Woes & Whews When Creating For Plush You!

I'm proud to say that I was fortunate enough to have participated in both of last year's Plush You! shows in Seattle and San Francisco and getting invited for a second time this year. But then again, deciding on my entry for this year has had me wracking my poor brain. Should I submit another Stuft Acquaintance, should I submit another T&A plush item, or should I go ball's out and create something new altogether? The latter is what I've been going with recently but it's been such a hard decision to make. Hard economic times mean that it would be wise for me to submit something that would be checkbook-friendly but occasionally my brain doesn't work that way. When I'm working on a show piece, I really want to wow my audience with something new and impressive and to be frank, but that can get a little pricey.

These are the issues that have consumed my thoughts for the past couple of months. I want to create something reminiscent of everything that T&A Friendly stands for which is quality, zaniness and a bit of tack. All this pondering made me start at square one again and I had to revisit some of my original inspirations such as the dreary faux creatures of Liz McGrath,

(www.lizmcgrath.com)
my paintings which are always colorful and chalked full of vintage pop culture,

(Here's another sneek-peak into my series which will open this summer at Flying Pigeon in Highland Park)
and shiny and heavy weight textiles such as glittery vinyl or vinyl with a faux snakeskin texture.

My latest decision for the show hit me like a ton of bricks while waiting in line to get onto Indiana Jones at Disneyland last Tuesday. I want to make a family of tattooed swans...or ducks. I haven't yet decided what species of feathered friend the family will be but they will definitely be featured wading on water-made from vinyl of course! I'm so excited and will post it as the time for Plush You! gets closer.