The act and the aftermath

Oh, the indescribable feeling of loss, tension and relief that comes and goes and comes again the night of a show. The turn-out was great, and thank you all, deeply, for coming. I'm happy to say I sold three pieces saturday night. Foxy, Hoop the Moon and Bibliodile all left the store with smiling new owners, destined for a reverent spot on a beautiful wall in some caring home. *Sigh* Oh, the joy of sending one's young out into the world! Here are a few shots of the madness, courtesy of Heather, co-owner and proprietor of Green Genes, where the event was graciously hosted.

Here are some close-up shots of the work that I was holding back for the big party. First is 'Oh, Switch Off!', featuring the preeminent droids of the Holy Trilogy, and of that other kids' trilogy that we all paid to watch more than once. Measures about 9" in diameter.

This little guy is 'Stormy Day,' and is self evident. About 7" wide.

My new favorite, and my second Harry Potter inspired piece, 'Owl Post,' showcasing the faithful mail servants of the Rowling-verse. These guys gave me calluses! Look at the feather-work! That all happened the day of the show! ... Sorry, didn't mean to shout. Aren't they funny?

I may have typed too soon, calling 'Owl Post' my new favorite. The owls may be tied with this guy, and his sad but TRUE story, 'Forbidden Love.' Because, dammit, ROBOTS CAN'T EAT CUPCAKES! Thus, begging the question, is life without cupcakes a life worth living?! 8"

Ah, LOVE. If there was a theme to the show, I think it's be this. This one is called 'Blind Love.' After much tinkering, I figured the story best told here is a love based on something beyond looks. They're a couple of cutie-pies, eh?

So, that's that, and it was super fun. All of the pieces featured here are still for sale, except for the moon, so give me a shout if your curious. Other pieces featured in the show can be seen below, including Foxy, Princess Sparkle, Love Birds, Dentalsaurus Rex and School of Stitchcraft.

Come one! Come all! At least one!

Howdy, friends and neighbors! That magical time has come again. It's the time in which I'm at my most productive, and most insane, and the time in which sleep is seen as a treat oft neglected, and taken mostly by accident, at the most inopportune of times! That's right, kids, it's SHOWTIME!
Saturday, April 10, in the year of the kitty, I'll be showing off (and hopefully selling a few) of my latest nerdlepoint pieces. I've titled the show EMBROID-USTRATIONS of a WILD IMAGINATION.


There is some degree of parallel here to my on-going collection of paintings, titled Heroes and Villains of a devoted Youth. I just love titling things, and I love the H&V title, but it didn't apply well to the subjects in my more recent work, as I never admired a Unicorn or a little fox. That is to say, I never saw them as 'heroic.' I suppose I do admire them, though.

At the risk of blogger redundancy, Here are larger, unaltered versions of the photos I used on the postcard above. There has been some confusion regarding shape of these pictures. All of the pieces for the show are in their original hoops, and their circular shapes are prettily preserved.


Any title ideas for the Unicorn piece should be transmitted in my direction. It's the only one I'm drawing a blank on! And I LOVE titling things. Amanda said, once, that one particular title was giving the artwork a run for its money.

While I haven't got it QUITE right yet, this one will be close to School of Stitchcraft and Stitchery. Now that I type it, though, it seems repetitive. Sewery? Sounds too much like 'sewer.' That will need some more thought.



Love Birds seems apt, obvious and fitting.

This one is almost right, titled DentalSaurus or something to that regard. I don't want it to reflect in any way, the idea of dental sores... and that's my only hang-up with it, currently. Finalizing the titles is on the top of my list of things to do today.

I think it was my pal Mary who pointed out the beauty and rarity of round wall hangings. So many right angles! These are rectilinear because that's the shape of my camera. Ooh... now I wonder if there is a camera out there that takes circular pictures. That... would be amazing.

Funny pictures and things with depth.

Firstly, primarily and foremost, this is our long un-blogged 'save the date.' We sent them out ages ago, and we've now been married for months, but I had completely forgotten about this picture. While stuffing and addressing envelopes with Martha and Mary, I snapped this photo, after inadvertently dropping a stack of cards on top of a David Sedaris book, completing our faces in an inadvertently hilarious way. Hoo-boy! Now, on with the arts and crafts!

My latest hoop is covering one of my most well-worn subjects, Mr. Harry J Potter (who is awesome) and his little pal Hedwig (who rules... oh, HOO-rules!), standing before the castle Hogwarts (jealous). So cute!

Here's a closer look. With this piece, I ventured away form the regular, even stitch. I used the thread to add feathery details on the wings, and used a thicker, orange embroidery floss to sew in the owl's feet. Also, if you can see, the border stitches are both longer and tied closer to one another.

Next was the latest puppet for The Felt Show. This one isn't a made up character like most of the others, but made in the likeness of Paul Santos, my good friend, and the founder/leader of the troop. Hey Paul!

Prooofiiiile!

And finally, a little more Potter goodness! I received my order of wooden pegs in the mail today (exciting stuff, no?), and hustled over to my desk, threw desk-things on the floor, and busted out the acrylics. I think my plan is going to work... I feel like some geeky peg people might sell kind of well!

Just in case you were wondering, that's supposed to be the Marauder's Map in his right hand. So cute!

