Day 14 - 365/2014

Day Fourteen

Today I used the some of the gift cards my sister Sue gave me for my birthday and I framed some small sized art...I also re-homed my bamboo-like plants, and got three new Micron pens.

The stuff I got at Michaels with the two gift cards (plus a little more on the more general one).

I have been meaning/wanting to re-home (it isn't really re-potting or replanting) these two bamboo-like guys for a long time but I could never settle on a color for the glass pebbles and also today I was able to find a not too expensive thick-ish glass vase.  These glass pebbles look red, but they are really a dark orange.  I couldn't get the plants to stand up so I gave them the rock (that I've had since I was a teenager) to help take up space and look nice.  

The plants also have these guys for company...I hope they do okay in the guest bathroom.  The skylight is quite a bit brighter than the light in the studio.

I got a 5-pack of inexpensive 5x7 frames -- just to get started with and put some of the cute artwork up on the walls.  I may eventually have this stuff framed professionally, but for now this is good...at least I will be able to look at it!  I popped the desk flap thing off of them.  I really dislike trying to use desk frames as wall frames -- it is so frustrating to get that little triangle part to go over a nail head.

Oops...one of the kid paintings is on canvas and these frames aren't really meant for that.

In the box of artwork-that-needs-to-be-framed I found the two guys that William Hessian colored in when he was here the last time...we collaborated on my Penciled In series for Art-o-mat and these were the two characters that I printed out on regular printer paper that he practiced on and he signed them and I kept them...today I found a way to display them with some really nice handmade art paper (that I find too heavy/thick for collage).

THIS time I am NOT going to just throw stuff up on the wall without planning the area out.  It may take a day or two, but I will find the right spot for these.

Here is a preview of what they look like...two colored pencil guys, three acrylic paintings, and two linocut prints.

Thanks for the gift cards, Sue!

Day 13 - 365/2014

Day Thirteen

Today is my birthday -- I am sixty!

The day started out with this marvelous surprise in my mailbox.

Then I went to the Northville Art House to help Patti with some Members Show stuff.  I came home and sent out a few emails.  A bit later my dear sister Sue came over to celebrate with me.

I knew we were going out for a late lunch/early dinner and I thought that was my present...but no -- Sue totally surprised me and blew me away with a really cute card and four fantastic gift cards -- two to Michaels, one to Home Depot, and one all-purpose Mastercard one.  Wow.

Sue and I went to Mr. Thai and Sue had shrimp wonton soup and a noodle dish that looked and smelled divine, a first for her.  I ordered 3 of my favorite appetizers and Tom Ka soup with steamed tofu.  Man...Mr. Thai is really a good choice for a tasty meal...and the owner is so sweet and remembers everything you've ever had there.

Then Sue and I came back to my house and played Yahtzee (with Bootsy in attendance on the table), Sue tackled the really huge and lovely cupcake that Patti gave me yesterday, we played more Yahtzee, and then we took turns randomly reading the "good things" that happened last year...the ones I jotted down and put into a jar.  I think it will be my new birthday tradition.  I saw it last year on Facebook and people were doing it as a new New Years thing...then reading the papers on New Years Eve to ring in the new year.  I like it better for my birthday.

Say "hi" to the camera, Sue!

The huge and very pretty cupcake from Patti...I am sparing Sue all of the goofy pictures that I will show to Patti of the whole cupcake eating adventure.

Bootsy adores his Aunt Sue...he really doesn't want the cupcake crumbs...he just wants to see what Sue's got.

And that wacky guy stayed standing up until Sue came back to the table.

Reading the "happy things" that happened throughout 2013...I kinda fell off of writing them after about 4 months.  I pledge to keep it up ALL year this time!

Towards the end of the evening Twink joined us, too.

I had such a lovely time today.  And so many people have wished me a happy birthday on Facebook.  I am very happy!

Day 12 - 365/2014

Day Twelve

Today/tonight have been spent on paperwork and organizing and also Benadryl snooze times.  Hours were wasted...stuff got done.  Tomorrow is my birthday!

