Pottery Barn Getting Cretive and Thanksgiving. Part 1

Oh how I love the pottery barn. Just even waking by the windows of the displays just makes me want to stand there and gaze at how the layers of dishe fit so elegantly togethr, with statues of birds, or huge vases filled with pussy willows all makes a textured table. Thanksgiving being right around the corner, all of the tables are set up with gorgeous displays. Can I afford to do this for our holiday? "Noooooooooooo". So I get creative. I am not compulsed to buy from Pottery Barn, would like to as I mosy my way to find the clearance area if there is any. Embarassed, feeling like I probably can't afford their beautifuyl items, and when greeted, I kind of happily but shyly just say I am lookng. Now my mind starts to set in gear..get ideas, job them in your memory tab or write them down. Sometimes the store even has catalogues.

The fashion style of the table today is layers, just like clothes. You have oneor two different sized mats that go under the three dishes. Burlap, runners, table clothes, table mats are all for the go in your Thanksgiving deigned table. Clear vases with coffee beans in them, inches of cranberries in another, place a candle in them, and voila, centerpiece city! Go outside like I do and cut branches from trees. Some bushes have in my yard are reddish or orange colored right now. Clip them, stick them in a vase. Or, bundle them together, tie them with raffia and lay on in one direction of the table and the other at the other end.

One idea I have seen, not at the Pottery Barn, but elsewhere is grapevine wreaths. These are not overly expensive in Michaels or AC Moore's, but I have grape vines down the street. Depending on how many people you will have sitting down at your table for Thanksgiving, will depend how much you need to cut. Start your project out small, cut approximately 10-12 vines nd strip them of their leaves if any are left. Keep the little coily things that look like tendrils on the branch. These give interesting character to the vine. Grab one vine and loop it into a circle. Grab another and begin to weave it around, when it comes to the end, tuck it into the other vine. Continue this. Make the wreaths a bit larger than the largest plate you will be putting down on the table. After you make the wreath, place it down, and try the plate on top for size. As long as the plate sits evenly ontop of the vinewreath, you are good to go. Now add the next sized plate and then the bowl. Place your napkin ring around the napkin and place that on top of the bowl and now set the rest of the table in a formal fashion.
This is the beginning of preparation for Thanksgiving in just a little over three weeks.

Design, Color, Pattern, Line, Texture

The Citgo sign made such an impact in my life and I am sure it did for the artist/artists that designed this logo.

As an artist, these types of things make an impact in my life. I went to college for graphic art and illustration. The goal in 1978 was to create designs that the public would want; something catchy with design, color, pattern, line and texture that touches your emotions and memory.

I remember we had an assignment for the Worcester Children's Museum in Massachusetts. We went to the museum, had a tour, and went back to the studio to work on posters for the museum to sell. Another assignment was to help the museum redesign their floor layouts in the actual museum. It was a fun assignment. Back then, everything was done paystub style, handpainted signs with goauche, free hand lettering or presstype. Today, everything is done on the computer along with doing collage and ATC. It is really sad to me though. I love hand done artwork. Don't get me wrong because I do photography also, and my kids tell me doing artwork online takes just as long but I do appreciate art work done by hand with real paint brushes, and real paint. I love the texture of paint and papers.