh so respected of an English aristocratic country home.

Back in New York...

2011-07-23T11:26:00.002-05:00

Heat wave and all I still love being here!

Although the humid oven like atmosphere is rather unbearable, it's still worth sweating and feeling like fainting on the way to museums and favorite spots!

Here are some not too touristy views of what I adore in this amazing city; more to come soon!

around my studio...

2011-07-16T12:04:00.001-05:00

Can't hide my enormous joy on the acquisition of my second "new"old nipping press!
I can't believe how beautiful it is, how it compliments the english screen I have in the corner of my studio and how it just feels belonging there!!!
So while I am in between projects, I am taking a small break from my normal fully engaging work and I am exploring traditional Japanese origami folding techniques.
I am surrounded by small pieces of paper for a change, no inks for a while, beautiful tiny sculptured bits and pieces in front of me and when I lift my head... I can't help but smile at my book press standing there and looking totally at home!

Here is an old post for my very first book press

sunflowers = summer!

2011-07-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

Sunflowers are so friendly, so smiley and so full of the essence of summer!
Growing up in my homeland sunflowers were only found in the fields, never to be used as cut flowers...
Once their seeds had formed, the huge (gigantic for a little girl) dried flowers were brought in, placed on a shelf, left there to continue their drying/shriveling season and waiting for us to start digging into their rich centers densely woven with black seeds....
I can still remember the sweet taste, the shriveled flower that kept giving us pleasure even after its brilliant yellow had disappeared.
The sunflowers in these photographs were brought in and arranged in tall vases, bringing their screaming summer celebratory color into my home.

at the studio: play time!

2011-06-23T00:54:00.001-05:00

Playing with paper lithography, experimenting on a variety of papers I have laying around and getting excited with the results!

so special!

2011-06-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

There are occasions like this, that I realize allover again what a gift blogging is!

In the photographs is the porcelain and silver wire pendant I bought at Etsy, freshly unwrapped and so breathtaking beautiful!

It is designed/crafted by Coby, an artist from The Netherlands, a country very close to my heart! Among the materials Coby uses is porcelain! I love what she does with it, and as soon as she posted this on her blog, I had to have it!

Once I opened the package I realized that her way of packaging with the addition of her beautiful collage turned into a card, transformed this purchase into a gift!

I love wearing "infinite" and wish Coby could hear all the compliments I get!

May customs...

2011-05-17T12:34:00.002-05:00

It's amazing how habits and customs from childhood remain with us and become more and more "present" as years go by...

In my country May is the month of spring celebrations. As a child the1st of May I would go with my sisters for walks in the hills surrounding Athens and collect the most amazing wild flowers. My sister Dina always made the most special flower wreath to hang outside the front door, the traditional gesture to show the world that we had "touched" May... I remember feeling that "we" had the very best fresh flower "stefani" for sure, because Dina had made it. (I still believe that!!!)

Every May, wherever I am, everywhere I've lived, I would go outside and collect grasses, flowers, vines, and with the memory of scenes from childhood I would go through those steps and feel a bit of "greekness" in this traditional ritual of recognizing spring's arrival...

in the pictures: spring elements from both my May morning walks in the garden and hours spent in the printmaking studio...

for Mother's Day

2011-05-06T10:36:00.001-05:00

For so many years I could call, I could wish her, I could celebrate mama on Mother's day.
I cannot reach her through the phone anymore, I cannot tell her "stuff", but I can still celebrate my manoula and the life time I had the fortune to have her near me or waiting to answer my phone calls.

Happy Easter...

2011-04-23T22:45:00.000-05:00

Happy spring!

the beginning and end...

2011-04-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

of a southern belle!

Here are three stages in the very short life of a magnolia bloom.
Everything about her is grand: the sparkling pure white when she first blooms, the extremely strong and at the same time gentle lemony perfume, the super fast shape and color transformation, the shedding of the stamens...
I have an enormous magnolia tree in the front of my house and right now through its countless enormous blooms is giving me a true spectacle of beauty, of life and death...

a flea market in grand style...

2011-04-02T11:07:00.002-05:00

... in New York of course!

It takes place every Sunday: outdoors in the summer, indoors in the winter. The outdoors' location allows for a huge number of sellers, a large scale display of goods, a grander possibility of finding whatever your heart desires. The winter season's indoor location though is what makes my heart beat faster and the feel of being within the walls of this architectural gem from a long gone era overshadows any treasure hunt's high and makes me feel on top of the world!

So here is a photographic display of goods available for sale and glimpses of the marble inlaid floors, iron work and brass ornamental figures and motifs adorning the building.

The flea market's winter home is the space of what was The Williamsburg Savings Bank, at the Brooklyn Clock Tower.

busy spring time...

