#91 & # 92 the couple

There are lots of great things about owning a photography studio, but to have one that has been such since 1957 adds a few to the list, like if you want an old photo to play around with, just go rummage around through the leftover prints which are still in the darkroom. Even though it hasn't been a darkroom for over a decade. No worries. You're sure to find something. Day one, oils. Day two, pastels. If you know these people, give me a shout, you can have a copy.

where does the time go?

Life moves by so fast now, I don't know if my age has something to do with it, or the fact that my job requires planning months in advance, but I am in complete shock that it's already June.  So this card is about time - I'm not sure it's finished yet - couldn't decided whether to add the word "time" to it so I might revisit it again sometime.  That is if time doesn't get away from me.

fixing...

I was terribly uninspired yesterday - it wasn't my best day ever - so I decided to start repair work on some of the cards that were badly damaged in the straightening fiasco.  Memoirs of A Geisha was one of them that I felt I could still salvage, so I played around with it a little, and I think it looks okay.

you see it all in nyc

Just back from spending a couple of days with my son in Brooklyn - we had a great time, from working in his little garden (it has great potential), to flea-marketing in Chelsea to watching Pirates in a cool theater.  NY is the place where every person fits in, every style is okay.  And there's just nothing like walking around the city on a balmy evening - people were dancing, being loud and having impromptu music festivals from their front stoops - I loved being part of the energy!  I lamented not posting yesterday so I Alex encouraged me to make something yesterday...at 11:40pm!  This is the latest I have created anything so far!  Not sure what's coming for today....

#90 Wisteria by night

I opted to watch The King's Speech rather than use that time creating, so once again, albeit by choice, I was trying to get it together at the last minute.

Decided it was another venture into painting with light, this time using the flashlight to 'paint the subject with light' rather than write with light. I love Wisteria, think it's one of the more romantic flowers going, Ray gives me such a hard time about ours. Only the one side is happy & prolific, the other side struggles a bit, but I love them equally and don't mind that the entire thing's a little wonky. I think it's beautiful. And through the painting and movement and inability to really focus very well, takes on a lovely, ethereal feeling. Bring this image into Photoshop for a little post production, and I think it could be really lovely. Maybe a project for one of my next 275 days.

#89 Saguaro

It's absurd this life. Whenever I think I'll have a little time to devote to myself, I'm always wrong. Craziness to think Memorial Day weekend wouldn't be filled with visitors. Lovely visitors whom I adore, mind you.

Thought the square panels would work great with two images of the Saguaro, instead, they all look the same.

I've totally given up on creating art. I am not going to be doing that it seems ever. One needs just a wee tad amount of time to one's self to be able to begin to create. I'll just keep making things, stuff, adding clutter to an already cluttered space. Geeeesssshhhh. Oh well.

#88 the birdhouse

So last night I felted a sweater and sewed a birdhouse (thanks to my friend Violet who gave me a partially felted sweater because who else do you give those sort of things to?). Who knows if any birds will like it, but it definitely looks warm & cozy. I added a tiny photo of a flower. Today's project is still unknown at this time. T-1 hour 49 min.

you can find it at the library

I think this should have been my first card ever knowing all the treasures you can find in libraries.  And now libraries all over the country are in jeopardy of losing funding.  It's crazy - libraries are there for all people offering free books, educational services, databases, movies, programs (and so much, much more) and yet they are often placed on the expendable list when it comes to budget time.  What about private drivers for our elected officials (what? they can't drive themselves anywhere anymore?) or more studies of studies that have already been done on this road here or that byway there.  Please!  Where is the balance? Fix the schools, keep the libraries!  Off my pedestal now, but the lack of true respect by our state leaders for everything that libraries offer to such a wide range of people makes me sad.

tell me something...

Okay, so this is another stretch to fit in with my author cards but I guess I'm finding I need a little break and am trying to keep creating.  I had fun lining up the tiny cubes...maybe I'm ready for math cards!

#87 Brown-eyed Susans

I never remember whether I call them Brown-eyed Susans or Black-eyed Susans, so I think it depends upon my mood... today they're brown...

