Holiday Decor 1960's style..... the computer card wreath

 As I was about 9 or 10,  the image in jumped out at me in all it's silver glory. McCall's Needlework and Crafts always had the best Christmas projects.  I loved making every tacky decoration. If I found a box of computer cards at a thrift store, atheist or not, I would make one of these for my door.

1.Cut a circle out of fairly heavy piece of cardboard.
 2. Fold a computer card's 2 short ends and staple them. Flip  the card over so the stapled side is now the back.
3. When you have a big pile, you can start stapling  the cards ....pointy end out following a long the outer edge curve of the circle. Each successive row is  stapled in the open spot between the 2 points like shingles. Don't be stingy with the cards. The whole point is to make this monstrosity of Holiday gaudyness as fat and obnoxious as possible.

4. I personally prefer a gold or silver spray paint, to make a nice background for the even gaudier glitter balls, elves, candy canes and tiny glitter penguins that you arrange artistically in the center  of your wreath ....AFTER you wait a bazillion years for the 2nd or 3rd coat of spray paint to dry.  Yeah, they never say it takes a bazillion years for things to dry properly in craft magazines.

5. After the paint's dry, try a few arrangements of your glitter stuff or boring greenery. But Mom! SPARKLY IS BEST! AND THEN GLUE EVERYTHING DOWN WITH WHITE GLUE.... AND  WAIT ANOTHER BAZILLION YEARS for the GLUE to DRY!

Of course now there are GLUE guns to get burned on, but wait time is cut by a bazillion. I don't know how easy finding IBM cards is now, but I have seen them in thrift stores on occasion. I'm told big index cards will work, that seems sacrilegious.

Supplies
Cardboard
IBM computer cards
1 or 2 cans of spray paint... if you find those pink cards that need extra coats.
A bunch of little decorations for the center
Craft GLUE or a GLUE gun
Wire to make a hanger so you can hang this masterpiece up
Stapler and staples

My femme fatales

Working on a new version of my skull carrying mermaid....  Learning how to work with oil paints has been a huge learning curve.  I've been working on primed masonite and I'm really liking it. I enjoy just banging on a solid surface while painting. I thought I'd miss the bounce of a stretched canvas, but no. This surface is much better for me.

As for my horned oracle... ew what a mess. I painted her to death.  This was the painting when I liked it.

But as I look at those overlong arms, I want to just start again.   The weekday Open studio had one of the models do a sorceress for a series of quick sketch.

  I find the gestures much more interesting want to use one as an inspiration for my redo.  A 3/4 view with the snake draped over the extended arms should be more interesting.  I want to keep the circular curved horns and long red hair. I have a few other shots of the original model with a 3/4 view.

Basing out the masonite with a base color like I do when I use acrylic, really helped me focus on what I was doing.  I'm hoping it will keep me from over working my paintings.

One new piece I'm really proud of is my sleeping dryad. She's done in acrylic and wouldn't probably be considered a femme fatale, but I'd like to share a successful finished piece.

What you hope when you start painting.....and what you get.

Sol Saucedo-Butzke - our model at open studio this past Saturday inspired me to look up Jesus Helguera a Mexican painter who I always liked.

 I always liked his pretty women in traditional clothing.  Now I realize my style of painting is hardly idealized realistic in nature like Helgeura's, but I thought attempting a different style would be interesting.  Well, the blank wall put me off, so I rescued the striped blanket and made it the backdrop.

Yes, so much for good intentions. So you see the painting I ended up with.

I wasn't too surprised when my finished piece was more like something Matisse would have done.

Which when I think about is okay too.  I just couldn't bear paint a relatively barren(at least to me) brownish background. I'm a firm believer in using the model and their environment as a jumping off point.

I am what I am....a colorist at heart.

Does your nature as an artist sabotage your good intentions?

Clowns.....mini rant!

I've written about clowns before. Yes I am scared of them cos I've never liked anything with a hidden agenda. Clowns are not funny...although as meat they might taste that way.

As for being bringers of relief from pain in a hospital setting... What do you think?  I'd rather be visited by Pennywise or this guy from the French short film Happy Meal.

But maybe it's just me.....  Nope. Clowns are awful.  Really really awful!  Would you like to wake up after surgery with this guy hanging on your headboard? Geez, why not? 

Bathroom Lurkers

Back when we were kids in the 60's Mike and I had the principals of our respective schools give us The Bathroom Lurkers or in Mike's case The Toilet Bums lecture.

**UPDATE: Holy crap! I just found the short film. It's scarier than I remember.  The Scary man video **I think there was even a short film about never going into a park bathroom alone. We always joked it was supposed to be dirty unshaven men in trench coats or something. Which obviously isn't usually the case in child assault cases.

