Sandwich Bag Art - coolest Dad ever!

Sandwich Bag Art - passed on to my by my friend Deb.  A good Monday vibe.

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.

     

Louie CK

Louie CK Inspires

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.

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

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

Mz @ is Where It's At and a new fun assemblage supply source

Ok, couldn't resist that title!  She started out as Mz @ but 'where it's at' just wouldn't leave. For many years my friend Helen and I bought each other things to make art with.  A year ago or so, Helen dismantled her working studio and passed everything on to me – including many things I had given to her.  This wonderful porcelain torso was among the bounty and recently, she decided to become art.

As usual, I walked around the studio looking for just what/who else wanted to be part of this piece.  When I came upon the large @ symbol, I knew she was Mz @ is Where It's At.  And somehow, the feistiness of that name, reminds me of Mz Helen too.

The face on the front is stamped into air-dried clay.  The silver moon face on the front and blue moon face on the back is made with molds in polymer clay. These were all from a day in the studio when Helen and I made a supply of such embellishments.

With assemblage, in the end, individual pieces merge into the whole, but as you are working on a piece, each element is chosen and placed specifically.  I have various ways of doing this.  I begin with the key piece – such as the large @ symbol which became the head of the piece. The bronze on the torso and the @ piece begins to influence the color choice. I continue the studio search, looking and picking. I typically place these items in a tray as I go along  After the first sweep, I begin trying various placements on the piece.  Some stay and a few go to  the 'return' pile.  I often sketch the placements or sometimes photograph them as I go along.  The energy of the piece keeps building in layers and this usually sends me off on another studio search.  Sometimes I feel the piece needs a punch, usually a quality I can only describe as 'atonal'.  The face on the torso front is one such piece, the lizard on the base, another. 

With this piece, I began to hang the various pieces and added items glued to the torso in a somewhat random way. With a box assemblage you may have to have more of plan, since you have to pay attention to the actual construction of the glued pieces, i.e., larger pieces have to be glued before small pieces, etc.  Eventually, the piece quiets and feels complete.

Mz @ Is Where It's At torso assemblage  18" tall

Top Detail

Bottom Detail

     

From Joanna Grant aka
Joanna Banana

I get a great newsletter from Joanna Grant aka Joanna Banana – a wonderful collage and altered art artist, who I've mentioned before in this blog.  Recently she shared about a new online altered art supply source and now I'm passing it along too.  You will want to check out Retro Café Art.  Under altered art supplies, I especially like all their masonite [a kind of smooth wood product] offerings, from a 7" tall hand shrine, which a little niche in the palm, to their unique 'stand ups' masonite designs with a base.  You can use them for 3-D elements in an assemblage or without the base, as a dimensional embellishment glued directly to a piece.  I, of course, especially like the hands, but there are large and small numbers, houses, people and more.  All waiting for your paint, collage, beads, etc.  There are many other delights, including actual vintage items.  Enjoy!

Thinking about Rose

My thoughts are with my mother, Rose, today.  She died on a February 29th.  It seems quite appropos that she would leave us on a unique day and one that has a four-year cycle.

I didn't know her in the era of this photo, circa 1940's, Atlantic City, N.J., with my father, Tony, but I kinda wish I had.  There's something here that I think was hidden later on.

Dream of Rose Smoking collage

Mexican Rose Integration - Box Assemblage

Guadalupe Rose- Box Assemblage

Happy Valentines Day! Why not???

I wish I could tell you that I created the wonderful rag doll who inspired this collage, but alas, I cannot and was unable to find the original image to credit the designer.  The Heart In Hand, by the way, is an artifact used by the Odd Fellows, an old benevolent organization that grew out of the guilds in England.  The Odd Fellows were craftsman and tradesmen who didn't have enough people to form their own, individual groups in an area, so they form a society together as the Oddfellows.  They have wonderful imagery, including the heart in hand.  Try a quick Google image search!

Sometimes art just happens-other times it's years of skill

Laundry time turns out to be productive art time at my house.  So once again, while waiting for the washer to finish, I drifted about the studio and spotted this perfect combo - a life-size vinyl mannequin hand [gift from knowing-me-well Mimi] and this wonderful teapot I bought just because.  Voila.  Match made in heaven and fun too.

On the other hand, some art takes incredible skill and devotion.  I found this video on StumbleUpon and was captured by the faces in the opening scenes and was amazed to discover even more wonder.  Enjoy.

By the way, StumbleUpon is, as their tag line says,  an ocean of awesome.  Check it out.