beckycochrane.livejournal.com

Thanks, 'Nathan

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:09:26 GMT

You probably don't have to be the child of a soldier to understand what it's like when they come home. But in case you want to see complete joy, check out this link 'Nathan posted to my Facebook wall with videos of dog and service member reunions. Beautiful and perfect for Veterans Day.

Hump Day Happy--Whimper Edition

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:35:48 GMT

It's not fun when you snip the end of your finger with your scissors. And I wasn't even running with them!

In honor of Veterans Day, all you have to do is comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, and my fingers will march through the pages of one of these books to find you some happiness.

Well, except for that ONE finger.

Thank you to all those who've served.

All we need is fashion

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:50:37 GMT

This photo made me oddly happy when I saw it:

Picture from Yoko Ono's web site

John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono; George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison; Stella McCartney, daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney and the late Linda Eastman McCartney; and Barbara Bach Starkey,
the wife of Ringo Starr

Last night in New York, the three Beatle wives presented designer Stella McCartney an award as one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year 2009 for her fashion label and her commitment to animal rights.

I tried!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:50:49 GMT

Tom and I have been gradually giving The Compound's main residence a thorough cleaning over the past two or three weeks. I knew Greg was coming for his signing this past weekend, and my sister was hoping to visit Bobo Butterbean with her dog Harley at Thanksgiving. I wanted everything to be in order before their arrivals.

I THOUGHT I'd taken care of all the dust. But then Tim's boss dropped by to do an inspection, and you can see by her expression that I missed a spot. The Big H is so relentless about these things.

LJ Runway Monday: The Art of Fashion (PR 6:12)

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:16:13 GMT

On the most recent episode of Lifetime's Project Runway, the designers were taken to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. They were given a tour of the J. Paul Getty Museum as well as the center's grounds. The designers were then asked to create a look inspired by any part of the center, including paintings, sculpture, and furniture from the museum's collections, architectural features of the building, or the center's breathtaking views.

As much as I wanted to jet to Los Angeles and go to the Getty Museum (which opened since my last trip to California, or Jim would have taken me there), I could only look at its collections online. I'd almost decided to work from one of my favorite paintings by Raphael when I saw this wonderful mid-1720s pastel from Italian artist Rosalba Carriera.

A Muse
Pastel on blue paper

From the Getty web site: Famous throughout Europe for her portraits and teste di fantasia (fanciful renderings of beautiful women in allegorical or mythological guise), Rosalba Carriera made the pastel, above, at the ducal court in Modena, Italy.

I'm always talking about my muses, and Carriera's painting provided another one. I was inspired by the leaves in the woman's hair, the ethereal fabric of her bodice, and the colors. I wanted to create a very feminine portrayal of nature's beauty. Did I succeed?

I had this fabric, which was exactly the sage green I was looking for, plus it has a subtle, leafy fern design on it.

I used it to hand-stencil and cut out more than a hundred leaves.

I sewed the leaves onto a stem-green, faux dupioni silk, which I cut into a train. I chose a sheer fabric for the dress with a bold flower design in rich colors of blue, yellow, and green.

The dress has a halter top.

The entire look, with its versatile silhouettes:

I was lucky to book Barbie for this challenge, as she's the busiest of all the Mattel Top Models. She has to leave now, giving you a look at the dress's dramatic train as well as the way it leaves her back bare above the waist except for the sheer, flowing tie falling from the neck.

I'm not sure when my final collection will be ready, but when it is, I'll see you on the runway!

Thank you to everyone who's commented about my previous designs on LiveJournal, Facebook, and Flickr. If you missed them and are interested, here are the links:

6:11--The Best of the Best
6:10--Around the World in Two Days
6:9--Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!
6:8--A Fashionable New Beginning
6:7--The Sky's the Limit
6:6--Lights, Camera, Sew!
6:5--Fashion Headliners
6:4--What a Woman Wants
6:3--Rumble on the Runway
6:2--We Expect Fashion
6:1--The Red Carpet

Button Sunday

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:44:59 GMT

I haven't been taking enough photos lately.

Making the scene

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:23:24 GMT

Today is Scout's Honor Pet Adoption Event in the Heights, so Pixie is on an outing. If you're in Houston, go by and see all their wonderful animals available for adoption. This is a great photo Lindsey took of Pixie sleeping on top of her BFF, Sugar. These two have such a fantastic time playing together. Lindsey hopes that Pixie's forever family will want to set up play dates for the two of them.

