camel befit decaffeinate

 I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.Zsa Zsa Gabor

Found a quilt I love, Bob Shaw is selling off quite a pile of great work, and I fell in love with this:

It's just a little too 'coals to newcastle' if you get my drift.

The stylin' Captain Samuel J. Richardson of the Second Texas Cavalry wore a standard issue hat and shirt. But his pants and his holsters were made of jaguar skin!

And THIS is how I feel about THAT

Now, to continue my brush with style, my heroine, Iris Apfel in an interview at 91.  She lives here in Palm Beach and I occasionally see her around town dressed to the 9's, as they say.  Her jewelry is to die for and she is a tiny wisp of a lady with multiple pounds of great rocks of ethnic origin.  I don't know how she carries it around!  How I would adore seeing inside her closet and looking at her collections!
Iris Apfel

 Ladies, this is a map of our hearts. Like any old map, it's safe to assume the cartographer was operating with limited tools and resources and under the influence of societal expectations. So don't be offended that Love of Dress and Display hold such a geographical prominence, or that the Country of Eligibleness is not yet called Vast Plains of Strength, Intelligence & Awesomeness. (That amendment hadn't passed yet.) 

  I'm headed up to Boston tomorrow to move all my stuff to storage so they can fix the place up-  new walls, new paint, and a new floor.  Not my choice.  If I can piggyback on someone's internet I may be able to blog, but chances are that this years crop of neighborhood students are more savvy and are locked up tight.  Not sure if I can get that fixed while I'm there but I'll try.  Got any boxes to lend me?  Got any Advil?  How about lunch...

brahmsian tomato raleigh

(Actual poster from the mid-50’s issued by Senator Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Red Scare and anti communist witch hunt in Washington. All artists were suspect.)

A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it. 

Rabindranath Tagore 

Artist Ed Fairburn utilizes the chaotic patchwork of roads, trains, and rivers printed on maps as the framework for his large-scale portraits. Almost like a sculptor carving a subject from a block of stone, or a constellation highlighted in a clump of stars, Fairburn uses meticulous ink or pencil crosshatching to create portraits hidden amongst the topographical features. You can see much more of his work over on Facebook.

Sandcastles:  Sand castle artist Calvin Seibert manages to construct nearly impossible shapes from one of the world’s most delicate mediums.  I’ve never seen anything so perfectly angular and geometric. See much more of his work over on Flickr.

Yikes!  Anamorphic Illusions!

Check out the others over on YouTube, mind-blowing!

Huge mounds of firewood are a common site in the midwest, but in the capable hands of Michigan artist Michael McGillis a row of logs becomes a unexpectedly beautiful sight. Titled Wake the piece was originally installed back in 2006 at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota and consisted of a 95-foot long trench of cut trees painted purple in the middle as if to reveal a suprising new species of plant. A simple idea, wonderfully executed.

If anybody is wondering what in the world to get ME for Christmas, I found the answer here: Princeton Artist Brushes, 'Catalyst' wedges and brushes! I absolutely NEED them, can use with acrylics, encaustics, and manipulating dye, cooking, and even ceramics if you're so inclined!  I want the whole set so you can start with just one piece and add to my collection for years and years.  Aren't they pretty?  I made the image extra big so you'd not miss these.

And speaking of extra big images, Moustafa Ismail and his  31" arms.  

Bet he has to always wear these sleeveless tee shirts.

Ugh.

And that, my bunnies, is the end-  all except for the prerequisite squirrel cookie jar!  (Now available on West Elm.)  Perfect for Pecan Sandies, eh?  

firecracker icebox ooze

(I've had enough.)

Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time. 

Jean Cocteau 

Today I don't have any art to talk about-  things have taken a turn here that is making me nutty.  I hit the studio at 7:30 this morning to find pictures of my house from my contractor and I am so depressed over the findings.  Seems the guy upstairs with a three-floor condo had a toilet on his top floor that has been leaking for over a year that we know about.  It flooded my living room wall, the flooring, and the ceiling as well as developed both red and black mold that was found when they opened up the walls.  House is in upheaval, though the contractor is on top of the steps to clean it all up.  Today I am dealing long distance with having to get a mover to get my stuff out so repairs can be made.  I am going back on Saturday but don't even know if I can stay in my house while they de-mold it.So, wanna see the mess?  He sent me photos last night:

close shot of channel full of water

my formerly pretty living room

mold behind wall

buckled flooring 

black mold

No, not anything to do with Hurricane Sandy, just plain old Russian pee.  Shoot me now.

craftspeople flogging anyone

It's such a crass idea - you're either in love or out of love. Damien Hirst

Today, I'm in love with inflatables!

