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London artist, Nick Gentry uses floppy disk and paint to create his masterpieces. "Each floppy disk used in the paintings has a history and story of its own. It represents the increasing pace of the modern life cycle, where objects are created, used and disposed of quicker than ever. To challenge this notion, as these personal artefacts of life are cast aside, the obsolete are now given new life and a renewed purpose by using them as a medium for art." Via Artist A Day.
SOTA : The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) is proud to announce the release of “Coming Together”, a font created exclusively for Font Aid IV to benefit the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. The font consists entirely of ampersands, to represent the idea of people coming together to help one another. Type designers, graphic designers, and other artists from around the world contributed artwork to the font.
The font is being be sold for $20US and is available through font distributors Ascender Fonts, Veer, FontShop, and MyFonts. All proceeds from the sale of the font will go to Doctors Without Borders, to help with their relief efforts in Haiti.
On my way to the dentist, spied this little piece of moss with the spores dried up. Yes, I am easily entertained. My dentist for 18 years, Dr. Goodwin, is the best, in case you are looking for someone in my area.
I was cleaning out folders at work today and ran across this photo of Matt that we shot many years ago. He and a bunch of our children were in a special series we did about children and sports. I gasp a little to see him so young and that feels not so long ago. I have been experiencing some sadness, pre-empty-nester? I don't know. But I can't say this enough now to people with kids ... it goes faster than you think!
It has been a hard week of "down-in-the-back", after lifting heavy objects in my backyard. Sorry, not so much blogging this week. More icing, heating and taking nice drugs.
On a lighter note, I finally did it. Something I have thought about, dreamed about and angst over for many years. I made my book of flowers "in a vase" (yes, on my Mondo Beyondo list). It took me months to find, edit and organize my photos. Sadly, that was the hardest part of this job. And the second part of that is, I can't believe how many photos I kept that were marginal at best. Putting this together was a good reason to hit the delete button on many, many, many images clogging up my computer. A difficult part, for sure, for me, who doesn't throw anything away. But an essential part, of clearing out the clutter and keeping only what I thought was suitable to print. Trust me, I still have thousands of images to delete and store.
I was determined to give my S-I-L something special and unusual for her birthday because she is a special person. (Especially since her Christmas present still sits in the basement where I started to wrap it all up months ago.)
It arrived. I thought I might cry. My hand shaking a little as I opened the package. What would it look like? Photos blurry? I did have a moment when I felt a tear come to my eye but then the book editor took over and I found a typo, then a couple of photos that weren't up to my standards. Yes, I should have not hit the "print this book" so soon. David had proof-read most of it. And had gone through every photo, okaying it. I just should have waited another day or so. Anyway. I have now righted all my wrongs. And I am so thrilled with the outcome. Beyond what I had imagined, even with the couple of goofs. Just think, my S-I-L will have the first signed, edition, with the typo covered with a piece of paper.
My son knows I love Lovely Day by Bill Withers and all remixes to follow ... how you can't move and snap your fingers when you hear this. So he called me into the bedroom to listen to this song the other night and since then I can't get it out of head. Which is not a bad thing. So since it plays over and over, thought I should have a couple of versions to pull from. ;)
Well, I don't have to make this one up. I believed in fairies. When I was very small I lived in an apartment in Dallas, Texas. My mom and I shared a bed, one of those that have a bookshelf attached to the headboard. I woke one night to find little people, fairies, sitting around my head in the book shelf. I was so fascinated watching them, I stayed very still as not to frighten them away. Their voices were so small that it just made tiny trill sounds, but I knew they were talking about me. It was thrilling and I felt so lucky that they were visiting me. I have thought about this event many, many times in my life and I know it was not a dream or an illusion. Somehow, I had this magical visit. For what reason, I don't know. But it happened, to me. The weirder part ... many years I was confiding in my college friend, Faith, telling her of this. She got all quiet and strange and said she had the same encounter when she was young. Coincidence?
