Tag Archives: arts & crafts

Indian Summer

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All photos Slim Paley

.Well, the beautiful Indian Summer we’ve been enjoying here in Santa Barbara has finally packed it’s bags and gone to Australia.  Darkness is settling in earlier each day and suddenly I’m addressing the Winter Hit List; chimneys need cleaning, furnaces, heating ducts and rain gutters inspected, flannel sheets aired and fluffed-Oh, it’s all very Martha!

So yes, it’s time for change, and that includes the look of my blog.

I’ve been having some issues with my original template lately, including it’s completely arbitrary decision to shrink the size of all my photos. Hellooo, WordPress-I liked my photos nice & big, thank you very much.  That’s why I chose that template. Now that it’s secretly attending Jenny Craig meetings behind my back  I’m going to retaliate by dating other template designs. Please bear with me these next few weeks. The dating process, as we all know, can be fraught with awkward moments.

But thats a whole other post, isn’t it?!

Let’s get back to “Indian Summer” which reminds me that I never posted about my first time visit to Santa Fe, New Mexico in August.

I naturally expected to appreciate the unique architecture the region is so famous for

loved the gorgeous thick, straw filled adobe walls.

I was warned the shopping would be great, which of course was true

Shiprock

Our favourite shop was “Nathalie” a mix of vintage and new clothing, jewelry, textiles, a little bit of everything wonderful.

The amazing Nathalie (elle est Francaise!)

and her charming husband. (and her sister is the editor of Cote Sud magazine-love)
We visited the Millicent Rogers Museum which I wished was a store…

Sorry, no flash in the museum

We walked across the Rio Grande.

Ya we did! It was very “One Eyed Jacks”

(One of my favourite movies)

Don’t look down

We watched a real iron monger doing his business the old fashioned way

Not an easy profession. I couldn’t stay in the room for more than 30 seconds the smoke was so acrid.

(Ps. not to toot my own horn, but doesn’t this kinda have a Norman Rockwell look to it?!)

Our friends, who have a home in Santa Fe, invited us to come in August for “Indian Market”, a yearly gathering of talented Native artists and craftspeople from all over the country and Canada.

The downtown area is filled with hundreds of booths of fabulous hand-made textiles, paintings, silver, jewelry and of course, plenty of turquoise-in every colour.

And no, you haven’t really seen turquoise until you’ve visited New Mexico.

The gorgeous, pure silver belt below was made entirely by hand

Each plate, crafted painstakingly layer by layer, tells the story of one village, the depth and level of detail just stunning. The belt took almost an entire year to craft and is worn here by the daughter of Tchin, the artist who made it.

As I said,  not your average craft fair, People!!

One of the highlights of “Indian Market” for me was definitely attending the Traditional Native Clothing contest.

We were there bright and early to secure front row seats.

As the contestants range from age 1 or 2, up to adults, it promised to be a fun show

And didn’t disappoint !

I won!

Some contestants were just born to it

 others weren’t quite so sure

Look at that face!

This young man, I believe a previous winner over the years, was just fantastic.

Even the audience was colourful! This is Tziporah Salamon from NY. Her ensemble was so much fun the contest commentator asked her to come up and talk a little about her style.  You must read more about Tziporah here!

Oh, you know I did.

The Barktorialist was also in town :)

Even the leather man was right out of central casting.

Its easy to see why our friends love New Mexico so much

xox

For more information about Indian Market click HERE

PS. Let me know how you like this new format, but remember it’s my first foray. You might notice I also have a new “Travel” tab at the top. Don’t read it yet, it’s not finished.

PPS. To leave a comment click on the comment bubble in the top right corner of the post!

Lastly, I didn’t include Tziporah’s own website; Here

~

Watercolour Wannabe

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Slim Paley Photo

..Painter’s palette plates at Fishes Eddy NYC.

I had such lofty plans for doing some painting this summer.

I was saving,

saving

and saving this post until I could add just one finished painting of my own.

:(

.I’m not going to suggest it would have been anything like this

.John Singer Sargent was in Greece.

I was in Greece too!

One of us was a bit more productive.

though I did take my watercolours to Paris

and I certainly visited Laduree…

This is not my painting. (via Pinterest)

 

 even just a little bird like this would have been something

But alas, my painting muse flew the coop

 I did find a few pretty images of paint boxes in my travels both on land and the internet :)

.and colours blending in a water coloury fashion

. I could certainly paint this, couldn’t I?

Perhaps I simply spent too much time on my ‘gadgets’

.ah-D’ya think???!

.Let’s all take a collective moment to be thankful that Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso et al didn’t have an iPad.

.These sweet little slippers from Anthropology whispered;

“You never painted this summer! For shame, for shame”

. ”Christopher Clutches” filled with watery colour goodness mocked me too

.

.Watercolours in every permutation floated through my days,

a spectral  reminder of broken promises to myself.

Black Crow

.Tablescapes

.Pillows

Baboucherie

Down the runway

…and back to the table again

John Singer Sargent

 

.Images abounded to chide me;

PAINT! PAINT! What’s the matter with you? PAINT!!

Tamara Comolli Collection

Well, actually, this image was more like “Buy me! Buy me! What’s the matter with you?? Buy me!”

.

.Slim Paley photo

My little box of travel watercolours (Winsor & Newton)

and one very tightly painted pear from my class. I had to cut it out from the page because my shadowing was so bad.

Did I mention I’m a Virgo?? Albeit one that doesn’t feel the need to clean her paintbox or cut her pear particularly well?!)

Sargent.

LOOK at this!

I could say this is why I don’t even try.

Paola Navone china

Sargent.

He kills me.

..

…Wallpapers available at BLACK CROW STUDIOS

.If one were really, really brave, you could forgo the wallpaper altogether, soak the wall and just go at it with your own paints.

,Issey Miyake feeling it

.Who would think baking a cake would ever start looking like the easiest option?!.

Slim Paley photo

Fishes Eddy NY

Sargent

I’m visiting friends in Santa Fe, New Mexico soon.

My travel paints will be going into my luggage.

Taking bets??!

.

How about you? Have you been artistic this summer? 

I hope so!

~