Announcing the rebooting of my dailydress project ....

Though I started making dressart and my 'dressproject'  since 2005, I started my 'dailydress project ...' on May 31, 2013.  It stemmed from a personal need to have daily positive and inspirating messages because that year was pretty intense for me. And as is my nature I wanted to share the words of wisdom that I found so I started my 'dailydress project ...' blog.

click here to go to blog

I posted daily for over a year, May 31, 2013 - July 11, 2014. Then my posts became less daily so that I could focus on other projects of my life. Then when my oldest, Maya, headed off to college I turned again to my daily posting, this time focusing the posts on topics and themes that I wanted to share with my daughters, my book of motherlove. I posted 97 days of 'motherlove', and once again life demanded my attention and my posts became more sparatic and far between.

Now loved ones of mine are going through a difficult transition,  so I am rebooting my dailydress blog!!  And honestly I couldn't be more happy! My 'dailydress' blog has been one of my favorite things to do.  I am a quote junkie, jotting down inspiring quotes whenever I see one, the more obscure the better. So if you are interested in "a collection of art, quotes, advice, recipes and life hacks to help us all navigate this brave new world ...." click this link to visit the entire blog.

I have also created a 'dailydress' project group on FaceBook, so if you are on FB please join the group! the more the merrier.

'the dailydress project ...' Public group · 384 members Join Group 'the dailydress project ...' @ https://dailydressproject.blogspot.com a collection of art, quotes, advice, recipes and life hacks to help us all navig...

click here to join the dailydress project group on FB

thank you and peace, 

Nancy Swan Drew

Nancy Swan Drew: prolific artist, syndicated cartoonist, surface designer, clothes designer/creator, cancer survivor, author, radio host, humanitarian, wife, mother of three, grandmother

Nancy Swan Drew (left) in front of her contributions to a fundraiser 

I was fortunate enough to learn about Nancy Swan Drew at an early age and introduced to her wildly inspiring world.

Nancy Swan Drew was the first living woman artist I learned about when I was growing up.  My mother knew of Drew's work and brought some of Drew's inspirational, fun, colorful images into our home.

Drew's work introduced me to the concept that art could be bright and whimsical and demonstrated using text in paintings.  But it was her example of the idea of art is life and life is art that affected me the most.  I love reading descriptions about her home and family life.  Nancy Swan Drew created, painted and embellished her everyday world as this description depicts:

"The door is not the only part of the house to show Drew`s creative touch. Walls, wallpaper, window frames, sofas, chairs, tables, lampshades, even the vacuum cleaner have not escaped Drew`s artistic imprint.Elongated, cartoonlike figures float on the handrail along the stairway. A sofa, resplendent with splattered paint upholstery, crouches in the living room. Life-size cutouts lurk in the corners. Bumper stickers from the Grand Hotel and other such places paper a bathroom.The result is an interior that looks as if it has been assaulted by a manic 5-year old. It is high-voltage pattern-on-pattern, completely at odds with the ``Leave It to Beaver`` exterior of this houseperched in bucolic splendor on a hill outside Niles, Mich., 90 miles from Chicago."

The Mystery Of Nancy Drew, Every Surface A Canvas-and What A Canvas-for An Enterprising, Unfettered Artist  October 20, 1991 By Sharon Stangenes.

I believe my exposure to Nancy Swan Drew influenced me greatly.  Drew did EVERYTHING - greeting cards, painted found objects and furniture, embellished clothing.  I was enchanted by her loose, folk art like style.



Drew is still producing as you can see by her Facebook page, click here to visit her FB page :)
Below are some descriptions from different articles giving these a glimpse into the wonderful and whimsical world of Nancy Swan Drew.  Click on the quote to go to the full article.

When it comes to her artwork Drew considers her style expressionistic. She works with oils, ink, pastels, collages, and more. She describes her work as thought observations. She attributes her love of art to her grandmother.“I fell in love with the creative process when I was very young. My grandmother was a kindergarten teacher and she had a room full of art supplies that I had free range to. That is one of my favorite memories. 

Nancy Swan Drew: The case of the inspiring artist Aug 5, 2004 CINDY SHAFER

interior shot of inspire me, a boutique that feature Nancy Drew

Here is a description of Nancy Swan Drew's customized clothing: 

Each of her customized pieces features one of these ``socially significant`` statements. However, the graphic is probably the last thing you will notice when you encounter a Drew blazer or vest.

