Old and New

A friend reminded me recently that though my drawing subjects are usually people, I did go through a few years of doing some of buildings. During my first couple years of teaching and living on my own, to make some extra money I did some commissioned drawings of different people's farms. These two are from a series of four. The funny thing is that at the time I was still a city girl and not too familiar with the farms of Pennsylvania! I scanned in these photos from my old portfolio:

[*** You can click on these to see them better!]

Yesterday I also got a package from Alice at Raspberry in England. She had posted this tote bag and when I saw the one with red and brown leaves, I just knew it would be perfect for me! It's even more beautiful in person and the cloth is a beautiful linen. She sent all these fun little treats along, which I promised to the kids (after the photo!):

And my biggest news: Amy Butler's new book "Midwest Modern" has finally been published! I preordered it, and honestly forgot that I did, but it showed up yesterday and I can't wait to dive into it and get lost in all the beautiful photos! She has such a great philosophy about her work and about "style" in general as it changes so much, it's not something she is particularly watching. She designs to please herself. I think that's what makes a trendsetter, isn't it?