I just got around to taking pictures and listing these black and white fabric covered 1″ button/badges.
I realized that they adorn a lot of my clothes and bags and I love them so much. It occurred to me that I should make more and share them in my Etsy shop.
This is a Polaroid of my former couch from 2001. This shot was the basis for a series of LARGE lithographs. I’ll have to see if I can dig those out as well.
This shot was in the house I lived in/rented for several years in college and shortly there after, and the only piece of furniture I kept outside of my bedroom. Sadly, I should have known better than to leave it out. My roommate’s dog ate one corner and her cats scratched the hell out of it until I think I finally just gave them (the roommates) permission to use it for a bonfire. It was too bad because I LOVED that couch. Vintage. Rust/orange leather. Clean and simple, straight lines. Roomy. Destroyed by an evil dog. The end.
Here’s a polaroid izone picture of my yoyo quilt. This picture is probably from ‘98 or ‘99. Remember izone? I still mourn the end of izone. I remember a picture my friend Nicole D. and I took and stuck on the toll booth leaving town. Remember “change” toll booths in Illinois? Those are all but gone too. Times change.
I love Polaroid, and that means ALL Polaroid products. In other words, I am a sucker for a Polaroid gimmick. This has led me, time and time again, to be disappointed when they’ve discontinued products…until at last the FINAL discontinuation of ALL instant photos. That is, but one last gimmick, and I’ve used this blog as a stage to plug it over and over. POLAROID POGO! Take pictures with any digital picture, carry your portable pogo printer with you and print little Polaroid pictures on the go. Here you can read a previous post all about how it works.
Here is a Polaroid Pogo print and the original file from which it was printed. If you click on the images it will take you to their flickr pages so you can see them larger. Each pogo also can double as a sticker, if you peel off the release paper on the back. I love my printer and of course I think everyone should get one. I think they were even going to carry a printer and camera in one, so you can take the pictures on the digital Polaroid and print them straight from the camera, but I haven’t seen any of them out there yet.
edit: I forgot to mention I also offer mounted Polaroid Pogo prints in my Etsy shop, check them out here.
Here is a self portrait I must have taken, circa 2000.
Recently, searching through stacks of old college artwork, I found these books I made for a project in lithography. I did a series of stone litho prints of self portraits based on polaroids I had taken.
Each one of these pieces was then attached to a thick black paper, like old photo albums had, and then handmade into a book. You can see the top center piece is not exactly the same, but must have been based on a picture from the same pack of film.
I thought I had shared these on my blog here when I recently discovered them, but looking back I don’t see them. Here is another print based on Polaroid, probably 2001? This is an intaglio piece, (etching onto a metal plate and then printed onto paper).
I’m very excited to announce that the project, “Found Art Tuesday” is now on Facebook. Don’t forget Rosa’s font of Found Art Tuesday information, as well as the flickr group, but please, please, please join and support us in Found Art Tuesday on Facebook. You aren’t required to participate, but really, who doesn’t “like” finding free art? Give it a thumbs up, will ya?
It’s been a long time since I participated in Found Art Tuesday, but here I am with Blades of Grass No. 1. It’s a 6×6 inch acrylic on canvas piece. This is the first piece in the series. See this earlier post for the second piece. This series is still so new and very much close to my heart, perhaps that will explain my anxieties below.
I wanted to leave it at the lagoon in town and I asked Matt to join me in this covert operation. Once we got there and saw all the families with little kids throwing bread for the ducks I immediately had hesitations. This was my same fear when I left the painting at the riverwalk in Naperville. Sadly, I never found what came of that piece. I’m afraid that a child will see it first and the parent will see the bright colors and think it’s geared toward children, and let them keep it as a “toy”, and while most of my art is suitable for children, they are not toys. I guess I ask myself, “can a child really respect and appreciate a piece of artwork as I think it deserves to be treated?” I had this vision enter my head where a kid finds it and thinks it would be hilarious to just toss into the water. We continued to walk until I remembered a geocache at the kissing bench. The kissing bench is a perfect location, a little bit hidden, yet still pretty central to campus.
I left it protected in plastic, visible and hopefully secure, but still I worried about its outcome. Would it get blown down into the branches? Would it be rained on overnight? I don’t know why I get so worried and protective. It’s similar to my mail art pieces. I send a little piece of myself out into the world, hoping-hoping-hoping that it brings a little bit of happiness to someone out there and when it never gets registered I worry that it got lost, stolen or destroyed in the post. Should I mourn for a piece that never fulfilled its only purpose?