2011-03-25T13:39:00.001-05:00

in my two worlds!

spring signs in my back garden and in my veranda in Texas...

................................................................and one week later......................................................................

spring blossoms under the morning snow in New York!

morning sun...

2011-03-19T22:22:00.000-05:00

antique market treasure find...

2011-03-11T23:23:00.000-06:00

My newest "old" acquisition: a tapestry bag I was dreaming of, found during a Saturday morning shopping spree in New York!

inspired...

2011-02-28T19:53:00.001-06:00

by a New York neighborhood!

waking up...

2011-02-22T09:15:00.000-06:00

to brand new snow!

Yesterday I woke up to a white landscape! It happened during the night and looking out of the window the sparkling white fresh new snow was competing in sparkle with Everett's fresh morning brilliant smile!
Later in the day I took a three mile walk through the white freezing neighborhood to the park, back to the wet icy city streets, cold and thrilled with this late winter's wonderland beauty.

B as in brown...

2011-02-16T10:46:00.000-06:00

As seen (and photographed) while walking in the streets of Brooklyn, New York.

LOVE for Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T09:11:00.000-06:00

Even Google today chose the iconic love image as a Valentine's touch to their logo! Even the snow outside my window is melting today, while warmer temperatures are felt in New York - perhaps a signal to add to Valentine's warmth in the air???
Oh well, Valentine's day is here, and every bit of my surroundings remind me of this hot day in the winter's dreariest month. Most of all the rosy softness of Everett's hand!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!!

winter views

2011-02-08T10:40:00.001-06:00

Back in New York and overwhelmed with the elegance of the winter landscape around the neighborhood streets at Prospect Park in Brooklyn...

collecting...

2011-02-01T09:30:00.000-06:00

Textiles, papers, lace, seeds, are among the things I collect!
Since I was a child I always had something I was all interested and drawn to, something I had to tuck away.

Living close to the sea, collecting sea shells was a given; and so were pebbles, driftwood, sea bird feathers. I also had tiny boxes tucked and hidden among my books, homes to my dried sea horses...

Some of the items just mentioned I still have and treasure.
Like mama's picture given to me when I was very young, tucked in a slim see-through box in the company of a tiny and very special hippocampos, found around that same time on a beach somewhere in the Mediterranean...

when the flower shops are closed...

2011-01-25T12:50:00.000-06:00

my garden is wide open!

Last Sunday I badly needed some fresh flowers for my home decor; I took a quick walk around my garden reached up to the pyracantha, bent down to my rosemary, snipped some bamboo, cuts from a loquat tree and crape myrtle's dried up branches, et voilà: flower arrangements for my dinner party and a huge boost for my mood!

wall encounter!

2011-01-15T08:58:00.001-06:00

It's difficult to explain the "feeling" when while visiting someone's house, attracted by a piece on a wall you approach it to only recognize your own signed piece!
It happened to me last night.
"autumn finds" - monoprint with intaglio detail on Rives BFK, 2009

a bookcase packed with...

2010-12-30T21:10:00.000-06:00

so much more than books...

still writing...

2010-12-28T11:17:00.002-06:00

just a few more and soon I will be done!

to all my friends...

2010-12-25T10:02:00.000-06:00

Happy Christmas!

New York: imagine!

2010-12-17T21:21:00.000-06:00

New York: not the usual views...

2010-12-08T23:54:00.001-06:00

not the expected Christmas decor, not the expected BIG apple sights, just colorful, unusual, unexpected "story book" views I see with my camera, while I walk in the magic of December's New York!

getting ready...

2010-12-03T13:00:00.003-06:00

for the holidays!

For the next few days I have way too much to think, to plan, to create, (to go to New York and come back), etc., etc. It's just no time left for words, but ample time to decorate the house and get immersed into the holiday mood and spirit!!!

a carte-postale...

2010-11-28T14:41:00.001-06:00

with greetings from a weekend at the hill country!

while discovering the rugged beauty of Texas in the company of Weihong!

made in Italy!

2010-11-22T10:02:00.000-06:00

I love so much made in Italy:

but most of all my dearest friend from so long ago....

Felice compleanno carissima Carla! I always think of you, especially in November!

exhilarating snippets of...

2010-11-19T20:37:00.002-06:00

views / stuff seen in the course of a day!!!

These are moments that some sort of magic happens and I am lucky to have my camera near by...

These "views" are seen (and oh! so greatly appreciated), when I am in the "taking time to smell the roses" state of mind...

What I call magic is really not magic at all! It's a whole bunch of things I am surrounded with, views belonging to my everyday landscape that at certain times just touch me in a very extraordinary way.

