Take My Bad Dog(s) To Blog Day

Pica is much smarter than Scooter and he knows it. Pica steals Scooter's 'baby' (fleece frisbee) and takes off, laughing and snarling all the way. I say 'Pica, that is Scooter's toy' and he drops it. All the while, Scooter is at a complete loss about what to do. Sometimes Pica will put it up high, on the sofa or ottoman, just out of Scooter's reach because he knows Scooter can't jump anymore.

Air Apparent

I usually don’t write personal thoughts on my blog. Honestly, there are so many random thoughts skipping around in my brain, it is hard to capture one good thought in a sentence for anyone to understand. But tonight, I must write about the smell in the air. In Texas, you can smell rain an hour before you feel it. It is dust settling, the ozone changing, a sweet smell that tickles your nostrils and you just know rain is on its’ way. Tonight I can smell a wonderful rain scent in the air here in Seattle. It is water saturating earth that has been long dry, the organic smell of sweet dirt being moved around, hot pavements being cleansed, mixed with peppery, wet leaves on their way to decay, so fragrant it almost like I have crushed a leaf in my hand. It rains often here, but it the first rain after a long, hot summer is the sweetest.

When I saw the prompt of FRESH for Illustration Friday, the first and only thing I could think of was the fresh air that would slap me awake when I worked a 430a shift last year. The air would be different depending on the tide, or whether we had a blustery night to blow away exhaust fumes, smoke and leave the most brisk, clean, pure air I had ever inhaled. I would stand on my front porch, looking at the moon and stars for a good 10 minutes or so just experiencing it. That is it - is was, AIR AS AN EXPERIENCE. Some mornings, fog would be so thick that I could taste minuscule particles in my mouth, dense mist would wrap around my face, tickling my skin. And the best would be when blooms abound in pre-dawn, baby birds chirping loudly, the air would be so sweet that I would laugh out loud alone in the dark. I was never an early-riser but each morning I had one of those experiences, I would say a little prayer of thanks for letting ME have that air-encounter in a dark night, under moon and stars.

So with that little story in mind, this is my entry for Illustration Friday for Fresh (Air), illustration by Kim Carney (snorting flower scents up her nose).

Photography And The Occult

The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult, September 27, 2005–December 31, 2005, The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie.

Trick And Treats

I love Halloween, golden glow from carved pumpkins, bowls full of candy, little goblins hovering at the front door, leaves piling up in corners of the yard and floating down from the skies. It is all good. Pumpkins past and the papier mache Pumpkin guy that my co-worker, friend Duane made for me. I will post a better photo of that later.









Scary Halloween sound effects, Pumpkin wizard pumpkin patterns, Virtual pumpkin. George W. Bush as a pumpkin-head from pumpkingutter.

Silver Swirl Pumpkin, Spellbound Pumpkin, A Unique Vase.

Very cool collection from The Halloween Collector. Halloween vintage postcard images. Vintage Trick or Treat bags from the 1950's and 60's.



Tom Pritchard's collection fof Candy containers, buy some spooky stuff, Devil guy by Shiverbones, Bethany Lowe Designs, Clown seated.

Scary desktops, Edward Gorey, lots of great old photos and fun stamps at Old Fashion Halloween.

Gravestone cards and Tomb-stone inscriptions. Miss Mary's Gothic Victorian clipart.

You might need a VooDoo doll for the special night or a corpse. Kerry Kate's Effigies. I love this - Museum of Ouija boards. Box lanterns.

Paper mache fun with Debra Schoch, Mrs. Wickett and her cat, Hooray for Halloween Gang, Folk Art originals by Johanna Parker Design. All kinds of folk art Halloween eye candy here in the participating artist section. Veggie Parade at Momentos by Stacey Bear and our own wonderful friend's work, Amy from APL Creations.

Terri Brush design and Trick Or Treater Spider Ride from Papier People Originals by Julie Karanik. Kristen Beason is out of her gourd!

Mint Tea Punch

I still have lots of mint left in my yard. Mint Tea Punch and recipes, tips and tidbits.

Denise Allen

I found Denise in this month's Country Living Garden Snake Lady by Denise Allen. Also, A Sparrow Song, American Black History collectibles, a wonderful place to visit.

Self-Portrait Tuesday 9.27

He is my light, even when we are both sick. Self-portrait Tuesday.

