Sewing has been another passion of mine, and after making a purse for myself, I made a few for friends and then decided to come up with a name and make more to sell. It has become an obsession, as there is so much about this process that is fun and creative and...addicting.

First of all, fabrics are to me like heroin is to an addict. I can't get enough. And when I see a great piece of fabric at a good price, I dig in my pockets and get it, even if it means I go without lunch that day. Fabric is gold.

Secondly, belts. I use and recycle belts to adorn and add panache to the handbags. Sometimes the belt dictates my direction rather than a fabric choice. A really cool belt lights up my eyes and I can't have enough of them either. Above is Black Velveteen named for the fabric and for a song I love.

It is November, 2010. Quite some time since I have posted on my page. This is unacceptable. So much has happened in the past couple of years and I should update you.

Medical issues: over with. I am a new person and feeling terrific. So, why the lapse in posting? I have discovered a new facet to my artistic endeavors. Making handbags. I'll share more on that in another post.

The painting continues, but on a different level. I submitted once again to Old Forge's National Watercolor show, and was accepted with the image, The Surrogates, pictured above. It is based on a building I saw in lower Manhattan, and once I found out what the building was, I had to recreate and interpret its beauty. On the outside of the building are statues of judges, mayors, and who knows who else, but prominent citizens of New York in an age before the building was constructed around 1898. One of the figures was known to me: James Duane, the founder of the town in which I grew up, Duanesburg.

James was quite a person. Mayor of NYC for several years, a judge, and landowner in a part of New York which was desolate and yet only a few miles from the capital, Albany. After his death he bequeathed his land to his children, who built homes, and two to my knowledge are still standing in the town of Duanesburg.

Other paintings are in the works, but this one I love and wanted to share. Enjoy.