Vessels: Memento Mori
collage
The purpose of memento mori images is to remind the viewer of his or her mortality. In the Victorian era, memento mori commonly took the form of photographs of corpses. Other popular momento mori subjects are skulls, skeletons, decaying flowers, clocks and hour glasses, the crucifixion, and cemeteries. And, perhaps the best known momento mori is the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration.
Happy I Found and Finished the Sky
acrylic and Faber-Castell Pitt pen in composition book journal
Happy I found
and finished the sky
cleared up as I
have been toying around with
the spine
I swear counting backwards
in control of the wind
I was named after him
hidden and harder than anything.
Spent an hour down
with the dogs
all underfoot and more
from the digging
half a red letter tall
a storm day of woe
when it is warm
leave the baker alone
the same hope does not seem to keep us.
I’ve been dwelling too much on the weather. I saw a glimpse of sun as I drove home this afternoon and it made me think of optimism and expectations, which made me think of the story of Pandora and her jar of woe, which made me think of the dual nature of hope. How hope can inspire both dreams and nightmares.
Top: The Rain Boat
Bottom: My Favorite Jeans
acrylic, Faber-Castell Pit pens, and collage in composition book journal
It’s been raining for days, so I’ve been thinking of boats again. Taking my cue from the weather, I came home from work yesterday and painted the background a muddy navy color. It reminded me of stormy seas and old denim, so I made another paper boat. This morning I added a doodle of my favorite blue jeans. I got a little over-zealous trying to blend the ink (Pitt pens are permanent, dummy). I managed to tone down the pen strokes a bit, but in the process I nearly rubbed a hole in the paper. Oh serendipity! It looks all the more like worn denim.
And, of course, the rain has now turned to a lovely “wintry mix.” Winter in Indiana is so, well, Winter in Indiana.
(Ha! After checking to make sure this entry was displaying correctly, I was reminded of the Dr. Seuss story What Was I Scared Of?)
I went to the grocery store Saturday morning and bought a cartful of veggies. Babbs has the yummiest veggies. (Though the cashier was confounded by my sack of fresh brussels sprouts. “What are those?” she asked.) Their radishes are especially good–crisp and sweet and slightly sharp, without the excessive bite that radishes can get. Oh yes, and a hint of garlic, too.
I washed and halved a baggie of them to bring to work today, so I’d have something to snack on. I overestimated as I was pulling them off the greens, so it’s a very large baggie of radishes. I was distracted by the dogs underfoot; it never fails to amuse me as they snatch the flung roots and tops and gobble them up. I’ve trained them well to intercept random veggie missiles.
Anyway, I’m enjoying my little late-morning snack.
Vessels: The Sky King’s Castle
collage
This is the latest in the tentatively titled Vessels series. The Polaroid of the three terracotta funerary containers is from the same group of photos as the Tainted Love ATCs. The urns were made by the Bura People of Lake Chad, Niger. The phalluses are 3-4′ tall and are covered with scarification patterns.
Spring Flowers
composition book journal
I went shopping yesterday morning and picked up some new cheap, metallic gel markers (RoseArt). They show up nicely against dark colored backgrounds. They also blend well if you work quickly. Inspired by the warm sunny day and by the memory of drawing with similar markers when I was young, I decided to draw a bright, childish landscape.
I had pre-painted the paper the night before with metallic blue and periwinkle paint. The left-hand page stretched slightly, causing minor wrinkling. In person the wrinkles are minimal, but because the page is painted with metallic paint, it is extremely reflective; the scanner accentuated the wrinkles.
Vessels: Blue Moon Gold Halo
collage
This is another piece in the same series as the Identity Theft pieces. Instead of working in a composition book, these pieces were all done on chip board. My plan is to eventually bind them all into a book. The book’s working title is Vessels. That could change, but at this point things are shaping up nicely within that overall theme.
As with most of the glue book pieces I’ve done, this one is nothing new or profound. It’s just a reflection of where my head was at the time. Glue books, for me, are as much stream of consciousness as anything. As you can see, I’ve been thinking a lot about the dichotomy between the Virgin and the Whore. Girls learn at a very young age that they’re either one or the other. However, as any sane woman can tell you, there are no such absolutes.
Storm of Words
composition book journal
I didn’t intend for the background to look like camouflage; that was a happy accident. I grabbed the ugliest, dirtiest green and brown paint I had and smeared them all over the page. Then, I washed off as much as I could with a baby wipe. I wrote down all the words that had been stalking me over the past few days, using the paint swirls as a guide. The actual words have been pixilated, since y’all don’t need to know exactly what crazy rantings have been flying around in my head. Besides, it was mostly an exorcism. I’d had more input than I’m used to and needed a place to dump the overflow.
Red Letter Day
composition book journal
Ugh. Sometimes, having a red letter day is not a good thing.
On the bright side, last night I finally got my car back from the shop. I’m $250 poorer, but it was money well spent. Not having a car for three weeks reminded me of how attached I am to my own mobility. It’s frustrating not to be able to hop in the car and run to the grocery store when I want, or go play in the pen aisle at Walmart because I “need” a toy fix, or get Kleenex and cough syrup when I was sick. Yeah, I’ve got wonderful friends next door who were great about making sure I had what I needed, but it’s not the same as being able to go get it myself.
I was gently reminded this evening that I’d neglected to explain what on Urth ATCs are. Oops! ATCs are artist trading cards. They’re small, original artworks that are made to be given away or traded. Based on popular mass produced trading cards, ATCs always measure 3.5 x 2.5 inches. They’re a fun way for artists to swap and collect each other’s artwork.
Although the original intention was that artists would meet in person to trade ATCs, many on-line art communities hold frequent ATC swaps. Often there is a theme, such as the dark Valentine inspired “tainted love” ATC swap I recently participated in.
Sacred Cow
collage
Identity Theft 1 & 2
collage
These are pretty self explanatory. Our break room at work has a table where people leave magazines they’ve finished with. There are usually several women’s magazines Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, etc. I occasionally flip through them. It never fails to depress me.
red paper boat 