One for my Homey

My buddy Amber is going through some trying times, recovering from what has been a pretty serious illness. Needless to say, she's racked up some pretty heavy bills. It's fundraiser time, people! Here's the flyer I made for Amber's upcoming event. If you have a big huge heart and at least a medium sized wallet, check out the flyer and contact Cami to do your part!

Stitches and potential threads

The potential threads first. This is the piece I entered in the cafe press LOST contest. I love LOST, and have long intended to make the doodles in my sketchbooks into finished pieces. This opportunity came to me through my lovely friend Amber. I know the odds are against me, but I couldn't resist staying up super late and turning in an entree to nab two tickets and four nights in beautiful Hawaii! Link to my tee shirt here, and a higher res glance if my piece below!


Next up, a valentine for my sweet, darling wifey. Finished on the day itself, mere hours before she came home from a hard day at the flower shop!


Here are the latest 'public' felties, my projects from the last few weeks! First, the LaCollegiate! I think there's a pun in there...



This one remains temporarily without title. Foxy? Red Scare? I don't know.



And finally, the newest and most elaborate so far. Also stuck on a title. Drink Break? Unihorn? Again, stumped!

I was in a coma or something

Hey Reader! I can't believe that I haven't posted in so long. It wasn't laziness that kept me away for so many long months... I was dead... but, I got better. Okay, fine, that's a damn lie, and I admit it. In the time since I last posted, I have become a husband, and done a lot of other stuff that kept me from blogging. Namely, I played a lot of video games, made some art, and continued to sculpt the young minds of greater Chicago. Here's some of what happened!

In October, Hallowe'en becomes my main focus (even with a wedding 46 days away). This was may way-awesome costume this year. I was Bender, again (it happened in 2005 as well, but this was a far superior outing).


Good ol' Mary was the amazing and diabolical Dr. Horrible, and Audrie wore my Dino costume from last year. Martha went as Phillip J Frye (making us the awesome-est couple ever), but I can't find the picture! I'll dig it up and post it, soon!




... And THEN, I got to marry THIS beautiful, charming, amazing woman. I shrug a COSMIC shrug in explanation... I think she just likes to laugh. I lucked out, for whatever reason. Amazing.



Sniffles and tears aside, life went on a week after the nuptials, and little had changed. Martha went back to school, and I started getting my annual Christmas projects. Here are the commissions.


My pal Tyler ordered a portrait, I went with the simple elegance that is graphite, and sent it out to California, 2-day express, as I shipped it on the 21st of December. It made it on time!


These and the Octo-puppet (below in the post) tie for my favorite commissions EVER. My cousin Margo had this great idea - Russian nesting dolls of her family, as a gift to her parents! I'm getting the marketing together to start taking orders - these turned out so nice, I have had a few people asking about ordering alreay!


Hey Kansas! Mallory hit me up for this Wizard of Oz painting for her husband-to-be, Geoff. I loved it, so did Mallory. I'm planning on adding prints to my shop on etsy.


Holy shiz - look at that crazy thing! Hands down, my favorite puppet that I've ever built, followed closely by the zombies and the obese ginger. This was for my pal Kati, for her husband, Josh, in an amazing act of wifitude. Apparently, he once mentions, sleepily, in bed (pillow talk!), that he'd like an octopus puppet. Great idea, Josh. I loved bulding it.


He's just so charasmatic!


And, we share interests. Who doesn't love thie internets... and a jar... of rice? Weirdo.


This one is a non-holiday commission that just happened to fall into the same crazy schedule. Turned out Cute, so I thought I'd post it. thanks for the work, Diana!

Also in the chaos months, I was lucky enough to make a puppet of Marguerite (blog), one of my favorite people, and who's husband, Ted the Rabbi, married us. Magical people. Great move, Dora, on envisioning Marguerite (website) in her true form: Puppet. The hair... God, the hair... took SEVEN hours, the night before it was to be gift-wrapped and delivered. Here she is, mid-weave...


... And, complete!


On to the gifts! I made this illustration for my Grandma Isa. In the background, you can see the bigger version, started for me mum last year, and ruined by rain during a freak rainstorm in June. I left the windows open, and, though it dried out with no visible ruination, when I went back to paint it in, I found that the paper wouldn't take the paint properly. Damn you, supersaturation!


So, my dear mother got this one instead, painted on the night before Christmas (classic, ain't it), and survived being checked in baggage for the flight back to Kansas. A Christmas miracle!



Aaaaand then, last week, I started doing some hybrid appliquae, embroidery and illustration. My instincts drove me to Star Wars, naturally, but I have plans to do some classic fairy tale stuff for sale. Han and Chewie! Hraaaaaaarrgh!



I went all 'gothic-cutsie' on the secnond piece. Still whittling out the process.

For the third, it was back to Star Wars (if it ain't broke? That is the second use of the word 'ain't' in this gigantic post... ew). Look! Sparkles!


I like details...



I stuck to the 'Star Wars, not Star Wars, Star Wars, not Star Wars' pattern, and made some cute little songbirds in love today. I'm getting really picky about even stitches... gotta keep the pattern, or it's distracting!


Like I said... details.


And HERE'S THE END! What a long post. Let me kow what you think, dear reader(s?). I'm curious and nervous for reactions to the craft-heavy artwork I'm doing currently.

Love,

Benny