Stealing Art

The new library has a used book shop room with books for sale cheap. Lots of books. Older ones, over-used ones, dorky ones, outdated ones...

Today I found a book called The Encyclopedia of Modern Art. It was a steal for $3.00. It's a heavy hard back, published 1961. On the inside flap it has the original price printed, $20.00. I wonder what that would be in today's dollars.

This book is in very good condition. The paper cover is not ripped or torn, hardly worn at all. A colorful image of Picasso's 'Pierrot and Harlequin,' adorns the front cover. Here is a sketch of part of the front cover:


I drew this as I was sitting in the back row of the library performance room, listening to a violin recital. And 'shusshing' the boys every now and then. The boys were losing their patience. I was stealing time to draw.

It's not possible to pay attention - to focus - on multiple things. The enjoyment of the violin song, the interaction with my boys, and the drawing all suffered at 2:45 pm this afternoon.
So stealing moments to draw... well, it happens. Though guilt, in some form, always follows. As well as some satisfaction. A drawing was drawn. The boys were exposed to culture and a lovely violin. And I did enjoy the violin, if only for a while.

Party

party
Originally uploaded by Tifty....

This evening after a PTO meeting I came home and decided to look through a box of old photos and see if anything would strike me as particularly creative or interesting.


I found this. As is, cut out and pasted on this painted card. Who cut it out? Why are those colors beaming from the tops of three of the people but not from the head of the handsome man looking into the camera? What kind of party is it? When was this taken?

Collages and More Cards

This Saturday my friend and I are going to an art yard sale. While there we will more than likely run into several local creative people and hopefully put the ATC bug in peoples ears.

For this latest batch of ATC's I tried doing some collage work. How could I resist with so much inspiration all over the web? Online at Veer there are some paperstock patterns that are really groovy and easily printed out in small samples. These patterns are fun to cut out and play with in art collages.

The small card format works great for me. With limited time and space around here, keeping it small increases the chance that I complete something. That's a big deal when my time is split ninety days to Sunday most everyday, it's nice to have found another way (besides photography) to be creative.

Collages

In the bottom drawer of the tall dresser is a box filled with old pictures and negatives that belonged to my mom. This box of pictures probably would have remained in the drawer until whoknowswhen except that now there is a plan and some creative ideas are coming to mind.



Claudine has a new book coming out and I can't wait to buy a copy. In the book she will share her ideas on creating creative collages using family photos, for example. Her style inspires me. Just the thought of creating something interesting with old photos is exciting!



Also, I have been making more ATC's. Hold your horses. I'll post a representative or two here later. I am gonna get a new scanner that will plug into my Powerbook today.



....just had a recollection. In high school Latin class our lovely teacher Ms. Price explained the expression "hold your horses" to us. Way back in ancient times, when people used latin, the latin for 'horses' also meant 'passions/ emotions' - hence the expression, 'hold (restrain) your emotions!'

Discovery

While in the check out line at the grocery store I paged through the latest issue of Home Companion. And I discovered collage artist claudine hellmuth.

Inspiration.

Wow.

I'm ATCing

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) have been around a while. Now I am doing them also. I have five. They are at flickr. Click this one, the 4th one I made, to see the rest.

They fit perfectly into my son's plastic yu-gi-oh card protector sleeves.

Groovy!