Thank You, Cassi! You Made My Day

Remember when I bought two Random Leaves, Taylor Smith Taylor plates at the Goodwill way back when. Today, Cassi sent me a surprise package in the mail. I hooted, I cried, I could not take my eyes off of my prize and I turned to my mom and said, "It is amazing that a woman I met randomly on the internet can be so giving, caring, and thoughtful!" She sent me some pieces to go with my four plates (I bought two more plates on Ebay). Cassi, what a wonderful gift! Thank you, I can not tell you how touching your gift is. When I think I am on the outside looking in ... some wonderful surprise appears at my door step and I think, maybe I am not. Isn't that sugar bowl to die for!

Perfect Edmonds Day

Sunday was the perfect fall Edmonds Day. Golden trees glitter against an acid blue sky. I went downtown Edmonds , walked around a few stores. Got completely sucked in into buying a Pandora charm bracelet (I could not help myself)! And enjoyed a day off in our very small, sweet Edmonds.

l'Art et la Mode From Des Chapeaux

Thank you Pita for scanning and sharing these wonderful images.

Feeling Fallish

I Need This

It is times like these that I like to visit Tasha, Darth Doggie, Blue eyes, Charlie Brown, Maddy Maddison, sleeping Daisy is adorable!, Brown eyes loving, the 'take me home' pup, this wonderful mug, rub this belly, Bumble Pug, what a face, Mimi and Morran. Thank you folks on Flickr. I needed that.

This Just In

Crawford, Texas: This just in.
A tragic fire this morning destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush. The fire began in the presidential bathroom, where both of the books were kept. Both have been lost. A spokesman said the president was devastated, as he had almost finished coloring the second one.

Sorry, this came to me via email and I had to share it. I know I am sinking into my adolescence period. Constant bad news drives me here!

Top 16 Country Song Titles

16. It's Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night That Chewed Your Ass Out All Day Long

15. If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You

14. If The Phone Don't Ring, You'll Know It's Me

13. How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

12. I Liked You Better Before I Got to Know You So Well

11. I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aims Gettin' Better

10. I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dog Fight 'Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win

9. I'll Marry You Tomorrow, But Let's Honeymoon Tonight

8. I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like You're Still Here

7. If I Had Shot You When I First Wanted To, I'd Be Out Of Prison By Now

6. My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him

5. She Got The Ring And I Got The Finger

4. You're The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly

3. Her Teeth Was Stained But Her Heart Was Pure

2. She's Looking Better After Every Beer

And the Number one song is. . . .

1. I Ain't Never Gone To Bed With An Ugly Women, But I've Sure Woke Up With A Few

Flowering Diversion

Sandra at croque-choux has this flowering diversion post, and frankly, I really need one right now with all Rita bad news. Thank you Sandra and zefrank..

Art Via Junk Mail

I love this so much, that I squealed out loud when I saw it. Niizeki Hiromi (read his about his work on George Billis Gallery site) created this extraordinary curtain using envelope windows. Bravo. And this Camouflage piece. More here called The Picnic. His newer work, Botan, using buttons.

Take My Pica To Blog (Day)

Perfect fall weather in the Northwest. No time to blog lately.

Pica is master of his domain.





And sleeps in and ON my side of the bed.

Findings

Megan Noël's on-line journal.

The artist Jos van der Meulen found out how clothes-pegs grow on trees with these Pinch. Paperbags are made of unused billboard posters that have been sewn together. Every time it is a surprise to see what design there is on the bag.

Pencils with Personality.

Hella Jongerius, Nymphenburg porcelain.

Illustration Friday - The Great Escape

This time of year holds so many fascinations in the garden. Discovering how flowers store and distribute their seeds is one. Illustration Friday is Escape. Illustration by Kim Carney.

Fashion Discussion

Check out wild virtual catwalk page. Trendy western boots. Forest leather sandals. Japanese street fashions. Chocolate Beaded Dress and Sequin Wrap from Common Thread and lots more sweet things on CoutureCandy. Antik Denim's flower-stitch Fawcett Jean on eLuxury.

Other designer collections from Amatas, Fashion from Asia. A fashion discussion board, could be interesting, for ideas and good links.

Theatrical And Dreamy

All the couture runway photos I am seeing are so fun and theatrical.