The sight of a tree's brunches hanging with moss and swaying in the autumn breeze (a rather ordinary encounter for us living in the south), the huge creature standing still on my front door's frame, the sky ablaze with a show of light happening while I am stuck in traffic, the Beatles greeting me first thing yesterday morning when I opened my browser, looking as fresh and as exciting as I remember them aeons ago...

I am so happy I looked up and saw the Spanish moss glowing in the autumn sun, so glad I am not scared of unknown critters anymore, so thrilled I didn't let the aggravation from rush hour traffic stop me from smiling at the play of light and clouds, and finally I am so ecstatic I still remember how the Beatles made me feel...

Flowers from a friend

2010-11-10T13:47:00.001-06:00

A few days ago a friend returned from a lengthy absence, came over for dinner and brought me the most beautiful tulips; this morning it looked like their pick was over and their decline was progressing at a rather accelerating speed. I had to somehow record their incredible beauty, as a reminder of my dearest Weihong's visit and symbol of her amazing precious presence in my life.

at home

2010-11-02T11:09:00.000-05:00

on Halloween night!

Candles everywhere (nothing unusual about that...) and my no knead home baked bread on the table; just before dinner on Halloween night spent at home with good friends.

sunday morning colour, line, texture...

2010-10-24T09:32:00.002-05:00

showing inside a clay pot, outside in the veranda!

How can anyone run out of inspiration? Here is all an artist needs: a palette of colour, a variety of textures, composition and balance, movement, rhythm, all so amply presented in the freshest and most generous way!

sumi ink, japanese paper = shading in style!

2010-10-20T21:15:00.001-05:00

My newest orizomegami papers, spread on the floor to be photographed and hung as shades on my studio windows...

what a privilege...

2010-10-17T21:15:00.001-05:00

... to be talked about at Privilege!

I do believe it is a wonderful world and I don't mean just our real 3D breathing day and night world...
I want to talk about the brilliancy and goodness of the cyber world, where the source of knowledge, the way of broadening one's horizons, the endless road to continuous discovery sometimes bring you to a magical place; then if a certain "happy" concidence is present, then you may also experience the beginning of a new friendship! These must have been the conditions sometime ago that brought me to "Privilege", a blog I thoroughly enjoy reading, searching, and reading again and again. I became a follower and started looking forward to every new post, always covering a vast array of subjects with good sense, excellent taste, superb grounded sincerity, wisdom, honesty, dignity!
You can imaging my immense joy when the morning of September 22 I saw my work and my blogs being the subject that Lisa chose that particular day to talk about.
What can I say? I do feel privileged to have my art talked about in this truly special space and thankful to the good (cyber surfing) fortune that brought me to view "privilege" and start getting to know its wonderful author. Finally I am mesmerized by the possibilities of new friendship found in blogosphere, through blogs/forums that allow us to stop, think, learn, understand, grow!
Thank you Lisa!

a sample of Privilege's brilliant posts:

How Does It Feel To Share A Family Portraitist With The Kennedys?

Fierce at 50. When You Are 20. Or 30.

What Is It About Little Black Dresses?

Is Mother Love An Anachronism?

stylish sights

2010-10-15T07:49:00.000-05:00

around New York...

seen as I was stepping out the door - west 57th - so glad I had my camera ready!

the perfect bag: from a quick shopping stop at MOMA, just around the corner!

colourful sights...

2010-10-11T07:58:00.000-05:00

around New York...

California moments...

2010-10-06T08:55:00.001-05:00

one of my artbooks: "time after time", on display in a Ventura, CA gallery

a very ephemeral proof that I was there!!!
collecting feathers (!) on the beach in San Clemente!
Funny how some times memories from visiting a certain place turn monochromatic...
Here is a glimpse from a week visiting California last month...

the excuse...

2010-09-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

my book club meeting!

I always find season change a good excuse for renewal and a great force behind a need to decorate around the house. A few days ago it was my turn to host my book club meeting and all elements were in favor and in perfect synch! The season change mood, a wish to bring again to surface objects holding special meaning, my love for books and old books in general, a desire to try "new" recipes, it all worked to make preparing for this a pleasant and easy affair! And I ended up finding one more "use" for some of my cyanotype surplus; I turned them into envelope boxes holding book related favors for the guests!

reasons for a good old fashion...

2010-09-18T17:06:00.000-05:00

(arty) correspondence!

Although now days most of our written communication is done electronically, the expectation of some "mailed" delivery still lingers in my list of desires... So it's not totally out of character that I still write the old fashion way and mail it after some serious consideration on the choice of the most appropriate for the content stamp! Here are my latest cards featuring my own work! They arrived in perfect time! Next month my work is shown in four different galleries, in four different states, and my cards are the perfect way to keep friends and loved ones up to date with my art happenings...

shadow marks and light!