Going to your local brick-and-mortar store would be a great way to celebrate National Bookstore Day. Remember to be kind to your booksellers, who provide the best links between you, writers, and the nourishment of your imagination.

It's a good day to post a photo of your favorite local bookstore or tell a story about why it's special to you. My favorite Houston independent bookseller, Murder By the Book, will be hosting Greg Herren's signing for Murder in the Garden District at 4:30 today. That's where The Compounders and The Brides will be. Join us!

Photo Friday, No. 171

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:12:49 GMT

Current Photo Friday theme: Softness

Back in the 1990s, my friend Big Hair Lisa and I went into a grocery store late one night. It must have been near Valentine's Day, because all these red bears were posed among the flowers in their floral department. I picked up this one and fell in love with him because he was the softest thing I'd ever held. Lisa took him away from me, paid for him, and gave him back.

Recently on a daytime drama I watch, a couple exchanging wedding vows promised to be each other's "soft place when you fall." Lisa, like me, is a steel magnolia. But many times when I've fallen, she's provided that soft place of friendship and unconditional love.

A soft heart is the most beautiful place I know.

What affects anyone affects me

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:23:55 GMT

A little more than three years ago, I went to my first Jewish wedding. Although it was fascinating to see rituals I’d never seen, hear prayers I’d never heard, and experience new concepts such as the chuppah, the ketubah, the breaking of the glass, and the yichud room, the best part was that it was one of those weddings. The kind where, as a guest, you can see that this is a marriage of two people who truly love each other in a way that promises a lifelong relationship. The rabbi had known the bride since she was a little girl, and he’d understood the first time he met her beloved that this was “the one.” Their parents looked on with utter joy and pride during the ceremony. Afterward, families and friends mingled. People met for the first time, or got reacquainted, over the meal at the reception. There was dancing. Storytelling. Raucous laughter. Quiet moments when everyone felt bathed in the happiness of the couple and all those who loved them. It was magic, that night in 2006, and I left the reception with renewed appreciation for the way romantic love helps the rest of us feel a little more hope, a little more charity, a little more faith.

Love builds us as a community. One manifestation was how, the next day, while the couple was flying to Jamaica for their honeymoon, their wedding planner decided to take all the beautiful flowers from the reception tables and distribute them among patients at a local hospice—a beautiful and compassionate gesture that brightened the day for the hospice staff, as well. Thus the love celebrated at one intimate ceremony spilled over into a larger world, touching the lives of even strangers. That’s the great gift that is love, and when we receive it, it’s as if the entire universe pauses for a moment to bask in it.

I often draw on my memories of that wedding weekend and the hope and comfort they give me about our capacity to love. I needed that hope and comfort so much a few weeks ago when I read a story about another couple that broke my heart. I didn’t know them, but they easily could have been neighbors or friends of mine. They were the parents of three adopted children, and in 2007, the entire family was about to depart for a cruise from Miami when the mother fell ill. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was admitted.

This is when the real nightmare began.

The hospital refused to take medical information from the woman’s partner because the partner was also female. According to a hospital spokesperson, they were in “an antigay city and state,” and the woman’s partner and children would receive no information about the patient’s medical condition, nor would they be allowed to see her. The partner managed to contact people in their home state who were able to fax all the legal documentation that unmarried couples put in place to protect them from just such an ordeal—including the medical power of attorney.

A medical power of attorney is a document that will allow any person so designated by the patient legal rights regarding medical decisions, but it was not honored by this Miami hospital. As the patient slipped into a coma and eventually died, her partner was allowed only a five-minute visit while a priest was present to administer the sacrament of anointing of the sick.

The patient’s doctor admitted there was no reason why her family shouldn’t see the dying woman. No reason except the cruelest kind of bigotry. Even after her death, when the family returned home, the county refused to release the death certificate to her partner because they weren’t married.

I’ve been present at the deaths of five people I loved. Those hours, even minutes, before and when someone dies are profound. The words, the touches, the gestures we use to comfort and express our love as we say goodbye are sacred. I can’t imagine being in a situation in which my husband would be only a few feet from me, his life slipping away, and being forbidden to be at his side. Even thinking of that makes me cry. But it wouldn’t happen. If it were physically possible for me to be with him, no doctor, nurse, social worker, or hospital administrator would block my way. Nor was I, as a daughter, kept away from my parents during their hospitalizations, and I was with my mother when she died. Custom, the law, the very essence of human kindness protect me from the agony of being kept from a family member who’s dying.

