From The Nest

down below and more

Out on the Carol Ann again today...getting everything put away and set up for the summer season of 2008...thought you might like to see the cabin, galley and head, all freshly painted with the special marine paint, varnished, cleaned and looking so good.
The first stop is the little galley where we have a sink and small cabinets, counter area and storage. We bring out dinner sometimes or have friends on board for drinks and cheese and crackers. Since we also have lots of munchkins who visit and love the boat, we keep plenty of sweet treats in tupper ware containers for them such as bull's eyes, peanut m and m's, red licorice, tic tacs, sour patch kids and other goodies...they love to find them in the plastic containers and see what we have.

Here is shot looking forward to the bunks....they are really comfortable and this year we had new lights installed so you can read in your bunk at night and it also makes the cabin very cozy on a hot summer's night to be all hunkered down, snuggie in your sleeping bag with your Captain....:-)!!

Nothing much to say about a head except for we have one and it is wonderful...if you are cruising all day to have a real bathroom...not a bucket...is indeed a treasure...also notice the poster I made on the back wall over the toilet...I made a collage of all the guests who have come aboard the boat...the kids love to pick out where they are and there are lots of photos of them playing and fishing and finding candy treats. Notice the handle with the blue plastic top on the right hand side of the toilet seat...on a boat...you do not flush...you fill with water with a foot pedal that sticks out right under the seat and then you pump the handle 9 or 10 times....you get used to it....!

This isn't such a great shot with the shadows and all but you get to see the galley area from the head area straight on so you can see the layout of it. There is a little porthole that looks out from over the sink. It is all very handy and well designed and we have a grill that attaches to the stern of the boat that we can use to grill hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs, tic tacs, lollipops or what ever you want.

Now I am on the bunk looking up at the companion way and the great legs of my Captain who is calling me to come up to the cock pit and join him for a little libation.

Before we went out on the boat, Dorothy Reinhardt from San Fran was visiting here in Marblehead. You can see what a gorgeous day it was and how blue the sky was. Here we are at the Boston Yacht Club after a wonderful lunch and talk and going over her leads from the Surtex Show in NYC. She exhibited this year for the second time, sharing a booth with 2 other artists and asked me to help her go through some of her contacts to qualify who she should go after first. She was pleased with the number of clients she spoked to at the show, but like I pointed out to her, it only really counts when you get them to sign the contract...not just stopping by the booth...in other words, put your money where your mouth is...Anyhow, it was great to see her and her husband Steve and we had dinner one night with them down in Essex, Massachusetts. He is a really nice guy and works for the Nikko hotel in San Fran and I am hoping that we can go out and visit them again this year like we did a year ago, we'll see how that goes.

so that is it from the "poop" deck today...

more later,
carol

Carol Ann is launched again!

It's the season again...the Carol Ann was launched a few days ago and is sitting in Marblehead Harbor and she is a beauty. She is 28 feet long, an Ellis Bass Boat, built down Maine and sleeps 2 in her cozy cabin which we had completely redone this year. All the paint was sanded and removed and repainted with a special marine paint that has epoxy in it so there is like a plastic coating all over the cabin, shiny and white and clean. The Captain had taken out all of the wood trim around the cabinets and bunks and head door and sanded it all down and revarnished it all during the winter in the basement...it is called "bright work" on a boat. So it is all just so spiffy and freshly painted, ready to go for a summer cruise. The bottom has also been painted, the sole of the boat, the insides around the wheel and the electronics, the new GPS installed, a new charger so we can charge our cell phones and a new cushion for the stern bench.

Marblehead Harbor...pretty amazing place...just a beautiful spot and as the harbor fills up with boats it gets quite busy. There is so much going on here, fun to see friends out on their boats and actually our mooring is only 2 away now from my brother and his boat the "Heggety Peg". So we are planning to "raft up" with Rob and his family for July 4th and the big fireworks display they have at the mouth of the harbor. If you look straight back towards the tower, which is Abbot Hall, our town hall, you can see our yacht club.

