Getting Back On Track
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: Judge Judy
I've started a new painting. There is a show coming up which I'd like to get in. The theme is the metaphor in art. I've decided to use the theme tv/media as God. Lots of people would agree that they are obsessed with tv. I know I am.  Check out my progress.

Mood:  caffeinated
I received inspiration in the form of an envelope. It was from a girl I bought something from on eBay. Included with my ordered item was a plastic bag full of goodies to make ATC's out of. There were great old sheets of music, catalog pages, ribbon, stars, earring parts...and on and on. From these things I got so many ideas. Two weeks and alot of glue later I came up with the envelopes and ATC's pictured. I'll be mailing an envelope to this super cool chick, today.

Last night, my dearest friend Anna asked me to stop by her house for a sec to pick up a CD I had loaned her. Well, once again, inspiration arrived. This time it was wrapped in dog gift wrap! HEE HEE! Inside was a super brayer (to roll glued items so they lay flat), some Kitty stickers and a tin that is perfect to hold any small pictures I cut out. I have enough to fill the tin with what's on my desk now!
So, to these gifts of inspiration I thank Anna and Heather...and the moons and stars that lined up just right for them to do a great thing for me.
Friday I start an ATC project for Anna...I'll bet it'll be great.

FRINGE NOTE: The Fringe was so great this year. We saw two other shows besides Amy Steinberg. King of Farts and Lilly and Lila's Lovely Lesbian Hour. The dancers in the Lilly and Lila show were SUPER-Fantastic. Can't wait till next Fringe!!! And on the Visual Fringe...Anna reported that, officially, eleven pieces sold, which came to a grand total of $2,960!!! Weeee! After Fringe, five more pieces were purchased, so we had an unofficial total (so far) of 16 pieces sold due to that show. Great news! : )

For all you Amy Steinberg fans...Amy will be at Austin Coffee and Film on June, 30 2006 in Orlando. Cost: $5 - 10 suggested donation. BE THERE!!!

Lunatic FRINGE
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: TCM Movie Classics: Forty Little Mothers
The Fringe Festival (http://www.orlandofringe.org/) is here and taking over! Check it out and go to a show. We saw Amy Steinberg's show the other night. It's called Ever Expanding. I LOVE Amy and she is always spot on as an entertainer. Don't go to the show expecting her usual frantic outrageous character changes though. This year her show is much more personal. The audience gets a good look at Amy in a whole new way. Excellent!

I'll be there tonight in the round room in the Shakespeare Fest building across the parking lot from the Orlando Museum of Art. Anna McCambridge and I will be there making ATC's. Anna is the Visual Fringe Producer and has been for the past 4 years.

Here are the pieces I have in the show...Tied at Zero a.k.a. Box Score (L) featuring a poem by Jim Myers, Purgatory (top) some of my relatives just hanging out in the waiting room, and Shake Well (bottom) me in San Fransisco at 18. All for sale at the Fringe!

Art of the Story 2006
Mood:  special
Now Playing: The 88
On April 20th I went to an art show in Fall River, Mass. titled Art of the Story 2006. Most of the exhibitors were book illustrators from the Freelance Artists Network. It took place in an old building that was a Cherry & Webb department store when I was a kid. The place is cool with it's carved banisters and heavy glass doors.
On one wall they had artwork done by my cousin Ann (Gamache) Barrow who died last year. I've mentioned her in a previous blog entry (Jan. 24, 06). A small group of her family met there. It was me, Cousin Diane, my Mom (on Right), and Cousin John ( Ann's brother - not pictured ). Ann's artwork is behind us. She was SO GOOD!!
There were some other beautiful pieces in the show. One artist in particular blew me away with her cut paper illustrations. I like to cut paper so I know it's hard. This woman cuts like a machine! Her name is Judith Moffatt.

One of hers is below...it's the cat in the heart.


Other artists who exhibited are A. Michelle, Laura Siok Baganha, Paula Bird, Nancy Cote, Claire Lates Davis, Ruth Flanigan (Open book at bottom), Joanne Friar, Donna R. Ide, Scott Leta, Kay Life, Rebecca Nightingale, Maureen Patrolia, Vladimir Shpitalnik, Lesley Breen Winthrow, Nicole Wong, Carol Way Wood, Amie Ziner and Cheryl Kirk Noll (artwork pictured on right). -Whew!





Inside this Cherry & Webb building is a coffee shop and a book store...Baker books. There you can buy copies of the books that these artists illustrated. Here is one by Ruth Flanigan...

