Work in progress

I've got the type glued onto the background now.  Thinking it would look better with a  big crow on the left side facing the impact site,  I drew one, cut a stencil and painted it in navy blue diluted to a glaze.     Ruined the whole thing.   Now what?    the background was painted probably 15 years ago, covering a huge pig sitting by a watermelon that I'd done for my Dad.  It hung in his favorite sitting room until he was bored with it, when I brought it home and repainted it.    My point is, the painted background was old, and I didn't hink I could match the paints, so decided to mix trial runs until I could get it close enough.  I really did not want to repaint the entire background now that the road and the text is already there.     I could not get the color match I wanted, so decided on one of my whims to paint a sort of primitive landscape to show the countryside the road is passing through.      Here is how it looks now.

 The color doesn't look at all like the real painting, I took the pic in a room with bright sunlight coming through red and white checked curtains.    

In a way I'm thinking it might be better to leave the background dullish, because it's the words that are important.       But, it needs to be interesting enough for people to walk up and read them.

 I upped the contrast in Photoshop elements to see if that looked better.

 then I increased the saturation for comparison.  Jmmm...

then I went a bit wild and really upped the saturation and tweaked the color.    Typically the art hung at the Mexican Heritage Center is colorful and bright.   Maybe I should punch it up.    Hmmmm..... 





Hmm.    I'll look at it again tomorrow when the light is better and see if I want to make changes.

I can see that road going off into the sky is not good placement.    do I really want to take time to change that?     Hmmm..     this is a process.    As you can see.     I'll show more steps and views tomorrow.   

This and that

Here is a quick peek at the new owl books I made for the gallery.    I'm particularly fond of the green one.     

This is one of the Paris signs I painted  that hangs in my friend Cat's house.     It's the perfect spot and changed the whole atmosphere in her private bathroom.    this the one I sprayed on the back with the Krylon mirror spray paint which gives it a kind of mercury glass look. First of course I sprayed the stencils with black paint.    I was glad to see the mirror spray did not affect the black paint.   whew!  I was worried about that.     If you spray with the mirror paint, do it outside - the fumes are horrible.

Holliday is over, let's get back to art.

My decorations are all tucked away  and artwork is spread around now.     I am entering three pieces in the Exhibit that will take place at the Mexican Heritage Center .  The theme is Art Against Violence.      I met one of the directors at a meeting a couple weeks ago and asked whether she thought drunk driving was an applicable subject.   She gave me a wholehearted YES, so I decided to enter the White Crosses book.   

After later discussion it didn't seem to work out that the actual book be exhibited due to the size and fragility.     It just would not work.   This just presented another challenge.    How can it be entered?   Hmmm.....

  I went through a lengthy thought process and checked in with a few friends and brother for input.   I had first thought it would be good as a video or even a slide project, but that would mean someone would need to be there for the equipment and to start and stop and troubleshoot.      Not practical.      So, I decided to break the book content down into the two parts.  The first being the section where I used the found words technique to paint out all the words except those that contained the narrative I selected.      I scanned it, and am having it printed on heavy paper to construct a separate book that can be handled.      Here are the pages. 

the highway

claimed another victim

you noticed that single cross.    Who ---or what ---marked the spot

open road
driving that hill and that curve
highway
dangerous
drunk
dead

tears

the accident site

he looked back

he didn't see the tree
fatality









Each page is cut along the highway so the next pages show partially.    I'll do this with the new version as well.







The next section of the book contained my poem "Shrines by the Side of the Road" which I wrote in 2009.     Instead of using it in the book form, I decided to use an old canvas, draw on a road and then print the poem, cut out the words and glue them along the roadway.    This measures 24 x 48 inches and hangs horizontally.   Right now it is still in progress.  Here is how it looks at the moment with the words just scattered along in two different fonts.   It's still very much in the making decisions mode.    Masking tape is roughly where the road will be.

In order to make it fit, I had to edit the poem down, leaving out a number of stanzas and lines.     Here is how it reads now.   

The Shrine at the Side of the Road

Driving along a country road
on a sunny afternoon
without a care in the world.

I know this road,

I've passed this way before.

I am startled to see

by the side of the road
a white cross nailed to a tree.
A shrine for a youth
whose path ended here.

In his old pickup truck
with a six pack of beer
he lost control rounding the bend.

The impact! the crash!
the truck is now trash.
Broken glass, broken head,
 pronounced DEAD!

How many lives were shattered that night?
How many people mourn?
How many tears were shed
for the brother, the friend, the son?

Nothing can be said,
nothing can be done.
That's the hardest part.
Nothing is slower to heal
than the hole in his mother's heart.

I say a little prayer
for the soul of the one who died
and the lives

that were wrenched by the tragedy
as I zip past the sad little shrine

that could have been mine.

I've passed this way before
I'll pass this way again.

Christmas Cheer

The decorations are up.
Decorating in the trunk.

And on the herb sign at end of kitchen.     I always wished there was a window there but it gives me another wall to decorate.     

Tis the season

At the white elephant gift exchange at the art center pot luck dinner, I got the two little owls that look so good with my little owl cookie jar I bought last year.    

  Lisa took what I had already received, and I filched this from Pam who had already had something else snitched from her.     Eventually everyone seemed happy with what they received.   It was fun.     Here's Frances and Lisa on the way out.    

  By the way, the two owl books sold right away.     I'm glad they have found good homes.     

Calm after the storm

We didn't blow away. We're still here.   It's been raining for days and our water table is vastly improved.    On days without rain, we have fog because there is so much moisture in the air.     So any time the sun pokes it's way through, I really appreciate and enjoy it.        

Our Monday morning senior group had tables at the annual holiday bazaar/party at the senior center.    I didn't take anything to sell, but sat and drew leaves in the nature journal, and a few people stopped to watch.  Helen, Lillian, Elizabeth, John, and Jean all sold some of their art work.  Celia set up a yard sale kind of table and got rid of a lot of her things at bargain prices.      There were also potters, crochet and knitters, quilters, card makers, and lots more.   the fun part of the day is the games.  Reverse bingo where if they call a number on your card, you are out.     They played this a number of times, and those at our tables were out pretty quickly and had fun rooting for each other.     They also had other games, musical chairs, and raffle prizes.   It was not my lucky day.    

Here's a pic of Jean and Helen setting up the table.

Storm of the Century due here tomorrow.

How scary is that?      I'm quivering in my boots.    Since I live upstairs, I get buffeted pretty hard with high winds, and they are expected to be in the 20 -35 mph range with gusts up to 60????   60?    I've never been here with winds like that.   Normally I like wind.    It's exhilarating.  This time it's just plain scary.    We are also expecting several inches of rain.     I hope the gutters can take  the run off this year.      I might take doggies and go downstairs with the kids.     I doubt anyone will be home however, with the odd work schedules they have.       I'll be worried about Matt on the highway in a big truck.     He says it's much worse when he returns an empty, so I'll hope he has a heavy load.       My neighbor was looking nervously at the big street tree out front.  Says he will have the longest reaching branches removed next time we have it trimmed.    One overhangs the front of my house and two overhang my driveway.     His car is also in danger.     

Let's see if I'm ready.  I have batteries.  Water.   all electronics fully charged.    Flashlights.   Food.    Yep? 
I wish we had the house reroofed this year, I expect we will have some shingles torn off.      I'll let you know later.