Little Brown Sparrow

I've been admiring the work of Penny Elizabeth Neil through her blog Sparrow Savage, her Etsy shop: Little Brown Sparrow and her Flickr sets. She is an artist living in a caretakers cottage in an open-air museum in Australia that allows her to take the most incredible photographs after the tourists go home. The description on her blog reads: "I live in a 19th century railway cottage on the border of a rural ghost town, though soon I will become a suburban urchin. I like patchwork mended clothes and frayed edges. My world is tarnished, worn-out, run down and faded, and you are welcome into it." I am especially jealous of her amazing and natural red hair. I also would have never guessed that I would have friends in Australia (Hi Nicky, Hi Jo!). Thanks to the internet I've met some incredible women who have shared a view of their lives so very far away from my own. Below are some of my favorite images from Penny's various works-click on them to visit her sites.

Penny Elizabeth Neil :Self-Portrait

The King of Gone to Bed
mixed media

The Soldier and The Circus Girl
bracelet

Rain from the East
necklace

The Parlour
photograph

Red Room
photograph

Savage Beauty
photograph

What a difference a Day Makes!

What a crazy week this has been! I've been driving around in my husband's good ol' car he lovingly calls "the grand slam" (its a pontiac grand am) and has owned since college. Last Friday the car decided it had finally had enough and left me stranded me along highway 26. So I've been out of touch with my studio and computer until today -which explains why I didn't rocket out a crazy announcement a few days ago when...

photo credit: R&V Photographers via Flickr

...Grace at Design*Sponge featured the kindest post about my work!! Design*Sponge is my all-time favorite blog and you cannot imagine my surprise when I got my twenty minutes on the public library computer yesterday and found a baffling amount of email!! Thanks to her post I received several new orders and requests for work-for which I am extremely grateful!! My bad week instantly disappeared and I cannot thank her enough! Read the post here!

KC Willis

The work of Santa Fe artist, KC Willis has been feeding my brain this morning. I love the old textiles and sewing techniques she uses to create the stages for her homespun works of art. Visit her website Lipstick Ranch here.

The Altar

Martha in a Box

Madre y Hijo I

Hearts of the Storm

Santuario De Lulu

Annie's Altar Ego

New Work

A Clean Heart

A Clean Heart , detail
16" x 3"x 20"
$425.
Available in my Etsy shop.

Happy(belated)Birthday, Big Brother!

He was my best babysitter!
xoxo

Knot Exactly Furniture by Ricki Carrow

Knot Exactly Pinwheel Table

Knot Exactly Blue Star Table

Knot Exactly Star Cabinet

Knot Exactly Steamship Cabinet
and a handsome collection of vintage pups.

Knot Exactly Web Table

Yesterday, Molly Harrell introduced me to the work of her extremely talented beau, Ricki Carrow of Key West, Florida. I am overwhelmed by these photos of his handcrafted furniture- called "Knot Exactly." He uses a secret recipe of layers to achieve an amazing depth of color on each piece. I don't believe he publicizes himself much-but major companies like Bergdorf-Goodman and celebrities who happen upon him in Key West have collected his work. Notice his home in the background. He has painstakingly redone the wood walls back to their natural state and kept the original handmade cement tile floors made ages ago by a local artist. If you are seriously interested in finding out more about his work please contact me at katierunnels@yahoo.com and I'll share his email address with you.

Cleans up nice.

The fabulous Molly Harrell visited my studio yesterday to shoot my ugly mug for Skirt! magazine. She is an amazing person and photographer now living in Charleston, but moving back to Columbia soon-yay! If you've read Columbia's Skirt! you have seen her work . She made the day so much fun and even helped me put together some promotional cards in Photoshop- I mean how sweet is that?? Visit her website www.mollyharrell.com. Here are some photos I took to document the occasion of Molly's visit and a clean studio-the latter will most likely never, ever happen again. xo

Molly workin' the ladder. I think she was actually
trying her darndest to find a flattering angle for me.

You can actually see floor!

Clean table and tools in place.
Never realized how many pairs of scissors I had!

Looking toward the front-my little shop is in front of the curtain.

Desk made from a door and metal trestle legs from Lowes.

You can tell this is a set up b/c there are no diet coke

cans or snacks littering my papers. maybe it will last a day or two
xo

le train fantome

These original dolls by Le Train Fantome artist, Fanja Ralison are to me simply perfect visions of childhood wonder. Their crisp crayon colors and widely set eyes give them such a sweet innocence! I think of my mother reading Madeline to me at bedtime while it's still daylight outside and my hair is damp from bathwater. The artist sells out of her creations quickly, so if you're interested in being first in line- sign up for email updates on her mailing list.

Babette #17

Eddy Rabbit #14

Softbird #16

Babette #29

Lumi #4