Color Pop Studio Pops In

A review of new collection: Beach Bound

What inspired you to make it?

I grew up in Natick, Massachusetts. Some of my fondest memories occurred in the Summer months. My Dad would get off early from work.

He managed a gas station and was able to leave early on those perfect beach days midweek.

My Mom would begin to prepare picnic lunches for her family of four daughters. I remember the wicker picnic basket and the retro colored plastic plates and cups. Lunch would not be complete without her deviled eggs and of course the thermos filled with coffee for my dad. She would neatly gather everything needed for a full day at the beach.

Most beach days were spent at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, MA., but I also remember we would mix it up and go to Old Silver Beach in Falmouth, MA sometimes too. My Mom loved the cool refreshing water of the North Shore so I think we went up north most times.

That was the start of the inspiration for this collection. I was born in 1957, so I began to research retro beaches and started gathering my design references. Early in my career as a greeting card artist at Rustcraft, we were always taught to gather lots of references to stimulate the creative process. In the old days, I used magazines, but now in the digital age, Pinterest makes it very easy for me to gather references.

The color palette became obvious in the retro search and the design elements began to grow in the beach search. Once I gathered enough, I put together a storyboard to show.

I started out as a fine artist, so I love to paint in watercolors. I find it is relaxing to paint. I think knowing the computer can fix and adjust just about anything and that makes painting even more relaxing. I tend to paint the elements separate and use Photoshop to compose the repeats. I have a large library of art after almost 20 years since the start of my Design Business.

As mentioned, after graduating from UNH with a BFA, I was hired by Rustcraft as a greeting card artist. That later lead to jobs at a couple gift wrap companies. My last job as an Art Director was a valuable learning experience in marketing and sales. In 2001, I decided to venture out on my own so I could do what I loved most which was creating designs. I began to exhibit at Surtex in New York which is where I met the Jaftex team (in particular, Diana the lead stylist for The Blank Quilting Corp.) and began designing quilting collections. My oldest daughter who is also an artist joined me most years in New York.

My first collection, Bloom Bouquet, was created from a calendar series I create every year called Live Love Laugh. The other collections I’ve created for The Blank Quilting Corp. are Home Sweet Home, Florabelle, Tropical Zone, By Golly Let’s Get Jolly, Harbor Days and Red Alert.

It’s a joy to work on quilting projects and I always love receiving the finished samples.

This past March, I was able to donate most of my quilting samples to a woman from church who was sewing masks and surgical caps for hospitals.

I happened to be on a Zoom church call when she mentioned she was running out of fabric. Not being much of a sewer, I was thrilled I could donate the samples I had. She was thrilled as well.

One last thing… The Beach Bound tradition has continued for my family as well. We have vacationed at Nantucket for 42 years. Our 2 adult daughters, son in law and grandson have continued the tradition.