Harmoniously Knocked-up Mutton-Thumper

Wonders never cease, I actually DID something today. OK, so two photographs took me all day to mess with, but I actually have two pieces, one done and the other one will probably be done tonight. Here are the original photographs:


The first is of my husband and a bunch of his cousins taken in July 1953.

The next one, 'Bathing Beauties' was taken in August 1954. That's TY's grandmother on the left and his mother in the center of the back row, standing. Check out his grandmother- she has her big black purse at her side while sitting on the sand on the beach! That is his sister at her knee.

Here is the 'Bathing Beauties' finished, 12" x 12", ink jet photo onto cotton, collaged fabrics onto mounted canvas, and a detail.
I removed the dress on his grandmother and the bathing suit on his mother and backed the holes with other fabrics. I also cut out the top of the photograph because there were alot of distracting light poles and flags and cars. Please note the lady in the upper left standing on the breakwall waiting to join the crowd below. In her dress!


And here is the one I think I am calling 'Pyramid'. It's been printed onto a very old damask napkin. I was planning on stretching it to a canvas also, but am thinking now I may treat it like a small quilt instead layering it to another piece of damask and bordering it with some blue/violet shot cotton. The detail is of TY and his cousin Jack (on the left).

You can see in the detail how much I upped the contrast, then I had to go in and remove some shadows but I think it looks great because the kids are still recognizable yet they are now abstract kids. And I just LOVE the old lady sitting up on the porch! My original intent was to crop below her but when I got it blown up I knew she had to stay. I have no clue who she may be. TY will know when he gets back from Dallas.

I yanked these from an album we ended up with when my MIL died, and I really want to get one of her labels scanned too- she has them in the book with many pieces of yellowed tape so I will try to capture at least one to add. I should make these in multiples because I know there will be a big market with the subjects- but they won't want to BUY them! They think I have a nice little hobby.

And while I am at it, I joined skype last night. Now it is way cool to sit here and talk to friends all over the country, in fact we have a conference chat later on IF we can all get our stuff working at the same time. Last night I wasn't able to use the phone, just type, but today I could be heard with another friend. But she doesn't have a fast connection so was breaking up all the time. I'll be reporting back on this because it COULD be a great tool, or it could be just another pita if the odd configurations continue to happen. Of course my main 'thing' is to get it all for free! And as we all kow, we get what we pay for.

And speaking of that:


And this is the day that I got my two latest eBay purchases! I found a pair of NIB shoes that are perfect, and a bag that was $425 on it's Neiman Marcus tag. Needless to say I got both for 1/3 the price of one of the items! Yippeee, now of course I have to actually GO somewhere other than on dog walks.