Saturday, August 30, 2008

step into my parlor...

i have a new neighbor. she appeared after hurricane fay moved thru our area. she has taken the space over my small fish pond as her own. beware my unsuspecting crawling and flying folks that live under and around my butterfly bush. she is pretty to look at but most likely a deadly hunter.
if my older brother were around he would be out there calling my name into her web. he always taunted me as a child, telling me if a writing spider heard your name they would write it in their web and come to get you. guess what, big brother, it didn't work!
“the artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web.” - pablo picasso



i think a spider's web is art in it's truest form.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

happy birthday tasha tudor

happy birthday tasha tudor! across the world today, many people will take the time to remember this wonderful woman. she lived her life in the ways of the 1830's on a secluded farm with her garden, her pets, and her art. this is an excerpt from the tasha tudor cookbook where she has a recipe for their family birthday cake:

"this receipt has been the family birthday cake for as long as i can remember. for many of my daughter bethany's birthday parties we placed the cake on a woodshingle raft, surrounded it with flowers, and floated it down our stream. we also had a shingle raft and a candle for each child's sandwich. we positioned the guests downstream, and when the right moment came we would light the candles and send the cake and its flotilla of shingle boats out into the stream. it was dark by then, so you can imagine the surprise of the guests at the sudden appearance of this fairy convoy."

can you imagine having a mother like that? it's well worth your time to read the books by tovah martin and richard w. brown that give us a glimpse into her life. i have the private world of tasha tudor, tasha tudor's garden, and tasha tudor's heirloom crafts plus the tasha tudor cookbook by tasha tudor.



in the private world of tasha tudor, by tasha tudor and richard w. brown, tasha concludes her book with this quote:

"i'm perfectly content. i have no other desires than to live right here with my dogs and my goats and my birds.

i think i've done a good job of life, but i have no message to give anyone. if i do have a philosophy, it is one best expressed by henry david thoreau: "if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." that is my credo. it is absolutely true. it is my whole life summed up."

i think you did a very good job of life, tasha tudor. you will be missed.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

ibride trays

don't you just love these trays by ibride? they are made using a high pressure laminate over pressed wood and paperboard. this one is called ambroise. bianca is the lovely lady with her lap full of children.
and last is bernardo. i'd like to have the trio gracing one of my walls.
these trays can be purchased at velocity.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

m.i.a.

well, i guess you thought i'd dropped off the face of the earth! it kinda felt like it for a while. my four year old grandaughter has been in the hospital for a week which hasn't been a pleasant experience for anyone concerned. she came home today and is doing fine. my number one priority was a decent cup of coffee once the dust settled. after brewing some coffee and trying to catch up on my cyber life i ran across these coffee creations. these were done by some talented folks! just look at the detail in this girl.
this one would be great for halloween guests.
i got these pictures from a site called weirdomatic.com by alexandra. check out the other coffee art on her site here.

as for me, i'm gonna enjoy another cup of joe, put my feet up, and catch up on some of my favorite reads! it's gonna be mighty fine sleeping in my own bed tonight, no nurses, no noise, no hospital coffee!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

annie wahl

i just love these dolls by artist annie wahl. she really has captured senescence down to the last liverspot! Has she been peeking in my windows???


too cute! check out her web site here.

Monday, August 18, 2008

must have chocolate!

today has been the day from......well...... you know where. i need chocolate! i need chocolate! i need chocolate! there is nothing remotely resembling chocolate in this house! i live plum nearly off the map so there's no quick jaunt to the nearest store for that life saving sustenance.aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

tasha tudor

clarice at storybook woods has invited everyone to her blog on august 28 to celebrate tasha tudor on her birthday. if by chance you aren't aware of who tasha tudor is please visit her site. she was an amazing woman, artist, mother, gardener. she chose to live without the comforts of modern day society. she wove her own cloth, made her own clothing, grew her own food. amazing, amazing woman. i have her books and videos and wish i could be one tenth the person she was. check her site out here.

Friday, August 15, 2008

seed planter

this old seed planter is at a farm that's for sale near my home. i would have flowers planted in it if it were mine. earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring. - william alexander

Thursday, August 14, 2008

looky here

in my last post i talked about ordering the dollmaking video by akira blount. she makes her dolls with cloth. my adventures in sewing include a lot of words that could hurt people's ears, so when i made this doll i used polymer clay instead of cloth. there is a bird's nest with eggs in the bottom of the doll. don't ya just love her hairdo? please don't let my attempt at making a doll discourage you if you want to purchase one of akira blount's videos. it's really a good one.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

akira blount

akira blount is a master dollmaker. i love that she uses twigs, pine cones, grapevine tendrils, and such on her dolls. look at all the detail that goes into these amazing dolls.
ms. blount sometimes teaches classes at john c. campbell folk school and penland school of crafts. every time i've tried to sign up for a class they are already full. i did order her video. she goes thru the steps of making the heads and hands, sewing and painting the faces.

check out more of her work here.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

pause to wonder

the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. it is the source of all true art and all science. he to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. - albert einstein sometimes small things such as this lichen and fungus growing on my fencepost can stop me in my tracks. i'm glad i still have my sense of wonder.