Picture taken a year ago, how many of these toys do you think are still in existence?

But on the other hand, here's something that works on a temp basis as needed for cover:

Big inflatable structures are not only for children’s amusement: The Air Forest, a dream inspired pavilion created by Mass studies for the Dialog:City event in Denver, is a 1,400 square meter structure with social pourpouses: it’s easy to transport and provides a big space protected from the sun.

The air forest is a technical wonder, because it is “fed” by a natural airstream and sunbeams, which stabilize its pneumatical structure.

Works just like plastic bag sculptures stuck on heat grates:

To expand on this a bit further, the technology can also used as a prototype for homeless shelters-  easily transportable from place to place, and when tied to a building's exhaust system, warm and dry.

American artist Michael Rakowitz's paraSITE project proposed to take advantage of the exterior ventilation systems on existing architecture to give the homeless a temporary shelter.The deflated structure have handles to be easily transported or can be carried on one's back. Once he has found the outtake ducts of a building's HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system, the user attach the intake tube of the structure to the vent. The warm air leaving the building inflates and heats the membrane structure.

From Chad Person's statement:  Nothing lasts forever. The greatest and most abundant resources: Water, oil, air, sunshine; will all dwindle away. One by one will slowly exhaust them, unnoticed until it's too late. Ubiquitous Icons share this fate. The prowess of every icon will crest as it is saturated within our collective unconscious. As time moves forward, context is lost and the icon is forgotten. 

Today, collective humanity is aware and indeed occupied by the reality of scarce global oil supplies. Foreshadowing this situation, Pegasus, the former Mobil Gasoline logo has been retired from its role as color guard to the worlds most profitable corporation. Once everywhere, resource and icon alike are now vanishing, and we are forced to move on. 

Philippe Parreno  'Speech Bubbles"

Scattered Crowd, by William Forsythe, is a magnificent spacial installation featuring thousands of balloons by German choreographer William Forsythe. The multi-disciplined artist forces visitors to his site-specific installation to not only take in the gorgeous, magical effect of the piece, but to also interact with the space.Walking through a maze of dreamy white balloons varying in size and opacity, one can’t help but become part of the piece in an unusual dance whose choreography lies in the audience’s own power. Whether they choose to physically touch or delicately maneuver around each suspended balloon is entirely up to them. Forsythe’s intention with the piece is to reflect human emotion and decision. The abstract representation is, in fact, a catalyst in an interesting performance put on by visitors themselves.

Not quite having the equipment to blow up my own inflatables, I get very excited when I see them.  To me they look like they are inhaling and exhaling, temporary living beings.

But, coming back to earth, yesterday I was able to spend four full hours i the studio.  I took my son and DIL with me because they have a project they're working on for a client that they want to make some progress with rather than just basking in the sunshine.  They sat and knocked work out at their big table while I worked on the computer and cut pages for two different books.  Son, being an art director is appalled at my lack of Photoshop skills-  everything in that department comes intuitively to him at this point because he uses it daily in his work.  Me, not so much.  So, as the day was winding down I felt him looking over my shoulder and deeply sighing at the way I was accomplishing my tasks---not to mention my 'poor' choices of type.  SO, he started giving me tutorials over my right shoulder and I tried to keep up.  Told him I'd pay for a ticket to come back down here to my 'peninsula' for a few days of heavy photoshop training.  Mind you I CAN get things done, it just takes me a long time because I don't know the tricks.  SO, I got 6 pages ready to print for the Serials book, many more to go but I get it now and can crank them out. Also, I finally got all the printing finished in the Hands book, now I am auditioning how to put it together.  While they were working and before he felt the need to save me from my poor choices, I got the Circles book a bit further along, glueing some pages together and seeing if my make-shift tabs would work (they did!).  Can't wait to get t these both when they can have my undivided attentions for a few days.  SO, I have one book with a finished cover and no pages, another book with all the pages done and no cover, and a third book that I just have to assemble.  

