"I pray for the Angel of Uncertainty to visit..."
-Sally Mann
...in this wonderful documentary speaking about happy accidents that occur in her process.

(Thanks, Natasha).

I often like 'mistake' photos better than the photos I intended to take...

3 Years of ERMIE & Scarf Giveaway!

ERMIE Big Chiffon Scarf, Yarn Print in Big Sur.





Spectrum Print in Venice.





Yarn Print in Mojave.


All Textile Designs © Jennifer Parry Dodge 2011


Time flies! This coming Saturday, this little old blog turns 3 years old!

A lot has changed in my life since I started this blog in 2008. I got married, changed careers, met amazing people I never would have otherwise. I've definitely learned how to take better photographs! I never imagined I'd be doing what I'm doing now, when I posted my first post. I find it remarkable that things that I have created, have made their way to Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Singapore! All because of this blog.

I'm not the best writer, or the best at responding to all of your wonderful comments for that matter, but I just wanted to take the time to thank you for reading & visiting this blog. Thank you for participating in this process, and for your support. I do appreciate it. So much.

To celebrate: I'm giving away a Chiffon Scarf from the upcoming ERMIE collection.
It comes in 3 different prints/colorways, as pictured above. 36 x 72." (a $175 value!)
Just leave a comment under this post: you could tell me your best possible scenario for yourself in 3 years, or just say hello :) ...whatever you'd like to say.

You have until 11/2/11 Midnight PST to enter. I'll draw the name of 1 person at random on 11/3/11. You choose which scarf you'd like. I'll ship it anywhere in the world free of charge!

Good luck, and here's to the next 3 years!

Another pot. This one is so funny. The inside looks like mold or lichen. The outside is mostly bare, unglazed. My instructor declared this one "earthy."



My friend Cate sent me an excerpt from a poem by Kate Tuthill:

At night the heavens are starry and black
up here on top of the world across the sky,

northern lights dance

reds and greens a-twirl.

The Inuits say don't whistle, when the
lights are high, lest they swoop to
earth and carry you up to the
luminescent sky.

-Kate Tuthill
"Labrador in Winter"

Besides being a lovely bit of writing, I thought it matched my Solstice Print nicely. The Northern lights were intense on the evening of 10/24/11. They could be seen as far south as Georgia in the States. We could not see them in Los Angeles. Did you see them?


For Eve: the recipes for Max Cambras' Oven Roasted Potatoes and Roots & Cream as seen here.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients (works with any quantity):

Red potatoes, all of similar diameter ~3”

Full head of garlic

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Butter

Par-boil potatoes until tender, set out to dry, cut in half.

Cover bottom of heavy oven pan with 1/8” of olive oil (glass, ceramic or anodized—will not work with thin non-stick baking pans). Set potatoes jacket side up in the pan in a single layer & brush jackets with olive oil. Bake at ~400 degrees until oil has been absorbed and pan-facing side is crisp, about 30min. Cut heads of garlic in two, brush with oil and put in pan. Flip potatoes and bake until jackets turn crisp—add more oil if necessary. Stir and bake 10-20min more, being careful not to burn garlic.

Remove from oven and stir with a knob of butter. Salt and pepper to taste.

Roots and Cream

Ingredients:

~20 Pearl Onions

2 cups cubed turnip

2 cups cubed parsnip

4tbls sweet butter

1.5 cups whole milk, room temp

.5cup cream, room temp

1/8-1/4 tsp. mace

Salt

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

Fresh parsley

Cut parsnip and turnip into ½” to ¾” cubes, keeping size as similar as possible. In a large covered pan, melt butter at medium heat. Add onions and salt (1/2 teaspoon). Sweat onions for 15min covered, careful not to brown at all. Add cubed turnip and parsnip cook covered for 5min, careful not to brown. Add milk and cream—raise temp, but do not boil. Turn down to simmer and cook for ~1hr.

After ~30min add Cayenne pepper and mace. Check to make sure all vegetables are fork tender, and milk has cooked down. Adjust seasoning and serve. Tip: if it is too dry, finish with a little more cream.

