Archive for August, 2008

Put your learning caps on

Published
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robayre
on August 30, 2008
in General Update
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A coworker brought in his recent Smithsonian magazine to show me an article about photobooths. You can read that article Four for a Quarter, by Kenneth R. Fletcher online here. The article told about how photobooths had become so popular after their inception that people that couldn’t afford to purchase one would build their own, sometimes where a person would be hiding on the other side of the wall of the photobooth, actually taking pictures, developing them and then sticking the finished processed pictures through a slot, never tipping off the customer that the booth wasn’t fully automatic. The first photobooth location was called a “photomaton”.

The term photomaton makes me think of automaton, (automatic machines) which then makes me think of one of my favorite artists, Joseph Cornell. I can’t remember if I ever read if Cornell had an affinity for photobooths, but I could easily imagine they would have been an interest of his. I’m not exactly sure of the history behind the “omat”, “omatic”, “omaton” terms, but there is definitely something in me that is interested in finding out more. The terms brings to mind Ron Popeil, the great inventor and salesman. I saw a great show on him at the Chicago Cultural Center several years ago. You might know of him from greats such as the chop-0-matic and veg-o-matic. Back when plastic was king, and remember the classic movie line - “I have one word for you… plastics”. I am the proud owner of a point-o-matic pencil sharpener from the 50’s, but I don’t think that was a Ronco product, oh well. Back then all of these automatic things were THE FUTURE and bright and shiny and new and now they relate closer in the context of this summer’s flick Wall-E and how this little robot was saving, collecting and cherishing all those outdated, unloved, replaced items. Now there is plenty of worry about plastic, but that’s a completely different subject for a different day.

Back to the photobooth and automatic machines. What is it about me that is just so attracted to photobooths, polaroid cameras, old vending machines and even gumball machines. When I was a kid we had an old pachinko machine, it was the coolest thing ever and looked kind of like this.

Of course, this post could not be complete without mentioning my love of Artomat. I think Clark, the creator of Artomat, must also share a fondness for automatic machines as well as he is the one who designs, remodels and repairs all the machines that now dispense artwork, nationwide.

And before I sign out: Here is a cropped detail of another original circle piece in my etsy shop. Click the link to see the full thing.

Have a great long holiday weekend, for those of you who get Monday off. Maybe you can find the time to track down an old school photobooth near you.

New mini series

Published
by
robayre
on August 28, 2008
in General Update
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Circle, originally uploaded by robayre.

wow, my posting here has been pretty erratic, hasn’t it? I feel lots of guilt when I don’t post daily, does anyone else suffer from this?

I’ve been working on a new series, inspired by my other continuing series of Circles. These mixed media pieces are on 6″x6″ canvas and this particular piece is listed in my shop already.

Projects vs. Sleep

Published
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robayre
on August 25, 2008
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I’m so tired. It’s a beautiful day out, but instead of having a productive afternoon off, I’ll probably fall asleep on the porch swing. School is back in session and that means one thing, the local university newspaper is back in print and now I must work my weird day (going in at 2 am, off at 10 am).
This weekend I was feeling exhausted by my need to work on something, anything creative. I have felt lost for a bit without an inspiring project that consumes my every thought. That thing that can get me through the day, and helps me fall asleep dreaming about it at night. After feeling this emptiness for what seems like an eternity, Saturday evening I hit my personal library and found just the inspiration I needed. 1. from the Complete Craft, a cuff bracelet that was originally done in beadwork, but I will be adapting for my own style (you can see what I’ve done so far in the above picture, and 2. Just the perfect push for an art show this winter, thanks to Erin and the book Kaleidoscope.
But finally when I feel so inspired and just want to dig into my new projects, I feel like I can’t even see straight.
I. Must. Rest. Swing. Is. Calling. Me.

gnomes on the brain

Published
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robayre
on August 21, 2008
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gnomes lined up, originally uploaded by robayre.

After a sale in my shop recently, I’ve had gnomes on the brain. I’ve been making gnome stickers, gnome buttons and tonight drawing up these ‘lil guys.

