Honoring the Ancestors - Sugar Skull Greeting Cards

This summer, looking for a much-needed change of scenery, I traveled to Mexico for a brief vacation. Our self-designed tour comprised a nice mixture of cultural events, food exploration, and shopping. In Mexico City, we learned about the murals of Diego Rivera, and navigated craft markets. There was an explosion of color (and handmade sugar skulls) everywhere! Even the hand painted designs of the black and white sugar skulls have so much dimension in their contrast. Here are some of my favorites that I have converted into greeting cards for this season of skeletons. 

Sugar Skulls, Mexico - Set of 10 Handmade Greeting Cards

Sugar Skulls (Black and White) - handmade greeting card

A Chill in the Air - Fall Greetings

I've been busy creating new greeting cards for the upcoming fall season. Here are some of my latest fall and Halloween handmade greeting card selections made for the shop this year. They range from the creepy carvings on old tombstones, to some of the storied haunts of New Orleans, and to the colorful harvest at a local farmer's market. 

Bewitched - handmade greeting card

Eternal Rest - Box of 10 greeting cards

Neon Skull - handmade greeting card

Pumpkin Harvest - handmade greeting card

Wicked Berries - handmade greeting card

Cemetery Gates, New Orleans - handmade greeting card

The Other Side of Quarantine

My last post was about all of the creative things I have been doing during this time of quarantine. It's been a chance to take time and see things in a more quiet way; for me, a welcome change compared to the usual hustle and bustle of the day-to-day. But there is the obvious other side too. One of solitude. These images from an abandoned building suggest those same feelings. Now that summer is officially almost here, most of us will be back to some semblance of what is normal, and this period of isolation will evaporate into the sun-splashed air.

Quarantine Creativity

As anyone who knows me could tell you, I love to take photographs all the time. Flowers are always a favorite subject especially when they are just emerging after a dreary winter. Spring is always full of subject matter for me. This year was no exception. With our obvious difficulties facing us during quarantine, I have used this time to slow down and look more carefully. I have used this time to tackle projects that have been put aside for way too long. I have used this time to be creative. I have used this time to get more exercise than I usually do. 

On my daily walks, I started to scope out trees that had buds emerging. One morning, as a break from the laptop screen and work-at-home orders, I took my camera to play with different lenses and capture some stunning florals amidst the moody spring weather. Inspiration was literally just around the corner!

Another thing I have taken the time to do during this strange period, is to connect with longtime friends the old-fashioned way. Burned out from virtual meetings, hangouts, and happy hours, I have reached out to them with written correspondence. Everyone loves some snail mail! These images and others are available as handmade greetings HERE.

Still Remembering 9/11

Lower Manhattan as it looked in a photo collage from my graduate school days at Pratt Institute - although the balcony of my high rise dorm had a pretty good view, this was probably taken from the Empire State Building.

Another photo collage taken years later in a snowy McCarren Park when I first moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 2000- just a year before the attack on the World Trade Center. The faint ghostly outline of the Twin Towers can be seen just to the left of the Russian church. I just moved from Tribeca where the enormous buildings loomed high above my sublet in a dizzying vertical trajectory into the sky. Every time I neared the apartment, they were there; two stalwart figures. As I sat on the incredible roof deck at the top of my building, I remember always feeling a sense of unease at their scale as my thoughts trailed off, "if those things ever fell".... In my wildest dreams, I never, ever felt those musings would actually come true.

Museum Voyeur

Guggenheim, New York - Fall 1994

And Then There Were Two- My New Etsy Shop, Introducing Jeunesse Dorée

jeu·nesse do·rée  \zhœ-nes-dȯ-ˈrā\ n. gilded youth; wealthy, stylish, sophisticated young people.

I have a peculiar side interest. I enjoy learning unusual, nerdy words and then trying to use them in a sentence. I delight in seeing the reaction I get, if any, by testing the obscurity. Next to my desk you can find the “word of the day” vocabulary calendar, and in my inbox you would see email subscriptions to several word-a-day dictionary lists.

I recall two words from many years ago that symbolized both the elegance and rowdiness of Gatsby – jeunesse dorée, or gilded youth. The combination conjured images of socialites, world travel, fashion, frivolity, and decadent parties with a laissez faire approach to experiencing the pleasure of all the gifts life has to give. It represented a freedom I knew nothing about but have tasted maybe once or twice as a student with all of the free time in the world (even without being anywhere near financially prosperous).

I started selling on Etsy back in 2007 where I originally sold a few handmade note cards and small, random works of art. That first shop, KIPI, has undergone many transformations and renovations over the years. It has become much more cohesive overall with unique works of art created on old science and history books along with prints that have been made from those originals.

I always knew that I had other interests too – fashion, photography, and jewelry – so I created a new shop with the intent of keeping my paintings and prints separate while moving forward with products that would embody an essence of style. With this second shop, I’m coming back to my original online selling roots with my hand-assembled photography note cards once again. In the future, I will also be bringing you inspired home goods and wearable items. With this new venture, I expect it will bring more changes and modifications. In the meantime, welcome to Jeunesse Dorée! Correspond fashionably - and with flair.

Is It Fashion Week Already?

No, not quite. But yesterday, I had the pleasure of hosting a fashion photo shoot for Mimi (stylist) and Jmzs (photographer/dj) of Plaztik Mag in my art studio. They arrived with a mammoth suitcase of clothes and another giant duffle bag for lighting equipment. Then, the model, Apryl, and her mom arrived in a taxi. After a quick coffee run, the hair and makeup artist arrived too. Yes, my little Brooklyn apartment was a beehive of activity, and I could barely contain my excitement. For the shoot, Mimi pulled some incredible one-of-a-kind clothes from The Blonds. Everyone got right to work. The kitchen and bathroom was the styling and wardrobe area, and my art studio was the staging area for looks #1 and #2 (out of four).

Apryl is a rising star in the fashion industry who moves gracefully and almost without direction. In a couple of weeks, she'll be off to Tokyo. She was a quiet teenager (only 16!) from the Midwest who likes to paint and draw too, so the concept of today's photo shoot was an authentic one. Her mom showed us some of her work consisting of anime' characters, various portraits, and a twist on the usual painting of a still life- a bowl of rotting fruit. They were all quite good!

I met Mimi a few years ago when we were both standing in line hoping to crash a fashion show at Bryant Park. I'm accustomed to people of the art and gallery world who put on airs here in the big city, so I barely noticed it when I started meeting people and experiencing it in the fashion world. When I met Mimi several years ago, she wasn't like the others and was refreshingly down-to-earth. We've been friends ever since, and she even sends me on Fashion Week assignments to contribute photos to her blog.

The issues (or videos) that she and Jmzs have been doing lately are really incredible. Their artistic perspective and aesthetic brings back a grittines back to New York that has been missing since the Giuliani era. With chain stores now on every corner, I only mean that as the highest of compliments. These episodes evoke the feelings of the early 80's, and of being a teenager in my room looking at Interview Magazine. In those days, I really wanted to be in the New York of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. Well, I'm here now, but all of that is gone.

Here's a sneak peek of their next "issue" which will be out in mid-February. Stay tuned! As for me, I can hardly wait to see the end result.