first the slide projector....then the polaroid

i have so many fond memories of the various stages of Polaroid cameras my grandfather went through in my childhood. i loved the accordion fold out...and the excitement of pealing back the paper after waiting , what felt like forever to see the image. I took a workshop once so that i could get a free Polaroid camera in the beginning of my teaching career with this great plan of converting empty casings of film into more Polaroid cameras...not realizing how much 20 rolls of Polaroid film costs in my early days of $18,000 a year salary. i played around with scratching into the surface and writing into the film as the picture developed. i loved being able to watch it develop.
to capture the love of Polaroid go check out isofoto photography & illustration on etsy.

Polaroid photographs that were shot using their now sadly extinct polaroid sx-70 film, coupled with the polaroid sx-70 folding camera."

going vinyl

i really love this new trend in wall decals...blows wallpaper away! i have painted painstaking on walls...projector in hand, brushes of all sizes, don't hit me or i'll kill you, wall paintings. our loft used to have many a decor. we've been contemplating various items and pics to paint on our walls but haven't found the time to get all of my painting tools and materials out and do any of them. search wall decor on etsy and you get 72 pages full of great designs! here are some of my favorites from the first quarter of the selection..we have the scuba diver on our john! one of my stocking stuffer i got from santa!

tank diver, vinyl toilet graphic by vital

Wind Blown Dandelion Vinyl Sticker by Sweetnothing

Sophia- birds on branch decal by Elephannie

Opulent wall Graphic by oneupdesigns

Walk this Way by ellynelly

Squiggle Bird Family large wall decal by lewasdesigns

friday finds

here are two groups of favorites from my favorites..all on etsy ... of course!
happy pay day! happy shopping!

myimaginaryboyfriend'shop's screen printed wool log pillow
John w golden's shop, from the critter series: the Artful Raccoon

anatomy of a skirt 's Woodgrain Peggy Sue Purse with Racooon

craftpudding's shop's Sock Monkey Hand Carved Rubber Stamp
Alice Rose's Bike T Shirt
john w golden's shop 's Lunastrella's Camera
michelemaule's i heart bianchi...original print
yaelfran's the best news

yee haw industries

i love it when i go onto a site, see something that draws my eye, that leads to another site and another, and so on and so on. today's find is yee haw industries and Bjorn rune Lie.
keep going through the links on Bjorn's site till you find Gumbo Illustrations. I love the idea of Artist's can labels. Pat and I made can labels our first project in our graphic design class with the middle schoolers...quite fun! anyway, go surfing through the sites. I love the Margaret Kilgallen style of his work.

drawing in circles

i've seen this post on a number of my favorite blogs and decided to pass on the word..i really love this way of creating a repetitive pattern...looks like a new unit for my design unit ...thanks design*sponge for having julia rothman as your guest blogger this week. you can check out the entire tutorial here.

a proud day

i am so excited! one of my junior students, Justin just got accepted into the Marie Sharp Walsh summer institute..an all expenses paid drawing and painting program that takes place in Colorado Springs..its very competitive and very awesome that Justin got in. My first to get accepted into this program. he just turned in his AP portfolio that dealt with the figure and texture...he stained paper with coffee and pressed it into plywood for an absolutely beautiful effect. you can See for yourself how amazing this guy is... and only a junior in high school!

my favorite color combinations

my favorite color combinations are ones that are so close to not going together that they go together, a formula on the color wheel I haven't quite deciphered yet....i remember painting my classroom a combination of mint green with a very bright chartreuse color and the family studies teacher came in and claimed i had no right to paint my classroom two colors that don't belong together; perhaps for the layman but not for the artistic eye. design*sponge is featuring eleanor grosch’s - of push me pull you who physically reminds me of cindy sherman the photographer. any who, her house is the sneak peak of the day and i had to catch her color choices of moss green with mint green. i love the combo with the white chair rail and warm hardwood floor. and then the icing on the cake with the red anthropologie console table ...check out the entire feature here.

squidfire a success!

