Ink Vanilla

Almost Here!

Hello! Well, for those of you who've been keeping tabs on my upcoming website Junes Melange . . . it's almost ready to launch. Just some more shopping cart tasks, and configuring shipping policies, etc. I'll announce the launch date in just a few weeks. Crossing my fingers that the publishing of the site and shop cart goes smoothly! Lots in store for you to enjoy and if interested -- products to purchase.

Meanwhile, hope everyone is doing well. Things in my world have been hectic. Besides website tasks and studio work, weather here has been erratic. Intermittent days filled with rain, wind, and sun-breaks. Through it all, on the weekends mostly, there's been lots of work going on in my backyard!

It's about back-breaking work . . .

Fortunately Memorial weekend is bringing lots of sunshine. And with it, we're continuing my goal of transforming the back yard into the great tranquil escape dreamt since moving into our home three years ago. A few weekends ago, hubby built the perfect pergola over our porch. Later, he'll be building several trellises. Meanwhile, we transplanted a few trees. Also I managed to finally tackle the blackberry bushes growing profusely in our little grove. Lots of cuts and scratches to show for it including bug bites. Also did plentiful weeding and planting of various shrubs such as climbing vines. Oui -- my muscles ACHE! More epsom salts please!!! 

And so with the pergola nearly finished except for primer and paint, it's onward to creating a patio and pathways inlaid with stone pavers. These tasks we started last Sunday such as digging the pathways. So much back-breaking work to do. I keep reminding myself that in the end, our efforts will be worthy. Anyhow, very exciting to finally see dreams coming to fruition.

I'll show you photographs of pergola and the rest of our yard when all tasks are completed. Can't wait to decorate with hanging lanterns, potted plants, and outdoor furniture!

Until next time . . .
Cheers, June

Magnolia & Grey Gardens

Hello. Yesterday, I needed something to take my mind off of work and sad events of lately. So, being a beautiful spring day, I retrieved my camera and went outside. No need to hop in the car and drive for miles in search of interesting subject matter. Instead, growing right in our front yard was the most perfect subject. A magnolia tree in full springtime bloom! What a joy these trees have to offer when in blooming transcendence. Gorgeous supple blossoms. Truly the essence of elegance. I have a long list of favorite flowering trees. And the magnolia is most assuredly at the top. It's so wonderful to have a camera at hand to capture them before the blossoms fade.

What are you doing 8 p.m. Saturday night April 18th? I know what I'll be doing. Wish you could join me as I get comfy in my favorite living room chair. Perhaps a cup of hot tea in hand. Before me will be the television tuned to the HBO movie "GREY GARDENS"! Alas, I've been waiting for this film since 2006! Grey Gardens is the true and poignant story based on the cult documentary by the Maysles brothers. Once upon a time there lived mother and daughter, "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" (relatives to the Kennedy's). For a while, they lived a life of high society until gradually descending into the realm of alarming eccentricity. And the backdrop shifts from manicured houses and lawns to an old dilapidated flea-infested seaside mansion called Grey Gardens. Amid cats, raccoons, cobwebs, and moldy household items, these two ladies lived a song and dance dreamworld.

The HBO film stars Jessica Lange who plays Big Edie and Drew Barrymore, Little Edie. If you haven't already, find time to watch the original Maysles brothers documentary. I saw this about ten years ago. Little Edie's fashion, song and dance numbers were unforgettable. Everything about this doc was surreal.

In sum, before the film begins tomorrow night, watch Grey Gardens HBO movie trailers here.  And while there check show schedule for your time zone. Also, definitely visit this Grey Gardens blog here featuring a plethora of movie trailers, stories about the Edie's, etc. My favorite is the interior set designs with lots of chinoiserie wallpaper! Especially love Little Edie's room while attending Barbizon. All the set designs are on this page here where you can just scroll down to the April 13th post to see the Barbizon room. Love the bohemian style with the fantastic wallpaper, chair, and Chinese hanging lantern! I want to do something similar for my bedroom.   

O.K. That's it for now. See you next week. I'll post sneak peeks featuring my impending website Junes Melange! Also, learn about my new plans for another blog. It's about decorative painting, interior design, Bloomsbury style, and exotic far away places.

