Owl Sisters and Crow Solstice

The nadir point and the wheel turns

 

Halloween. Oooky Pooky!

Halloween.  All Hallowed. The veil between the realms is thinned.  The dark mysteries can be glimpsed at.  We can dance and explore behind our mask and costume.  Some of these collages were made just for the season.  Others are just apropos.

Spirits @ News Virginian

Bad Dolly Trick or Treat

Crow Sisters Dark Matter

I Still Repeat The Things You said

Ascension

All Saints Frida

Crows! Calling All Crows!

I have a thing for Crows. Crows speak to me. I feel them. They're symbolic to me, my totem, as it were.

Many years ago in a drumming circle, there was a guided meditation where we were invited to dive into a pond and when we emerged we would meet someone/something significant.  I 'met' Grandmother Crow. She embraced me within her cloak and since then Crow came present in my life. I have had many other Crow experiences, have gathered all things Crow and find Crow in my art, as themselves and as intertwined with me.  I appreciate the Corvid cousin Raven, but Crow who is my clan. 

Recently I completed another Crow collage and today decided to post a Gathering of Crows, a Murder of Crows.  

Crows Unbinding Worry

Dreamtime Crow Guardian

Crows Sisters

Crows Sisters-Dark Matters

White Crow Guardian

Spiraled E Crowed

Sad Hope Wth Crows

Greenway Crow Gathering

Crow-ed Shoes

West Asheville Summertime

West Asheville, NC is such a fun and inspiring place.  Asheville itself is a great place, but I really thrive in the little-bit-funky West Asheville vibe.  Any walk around town is full of things that catch my eye and many yearn to become a collage. Yeppo, they tell me so. 

The weather was great and our time a bit short, so only two collages came out of this visit.  I typically do my 'regional' collages while I'm actually visiting and in the area.  It's part of my fun with capturing the locale I'm visiting.

Bari Salon - West Asheville, NC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The West Asheville Lion

Special thank yous to Liz and Morris our West Asheville hosts.  It's always special and so are they. Always.

Out and About, Birthdays, Foreign Travel and Fierce Crows!

The post title says it all about this little collection.

Inspired by the Charlottesville, VA downtown walk mall. Recently saw Randy Rainbow at the Paramount and the still-old-school Nook, a long-time personal favorite.

The Paramount Theatre - Charlottesville VA

The Nook - Charlottesville, VA

Dear Friend Perry celebrated his 80th birthday. This is a celebration for him with some of his most wonderful accomplishments. The background is one of Perry's own drawings.

Perry @ 80

This started out as an 'Anonymous Content' collage, where I begin with no theme and let the images direct the flow.  The central image of the men led the way. And since it's a picture of the group Foreigner, the focus and title emerged.  They chose that name because the group was formed in the US, but two members were British and they thought in either the US or Britain, some of them were 'foreigners'.

Foreign Travel

And lastly, this collage emerged from a dream, in which fierce crow totem energy arises to be guardians.  Embraced by the Crow Clan.

Dreamtime Crow Guardians

Thankful for cards - birthday, celebrations, hellos! Cards!!

Since I spend a lot of time 'moving images about' in my collage work, I really like to make 'mini-collages' as cards for my friends and family.  I have designed general cards for holidays and fun for sale at the gallery, but I especially like doing a collage with a specific person in mind.

But what pleases me most about greeting cards, is that they catch my attention, get my focus away from all the other things that are 'more important' or 'have to be done first' before I can spend time noodling around with collage.  Too long may go by that I don't turn my head to creativity and then bam ~ a birthday shows up! Perhaps a need to send get well wish.  Or maybe just a show of support is needed.  Stop the presses on all those other seemingly so important things and play with images, find just the one for just that person. NOW.

Yeppo, cards keep me sane and remind me when it's time to be in my art space.

Here' a few from 2019, so far.  And friends, if your birthday is coming up, your card is not included.

Orange Cake Birthday

 

 

 

 

11th Birthday

Get Well

 

 

They Them Theirs Birthday

 

 

 

Butterfly Birthday

Anniversary

Woman Built From Fire

Hanging round and about West Asheville, NC 2019

West Asheville, the eclectic, little bit funky, place you want to be at in Asheville, North Carolina.  Our dear friends Liz and Morris gave us a call and said come on down and off we went. Walking, great restaurants, porch sitting, art, a good time was had indeed.

Liz and Morris Heart House

The Beauty Parade - what a name!  Salon and make-up and the wonderful vintage-looking photo was right there in the window.  I was super excited when I found the perfect vintage woman to go with her.  And the lipsticks are really those colors!  "Mood Changing" lipsticks from the 60's, which  I discovered you can still buy at the Vermont Country Store, which carries many old brands.