thanks to everyone who came by on saturday. the sun pulled through and made us forget about the rain we had to set up in. i bought a new ez-up tent with walls just in time. the peacock bags were a big success...so count on more to come. would love ideas for new birds to introduce....so give a hollar if you have a good one....love getting to hang with the great people of charm city...we really have a pleasant demeanor. here are some pics of my wares in the new tent. thanks squidfire for the support! we loved being next to you guys! next show pile of craft on June 21 at St, John's Church in Chuck village.

my friday finds

yes it's almost saturday ...spent the night packing, labeling and putting my new image on my goods for tomorrow's squidfire art mart. let's hope the weather men are wrong and that the big "R" stays away between 9 and 6 please....and yes i should be sacked out right now but had to look around at some new digs on-line. today's favorite friday finds I found on design*sponge and her posting of cul de sac’s newest series, which will be on display in the designboom mart at icff next week!. ...i love the gun piece...actually i love all three together.

i got in!!!!

i got in !! I got in!!!! I got in!!!!

Hugo Largo....my secret inspiration

The other day one of my students asked me” how many shirts can one person wear at one time?” these are the questions that I absolutely love..having no reason, really to be asked, but asked, probably to answer some sort of stupid bet…..or not. I passed it along to my wondering mind that directly focused my attention to the 8X10 club, some time in the late 80’s, watching, no the word is memorized by a band named Hugo Largo. An experience I have not since experienced. Frightening yet very soothing. A very petite Mimi Goese intensely sings

bleeding cry leisurely
explain this one in your sleep
please
fly by arriving smack dab between knife and plate
deal with me
pine back and plead with me
cry while removing splattered ??? on a fingernail
with glee dark carriages pull
by an angry man
hi jungle jim….

While aiming an extremely large knife towards her jugular
Behind her two bass players, an electric violinist
That’s it
No drummer
No guitar

Oh yeah…the shirt question

As she began each song, she took a dress off

That’s right, she had a dress for each song on


Tonight I am so happy to report that I was able to purchase Mettle, from itunes….never did I think that would happen. I know Millie and I had figured out some sort of way to make a CD of my vinyl and her cassette tape that had not taken priority over other lifetime matters.

I listened to both of their CDs…(Mettle and Drum. Parts produced by Michael Stipe) in my studio, while working on numerous paintings, while involved in many a relationship. Tonight I listen while making peacock tote bags…craving for the smell of oil paint. I’m so sorry painting that I have not returned yet….but how sweet to reminisce.

new business cards

thanks to my hubbie Patrick and his amazing design sense....i'd like to introduce my new buisness cards that i hope will arrive before squidfire on saturday! cross your fingers with me...

it's a Louie Plant

Louie is trying as hard as he can to get the feel of being outside!

Kareem Rizk

Another new inspiring artist I can add to my mental inspiration board.
Kareem Rizk is a Melbourne based collage artist and designer who has worked for Melbourne‘s No.1 selling newspaper, The Herald Sun, as well as numerous large and small freelance clients. Kareem’s working techniques and mediums include collage, acrylic, oil pastel, pencil, solvent transfers and acrylic transfers. He creates highly textured and often multi-layered images, predominantly with a nostalgic or vintage and weathered quality. His works can often be vibrant with color, while others display a very refined or minimal palette. His working methods also extend to digital collage with a very gritty and realistic display of texture and layering.

karim rizk collages can be found at at blue flip art . all are archival giclee prints in the 9" x 12" range and are $24.95 each. as with kareem's earlier bird series, 10% of every print sold will go to the startlight children's foundation of australia.

inspiration for the summer!

I noticed on poppytalk's
affordable art feature some great paintings by artist Leah Giberson .
This is what i want to do this summer...paint! go back to observational paintings pf where i've been ,,interesting points of view...play around with surfaces. And if you noticed these beautiful , affordable prints, you'll see how Leah has done just that..played wt surface and breaking up the image along with beautiful play of space and line. I'm a huge fan of the telephone lines! I've added her blog to my links.

And now for a word from our sponsor......

my cowboy bird eye glass case was completely inspired by my memories of this lovely cheese ball ad that use to play during Saturday cartoons