back in the day . . .

as many of you avid blogstalkers might have read, we've moved recently into a home that is a bit larger than our previous dwelling.  it's no mansion, that's for sure, but it is nearly double the shoebox we had and that means a lot more storage space.  now, my mom gave me some time to settle in and get house set up before i got the call - the call to "come get your crap!"

i've been trying to do just that.  slowly, load by load, i empty my stuff from the folks' basement.  i don't know why i was surprised to find that she still had all my high school art projects.  all.  of.  them.

it's got me all nostalgic.  i am determined to photograph them and post them up here for y'all to see, and then maybe get rid of some of it.  i'm sentimental and all, but there's only so much use i have for a bust of abraham lincoln.

anyhow, in leiu of my high school art, i'll indulge you in a bit of my college coursework . . .

for a while i was focusing my work on the idea of body image, and the unrealistic expectations of women to fit into a standard "shape".  i can get all sorts of into this, but let's keep things light, shall we?

first, a portion of a series of photographs that juxtaposed objects with human form:

this is a corset i made by ripping up old clothes, turning it into rope, and forming a corset.  it is completely functional, if anyone cares to take the time to undo all the knots and retie them again :)

 bound

(front view)

bound

(side view)

here i took a piece of wood, quite literally from the side of the road, and i carved it to give it a more flattering figure, then constructed a custom hot pink satin corset for it.  ain't she pretty?  what is truly odd about this piece is how much my mother likes it.  also, i have no idea how i made that corset happen on my limited sewing skills.

 in rare form

ahh, glass.  where i studied one was encouraged to cross medias and try to find ways to incorporate your emphasis into whatever studio classes you happened to enroll.  it took me some time to figure out how to bring textiles into glass without causing fire, but i think i got it.  hand pulled clear/aqua glass with (again) custom made corsets.  these corsets are quite tiny, and preceded the hot pink corset above.  still, no idea how i pulled it off.

squeeze

looking back at all this i realize how much time i was able to devote to my art, and how absolutely wonderful that time was for me.  as wiley approaches his first birthday i become more and more eager to get back to my work.  he's old enough for us both to benefit from another caregiver, for a portion of the time.  now, all i need do is find said amazing/awesome/loving/perfect person and find a way for me to pay him/her!

dreams.

jo

feeling blue . . . and red

bliss!  i got to paint today.  i set a clear goal for myself.  there was something i had never painted and i wanted to challenge myself. 

a rose. 

i have drawn a rose, but never a 'finished' drawing, and surely never a painting.  it is only as of late that i have been brave enough to paint anything.  i'm falling for it, and what better way to express my new love for painting than to paint a rose?

here she is . . .

elizabeth

i don't know how correct of a rose it is, or even if i did a decent job, but i kinda love it.  does she need some flair?  i am not definitely calling her done just yet.

these colors - red and blue - they are dear to me.  it has to be this blue, and this red.  not patriotic blue and red - bleck!  caribbean blue and blood red.  this is not the first time we have met.



it seems i have been searching these colors out for some time.  i wonder if it is coincidence that this blue is my favorite color and this red is my husbands?  ponder that.

i believe it is time to retreat back into season 6 of grey's anatomy and cleaning like a mad woman.  my person is coming over tomorrow and i have missed her immensely, so i don't intend on getting much done other than heaps of catching up.

jo

sweet surprises

my heart belongs to film photography. and while my wallet definitely pulls me to digital my heart wins out every once in a while. i will go out with my kiddos and spend a roll of film on a beautiful day, throw that roll in the drawer with the rest, and wait to win the lottery so that one day i might develop the whole lot of them. sigh.

. . . or i can pull out a roll at random and develop it and see what lovely surprises await me!

look what came out . . .







based on the clothes she is wearing and the fact that the field we went to for these shots is now a parking lot, i would say that roll of film was about 2 years old. that would have put my little peach at about 4 years old. she was 2 when i took my first photo class so she has been learning to model as i have learned to shoot.


some some the ol' archive:





awwwww! 2 years old - my baby!

time to hit the grocery.



jo