A special treat for us is that our nephew, John, is a launch driver for the Boston Yacht Club where we are members. He takes us out to our boat and picks us up when we are done...it is especially nice since he is such a great kid...going into his sophomore year at Boston College...handsome and friendly and the nicest kid you would ever want to meet...he loves this job..what fun..he is out on the water all summer long, tan as can be, riding around, meeting people and everyone at the club loves him, so that is nice.

Anyhow, my Captain is coming home early today and all Fridays all summer long as they do a special work schedule Monday- Thursday, leaves at noon on Friday so everyone has a nice long weekend. The bags are packed, the lobster rolls are all made and as soon as he pulls in the driveway, we are on our way for a fun boating weekend on the Carol Ann....

sunny and in the high 70's again today, perfect weather to cruise around...

so,if you in our neck of the woods, put on your boat shoes and hop on board and we will take you for a spin...she is a beauty!

more later,
carol

Clean Undies

In the scheme of things, having clean undies when you leave the house is not only extremely important, it is essential to maybe saving your life.
My Mother always told me this growing up and I also heard it from others as well.

Even to this day, I make certain that when I leave the house, I am not wearing ripped or pinned undies...who knows who might see them...

I think the idea was that if you left the house with old undies on and you were, God forbid, in an accident of some kind, the paramedics, as they were ripping off your blood soaked clothes to save your life, would come upon your pinned and ripped and dirty undies and be simply appalled that they were working on such a disgraceful character, be so repulsed, so disgusted, so incredulous, that they would step back and leave you on the side of the road, since no one would expect or question, that anyone would want to touch or be near such horrible things.

so, just as a service, a kindness to all my blog land buddies...I am passing this on...a visual message complete with some little illustrations, some hand painted thoughts and suggestions, that please, never never never, leave your house with anything on but very clean and not ripped undies.

Your Mother thanks you!

more later,
carol

It's a Jungle out there....

Wow! Thank you all for your supportive comments both on and off my blog about my post titled, "Reflections on Surtex" and also the fall out from the Design Sponge blog about the show and a new artist exhibiting for the first time...advice that fell on deaf ears...

It was so nice to hear from other designers who were past Surtex exhibitors who agreed with me about my assessment of the show and the direction that the show is going and who also decided not exhibit this year for the same reasons I talked about on that post. I have struck a nerve!

It is a jungle out there now, it is so difficult to find a manufacturer who is not hurting from this harsh economy that he/she is being so cautious, so careful that it is simply painstaking to negotiate with them right now. It is as if they are all so completely spooked that they cannot think straight. Top that off with what is going on with the copyright laws in our Congress, the crazy election circus, the price of gas escalating each day, the layoffs at Home Depot, the demise of the Sharper Image, Linens and things, Zoots cleaners, the price of bread and eggs and so on and so forth. It is really just not a fun time...hard to keep the chin up and persevere with such negativity abounding everywhere.....BUT.....

All I can say is that we are the creative ones, we are the artists who make everything fun and decorative and it is our designs that beautify the world. Our designs on a dinner plate or on any type wallpaper, our designs on giftware and greeting cards, great art on gift bags, home decor, fabrics, stationery, we are the ones whose designs set the tone for fun and happiness, for color, for making houses look like homes... WE DECORATE THE WORLD so we should be able to figure out how to work around this mess and come up with some wonderful images that someone will just have to throw caution to the wind and say the golden words.... LET'S LICENSE!

I believe this too shall pass so I am forging ahead with all sorts of new collections because I know that someone will soon say, "Wow. what a great idea, let's go with that group"...this will perk up the old economy...instead of letting it be a self-fulfilling prophecy, let's make it better, stronger, brighter and more fun so everyone will want to shop again....you realize that retail is something like 2/3rds of the economy...so do you part you manufacturers out there....forget saving a tree...SAVE AN ARTIST! SAVE THE WORLD OF DESIGN AND COLOR AND FUN AND HAPPINESS! Art makes the world go around...you need art to survive in a civilized world!

