Heart Shrine

I completed my "Heart 35" shrine and decided to put it up on Etsy. I feel that it did its job for me, and that I would put it out in the world for someone else. There are plenty of folks out there who could use artistic protection for their hearts, in one form or another, maybe it has been broken physically or metaphorically. Maybe everyone needs a protective heart shrine...

Some details:

Yes, that is a real suture needle

and real suturing silk.

I figured that I might as well

go to total realism in at

least some regard, and I

did have all that old medical

equipment laying around.

Don't Ask...

Please note the heart diagram on the right...

This is a stamp pulled from an old anatomy text

Love it.

Then there is the spool of surgical tape

and the wooden spool/game peice

Interpret it as you will.

Buttons...I just love buttons.

These were decayed and falling apart,

which I see as a distinct bonus.

They hold things together....

until they don't.

What do you have to protect your heart?

Just your Sternum?

A wish, hope and a prayer?
Lame.

Get Serious.

Teeny Weeny

Teeny weeny watercolors make me happy.

This is an attempt to appease my Sister-In-Law who wants a version of one of my pastorals but with a sunset. I don't usually paint sunsets, I usually paint pale blue skies...but anything for family you know. So I consider this one a study, as it is in a 2.5 x 3.5 inch size and she wants something bigger. I just wanted to see if I could get the gradients to happen. Not bad. I'm putting this one up on Etsy and then I'll kick out a larger one for her this week.

Killer Cats

I wish I had something new to show you...and I will soon I am sure. Unfortunately, Herbert has been guarding my desk and has claimed my chair as his own.

Get a load of the glare I got when I asked him to move.

I mean, would you want to try to make it past those claws? I can tell you I have tried, and have the scars to prove it.

No Holes

I am happy to report that I don't have a hole in my heart.



That is what they were looking for with the whole "gargle this Karo thick Lidocaine and then swallow this Sharpie on a rope" thing I did this morning. I simply won't tell you all the crude things that are going through my mind to describe how my esophagus feels right now...but let's say one scenario involves the Coney Island side show and a mug of flaming bourbon.



It is a great relief. I am a little torn however, because if they had found a hole (also known as a PFO) they would have been able to fix it pretty easily and then my Migraines might have gone away. The migraines mimic TIA type strokes pretty closely with progressive blindness radiating out from the center of vision until complete, total loss of sensation on the left side of the body, hemi-paralysis, and finally mind-crushing pain for 6 to 12 hours. Now it is back to the drawing board to try to find the root cause. I count myself as lucky though, I have found a medication that staves them off almost completely (Topamax), but I live with the constant fear that one day it might stop working. As someone who worked in research for a long time, I can not accept that a causality will not be found.

At least now I can go back to the studio and make my happy little flowers with one less thing to worry about.

So There!

Title: This is where all the trouble begins

(Yes, that is my brain in there)

Invasive

I'm feeling a little bleak today. It is cold and raining buckets, a preview of fall to come, which is generally ok, but not for today. I haven't been allowed to eat or drink anything since yesterday because of a procedure I am having today where they, numb up your throat, sedate you and then stick some ultrasound equipment down your esophagus so they can get a very clear look at your heart. I am thirsty and cranky and more than a little apprehensive...so I started making this shadowbox.






It is significantly darker than my other work as of late, and it is probably NOT destined for Etsy, but then I am feeling a little darker than usual today. Keep your fingers crossed for me...it is not a very risky thing I am having, just an uncomfortable one.

Vacation Inertia

Ugh...I need the inspiration fairy to strike.


I got back from vacation days ago and I can't seem to get anything done. My butt is glued to my office seat and although my studio is alluring, I have no clear plan once I go in there. I feel easily distracted and uninspired, which is exactly the opposite of how I was hoping that I would feel after a jaunt away from home.





I did go tag sale-ing on Saturday and picked up a few fun items that I might incorporate into my work, including these odd little curio boxes from the 60's. They were obviously made for the decorative market, because when I started dissecting them I discovered that several of the pieces were assembled directly on the fabric backing with some black brittle resin type stuff. I am hoping that I can grind that crap off with my dremel. There were bits of newspaper stuck in behind some of them for filler and they were obviously Russian...which adds a bit of mystery to their production. They say that they were made in New York, so I am guessing in some drafty 5th floor walk up tenement in Brighton Beach.

Alright...enough talk, time to walk the walk...gotta get my butt into the studio and see what gets made.

Birthday Girl

Yup...It is my birthday.

I had a day of weeding, thai food, Superbad, and playing with my new camera.

I can't wait for a day of making stuff tomorrow!

When your art dictates your life

I don't often post about non-art related personal life type stuff here...but I thought that this was kind of amusing. My husband and I just celebrated our 1oth wedding anniversary (hence the trip to Williamsburg). He gave me the most lovely diamond anniversary band. You see, when we married, he was a young college professor and I was a grad student (get your mind out of the gutter...he was never MY professor, we weren't even in remotely related disciplines) and we had very little money. We could either pay for our wedding or pay for a ring. We decided on a wedding, and he made me a promise that I would have a ring by our 10th wedding anniversary. Well, many folks never make it that far, you know. So here comes our anniversary and also comes the ring. The design of it was so considered.



I couldn't have a big solitaire, because that would just be silly, besides, the prongs would get all caught in the fibers of wool when I felt. I needed to have something simple and elegant, because I am a simple gal, and a clutz...and anything too big would get knocked about. I needed something where the stones were flush to each other, so that paint and dirt and who knows what else wouldn't get caught between them. So....this is what I got.

And it is perfect....

and yea for sweet patient husbands who understand about artsy women...he may not be perfect, but he is really really close.

Time Travel

On Sunday we went to Arthurdale in West Virginia. It was an experimental socialist community spurred on by Eleanor Roosevelt during the depression as part of the New Deal. Out of work coal miners and other workers were given the opportunity to buy some land, a house, their furnishings, some livestock, and were taught a trade. They had a forge, furniture making workshops, weaving workshops and other small scale production. Children were taught a trade in addition to the traditional curriculum, and the traditional subjects were approached on a project “learn by doing” basis. Each grade would pick a project for the year, and all their lessons would revolve around that project…such as, the fourth grade wanted to learn about the western pioneers, so they built a cabin, outfitted it, made a covered wagon, planned their foods to take west, learned about the history of the western frontier, and planned a campaign west. Talk about progressive!

Historic Inspirations

After three days in Willaimsburg, I have amassed some impressive photographic inspirations. Our hotel lied, and it has no internet access, but I was able to find a connection in town today. The light here is soft and lovely, even in the heat (104 degrees yesterday), which makes for great photos and I thought that I would share some with you:

The Green Parlor

The Day Gown

The Toy Horse in a Childless House

The Blacksmithy

Gorgeous Orange

I just made some gorgeous orange felt with pink hints that is destined to be a rose, I think. Maybe one of the beads will be the center somehow. The flat felt is mainly a really hairy mohair that was fun to feel, and the beads are merino. The texture is sooo different when you get to felting them, it is just amazing.

The color combo was inspired by my spare bedroom. This morning, I put this great duvet made out of vintage hankies on the bed, and had to play with some fun bright colors, how could I not?

My husband calls this the grandma room...and rightly so. The bedroom suite was given to my great-grandmother from my grandmother back in the forties. I inherited it about 10 years ago. It just fits in this room, with the cool green walls and sloped ceilings with it's calm morning light.

The rest of our house is decorated in such a mid-century modern eclectic style , this is really the one room in the house that is like a true step back in time.

My MOOOOO is in the HOUSE!

My Moo stickers came! Happy happy joy joy and they are just as freakin' cute as I thought that they would be. They are super shiny and slick and printed on really nice stock. The print resolution is fantastic I couldn't be happier!

Folks need to come to my Etsy store and buy more stuff so I can stick these bad boys on your packages! I have already started sticking them on everything else....like my computer....

If you are considering buying some Moo stickers, don't blither- blather and hesitate. They are a great value, and super simple to order with your Flickr photos.

Wanna trade?

P.S. Yup...They are all photos of my work....