Thanks everyone for the love on the “handwritten post” yesterday. I think I’ll do more. It made posting super easy and super fun.

handwritten note

Published
by
robayre
on August 20, 2008
in General Update
. 7 Comments

Please meet pejnolan

Published
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robayre
on August 14, 2008
in General Update
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If you haven’t seen her around before, I’d like to introduce to you one of my best-est, top-of-the-pop-friends, Erin, aka, pejnolan. I’ ve known Erin for 14 years. Holy moly, yeah, I know, I can’t believe it’s been that long either. She has always been an incredible support and inspiration to me. Even when I was a wee young thing of 16 years old, she was one of the few, in my very impressionable years, that I thank for helping to form who I am today. She has so much talent and vision and ambition. In some ways we are so similar and share so many areas of interest and life experiences, and in other ways I feel she sees things so differently and helps bring things to light for me that I might never have seen. For all of these things I am deeply indebted to her.

Tonight we spent time in her studio while she finished her Huskie dogs project. The pieces came out so rich and lush and look every bit of all the time she invested in them. I saw them in the early stage and after they reached a certain stage, they just popped and my jaw dropped. I wish each and every one of you could see them in person.

Tomorrow she will be saying goodbye to them as she drops them off to their new owner, but I couldn’t help but notice how well they would have fit in her studio permanently surrounded by the rest of her work that is defined by her very unique Erin-style. I’d like to encourage everyone to check out her flickr, her blog and her etsy shop.

Porch swing and a new neighbor

Published
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robayre
on August 13, 2008
in General Update
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porch swing, originally uploaded by robayre.

Today I can cross off one of my life’s dreams. That dream: having a front porch swing. It is not quite the porch nor is it the swing of my dreams, but it’s a swing and it’s on my porch, and I’m thrilled.
Matt and I purchased it from Lowe’s and I used a 10% off coupon that I just happened to find in the junk mail I was about to toss out. It came to less than $100, it has cushions AND it can fold down to make a bed.
While we were building it this afternoon I met a neighbor. A little boy (probably around 6 years old) was riding his scooter up and down our block. He stopped occasionally to inquire about what we were building, “Oh yeah, I want one of those,” he said as if he already has a list of home improvements to take care of. His name was Sebastian and I think I’ve made a new friend. I think Matt’s looking at him as if he were a stray animal (if you feed it, it will keep coming back). He lives in the apartment building right behind ours and goes to the same elementary school that I did when I was his age. He was waiting for his friend to come home. This totally brought back memories of summer vacations when I was a kid. The neighborhood kids were my life and I woke up with one mission, and that was to have friends to play with. Then I’d stay out till it got dark and it was time to come back in.
One thing that interests me about him is that, unlike myself, he is not shy at all to talk to strange adults. When I was a kid I was terrified of adults. I remember my sister walking us to the neighborhood 7-11 with change to buy candy (Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip, holla) and I would always ask her to buy it for me. I had the money, I was just afraid I’d have to talk to the adult at the register. I had a friend who was my same age who lived on the next block. Instead of ever going up to her door to ask if she could come out to play, I’d stand across the street and call her name until she came out. If her grandma came out to say she wasn’t home, I’d run away. Sometimes I wonder if it is the source of my shyness now. I was, SO, not shy when I was a kid (my kindergarten teacher complained that where ever she’d seat me to keep me from talking, I’d become new best friends with my new neighbor. But as I grew up, my peers grew up, and soon I was surrounded by only adults. Maybe I’m still afraid of adults?
So, anyway, Sebastian apparently doesn’t suffer from this same affliction. I gave him a sheet of plastic wrap bubbles and he asked me for two, one for his friend that he was waiting for. He asked me what grade I was, lol, when I said I was done with school, he said I could go to college and when I said I was done with college he said “That’s because you’re an adult”. When Matt came out with a diet coke, he asked for a can for himself. Nice try. When we finished the swing, we were sitting on our finished product and I brought out Bishop and Sebastian came up and sat with us and pet Bishop and talked about cats with me.
I didn’t give him any food while Matt wasn’t looking, but I sure do hope he comes around again.

What a morning

Published
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robayre
on August 11, 2008
in General Update
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I had a pretty crazy morning.