ERMIE Holiday 2011

Textile Designs © Jennifer Parry Dodge 2011

ERMIE Holiday 2011: A bit of a misnomer, really, since both Fall/Winter and Holiday items will be officially released in the look book and shop simultaneously (Soon! Yes. Just a couple more weeks. Promise!). Plus, you can pre-order any of the garments and prints that I've previewed here on the blog right now!

Photos 1-5.
Solstice Print. Not actually the starry night sky, but a photograph I took with my iPhone last December of holiday lights reflected in a frosted window.
This print will be featured on the "Free" Sleeve Dress. Perfect for all of your seasonal festivities.


Photos 6-10.
Is it possible that I have a favorite out of all of the prints I've made so far? Maybe. This one certainly comes pretty close. The After Party Print. From a photograph taken on this night, after my friend Jay's art opening, at (you guessed it) his after party in the Hollywood Hills.
This print will be featured on the Short Sleeve Midi/Maxi dress.
(It would look lovely on the 3/4 Length Sleeve Silk Tee, too.) Ring in the New Year with this print! Elegant and unexpected.

Both will be printed on 100% Silk Crepe de Chine.
As always, please drop me a line at helloermie (at) gmail (dot) com if you have any questions at all, or would like to place an order!


xx

Autumn Meal:
C. was a wonderful hostess (& wore Uroko Gata).
H. & T. Brought colorful & tasty hor d'oeuvres.
M. made delectable potatoes, parsnips, roasted chicken, and more.
N8 played and had a smile on his face.
G. Caught a bee.
S. had perfect aim, and made her famous Party Salad.
T. wore a wig (not pictured, he would kill me!)
I was a shutterbug.
We all had a good time!

Kneeland Co. Moroccan Slippers

Love, love, love my new slippers from Joanna!
Handmade in Morocco. Colorful, comfy leather--beautifully embroidered. You could snag a similar pair to by going to her blog and entering her give away! Go here for more details & to enter. Good luck!

(Thank you so much Joanna :)

Tadayuki Kawahito (+ READ BOOKS, Eagle Rock)

More used Books! These two I found on separate occasions at Read Books in Eagle Rock.
This is a great little bookstore. They carry an assortment of new magazines, a few new books, and have a truly eclectic selection of used books. You have to dig a little, but there are some gems in there for sure.

Tadayuki Kawahito is a photographer whom I had never heard of before I found these books; I still know very little about him- the information on him on the internet is extremely scant.

This book below, Mellow, from what I can tell, documents a trip that he took to California (some of the photos are of Los Angeles) to visit the Self Realization Fellowship's Lake Shrine Temple in Pacific Palisades. The book is in fact dedicated to Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.




Why I like actual books (as opposed to a Kindle, etc.): details like this. If you remove the book's dustcover, it reveals a delicate imprint of a leaf.





Okay. This is pretty crazy. Mellow was published in 1989. The above photo is of a Missile Test from the book. The painting below is by my husband,Tomory, and was made in 2003, in response to an actual Missile Test (a Minuteman III ICBM launch from Vandenberg AFB) we saw in the early evening of Sept.19, 2002. The launch wasn't widely publicised prior to it's occurrence, and apparently, most launches of this type take place in the middle of the day or night--rarely at dusk. It was a total surprise to us: it was in the months leading up to the Iraq war, it was only a year after September 11th, international tensions were high, and when we saw this on our way home from the grocery store- it scared the shit out of me (T. was inspired to make a series of paintings- ha !).
One of the paintings that resulted from that series (pictured below), if memory serves, was actually the very first he ever exhibited at ACME in Los Angeles.



Above: Tomory Dodge, Night Test, 2003, oil on canvas 72 x 60 in.




Below: Pyramid, also by Kawahito. Published circa 1983.

I loved the font that was used so much on the cover of Pyramid, that I gave a picture of it to Katie (my muse and model from S/S '11!) for inspiration when I asked her to design the ERMIE logo.








Obviously documenting a journey to Egypt.

I found this book first, before Mellow. I love how intentionally underexposed many of the photos are...I feel like it makes you examine the photos more closely to pick out all of the details.

When I started my Tumblr last year, some of the first images I posted were from this book.
They just went so well with the very first image I posted to Tumblr- Ermie on a camel in front of the Pyramids!

Whew! Thanks for bearing with me-long post. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that it illustrated how inspiration can come from very unexpected sources.

Have a great weekend.