Monday, April 29, 2013

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Mz Underwood


 Typewriters have been pretty core in my life.  Although I went to college, the most relevant education I have used is the typing classes I took in high school.  Almost all my professional career has involved typing or as we know say, keyboarding.  My art explorations and personal interactions in the world - yep, typing!

I found this replica vintage typewriter in the Dollar Tree, my most favorite source of art junque.  But recently after reading a piece on making things with old books, I decided it was time for a typewriter-headed altered doll.

I also had great fun cutting the words from an old book for the torso collage. Each line was it's own selection and each 'paste' followed some internal rhythm of  'this one goes there'.  In the end, though, these things just become embedded in the whole but I really love the feeling of following that element of precision or requirement in the creative flow.

Dennis handily drilled a hole right through the book for the literary base.  


Mz Underwood _ altered doll  17" tall




Mz Underwood - front detail


Mz Underwood - back detail


Mz Underwood - base detail


While googling for a typewriter font, I found this vintage ad for 'Underwood Red' nail polish.  Scary good.





     





Wednesday, April 17, 2013

She's an artist...


Found the delightful image of retro girls on Facebook today.  I'm not able to find the original attribution, but I loved the image and it inspired this bit of fun today.




Friday, April 12, 2013

Birthdays! Collage! Body Art!


Last month was a milestone birthday.  I'm truly an 'official' oldster now and I had a great time celebrating and my friends kept it coming all month.  My friend April sent me an early gift and when I told her I wasn't going to wait for the actual date to open it, she celebrated with me by sending some more fun things.  My husband was happy to gift me an 'official' Apple Ipad cover  to replace the cheapo one I had bought myself which was splitting its seams and I got to have 'Happy Birthday' engraved on the back. Nicely bright red too. Hand-made books from my friend Perry. Lemon Meringue pie from Nora.  A singing happy birthday videos from Amy & Sarah.  Cool art design CD from Deb and many other delights.  I was a totally 'gifted' oldster-girl.

But the biggest celebration was one I gave myself - a gift of body art.  It came to me to go into this next part of my life with a little zest and zing and I decided to get a visible tattoo - a 'collage' on my arm..  I have a flying crow on my thigh, which was a celebration I had with my daughter Amy about 15 years ago and she took me to her favorite tattoo place in Chicago. My new art also reflects my crow totem, as it is a crow feather with crows soaring out of the feather itself.  It also features a wonderful red spiral, another of my symbols that shows up a lot in my art.  My other daughter, Mimi, was the contributor of the spiral and star part of the design.  My tattoo artist Scott Wiecek drew a great synthesis of my tattoo ideas right on my arm and we had a great conversation through the whole experience with a nice sound track of a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds mix from Pandora.  Scott is at Acme Tattoos in Staunton, VA.  

I talked about doing this quite a bit and was very psyched. But I discovered once I made the appointment, I began having dreams where inner judges yelled out to me their concerns about the consequences of having a visible tattoo, ie, 'You won't be able to get a job.'  This continued for about a week, culminating with a dream the night I actually got the tattoo.  The next day I did a collage about these 'tattoo judges.'

I really like to 'work out' inner conflicts with art and now use digital collage most often.  I find the whole process of immersing myself in the image search for the themes that arise in these conflicts powerful in and of itself.  I like the feel of the 'back-burner' assimilating and organizing the images according to some 'resolving' pattern.  As I said to a friend, I feel like I 'smash and flatten these issues and capture them in 2D'.  Some element of resolution is always reached, even if the core issue might arise again.


Oldster e-girl collage

Tattoo Judges

Win-Win collage

He Says - She Says






Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Healing Arts with Deb Booth - DifferentLightStudio.com


Deb Booth is a dear friend, but also an art colleague and collaborator. Deb is a glorious photographer who finds the heart, the 'different light' in what she sees and creates vibrant, unique images.  Together we have also explored digital collage together.  

Deb is currently part of a moving show - Healing Through The Arts - at Oasis Gallery in Harrisonburg, Va, where is she a co-op member.

Each artist prepared a book in which they talk about their art and process.  I particularly like how Deb shared her perspective on the theme of healing.

  • Healing through the arts.... what does that mean?  Well, for me - it's a dual process.
  • When I create art, I'm healed.
  • There is a spiritual connection for me, when I'm focused on my art. 
  • I have always said that getting out and taking photos of flowers, plants, trees, clouds, etc., is my form of worship service. 
  • It's my way of touching something Divine, and remembering that there is more to this world than what I can see or perceive.  A reminder that there is something holy and eternal  in the curves and curlicues of a fern unfolding.
  • Getting back in touch with Spirit / God / All That Is is a healing thing for me.  Touching the wellspring of timelessness when I'm totally involved in capturing that bit of Nature is when I'm feeling most creative.
  • Creativity is inspiration in action.  And when I'm caught up by my 'play', I am in The Flow.  The Zone.  I am at peace with, honoring, and working beside, God.  I am being healed.  
These are some of my favorite images and I love how she shares her collage approach.









If you're in the area, check out the show at  
               click on the logo for the website 

The show runs through May 30th     Oasis is at 103 S. Main Street in downtown Harrisonburg, VA, at the corner of Water Street.    540-442-8188.  


Otherwise, check out all of Deb at  

 click on the logo for the website



collages copyright of Deb Booth