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

Merry Merry! Happy Happy! Joy Joy!

Wishing all of you all good things in all ways!  and why not!!

Red Retro Christmas

The Most Wonderful Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Shoe Joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Circus Joy

 

 

 

 

Be Happy

Happy Halloween!

Oh that time of year for oooky pooky.. 

Bad Dolly Trick or Treat

And here are some previous All Hallows inspired collage

All Saints Frida

All Hallowed Ween

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ascension

Ascension was not created for Halloween, inspired by the actual Ascension sign in Savannah, it certainly fits the bill.

Some of these images were acquired from Mischief Circus, a fantastic source of images and inspiration.  Like hey, it's called Mischief Circus after all.

Dark Matter Series - Halloween and Dark Mysteries

Recently my husband introduced me to the term Dark Matters of the Mind.  He discovered it as the title of a book exploring all that occurs in the unseen, 'dark side of the moon' as it were, aspects of the brain.  But really isn't it such an evocative phrase??

It sequed right into the mood I've been dancing with lately and inspired me to delve into my 'dark palette' of images, many of which are associated with Halloween and dark mysteries.

Although I brought a certain emotional background to these collages, they are not really telling a specific story. Rather the images I was drawn to evoked the story that emerged.  I get to be part of the mystery as it goes along.  And in the end, I may or may not know the 'end of the story.'  

Secrets

I Still Remember The Things You said

Crow Sisters

That Jerry Boyd and Marooned on Margo

Good friend, author, artiste and more, Jerry Boyd,  is about to launch his newest venture ~ a grand compendium of his adventures in Margo in a comic book series.  Margo ~ a planet we all want to know and explore.  You'll have to wait for the series to roll out, but right now, in this very moment, you can check out and follow his Marooned On Planet Margo  Facebook page .

 

 

 



Margonaut Official Uniform



Mother Margo Nature Goddess



The Muse

 

 

And Jerry is most definitely that Jerry Boyd. Learn all about it at thatjerryboyd.com, which is Margo-full and more.  Check out  his eclectic adventure novel, Shift Happens, available, naturally, at Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

Asheville NC 2018 Murals, Art, Collage

I recently had a lovely week in Asheville, NC, most generously gifted to us from the most Lovely Liz and the Ever-Dancing Morris.  West Asheville, where we stayed and spent most of our time,  is it's own nicely funky part of town in a city with many creative aspects.  As I am wont to do, my walk about town photos become collages, using my photos as backgrounds and collage elements extracted from them.  I call my collage while traveling my 'regional art'.  Rainy afternoons provided perfect space for playing with images.

The Traveling Dog has it's own story.  We noticed this wonderful and a bit odd dog sculpture by a front gate.  It's about 3 feet high and of course, was photo-worthy.  A day or so later, in the same neighborhood, but a block or so away, I saw another dog sculpture.  My husband thought it could surely be the same dog, but in the end we figured it was a replica. Yet the next day, we noticed that the original dog was not by the gate.  Another day or so we the dog by a house on our own block, which is several blocks from the first sighting.  So it became the Traveling Dog and in the end, a collage.  I hoped to see someone who could tells us the tale, but did not.  I even searched for dogs of west asheville on Facebook, thinking it could 'be a thing' as they say, but with no luck.

  

Traveling Dog At the Green Door collage - Asheville NC

This piece had added inspiration from our breakfast music playlist.  A greet, funky, classic diner. 

Martha and the Vandellas At the Tastee Diner collage - Asheville NC

More musicality influences!

Fleetwoods Rock N Roll Chapel and Bar collage - Asheville NC

Another wonderful dog!  Loved the poster.  The delighful headless children are from The Littlest Birds children's clothing store and the napkin holder from the home of the ultimate french fries, as well as great sandwiches, the Asheville Sandwich Shop,  All the shops featured in the collages are all along Haywood Avenue, West Asheville's main drag. Go visit and check them out.

The Odditorum- All Ages collage - Asheville NC

West Asheville is just awash with wonderful murals, painted buildings and artsy things.  Very inspiring indeed. 

  

 

  

Retro Girls. Spam and oh yeah, animal people too

Off the air  RCA TV test pattern

I realized today how old retro images from movies are in my head like a background theme; like a hometown where I used to live.  Sometimes when I take a break, I like to have a cuppa and turn on Turner Classic Movies and catch 15 minutes of a film.  The older the better - 30's, 40's 50's.  And the other day I was struck by just  how familiar those images are to me.  I spent a lot of time watching old movies on television with my Mom.  

When I was 12, I fractured my pelvis and after two weeks in traction, all you can do to let it heal, is be off it.  So I was at home for two months.  During that time I spent a lot of time watching old movies late at night until the TV went off the air and the test pattern would come on.  It is a favorite memory.  

Retro Girls features a background of clothing catalog pages from the 1940's.  Our lovely girlfriends are hand-colorized

Retro Girls collage

And hey, surely we can celebrate Spam's 70th birthday!!  Actually Spam is now 81, but I came across images of this celebratory can recently and loved it.  Spam makes people laugh and Monty Python immortalized it in skit and song, but actually it made a nice addition to K-rations for a lot of GIs during World War II, is still beloved in Hawaii and by other aficionados and is my husband's request for his birthday breakfast every year.  The core image in the collage is a photo of the actual birthday can; amplified and altered a bit, of course.

Spam is 70 collage

And lastly, my little town had a classic old-timey carnival to benefit the volunteer fire department. I loved to see all the classic amusements from my childhood, but the 'lemon' lemonade stand really got my eye.  My retro people have a little twist, but they are a happy at-the-carnival family.

Lemonade collage