Bizarre Bazaar

Booooooo!!!! it's nearly Halloween and time for spooky things. Here are some images from Oct Bazaar magazine that I altered just for fun. The word stickers are from Martha Stewart collection from a few years ago. I hope she still makes them, they are fun to have on hand.

Change of pace, a quilt show

Yesterday some friends and I went to a quilt show at Murphys' Ironstone Vineyards. The setting was perfect, the weather also. And the quilt show was full of interesting works to view. Here are some pics. We had lunch at the old hotel garden in Murphy's. On the walkway into the show, there were decorated boots and shoes lining the path to show the way to go. One of my favorite quilts was this simple one with insets of chenille. Oh my it looked so soft and cosy. The purple and gold one was made for the brother of the quilter, who loved his fancy booze. The modern art piece was in honor of Dave Brubeck, and it played "Take Five" if you touched the corner.
Nice show, nice day. One can get inspiration for mixed media projects by visiting quilt shows as well as art galleries. Hmmmm..... now what shall I start on?

Oct 20 inbox

Here are a two new collaboration cards that just arrived. The one with chickens is from Sally. The other one is from Joanna. Thanks gals for the new arrivals.

Joanna strikes again! Yay!!!

Here are two new cards that just came in from Joanna. I always love her work and this time, she sent a mail art piece made from a vintage envelope. I'll show you both sides. The green piece is a collaboration return. Thanks Joanna.

In box - from Pat

This little cutie is from Pat in Folsom. She used one of those vintage photos that were printed on post cards. The back has an original letter to "Mother", a Mrs Steele. Looks like it was around 1908, but i can't quite make it out. Thanks Pat, it's a little treasure.

In box - a collaborative pc came home

Debbie in Castro valley worked on this collaboration and now it tells a story in greens. Thanks Debbie I love it.

Carving familiar images

I've had a picture of my doctor as a young boy for a long time. I photographed it from a snapshot he had on the bulletin board. I thought it was endearing with his big ears sticking out and his finger in his mouth. I also had a picture of a dog my granddaughter likes. I never got around to doing anything with them, but today I thought I'd carve them so I can use them as stamps. My supplies for carving are minimal, and simple to carry, so I took them to the senior center art get together and sat and carved. And talked, and listened, and carved. A nice morning.

Mail call - In box

Two of my favorite mail art pals send post cards that came on Saturday. Here are the pics. "Free Yourself" is from Norma in Florida. Cool card, Norma. Thanks. The sketched face post card if from Roberta who sketched on her IPAD using a sketch app. The hearts were later collaged on. This is a new technique for Roberta. One I have not tried. I think she did a really good job.

Time to think Halloween

Life downstairs is taken over with plans for Halloween about this time every year. They go all out. This year the contraption my son Matt is making is an elaborate electric wheel chair with a crib mounted on it. He is making a platform inside where a doll will be. The head of the doll will actually be a live person (Matt) with his head protruding through a baby blanket to look like it's te doll's head. The doll hands and feet will be animated by using dowels which will protrude up from holes in the blanket. Like a puppet. Right now everyone is having fun riding in the wheel chair. It operates with a joy stick, and I'm abysmal at using joy sticks, so I kept getting stuck and can't keep it going straight - but everyone can control it. Maybe with a little practice, I'd get the hang of it. Here's an early pic. I"ll post more later.

My job is to work with the fabric for the covering and for a skirt to hide the wheels. My own work with assemblage is over - maybe permanently. I have too many fabric and paper ideas. I just want you to know the art gene was passed to two of my sons. One works with rebuilding or chopping apart various kinds of motor vehicles. And this son, constructs odd things for fun. Last year it was the electric chair. It's kind of exciting to watch this new project come to fruition.

Mail art from the past

I found an old painting in the studio, while looking for something else. It was stamped and addressed but never sent. I don't' remember why. I had done a series of these to send to a small group that got into mail art. I received a hair brush, a size 10 tennis shoe, and other things. I did't send strange things just to test the postal system as some did, but instead sent pieces of my art with the addresses and stamps on the image side. Here's a little sample.

Now that I found this, I may just want to do some more of them.... LOL

Mail art - ready to go

There are 37 post cards on my table, all finished, stamped and addressed. It feels good to get them on done and on their way. off they go.

Mail Call

I've been getting some good cards in the mail the last few days. Some of them are birthday cards. One from Pat has this quote - "I don't drink or do drugs. At my age, I get the same effect standing up fast." LOL Another funny card, from Joanna showing bears standing in front of the front door of a house ready to ring the doorbell. The card says "This is the best thing Herb, you push this button, a bell rings, and out pops a snack." LOL again!

Among the post cards that arrived were cards from Marie in Corte Madera, Norma from Florida, Rosemary from Oakdale, Beth from Scotts Valley, Linda from El Cajon , and Roberta from Suisun. Here are pics. Some of them were collaborations, others are from individuals. I hope you enjoy them. I certainly do. Thanks gals.

Quotations

I often use quotation in my mail art, altered books and collages. Sitting here this evening I opened a small book "Instant Quotation Dictionary". It's a nice size that can easily be tucked into a jacket pocket, or a purse. Good for waiting rooms.....

The quotations are arranged alphabetically by subject. The first subject is ABILITY. The second entry under that heading is this quotation. I"ll probably use it on some post cards.
"Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. " Quote is attributed to Josh Billings.

In box - anonymous

Well it's always a puzzle for me to try to figure out who sends things unsigned. Perhaps I'm not meant to know, it is in the gesture of sending it that the artist experiences something meaningful. So, I probably should not question who it was. It came. I enjoy it. Whoever sent it also must have enjoyed the making and sending of it. Here is my latest mystery piece. There are some clues.... No, no. I mustn't make myself crazy trying to figure it out. Enjoy it with me.

The dark card is from Fast Eyes. Years ago she used to send the originals of her work, now she is sending printed cards of her wonderful collages. It's a way of stretching out the good art. I've always been a fan of her work so am delighted when a new one arrives.

A little help from a friend

One of my highschool classmates is working with me on our 55th reunion. He's a whiz with computer and has vast numbers of photos in his files. He's uploaded to our group site the year book, and lots of other pics of the times we were in school. It makes our group site really interesting and it's there for everyone in our class to share. Some of us had lost our yearbooks over the decades, so this was one of the best things that came from making a Yahoo group for sharing. He let it leak out that he restores photos. I saw samples of his work and could not resist sending him my fav self portrait taken facing a dirty mirror. It had so much wrong with it! Spots, scratches, bad lighting, etc. My hair on the right side of pic was all but hidden behind a reflected light. I looked more blonde than silver. But, he said he'd try and this is what he came back with, after we talked about changing backgrounds. I thought I'd prefer the sky to my bathroom wall. I did not ask him to iron out my wrinkles. LOL

This is the same photo I used for my self portrait. Refer back to earlier post.

Here it is, and by the way, his name is Roy Deeds, email (with his permission) is r.deeds@comcast.net.