The Eternal Art Project

Oh, hello, sister, mother, followers.  I began this project back in 2004, my junior year of college - and have not stopped.  The assignment was to take a book of your choice and, essentially, destroy it.  So, in my case, I took an old book of poems, and spent the year recreating it.

 The freedom involved in a project like this is liberating.  Everyday I contributed something new, whether it be a lyric, a photo, a drip of paint, pop-up art (that skill will never die, family) - whatever!  One of my favorites was actually creating a poem out of a poem.  Sneaky, I know.

The best part about this, as I mentioned, is that I still jot things down and paste things on.  Its a project for you to enjoy, for as long as you'd like to enjoy it. 

 Go get yourself a book and have some fun.

Iron Ons!

You must go out and purchase this iron on masterpiece-of-a-book. My lovely boyfriend picked this up for me at MoMA when he was in New York. Thank you. I can't remember the last time I ironed something onto my shirt, I probably had a side-pony. It felt so good! The book includes 20 sheets of decals ranging in size and subject. Lots of animals--my squirrel shirt appears below (dedicated to Mr. Squirrel Nutkin, of course). Owls, trees, buildings, buildings in trees, telephone wire, birds and a few alphabet pages with beautiful fonts. Yippee!

Washing instructions are listed inside. Turn inside out, cold wash gentle cycle, hang dry or run through dryer on low heat.

I took the photos after I already wore the shirt, that's why the decals look wrinkly...they turned out super duper.

Gifts of Love



My dad died Sept.1, 2009.  He is so missed.  In honor of dad I decided to make all my siblings  birthday gifts this year.  For my 4 brothers it was a CD of father/son songs.  I also put on the cover a sweet picture of each of them with dad.  The songs were:  Cat's in the Cradle(Harry Chapin), My Father's Eyes(Eric Clapton), My Father's Son(Joe Cocker), In the Living Years(Mike and the Mechanics), Leader of the Band(Dan Fogelberg), and Father and Son(Cat Stevens).  For my darling sisters, a collage on canvas:








Included parts of the Jewel song: "The Shape of You"
And Irish Prayer

An Irish Prayer

May God give you... For every storm, a rainbow, For every tear, a smile, For every care, a promise, And a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, A faithful friend to share, For every sigh, a sweet song, And an answer for each prayer.

An Irish Prayer

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

  



My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.

 

I have one more gift for sister Maggie in November.

Ryan Hurley + Eric Mire "Save the Arts"

Celebrate Education Week by remembering the children who face a broken system with an urgency for change. The video above is a local representation of a national problem. Ryan Hurley is a spoken word poet and Eric Mire is a local musician. Their passion and artful illustration of the challenges of the Milwaukee public school system is refreshing when so many of us are doing so little. Let's act, okay?!

There are many things you can do to help. Here are a few for now. Post a comment if you have any thoughts/suggestions:

1. I saw the film Waiting for "Superman" last night at the Milwaukee Film Festival and I wanted to do something. If you pledge to see this film on the Website, you have the option to contribute monetarily--click on the link for details. Go see it!

2. DoSomething.org is a fine resource for change--volunteer in your community, post a project or start a club.

3. Americans for the Arts provides several advocacy tools and other opportunities to get involved in the promotion and support of arts education.

4. My mother watched this interview with Obama on the Today show...sounds interesting. Check out the video and then participate in the online discussion.

Room With a View



Life is good!




Overlooking 18th hole on Brute, Grand Geneva



Remote control candles

Love these candles!!!!  Below are remote control candles from Costco.  They are battery(included)operated and are made out of wax and vanilla scented.  The package includes nine candles in 3 sizes and costs around $29.00.

Gift of Name

I found it a pure joy painting these for gifts.  Here's how I did it:

1. 
   
   paint a background color with acrylic paint
2. 
   
   plan your design with a pencil
3. 
   
   paint
4. 
   
   apply photo copies with Mod Podge
5. 
   
   seal with Mod Podge or spray sealant
6. 
   
   when dry rub brown shoe polish with cloth around edges to antique
7. 
   
   add ribbon around edges
8. 
   
   embellish with ribbons and buttons






  

Wedding shower gifts

I love making wedding cakes for shower gifts.  I decopage photos, lyrics, monograms, etc. on round boxes I have painted from JoAnn Fabrics.  Add a little ribbon, pearls, and fresh flowers and it becomes a center piece.  Fill the boxes with cake decorating supplies or dessert plates and it makes a great gift. I purchased the wire cake stand (in store only) from Crate & Barrel.

Welcome

Welcome world. This is going to be a wild ride of sharing project ideas, inspiration and critique. Wooohooooo! Randomness will be inserted throughout the course of our posts. For example, below is a photo of my mother and brother at the world's largest truck stop in Iowa.

This is Spaghetti squash, which is coming back in season. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, cut the squash in half with a super sharp knife and be careful. Place on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil, cut sides up. Drizzle with oil and add salt and pepper. Roast for about 50 minutes or until the flesh is tender and browned. Grab a fork and scrape away. Follow this stellar Kitchen Sink recipe and enjoy.

My mother felt the need to post the picture of me cooking in my tiny kitchen (even though you wouldn't let me use a photo of you for your profile picture, weird). In this studio apartment, what you see is what you get, and you work with what you got. I'm standing in front of my mini-stove and behind me is the dishwasher-less sink. Though I would thrive in a larger kitchen, I accept the challenges of limited space.