Monday, August 11, 2008

garden art

don't ya just love this venus flytrap? i think it would look great in my garden. (love the sparkplug fly!)
and this beekeeper..... i have just the place for him!
these are a couple of the items in judie bomberger's garden art shop. check out the others here.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

uncle romulus

this is my uncle romulus barnes. he was the kind of gardener i wish i could be. this is an article the charlotte news published about him on august 9, 1960. i know you can't read the print so i'll retype: "when i work, i feel better," romulus barnes said. he is 84 years old and was looking out over the half-acre garden that he works alone - without the aid of tractor, mule, or power tool.

"i spaded every bit of it myself and i just finished putting 28 buckets of water on it," mr. barnes added.

why is the soil in his garden moist at such a dry time? he carried the water up the hill from the small branch in the back.

when mr. barnes works his garden he has to crawl on his hands and knees. he has lost the sight in one eye and is almost blind in the other. he has suffered a mild stroke and cannot hear unless addressed with a shout.

the devotion and labor he gives to his garden shows in the lush green cultivation. he has four plots each of corn and tomatoes.

"they ripen at different times," mr. barnes said. there are peas, snaps, sweet potatoes, berries, butter beans, squash, melons, flowers, and just about anything a gardening enthusiast could ask for.

mr. barnes grew up on a farm near tayorsville and moved to charlotte when he was 15.

"i can remember when trade and tryon streets had rocks in them six inches high. neither of them was paved and horse-drawn street cars ran up the middle of the street from the southern railroad depot. there were lots of gardens in town then."

his garden is only about a mile and a half from the square. he lives at 708 e. 18th street.

"parking downtown was much easier then. all the stores had parking lots behind for the wagons and mules."

mr. barnes feels very deeply about his garden. he said: "people shouldn't garden unless they want to. it takes a lot of experience and hard work."


i am truely ashamed of myself. i complain about dragging the hose around in this heat, watering my flowers and garden, when he did the same on hands and knees, crawling up hill with each bucket of water ...dipped from the branch.





Friday, August 8, 2008

anne eldredge harris

this digital picture was done by an amazing artist, anne eldredge harris. she began creating digital art in 1995.........at the age of 77! she had used traditional mediums in art for sixty years before she went digital. i think she is awesome!
check out her other works here. be sure to look under each category. i hope i have the courage to keep learning new creative endeavors as i age.


Thursday, August 7, 2008

woodlucker

i haven't bought cracker jacks in years but i remember as a child getting these type dexterity games as my prize. you remember....how you had to roll the little metal balls around until they filled all the holes? well, these are some adult sized games. love them! they are made by artist dean lucker. the detail is amazing.
he also makes mechanical pictures and statues. with this one, when you press the lever, he puts the apple to his mouth and a spider comes out of the tree to catch the butterfly. want! want! want!
this is one of ann wood's creations. she uses dyed, cracked, egg shells and seed beads set with surgical tweezers to create these wonderful images. wow!
you can see more of their work here.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

i'm melting....

ok.......i know nobody wants to listen to me whine but........it's over 100 again today! it was even too hot before work this morning to get out and take some pictures. and, of course, i've had to spend most of my day outside in this heat. i'm mmmmeeeeeeelllllllltttttttiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

hotter than ......

hotter than a two dollar pistol.

hotter than a cat on a hot tin roof.

hotter than a stolen tamale.

hotter than a red-assed bee.

hotter than the devil's anvil.

hotter than a firecracker.

hotter than a snake's butt in a wagon rut.

hotter than a match head.

hotter than bus station chili.

hotter than methodist hell.



'nuff said?

Monday, August 4, 2008

the redheaded stranger

earlier this spring, before the butterfly bush ate my bird feeder, we had a visit from a redheaded stranger. no...not willie nelson...this inquisitive fellow. i wish i'd snapped a shot of him when he first landed. he hung upside down like a bat until he could figure out how to right himself. i'd seen him around before, further down in the yard, usually in the pecan tree. i guess curiosity just got the better of him and he needed to see what all the hoo haw was about up at the big house.
he threw seeds for a while, searching for bugs or nuts, or i don't know what. i guess he didn't find anything to his liking 'cause he finally headed back to the pecan tree for better pickin's.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

something to think about

only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. - cree indian proverb

Friday, August 1, 2008

missing in action

this is where i go on days when the only thing i want to be is....missing. i don't know what my connection to the past is but there's always a strong pull whenever i enter it's orbit. i always feel more at home around these disappearing relics....a part of it.

when i'm having the day from hell, or just one of those blue days, i come out here and swing on the porch, listening to the birds and taking in the heady smell of the woods. no....it's not mine, although i wish it were. the owners are gracious enough to let me park a while and pretend like i'm home.

the place just screamed for a mr. stumpyman so i created his other brother....darryl. he's way to serious to get into the whole dressing up thingy.
me and darryl just hang... silently... together, letting the worries of the day fade into the sounds of nature.