Once again, I woke up to the smell of fried eggs permeating the bedroom. Since it has gotten warm and we’ve had the windows open at night I wake up to the smell of fried eggs. At first I blamed the neighbors in our duplex, but they’ve moved out and the smell continues on. I mentioned it to Matt and he said he’s never smelled it. This morning, when I woke up to the smell yet again, I thought about Matt’s reaction, and started to worry. What if there really is no smell of fried eggs and it is actually a symptom of a brain tumor? Yes, these are the kind of worries I have. The kind of worries that most people, other than my sister, wouldn’t ever understand. Sometimes the smell is so strong that I almost feel like I could faintly smell it all day long, like it was stuck in my nose. I understand this concept all too well from when I used to change diapers regularly at the nursery. That smell would stay in my nose the rest of the day, and that’s no pleasant smell.

When Matt woke up the smell was gone and I confided him that I was worried about my health. This is when he tells me “My first thought would be that it comes from the nursing home across the street. Yeah, that would be my first conclusion, not that I had a tumor.” Yatzee! It had never occurred to me that we have an almost-restaurant (serving tons of people breakfast each morning) right across the street from our house. Problem solved. I hope. (checking glands and probing scalp)

Next…Matt opens the door to the house and then turns to me and says “Why is there a horse out here?” I think he’s joking, and I give him a quizzical look and he says “I’m not kidding, there’s a horse out here” but then he points down low, so I think he must be talking about a toy, like a My Little Pony. I get up and look out the front door to find this beauty sitting on our welcome mat.

My first reaction was “That’s creepy, I’m scared, somebody hold me”. But then I just started laughing and had to go get my camera. I’ve come across several of these horses before. This is a perfect example of magic in real life…waking up to a springed-rocking horse at your front door. At first I wanted to message a select few asking them to fess up, but then I started thinking that would ruin the magic, so I guess I’ll just let it be. In the meantime I have a magical horse living on my front porch.

THEN, finally as I’m driving to work, I turn to the street I work on and as I pass a parking lot I see this vehicle driving so fast through the lot, heading to the exit that would eventually cut me off. I look over to see who this joker thinks he is and it’s my manager at work and he’s pointing his finger at me. Other than the fact that he was driving a car and not a bike, it totally smacked of Better Off Dead, when the paper boy shows up everywhere on his bike chasing after the main character for his “TWO DOLLARS!”

Now, it’s Monday night and that means one thing, TV night: Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Intervention. I might even work on some stuff while watching TV too…maybe.

Today I captured some Maxfield Parrish clouds

Published
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robayre
on August 9, 2008
in General Update
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Woooo! I’m so excited to say that I had 3 sales at the end of this week and it has officially put my etsy shop up to 50 sales. I can honestly say that each and every sale is a thrill, an affirmation, and an instant mood lifter. Thank you so much to all those who have purchased something from my etsy shop. It really means the world to me and has been a dream of mine for as long as I remember.

A friend has been telling me about how she hopes to help her grade-school aged neice start an etsy shop. It got me thinking how thankful I am for etsy and how much I would have loved to have access to something like this when I was a kid. Since I was a small child, I’ve wanted to be an artist/a crafter/a maker. I remember one time in elementary school I made a “purse” out of paper. It was rainbow colored with markers. It was far from being functional, but it had pockets and a strap. I had a bunch of girls from the class clammering to pay me to make them one too. How exciting to know that it is now possible for children, who had the same dream that I did, to be opening up their own etsy store and dipping their toes in the entrepreneur-ial waters at such a young age.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. Tomorrow my sister and I will be going into the city for the Gold Coast Art Fair. We went last year and it was AMAZING. Each booth was like a real little art gallery just transplanted - plop - onto the streets of Chicago. It was a great collection of very talented and professional artists. I hope to bring home some wonderful finds.

Oh, and one last thing: I found this short and sweet tutorial through Craft magazine’s blog or whip-up. It’s for directions to make rag bracelets and it should take all of 1 minute to make, and I’ve already been rocking one this weekend. Love it.

08.08.08

Published
by
robayre
on August 8, 2008
in General Update
. 1 Comment

It’s Friday, it’s 8.08.08 and my it’s my brother’s birthday. He seems to have the best birthdate ever. On his golden birthday he turned 8 on 08.08.88.

We are going to Mongolian BBQ tonight to celebrate.

Is it 5 o’clock yet?

My friend Nicole sent me a link to this youtube video. It’s got great lyrics.

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