Fausto Sarli - photo below.



Sau Paulo Fashion Week Spring 06, pick a designer.

Paul Gaultier’s folkloric costume, shown below.



Christian Lacroix (below) on fashionlines.com. I can't get enough!



Fashion that is a little wooden from on aura tout vu shown below.



Silent liquefaction, gowns by Dominique Sirop.

"Les Fantomes de l’Opera" by Franck Sorbier



A little more "Phatom" with Eymeric Francois shown below.

Suss Design’s Nordic knitwear collection inspired by candy (godis), earth (jord), feather (fjäder), and luxury (lux) from the LA Autumn 2005 collection on fashionlines.com.

Fall 2005 Ready-to-Wear Comme Des Garçons - Runway, shown below.

Red Console Table

Linda was asking me about the red painted console table. After our remodel we ended up with a small wall at the top of the stairs, perfect place for table with drawers to hold keys and such. D bought a antique table, smaller, too expensive, no drawer. I returned it. I found this at one Edmond's many anitique/junk store-malls. I knew what this what when I saw it. One of those 'microwave' tables sold at Target or some such stores. Dirty, cracked, white, not real wood, or at least very cheaply made. But it was the perfect size, drawers and I wanted it to work.

I sanded, kilz, primed, painted grey, added a red top coat, but when I added the crackle medium, it all ran, oozing all over the place. It would not dry. SO, I scraped that off, determined to salvage my complete disaster. The next time I painted, I dried as I went with a hair blower. I added the crackle and dried in small sections. It worked! Then sanded and distressed with steel wool. Stained the top wood piece and finished it all off with Varathan. The top has a cracked in it but I think it just adds to it. So, for a little money, I found and painted a piece that fit the space. Next up, D and I are building a built-in bookcase. Keep you posted on that.

Joanne B. Kaar And More

Joanne B. Kaar living in beautiful Scotland, creating silk paper bowls, carving ‘seals’, making books. All I can say is WOW.

A collaboration between 2 danish artists, one living in Denmark (Peter), the other living in Australia (Lene). 8861 miles apart their work takes form in sketchbooks, travelling back and forth between the continents.

The animals of Almacen Marabi, terrific work.

Illustration Friday - Depth

Illustration Friday is Depth, or this one could double for Root. This is my terrible experience with a Plantar's Wart and I had it cut out today.

Take Your Pets To Blog (Day)

Take your pet to blog" photo started by Port2Port. Pica and Scooter waiting for my mom to come home. They spend much of their daytime hours doing this. And howl so loud that you can hear them blocks away when they hear her car pull up.





My precious Scooter.

Cute As A Button

Rustica collection from Vintage Earth. And another Rustica, Jamie Waggoner's Kimono Scrap Bracelet.
Flower Hats from My Perennial. (via candlelight, via Thrifty Boutique).
So in love with Grainne Morton's work, especially the button brooches and bracelets can also see her fabulous work here (not for the faint of heart price-wise).
Amy Peters' Studio necklaces.

Wall-O-Fish

Fish created by Dick Libby. Gifts for my husband.

Self-Portrait Tuesday 9.13

Self-Portrait Tuesday, body parts. Hand of a true Pisces, always swimming against the tide.

Best Friends

I finished something today! Using a couple of prints of the large scans of Faces of School Days Past I tried to transfer, but messed that up, so just glued the to canvas.



And received my prints from Katy! Prints are great, thank you.

Thinking Outside

Thinking outside the boat, by Libby Black. Thinking outside the boot by Mary Ellen Matthews found at colophon.com. Thinking outside the book. Pam Cooper thinks on paper. Wall Works by Benicia Gantner. I love the idea of Artist-in-Residence Program at SF Recycling & Disposal. Read about this many years ago. Artist and their work.

Day Trippin' With Tara

Tara and I headed over to Daniel Smith's this morning in search of art supplies. SHE is a real artist, and actually DOES artwork, I am trying to learn some lessons in productivity from her! I was very excited to find out she is selling a couple of her earlier pieces on Ebay (I am bidding) and this one, Assemblage "Girl at the Beach". I got to root around her art studio today, which is completely inspiring.











Tara's assemblage art.



Tara's art journals.



Tara has a great dog, Bailey. And here she is waiting for us to stop visiting outside and come indoors!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes