Saturday update

#240

 This past week, I made a series of floating fabric pieces. These are so minimal, just the fabric and a circle (or two.) I love the feeling that they have, out of context, and we can give them any meaning we want.

#241

Then today, while emptying boxes, I came across a nice photo by Lotte Jacobi, taken in the 1930s. The woman is so pensive. I put the group photo and a single man's image behind her with some random text. I love the narrative feeling of this one.

#242

#243

 Here's Bizoo enjoying plastic packing material. He loves the sound when he jumps on it and through it. What a cheap toy!

 This darling pale blue bird was looking at me at the Pet shop the other day when I stopped in to get some kitty treats. Isn't he sweet, so pale and soft looking. The clerk said he has a sweet temperament. I wish I wanted to have a bird in the house. This would be the one.

 We went to a new ceramic exhibit. There were some interesting pieces in it.




Don't the two people look like Tiny Town inhabitants? 

And here's our sweetie, Zinn, this morning. I got to visit with her before she had her afternoon nap. Look at those cute fingers!

Mail Art, of course, and more, of course.

 This is #237 of year three. I used only 3 paper scraps and one small circle, but am soooo pleased at how the space is changed up by what is on one of the paper scraps. I just love it. The illusion of transparency and of depth and all sorts of things. Love it!

This is #238. Three scraps of color paper again and one small black circle. This is very flat, very one dimenstional, but I think the black spot creates a bit of ambiguity.

This is #239. Three pieces of color paper and a circle, again. This time, the angle of the purple changes the dynamic of the piece though it's still very flat. 

Just when we thought we had it all together again, except for emptying the boxes, the toilet seat broke. This face says it all, kind of an Oh, No, expression, or a scream with eyes in the headlights.
It's sort of how I feel when I look at all the boxes. I've gotten some emptied and that is good. Also, sad, cause one had some things in it from my deceased friend. I didn't realize that I still had those things.  So it goes. 

Here are some fun things that I rediscovered. In the box to the left, is a wardrobe for the Snoopies. To the right, is Elizabeth, who was one of M's early playthings. She was made by Fisher Price, who no longer makes such cool dolls.   When I took my little daughter & this doll to my class one day, a student asked why she had a doll like this, meaning brown skin, I assumed. I think I answered something like - because she chose it. Much later, the student who has children of her own now, said that this had a profound influence on her. It opened her eyes. Wow, who knew what a doll could do!

 I took a break today to do some reading at the kitchen table. Bizoo had his own idea of what I needed to do. So what did I do, I took a break and petted him and listened to his purring.  Why do I have a pencil in my hand, because I was underlining words that I didn't know (reading short stories in Spanish.)

On Saturday, we went to an 80th birthday party of a dear, long known, friend. He had a western theme and people really got into it. The band was Honky Tonk, the music good, and my honey and I even danced a couple slow dances together.

I got this photo of our grandgirl today. Stripes are a big part of her wardrobe, as are skully things. Pirates, skulls, yes, that's about right.

I came across this book in one of the boxes. I'd forgotten about it, a cookbook that I'd gotten from Barry Zaid many years ago, 1976 probably. In fact, I think it was my first vegetarian cook book. I was going to get rid of it, but it has really good recipes. I remember making many of them. It's very worn, from getting water logged in Barry's car some how, and from my using it a lot. I think I'll just keep it. Maybe I'll even make that bread recipe again.

Mail Art, the mess, and, of coure, a little more.

365.3 #234

#235

#236

 This is the last of the water color pieces of Mail Art until I can find my water color paper. This is another attempt at doing an over head view of the shore line along the Chesapeake Bay.  I want to try more of these.







So yesterday, I had to go back to what was at hand, color paper. 4 colors.













For this one, I did the color pieces first. It was very minimal and I wanted more, so I added the circle on the right and the random letters & number. In the end, it makes me think of some kind of scientific equation or explanation.

This is the view of my hall and front room on Friday morning. The painters were starting to work on the rooms.

Here's the very front of the room. It looked like an art installation. This is still part of the water damage we had last June. But as of today, it's all taken care of, the work is complete.

