LIFE IN BRUNOLAND

Hello all,

I’d like to introduce you to someone.  This is Bruno, my inspiration behind Bruno’s Multitasking Mama.  Besides being an artist and teaching for the “real” gig, I’m also mom to John Oliver Perry, III (a.k.a “Bruno”).  He’s a smart, lively and high-spirited 6 year-old kid with PDD-NOS, an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  Life as a wife, mom and working woman (artist/educator) can be a wild ride, and I’ve decided to challenge myself to do a painting/drawing/collage/mixed media exploration a day for a year starting on March 15, 2012.  Some will be collaborative works with Bruno, as he loves to draw and paint.   I’m doing this as a challenge to myself to hold fast to my art while doing all of those essential things that a Mama with a treasure kid’s gotta do.  It’s my desire to encourage and nurture his appreciation for creativity by working directly with him.  My hubby,  John Oliver Perry, Jr. turned me on to Kickstarter, an online venue on which to do this project. I  ultimately plan to  present an exhibition of Bruno’s art alongside my own in venues to be arranged in the upcoming year.   These will be small works, visual thinking and ideas to springboard into other media (such as quilts, t-shirts, posters, coloring books, calendars, greeting cards, postcards, etc.).  In the process I also plan to develop a collection/book of selected works created over the course of the year by Bruno and I which will include art projects  that could be used by home schoolers and school districts alike for munchkins who on or off of the spectrum.  Your support with this project would not only help me to keep my creative juices primed and flowing, but to also get more insight into how to help my son to grow in terms of confident visual self-expression.  Despite Bruno’s current limitations with speech, his interest in art and creativity and could possibly serve as a means for him to earn a living when he becomes an adult- and I believe that my boy is gonna go FAR .  More to come about the project, so stay tuned!

Happy New Year, All!

Now that all of the hustle, bustle 

and general madness of the holiday season is over, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy and awesomely blessed New Year!  Lots of changes already- the website has been spruced up, so please come on by and check it out.  We're featuring a New Year's special on Red Sari, my premier limited edition print.  

It's huge, 24" x 36" and it's only $30.00 plus s/h.  Hey, it's a new year, and EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME NEW ART! 
She'd make a great Valentine's Day gift.

For those of you in the Dallas Metroplex, I will be teaching several classes during the spring semester through the Continuing Education program at Mountainview College in QUILTING and fiber manipulation techniques.  I am soooo excited because I have been looking forward to an opportunity to share this information for a long time.  My classes are listed under FUNtastic Education for Adults and they are for ages 18+.  The first one is coming up in February, and I'm really looking forward to it.
The descriptions and course numbers are as follows:

Art Quilts and Quick Primer on Elements of Design $20

ARTZ 1000 4 HRS

This class is designed to provide a quick, concise introduction to art quilting and to provide sources and resources for inspiration for quilters of all experience levels. Art quilting today is a wide open field that demands exploration. Students will begin a simple “quickie quilt” utilizing color and shape as

an introductory piece using an iron, fabric and heat and bond as a means of visual thinking. Min. Age: 18.

66601 9:00AM - 1:00PM S 3/24 MVC W220 Ritter-Perry

Art Quilts Printing Your Own Designs on Fabric $40

ARTZ 1000 9 HRS

This technique is great for personalizing your quilts and wall hangings! This class will discuss and demonstrate the basic “how-to’s” of creating iron-on fabric transfers; scanning images; and printing techniques. Fabrics that are suitable for this technique will also be discussed and demonstrated.

Students will be shown design possibilities for this versatile and fun medium as it relates to fabric quilts. Min. Age: 18.

66701 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM S 2/11 - 2/25 MVC W228 Ritter-Perry

Art Quilts Immersion Hand Dyeing Techniques $50

ARTZ 1000 12 HRS

Flower children, hippies, and Bohemians in general will love this throwback technique! Immersion hand dyeing is similar to tie-dye, but is great for art quilting because it is done on a small scale with minimal muss and fuss. It’s easy to do and the results will enhance the originality of your quilts. Once

the technique is mastered it can be applied to t-shirts, onesies, pants, whatever your heart desires. Min Age: 18.

66801 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM S 4/28 - 5/19 MVC W22 Ritter-Perry

More to come.  The pop-up markets should be starting up in a couple of months once the weather stabilizes, but stay tuned for a Trunk Show at my studio for those Valentine's Day goodies.  Go to the website and sign up for the newsletter if you're not on it already- you don't have to live in Dallas to take part in the giveaways and special online discount offers.  


So what's new for 2012?  The quilting bug has bitten me HARD- I have tons of sweet original designs that I developed back before Bruno was born (almost 7 years- Moms, you know how it is) that I plan to compile into a book and/or develop into a line of quilt and purse patterns that will be available for sale on my website and on Etsy.  I've got more one-of-a-kind purses and messenger bags in the mix, too.  I'm so mad that my clone hasn't come in yet!  Oh, just come on by the website and see what's new...LOL!

Cheers,

Beth

Second Red Sari Poster Winner Announced!

A great big shout-out and congratulations go out to Ms. Donna Hawkins of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, who is the proud new owner of the Red Sari poster featured in last weekend's giveaway!  Donna was thrilled to be the winner- and I hope she enjoys her print!  She heard about the giveaway on the Delta's page on Facebook.  If you'd like to get in on the giveaways, just shoot me an email at info@caprichostudio1.com and I'll get you on the mailing list...and I will keep your info under lock and key, I promise.

I am absolutely beside myself...Spring Break is now less than 24 hours away!  Studio time!  Time to work on the website update...work on developing some new patterns and purses and a bunch of new stuff for upcoming shows.  I am planning a trunk show in late March/early April so stay tuned for more details.  I already promised Bruno a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo and the Childrens' Aquarium at Fair Park, and that is all he's talking about.  There are a few other little excursions that I am scheming on, too- so we'll see.  I don't DARE mention anything else or I can forget having ANY studio time! 

Winner of Red Sari Giveaway Announced! What the heck, let's do it AGAIN!

 This girl's got a new home!

Congrats go out to Sandra Pedregal, winner of the Red Sari poster!  Sandra was the first to locate the token on the Gallery page at the Caprichos Studio website. 

What the heck, let's do it again- I'm giving away a signed Red Sari poster to the 21st person to send me an email telling me where they heard of the contest. At this time U.S. residents only- sorry! Looking forward to hearing from you!!!

KANZASHI

Just the word gives me goosebumps.  I shoulda been a geisha so that I could wear these things!  Doesn't matter- I'm gonna find some kind of way to rock them with my dreads.  It's funny how I discovered them- Everything that I have been making lately has an Asian vibe to it.  I've been doing Bollywood for awhile now- but recently I'm doing purses with a lot of convolutions and folds, and I got the wild idea to research origami to see if I could find anything that would translate.  I found lots of stuff, but nothing really grabbed me by the throat and demanded that I explore it further.  Instead, I started encountering these FABULOUS images of geisha with these...well, delicate bits of magnificence in their wigs.  Like little bitty flowers which I later discovered were hundreds of tiny folded pieces of heavily starched silks and fabric called chirimen (rayon) designed to look like flowers- plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, all kinds of flowers.  Words escape me.  Look at them and GASP, like I did.  Awesomeness.

Anyway, the purses are still in the cooker but I had to digress a little to go on a crusade for tutorials for everything about them.  Spring break is coming in a week (THANK GOD!!!) and  I'll have a few minutes to rub together soon- hopefully I'll have time to make a few and share them with you here.