Here comes Santa Claus

Mushroom imagery has been quite popular in the last year or so. I sometimes resist the urge to jump on the bandwagon, but after reading Holly McWhorter's piece in Inhabitat Santa and the 'Shrooms: the real story behind the "design of Christmas, I decided to try my hand. Thank you Bryon Finn for sharing this intriguing article :)

I had the pleasure of hearing John Cohen play with some wonderful musicians Friday night at Jalopy Theater & School of Music down in Red Hook. A fellow scenic painter has taken classes with a couple of the guys playing. I wish I knew their names, but I only remember Ernie, on the far left playing guitar. We talked a little after the show. He has one of those familiar faces and I've probably run into him somewhere on Court Street in the past. I enjoyed hearing folk music, not something I tend to listen to myself. They played a lot of songs from the Alan Lomax archives. I also liked the simplicity of the set with the traditional festive decorations.

I forgot to mention last week that I won a copy of They Draw and Travel after being tagged by Melissa Iwai on Instagram (that's 2 for 2) I recently won a subscription to Uppercase Magazine after we had tagged each other on Jennifer Nelson's feed. I hope this luck flows into 2016!

Then after having lunch with Melissa last Friday, we ran into Tad Hills, the creator of the Rocket series of children's books. I love his sweet illustration style! Melissa knows him, so it was really fun for me to meet them both :)

I liked this dog who was patiently waiting for his BFF to exit Court Street Grocers. He seemed a little unsure of me, however.

Staying on Court Street, a street I have surely walked up and down hundreds of thousands of times since I moved here in the 1990s. I took a few pictures of the holiday windows near my house. Above, is Tiny Brooklyn, a boutique for kids. She sells adorable clothes and a few toys, too. Below, the ever popular Buttermilk Channel. Don't worry, it was still early, they always fill up!

Below, the always charming, Le Petit Cafe

One of my very favorites, Frankies

A Madonna and lights at The Van Westerhout Cittadini Molesi Cultural & Social Club. I usually just call it the social club ;)

And of course, a nativity scene at St Mary Star of the Sea

In other fine news, I received my fall in love bag in the mail. I ordered the small 13 x 13 size for myself. There are lots more in my Society 6 shop!