make like a tree . . .

why must summer be so blessed busy?  so very many things going on and i'm just treading water in the storm.  oh, and to actually accomplish something is a small miracle!

soooo, months ago i was asked my my sweetie of a friend, who is expecting her second child any minute now, to paint a tree on the wall in her kiddo(s) room.  and last week i finally got to getting to it.  sara wanted a tree that looked old, and that worked with the baby's comforter - can do!

some in-process pics:

and the final product:

i think it turned out pretty fabulous.  now that his room is ready, hopefully he'll make like a tree.  come on, baby!

jo

happy happy . . .

birthday to me!  yup - 28 today.  having a tough time with a number that is so certainly not how old i feel.

so, anyways, yesterday we had a party/luau for my little man and i - he'll be 1 on the 16th.  this is merely the first of many birthdays he'll have to share with his mama.  so our theme was luau, and i found some great little luau rubber duckies, so it worked for both.

his cupcakes:

and my cake:

my first 3-layer cake!  i was very impressed with myself.  and, it was a pina colada cake, which was fabulous and super easy to make.

recipe:

2 boxes white cake mix
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
2 cans pina colada mix
1 cup rum (i used parrot bay)
whipped cream (turned out to require less than 1 tub)

make 3 9" round cakes as directed, only add 1/2 cup rum to the mixture.  mix the colada mix, milk, and remaining rum.  right out of the oven you poke holes all over the cakes and pour the mixture over until it's absorbed (next time i will cut off the tops of the cakes, as you do later to make a layered cake, before pouring the mixture on).  chill before constructing the cake.

nom nom nom

jo

some things i made in recent history . . .

today i am going to post some airbrushed stuff that i made - and not stuff that i made light years ago - some of it i made just this past weekend!  really!

i know you're too excited for words, so let's get to it . . .


first, this is a shirt i made for the little man for our birthday luau coming up.  his little swim trunks are blue, green, and purple, so i made this to match.  progress pics!

 drawn out.

 add color.

plus name and white accents.  ta da!

some hats i got all colorful on:

 

 

 this is an old bowling pin i got from a local bowling alley, and i painted it to use as a first place crazy bowl trophy . . .

 after i painted this i made some other trophies that i liked better for this particular event.  so, if anyone needs a crazy bowl trophy, i got one for sale :)

gotta go . . . big double birthday luau to prepare for!

jo

face painting!

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

look what i did this weekend . . .

these days it seems like i only get to making lovliness when absolutely forced to.  my little fox is sly as ever, and he is fast and sneaky and strong and smart.  oh, and me - i am exhausted.

thing #1 had a birthday party on saturday, and birthday parties require gifts!  i always try to make gifts for these little people, especially when i know that their parents have the means (and often times far greater than my own) to buy their child whatever they desire.  i have one small advantage, and that is that i do what i do.  so, here's what i made for the birthday girl:

it has a wall hanging bracket on the back, and i do hope she likes it.  i think i would have liked it when i was 7 :)

 i could not attend the party because i was at work!  yes, tis the season when i don the neon yellow shirt and slave away at six flags every saturday in the airbrush t-shirt booth.  this was my 4th saturday out there, and business is hopping.  before the rush started i knocked out this shirt for my little guy:

i know - it's adorable.  i was going to post a pic of him wearing it (this size is a bit big so he looks all 'thug' with it down to his knees) but he decided to take a header into the table and i don't need any more pics of him injured.

i also finished my t-shirt scarf!  you might recall my previous post when i started this project.  if not, see it here.  i have learned a lot from this project, the most important thing being that one needs to cut the t-shirt very evenly throughout or the scarf might look a mess when you're done!  moral of the story is that it is done, but i might make some adjustments to this piece before it's "final".

so, blogstalkers, that's what i did this weekend somewhere between the meetings, the crowds at six flags, and the runny noses i found the time to do what makes me happy.  yay for me.

jo

*** my iso ***

don't get excited.  this post is all business and no fun, unless you have a lot of crap lying around your house and want to get rid of it!

i am really trying to be a greener artist, using more recycled stuff and making less craft store purchases.  so, this is a list of items that might be in your trash/recycling that i would love to take off your hands.  if you'd like to donate, send me an email.

i will keep this list current, so feel free to come back to it periodically :)

magazines
hardbound books (of little/no literary value)
wooden picture, any size, with or without glass/backing
old t-shirts
fabric
cereal boxes, flatened or not
glass vases, bottles, canning jars
yarn
blender (long shot, but why not?)
felt
embroidery hoops
ribbon


thanks!
jo