This is an image transfer I created years ago, I have one hanging at my studio where I scraped off all of the brown (or black) in the middles, and coloured them blue. They're named, uncreatively, blue eyed susans. For today's project I used pencils.

#86 Adrianafly

exhausted, couldn't bear the thought of creating anything, but ruining my 85 day streak seemed worse! so yesterday Adrianafly was born...

trolling the Thames

This weekend I read an article about people who walk along the River Thames picking up ancient pottery shards, pieces of glass, bits of clay pipes and other oddities they might find.  A few years ago, I was walking along the river with my aunt, her grandsons, and my daughter.  I couldn't believe what I saw - a staircase leading down to the riverbed at low tide - what a gift!  So I ran down those steps as fast as I could, very much to my aunt's horror (the filthy river Thames, she calls it) and stuffed as much pottery, etc. as I could find in my pockets.  I was positively gleeful!  And the next time I was lucky enough to walk along the Thames, I found that spot again.  I ventured  down in the pouring rain (it was actually sleet!) and snow, and poked around with freezing hands until my husband gently pulled me away, essentially turning off the light for this moth, with the lure of a warm lunch at a nearby pub.  So, it was with with mixed feelings that I read that article - my little quiet treasure hunting spot blasted all over the NYT magazine for ever other treasure seeker to find!  Of course, it was never really mine to begin with...but I'm happy to be among the lucky ones to have a bit of treasure from the River Thames.

there are always pirates

Okay, so this is a bit of a cop-out card.  I found this picture of Johnny Depp (I've always liked him as a pirate best, I think it's those smoky eyes...) and decided that pirates have been added to stories since stories have been written down on paper...well, almost.  You get the drift.  And we get to gaze upon Johnny for a little while.  Win-win.

#85 perhaps I should have waited...

for the next train...

tiptoe through the tulips

I found this newspaper photo of Tiny Tim a while back and every time I go looking for something he pops out.  So today, while waiting for my daughter to get ready for school, I made a tulip page for Tim!  

buy local

I got this great book, ECO Books by Terri Taylor, for my teen department at the library.  I love it and although I've barely had time to browse through it (ddon't you hate that?), I was inspired to make a little recycled book last night.  So this is my yesterday's art, made yesterday yet posted today.

#84 I wish...

There is something very powerful in writing things down, I'm counting on that because I'm starting with a lot of wishes!!!! (and yes, one of them is for world peace...)

#83 wishes

I love being a photographer, I have a great job. Taking portraits on the beautiful beaches of Cape Cod, really it's a great gig... But there are so many things I want to do... places I can't wait to go... I have so many dreams... so many wishes... for myself, my daughter, my family...

Today is part one, I'm going to create a 'wish board' for myself, just need to find some cork or something that I can use... (& buy some new ink for my printer too!)

pax

Alex gave me this cool book of old Life photographs and this was one in it - the sisters in white - and they are on this earth to promote peace...hard work that....

#81 & 82 birthday wishes

...so last night at 11:45 I still hadn't created anything, so I rushed into my room prepared to create something quickly. Instead, I knocked over my bottle of red dye, which it turns out I hadn't closed so it leaked all over, & made a total mess (my fingers are still red)... After cleaning it all up, I grabbed a photo and painted Adriana's dress red & the background of the photo red (it was one way to use some more up! I totally hate wasting things.) pretty much as the clock chimed... creating, nothing good, but creating... Today I took the 'red' photo cut off the hideous red background, and made a kind of cute, (be nice to me) card for Mina's 2nd birthday (yes, I know it was over a week ago). Creating every day is wicked hard.

mi amor

Frida & Diego - what a crazy love story - kind of matches this terrible card.  My apologies that it didn't get where I wanted it to go!  Long, long day today but when I got home from work I was greeted with nachos and a mojito (the mint in the garden is finally ready - ole!) by my sweet hubby, so we've got a little Mexican vibe going on here.

The Spy Who Loved Me

I have a pile of old catalog cards that I just can't throw away - when I came across this one this morning as I was searching for something else, I decided pay homage to Ian Fleming instead.  These old cards are great!  They are all hand-written, some in ink, not ball-point, and the cursive writing always charms me.  This one had no publication date so I can't age the card but I can appreciate this relic from my library's past!