Progress Unlimited
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Judge Mathis
(Soldier 6.5 X 4.25)

I'm so encouraged! All the progress I made last week has fueled my fire for this week. I have a lot of non-art duties coming up. Getting those things done so that I can do more creating makes me work harder. Below are some of the ATC's I made last week. They are for sale on eBay.

Soldier is another thing entirely. That happened because I was looking through my Pepere's old scrap books. In one of them there are quite a few pictures taken while he was in the Army. (The picture I used is not of him) I came across this picture and the soldier looked so paradoxical. He stood stiff and tall and stoic. Meanwhile his uniform was rumpled and his hat seemed floppy. To me, he looked like a man who had been through the ringer and come out on the other side. I also saw the boy in him. It was as if he was wearing a Boy Scout uniform. He must have been young in age and old in spirit. So, I thought it fitting to memorialize him in some way. I put him in a field of flowers and dirt. His body is disjointed in his mind. Maybe part of him is back home. Maybe he's confused about where he is...in the physical and the mental states. You will interpret the picture as you will. What do you see?

It Just Isn't Going to Happen
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: the news
The Birdhouse just isn't going to happen this year. I have so much to put up on the blog. There are great photos and info from my trip to Mass., Anne Barrow news, bookstore news...etc. Sorry to keep you all waiting. But, alas, I am dealing with ME - my worst enemy. Just can't get my head around it. Stay tuned. I will be updating you asap!!

Meanwhile, I haven't been totally unproductive. Here are my latest ATC's on eBay... Now go there and buy them.




Bethany

Habitat Orlando and Graffiti
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: People's Court
Habitat For Humanity Orlando is having it's 5th Annual Birdhouse & Artist Showcase Auction. I am entering again. Meanwhile the state of the project is still in it's incubation stage. The deadline is April 28 and the show is May 10 at the Holy Trinity Reception & Conference Center. Meanwhile...I better do some work. My entry from last year is the photo on the left. It sold for $65. What do you think...another haunted house this year? Hmmmm...big decision. Maybe Funk-a-delic?

On another note. I wanted to give you an updated picture on the graffiti wall from an earlier post. Here is the new stuff...It's located on Mills just north of Colonial.

Pet Fair!
Now Playing: We Used To Be Friends...by The Dandy Warhols
We went to the Pet Fair at the Science Center on Saturday. We had so much fun! We pet every animal in site!! Here are some of them. The smallest was Baby and the one I wanted to bring home was Sidney.
           
Pet Fair

Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Hogan Family
SHAMPOO:I changed my hair. Judge for yourself from the pictures. I've gotten mixed reviews. I like it more each day and as it grows it looks beter and better.

RINSE: I was told today that my taste in tv shows is rotten. Well, I thought about that. Believe me, if there was a documentary I hadn't seen yet, I'd watch it. Until then I'm quite comfortable with the crap I watch. Matter of fact, I'm watching crap right now. So, there, it's out!

REPEAT: Now for the good stuff...I went back to GLAZE UNDER FIRE. Here is my latest creation. It was fun!! I went with my friends Danielle (L) and Doreen (R). It was for Doreen's Birthday...a little late. We had a great time and did fantastic work. My tile collection is growing and eventually will be on a wall in our house.

Glaze Under Fire
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Suspicion on AMC
I went to a great place called Glaze Under Fire. It's a modern version of the old ceramics studio of the 70's and 80's. The place is great. There are tables set with paint brushes, bowls of water and sponges. Here is the website explanation of how it works...

1. Select an unfinished piece of bisque.

2. Find inspiration in our idea books and
use our fancy stamps and stencils
to make your pottery special.

3. Go crazy with lots of cool colors!

4. Leave your artwork with us, and
we will glaze and fire it.

5. About two weeks later...you pick up
your masterpiece.

I picked two 6x6 tiles and used some Mucha designs as inspiration. I like the top one I made the best because I realy mastered the black outlining in that one. The thicker I spread the colors the better they came out. It took almost four hours to do the first one (the one at the bottom) and only 3 1/2 to do the second one (top) AND it came out better. I definitely hooked and will be becoming a full fledged member the next time I go.

This Saturday is the The Central Florida Chalk Artists Association event at the City hall. This organization was created to promote chalk art through festivals and shows, to educate in the creative use of chalk as an art media, to provide information about the history of chalk art (also known
as street painting or madonnari), and to cooperate with community groups, service clubs and art associations to enhance this art form.

I just zoomed back from the future and brought you some photos of the art. 2chalk Anna McCambridge won $100!!!!

