Collages of Cedar Key, Florida

Last year we discovered the wonderful funky, laid-back 'Old Florida' town of Cedar Key, on the Nature Coast on the Gulf side, north of Clearwater.  A friend who lives near St Petersburg, told us about the fantastic assemblage architecture of the Low Key Hideaway Motel on Cedar Key and off we went. We stayed there and fell in love with Cedar Key itself.  Here's my blog post on that trip, which includes the terrific assemblage Bowling Ball House in Safety Harbor.

We liked it so much that we made plans to spend a month there this winter.  When we planned the trip, we thought we would use Cedar Key as 'home base' and travel in Florida as well.  But that was before our big 'downsizing' sorting, packing, moving cycle and when we got there, we realized that we were tried and happy to just be in Cedar Key, walk about and look at the Gulf and the famous sunsets each day.

Amelia in Cedar Key

So we had a lot of open-ended time and I soon found myself in a collage-making mode. I had brought watercolors and pens and thought I'd try some new things, but an image of Amelia Earhart on a magazine cover really called to me. I photographed it, popped it into Photoshop Elements and I was off. The background is the view from our deck.

I discovered that what really moves me is my response to images. It is in that response is that the creativity begins to flow and this is the same thing I experience with assemblage, responding to the items I come across.  

There is a lot of 'found' art in Cedar Key that caught my eye - signage, assemblage-style lawn art and so on.  I took hundreds of pictures and then began using my photos as backgrounds for collage.  I also extracted key images from the photos and used them.  As is my usual, I amplified and altered the images with effects. I used my favorite online source BeFunky.com.  I especially like their HDR effect [high dynamic range] and various versions of PopArt.  

I didn't have any of my own image collection on the laptop, but Google provided me additional images.  And after awhile, I also downloaded some fun images from Mischief Circus, a fantastic source for collagers.

Cushman

The Cushman  [the oddling vehicle] was in this yard, as well as all the yard art, but I extracted it and repositioned it.  My signature travel motif of my shoes on the right and the yellow 'flowers' are Perrier bottle flowers I saw in the cemetery.

Low-Key Hideaway

The background here is a wall from the Low-Key Hideaway amped.  The retro car is one I photographed in Cedar Key.  Travels shoes and odd elements, including a nice doll head with plant complete the composition.

Hands On

I was intrigued by the fence with the gloves drying.  It is the gate to a clam nursery.  The white boots are fisherman boots and were ubiquitous in this town which is known for its clam production. Doll heads in a box adds an nice oddness note.

Turquoise Cycle

The Turquoise cycle was in this yard and the original photo was amped with HDR.  The pizza is a sign painted on the wall of the local pizza place.  My green travel shoes jump in.

T-Bird Tinas

One day we were walking down the street and suddenly traffic was stopped and about a hundred retro cars came into town.  It was a Mustang Club doing an annual outing to Cedar Key.  This was my favorite car and  I originally called this Mustang Sallies, until my husband pointed out that was car was actually a T-Bird.  The 'tough girls' were in a blog post from MessyNessyChic.com about, you guessed it, tough girls.  Something of their energy reminded me of my best-friend Jan and I back in Philly many years ago.  At 13, though, one can only aspire to be 'tough'.

Away From The World

Away From The World is our favorite breakfast place in Cedar Key, on Dock Street, up the stairs. The name comes from a Dave Mathews song and the only soundtrack in the place is DMB.  It's painted as colorfully as here [although the image is amped] and the inside is filled with colorful art as well.

Art House By The Sea

We did do a side-trip south to Dunedin and Safety Harbor, both near Clearwater, where we met up with Donna, who first told us about Cedar Key and Safety Harbor.  The background here is a painted house near the evolving Safety Harbor Art & Music Center, founded by the Bowling Ball House creators.  It is this colorful but again, I amped the image. The retro seaside babes are images from Mischief Circus, as well as the tentacles.