But custom, the law, and human kindness didn’t protect those two women in Miami. And my friends, the Jewish couple? They wouldn’t have been protected either, had they ended up at that Miami hospital before taking their honeymoon trip to Jamaica. Because though their families and friends witnessed their wedding ceremony, and though their rabbi blessed their union, they also are both women. There is no civil law that honors their commitment to each other.

So please don’t tell me that the bigotry that overturns or denies protections and equal rights to gays and lesbians in places like California and Maine doesn’t affect me. It does. And please don’t tell me how you really do love your gay friends, but you think that “marriage is between one man and one woman,” because as far as I’m concerned, that isn’t love. I’ve never yet been told of one single incident in which a minister or priest or pastor was forced to marry any couple that he or she didn’t feel comfortable marrying. This isn’t about religion. This is about civil law, and treating all people with equality and dignity.

When you tell me that my gay and lesbian friends and family members don’t deserve to be married, don’t deserve to be part of decisions regarding their spouses’ medical care, don’t deserve to stand by their spouses’ hospital beds as they’re dying to say that last goodbye, don’t deserve to live full lives without fear of being denied the most basic respect and rights a marriage bestows, then you’re saying the power of love to build and sustain us as individuals, families, and communities doesn’t deserve to exist.

And you are wrong.

Hump Day Happy

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:15:23 GMT

Please comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, and Madam will find something in this book to make you happier than a pig in mud.

This started out as one thing and segued into something else

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:07:21 GMT

I don't know how fashion photographers do it. Even when your models are dolls, they're hard to photograph in a group. You know nobody will have her eyes closed, or be making a weird face, or sneeze, but during this shoot, I had several hair disasters, a couple of models who insisted on falling over (if they were real, I'd be wondering, poor nutrition? substance abuse?), and two bracelets broke and had to be repaired. Then I thought I had them all posed the same, and only after I saw the photos did I realize a hand is misplaced here, the legs aren't the same there--even plastic models are a pain! Of course, most photographers have assistants to take care of the details, and I only had Margot and Guinness. While they offer loads of moral support, they can't ensure that no model has a stray hair in front of her face.

Here are the Birthstone Barbies I used for my Halloween shoot in order of the months of the year. I combed out the ridiculous curls Mattel gives the dolls and put them all in black body suits that I sewed for them. (I like the way the models on Project Runway look so uniform in their black slips; this is my version of that.)

Patricia, Katie, Dandy, Natalie, Tajma, Toni,
Olivia, Emily, Sarah, Gina, Lily, Ava

If you click here, you can see an embiggened version. Lisa asked the other day how I remember their names, and the easiest answer, for these twelve and the thirteen Top Models I own, is that I give them names that mean something to me, and once named, they become characters. Their characters aren't fully developed with storylines, but every name has a few details connected to it, and enough of them are named for real people to make those connections more memorable to me.

I had the greatest conversation in Jo-Ann Fabrics with a four-year-old boy the other day who was just dumbfounded that I had a doll with me and NO DAUGHTER. That's YOUR doll? You PLAY with it? And though I assured him that I don't play with her, just dress her, I did realize later that in a way, I do "play" with the dolls, and that my year of not writing hasn't really been that at all. The writing is going on in my head as I make stories to match these dolls and their fashions.

I've stopped feeling guilty about all the e-mail that's come to me and Timothy James Beck this year about what's next, when another book will be out. In ten years, I've written or partially written nine published novels, gotten a couple of short stories into print, written some unpublished poetry, co-edited an anthology, and edited or copy edited several writers' novels and short stories. I've come to understand that it's okay--even necessary--for a writer to take a break. One thing this break has allowed me to do is to read novels in wide-ranging genres. While I've enjoyed all this reading, I've found that I still don't want to "write one like Author X." I can only write what I write. But I haven't retired. I don't have writer's block. I'll write when the next story is ready to be told. I assume Timothy James Beck will, too.

That's the most honest answer I can give.

Windows, No. 2

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:55:57 GMT

We've recently switched our thermostat from air conditioning to heat. A couple of times since, I've heard this odd, part musical, part moaning sound late at night and tried to determine if it's coming from the furnace.

In looking through my photos, I found one of several stuffed owls (cropped to a single owl in the above photo). It occurred to me that maybe what I'm hearing is an owl. Tom said he's seen one recently near The Compound. Of course, now that I want to hear the noise, I haven't heard a damn thing.

