SOLD

The vintage typewriter keys sold, so I have posted more for sale on Etsy. I am still on the fence about cutting up my collection. I passed up one today for $10 at the Avon Flea Market. (The last Sunday of the season). I wasn't able to bring myself to purposely buy a typewriter  just for profit of its destruction.

Home Maker

I had some things framed and I have been trying to get the house in order as the school year begins. We have lived in this house for over four years and it is still a work in progress. Here is a shot of a corner of our dining room. I love this little picture by Erin Tyner. I may have to make a collection of her work. Two or three would look good on this wall, don't you think? The collage pods growing out of the molding are the one element I feel is my personal touch in this house. There will be more, personal touches that is, I don't think my husband could stand any more pods.

O8AMA

I had a great day at the market. Thank you to everyone who came out to support me and the other South Wedge vendors. It is so much fun to see friends and meet new people. Now I move on. I an watching Obama accept the nomination and I hope this country will move on too! Check out this exciting campaign necklace by Brokadelphia. They donate $10 of the $35 to the democratic campaign. I really really want one, but have made a promise to not spend any money on myself for a while. 

South Wedge Market

Don't forget to come today to the South Wedge Market. I have 22 pairs of hand knit fingerless gloves. Once they are gone, they are gone!

Time a wastin'

I spent half of the day photographing my typewriters. I should be making work to sell on Thursday at the South Wedge Farmers Market! Oh, well. It was a very bright day and the pics come out pretty great. See if you agree.

The ever popular Underwood.

The Tower President or the President Tower?

This one I started to disassemble. It looks like an old lawnmower to me. I think I could use it in a collage, I could have a secretary from 1961 mowing and office suite with it.

The Remmington Rand

The Remmington 5

The Quiet De Luxe

 Royals are my favorite typewriters. The first one I destroyed was a royal.

typewriter keys

 Just found this image from Small. What an amazing magazine! I guess Elisabeth Dunker is a photographer for them. Beautiful work Elisabeth! I actually have over eight vintage typewriters. (Is there such a thing as a contemporary typewriter?) I just love the look of typewriters, the juxtaposition of the mechanical with the visually pleasing design. I had planned to cut off the keys to all my typewriters because they take up so much space... But this picture makes me think that these typewriters shouldn't be destroyed. I  got them out of the basement and was reminded today why I love them so much. They are simply lovely objects. I will photograph them at least, if I cannot figure out a good home for them I will have the images of them saved for eternity. 

I'll post the photos of them tomorrow. 

 I love Michelle Maul's drawings of typewriters and although I will not attempt to draw them, I want to have these objects saved somehow.

Hear are keys of a lovely typewriter I failed to photograph first. I'll be posting them on Etsy today in small groups, I have the group of Shift Keys up already.

This Picture was obviously not in focus - but I like it...isn't it eery?

Small Magazine and Shanna Murray

Shanna Murray of Nook and Second Storie has her gorgeous work at Small. Congratulations to Shanna and thanks for introducing me to this beautiful website.

Thursday is coming soon

I will be selling my art work, cards, jewelry and fingerless gloves a the South Wedge Market this Thursday. I am trying to make a few more pairs of gloves and more earrings like these. Who could pass these up at $10 a pair ?

My friend, Nanso, gave me this great beer bottle after she saw my post about the Bassa Nova Acai recycled glass earrings (May 8th). I like this glass so much more. It has a gold and a green text on amber brown glass. And the bottles are very large which allows for more pieces. Too bad I don't like beer. But I have friends who do and they happily drink it and return the empty bottles to me. I "antiqued" the silver solder on these  and oxidized the silver findings. I really like the finished product. I need to go now and work on completing more before Thursday.

Asian Pears

We went to the Brighton Farmers Market this morning. I am sad to say that today was my first visit. But it is very nice and we bought some homemade manicotti for dinner tonight and lots of fruit, including these asian pears I photographed. I have always wanted to make poached pears for dessert. I will have to wait until they ripen but I think these pears will be perfect for that. I have also made a wonderful pear ginger jam in past years. I wait until late fall when pears are not quite so expensive to do that. The jam comes out a beautiful yellow color and makes for a lovely holiday gift.

Decisions

So here is the finished piece in place. And I do really love it.
I played around more with the pieces to this puzzle and I think I may rip the painting in half and have the house shape/flyswatter hanging down in the empty space...

These colors are truer to the reality of the painting. In the photos below I was using photoshop adjustments to give it something it just doesn't have.