2010-09-12T15:04:00.001-05:00

remember when we were little playing with light?remember the joy after succeeding in making an animal form, and then"seeing" in the shadow of our fingers a giant rabbit or a miniature elephant?
lately, in the strong morning sun I begun noticing the leaves, the fence, the shadow shape play projected on the brick walls, the driveway, the grass and I felt like a child all over again...
as if I had never seen before the magic shadows create, I discovered in this spotty darkness the light of new beginnings on compositions for future image stories...

on a shelf

2010-09-05T15:35:00.006-05:00

- - - - - - - in the photograph: the current stage of this piling by my worktable shelf - - - - - - -

what is usually found on this shelf are things that I use for inspiration, or things in the process of being assembled, or things closed to my heart appended in the hope of some sort of subliminal communication..., or just items belonging to several categories all piled up in a stage of unspecified, undefined and rather abstract wait, expecting to be sorted out...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

on the shelf:

"appreciate"- a card from the vocabulary series dedicated to mama, 2008

"reach"- my hand on drypoint, 2009

ghost monoprint waiting to be used most probably on a future book art structure

partial view of a "racing memory" print

altered (very old and decrepit) books

various origami structures

oops, I almost forgot!

in the vase: wild growing blooming weeds from my garden.

I used a few of these on my recent cyanotypes

a NEW drying surface...

2010-08-28T22:31:00.001-05:00

on my refrigerator!

it happens when the sun begs for cyanotype development and I comply...

This Saturday turned out to be the perfect cyanotype photogram production day; the resulting number of successful prints allow me to proceed with a project I have been planning for some time...

By early afternoon I had used all my drying racks and having spread over all the other usual surfaces, I ended up taking over the refrigerator doors as well, using their vertical space for drying the very last prints. When I finished cleaning up and sat down with a cup of coffee, I looked up and fell in love with the "new" arty blue look covering the refrigerator's facade...

(good) morning visitor...

2010-08-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

one of the many dragonflies visiting my garden...
this one was "smiling" right by my window yesterday.
I used my (quasi antique) sony DSC-F707 on micro setting and felt entering her world!

preparations...

2010-08-22T19:52:00.003-05:00

for a party!

This past week was all about getting ready for a special event: my Christiana's baby shower!
After completing the bassinet, then the baby quilt, then the party favors, I had one more arty task: the flower arrangements!
Here is a pick of all the ingredients for this so close to my heart celebration!

I combined blue hydrangeas, Queen Ann lace and greens from my garden

in all arrangements throughout the house

be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it...

2010-08-17T14:38:00.001-05:00

be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth... and that's just what they did right in front of my eyes! I felt I was really at the right place, at the right time while kneeling still I was photographing butterflies... yesterday mid morning.

my favorite spot!

2010-08-08T19:31:00.002-05:00

Although it's way too hot, still in the mornings it feels good to sit in the veranda and have coffee with the Beatles! I try to act as if it is much cooler, and my plants contribute to this make believe effort, a lot! The begonias blooming in the shade, the crape myrtles all pink, the cicadas shrilling their heads off (actually their abdomens), oh well this is the south!

As for the cicadas, in my effort to understand all this noise..., I found this:

"That singing you hear are the male cicadas calling the females. The song is sung by means of two special vibrating membranes in the sides of the abdomen. Females do not call, but evidently they do answer."

I guess my taste is totally on the opposite end from the female cicadas'...

without words...

2010-08-07T15:33:00.002-05:00

playing with the sun...

2010-08-03T12:25:00.007-05:00

The last few days we've had a sky totally blue, naked of clouds as I call it, translating as PERFECT time for cyanotype production! That's how I have spent a few hours every day, and that's how after having a pile of prints, I started experimenting with toning some using various traditional methods and some not traditional ones, too.

This one is one of my favorites; I feel the sun's warm yellow penetrating the blue-blue of this summer's sky...

works in progress...

2010-07-29T20:54:00.002-05:00

on my spare time!

Here are some clues, I mean "views" of love and fun projects I am involved in and tackling with grand enthusiasm, all at the same time! A short progress report: my star quilt is about to be assembled, baby shower invitations have been designed, reproduced, addressed, mailed and as of this morning my first post following my inclusion as a Book Art Object contributor has been written and posted!
All in all in this rainy, steamy, unbearably hot summer I am producing some real cool work;
I am totally satisfied!!!

a favorite passtime...

2010-07-27T09:33:00.003-05:00

at a favorite store photo-shopping with a little help from my iPhone!

painted surfaces!

2010-07-25T21:54:00.000-05:00

when the rain stops...

