Photographer and Artist of Mixed Media Whimsy
It was a great week in my Art Bodega as we finally have the A/C repaired, so now I can create without the element of salty sweat dripping on my work! Although it did make a great element when I was washing and wiping away layers of paint!! The clipboard collage is called "NOTE TO SELF" with layers of papers and paint as the background, and a drawing inspired by so many of the wonderful artists in one of my favorite magazines Cloth Paper Scissors®
and Suzan Buckner the THRIFTY COLLAGE ARTIST
So many kinds of WILDLIFE in my yard this week!
( Including Matt's butt!)
The neighbors Labrador found a spot to cool off in my backyard Frog Pond! Earlier that morning two Big Green Ones sat and awaited their morning Breakfast Fly!
And see my dogs in the crunchy brown grass? No, not the Guineas, my burning toes!
The lawn is so dead and hot that going barefoot is no longer fun outside this summer.
Matt has such an artistic eye in everything he does, especially behind his camera. I love how he sees the things in our everyday life. Last night we worked in the Art Bodega long after dark, when it was cool enough to BREATHE! I was making some random collage artwork after reading Suzans Tutorials (THRIFTY COLLAGE ARTIST) and he was refinishing some old tools that he collects.
Ok, so HOT FUZZIES! As the temps rise above the 102 degree mark in Texas I look around at some of my favorite Hot Shots just like the Habenero Sauce I make and put into tequila bottles!
It's timefor some silly fun
Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle~
When people are laughing, they're generally not killing each other. ~Alan Alda~
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb~
After spending several days on the West Coast where the nights were so cool, I had to sleep with blankets and borrow warm clothes! The breezy afternoons kept me cool as I soaked up some California sunshine. Last night when I returned to Texas at 9 PM, it was 90 degrees! Today the temps will rise above the 100 degree mark again. IT IS HOT IN TEXAS. But we all know that, right? Well, unless you have never experienced a Texas summer, let me help you imagine it. If you live in the humid parts like Beaumont or Houston, the air is thick like pea soup. When you step outside it is just like you paid money to sit in a steam room at a spa. You want to breathe, but you forgot to bring your knife and fork to slice off a piece of wet oxygen! Your clean body never got dry after that shower you took one hour ago. Now your clean clothes are soaked with sweat in the most embarrassing parts! You open the car door, hold your breath and try to regain consciousness, because for one moment you black out at the thought of closing the door inside this car that has a thermometer that reads 116 degrees Fahrenheit!! There you sit, like a basted Turkey waiting for someone to carve you open to release the juices boiling inside of your carcass. Ahhh, but alas the A/C kicks in and the warm, balmy air begins to hep you breathe. You can make it now, for you are a Hero. You will survive another June, July and last but not least, August in Texas. Now if you live in drier climates like West or Central Texas like I am now, the dry, hot air cuts like a blade. You can almost feel the burn inside your lungs. The grass is brown and crunchy. The breeze is like that blast you get when you open the oven door after the cookie timer goes off. You wonder why we wear clothing? It is just wrong. Nudity should not be illegal in the summertime.
OK, so maybe you think I am whining. YES, I am. Afterall it is my choice to live here. I hate to be cold. So I will put on my big girl panties, shut up and stay hot. grumble, grumble.
The picture above is one I took recently at the Royers party. They provided all the necessities ~You can't worry if it's cold; you can't worry if it's hot; you only worry if you get sick. Because then if you don't get well, you die.~ Joaquin Andujar
There is no place like being inside the fold of the arms of a beloved. It is calming, reassuring, nurturing, familiar. Not the kind from old Aunt Bessie with purple hair with half her teeth who pinches your cheek and calls you by your brothers name. Not the kind like a teepee hug from an office mate or the wimpy cold-as-a-fish hug from an embarrassed teenager who demands personal space. I am talking about the full-on, Big-as-Texas Bear Hug from shoulder to toes, heart to heart, armful of love that lingers longer than a hiccup. It's the kind that leaves you knowing you are OK. You are loved. You are safe. And for just one moment the world is calm, still and at peace.
Hugging has no unpleasant side effects and is all natural. There are no batteries to replace, it's inflation-proof and non-fattening with no monthly payments. It's non-taxable, non-polluting, and is, of course, fully refundable.
I will not play at tug o' war
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs....
~Shel Silverstein~
I love hugging. I wish I was an octopus, so I could hug ten people at a time. ~Drew Barrymore~
As I prepare for the upcoming Round Top Folk Art Fair where I will be promoting THE WOMEN OF ROUND TOP Calendar as well as peddling my wares, the temperatures are rising near the 103 degree mark and I am kicking out some really intense kind of artwork. Maybe because I am pissed at the weather. Maybe because I am mad at my past pains. Maybe because I fear for my son's well being as he is dealing with Sleep Deprivation. He has not slept well in six months since returning Stateside. Maybe you know someone. Maybe all the rest of our boys and girls can come home soon and begin to heal from this unjust war and killing field.
Maybe he can get the help he needs. Maybe I will go there tonight, a three day drive. Maybe. MAKE ART NOT WAR.
The collages are worked on Rat Traps. My healing heart series are altered cigar boxes titled LAST CHANCE, Mended and Suspended, Love is in the Air and Silence.
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My girlfriend Dawn VanderStoep now has her own online store in the new world of Digital Scrapbooking. The above pages are creations she made using her own designs and photos taken of me here in Texas! Go see her work at DAWN
I still hold onto the old fashion ways sometimes...like aprons and clotheslines. Something about the nostalgia of simpler times, longing to reach back and hold onto the memories. Today in my efforts to go green, my clotheslines are more than just a cute photograph. And my aprons have actually become a part of my wardrobe as I wear them with everything, even when I am not cooking or painting! Here are a couple writings I came across this week... The History of "APRONS" I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears . From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, it was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.
The Clothes Pin
How much better is it
to carry wood to the fire
than to moan about your life.
how much better
to throw the garbage
onto the compost, or to pin the clean
sheet on the line
with a gray-brown wooden clothes pin!
~Jane Kenyon~