The magickal quote in the collage is part of a mosaic Moon at the Bowling Ball House guest house.  The lady is from Mischief Circus, amped, the background is a wall at Low-Key Hideaway and the signs are amped extracts of real signs from Cedar Key.

Everything is Possible

And finally, after a couple gray, windy and rainy days, I played around a bit off the Cedar Key theme. I think the dark weather got to me.  Should I worry? 

Grimmies

Cedar Key supports two art galleries and is home to many artists and writers.  We met some special people there, especially Sonja and Joe, art and music lovers extraordinaire, Bev Ringenberg, Fused Glass artist, at Island Arts Cedar Key and Jennie Pinto at Nature Coast Realty who was so helpful to us.  Check out all about Cedar Key here .

A bit of whimsy

You know I have a fascination with all things altered - especially altered houses and cars and such.  My trip to Florida this winter was a feast of altered buildings - The Bowling Ball house in Safety Harbor and the Low Key Hideaway motel in Cedar Key.  Alas, altering my house isn't an option [yet! lol] but I did have some fun altering a model house.  

This little house was sold as an unfinished bird house at Michael's craft stores.  And I've been saving the bathing beauty [who once was a souvenier pen topper!] for years.  I just had a bit of fun with this.  I also bought a small dollhouse kit for a future altered house.  I love all these Florida colors but think a 'dark' house will be fun too.  After all, I do have heaps of doll heads and such which might be nice on the side of a house. 

Safety Harbor altered house 10"x9"x6"

I also noticed that the same colors seem to speak to me when Florida is in the background of a piece. Without plan the Safety Harbor house ended up to an older piece, Numeral Girls in St Petersburg.  Yay sea blue, pink and orange.

Of course, if I lived in Florida I might be moved to change my styles, since altered everything and anything is quite abundant there.  Not to worry in any event as what evolves will do just that, evolve.

Travels and Found Art

The month of February my husband and I had a lovely meandering trip through Florida, heading off via Savannah, Georgia.   My eye is always drawn to signage, murals and other found art wherever I go.  This trip, though, I actually had two destinations in the itinerary because of their art.

My old pal Donna, who lives in Florida, sent me an article about off-the-beaten-path places which included a piece on the Low-Key Hideaway motel in Cedar Key.  This is a funky, old 50's 5 room motel that the owners have transformed into a magical place.  Pat Bonish transformed the outside and grounds with an explosion of assemblage, including bottle walls, bicycles on the roof, dolls on the walls and the amazing Tiki Bar.  Cindy Bonish decorated the rooms with a comfortable eclectic mix.  For me, it was a wonderful stay in an art installation! Everyday I discovered one thing after another. I had found some great black & white dotted shoes in a 2nd hand store in Savannah and made some photo set-ups with them here, as it seemed the perfect place to do that.  

Cedar Key itself, by the way, is a great 'old Florida' town that, although it has its touristy aspect, is wonderfully laid back and still has a clam and fishing industry. Some of my own photos are below, but you can check it all out online at http://www.lowkeyhideaway.com/   By the way, we liked the Low Key Hideaway and Cedar Key so much that we went back for a 2nd visit during our trip.

   

  

In a book called 'Weird Florida' [and yes, it is a whole series of books about weirdness through the U.S.] I found out about The Bowling Ball House in Safety Harbor,  so this became another destination. Todd and Kiaralinda began this art house 20 years ago after discovering some free bowling balls.  They now have this house creation and garden, a guest house across the street, art cars and are just about to open an art center in downtown Safety Harbor.  When we were there, Kiaralinda and three women were making mosaic panels which will cover the exterior walls of the new center.  She also told me that they had just been filmed by HGTV and eventually their segment will appear on Extreme Homes.  Their garden has previously been featured on Outrageous Backyards.  I purchased their children's book about their art for my granddaughter and made a photobook of my own photos for her as well. Check it all out, including their art, restaurant design and more at http://www.kiaralinda.com/

Crazy art and signage is everywhere and I am always catching it in photos.  Travel is great.  Life is good. Art is alive.