Cheers, June

Coco

Heartbreaking incident has happened in our little world. After a two year battle with kidney complications, our sweet, wise Coco had to be euthanize. You may have remembered Coco in a long ago post regarding my art studio. Well, unfortunately a few days ago, he was suddenly having difficulty breathing. Very worried, my husband and I rushed him to the vet. When we arrived around 7:00 p.m., Coco was placed in an oxygen tank. About half hour later, we were given the bad news that it would be best to put him to sleep. Otherwise, it was only a matter of hours before Coco would undergo horrible brain seizures. It would be a very slow and agonizing death. No way did we want him to suffer and die that way! So while my husband stayed in the exam room, I went to the room where they were keeping Coco in the tank. It would be our last time together. It was a shock seeing him in this metal boxed contraption. The smell of the oxygen had a peculiar odor. No matter, I tried my best to comfort Coco for several minutes. The oxygen seemed to have helped him a little. He managed to look up at me a few times. But he was very weak. Then the vet's assistant told me it was time to leave his side. Just before the door to the room was closed behind me, I'd turned to look at Coco for the last time. He was looking straight at me. He was scared. I wanted to go back and comfort him more. I was too upset to be there for him when the drug of sleep was given. I can't help but feel a lot of guilt.

Afterward, Coco's lifeless body was brought home in a white box that the vet had supplied. On the drive home my husband and I barely spoke to one another. What was there to say? Tears were incessantly running down our cheeks and we were busily blowing our noses.

Once home, we placed the box on the kitchen floor and opened it. Seeing Coco's lifeless body, we both started to cry even more. Now I suppose I need to say this... my husband has a genuine soft spot for animals. And whenever we lose a pet, he is never ashamed to express his sadness. He loves animals as much as I do. And Coco was thus far, his favorite pet and mine!

As I have always done with our other cats who had died, I snipped a locket of hair from Coco and then we closed the box. Because it was so late and dark outside, we decided to bury him in the morning. All night, Coco was lying in the cold garage. All night I couldn't sleep knowing that in the morning he would be buried in the cold ground. Previously, realizing that the inevitable would happen someday, I'd already chosen a particular spot where Coco would be buried.

When morning came, my husband started digging a hole nearby some pine trees. I could see him doing the task from my kitchen window. Eventually, when he'd dug sufficiently deep, he returned indoors and nodded that it was time. So I carried the box with Coco out to the grave site. Following the gravel path leading towards it, the sun was peaking behind a cloud. Sunlight began touching blossoming buds on tree branches. Everywhere, birds were chirping. I thought how wonderful it would be if Coco were alive to experience the first signs of spring.

Arriving, the box was opened again. My husband gently lifted Coco's body wrapped in a blanket and placed him into the hole. Just before Coco was covered with soil, I placed one of his favorite sock toys beside his paw. Several rocks were then stacked over his grave. Soon, I'll plant some flowers nearby. 

Coco is now at peace.

June  

Yearning Warmth and Colors

Hello. Just thought I'd offer you another colorful floral photograph. Only one. But I'll show you more next week. This "Through the Viewfinder" photo was taken late summer of last year. In my vast photography collections of blooming flowers, there is cause for a great yearning. It's a yearning for tranquil spring and carefree summer to arrive quickly!

 

Increasingly, I've grown quite anxious for perfumed scents in the air, lush colors everywhere, and plentiful warm sunshine on my shoulders. Here in the Pacific Northwest where I live, spring began last week. Say what? How can this be? It doesn't feel like spring! As with every year at this time, the weather is erratic. One day for a few hours, sunshine reigns. Before long, skies become gray mists. The next day, wind howls, sleet mixes with snow. Yesterday, pouring rain, thunder and lightning. All last night rain trickled down the roof. Fortunately, the sounds helped lull me to sleep.

Now, early morning, it is breezy. And the rain continues to fall. I'm in my office writing this post and it's cold outside. Very cold! Bundled up in my warmest sweater, thick wool socks on my feet, I recall the springtime's I used to know. At least, I think I knew. And with this comes recollections of the places I used to live. From my birthplace in Panama, Central America, and then North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and onward to California. And if memory serves me right, those first signs of spring in places far away, brought forth cotton shorts and sleeveless shirts, flip-flops, and walks to school under blossoming trees. But perhaps memory serves wrong. I'm sure there were springtime's when the snow still covered the ground. Perhaps even into late spring. And those visions from a child. . . snow mounds looking ever so much like sleeping giants. And yes, it had to be that those school bound walks during the month of March were called off due to heavy snowfall.

But no matter where lived, alas, the season of renewal will finally appear in the most gentle of ways. Seems to me, those ways come when least expected. And when it happens, I'll rejoice in watching red-breasted robins tugging earthworms and the purple crocus drinking sunshine. I'll embrace those gentle perfumed breezes conjuring and recording more memories.

Until then, from my rain-streaked window there reveals a rectangle of bare wet trees. A neighbor walks against the wind and rain to her car. Seeing this, I am struck with a vision. A vision of a long ago New Yorker magazine cover. Or perhaps another magazine. Or maybe my own vision. No matter, it's the image of a man walking down a crowded city sidewalk. Dressed all in black, rain pelts the umbrella he carries over his head. The illustrator's brushstrokes sends the man's tie to blow in the wind. The painterly gestures of gusts of wind is amazingly believable.

Well, time to leave you now. Time for a hot breakfast.