When I was young, I believed my mother would marry her long-time boyfriend Jack and we were all live happily ever after. That did not happen, although my mom and Jack remain fast friend until this day. I always cry when he calls to say hello. He will never know how he broke my heart.
When I was young, I thought my step-father loved us so much, that he would quit drinking.
When I was young, I thought if I ate fish, it would make me smarter. I ate a lot of fish.
I thought that something terrible could come up from the drain in the bathtub and grab me.
For Valentine's Day I thought I would participate from afar in Blog it Forward, about what I love, what inspires me, what propels me to continue this blog. I love to find things that make me swoon, paper sculptures, typography, linen clothing, wild and chaotic paintings and quilts that make my eyes wobble in my head. Fun and unusual rings. Green architecture. And I love to make things. Discovering the process. Getting out the tools. Making a mess then cleaning up. Sewing (or least dreaming of sewing). I am not an artist but I believe more of a crafts person, needing to keep my mind and hands busy, thinking of ... and making something.
And then my family always inspires me to be and do bigger and better things in my life.
But for the bloggers that inspire me ... well,
The unusual in the mundane. Being surprised by finding beautiful shapes and functionality in nature. Always looking out for something very special. Daily Poetics, Ulla, Wish Jar.
That are always looking to be better and helping others do the same by spreading inspiration, exploring all senses, be present, be there and visual voice.
So Happy Valentine's Day to you! Thanks for stopping by. The below images are very large for you to download, here and here, if you want to make your own card today.
Calligraphy becomes so much more in the works of Silvia Cordero Vega. Collection of calli-collages on Flickr. Honestly, my eyes become so excited when looking at a selection of her work, I don't know where to explore first. ;) (Later, before I posted this I saw Dear Ada also has a lovely post on Silvia Cordero Vega ... great minds think alike?) ;)
Remember how I said I would love to participate in this challenge, The Ring a Day. Well, I can't produce a ring a day for the group, but I can make this little ring today. ;) Of course, from the grapes.
Yes, Elana, this is wonderful! Last November at the central market in Valencia, Spain, opera singers disguised as shopkeepers were selling produce at the various stalls.
The NW Flower & Garden Showwas a little disappointing. But it is always a treat to walk into the main entrance and be hit with the scent of hyacinths. A few favorites. Not enough vertical gardens, just thought there would be so many more, and more affordable options. Like this one featured on Poppy Talk by Flora Grubb Gardens.
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1.
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed, Desperate.
Response from Technical Support
DEAR DESPERATE,
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program.These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Printmaker and collage artist, Eva Isaksen work in on display at the convention center, wish you could see them in person. Represented by Foster/White Gallery in Seattle.
I stopped off at B&N last night to take a look at Tara's spread in Artful Blogger. Flipping through many magazines and stumbled across Voewood. Well, it was really a butterfly quilt in a piece on Voewood that caught my eye. I was hoping to see more detail on that quilt, but no. The quilt or wall hanging was an antique or old linen with big, colorful butterflies quilted and flying about. "Voewood is an extraordinary Arts and Crafts country house that has been restored to the highest standard. It combines an interior that includes bold designs while remaining true to the essence of the original building. The house was built largely from stone quarried from the land, thus creating beautiful sunken gardens and croquet lawns." Well, I would love to stay there for a week to explore. ;) By the way, there is just a snippet of that butterfly quilt in one of these photos below.
Do you find yourself leaving a bookstore repeating names over and over to Google or look up when you get home? I do it all the time. If I think I will forget the name, I just buy the magazine. ;) I looked up many names last night. Okay, I am off the Rick's for my Wordpress class. See you.
Wow! Delicate structural flowers by Oki Sato-Nendo. I only wish I could see them larger! Okay, I found out what this delicious installation, kuuki for KENZOKI, "an installation that captures and expresses the concepts behind Kenzoki, a skincare line that pleases all five senses by taking full advantage of the natural elements found in plants."
I look for the beauty in nature, patterns, the ordinary. This is my place where I save wonderful discoveries since 2004. Please contact me at kimberlycarney AT hotmail DOTCOM.