Cedar Key Redux

Cedar Key continues to fill me with color and whimsy.  And although the weather has been a bit cold and windy, it affords me to time to collage while looking out at palm trees and the Gulf.

This collage is a perfect capture of Cedar Key.  The three main elements - the flamingo, the funky Tiki bar sign and the Pirate cottage are all pretty much as you see them.  Of course, I did amplify the overall color of the composite image, but they all started out intensely colorful.  Even the large yellow flower was found painted on a building. Happy.Happy.

Pirate Flamingo Tiki Bar - Oh My

My favorite restaurant in town is Steamers.  They're open every day and have a wide variety of food. We've taken to eating at the bar, hanging in the locals vibe.  The uber-competent and very nice bartender is a joy to watch as she handles drinks, food and more and perfect pours of Guinness.  And it is yet another colorful building.

Steamers

I first started collecting octopi images because my son likes them, but I've developed my own affection for them.  Tentacles add a nice frisson to things.


Far Away Inn provided another wonderfully painted exterior as a background.  Now the repeated image motif is fashion dolls instead of paper dolls. And everyone liked pie.

Admire

Now you just have to be intrigued when you come upon a sign that says "Fine Art & Smoked Mullet."  Following the sign down the road presented me with this great art house trailer, complete with its own Lady on the roof.  Alas, it was not open - and has yet to be open - , so neither fine art nor mullet was to be had.  This is the sign that got my attention, but it is actually on the main road in town.  And the 'sushi' is candy sushi, with a Gummy fish on top.

Fine Art & Smoked Mullet

Smoked Mullet and a dip made from it is a local favorite here.  I purchased some dip at a nearby Winn Dixie.  Very weird.  The dip had pimentos and mayonnaise and eggs in it, so in the end this brand tasted like Pimento cheese spread gone bad.  That's enough fish adventure for me. Better as art.

Smoked Mullet Dip

Dockside Motel at night has a very noir feel to it.  Our mystic guest has left the building.

Dock Side Motel

David Bowie - 1947-2016

An archetype of creativity, freshness and innovation left us today.

David Bowie 1947-2016

Cedar Key - Old Florida

Cedar Key is one of my favorite places.  It's a laid-back, funky little island town. friendly, casual, on the Gulf.  Colorful enough to sport two art galleries and award-winning clam chowder.  There is a big clam growing industry here and the Cedar Key clams are the sweetest, most tender I've ever had. A perfect place to chill out, release stress and  just 'be', especially in Winter,  And in that, lots of open-ended time to noodle around with photos and images to my heart's content, especially on cooler, cloudy, windy days.

The view from our screened porch is a wonderful Live Oak and then the Bay.  Perfect.

Live Oak - Cedar Key

There are a lot of colorful buildings here, folk art signage and lawn art - just what inspires me. Happy am I. And although I love the water and marshlands and bird sanctuary, the first thing that caught my eye for a collage was this funky jeep.

JEEP

We pass the Far Away Inn everyday, full of murals, yard art and welcoming rainbow flags.  And yes, the 'Judys" are paper dolls of a young Judy Garland.  The 'Let Us Be - We're Alive sign is also from the Far Away Inn artist.

Far Away Inn Judys

Let Us Be

There's not much of a beach here, but kayacking and boating is popular, The door to beyond featured here is from one of our favorite breakfast joints, Away From the World Cafe.  The name comes from a Dave Matthews song and the only music they play in the place is the Dave Matthews Band. 

Kayacked

Cedar Key has a small airport owned by the county.  Small enough that there is no control tower.  It was built during WWII for air/sea rescue and then given to the county.  Apparently the runway arrow had been recently painted, giving me this stark shot. As usual. all my original photos have been amplified, altered  and the colors saturated.

Into The Wild Blue

Thoughts on My Dear Friend Helen

My Elder Friend, Helen, passed away recently.  She had an emergency surgery in June, which she surprisingly recovered from, but she didn't actually recover and after a long six months, with her life filled with shifts and changes, she passed away quite soon after a last visit with her son.  Her spirit is dancing in the Cosmos and today we released her last earthly essence from the Blue Ridge Parkway into the valley that drew her to Virginia almost 20 years ago.  

Helen was such a close friend, confidant and ally; a treasure in my life.  The 20 years difference between us didn't matter at all, except she had many stories to share from those years.  We traveled together, shared our issues, our ups and downs, spiritual views and most specially, shared art together.

We had many years working in the studio together, creating assemblages to express, expunge, transform and shift, and at times resolve, our inner dynamics and our outer challenges.  We even coined a term for our work - Aspect Art - art that reflects 'aspects' of one's self. 

We collaborated on pieces together, made pieces as gifts for each other and really found that both of us in the studio at one time, added a special, vitalized dynamic to our individual creativity.

 And after a few years, we also wrote a small book about our way of working 'from the inner to the outer', called - naturally - Aspect Art - Art As the Soul's Journey.

2016 begins an era in my life without Helen, but all we shared lives vibrantly on.