Oh, snow is in the forecast tomorrow!

Cheers, June.

Catch My Breath

Hello Monday. Hello You.

In a frenzy of creation one must momentarily catch one's breath. To feel that spark of extraordinary emotion of how good it is to be alive. Do you know the feeling? Like the moment when opening the shutters, a blue ocean stretches out before you. In your heart, you know to never take this for granted.

And so, it was on a certain summer day in late August - the enduring charm of a garden brought forth leisure. Having taken time to stop and admire the view, I felt an extraordinary clarity as pristine as a clear blue sky. Dresden blue, robin's egg, periwinkle . . . looked for all the world another day to follow, to continue down that creative path.

Have a great week everyone!

Cheers,
June 

Haunting Diversion

Hello. Been a long time since last post. So busy building the website and doing business tasks that I haven't taken time to just relax. And to top it off been battling a bad sinus cold. Anyway, this afternoon I decided to force myself and take a break from the daily grind. Hmm, I would play around in photoshop!

Hours pass, and soon the result is what you see here. A photo montage utilizing my photographs and writing. It's called Cat Eyes and reads: The cat moves between twilight... Eyes the color of ice... Haunting me for reasons unknown. The cat you see is Simon. And if you follow my blog, perhaps you'll recall that he's the stray cat who appeared at my back door last year. One of the most mysterious cat's I've ever known. Early in the morning when I open my back door, he'll come running out from under a pine tree located in my back yard. He never wants to sleep indoors. When he arrives on the back porch mewing, I feed him. I stroke his soft fur, whisper in his ear. When he finishes his meal, he mews again. He seems more attentive to my voice, my face. Then before long, Simon is ready for adventure. He turns away. Gingerly, he follows a pebbled path meandering through a grove of trees. Then I'll see him jump over the back fence. My heart sinks. He has disappeared. He won't return until hours later. Sometimes sooner. Sometimes not until the next morning. Where he spends his time keeps me worrisome. I wish he would stay here in the yard more often. Here where it's safe. But he's a nomad. And you can't change one's particular ways no matter how much you wish it so.

But back to the imagery. When it was completed I felt quite perplexed. You see, it was those eyes. They pull me in. Keep me guessing. Believe me, if you could see Simon in person, I think you'd understand. Mesmerizing. Haunting.

And now just before posting this, something had dawned on me. It was a few days before, I'd been going through my CD collection and came across a band I hadn't played in quite a while. The Wallflowers. Now I remembered why those eyes haunt me so. But now the one's I think of are not cat eyes. They're Jakob Dylan's. His eyes make me feel as if I could nearly drown in them. Again, mesmerizing, haunting. They're a diversion for sure. And so I played the CD Bringing Down the Horse. One song is my very favorite "One Headlight". So if you watch him, ladies especially ... Do you understand about the eyes?

Until we meet again...

Cheers,
June 

How Many Days?

{Taking a break this morning from the studio and instead working at the kitchen table}

How many days? It's a question I keep asking myself over and over, day in and day out. How many days before my website Junes Melange is launched? Well, quite frankly I know now that it's impossible any day this month. Honestly, I'm drowning amongst stacks of papers, drawings, photographs; computer uploads and downloads; purchases for materials; printing, cutting mats, and framing; technical website complications; and the never ending creation of building PayPal Add to Cart buttons. At last count, I have nearly seventy pages filled with products. For each individual product I have to create Paypal buttons. And these include drop down menus for purchase options. Ugh! All this time-consuming work because I'm building my own website using iWeb 08. There's more but I won't bore you the details.

{Doing a bit of testing to see how a few of my photographs are going to look framed.}

O.K. enough complaining. I'll concentrate on staying as calm as possible in the process. At least I've got my cats, yoga, and cups of tea and coffee to soothe my soul. Meanwhile, where will you be 12:00 noon on Tuesday January 20th? I know where I'll be. Glued to my television watching coverage of Obama being sworn in as America's 44th President! Very much looking forward to this monumental historical event!

So moving onward, I want to call attention to a beautiful blog called So Pretty Boutique. Just the other day I received a lovely email from Hanne who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. She kindly asked if she could feature one of my studio photographs on her blog. Honored, I agreed and now happy to share with you two of her beautiful blogs. So Pretty Boutique features jewelry and inspirations here. The other blog features her beautiful art and photography here.

Until we meet again, have a great week everyone!

Cheers,
June

A New Year!

~ photography and phrases © June Parrish Cookson

Hello. Wishing much happiness and fortune to everyone in the New Year! Thank you to all who have visited my blog throughout 2008. To those who've personally corresponded, your support has meant the world to me. Believe me, the creative struggles are less lonely when we communicate. I look forward to continuing the wonderful friendships and developing new ones.

