Home Schooled

Presidio, Tucson, Arizona *This is the kind of thing you will see when you are in the Presidio*

Manning House, 1907, historical mansion, Presidio of Tucson, Arizona

Manning House, cupola, Presidio of Tucson, Arizona

I was driving down Speedway Boulevard in Tucson, Arizona this past Wednesday and it is very windy. Looking west at a traffic light I saw the familiar mountain top silhouette of a woman's face in repose and suddenly I was a college student at U of A. That is why I come to Tucson. I like the way I feel here.  I was on my way to attend a luncheon and meet my friend Laurie Taylor.  I had a cactus needle sheath of time to shop. I decided to go to POP CYCLE my favorite boutique that sells up-cycled handbags, frames, clothing, jewelry and images of Wonder Woman shellaced to a piece of wood.  The WORK at this boutique is so defiant and bursting with creativity.  I love when they gift wrap something in used up bingo cards. 

Fourth Avenue was completely ripped up with the trolley car construction so I pushed through the flying pieces of debris and chugging construction trucks.   I decided to go to the green hued COOP next door for a Kombucha to kill the 5 minutes I had to wait for Pop Cycle to open.   A greasy blonde haired dude was standing in my way, "Excuse me." I said after witnessing somebody on a much different time zone than I was in.   I was thinking he was going to be there way longer than a minute. He was really reading all the cans of coconut milk cultured in organic moon beam light. He was looking for tiny fine print saying the coconuts were home schooled.  I didn't have time for the Bingo card gift wrapping!

This bag with a triple strand of pearls.

You might as well buy everything they have.

  What if someone wants to borrow a cup of rice?

So of course I was the first customer at Pop Cycle and I bought half a dozen items in about 12 minutes. First decision was the hideous print grandma floral polyester pant up-cycled into a beach bag. I knew this thing was gold because it was close to the check out.  Now that it lives in my closet, I wish it had a zipper, base, lining, flap, brass hardware and stronger branding.

  That is another story for later...

Where else can you go and buy an up-cycled pencil bag with a bad ass wrestler with chrome eyes, have a lovely lunch with a friend at the Manning House for an AAED luncheon to learn about the economical climate of Pima County, and have an iced cafe Americana at Bently's?  

Most importantly though... where else can you see a cat on a leash? 

Leave Behind

Lara Serbin, Leave Behind concept *even though she didn't have to think that hard* sketch.

Abitare, 355, October 1996, when Banana Republic actually sold cool clothes.

Front cover of Leave Behind, Serbin Studio 2012-2013

This is what I have been toiling on.  A leave behind for Serbin Studio. I want this to be heavy weight card stock at 11 by 17 format with 2 folds going vertical of course.   The inspiration is the hardest part of graphic design.  In the past we were leaving behind a 14ish page portfolio that folks would eventually throw away.  The flip side of this thing will have various completed design projects but it is under construction. 

Time for Abitare

L. Serbin grabbing an Abitare for inspiration.  Sweater, hand knitted by Suzanne de la Torre, hair, lightly tousled with gray rubber hair band, gilded eye shadow cream Tom Ford , Calvin Klein t-shirt from Costco and Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey Cologne. What do you mean you can't see my gilded eye shadow? Gawd!

Abitare 360 March of 1997.  This was bought before Serbin Studio had begun in 1998.  It was Paulo Sanza a native of Italia and my co-worker at Orcutt Winslow who inspired me to start a subscription.

My collection of late 90's Abitare are like old friends with ripped covers, ads for insanely small colorful kitchens and heroic design that respects Italian buildings of antiquity.  The graphic layout is always tasteful.  The best way to scan is keeping one focus in mind. Say for instance, you just flip through looking for stairs. 

My favorite projects are the ones that take place in ancient chapels in the countryside.

All this fancy design to get a toilet at the entry? Can you get over the Roman brick work! Madness!  I am batting my gold eyelids over the thinness of those bricks.

It rained for 5 minutes and the sun is going to win again soon.  No cat scratching posts were decapitated for the photo shoot. My library of Abitare is really high. 

Sunlight No. 2

This Sunlight inspiration started after I snapped this exterior door heading out the of the stair exit at the almost complete Center for the Arts project I have been overseeing for the last 8 months. The yellow looks delightful against the terra cotta.  The garbage can is not bad either. Ok the yellow electrical cord is not too shabby either.

My cacti are blooming.

A little customizing on this Sunlight scalloped stationary. I was inspired by the Center for the Arts color palette when I purchased this.  The cowgirl text is Burgundy against the Sunlight. Oh that is bliss!  

Apparently, my cat Tiger prefers Goldie Locks.

I consider this dress designed by Angela Kelly worn by Queen Elizabeth II to be true Sunlight.  She wears it well to the wedding of the Century.  The heels are great too.  Don't you think she could have rocked burgundy on the handbag? 

I have been looking for my Farrow & Ball, The Art of Color by Coleman for many search and rescue attempts. I have a photographic memory.  When I am working on a project I need to be able to find my books due to the fact that they are the file cabinets of images stuck in my membrane. Well I finally found this book this morning which had fell behind the entertainment center.  

Look at the Sunlight door frame! All the interior doors and frames will be Sunlight.  Glenn is the electrician with Gaylor and he is the best that's why I save him for second to last.

I want this Sunlight Louis Vuitton bag.  I peeked in the Vuitton Boutique in downtown Washington State looking for it. This sharp guy told me there are 4 in the world! Of course!

Hands up in the AIR if you like Sunlight!