This window display reminded me of another book I think might be interesting: The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse. Because, as certain characters in a novel called The Deal could tell you, mocking bad poetry is a good time.

LJ Runway Monday: The Best of the Best (PR 6:11)

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:45:00 GMT

On the most recent episode of Lifetime's Project Runway, the contestants were asked to create a companion piece for one of their own designs rated highest by the judges. Since I'm not competing with anyone on LJ Runway Monday, I asked my LJ, FB, and Twitter friends to vote on their favorite of my designs from this season. Though it was a dead heat between three looks for a while, my Lights, Camera, Sew! design in Episode 6 finally pulled ahead (although not because one of you voted for it three times!).

If you recall, for that challenge, my model Maggie was cast in a movie in which she time travels between current-day Manhattan and the European village of a late-nineteenth century Roma family who befriends her. During her adventures, she finds true love--though only the end of the movie reveals whether he lives during this century or a previous one.

What's one way to end a romantic comedy? A wedding, of course! Though I had planned to create a wedding dress as part of my final collection, I decided to let Maggie's look inspire one that in this challenge will be worn by her stunt double, Kikki. Some of you may remember Kikki as the fabulous Figaro de la Fontaine's identical twin cousin. Figaro (on the right in this photo) was the featured model last season of Mark G. Harris, a reference that's appropriate. I was inspired by his use of color for the wedding dress in his final collection. I was also inspired by designer Timothy J. Lambert's fashion-forward bow for one of Nikki's designs from last season.

Figaro in MGH's wedding gown. Nikki in TJL's evening gown.

So... Is any of this look MINE? Oh, I think you'll agree that it is.

My trademark circular skirt in white satin and tulle.

The crêpe bodice has faint patterns in light lavenders and grays.
It's form-fitting with slightly capped sleeves.

I hand-stitched pearls onto the tulle to repeat Kikki's double strand of pearls and pearl earrings.

The lavender, unfinished gauze silk sash is braided in the front, then ties in a back bustle and cascades down the skirt.
Shown below with the veil down, then lifted.

I used the tulle to make the stockings, then embellished the boots with the same trim that's on the veil.

The total look:

And shown with the look that inspired it:

Kikki and Maggie up close, because they're just so beautiful:

Must dash out to a ~~wedding reception~~ movie premiere! But I'll see you next time on the runway!

To see my previous designs for this season:

6:10--Around the World in Two Days
6:9--Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!
6:8--A Fashionable New Beginning
6:7--The Sky's the Limit
6:6--Lights, Camera, Sew!
6:5--Fashion Headliners
6:4--What a Woman Wants
6:3--Rumble on the Runway
6:2--We Expect Fashion
6:1--The Red Carpet

Button Sunday

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:56:51 GMT

These buttons are gifts from Marika. Scully'z Recordz is a store where you should all go. No, seriously. GO THERE RIGHT NOW. And since you'll be in New Orleans anyway, please bring me back a beignet from Café Du Monde, 'kay?

Blame the Internet for a late Halloween post

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:05:06 GMT

Apparently, for me, Halloween was all about the tricks. I tried for hours to upload my Halloween photo set to Flickr--a photo set I've been working on for several weeks just for the holiday, including costuming and setting--with help from Tom on enhancements to The Compound.

Belatedly, from our coven to yours:

Happy Halloween!

If you're interested in a closer look at the models, including all twelve Birthstone Barbies, four horses, a banshee, and representations of Greg Herren, Famous Author Rob Byrnes, Timothy J. Lambert, and me--or as we affectionately call each other: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death--the full set may be here, depending on the whims of Flickr and Live Journal.

Sorry for being late.

Photo Friday, No. 170

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:05:26 GMT

Current Photo Friday theme: Well Groomed

I need your voting power

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:08:51 GMT

On tonight's episode of Project Runway, the contestants had to design a companion piece to go with one of their winning looks. Since I'm not competing, I don't have a challenge winner to go by. I'm putting photos of each of my designs from this season behind a cut. Please choose the number of your favorite and put it in a comment. The look that gets the most votes will be the one I use as the companion for my next design. Comments are screened, so you won't see any else's votes, and my LJ DOES accept anonymous comments, so you don't have to have a LJ account.

THANKS.

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

10.

If you want to see more or larger photos of the designs, they're all in this public Flickr group. Again, thank you for your input!