Beauty Parade - West Asheville

 

 

West Asheville is filled with vintage bungalows, old and funky, beautifully restored, new and everything in-between.  But what has also been joining the streets is a super modern look, touted as energy efficient, with crisp lines and pops of color.  And somehow, this new style fits right in.

Yellow Door West Asheville Moderne

 

 

 

 

Every funky place needs a good vintage shop and West Asheville has several, including the nicely painted  Twice Round Vintage.  Of course, I did amplify the colors but that wall is a screaming blue.

Twice Round Vintage - West Asheville

I typically like to do what I call my 'regional collages' while I'm visiting a certain place.  But these two from Savannah came home in bits and pieces and came together in Virginia.

208 E Jones Street - Savannah

Two Cats and a Doll - Savannah

 

 The two cats and the doll in the window are in the window of this house just as you see and inspired me to take the photo. The retro woman was in an advertisement for Black Cat cigarettes.

Savannah Savannah 2019

Spending a good length of time in another city is my favorite version of travel.  We're enjoying the sense of being in a 'second home' and have become 'regulars' at several favorite haunts. Apparently Savannah is more a short-term stay kind of place and people are surprised we're longer term visitors. But our longer stay allows us to enjoy discovering and rediscovering places, architecture, shops and restaurants.  There is a vast array of detail in everything that makes your most typical walk or visited place turn up something fresh and not noticed in that way before.  

ShopSCAD is one place we always check out.  A gallery shop of SCAD - Savannah College of Art & Design - on Bull Street and in one of the first SCAD restored buildings  with fine art, jewelry and fun little things as well.  This January window display caught my eye.

ShopSCAD

Henry's Restaurant on Drayton Street is one of our favorite breakfast places.  It has the vibe of an old school diner, very reasonable prices and really, the best grits in town. 

Henry's

Folklorico also on Bull Street is a wonderful shop always worthy of exploration, with many imported treasures, especially art from Mexico.  Last year my friend Joanie gifted me with a wonderful Frida Kahlo santos I had admired while we were in the shop together.  So Folklorico and Frida is a natural combo.

Folklorico Fridas

I came across an interesting collection of vintage photographs awhile ago and was looking for the perfect background and found it here in 24 E, which is the back of an vintage storefront on East Broughton Street, a main drag in the Savannah historic district. I later discovered that 24e is an interesting store, 24e Design, with unique furniture and art made from vintage and retro things, but the old brick wall and concrete spoke to me first. Felt fitting for our little group who, it turned out, were all members of an English early 1920's criminal gang.

24 e

Savannah 2019

I'm happily in my favorite urban home-away-from-home - Savannah.  The historic district with its wonderfully walkable vibe, enhanced by oasis of greenery every few blocks in the famous Squares of Savannah with Live Oak trees arching everywhere, is just perfect.  Add to that, as I've said before, the artsy vibe from the Savannah Collage of Art and Design - SCAD - and I'm in my happy place.

And there is so much inspiration for what I call my 'regional collages.  A fortunate gal am I.

The historic Savannah Theater's vintage marquee always sends me in a direction and this year I got to time warp into the 50's.

Drifters, Platters & Coasters In Savannah

The Colonial Cemetery is beautiful; a lovely place to walk through and has many stories to tell.  I saw the brochure for the Ole Bones walking tour at one of our favorite coffee shops, Cup to Cup and met Mr Bones.  He hand-painted his so-apropos suit.  By the way, the "orphans" in the title refer to the wall of tombstones, which was made of stones separated from their graves, many by the invading Union Army during the Civil War.  

With the Orphans In Colonial Cemetery - Savannah

Another favorite coffee shop is Gallery Espresso, which is also a lively student hang-out.  The rest rooms are papered with notices, posters, art bits etc and I always find something that catches my eye. Yeppo, always have a camera with you even in the bathroom or especially in these two. As I was working on this collage, I noticed that I had used some of the key elements before and sure enough there they were in another year.  I like that Mr Dali and Mz Starlight spoke to me a couple years in a row.

Dali In Starland - Savannah

Cedar Key Florida Wintering Again - 2019

I'm in my happy place for rest, recovery renewal - Cedar Key -  a funky 'Old Florida" town on the Gulf Coast.  Since we discovered this place a few years ago after our friend Donna sent us an article on the funky found-object-decorated Low Key Hideawa 5-room motel, we've made it an annual retreat.

The famous Tiki Bar @ Low Key Hideaway

The Old Florida architecture and the arty sensibility are perfect inspirations for what I call my 'regional' collages - collage with my own photographs, altered and enhanced, almost always 'collaged' while I'm in town.  Many of the elements in the collages are items from around town that I have extracted from the photos. My idea of fun and a good time.

Welcome to Cedar Key

Widdon Street Moderne

Annie's

And my favorite photo this trip

Mr D and his Crew