Coconut Cake

I had to post this link to the best coconut cake I have ever had! Made the above cake for Chloe's birthday and there were nothing but rave reviews by all. Thanks to Kristina from In the Kitchen With at design*sponge, for her pointing me in the right direction of this recipe! Try it, you will be amazed! Double it for two 9 inch layers. I didn't go for the 7 minute frosting but added a vanilla frosting with the unsweetened coconut in between and sprinkled sweetened coconut on top. Seriously delish.

I had to add in this extra shot of the birthday girl exercising her mad sewing skills on her new machine ... she was into the cake for sure, but it was the machine which captured her attention!

This and that

grace in france
Busy time here, so there I'll let the photos do the talking - Daughter Grace is graduating from college tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow! She will have earned herself a BA in English a BA in French and a minor in Creative writing. Yes we are proud of her. We have an opening during the day 10-4 tomorrow as well at artstream featuring the beautiful spring work of Emily Marie Cox called Spring is in the Air

!

Along side that we are hosting a group of comic book/illustrative artsits for Free Comic Book Day, supported by Jet Pack Comics- a way cool store across the street from us filled with amazing artists and fun loving people.

My book: Art Lab for Kids is finished and getting it's final touches before sending it off to my lovely publisher. Can't tell you how wonderful that is! Happy happy times here!

chloe with some of her fabulous porcelain earrings

Daughter Chloe has finished up her work for her AP art class and I had to show you one of her pieces here: the deer head which she made from plaster and paint is just incredible.

Among other things, I can't wait to have it up in our home somewhere! She's going to have a booth at the Strawberry Banke Sundays in Portsmouth this summer too - so look for her there!

Summer classes are starting to fill up at the studio too - so grab a spot now while you can still select something and get your art on!

some of my mixed media class

See you next week!

A busy week!

Rainer's painting of us in Koeln at the Dom for it takes two (2)
Hello! Oops! This week has slipped by without a post - not my normal mode, but so many exceptional things happened this week. First, there was a deadline. It was met and not with a crazed feeling, but more of a completed good feeling.

Then there were snowstorms.

And beautiful daughters winning gold keys for their artwork.

And painting or six to finish.

And classes to teach.

And photos to take. And artwork to encourage along ... and hanging of our new show - more peeks on that around noon

A World Geography project

which to me is more beautiful than the sum of it's parts and information.

Made by my daughter Chloe for her World History class - project on Africa. Under the weather here today, so keeping it short. Isn't it pretty against our newly painted foyer color "pebble"?

Photos of the renovations to come this month.

Making hand puppets

chloe's puppet, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.
My children's classes are busy finishing up their claymation videos and thinking about what they would like to try next. Some of the groups will be making puppets.
This is exciting to me - every time they choose this - as I love to make puppets. Some will be large scale, other classes will make hand puppets like the one above.
8 years ago daughter Chloe made this little gem. She took a pair of her old ballet tights and cut them up to form the head. She used fleece for the "coat and scarf" and felt for the hands. Being the glitterglam she is she added the huge sequins for buttons. Her simple drawing on the stocking head was done with a sharpie -(my favorite part!) and the hair was some repurposed fake fur handed over to us by a friend.

As she was just starting to sew at the time, we used a combination of hot glue and stitching for the construction. All in all it stands as one of my favorite pieces of her artwork ...(so far)...

iPod shuffle case

Ok a little braggin going on here - but darn if this isn't the cutest thing ever made from duct tape, by my daughter Chloe? This is the first one, too small for the shuffle, but could be wonderful for some other little items in one's handbag? Anyway, I lifted the flap a little so you can see the tiny velcro closure. It has earned her a place in the shop where her next models for the shuffle and other tiny mp3 players can be stored.
More to come later as we are admist hanging a new show!
The word for the day is .... weather .... as in UNDER the weather (yes, I am), climate change and Stormy Weather - one of my favorite jazz numbers.