Central Florida Art Association Class
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: Montel... I know.
I had a wonderful opportunity to teach and demonstrate collage to the CFAA last night. I had so much fun! It was wonderful to be able to show others some of the techniques I use and have them be genuinely interested. I gave the group glue, magazines and a piece of plain paper to use as a base. I asked them to go through the magazines and select a background of some kind and gave them 5 minutes to do it. While they were working I said that artists who get too attached to their work don't sell it. They agreed and some said that was why they didn't sell their work. When the 5 minutes were up I had them all give their paper to the person to their left. HA HA!! That was funny. Next I asked them to find a representation of a leg that wasn't an actual picture of a leg. In other words, find something like a tree branch or something that could stand for a leg. They had 3 minutes to do that and then pass the paper to the left. It went on like that for the second leg, torso, arms and head. We all had fun. Once that was done, we all had a good laugh at the creatures that had been made. Afterward, I showed them lots of collage examples that I've made and introduced them to the work of Sabrina Ward Harrison, Nick Bantock and Somerset Studio magazine. Last I showed them a demonstration using Golden Gel Medium to alter photocopies into translucent solid gel images. It was a great time. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you Madame President Barbara Koepsell for inviting me to your group. I'll come back any time!

Photos by Anna McCambridge

What I've been working on

I've been into this ATC thing for a while. Artist Trading Cards started as just that...trading cards. It was a great way to give and get great individual artwork in a compact size. All ATC's must be 2.5" X 3.5" and can be created from anything you want. The size is the only requirement. After trading on a great website named nervousness.com (which seems to be missing from the Internet now) for a while I noticed that people were selling their cards on eBay. I have started selling on eBay too. The pictures above are my recent ones and are - or were - for sale on eBay. The first card is titled "Love" and is made of a flower patterned silk with a photocopy and various colors of French crayons. The tag was soaked in Almond tea and vanilla extract for about 6 hours to get that nice antiqued color and finish. I stained about 100 of them and you'll see them frequently in my ATC's. The next one is titled "Till You Write" Created from an intricately cut out color print out of a lock that I found in a magazine and brads for a 3-D effect. Next is "Bride" and the picture is of my Mother on her wedding day. Pretty, huh? I used French crayons and water to create the transparent background. The 4th is "Time for Love" and was created with magazine clippings and metallic stickers. I'll be doing more of them soon and will post them for you.

Reflections
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Old war movie
On an unexpected adventure I met a creative artist who, among other things, creates unique jewelry. What struck me was her use of reflectors. Like the ones you have on you bike tires... I think reflector jewelry is a fabulous idea. These pieces are great to wear out at night going to the clubs. Here is what I bought from her: a ring, bracelet and earings all for $35. and a bargain at that when you consider the amount of time and energy it takes to create such an innovative idea. If you like it, shoot her an email and let her know. She also makes other kinds of jewelry and music Go take a listen to HOLLY RIGGS music at http://www.myspace.com/hollyriggs

In Memory of...
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: Nothing
My cousin Ann Barrow died last year. She was a fantastic illustrator of books. Additionally, a wife and mother. She was also great friends with my Mother who still misses her terribly.

Well, today I found out from her agent, Chris, that her last book comes out in August and it's called DORIS FREE. What's more, a scholarship in her memory...exerpt from Chris's email...I have helped set up a scholarship in Ann's Memory through the SCBWI NE* group...to fund a new artist to attend the Spring NE conference....if you go to the website, the information about how to contribute should be on there now.

I am thrilled at this and encourage you to donate. Please go to the website and check out the info.

If you want to see some of her work go to Freelance Artists Network(where i borrowed the photo from, thank you!) or to Amazon.com to see and order her books Red, White and Blue Good-Bye or Big Blue .

*Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

On an entirely different note...I have two paintings for sale on eBay...I have also started a project. I am soaking some tags in tea and vanilla extract. The color is looking realy good. I plan to decorate some and paint some. I'm still thinking about it. At least step one of a new project is going well. Yay for that.

Last but not least...I heard a quote from Mia Farrow that she said during the filming of Rosemary's Baby. "The sun comes up everyday, and, ya know, it's free."

Neat-O.

The World Stops for No one
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Johnny Staccato theme music
I'm BAAAaaack! I didn't really go anywhere except to Christmas Land, New Year's Ville and then Lazy Town. But, I'm back and unfortunately the world didn't stop so now I'm so behind. Today I'll be taking my show down from the Fringe Fest offices. My walls are happy.

I took some pictures of our Christmas tree. My camera usually takes blurry pictures, so I ran with that and blurred it even more by simple moving the camera around on iso 100. Here's what I got...
     
A Blurry Christmas