Helen

Looking into the Valley from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Holidays! The Time of Little Art

Holidays have a way of capturing your time, even if you celebrate in a lackadaisical way.  I've fashioned my own way of celebrating this time of year, but I do like to send hellos and thinking of you at this traditional greeting cards time.  And thus, holiday cards become the art of this month as mini collages.

Octo Friends

Lights, Socks & Fish

House Joy

Apartment Joy

Santa Boy

Wishing You All Good Things In All Ways!

Monster Joy

These little 'monsters', sans the Santa Hat's, are the work of  Junker Jane! Check out her work at her blog.  She has an Etsy store too.  You can have a doll of your very own.

Oh So Fine on Fine Art America

My latest venture is becoming a member of Fine Art America.

Besides being a great gallery to show your work, it is also a great on-demand marketplace.  One can by a print, a note card, a tote bag, a cell-phone case, even a quilt and shower curtain with great images on them. Love the idea that my eclectic collages might be gracing someone's shower.  It's a hoot.  

I actually had fun describing my work.  And in my key-words you'll always find "vintage, retro funky, pop art, surrealism, altered.  and fun".

Check out my profile page here!  Join the fun with you work too. 

In the Gift Shop...

I'm a happy Art Girl.  My Waynesboro collages are on display in the gift shop-docent room for the month of November at the gallery I belong to - Shenandoah Valley Art Center -SVAC .  I  really like seeing the collages at this size, 16x20.  The details pop.  Go big and take one home!  If not, got some 8x10 prints and note cards of them on offer too.

My Art Buddy Deb Booth went with me to get things on the walls.  We had a bit of a search for a hammer & nails, and  Mz Deb managed the tall ladder for the piece hung from up high, but actually, all went smoothly.  We began the day with our usual weekly breakfast at Weasie's Kitchen and yes, there is definitely a Weasie's Kitchen collage in the Waynesboro series.

If you're in town, there is an opening this Saturday of lovely paintings by Joy E Tartter in the main gallery.  Check out Joy and the gallery, with me in the docent room here.

At the Gift Shop - Art Buddies

I featured Deb many a time here, but now she is exploring a new medium - Quilling!  Elements and embellishments made from curled paper to form and enhance images. The 3-dimensional enhancement really catches your eye.   It's just cool. Here are three from her Tiny Dancer series   Check it out  at DifferentLightStudio.com and Deb Booth on Facebook.  And soon, you'll be able to find them at CvilleArts, a great gallery right on the downtown walking mall in Charlottesville, VA.

Prima

Flow

Arabella

Halloween Ooky Pookiy & Day of the Dead

I have an affinity to these two holidays and there was a time that I went all out.  These days noodling around with collage is how I celebrate.  I had planned to do a series of such collages, but Life had other things I needed to attend to, so just these two got to 'come to life.'  A special nod to Mischief Circus for some of the Halloween images.  Boo.

Oooky Pooky - All Hallowed Ween 

These Dead Are Made For Walking

Around the town

I'm continuing in my Waynesboro series.  This thematic project has been fun and will probably be ongoing.  

I was away for a bit, so didn't get to mention here the wonderful annual Fall Art Festival that the Shenandoah Valley Art Center - SVAC - sponsors every October.  It's a 2-day event, where art takes over the streets of downtown Waynesboro.  This year good weather was an added blessing and it seemed like a successful show.

In November, I'll be the featured artist in the gift shop at SVAC and will display large prints of these collages.  In fact, my current favorite is the KitKat art girl in the SVAC collage.  

SVAC - Shenandoah Art Center 

Pinky's

Weasie's Kitchen

where my art-pal bestie  Deb Booth and I meet for breakfast every week.

On Main Street

Basic City Luncheonette

Mexicali Inspired

Sometimes one image sends you into a creative stream and you're off.  Sometimes you're in an emotional place and one image echoes the feeling.

I was feeling rather tender-hearted and decided to 'work it through' in a collage.  I began with a simple Google search on 'heart'. When the powerful images of the arrow-through-the-heart Mexican Loteria cards showed up, I knew I found the right symbolism.

I've always loved the Loteria images and collected several sets while in Mexico and many more images on-line..  Loteria is a bingo-type game using images, but I've noticed some people are using the images for a Tarot-type reading and creating interpretations, such as in this blog, The Quest. There is, of course, an overview of the game Loteria, at Wikipedia.  I also liked this piece from MOLAA, the Museum of Latin American Art, in Long Beach, CA.

I was drawn to El Corazon, the heart, because it was powerful.  Interestingly, today while writing this blog, I learned that one version of El Corazon, means that although you are missing the beloved, they will return.  So the image of pain is embedded with hope for renewal.

El Corazon

I found another powerful image in my google-quest, a wonderful Loteria tattoo.  It features one of my favorite cards, El Sirena, a mermaid.  So she inspired the next card in the stream.

Blind Loteria

Then I was scanning through my own collection of Mexican images and looked into my Frida Kahlo file.  And so the stream ebbed with this Frida with Frida collage.

Frida Con Frida