Day 11 - 365/2014

Day Eleven

OMG...two things...two incredible things...I am nearly vibrating I am so excited!

Incredible Thing #1 -- While fooling around in the studio today I found these Art-o-mat masterpieces!  

SO happy to see these Art-o-mat pieces again!  The two fox blocks are by Bonnie Pfingst, the Bearded Bunny is by William Hessian, and the zombie Lemmy is by Patrick Harris.

And

Incredible Thing #2 -- I can't stand it!!!  I have been looking forEVER for this quote from a short film I saw a long time ago...I remember most of it but I could never get the words right.  I haven't ever been able to remember enough details to find it in online searches but tonight while I was still going through old phrases/quotes/text from various sources I FOUND IT!!!

Aiiiiiiiiiieeeeee -- I never ever thought I would find the source of this little chant -- I cannot explain how thrilled I am!

And I found a few links for it online.  Here is the one with the most info.  I can remember the intonation of the chanting...I remember the dark moodiness of the short film...it is magic!

Now I want/need to track down a version I can watch and/or purchase that is on DVD.

GREAT evening!!!

(all of this naturally causes me to hear "Say your right words!" from Labyrinth in my head)

Day 10 - 365/2014

Day 10

Nothing terribly exciting to report for today...mostly errands and prep work for the Animal People collages.  I like to add unrelated lines of text from various sources to the collages and I am going through notebooks tonight and pulling text and phrases and hand printing them as I go along so that I can read them later when I am ready for them.

My current phrases notebook that is just about full.  I must have at least twenty notebooks around the house jam packed with various quotes, bits of conversation, misheard lines from television, lyrics, etc.

The problem sometimes with jotting things down quickly is -- of course -- that when I go back and try to read this stuff  at a later date I cannot make out some of the words...I don't always include where the phrase is from.  I can sometimes piece things together if there is more than one line from a particular source.

Wow -- that typed stack is from my old rubber stamp company.  I made rubber stamps out of a lot of those phrases.  This will be fun to go through...old stuff might be new again.

When I came into the studio to look for a few more text notebooks I started uncovering things in messy stacks on the shelves...so I tidied/tossed out as I went through them.  This is also the time of year when I gather up unframed artwork of various types to put into the what-should-I-get-framed-next collection.  My sister usually gives me a framing gift certificate for my birthday and it has been on my mind for a few days because she asked what I'd like.  So...some art was "found" and shelves were tidied tonight, too.

Artwork waiting for framing.

Tidied up shelves!

 

Day 9 - 365/2014

Day Nine

Hey -- we actually had a Second Thursday meet up this month!  Julia did a paper marbling demo and we all had a great time.

Tonight we had:  Jane, Leann, Julia, Janice, Peggy, and me.

Julia shows us examples of the results -- with the fresh ink and the old ink.

Julia loading a brush.

Leann's inks were behaving a little better for the camera.

Janice was really making a lot of marbled papers -- success!!!

One of Peggy's marbled papers.

One of Jane's marbled boxes.

The other marbled box by Jane.

A paper marbled by Jane.

Another one of Janice's marbled papers.

Leann was clearing the ink out of her water tray and this happened and she tossed it to me and said "here, have a fish" -- cool...except I see all kinds of other things, but no fish.  I will make something with this.

Several of our group couldn't make it tonight for many reasons and they were all dearly missed and asked about.  Next time!  And because so many of the absent members said they were sorry to be missing the paper marbling, Julia will demo it again in a few months.
A big Thank You to Julia for the demo and thanks for coming out tonight, guys -- it was great -- as always!

Day 8 - 365/2014

Day Eight

Today while waiting for the guys to come and plow out my driveway I made two more cat guys.  One will work for the Art-o-mat series, one is too big.

After a broken water pipe this afternoon (with no warning I heard something give way and then I heard the rushing water and couldn't find it -- thank goodness the city came out immediately -- it turns out it was a broken pipe spilling into the crawl space and the water dept. guy shut that valve/water thing in the basement ceiling off and said it will be fine until spring but I need to start shutting it off every winter)...and this month's Northville Arts Commission meeting this evening...I am back home and ready to watch some tv!