Outfit For Under $40

Excited about a recent purchase, I decided to create a silent film. You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGLRlVS9iUo ENJOY!!

Music: Plucky Daisy by Kevin MacLeod.

Feeling Good

My work was posted on {Frolic!} AND decor8 yesterday, woo woo!! I'm glad everyone loves the Summer Love Collection.

AND *drumroll* my work is for sale at Getty Images now!! I'm really excited about that.

Expect some updates at jenaardell.com in the very near future... or next 20 min.

Spotlight on: Photographer Bill Wood

I felt like I hit the jackpot when I recently discovered Photographer Bill Wood's expansive collection of 1950s and 1960s Americana!!

Wood spent nearly 40 years photographing local businesses, showrooms and product displays in Fort Worth, Texas where he owned and operated the Bill Wood Photo Company. His photographs were not meant to be artistic in composition or style, but Wood's authentic -- borderline deadpan -- portraits predate a style emulated by today's photographers.

After his death in 1973, Wood's family decided to sell the negatives of his work. Wood's collection would have not reached mainstream media had actress, and avid photo collector, Diane Keaton not purchased 20,000 of his negatives. Keaton kept the negatives in storage and would occasionally make contact sheets, each time finding hundreds of images she loved. With the help of freind Marvin Heiferman, Keaton turned the archive into an exhibition and book project.

"Some of us can just never get enough imagery, never enough staring at stills. It's a hunger. It's a real hunger, it's a starvation. You need more and more, there's never enough looking. Ever," Keaton has said of the project.

In May 2008, Keaton and Heiferman curated an exhibition titled "Bill Wood's Business" at the International Center of Photography in New York City. You can find a copy of the book containing Wood's work here.

HAPPY EASTER/PASSOVER EVERYONE!!!!

Here are some Easter photos from my flickr photostream:

even the easter bunny picks his nose
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Easter Best
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Me and Thumper
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Edible Penguins

Check out these adorable penguins I made for Liz's Passover Dinner!! Next year, I'm adding yamikas. They are sooo easy (yet time consuming) to create. All you need: two cans of unpitted olives, carrots, cream cheese and toothpicks. Your guests will be thrilled.

Here's how to make them:

1. First, either using baby carrots or regular carrots, create your penguin feet by slicing carrot rounds. If you're using regular carrots and small olives, stick with the tapered half of the carrot so the feet will be smaller/proportional to the penguin body. Slice as many carrot rounds as you would like penguins for. Starting in the center of each round, carefully cut small outward V's (to make the carrot look more like penguin feet). Be sure to save the V's you cut out for the beaks!!

2. Prep olives by holding them vertically and slicing one side from top to bottom. I did not have an pastry bag when I made my penguins but if you have one, your prep time will be cut in half!! Fill your pastry bag with cream cheese and pipe cream cheese into the sliced olives. This gives the penguins their white bellies. If you do not have an pastry bag, you have to fill the olives using a knife or your fingers and cream cheese will get all over the olives and then you will need to wipe them off... so invest in an pastry bag!! Set the filled olives aside, they are the penguin bodies.

3. It's time to make the heads so grab some more olives!! DISCLAIMER: If you get frustrated easily or are impatient, I recommend you pipe cream cheese into the center of each olive. This will hold the heads together while you are trying to shove a carrot nose into a small incision. If you think you have the patience or do not have an pastry bag, leave the olives plain. Take your leftover carrot V's and slice them vertically once or twice. Holding your olive horizontally, make a small X incision in the center of the olive. Stick the carrot noses into the incision and VIOLA, penguin heads!!

4. Now it's time to construct. Using a small dab of cream cheese, stick your penguin feet to a platter or dish. This is your base. Keeping your penguin heads horizontal, stick a toothpick down the center. You only need to bring the olive head 3/4 up the toothpick. When you have your head in place, slide an olive body onto the toothpick. Keep the bodies vertical and heads horizontal. Once you have a toothpick with both a head and body, stick the end of the toothpick into one of the carrot feet. You should have a penguin!!

5. TIP: Keep the platter chilled until your guests arrive, otherwise the cream cheese will melt and your penguins will slide all over the place. If you need to store them overnight, carefully place wet paper towels and/or Seran Wrap over the penguins. This will prevent the carrots and olives from drying out. ENJOY!!

