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

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.