Until we meet again, I leave you with this quote: 

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."  ~ MARCEL PROUST

All the best
June

Indulgent Card Creativity

Hello again.
I'll be candid. Lately, I feel as if a love affair has finally come to fruition. That is, a love affair with photo shop! The more time spent with this magical repository of all things possible, the more impressionable it has become. I'm infatuated! I find myself doting, obliging, rejoicing at the possibilities of great things yet to come. Alas, all is not blissful. At times when it yields no comfort whatsoever, when fits of frustration abound, I want to throw the damn program out the window!! But really, it's my fault for lack of knowledge. I forgive it. A master photo shop nerd I'll never achieve. This said, I'll begin by introducing you to the newest imagery upon which my magical computer companion has transformed into cards for Junes Melange. Of course with any affair of the heart, it takes two to tangle. Haha.

First, the image above depicts my original artwork using mixed-media on paper.

Next, seen below are the original artworks transformed using photo shop.

Here, seen in card above, the background was originally painted with gouache. Then this was scanned, followed by photo-shop editing. I used various editing techniques such as layering, opacity, multiplying, and curves. It needs more tweaking. For instance, color is inconsistent with the silhouette of lady.

This one reveals a bit of retro in appearance. I wanted to use bolder colors and effects. The background seen in other image above is still there, yet with this one I decided to apply color overlay. Then used the ellipse tool to cut an oval shape. This was something new for me to try and so easy to do. Again, this will need tweaking too. As yet, it's not completely finished. Btw, the text except for the word fleur will not appear on the cards.

If you had to vote between the two, which one do you prefer? Your comments most appreciated.

On another note: below are some photo-shop tutorial links I like to visit. Granted, I have a long, long list of links in my bookmarks. Perhaps these few might be beneficial for you if interested. They certainly are helping me! If you know any you like, you're certainly welcomed to leave your thoughts in comments or just email me.

One of my favorites: Photoshop Roadmap

Graphic Design: Photoshop Tips & Tricks
Lynda.com Online Training
Adobe Press
Peachpit
Planet Photoshop

That's it for now. So as the wind howls and snow falls outside my window, it's back to indulging myself with photoshop.

Meanwhile, hope everyone is doing well. Here, another snow storm and freezing temperatures at night.

Cheers,
June

Card Illustrations

 
Hello.
As promised from last post, here are some sneak peeks showcasing a few more items I'm currently creating for Junes Melange shop. Last post were cards with my photography. This one has some of my illustrative work geared for holiday and everyday occasional cards. The mediums used for these particular pieces are gouache (opaque watercolor), ink, and pencil. As the shop progresses, you'll discover a plethora of different cards. These will range from vintage to modern styles and themes - fashionable figures from many different cultures; decorative exotic designs; various animals including floral subjects. Once shop officially opens in January, cards will be available for purchase as single or boxed sets. Hope you'll like them.

Sample Valentine's Day Card or Any Occasion!  As you'll notice, this is specifically geared for the men to give to their special someone. Of course I have another card depicting a woman (see first photo). After finishing the illustration of the gentlemen, I decided it needed something interesting for the background. And my answer was to digitally add an old book cover. Now it's onward to printing onto heavyweight card stock. Next post will have more sneak peeks.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. Cheers!

Picture This!

Hello. Many weeks are passing and seems I'm spending more hours in front of the computer screen then in the studio. Still very busy building my impending online shop Junes Melange. Previously, my goal was to have it online before the end of summer. When this didn't happen, it was going to be last month. Well, what can I say but that the task at hand has grown far more daunting and time-consuming then ever imagined. Granted, there's been quite a few setbacks such as illness, computer problems, and personal obligations. Moving forward, the shop's website is shaping up nicely. And with this in mind, including the new year coming just around the corner, Junes Melange will now officially launch January 2009. Yes, I assure you... even if I have to swim the frigid Puget Sound waters here where I live, all the way to Lake Erie... the event will definitely happen in January!

So as I steadily work toward the launch date, I'll be posting sneak peeks of some items. For instance, the picture above features a few of my original photographs and art reproduced onto archival card stock. As yet, they're only test prints. I've been experimenting with a broad range of papers on my Epson printer. Also, there's been considerable amount of time spent processing various photo manipulation techniques including learning through trail and error the correct system calibrations and ICC printer profiles. In most cases, results have been really good and even quite surprising. The process of producing good prints is crucial! My utmost desire is to provide quality items. Truly, all the efforts are a never-ending merry-go-round. Nevertheless, I'm not jumping off. Instead, I look forward to this new venture.

Btw, I'm easing up on replying to comments directly on my blog. Instead, I'm responding either on your blog or via email. Thank you.

And Todd, if you're reading this, I found the boxes! Purchased fifty to start with and they arrived on Thursday. Perfect for my greeting card boxed sets.

Until next time, hope everyone has a great week!