5 FRIDAY FAVORITES

Some of these sites have been among my favorites for a loooong time and some I've just discovered:

1. As you can see, I looove making lists. So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this little gem. Such a simple and wonderful idea!!

2. Flickr is heaping with all sorts of talents but this has always been one of my favorite photo streams. Zalita makes all of those edible goodies in her shop "Cupcake D'lights" in Durban South Africa. Everything looks too good to eat!!

3. Kewlest worldwide art project idea: A Home For Alice. People from all over the world send a Polaroid picture of their house (along with a little text about why they feel at home there) to Alice who displays it on her blog. The entire collection has already been displayed in a few galleries across the globe AND... "At the end of the project, all the best pictures will be collected to become a book, that will relate the whole adventure." AWESOME.

4. Lately I've been obsessed with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. There is nothing more romantic than a TRUE Hollywood love story that lasts a lifetime. You can watch their story here.

5. Zooey Deschanel + Joseph Gordon Levitt = 500 Days of Summer. August 20th can't come soon enough!!

Where You Can Find Me:

A 12x12 styrene of my "Vixen" Retro Fine Art Print is currently for sale and on display in the L'Keg Gallery in Los Angeles.

Lipsticktracez is featuring some photos from my Summer Love collection in their online gallery. Check it out!!

Travelomo published a nice blurb about my Oktomat photos here.

I posted a slideshow of my Summer Love Collection on youtube complete with an awesome version of "Summer Breeze" covered by The Main Ingredients.

And as always, I added some *NEW* items in my etsy shop: http://jenaardell.etsy.com

Much more to come!! XOXO

M.I.A

Sorry I've been M.I.A!! March was a busy month. Justin, my friend from college, visited me for a week and we spent three days in San Francisco. We rented a car and took Route 1/the PCH up the coast to get there. It took 10 hours to get there (instead of 6 or 7 hours via Route 5), but it was worth it!! I wasn't too impressed with Pebble Beach but the drive along Big Sur was amazing. We hit up all of the typical San Fran locales... went to Alcatraz; drove down Lombard Street; found the REAL Full House House (1709 Broderick Street); Visited Alamo Square/Painted Ladies; walked 1/4 way across the Golden Gate Bridge; took photos from the Marin Headlands; went to Fisherman's Wharf; ate Thai food. All and all, a fun trip!! I also introduced Justin to Pinkberry and now he is an addict. We ate Pinkberry (sometimes for breakfast!!) at least 4 times that week.

Also in March, my favorite boss Dave Nagel landed a HUGE job for Best Buy. It was a four-day shoot with 11 models and an excellent crew!! We shot at 5th and Sunset studios whose in-house chef spoiled us with breakfast and lunch every day. Breakfast burritos; bacon and eggs; French toast and fresh fruit for breakfast. Pork tenderloin on Monday; grilled chicken on Tuesday; salmon on Wednesday and skirt steak on Thursday--always accompanied by salad, sides and dessert!! Did I mention there's a coffee bar?! Best studio to work in!! During the four days, my boss shot an impressive 11,759 photos!! I shot a lot of production stills and videos that will available after the ad campaign debuts this October. I have to admit, I am impressed with the quality of Canon's 5D Mark II video setting... but the fact that it's manual focus is a drag. I had the opportunity and pleasure to work with Kirk Weddle, my boss's longtime friend, who produced the shoot. (For those of you who may not know, Kirk shot Nirvana's infamous baby underwater album cover for their album "Nevermind." You can read the whole story here). Watching Kirk and Dave interact and hearing all of their crazy college stories was a blast!! Can't wait to work with both of them again... which luckily will be soon!!

I've been drawing a lot of cutesy comics lately which I am hoping to display on a personal website. I just created an awesome summery comic but it's still spring so you'll have to wait to see it!! I'd love for a website or magazine to want to buy my comics for their publication. I should really look into it but I have to find the right market for them first.

And that pretty much sums up March, other than consuming lots of delicious Ice Pan, babysitting, going on an ebay spending spree and having my Polaroid camera break... luckily two replacements are on their way!!