Castles in the Air

My adventure in Seattle with Rick Shepherd's Prius happened a few weeks ago.  I used my Iphone for navigating my way to 4 destinations. 

Nook is wedged in the University of Washington District between fast food, vintage dress shops,  and charming 19th century housing.  It was too bad the vintage dress shop was closed while I had to wait 15 minutes in the freezing cold for this biscuit haven to open.  This place just closes down after they run out of fresh steaming hot sconies.  I actually had the biscuits and sausage gravy.  I knew I needed fuel for my full day.

Fuel, a hip little coffee house in the Montlake District was next on my list.  Jan Shepherd, writer and publisher of  New England Crafts Connoisseur recommended that I check this place out since it was one of the many places that were hosting 2012 NCECA Ceramics Conference. I bought the cream mug with the high tiny handle. It has an image of a kid in a Spider man costume with a set of moose headed parents.  It is cool as yellow highlighting. 

Seattle Public Library, Architect of Record, Rem Koolhaas

After chatting with Hollis L. Engley, and his friendly family I polished off my iced cafe Americano.  I sped from my most perfect parallel parking job and drove to the Seattle Public Library.  This was a tip from my dear friend Khanh Le.  This building that replaced the original 18th century public library sits proudly in the center of the downtown core.  It is hands down, COOL!  It is a beautiful structural sculpture really. It is so different from the straight up and down buildings it has for neighbors. It commands your attention. 

The inside does seem a bit tortured when it comes to finding your way around.  I spent an hour armed with my Iphone and ear buds to find my way to the single dead end catwalk at the highest point.  The security guards were curious indeed.  For a sunny day in Seattle, there were quite a few people reading books under a powder blue steel and glass canopy.

Circulation paths were delineated in red for stairs and chartreuse for escalators.  By the end of the tour I was a bit disappointed with the disconnected circulation system. It looks cool but if there was a fire I wouldn't want to be on the 6th floor looking for the wayfinding arrows so I could find the next flight of stairs.  The buildings circulation system should be intuitive not dependent on signage for finding the exit stairs.

This is the floor to really get cozy and read some Little Women that has 1200 some odd pages. I will never be one to read a book on an electronic device.  Wow. That is so not true. I am actually reading Little Women on my Ipad to Eva every night.  We started about two years ago. 

Gold and purple clouds lay on the hilltops, and rising high into the ruddy light were silvery white peaks that shone like the airy spires of some Celestial City.  Chapter Thirteen, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

Choice building materials. 

The couchy thing is located in the stacks on the side lines.  Mrs. Who and Mrs. Whatsit are sitting there.  Can you see them?

  

Chartreuse is so yesterday?

   My final stop was the Fairmont Hotel which serves high tea in the afternoon.  I thought the finger sandwhiches passed up the ones at The Ritz Carlton in Phoenix.  No offense Jeffrey Hattrick! 

Any trip worth going on begins and ends with biscuits.  

Sunlight

Rubber bands are cool.

Yes, I am going to have the scupper painted. Now stop it!

Standing on top of the North Addition roof top you can get a great view.

The Dream Team: Ying Xiong, Tom Byrne, Stephen Bunyard , Ran Ethington and Willey Wipff

  

The City of Phoenix Center for the Arts project is looking miniature to me now.  Drywall is the skin that is now covering most of the interior structure. Wearing a hard hat is still the protocol with construction crews banging away on top of high scaffolding.      

Center for the Arts Interior Finish Palette Sample Board, Serbin Studio

The interior finishes have evolved with the input from Joseph Benesh, director for the Center for the Arts.  Benesh has pushed for the fun in this project.  He asked for more accent colors so I delivered.   The palette was previously ruled by purple, gray and terra cotta.  I interjected two crossover colors Beaujolais Pantone 18-2027 and Sunlight Pantone 13-0822. 

Sunlight is a yellow that is the perfect background for any color.  Sunlight is also a complimentary color to purple. Sunlight wakes this whole color board up with happiness!  The Beaujolais is the burgundy color that interjects a bit of richness.  

Crossovers, Nature's Most Versatile Colors, Leatrice Eiseman

Crossover is a term that is used in one of my favorite reads of all time, More Alive with Color by Leatrice Eiseman. If you want to find out what colors make you look incredible read this book. You could also ask me over for tea and I can help you out too.

 

DeGrazia Tour

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

I visited DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun this week in Tucson, Arizona. I wanted to go to see what his studio would look like.  Art studios are on my mind.     Ed DuBrow my father in-law, gave Jeffrey and me five Degrazia lithographs when we initially moved out to Goodyear, Arizona.  I have always wanted to learn more about the inspiration behind these sun baked Mexican children selling birds and riding horses.

  I would have become fast friends with this guy Ted.  He didn't just cut down his century plant stalks, no, he made an outdoor courtyard with an eclectic mix of mummified desert trees.  He could have just cut a lot of things up and thrown them away but he didn't.  His  hands touched everything on these grounds in some way.  He probably had terrible nails I am sure of it.

  An abobe shed with a patch work of stained glass, corrugated fiberglass panels and burnt boards with back bends to the sun was padlocked.  A bench was turned upside down I peeked through a hole that must have been painted by Ted.  I am sure during the 1960's this shed wasn't locked up.  He might have done some of his best work in this shed.  DeGrazia seems to be the kind of guy who would have a tube of oil paint by this tube of toothpaste. 

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson, Arizona

Now when I look at my DeGrazia lithographs I can see Ted standing there in front of his easel with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth.  I can see his large knarly hands gently laying on dark burnt paint with a tiny horse hair brush to get the ends of the children's bangs just right.  He kills me with the bangs all coming to a point.