Mixed-Media Dollhouse weekend -- March 19th-21st

Come on in!

Hang with Tally and me at our book signings during the weekend of March 19th-21st. I promise you'll get to eyeball some of the Mixed-Media Dollhouse rooms Up Close.

Might be one of these two... might be other rooms. Depends on which ones Tally ships up for the occasions.

We're going to do a fun demo and sign books at the Alderwood (Lynnwood area) branch of Barnes & Noble, at 2pm-4pm on March 21st. Look -- we're on the B&N website and everything!

The book signing is also a book fair: a portion of the proceeds from sales that day will benefit the Arts Council of Snohomish County. Which is a really cool organization, BTW: we go to their "Fresh Paint" art fair on the Everett Marina every summer. They also provide art classes and artist resources for the whole community.

Of course, I'd be thrilled to see you buying "Mixed-Media Dollhouses," but you can buy anything that day, at any time during the day, and it benefits the Arts Council. The Council is also raising money for the new Schack Art Center, which will be their new home for art classes -- as well as artists' lofts -- later this year. So you not only get something to take home [clears throat meaningfully] from this place right here...

...you're also chipping in to help support the arts for people of all ages and skill levels.

Now I realize you may already have plans for Sunday... lucky you, I've set up another book signing that weekend! 

Remember, on Friday, March 19th, we'll be at the Everett Artist's Supply 5pm-7pm.

And before I forget: Tally and co-author Julie Molina have set up a Facebook fan page for "Mixed-Media Dollhouses." So if your mind's a blank at 4:25pm on March 19th, don't worry -- check FB before you head out to your car. And in the interval between now and that weekend, I'll give you a few sneak peeks to further tempt you. Don't say I didn't warn you!

"Wonderland" inspired collage

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago

Lewis Carroll strikes again: Apparently "Alice in Wonderland" inspired some Victorian aristocrats to move beyond scrapbooking into collage. Off with the heads of their friends and family... onto watercolor paintings. Outstanding.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago

The Met is hosting an exhibition organized by the Art Institute of Chicago called "Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage." If I weren't up to my chin in Artfest and book signing prep, I'd totally go to this exhibition. Okay, if I were in New York and weren't up to my chin in prep work...

If you're within driving distance of the Met, go for me and let me know what it's like!

The new books are here! The new books are here!

Can I just tell you how much fun it is to see someone dive into your book...

... and hear them marvel over it as if it was a present just for them?

I don't know who was more excited to pore over Mixed-Media Dollhouses:

me, Dawn Brown (on the left) or Dawn Westmoreland (on the right)  at Everett Artist's Supply & Framing.

Dawn W. had loved the idea of Mixed-Media Dollhouses from the start, and she was eager to host the book signing on March 19th. But when the books for the signing actually came in, we were all just floored at the beauty of the book itself.

Shiny lettering on the cover and the spine... soft blue endsheets and flyleafs with a subtle sparkle.. and the dollhouse rooms. The rooms!

It's still a little hard to believe the book is real.

I mean, each time I finished a room, I couldn't wait to show Tally, Julie and my fellow artist-contributors. Their rooms spurred me on to the next room to design.

And when Tally broke the news that the publishing paperwork had been signed and we really were going to be in a book, I was ecstatic.

But I keep thinking: "Wow, it looks like a real book and everything." The weight of the book in your hands, the smell of the freshly printed paper as the cover opens... man. That's like ten different kinds of outstanding.

So come see (and smell and pick up) the book for yourself.

Tally and I will be at the Everett Artist's Supply, Friday, March 19th from 5-7pm. You now have seventeen days to find a babysitter, inform your boss that you have a Thing you have to go that night, and plot the quickest way for you and your friends to get here.