That`s because these loud, colorful reworked Salvation Army specials are covered with tons of other stuff, too: bows and ribbons and swatches of material and baby toys and cheap jewelry and rubber frogs and bicycle reflectors and pink foam hair rollers. Their pockets are filled with more stuff: a row of ceramic nuns, a handful of bow ties, a set of big plastic lips. And then there`s the attached pockets on the front of the jacket, made of netting, which are filled with even more stuff: candy and gum and toy whistles and tops and-well, you get the idea. Clothes Can Speak Louder Than WordsAugust 24, 1988|, Marla Donato.

so much to discover in this cyber-world in which we play . . .

today i am bring back my series:

dOse oF TaLenT

"dOse oF TaLenT"
which started a few years ago on my artist's page on Facebook.
i shared the works and links of artists that inspired me,
that i thought was doing something new,
artists that caught my attention.

i stopped this 'practice' because other life events needed my time and attention, but i have been itching to start up again.  now even more, thanks to instagram and pinterest, i have discovered amazing artists that more people need to know about!!!

so i have started a "dOse oF TaLenT" blog which can be found in the above dashboard of this blog. this way if you are interested in my "dOse oF TaLenT" then you can click through or just follow that blog, and this blog can stay more information about what is happening in my art world (although, i DO have some fun ideas for this blog) 

instagram

as i have written numerous times, i miss this blog. i love doing the dailydress inspiration blog, but i miss the deeper exploration that i was doing here . . . i honestly get a lot of insight when i read past posts and remember what i was doing and thinking at that time.

so introducing the addition of my  "dOse oF TaLenT" blog into my cyber-world.

here is the link to today's post (clickhere) but as I mentioned you can get there by clicking "dOse oF TaLenT" in this blog's dashboard (look up ^).  

happy clicking and please leave a comment if you are having trouble, or if you have a comment about the new format, or if you just have a comment or idea to share.

FB artist page

dresstags on foreign shores

May this dress remind you to learn from the past and to savor the peppermint and thyme you find along the way (in Dougga, Tunisia)

For those of you not on Facebook I want to share lovely phenomena which has come from this cyber connection that social media allows us.

(Not that I am in anyway promoting FB.  As I have mentioned here I have a love hate relationship with social media, there is good and bad, as it is with many relationships.  But today's story springs from of the good.

dresstags heading to Asia

Thanks to social media my dresstagging practice has reach a much larger audience. That is very gratifying since I usually never see where or if my dresstags are found.  But with the wonders of Iphones, instagram and the likes, I can post pictures of these little parcels of goodwill and good fortune and their message is sent and received virtually, and usually to much enthusiasm. 

Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou, China

Clara's story: "This dresstag was left at the Guangdong Museum's small shop in Guangzhou. A little later I could not resist, went back there and saw the moment the young woman picked up the dress and looked very intrigued by it. She looked around and saw me, I guess she connected... and then she smiled. I smiled back and left."

This positive energy has been very important when inspiration fails or financial stress looms.  This cyber-encouragement lead me to doing my Daily Dress Inspirations blog/group, my daily morning meditation practice where I find a quote that I need to hear for that day/at that moment and post it with or without a dress.

May this dress inspire you to appreciate the art all around you. — Dar Ben-Gacem, Tunis, Tunisia

This practice has been invaluable to me during these past months and appears to be supportive to others as well.  Via Facebook I have received messages of how the quote I choose what perfect for someone to read.  Here is a comment that was shared on FB.  I LOVE  the idea that I live in a corner of her life:

"my experience has been that I/we are planted where we/I can meet those special people bringing in the light, lessons and love in unique ways that I/we most need at the time we/I are in need. Virginia Fitzgerald was introduced to me by my daughter the first year I lived in Massachusetts. Her creativity is the outward result of her inner beauty. It seems she shares each day exactly what I need. I have a feeling she lives in a corner of my life just waiting to provide these dresses just for me. So happy you have found her as well. We all make the world go round!!!!" G. Armstrong

The dress on the photo was left at a market in GZ, with the delicious dragon fruits. I left there and some 10 minutes later, when we walked back to that area, the dress was already gone and a young woman, that I think works there, was looking at us with a very big and friendly smile!!!! — in Guangzhou, China.

Social media has increased the reach of my dresstagging practice.   Because of FB one of my artist/friend/dresstag followers, who was heading to China asked if I wanted her to take some dresstags with her!!! YES!! and I posted on FB that my dresstags were heading to Asia, which lead to two other friends offering to take some to Tunisia!!!where they were going to spread dresstag inspiration in french!!! So very exciting!! 

So during the past week I have been receiving beautiful photos from abroad.  These pictures have been tremendously welcomed by me, amidst this times of holiday stress and some loneliness triggered by figuring out how these family focused time unfold when you are divorce.  I am continually amazed how my dresswork seems to go out into the world, just to return to help me.

left in the Alps

left at the Frankfurt Airport

May this dress bring you (and us) safe and sweet travels! This one was left on a shelf of maple syrup in the Montreal airport.

So here are some of these treasures, most received this month, and one from the Alps a few summers ago!! Thank you dress carrying world travelers, Martha Calderaro and family, Liz Gray, Jacqui Bloomberg and Clara Bohrer, I am truly grateful!!! peace

link to the FB photo album #dresstagsabroad  and you can follow my dresstagging practice on instagram, @virginiafitzart