2010-07-23T08:44:00.000-05:00

thoughts on a leaf

2010-07-17T23:54:00.004-05:00

the actual dried leaf and its cyanotype (photogram) print

Since I remember, I've always collected leaves; I took great care in selecting them, drying them flat in between two sheets of paper, and eventually placing them inside books. In my teenage years I would try to match the shape of the leaf to the mood of the story in the book that would eventually house them. Those were the years I was studying French, my books were all the musts of the littérature française, century by century, and in the mind of the girl I was, the stories demanded leaves of a certain caliber...: they had to be the most special leaves, preferably with scalloped edges or at least with a heart shape form and a rich autumn tint.

I am still collecting leaves today, without a particular reason, almost with that same sense, the total lack of purpose we collect shells on a beach... Now days my leaves find a way out of the pages where they are suppose to lay flat; they enter my work surfaces with a persistence as if all those years in the company of French heroines has given them the right to rebel... I welcome their intrusion and allow them to guide my narrative in ways that I would have never consciously chosen; I realize their presence and influence in the shape, pattern, movement, even the thought in certain compositions and... I smile gratefully.

nature vive!

2010-07-16T11:46:00.001-05:00

When seeking inspiration becomes an easy and beautiful break:
textures, color schemes, composition ideas...?
Found in my garden this morning!

all creatures great and small...

2010-07-11T23:00:00.001-05:00

I live in a big city and yet I am surrounded with all sorts of creatures, some wilder than others, some cuter than others and some less friendly but way more interesting than others! I can't help but thinking of "all creatures great and small", and of the time I lived in England, when some nights holding my children by the window behind the curtains with the lights off and looking at the back garden, we would watch the foxes coming to visit! There were foxes and there were badgers and for some years there were moles ruining the harmonious continuity of our typical english very green and smooth lawn. They did give us though a spectacle of amazing beauty and charm, and with punctuality brought Mark, Christiana and me close together in this unique and so beautiful nocturnal nature watch.
Well, now there are different animals visiting my garden and I still get the greatest kick watching their moves and ways... Without my children's company, with no more need to make up stories for them, I lift my head from the work I do and right in front of this window of mine nature still presents me with the greatest gift: many creatures..., not too great and mostly rather small offering me snippets of their lives right in front my eyes.
I bet if Mark and Christiana were here would have also loved to watch!

so green...

2010-07-06T14:00:00.002-05:00

... and such patient subject to photograph!

It was yesterday early evening when I saw him (or is it her?) on my patio, enjoying crawls and jumps around the plants, the flower beds, the wall...

I started following with my camera snapping the elegant and rather smooth movements, getting closer and closer and immersing myself in to his misty humid environment, happy for the chance to meet and have a glimpse of this early evening crawl.

I can't explain or describe the thrill I got from this encounter...

bookmark!

2010-07-03T18:54:00.001-05:00

I love books, so it is very natural to also love bookmarks! I collect them, they are given to me and sometimes I even design and make them. It seems I never have enough, and sometimes I feel I have so very many... And yet, as it usually goes with collectors and their sentiments on adding to their collections, yesterday I was thrilled with a very special gift: six very beautiful bookmarks, a give away gift from a fellow artist-blogger and friend: Egmont.
Egmont, among other things, is an excellent photographer who recently started experimenting with HDR photography (high dynamic range imaging); he used some of his amazing beautiful and sophisticated HDR shots in bookmark format and generously offered them for download at his blog!
Thank you Egmont!

window shopping...

2010-07-01T23:48:00.006-05:00

during my walks to no end... about a month ago, while in Tokyo!

The impressions are still so vivid from getting lost in the colorful, super crowded, busy and noisy, colorful, elegant, brightly lit day and night, vast and full of contrasting worlds city.

current work: cyanotypes!

2010-06-22T10:29:00.002-05:00

I am so thankful for yesterday's perfect sun!

a green arrangement!

2010-06-20T01:47:00.000-05:00

Even in the hottest steamiest times the coolest looking greens are surviving in my garden, available to be brought in and used in lieu of colorful blossoms; they are the greatest stand ins for the perfumed rich bouquets I would have had if I was living in a less humid/less sizzling hot environment.

Shinjuku's night signs...

2010-06-14T10:00:00.004-05:00

Pachinko gambling, escort company seeking, special "items" shopping, exotic, smelly and smoky eateries, noise, smoke, buzz, laughter, music and song, all densely layered in an amazing night world; shown the way by Mark, listening to his tales on the area's and his own history, enjoying every bit of it and absorbing it all during a walking Shinjuku at night experience!
Thank you Mark!

Harajuku colors!

2010-06-14T01:32:00.002-05:00

Youth culture, street fashions, style trends, a showcase of narcissistic behavior at a climax: here is a sample of the good and bad of this most vibrant Tokyo neighborhood as I saw it while exploring it a few days ago!

as seen in Japan!