Anyway, I have an odd story for you.

Mike and I had a nice lunch Saturday afternoon. We talked about movies and work and painting.  We were even chatting about the stories about the potty phobes cos we planned to pick up some things at Target on the way home.

So as I usually do after eating, I stopped by the restroom on the way out. As I came out of the stall a woman put her hand on my arm and asked me if I'd found Jesus.

Now honestly was I startled by being approached and touched by someone  I perceived to be a woman? No. I think what bothered me was the giant cross around her neck. I've had experiences with being told that as a person with a disability I was a tool of the devil or unclean.

Yeah, apparently there's some stupid thing about the deformed not being allowed near the altar in the Old Testament. Well, now we have science and stuff so we know about birth defects and genetic anomalies. So you are gonna have to get over that stuff. Human comes in a range of colors, sexualities, genders, limb counts and mental abilities.

Any way.....sorry I got ranting. Back to the woman with the giant cross. As all of the stuff in my rant was whirling about in my head she repeated "Have you found Jesus?"

I pulled away and started washing my hands and replied, "In the toilet? No I was alone." And walked out. Come to think of it, I hope she washed her hands too while she was skulking around in there.

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking that I was unfair to her, but I wasn't the one lurking in a bathroom. If that's leading by example I wasn't impressed. If you want to be mad at me being irritated here's a card to present me the next time you see me.

Really?! Did the prop dude hit a Woolworths Sale? Thoughts on the Original Dark Shadows

 My first Actor crush was Johnathan Frid. I raced home from school to see him every day in lovely atmospheric black and white. On one fateful day a terrible thing happened.

Dark Shadows was filmed in color. Now I'd love Frid no matter what, but the show lost so much atmosphere cos the colors of the accents on the sets and the clothing were very raw.

The one thing that really annoys the hell out of me? The loud obnoxious turquoise candles in the old house. I mean come on! Barnabus wanted everything to be just as he remembered it when he and Josette were alive. You can't tell me tallow candles came in 1960's turquoise.  I just don't believe it. Barnabus was always looking for an excuse to knock the crap out of Willy. Those candles should have sent him into a rage.

I know it's just a tv show and I'll always watch Dark Shadows, but damn those candles! Oh and the ugly bag dresses and the boxy wool boucle suits!
                                                                               

 

Yeah, okay there's a bunch of annoying things. But one place I loved in black and white or color was Sam's art studio. I adored the windows, and all the paintings around.....even the old sofa.

So, do design faux pas bug you when you watch a favorite show from your childhood?

Creation of a Lovely Monster Part 2

 Just a little observation....you never know what people will see in your work.  My husband looks at what I was going to call A Bride of Cthulhu and said...."Wow that really looks like Lucille Ball!"

Which is funny cos... One- I was attempting to create something a little frightening and a little sophisticated. Two- I never cared for Lucy's type of embarrassment humor. Interestingly enough, I have problems with depression and through my reading on the subject, that type of humor is abhorant to many sufferers.

So, yes I unconsciously created quite a monster. Strange how things work out.

The Creation of a Lovely Monster

Combining different colors, genres and styles of clothing can make unusual dolls. I have always loved pannier dresses, sea creatures, and the atmospheric writing of H.P. Lovecraft. Now first off... Yes, Lovecraft was a racist who was afraid of pretty much everyone and everything. He thought he was too good to do menial work. His education left him thinking he was some lord of the manor caught out of time. Amazingly he had a Jewish wife who doted on him for a while but she got tired of supporting him and eventually left him. BUT, I have to admit he put his irrational fears to good use and the paranoia that permeates  his stories really can get that shudder/cold chill factor going when you read his work.

One thing to remember about talent....it is not always given to nice people.

Now pannier dresses, they are fun because of the layers of fabrics that can be used to mimic the frilly pieces in the tails and fins of sea creatures like sea horses or sea dragons and squids. As many of the Cthulhu Mythos seem to be based on squid like monsters, combining a human torso with some tentacles makes a nice human squid hybrid bred from the Elder Gods and their willing devotees.

I usually work with lots of bright colors and patterns, so in this Brides of Cthulhu series, I wanted to strictly limit my color palette and use pattern to create visual interest in this piece and the other dolls I'm planning.

While I was shopping for the black,  silver and white beads for this series, I fell in love with these adorable little brightly colored skulls. The fact that some of them had little rhinestone eyes made them just perfect. Yes, skulls can be cute.

So, now I just need to give her a suitable name and list her in my shop.