I found a $100 flight back from Boston but have to fly on a Tuesday so my trip back will be longer than I anticipated, but also cheaper.  Ill have to fill my schedule with seeing old friends and the little kiddos again. Maybe a movie.  And of course sitting there waiting for the contractor...

'A Little  Something to Wear While Waiting For My Contractor'

1985

revisited for no particular reason

toxin petroglyph tissue

Do not fear that you are a worthless impostor: 

fear that by such talk you are destroying your chance of being an artist.

  Eric Maisel

Well, bunnies, I got my Archie McPhee catalog in the mail the other day and boy, have I been having fun.  Every year I buy *something* for everybody on my list at this place-  something that is a personal joke with, or a dig at, the recipient.  Gets some stuff off my shoulders and a laugh.  And I'll do most anything for a laugh as long as its passive.  So, it seems that the theme for Archie this time around is SQUIRRELS.  I'm telling you, if your'e after squirrel underpants (in both boy  or girl models so you better know what you need before you order!), squirrel cups (Yeah, cups for squirrels!), and more more regular stuff like salt and pepper holders in the shape of squirrel heads and a flask advertising squirrel moonshine.  I know.  I promised no more squirrels, I lied.

  Lurking squirrel

  Giant squirrel mask

Got the little family to the airport on Friday and am left with the adult two and it's amazing how quiet and contained life seems again.  I've taken off the 'eyes-in-the-back-of-my-head' thing we all do with young kids, and have been able to refrain from telling my 35 year old son that it's time for bed or to pick up his shoes.  Sigh.  Life is easy again.  Except, yesterday I woke up sick, wouldn't you know.  I managed to drag myself to the lemon tree for enough to make a pitcher of lemonade, paid my bills, and collapsed in a heap-  I'll be fine in a few days but meanwhile I am committed to helping at the registration for the Special Olympics golf tournament and sitting in a cart watching for a hole-in-one.  I've done this for years now and never seen one.  So, that's the plan, right after I go get some cold stuff to shore my nose up for a few hours.  One that won't let me operate heavy machinery like a golf cart.

Cannot believe I've had to take the whole week off from the studio, thought I could squeeze in a few hours here and there but that didn't work at all.  The complications are still coming because I must head back to Boston next week to check on the construction. Apparently they found the source of the leak in the apartment above me where his walls are all damaged too but he never bothered to find out about it!  So, I am going back to my living room being in shambles, walls down, floor ripped up, and hopefully it will be de-molded by then too.  Then the floor gets replaced and sanded and refinished and the whole place painted.  I don't know HOW they can do this but I feel the need to be there to check on things as they happen.  My heart isn't in this, all I wanted was to sell it but TY dragged his feet and it didn't get on the market last spring-  giving the walls plenty of time to absorb the Russian guy's pee from upstairs.

I have no equipment or studio up there any more, so I just ordered a pattern for a shawl and I'll pick up some yarn while I'm there-  need something to do or I'll go crazy-  one can only clean out closets for so long.  

Enough whining, just telling you the groundwork for future unloading.  Hope that the internets start sizzling after today when everybody gets back to routine, I miss my blogs I miss my emails, and am getting tired of the ads.  

And here we go into Christmas.  How I wish that this was an every-other-year event, maybe sharing with Thanksgiving on an even/odd year basis.  Wouldn't that make both more meaningful?  I think so.  Back to hanging ornaments on the chandelier- today's project while I'm 'resting'.  What a joke.

hydrophilic around gimmickry

This one whacked me because on my 3 AM wake up this morning I turn on the old iPod and listen to podcasts.  I was listening to a Thomas Jefferson impersonator talk about how food and parties were handled in his White House, how he made a concerted effort to break with European tradition and protocol and had round tables with no ranks.  Old Jefferson had some things going on in his administration that made me cringe, but on the whole he is my favorite redhead that ever walked the earth and always my first pick for the old 'if you could pick anybody, living or dead, to sit next to at dinner...' question.  

ANYway, I've been tying some knots this week with all my company and this quote fit a little too well-  Thanks, Thomas (can I call you Tom?)

Did I ever talk abut starting out as a weaver all those years ago?