2010-05-25T17:54:00.002-05:00

While I am visiting Tokyo (and some other cities in Japan), I am encountering sights and situations that truly "speak" on the nature of this unique country. I will be posting selections of these scenes, with the belief that no words are required to describe the color, feel, rhythm, of the country..

paper cutouts window dressing on 5th!

2010-05-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

While visiting New York, one of my favorite "things" is to check on trends and themes in shop window display. Last week I was not surprised to see paper cutouts giving a tone of elegant simplicity on a number of windows belonging to a well known department store on 5th. So simple, so direct, so lovely! The easily recognizable fashion cities' skyline and typical spring blooms being the background of high fashion items, while at the same time accepting the reflections of New York's surrounding buildings; what a fantastic reminder of fashion's influence and presence around the world!

mood changers...

2010-05-06T22:39:00.001-05:00

Sometimes a timid wild overlooked flower, or a broken mossy branch become great finds!

They can magically turn the dry, gray and empty mood into a totally "how great being here and now" moment! I have become pretty crafty in finding ways and reasons to bring to surface elements that unexpectedly transform my mood, my attitude, my dead end kind of times... More often than not the finds come from my garden; other times appear while waiting on a red light; the surrounding hassle on an intersection, that particular light that transforms the city's skyline into a bronze, silver, pewter mythical horizon, unexpected and unrelated happenings become scripts and give the "voice" of what I do next.

beginning and end...

2010-05-02T19:37:00.000-05:00

Here is the story of life's glory and end as demonstrated by the blooms on my magnolia tree.
All this happened in 24 hours... Brilliant, pure youth one morning, decay and disintegration the next.
But even at the end I still see incredible beauty; nature is the master!!!

ready to fly?

2010-04-25T21:25:00.001-05:00

A few mornings ago, outside my window an amazing scene took place: a mother cardinal and a father cardinal were trying to convince baby cardinal to fly! Well, baby cardinal was kind of reluctant; was he afraid to spread the tiny wings? or was he mesmerized by this human being (me!), holding her camera, perched over computers, desks, art paraphernalia, flowers, etc. trying to record these most beautiful moments?
Despite the glass pane separating us and the time constrain (I had a very busy-fully scheduled day), I was glued to the task and used the last possible seconds available clicking away. Hours later when I came back baby cardinal was gone. I wish him a safe flight, a good bird life! Perhaps next spring he will be coaching his own baby cardinal to fly; perhaps it will all happen a clear morning right here, in front of my magical window!

work table: stages!

2010-04-13T14:05:00.000-05:00

I have been busy. There is no higher "high" than having a work successfully completed. The mess preceding it suddenly takes the aura of a landscape worth capturing, and sometimes when luck strikes big and the unintentional "errors" become great meaningful elements of that particular work... well, then it's truly time to celebrate! Even though your body hurts, your hands and nails (sometimes even the face) are covered with thick layers of several colors of ink (the tell tale signs of hours of the creation process), and you still have the hours worth of mess waiting for the good hour required to clean up..., believe me you still feel like dancing! It's like you've reached the stars and nothing else matters: that's the true high and the greatest gift your work gives you back!
I have no photos to share of all the mess just described, but here are some moments captured from my cleaner type of artwork I do and LOVE doing. A "view" of my worktable during two different Artists' Books assembling. Also a photo of my invitation mailing to an art exhibit where my work it's included.
Actually samples of my work are going to be shown in three different art shows the next couple of months! If you are anywhere near, please go and have a look and let me know...
Visual Arts Alliance Juried Exhibition - April 29 - May 28, Williams Tower Gallery - Houston, Texas, USA
Inventive Structures: Books beyond the Codex - May 14 - June 25, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Greek artists’ books: Contemporary artworks & editions ArtAthina - May 13 - 16, Athens, Greece

Happy Easter - Happy spring!

2010-04-03T12:50:00.002-05:00

My Easter eggs found throughout my home are an essential part of the Easter celebration and of the welcoming the spring to our lives and our home! There is a story behind each one of these eggs; the ones painted by me have become a window to my mood of the time, others are associated with the place I found them, my sister introducing me to the Russian lady selling them, the smells and sounds of that particular market somewhere in Greece years ago. And then there is the third kind, precious wooden eggs given to me by family members and a very dear friend who knows how much I love them.
Happy Easter to everyone

yellow overdose...

2010-03-29T12:28:00.000-05:00

the early morning sun giving my roses an extra yellow glow!

garden finds...

2010-03-24T23:04:00.002-05:00

Doesn't look like a close up of a couture garment? The texture, the color, the sheen: so rich, so unique, so understated... It's an old discarded skin. I found it outside my home, on a concrete slab where the pool filter tank stands... I can't help by thinking how glorious the "new" coat must have been, how much more beautiful in order for someone to leave this old one behind. I wonder how many more "coats" that snake must have "taken off" when ready for a glorious new. Oh! I am so glad I have it!

nature morte... and still beautiful!