It is funny where inspiration comes from. I painted up the turkey card as a result of the amateurish comments made to me the other day on D*S. I had been thinking about doing some designs with fun and funky type worked into the layout...so the turkey one was easy ...then I thought about some other little words of wisdom that I liked and it started to roll from there...
so here is the latest one...
It's a Jungle out there" and we have to figure out how to beat a path through all the overgrown mazes of vines and enormous leaves and venomous creatures and creepy crawlies, both big and small to make it through to the nice clean and orderly world of art and design...

I am doing my part....Come on you creative ones, do the same....create and paint and draw and design and sketch, make it so cool...bring retail back on it's feet!

Let's hear it now...say it all in unison...

SAVE AN ARTIST!

more later,
carol

Birds of a Feather

For all your birds out there who love to draw and paint and create your own original designs.....we ROCK and we FLOCK............ together!!

best to all the chicks at the upcoming shows!!

more later,
carol

Turkeys.......

Hey...Don't let the turkeys get you down....this is for you Ellen and all the other good guys who were trying to educate the newbies over there on D*S in Blogland.... trying to be candid and truthful, trying to impart years of knowledge and experience.

I thank you for your e mails and comments.

We shall see who prevails!

GOBBLE GOBBLE>>>

more later,

carol

Reflections on Surtex

There has been a flurry of activity on the Design Sponge blog over the last week or so and the discussion is about the Surtex design show which will take place again this weekend in New York City. This is the first year in many many years that I will not be exhibiting at the show. I will miss the excitement and being in NYC and seeing all my talented artist friends there, but I made the right decision not to exhibit.

I heard about the Design Sponge forum from my talented artist friend Ellen, who is also a past exhibitor at Surtex and who had commented on the DS blog about the show. Seems that the host of Design Sponge was saying that it has been hard for the last few years to find anyone who would join her on a trip down the aisles of Surtex. That this year people were starting to take notice and to finally pay attention to Surtex because of all the patterns and surface designs that are showing up on blogs and such. Well, I laughed out loud....I mean .... come on....it is as if everyone in blogland thinks that the universe started with them...Now the facts folks, listen up.....

Surtex has been around for over 21 years and I have been exhibiting there for almost as long as the show has been in business. It has been THE premier designs show for artists in the US! I have served on the show's Advisory board, given seminars at the show on Art Licensing for well over 15 of those years, and have been personally responsible for bringing in dozens of artists to exhibit at the show. I have been a huge advocate of the show, telling everyone about it, encouraging every artist I know to take part in it, helping GLM work out the kinks and make it better over the years with suggestions and ideas for improvements. I have even been dubbed "The Queen of Surtex" by some of my fellow colleagues at the show and personally know many of the exhibitors.
It has been the most successful design show ever in the US and my exhibiting there has completely changed my business in the most amazing ways. As a result of exhibiting at Surtex I have met hundreds of manufacturers, had my art work licensed on dinnerware, wallpaper, stationery, all sorts of ceramics, tabletop accessories, clocks, rugs, resort ware, stickers, stamps, tiles, tee shirts, totes, jewelry cases, fabrics, tablecloths, kitchen textiles, ironing board covers, tins, recipe cards, scrapbook items, home decor, aprons, garden items, birdhouses, pet items, canisters, calendars, cookie jars, boxes, bags, totes, and just about anything else you can think of. My work has generated millions and millions of dollars at the retail level and I have established a reputation for being a trend setter in the marketplace. I have done proprietary product development for major retailers such as Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Saks on 5, Steinmart, to name just a few, along with dozens of manufacturers. I have been around the block a few times....

Since this is my blog I can toot my own horn , but what I am really trying to do here is call attention to the state of Art Licensing now and the naive comments on the Design Sponge blog that need to be addressed.

