fumigant indentation moustache

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.     Leonardo

Today I sat myself down in front of one of the murder shows on the ID channel, usually something about a missing young woman and the hunt to find the killer-  I don't know why I'm addicted to these shows, they are certainly appalling but they are great to sew to.  I finished all the applique on the black quilt (Yessss!) and am ready to zip through a few fast quilting lines first thing tomorrow when I go in to the studio.  I guess I'll add a sleeve too, just in case it seems to be more wall-worthy.  Hopefully tomorrow I can bring it home and do the handwork sewing down the binding and fold it up forever.  Oh, after I take it's portrait I mean!  I'll show it to you soon.

                             Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.

Tonight I'll work on the Twins' binding-  I'm sure there is a good murder on one of those odd channels to keep me occupied.  It's pretty cool how these murders committed back in the 70's and 80's are now being solved with DNA evidence. even after all this time.  It is certainly heartbreaking to see the mother's interviews though, not knowing what happened all that time.  I wonder if they know that quilting takes your mind off everything?  Somebody should tell them.  It sure saved me a bundle on Xanax and Prosac over the last 40 years.  It's almost like having one's own 'safe room'.

        HONK IF STITCHING SAVED YOUR LIFE...

As you all know I spend way too much time online looking at art of all kinds.  It seems I like a wide range, but the things I really gravitate to might be called ironic.  I wish I was saying iconic, but I much prefer things that show me something that makes me chuckle or gets an 'Oh, WOW!' out of me, as in 'Now I get it...'.  One of the things I've noticed is a recurring theme is that a lot of this stuff is really made from nothing.  I really mean that the artists didn't have to order anything on line or hike off to Jerrys Artorama to get special juice to dilute the special gravy (extender into acrylics, for instance).  It's simply made with stuff lying around.  When one thing works the idea is repeated for as long as supplies or interest are in abundance.  So, today I'm going to start a series of things that are art made from nuthin'.  Hope you enjoy my finds and understand that 'nuthin' doesn't mean devalued or cheap or anything like that.  Nuthin' means it stands alone on the back of an artist's uncontrollable need to create.  

Pan Planets on Behance    Using a combination of water, ink, dust, and coloring along with clever lighting, Rome-based artists Matteo Gallinelli and Giuliano Antonio Lo Re have transformed the bottom of ordinary cooking pans into realistic images of celestial bodies. The project titled "Pan Planets" features amazing recreations of four major planets-Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, as well as the moon and the sun. Love those cast iron skillets.

Portuguese studio LIKEarchitects (previously) used hundreds of orange traffic cones to create a large outdoor structure in a city park in Paredes, Portugal. The project called "(I)cone" was conceived as a permanent art installation inviting citizens of the city to experience public space in a new way. The installation subverts the original meaning of the object – the traditional orange traffic cone, which usually requires traffic to circumvent an obstacle – inviting visitors to cross and interact with it. By night, the orange plastic is lit with a LED light system, illuminating the installation from within, so I am assuming he must have actually had to visit the Portugese Home Depot for that feature.

Artist Rashad Alakbarov from Azerbaijan uses suspended translucent objects and other found materials to create light and shadow paintings on walls. The jaw-dropping light painting above, made with an array of colored airplanes is currently on view at the Fly to Baku exhibition at De Pury Gallery in London.  Again, he needed some special lighting (Azerbaijan Home Depot?) but all the materials are available in the kitchen recycling bin!

Just because I am out of squirrels temporarily and this guy was particularly beautiful. But not very ironic.  It's fall, there will be lots of squirrels soon.