I know, things aren't too colorful yet, are they?  Even this won't help:

For those of you who asked, I grilled this guy, 16#s, on the charcoal Weber.  It took two hours, actually less than that because I just didn't even think of checking until then because my directions pointed me to four hours for that weight bird.  Well, HA.  Since it was done 2 hours ahead of time I shut down the grill and went on about the other stuff as fast as I could, but still it was a long time of him sitting there waiting and drying out.  The turkey was delicious but I thought dry from waiting for us for so long.  Damn.  I'm making soup today with his bones and faux matzo balls out of the stuffing.  The dogs are happy as can be with the picked off meat and I still have half a turkey left.

Black Friday today, I have been a bit remiss in getting blogging done this week with all these people here-  seems like somebody always needs some attention and I am pulled away.  I hope that I can start catching up on some email later today, as well as getting things back to more normal.  I haven't been to the studio in days, on fact I even have some Dick Blick boxes there I haven't unpacked and by now I don't remember what I ordered so it will be my own private Black Friday retail blitz when I get to them. I do have to go over this morning to print out some boarding passes.

Kids, meanwhile, had fun and in spite of the cold temperatures spent every day in the pool.

Myopic Mr. Elias is NOT fat, he is making a face here like a tough guy.  Hazel learned to put her face in the water and swim the length of the pool so great goals were reached.  Keeping Elias on the first and second steps wearing his floaties was my only goal.

If you see me on Facebook, I posted this picture of Elias there earlier.  He was getting way bored waiting for his sister's turtle-care class to end, so hiked himself up on this bench and swung his legs for awhile.  Then he laid down and kicked awhile, then flopped off the front upside down and stayed there playing with the mulch for ages.  Everybody walking by was laughing.

Yeah, I'm two.  Wanna make something of it?

Meanwhile, here's a picture of the SAQA-in-Florida show up in Daytona.  Sorry I missed it.  That's my piece, second from the right.  Looks like it's installed on some sort of ramp, and yup, it's still for sale.  Just sayin'.

And OK, I have a thing for turtles too.

alphameric lithic propensity

It's a little Poe Party today!  Lucky us!

Even if I didn't want to compose, I painted or stacked the pieces.

Louise Nevelson

My present from Hazel, currently on my refrigerator

Me, currently on the floor whining about breakfast.
I was going to make bacon but I've changed my mind with all the pigs today:

Original costume and mask on left, cartoon drawn from the character on right 

Really weird dancing pig video from 1907- watch to the end...

And another of Debra Broz' altered figurines from yesterday.

Today, my little piggies, I want you to see some very interesting work by Elana Herzog.  One particular aspect is her fiber installations on gallery walls, floors, and construcrtions within the gallery.  She staples fabric to the structure and removes and alters it as she goes, leaving only a slight reminiscence of what it used to be, a skeleton.  Here are a few pieces to ponder:

Formerly a chenille bedspread

Deconstructed plaids

An embroidered coverlet

From her statement:  For some years I’ve been engrossed in a body of work in which I staple found textiles—usually bedspreads and carpets—to the walls using thousands of metal staples. Parts of the fabric and the staples are then removed and sometimes reapplied, leaving a residue of shredded fabric and perforated wall surface in some areas, and densely stapled and built-up areas elsewhere. In these “drawings” staples act as mark and material, penetrating, distressing, and ornamenting the skin of the wall. The progressively dematerialized image, articulated by metal staples and fabric residue, seems to be simultaneously emerging from and disappearing into the wall. The stapled “drawing” mimics the patterns and weave of the fabric, and a kind of binary language emerges—staple being analogous to stitch.

This was written at 4 AM when I woke up worrying about how to get everything done, pick up my other kids at the airport, cook dinner and still take time for the kids here already, the ones who have redecorated my house with crayons and pipe cleaners and matchbook cars on every surface (including the floors).  When I read about crazy ladies having babies into their 60's I wonder where their heads are-  don't they realize what they are getting into, and why didn't they make that decision by their 40's when there would be chance of surviving kids and coming out the other end.  Oy.  Now, I do have to say they are cute and very funny, and indeed I am enjoying them, but YIKES to the high pitched screams and sudden temper outbursts!  I'm just not used to it.  Hope I get used to it-  or instead, I hope I can get some sleep tonight.  4 AM is not fun, but indeed I made it to 6 cutting up breakfast fruit and putting dishes away as well as reading email. The coffee is chortling away, the dogs have gone out and who knows, if things go as scheduled, it will be LIGHT soon.  Wish me luck.