When comments and questions were sent into the forum about the Surtex show, Ellen and I wrote in to attempt to educate and address what is really going on out there now as regards the show and the Art Licensing business in general. Based on our experience levels, we were trying to point out to the newbies that Surtex has some issues now and is not a panacea or guarantee of success. You have to do your homework particularly in this down-turned market and poor economy. We were trying to give helpful, truthful information to a wide-eyed young designer obviously concerned about doing the show, so she would not be crushed by spending her last dollars to exhibit there and then not get much business out of it and wonder why. It is true that there was a large turnover this year at the show and many studios, including mine and Ellen's decided not to exhibit there again.

Wham...slam.. our comments were immediately challenged and we were called "bitter" and "sensitive" with words saying that we probably just wish that we had taken a booth this year after all ...tsk tsk//// bad girls to say anything negative, even if it was the truth. Even Gina De Luca weighed in, the manager of Surtex, who I have personally worked with for years on the show. The poor girl we were trying to help e mailed me privately to thank me for my real responses and I could tell she was overwhelmed with all the info, excited and scared about her debut coming up this weekend at the show and she admitted that she has no clue as to how the business works or how to sell her designs...license?? It is nice to be supportive, but nicer to be realistic and truthful.

The trouble with blogland and I mean this with the utmost respect, is that everyone is being too cutesy and too nice and holding hands and singing "Cum By Ya" instead of entering into the discussion as such in a helpful and truthful way. It becomes a popularity contest.....reality aside I am afraid.

here goes...

we are in a tough times now in the US...the economy is bad....the last 2 years of the show the traffic has been slow and getting slower, thinning out, fewer attendees because there are fewer companies to even come to license art work. So many bankruptcies over the last few years of companies that always attended the show added to the slow traffic demise. That is the truth and everyone who exhibited there knows it.

Last year the first day of the show was really slow and Monday was better but not great. The last day is always slow because most of the Art Directors leave so we had one decent day out of 3. That is a lot of money to pay for one good day of traffic that wasn't fabulous, like it had been a few years ago. In the past the aisles were quite literally mobbed with attendees and it was difficult to even walk the aisles, there were so many people. That is not to say that deals weren't made there last year, but what it does says is that they are harder to get as there are fewer to be had.

The retail market is in a terrible slump, gas prices are through the roof, the prices of hotels in New York City are outrageous, making the show extremely expensive to attend both for buyers and exhibitors. So, for me, based on my experience and contacts that I have made at this point in my career, not exhibiting at the show this year was an easy decision for me to make. I decided to take some of the $10,000 that I spent last year to be at the show, in a prime corner booth and staying in NYC for a week and spend that money traveling to see clients instead and that is what I am doing.

Like everything else in life, nothing stays the same. For everything there is a season so to speak.... Surtex is changing.....the business is changing...the attendees are fewer, the business is harder because of the retail market and the economy, and yet the show prices have gone up yet again.

The Licensing show is moving out to Las Vegas for 2009 for a fresh new approach. I think it is time that Surtex got some sort of a face lift...a new venue, new look, new place...new time of year. I told Gina this when I called her to inform her that I was not going to exhibit this year. Times change, people change, the world is changing. The money now is moving East along with the business...China and India are emerging as new and exciting markets. I am in negotiations now with a company in South Korea that wants to license my designs. I am looking for new ways to reinvent my work and my company. I am doing art licensing consultation and helping other designers learn the marketing strategies that will help them succeed.

I just wanted to set the record straight here, we are not bad mouthing Surtex, certainly not..what we were trying to do was to say hey look...this is not a new show...this show has been around and has had a successful track record, made lots of money for lots of artists, but it is loosing steam and loosing attendees and loosing exhibitors. Be aware, be smart, do your homework, make appointments, don't leave anything to chance encounters at the show...because things are not what they use to be and I have never seen the market be this bad ever.

I wish everyone who is exhibiting at the show the very best success and hope that they do well.

The advice is free, you can take it or leave it....I for one would have loved to have had an experienced designer take the time to give me help and advice when I was starting to do this. Knowledge is power.....use your brain as well as your brush!

more later,
carol

Beautiful Bird Cages

Was thinking it would be fun to design some birdcages.....decorative, fun, fabulous....take a look...

then they would have to have some little birds in them.....

then we could do them in different colors, make patterns with them, use them on plates, and so forth and so on.....

ah, the life of a designer.....

more later,

carol

A few More Florida Photos

One night when we were walking along the beach the Captain made this sign for me in the sand....

