suzanne2

My passion in life is traveling--sometimes it's real travel that involves suitcases--but sometimes it's 'armchair travel,' which means finding books and maps about foreign places. France is my favorite destination. I even study French!

I love art museums and can spend hours wandering through them. The French impressionists are favorites naturally, but I really like everything from ancient art to contemporary art.

My musical taste runs to the classics. Classical music, yes, but also, classic rock, classic pop, Broadway show tunes, old standards.

I'm a big reader, and I average almost 100 books a year. Mostly, I read fiction, and I especially enjoy books that take place in foreign locales and historical fiction.

I enjoy anything to do with paper and ink and scissors and paint. It is a treat when I have time to sketch and paint. Mixed medial collage is fun. Artists' books are a favorite challenge, and I like to use beads and ribbons to decorate them. I also carve rubber stamps, and I've started experimenting with some prints.

I admire all art that reflects the 'hand' of the artist.

I like to incorporate old things in my crafts. Vintage ephemera is interesting, and old books and maps and black-and white photos are real treasures.

I collect interesting papers--handmade paper, patterned paper, paste paper, odd-colored paper, marbled paper, metallics.

Postcards fascinate me. Art postcards, quirky (not cute) postcards, map postcards, black-and-white postcards, and postcards from around the world are in my collection. Foreign stamps and magazines/newspapers are wonderful, too.

My favorite colors are hard to describe. Actually, I love earth tones and 'neutrals,' like black and white and cream and beige and greys and taupes, etc. I generally avoid primary and bright colors, and I gravitate toward intense colors, like Chinese red or deep turquoise, or more muted hues, like seafoam green or terra cotta. Oh yes, I like metallics, too--gold, bronze, copper, silver.