2010-03-16T11:00:00.002-05:00

Aren't these true great works of art? Their forms, proportions, textures, colors... When it comes to judging organic forms... nature always wins! All these insects -and a whole bunch kept in one of my "treasure" boxes- were found around my home, garden, even inside the pool. Although there is always the sadness associated with one more evidence of end of life, looking at these creatures fills me with enormous joy. Perhaps because even in death they do preserve the brilliant colors of their living state, and somehow, because they are all still so beautiful, they make me think that they had a wonderful happy life! I "see" them flying around my garden, filling the summer nights with their sound, hurrying to enter uninvited through the open door at night... In their frenzied flight contributing to the survival of nature's wonders, while awarding us with the spectacle of colors, the sounds of bird songs, the taste of honey...

the "how" on these photographs: on a clouding morning subjects were placed on a white Rives paper laying on my worktable. I used my ancient SONY DSC-F707 and had great fun!

rodeo season!

2010-03-13T00:52:00.003-06:00

my leather boots and their "portrait": sumi ink, watercolor on xuan paper.

This time of the year the rodeo comes to town; as a result a western dress-up frenzy takes over the whole city and the far west theme appears everywhere! For about a month you see boots, you hear country, you smell BBQ and suddenly after the rodeo's official city entrance parade reaches its final destination and home for the duration of the month, then you can't help but admit that yes, this is indeed a cowboy land!

A few years ago I fell in love with this pair of boots, bought them and wore them at a rodeo function - my only "seasonal" accessory except of course some American Indian vintage turquoise pieces I am lucky enough to have... These boots are the reason I finally fell for the rodeo masquerade! I liked them so much, I ended up using them as a model for my watercolor painting in the photograph. Every year both the boots and the painting come to surface and become part of my home's rodeo season decorative "touch". The boots continued to inspire me... and the painting as well! They both appeared in all sorts of design projects as you can see in the following images.

spring signs...

2010-03-08T22:16:00.001-06:00

Maybe a better title for this post would be "gifts from nature". That's how I feel when I look at these beautiful sculptured seeds. When I realized that they had "bloomed", I ran outside with my camera and although it was rainy and very gray, I didn't mind at all! There was no way to wait for the sky to change... Oh! how I felt yesterday morning when I first saw them and how I feel every time I look at them and touch them is beyond description! I've put them in small vases, I started drawing them and thinking of patterns from their quasi heart shaped fruit, and then I go into daydreaming... I keep fantasizing being in a room with William Morris(!!!), talking about the movement and planning borders and flowery "themes" for cotton chintzes... He is reciting poetry and I start sketching shapes all based on these whimsy feathery samaras...

Oh, my London years have really left me with some deep English country person's tendencies... I better get back to 21st century and feel so glad for the spectacle of the few red maples blooming outside, by the street...

out of nothing... something!

2010-03-04T20:34:00.000-06:00

Has it ever happened to you? To have spent time and thought developing a project and then realizing that some part of it just didn't work out? (that's euphemism for "failed"!!!)?

Well, that's what happened to me with an idea that initially seemed clever, but then turned out not being so... Sometime ago I decided to use one of my orisomegami papers as chine-collé with an etching print ending up with a rather sad result... The idea was OK, the organic nature of the paper with the orizomegami resulted pattern and the etched fern leaf seemed to be meant for great company and yet they did not! Well, I couldn't just trash it, too much work and emotions involved in the disaster..., so I just put it away until sometime later; revisiting the folder with the failed attempts, I saw on this particular one the possibility of a future: a gift box, to hold a special gift for a very dear friend. Spring is approaching, the color scheme and nature of it totally appropriate for the season and so with a little planning and the addition of a heavy card to mount the print, some measurements and some glue: Voilà! A box made with some experimentation, after some failed expectation, but finally giving to me a lot of satisfaction! I hope it will be liked by the person who receives it!

More on the art of orizomegami here...

my true fortune...

