Day Five: Owl

A 3-D Owl reflects upon his 2-D origins

Today I decided to try my hand at making my own pattern. I got my inspiration from a greeting card by Sunrise Greetings (TM), that my friend Annie sent me when her grandson Finn was going through an "owl" stage. I wanted to try to translate a 2-D design into three dimensions.

It's too bad that the artist wasn't given credit on the back of the card, so I can't acknowledge him or her. I was a stationery and giftware illustrator for fifteen years, and they were hectic years but good years, too. You can see lots of the stuff I did on my website, http://www.peggyturchette.com/. Then the "Bowie Style" came into vogue: ( check out Marie Perkins' wonderful blog at http://www.printpattern.blogspot.com/ ) and I was cooked. My style was passe, with that accent over the "e. " It seemed like time to do something new.

So the stars realigned themselves as they often do, I started my dogsitting business, and now, three years into that, I am able to unofficially close my illustration studio, and "explore other creative pursuits." Another way of saying, "Hey, what's next?"

So here I am. I moved to my very own house on the Winter Solstice of 2010, and started my 365 Bird Project twelve days later on January 2, 2011. A Bird a Day for 365 days.

I've had these eyes (the Owl's) for a long time. They are called Suncatcher Eyes, and are handmade in Maine---seriously, let's support these folks: http://www.suncatchereyes.net/. Finally, I'm getting to use them. Oh, and the felt for these projects is from a wonderful place called Prairie Point Junction. Go to http://www.woolfeltcentral.com/. I splurged and bought the sampler of all 96 or so colors about a year ago, and have been eyeing the pile in a way usually reserved for a bag of M & M's. Finally, I'm getting to dive in! (The felt, not the chocolate)

So I have a lot of folks to thank for getting me to this moment in time, and I'll try over the next year to thank everybody.

Signing off for now,

Peggy T.