Catch me

Much to my horror, yesterday went by in a flash.  I thought I'd work on J.D. Salinger's card after I got home from work at 9pm (I got him started in the early am yesterday but ran blank) so by the time I got set to finish him, it was pitch dark and bedtime (and you know my camera by now, I never had a chance to take a shot that wasn't blurry.  So, he's a day late (kind of fitting for a hermit, anyway!)

#80 Seaside Parade

sorry... As I've mentioned, I've been photographing pre-schools, a special needs school, some 8th grade grads, my life is all about work at the moment, and in about a month my Girl Scout troop ends for the year, so forgive me, but my creating (definitely not ART) for the next few days will be the scrapbook I've neglected all year long... pathetically boring... sorry! No comments needed!!!

a little prince

I've never quite understood the long lasting appeal of The Little Prince by St. Exupery...I found it a bit long winded and I also found I finished it because I thought (as a librarian!) that I had to read it.  The illustrations, however, were most endearing, and resulted in a cool graphic novel version being published in 2010, over 60 years after the original publication date.

#79 Sunny flowers

Last August I went with some good friends to the most amazing sunflower patch... we photographed for hours two days in a row... such a joyous thing to do to wander amongst sunflowers with friends! I highly recommend it!

#78 Long the summer day

oh I'm ready for those long summer days... I'm done with these long Cape Cod spring days...

Beam me up, Douglas

For some reason, these big sneakers reminded me of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (I know it should really be photos of towels!), one of my sister's favorite book series.  Even though he's a bit blurry, you can spot Douglas Adams sitting in the corner...darn, I forgot the mice!

#77 the boats

This is a Polaroid SX 70 manipulation I did ages ago, that I scanned and coloured today... To create the image, it's the type of film that pops out of the camera 'weeee eeeeh' and while the image is developing you actually move the emulsion around, creating a sometimes funky, sometimes ethereal kind of effect... I never got much of a chance to play with these before they stopped making the film, and when they were making it, I never could afford much of it at a time!!! The original was a slide I took in England at the New Forest, same time as 'a Single Boat'

#76 Can you play croquet?

Yesterday when I got home, I was so exhausted, all I could manage was the unpacking & cleaning of supplies... so I decided I had to just create with whatever photo I picked out of the box. The photo of Adriana at the Children's Museum in Boston playing with the gigantic chess set was the one I picked, so although it's not been long since I created an Alice project, how could I not create another with this photo?

A mad world

I'm cutting myself a little slack with the author thing - I found this article a while back and all I could think of was "It's a Mad, Mad World" the movie.  So, adding a screen play is a stretch, but it was based on a comedy written in 1605 called "A Mad World, My Masters" by Thomas Middleton (Kate's relative?)  Well, I'm feeling a bit mad today so I posted this crazy card!

#75 Camp Favorite fairy

Camping with 13 Juniors for two nights was a ton of fun, we had this little fairy watching over us on Saturday... brought us excellent weather after a crummy forecast...

A.R.T.

 The finished product!  I imagined this as a whole and I like the way it came out! 



A absolutely

I love collage - you can put unrelated images together and they form something beautiful.  Off with my husband for a while, it seems we're childless tonight :)

R really

I love the image of the little girl on the R card.  I found her when I was looking at images of the Great Depression.  Don't you just want to scoop her up and cuddle her?  I like making the alphabet cards...perhaps I shall try A-Z...that's 26 in all, although I'm not sure how many of these library cards I have left!

T true

Just a little tired of author cards, and after my disaster with the author cards a few days back, I thought I'd add some alphabet letters to my postings.  This T was made yesterday when Blogger was down (how very inconvenient!).  But speaking of T, I think I shall go and make a cuppa. :)

#74 fields of...

is that Provence or the weeds in your front yard?

Won't be posting tomorrow, not because Blogger's down as it has been since yesterday, but because I'll be camping w/my Girl Scouts... fingers crossed my 'creation' will work!!!

#73 Please shut gate

we don't want to let all of the butterflies out...

#72 one love

Photographing pre schools every day this week, and I've had a meeting or event every night... one more day of the same, then three days of camping with my Girl Scouts. I promise to start creating art rather than, ummm... yes well whatever soon! But a few more days of my head near explosion point... exhaustion...