2010-02-28T00:21:00.007-06:00

It's almost the end of a Saturday, the end of a day, and maybe because it's late in the night, maybe because it's the end of a week, almost the end of a month..., maybe because throughout my life I've often felt and got to know real well what being lonely means, what being all by one's self means, far away from one's homeland and loved ones, maybe because of that I feel so strongly tonight the wealth that true friendships shower us with...
I feel so fortunate to be in a position to recognize how the presence of true friends makes the absence of family, the distance separating us from loved ones- from our own- almost fade away. Because tonight, for a few hours in the presence of friends, I was allowed to open up and express the pain, the sorrow, the disappointment and the ever present wish for the ideal relationships to re-emerge... Just because tonight in the company of true friends I felt comfortable enough to express the pain, the wondering, the regret that life and human condition weighs upon us, marks and shapes our days, nights and dreams and at the same time how this same human condition makes us strong enough to permit us to hope for all misunderstandings to be cleared, for all wrongs to be corrected and to wish again for the time that we will be surrounded with our loved ones like we've always wished to be.
Tonight, for a few hours in the company of true friends I felt comfortable enough to express the pain of how it is and the wish of how it should be; tonight I feel ever so grateful for the friends I have, for their existence, presence and company.
Tonight I am once again so aware of what a true wealth friendship is and I am so very thankful for the friendships I have.

in company of... all presidents!

2010-02-16T16:21:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday I went to visit a screen print studio housed in the same complex where David Adickes formidable sculptures are created, stored, displayed. It was a cold and dreary Saturday, but first the arty energy at the Black Swan studio, then the experience of being in such close proximity with the heads of all these historic men... well, I ended up being so lifted and so ready to do "stuff"! You know, I am talking about this urge that I am sure I share with most creative individuals when experiencing this aura of inspirational high. It was for sure the best thing I could have done this past Saturday. After the demo at Black Swan, I ended up going around in the chilly and wet grayness, taking pictures and finding beauty in all sorts of deserted industrial, rusty and dilapidated shop yards. Here is a sample of the "beauty" I discovered in a not so beautiful area of the town I live...

on friendships and romance attempts of long ago...

2010-02-11T18:03:00.003-06:00

This book belonged to my aunt Valentini; when she passed, I was invited to take something from her personal belongings and this was one of the items I chose and now feel so fortunate to have. It is a type of a scrapbook/album, very much in fashion among girls in Europe during the first half of the 20th century. A series of questions asked by the owner of the book, were answered by friends. Through these answers it's easy to "read" the level of intimacy, to detect the desire for intimacy, to recognize the narcissistic tendencies of some and the efforts of others in trying to show off and impress the girl posing the questions. Most of the writers made sure they left words of wisdom written in their best hand writing for the eyes of my aunt and for posterity... They all took this philosophical and arty exchange very seriously, and the owner of this book equally so; she kept it all her life tucked in the top dresser drawer, together with other very special and close to her heart items.
Every time I open this book and start reading, I am amazed by the level of knowledge, the writing skills, the artistic talents, and most of all the similarity in certain ways of youth we all share, regardless of the time span of a century that separates us, and today's communication ease through mobile phones, text messaging, facebook, twitter, etc. that places these books so much more into fossil category of a long past age... The pages of my aunt's book are filled with rather emotionally and sentimentally charged entries presenting the case of a communal kind of "valentine"; a multi page valentine where a group of friends express their sentiments with enough indirect methods and innuendos to make them perfectly acceptable and proper for the young girls of the time to hold, to read, to cry and smile while reading it. It was an innocent time where my aunt and all those young boys and girls while busily writing, they were also dreaming of perfect loves and perfect lives for their future ahead...
Happy Valentine's!

More on "arty journals"created by Victorian aristocracy!

my hearts...

2010-02-06T23:24:00.003-06:00

Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix, comme s'ouvrent les fleurs aux baisers de l'aurore!

Ferdinand Lemaire

I love the symbolism a heart represents in both popular culture and religion; perhaps as a result of this interest, I have always been drawn to collecting heart shaped objects as well as making all kinds of heart shaped "things" like the cushions in the photograph above...
I have drawn hearts, painted hearts, embroidered and quilted hearts, even baked hearts for my children's tea time and also for my grown up dear ones! My hearts are spread around my home throughout the year, but each February for obvious reasons, they are joined by all sorts of other hearts and in their company they add to the Valentine's mood that this time of the year dictates...

work areas...

2010-01-30T19:42:00.001-06:00

I have been busy and I have been busy... everywhere! Sometimes just looking at the work area, even at times that no specifics have been placed or defined, I find it so satisfying! Work in progress becomes the starting point of the thought sequence for a new "story", the turn leading to the new phase in the development of an idea or even to the quest for a new "thought".

Anyway, I get carried away and I almost forgot what I initially wanted to say. Oh yes! I wanted to show (or show off???) snippets of my work surfaces: my work table, a capture of my iMac's screen, the drying rack at the studio with the day's work placed to dry. So here I welcome you to a close-up of what lately my days are all about...

piling treasures...

2010-01-22T21:59:00.000-06:00

It's funny how certain similarities appear out of things not similar at all! My newly created paste papers and monoprints spread and piling on my work table and dried leaves swept by the sidewalk... For me all of these represent true treasures; they are my precious raw materials for future compositions...