I am working on this piece for our living room. I have a large frame that I am repurposing for an empty wall. It is getting there. I need to sand down the shininess of the acrylic paint and decide how much collage to use. The oval of wallpaper is bothering me - I like it and I dislike it. I am considering painting something over it to push it back...but I don't want it very complicated.

blog bugs

Here are some of our  wonderful finds from Pennsylvania's woods and gardens. My favorite is the spider nest. Each day we took a walk and would check out the spider nest that was along side of the road. It just looks like a fuzzy ball, but if you shook the branch a little the tiny spiders would all disperse. The fuzzy caterpillars were all over the place. Allen says the green bug is a katydid, but I am going to look it up.

companion piece

I just completed this piece this morning. It is kind of a companion to the one I posted on August 6th (August Art). I wish I had more than two weeks before I have to return to work. I am finally feeling like an artist again. I get really sad when I realize I won't be able to focus on art for while, but I am so lucky to have had the summer and the husband who doesn't mind the constant mess around the house.

Cows

I have a nephew in Pennsylvania who lives on a diary farm and we went to his house and got a tour of the place and we were allowed to to see the cows being milked. They have a handful of babies that he assures me are not veal cows but just being raised up to be milkers. The loveliness of living in the country is appealing  for a moment, but I could never give up the opportunities the city offers.

For Lucinda

I see glass beads. Does  anyone else?

innovated knack

I am headed of for a week at my husband's family cottage on Roaring Creek in Pennsylvania. We will visit Knoebel's Grove, do some antiquing, see friends and family and take creek hikes. I found this picture in a de-accessed library book about American Industry and Technology. I think it is an amazing image that accurately illustrates my continual thoughts about  home and traveling.

Airplanes

I "threw" this piece together yesterday afternoon and I really, really like it. But I felt like it can't be anything valuable because it happened too quick and spontaneously. I have decided however that it took twenty years to make this piece. Well... it did take three days of being engrossed in the processes of making art and all my efforts of looking and thinking about what is possible.

August Art

I am halfway through my "week to make art." I do believe, as frustrated as I feel, that I am getting somewhere. I like this piece I completed (8" x 11"). I think I actually started it back in March. I have no idea why I am attempting landscapes. I have no conscious interest in landscapes. I actually have very little interest in being outdoors. But I think this is a pretty successful attempt at using collage and paint together (which is something I have been unable to do until now). Three years ago, when we moved to our suburban house, (for the great school district) I began a lot of work having to do with home and travel and tourism and returning home. I am going back to that this week. I have had a continual problem of accepting this house we live in and I need to get over it. It is a great house. My family is so lucky to have what we have.

three potato four

Isn't this amazing? This store never fails to wow me! Check out three potato four for yourself! Oh, I just found out they have an blog too!

This is label from some yarn. I really like the pattern and plan to play around with it in photoshop. Feel free to do the same if you like it too!

Hands and Hovercrafts

I am having a strange day. I decided that this is my week to make art. But I am making myself complete some chores before I am allowed to make art today, only because I cannot figure out what art exactly to make. I think it is also my hope that I will have some epiphany while folding laundry. Now I am close to beginning something, but here I am posting on my blog instead. The post did actually come from searching for ideas and inspiration my journals and I came across this. It is from the summer of 2006. The info on the left is a list of "hand" cliches and the right page is my son's diagram of a hovercraft. 

Fun Scanning

I scanned this plant/weed from my garden the other day and left it in the scanner. Today I noticed it peeking out of the edge there and I went to remove it, but it had bloomed while it pressed on the scanner surface. I know there is a metaphor in this somewhere, I am just too empty headed today to find it.

LuLu

I have finally created a LuLu book of my collage series, The World Around Us. It is not for sale on LuLu as I will put some real collage on the book's cover myself. I will hopefully post it Etsy soon and I will definitely have it have it for sale at the shows I do around Rochester. The first show is Thursday, August 28th, at the South Wedge Market. I will have oodles of my work for sale in the Second Storie} booth. Then the Public Market hosts Artist Row on Sunday, September 21st. Mark you calenders, come early and start your Christmas shopping. Artist Row has so many great sellers and hand made bargains galore but the best one-of a-kinds are scooped up early.

So little time

August came too fast! Summer is time for home improvements for us. As we are teachers (although my husband has a great deal of work to do in the summer) I don't have to go to work. This year Allen built a deck off the back of the house. The yard was a blank slate of grass with no landscaping at all. We didn't like having to have the grass mowed and we didn't like sitting in it, so it was necessary and we really do love it. We didn't want to put the grill on the deck and so we decide to put in a stone patio right next to it. We were planning to hire someone to do it, but I decided to take a try and I am pleased to say I completed it by the end of July.