Today marks the anniversary of the day we lost someone who has brought me countless hours of joy, and many, many hours of dancing... (It's an old photo from my h.s. days I took of an album I probably still have somewhere, there's an addition to the photo which you shouldn't look too closely for that was drawn by an old friend of mine and for which I take absolutely no responsibility for...)

more on a theme

So, I tried to flatten out some of my author cards (my husband fashioned a press of sorts for me) and when I took them out, they weren't much flatter but many were stuck together (THE HORROR!).  TC Boyle, the Reys (but mostly Curious George) and Memoirs of a Geisha took the biggest hits.  I can't decide whether to redo them or try to fix them.  Either way, it's fairly tragic.  So what is better for today than a fairly tragic story?

#71 Thatched village v2

So all I was doing was lightening the oil a little, I just wanted to soften it a bit as it was drying while I was trying to figure out what I was doing today. Well, softening turned into pretty much removing (the problem w/using non-fibre based prints for colouring, it all wipes off pretty darn easily), next thing I knew, other than the acrylic painted windows & doorway, and dyes across the bottom, it didn't look much different than when it started. On my own behalf, I totally wasn't altering the same image two days in a row, but turns out I did. Today's effort was with dyes, so it's pretty much staying at least this colour this time!!!! (and I prefer it by far...) What do you think?

grapes anyone?

I first read Steinbeck in high school, required reading of course.  And thank goodness for having to read books you might not have picked up on your own...I immediately loved Of Mice and Men and read through everything I could written by John Steinbeck.  My very favorite book for years was Cannery Row, followed closely by the wonderful Grapes of Wrath.  I think it's time to revisit them.

#70 Thatched village

I love the look of light oils in old hand-coloured photos, no idea how to do that, I've got the right supplies, why bother reading any directions! Maybe another day. So tonight we started with heavy oils, and dirty brushes, because I can't just stick 'em in the sink!

so sorry, Barbie

Can't you just tell I'm craving something for sweet for dessert and we've got nothing - so I took it out on Barbie.  It's crazy - you can dress Barbie in aluminum foil, stick beads in her earlobes with pins, and give her a crown made of forks and she still looks gorgeous.  It's no wonder she's so hard to compete with.  Me, I'd look fairly ridiculous in a tin foil dress, I flinch at pain so don't come near me with beads and pins...I suppose you could find me wearing a crown of forks, however, quite possibly on Boxing Day! 

#69 Scrabble

Scrabble has been a game we've always played in our family, some of us better than others (I've always been one of the others!) Seems Alex, my nephew had a 419 point game today (or something as absurd) against my sister, craziness!!! I asked Adriana for a game, neither of us got an S until the third or fourth round from the end, the bag was almost empty, and yet it contained 4 S's and as many T's!!!! An interesting game for sure. (Not quite as high scoring as Marla v Alex!) My bag that holds my letters is the gray plastic thing that comes with the game that's always driven me mad. So today, I created a new bag. It being Mother's Day seemed appropriate, as I've played a gazillion games with my mother, and being a mother, the photo sewn to the front is of one of the first games I played with my daughter...

happy Mother's Day!

For my truly wonderful sister who I thank God for every day, I send you a bouquet from our garden to you, with lots of love always xxx

everything that I know...I know because I love.

I had been working on this card but couldn't finish it, that is until I watched the movie The Last Station, a film about Leo Tolstoy and his wife, and their tumultuous marriage.  The film opens with this quote, and what a beautiful quote it is, from his rather huge book War and Peace.  So I made two cards today, one for missing yesterday and one for today.

John James Audubon was more of an artist of pure genius than a writer, but he did compile many books about birds and other wildlife.  It always amazes me when I see his paintings, just the technical detail, the sheer perfection of them.  There are tiny little pictures at the top of the card that I spent a long time cutting out - there's one of Audubon, sitting sternly holding a shotgun.  A shotgun!  The two don't match if you ask me; how can you be a preserver of life through paintings and a hunter of life at the same time?  PS: I cut the shotgun out of his picture, I prefer to keep this a no gun zone!