The Summer Studio

Once in a while I get an idea for a project, but have to let it simmer on the back burner while I work on other things. This is one of those projects. When I designed the Garden Cottage for my Guild School class, I was thinking about other outbuildings that might be in someone's back yard. An artist's studio came to mind immediately, but I wasn't quite sure about the style. I finally decided on a more modern building, just for a change of pace. We live in a mid-century modern house, so this studio would look very nice in our back yard!

A happy recent discovery was that N Scale flowers are becoming available. That's what the sunflowers are, though I repainted them because I'm much too fussy to leave anything "as is." The hostas (green and white plants) are HO scale vegetables that I assembled NOT according to instructions and repainted.

My good friend Terry Junger made the two in progress paintings on the easels.

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Email Issues

I have recently discovered that some emails sent to inquire about my miniatures were apparently trapped by my evil spam filter, and I never saw them. Now that I am aware of the problem, it shouldn't happen again.  If you have emailed me in the last few months and never received a reply, please re-send your email for a prompt response, and accept my apologies.

At last!

After disappearing into my studio for a month, I have new things to show.  First is that storybook style cottage I mentioned in my last post.  I'm calling it "Charming Cottage":

It's a somewhat smaller version of the Glencairn Cottage I made a couple of years ago.The chimney was inspired in part by the Hugh Comstock "Hansel" cottage in Carmel, CA. I loved the niche for the flowerpot in the chimney, so I just has to include it in my version.

It was a bit of a challenge putting the curve in the roof, but I managed it by bending 1/64" plywood with the grain.

The interior is a bit dark - just like the full size houses. There's a sitting room on the ground floor and a bedroom upstairs. The fireplace is the same asymmetrical shape as the chimney. On the right side of the bedroom is a tiny porcelain cat on a hassock by Sylvia Mobley, which unfortunately only partly shows in the picture. 

If you blow up the photos, you'll see that I really should have been sure to blow all the landscaping foam out of the house before I took the pictures!

Stay Tuned

Now that I'm all caught up on orders, I have plans for some new things to be ready in time for the Guild Show in September.

First up will be a new storybook style cottage, inspired by the fanciful homes designed by Hugh Comstock in 1920s.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/from_linda_yvonne/sets/72157600130746798/

It's in the design stage today - photos soon!

Guild School Continued

I was so proud of my students, I just have to share the picture of all their cottages on display at thebanquet. The tables in the back row were made by Mark Murphy.

The button says: "I worked as little as possible at the IGMA Guild School 2011!" (We did, too!) I gave one to every student at the end of class.

The cherry on the sundae is that I will be teaching again next year - my Victorian Cottage this time.

Guild School Pictures

I've been working on orders, so I haven't had new pictures in a while. It seems like a good time talk about the 2011 IGMA Guild School.

It was my first year teaching, so I was very lucky to be assigned to an unusual and wonderful classroom in the old presidents's house. The house is almost at the top of the hell where the school is located, and has a great view of the bay. 

The class was held in the sun room, which you can see at the right of the building. There were so mant windows that even though we had a clooudy, rainy week, there was very good light.

Here's the classroom, after I had set everything up on Friday.
The staff at the Maine Maritime Academy are so friendly and helpful, I was able to set up very quickly and have lots of time left to wander around Castine looking for inspiring architecture - not hard to find, because the little town is full of 18th and 19th Century buildings of all kinds and sizes. I took lots of pictures! 

The week went by in a flash, and everyone finished their Garden Cottage a little early on Friday, so we were all able to rest up before the closing banquet. 

Continued on next post....

Off to the Guild School

I'm leaving for Castine today. Looking forward to meeting my students and getting away from the awful heat we've been having here in Michigan!


Connie Sauve sent me a picture of the Noel and Pat Thomas dolls she made for our aution piece. They are amazing, and I can't wait to see the whole thing together.

For those of you who have asked for kits: I'm afraid my houses are really too complicated to make to be sold in that way. However, I hope to continue teaching at the Guild School, and would urge anyone who can to join me in Castine. I will also be teaching classes for smaller items, such as domes and room boxes, at Tom Bishop's Chicago International and probably also at Philadelphia Miniaturia in 2012.

I hope to be able to post at least once while I'm at the Guild School.