Let's get some shoes

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:56:25 GMT

The intro takes too much time, but once the runway show begins--THOSE SHOES! Some amazing couture from Alexander McQueen.

Thanks to tinyseams on flickr for pointing me to this.

Hump Day Happy

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:43:01 GMT

Look! From the Land of Many-Colored Dinosaurs Who Can Only Stand in One Position:

It's HUMP DAY HAPPY!
Please comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25,
and let the Many-Colored Dinosaurs Who Can Only Stand in One Position
find you something in this book to be happy about!

Or else it's on your shoulders when happiness becomes extinct.

For Lindsey

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:22:13 GMT

Thanks for lunch! And, er, what were we just saying about the need to stay vigilant?

Windows, No. 1

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:10:04 GMT

Beginning my own new photo series with a theme of windows. This photo:

has led me to this book, which I think I really must own: Eating Her Wedding Dress: A Collection of Clothing Poems, edited by Vasiliki Katsarou, Ruth O'Toole, and Ellen Foos. Description: One hundred contemporary poets—local stars and literary luminaries such as Kim Addonizio, Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, Elaine Equi, Jorie Graham, Maxine Kumin, Paul Muldoon, and Charles Simic—join together in this anthology to celebrate clothing in its many forms and functions: as desire, as ghost, as body, as poetry, as talisman, as transformer of the soul.

LJ Runway Monday: Around the World in Two Days (PR 6:10)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:05:32 GMT

On the latest episode of Lifetime's Project Runway, the contestants met with designer Michael Kors, who told them that much of his work had been influenced by places he'd visited around the world. Each designer chose one from a group of cities and created a look inspired by that location. They were given a paragraph about their city and a couple of photos for guidance.

Rather than pick one of the choices from the show, I asked Tim to name a random city. His suggestion: Amsterdam. Located in the province of Holland, Amsterdam is the cultural and financial center of The Netherlands. Holland is a place that appeals to me for personal reasons. During World War II, my father (a U.S. soldier) was for a time behind German lines there and was taken care of and hidden by a Dutch family.

From the Wikipedia section on Amsterdam fashion:

Fashion brands like G-star, Gsus, BlueBlood, 10 feet and Warmenhoven & Venderbos, and fashion designers like Mart Visser, Viktor & Rolf, Marlies Dekkers and Frans Molenaar are based in Amsterdam. Modeling agencies Elite Models, Touche models and Tony Jones have opened branches in Amsterdam. Supermodels Yfke Sturm, Doutzen Kroes and Kim Noorda started their careers in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has its garment center in the World Fashion Center. Buildings which were formerly housing brothels in the red light district, have been converted to ateliers for young, up-and-coming fashion designers.

An Amsterdam location that caught my attention is Negen Straatjes: nine narrow streets with a large number of privately owned shops, many of which sell vintage fashion.

These are the two pictures that inspired my design this week:

A 1912 painting from Rik Wouters,
a Belgian fauvist painter and sculptor who lived and died in Amsterdam:

Two Women Sewing in Front of the Window

And a trendy accessories shop in the Negen Straatjes district:

First, I chose a vintage silk fabric with colors that reminded me of the Wouters painting.
I loved the bold flowers.

But the design's gray roses also reminded me of the historical Amsterdam of black-and-white photos. I imagined Mattel Top Model Lacy finding this 1950s-style dress in one of Negen Straatjes's resale boutiques.

Then I created appropriate accessories for the dress, including:

The earrings and necklace.

A belt.

A pair of green slides after the original Mattel Barbie shoes,
enhanced with emerald crystals and gold threading.

Lacy and I have to dash out--but I'll see you next time on the runway!

To see my previous designs for this season:

6:9--Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!
6:8--A Fashionable New Beginning
6:7--The Sky's the Limit
6:6--Lights, Camera, Sew!
6:5--Fashion Headliners
6:4--What a Woman Wants
6:3--Rumble on the Runway
6:2--We Expect Fashion
6:1--The Red Carpet

Doll and Dragon Maker

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:56:13 GMT

A very happy birthday to camillemulan, creator of the fantastic Raggedy Chan.

Button Sunday

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:14:48 GMT

Showing some birthday love

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:53:26 GMT

I adore, adore, adore Jeffrey Ricker, and today is his birthday. Happy birthday, Jeffrey! I can't believe you're five years older than I am.

heh heh

I hope you're having a great day.