For this piece I wouldn’t need to wonder long. I just visited the Found Art Tuesday Facebook page to get the links and I’m ECSTATIC! The recipient already posted on the Found Art Tuesday page stating the title and saying “it’s lovely”. Thank you, Addison, for stopping by facebook! I’m so glad you liked the piece :D
Now, I implore you all, spread the love and beauty. Make something and leave it out to brighten someone else’s day. Join the facebook group in support of the project. It’s a beautiful world.
ahem, facebook, cough. My work here is done!
Day two of Polaroid Week. This picture is from 1997 and captures my light table and work space over it at the newspaper. I worked at the local newspaper from 1994 to 2001, I think, where I was the Paste-Up Queen. This was back in the day before pages were all digital and we paginated everything, meaning my tools were mainly a wax machine, a ruler, line tape, this light table and a knife. I’d cut ruby lithe to give your full page ad color in a snap! I miss those days of more hands on design. Now everything is computer to computer to computer.
It’s like the movie Life As A House, where the main character hand-built beautiful architectural models. But times have changed and everything has gone digital. He’s been replaced, and they let him go. There’s no place for his work in this world anymore. Sob. But of course they want to keep all of his beautiful models to display after he leaves. I don’t think so. If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it.
I’ve always got a fond place in my heart for all the old ways of doing things. Yeah, I guess that’s obvious, with a spinning wheel in my studio :)
Today I saw on HulaSeventy that it was indeed ‘Roid Week again. A couple months ago I found a few packs of Polaroid film I still have hoarded in our basement. The last of the last. I don’t know if I’ll be breaking into them just yet, but I have HUNDREDS of Polaroid pictures I’ve taken and yet to share from back when Polaroid film flowed as freely as wine. Ahhhh, I remember those times fondly. Even going over to my parents’ house, it’s almost a sure bet a majority of the polaroid pictures they have were taken by me. If you know me in real life, I most likely have polaroid pictures of you. In fact, I recently got in contact with an old neighbor and found a bunch of of polaroids of her from when she was probably 5 years old. They are back from when she wanted to be a spice girl and thought my brother was her brother because he was over at their house so much.
This picture is from 1997, as marked on the back. It’s of my pet hedgehog, Heddie, out in the flower garden. She lived inside, but I’d take her outside to enjoy a taste of freedom occasionally.
Three posts in one day. Mark this day on the calendar!
A quick spread I did tonight in my little book. A sketchy girl I drew and some grass of course.
I think I mentioned last week how I’ve been working on a new series of paintings. As usual, I continue with my love for the grass image. I have two complete and I’m pretty excited about the whole series. It’s all I can think of, and when I’m not painting I’m scribbling down notes and sketches for more pieces. I can’t create as fast as the inspiration comes, and that’s a good thing. Today I listed the one above in my Etsy shop.
Here is a progress picture from last week. My drawing table was a complete mess. I like how, even though it is entirely painting, it almost looks like collage or mixed media because of all the lines and details.
This particular piece is 12 inches square, so a pretty decent size to hang on a wall. Lately I’ve been wanting to go bigger and I think it stems from my desire to hang larger pieces on my own walls. In this series I plan on creating pieces of all different sizes, from small canvases (like my artomat pieces) to BIG BIG BIG. We will see how that goes :)
Hello! Just thought I’d drop in to share a little inspiration.
Here are a few new-to-me inspo blogs. I’m not sure where I found them all, but hey, let’s face it, they probably all came through Mim some way or another. She seems to be on the pulse of all awesomeosity that is the world wide interblogosphere.
Run With Scissors, Art Equals Happy, Art & Musings, liisforlovely, and this flickr group for all the people taking the Tell Your Story online class through Red Velvet Art.
Here is a repeating grass pattern I’ve been working on while at work. I made it using this same pattern making technique roughly, only I did it all on the computer in photoshop. Layer by layer, believe it or not. I’m thinking of repeating the pattern a few times and having it printed at spoonflower. If you are into patterns, its worth a trip over to spoonflower just to peruse the other patterns customers have submitted and had printed. So inspiring!
It’s spring time and that means garden time. Here is my container dirt garden. Every day I water my dirt. Hopefully someday soon I might actually have some plants. That would be nice. Did you hear that gardening guru Gayla Trail has a new book out? I need to get this.
And last but not least . . . my nephew is smiling so much now. It’s not the greatest picture (ancient camera phone) but the cute still translates.
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