Except for this - the boxes came back from storage and have to be emptied. Most of the stuff goes into my studio - and they're stacked up in it. See Bizoo inspecting the site? Wish he could help me clear out the boxes.






Here's Bizoo with a "friend." 

The shelves in my studio and the tv/guest room had to be painted, so we hired a terrific handy man, who helped us before. He's a musician, actually. He had his ukelele with him and played a bit for me. Wow, what a nice treat. Newly painted shelves and live music.

Mid-week catching up - color!

365.3 #230

#231

#232

 I'm continuing my water color Mail Art series. I'm finding it more comfortable to get the effects that I want if I don't rush.

#233

In this one, I ended up with some blurry dark sport as the water ran. I was in a hurry to scan.
This landscape came about after speaking with friends in Idaho, near the huge fire.







Here's another postcard that is based on my idea of what the high desert in Idaho looks like. I've never been there, so I'm just imagining it.  I like the way this one turned out.









This morning, I tried to do something different. I'd been looking at the shore line of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, by the Chesapeake Bay. This is my attempt to do something coastal, looking down like a satellite view. The left upper area would be the bay. That area on the actual Mail Art is darker.

 We were at Lowe's hardware store this morning, and as usual, I'm drawn to the paint samples. I just love looking at all the colors.










They make me think about when I was teaching color theory in the Art Foundation program at V.C.U. and my students would raid the color samples  for their projects. Our building was located just across the street from the Lowes. How convenient!  I don't think that color theory is taught in the program these days. The color samples are safe!





This past weekend, friends visited us from Pittsburgh with their little daughter, Ace. She and I looked at all of my nail polish and she chose a sparkly rose to take home with her. She likes blue polish as much as I do. It's so about color.







Today, Sage came by and looked through the box of goodies that M. left for her and her sister. She's wearing the colorful plastic charm chains that were popular with girls in middle school in the 80s. She, also, put on every ring in the box. She went home a happy camper!








We stopped for some frozen dessert the other night. I had 2 colors of sorbet and some kiwi. I was going for the color combination, not caring if the tastes meshed. As it happens, they did. Yum!

Saturday, Mail Art, of course, but so much more -

365.3 #225

365.3 #226

 This week, I continued to make water color landscapes for my Mail Art.

#227

#228

#229

Sunflowers on a gray day

I'm playing around with the black ink outlines more freely. Watching how the ink runs.












The runny ink on this one made for some interesting cloud effects. I think I got a bit carried away with the water.










These 3 puffy clouds remind me of the Georgia O'Keefe painting with a sky full of puffy clouds.

While #229 reminds me of the landscapes that I fly over in the middle of the U.S.

We haven't gotten to the pool much, but on one gray day, I got a photo of the sunflowers. it's been very chilly lately.


Here's the shelf. It's not really on this angle.  My little visitor, Ace, and I walked over and added some things that had been sent to me by a mail art friend.






And here's a special treat, our friends had been to Peru, to the Amazon, and brought us an armadillo. It was hand carved in one of the villages that they visited.

Here's Bizoo in one of his yoga poses. This one is called - "kitty loses his head."

And here's our little Zinn, showing off her superlative skeletal form. And in the dark - it glows! Pretty cute, right?

Who needs to wait for Halloween to dress in a costume? Not us!

Monday, Mail Art and more!

#224

#223

 I'm still making water color Mail Art. I feel like I have a better idea of how to handle the non-waterproof ink.











This is yesterday's, which I felt was too pale, so I did a bit more with today's. I'm excited about this series.

 This morning, it was overcast when we went to the pool. I like the way the light worked in the photo of these flowers. Kind of dramatic!
 

 I took this photo before C. got into the pool and disturbed the stillness. I like the reflections very much.











Here's our little Z this afternoon. I stopped by and got to spend a bit of time with her. She seems to recognize that she's seen me before.

When I stopped working on the computer for a minute, Bizoo strolled over, lay down on the keyboard, and promptly fell asleep. How nice take a nap wherever, whenever.