Here is the Ritz Carlton resort as you look up from the beach...our room was in the South Tower on the right hand side of this photo with the balcony looking right out at the Gulf...the Captain would sit out there each morning after his walk and read the newspaper and do his cross word puzzle before we would go down to the beach. You can look out at such a wide expanse of the Gulf from the balcony seeing boats and dolphins, the ever present para sailing crew, kids on wave runners, gulls and pelicans soaring by...lots to see and enjoy each day.

There was always something going on down on the beach and these colorful structures set off the boundaries of a party the first night we were there....about 200 people from some company were having a barbecue on the beach and these were all around the edge. Quite fun and colorful!

This is the pontoon boat that we chartered one day...the Ritz packed us up a wonderful lunch of turkey and ham sandwiches, fruit and brownies with drinks and off we went over to Bonita Beach and spent the day poking around Estero Bay looking for manatees and dolphins. It was gorgeous, warm and sunny, with a nice breeze along the ocean and we motored over to Lover's key where we had a picnic and walked along the beach in between all the old cypress trees that had been knocked over by various storms.

All along Lover's Key are these great old Cypress trees that almost look like sculptures they are so interesting to look at. We also saw 2 manta rays jumping up out of the water right near the channel that comes in next to beach from the Gulf and they were both about 3 feet in length...scary.

Each morning when we would come down to the beach, the cabana guys would bring out the lounge chairs...you can see here the enormous stack of them that the hotel has. They would set up your chair, table and the most important blue canvas flag to enable you to signal them that it was time for pina coladas. They also had the beautiful Ritz Carlton blue umbrellas available for anyone who wanted one. Then they wrapped a huge white terry towel on the lounge chair, another towel under where your feet would go and one for under your head. When I say that the service was impeccable, I mean it was perfection....each detail was so wonderful that you always felt taken care of. The Ritz is just the best...

One more sunset on the beach photo.....

Thank you Captain, so much, for my wonderful birthday trip to Naples, Florida, you are the best...it was just heavenly.

more later,
carol

More from Naples, Florida

Each evening around 7:57 or so, the sunset on Vanderbilt Beach was a huge event. People gathered along the shore to watch this amazing display night after night. One night we met a nice couple cuddled up together on a beach chair that told us they had come to see the last 47 out of 50 sunsets together, that it had become a ritual for them...very romantic.

They asked us to take their photo together and then they took one of us as the sun dropped down into the Gulf of Mexico. Very pretty.

Here is the pool with the private cabanas for quiet little moments out of the sunshine.

This little cabana was along side the pool as well, not sure whose it was, but I was dying to take a peek inside.

Here we are on our way to dinner one night at the Terrace restaurant that is next to the pool.

I am standing at the beach on my birthday, April 22nd, Earth Day, in front of the board where they post the temperatures at the beach each day and tell you when it is high tide, etc...check it out!

Each morning the Captain would go and get us our coffee and fruits and scones and we would sit on our beach chair and enjoy our breakfast. Life is good!

Sharing with you my view each day as I sat in my beach chair and read my book....looking out at the magnificent Gulf of Mexico watching the dolphins swim by.

Here I am about to have a pina colada at a favorite restaurant of ours down in Venetian Village on the bay in Naples.

The Captain and I celebrating my birthday together at Maxwells on the Bay....wonderful dinner and doesn't the photo look like somewhere in southern France with all the red geraniums in the window boxes...

At the end of the day we would come up to the room and sit out on the balcony overlooking the gulf. It was so pretty and the view was just fantastic.

Here is the walkway that meanders all through the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. It is such a beautiful walk and so well done. All along the boardwalk are signs telling you about the animals and flowers and trees.

Corkscrew Swamp is a great place to sketch as there are so many interesting things to look at. Here I am doing just that!

more tomorrow,

carol