beetlegrass

Flashback Friday (1982 & 84ish)

It's National TV-Turnoff Week,(Ladies Drink Free!), poke here for proof!  So's I wuz thinking that I'd divulge the fact that, except for fits-n-starts, our family grew up without a TV in the household.

Below, a high school friend's gentle teasing:

Below, ads cut from the local free paper when in college.  I saved 'em cuz I thought they were funny.  I wonder if these stores still exist...

Because of no TV in the house, I had to grab it where I could get it.  After Sunday's church service would be over, I'd dart over to the education building and go into the church library. There to greet me was an old black and white TV with really poor reception, but with the allure of watching Abbott & Costello reruns on Channel 11.  As long as I'm not standing in a shallow pan of water, I'm quite proficient with a wire hanger, tin foil, and electricity (Mr. Wizard)!

While in high school, I was teased because I wrote for a homework assignment that "Love Boat" (or, "Love BLoat", as my sister Jane calls it) was my favorite show.  Well, that show was on Saturday nights, which was my greatest opportunity for viewing TV while sleeping over a friend's house. And not because of a fascination with Charo.  I assure you. No offense, Charo. (None taken, Megan, ai yiyiyi!!!)

Benefits of growing up without a TV:  I can amuse myself for hours with just a kneaded eraser.
Drawbacks of growing up without a TV: Pop culture trivia knowledge from the 60s-early 80s: woefully missing. :-(

Three Heads Are Better Than One

More altered calendar (1990 Kaffe Fassett) pages, using Dover publication images (as discussed in yesterday's post) on the right-hand side.

The original art image was three heads of lettuce over three heads of lettuce, rockin' the botanical look.  Some black gesso to block out extraneous info.  I used the stickers on the left that I got at Mark Twain's house as inspiration to create the Lettuce People. Hand-tinted the b/w copies with colored pencil.

See what you can PRODUCE when you try? (Har, har...)

Click on image to see larger.

Dover Publications Sketches

Another good reference source for illustrators is any one of a number of the books available from Dover Publications.

Here are some sketches with a Victoriana flav-a, to help my eye understand the 'vocabulary' of costuming from that era.  And the best way to train my eye is to draw what it sees. With my hand.  Eyes & Hands Working Together.  It's a beautiful thing. Unless they're MY hands, then they're stubby and picked-at.

More Home Dec

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I'm a girl!  I like pink & red!  Oh, yeah, and fruit & flowers too...

Some funky French flea market stuff in here is from a swap with Corey, I'm making her a pillow...
Tablecloth in the background was made for me by my maternal grandmother... I dyed it the other day, and learned when the dye package says "Scarlet", what they mean is: not the light pink you had in your mind's eye, but, um: SCARLET... I'm not unhappy with the result, just had to readjust my thinking! :-)

Teacup & saucer in the above are from my paternal grandmother's collection; platter is from an estate sale.

I like using tablecloths to cover up the ugly brick of this fireplace until such time as I can do a mosaic surround.  Tacks to hold the tablecloth to the wood, then the white cloth is just pinned to the tablecloth.

His & Hers pillowcases, boy & girl cloths from estate sales... Curtains were made from a tablecloth I got at a swap meet for $8, Bargain day! Bargain day!

Click on any photo to see it larger.

Dec & Cards

Did some Living Room decorating this past weekend...
Here is my desk, showcasing some of my hedgies, dolls, and part of my English postcard collection:

The edges of the shelves are vintage shelf lining that I had leftover from my former house. The picket fence box on the desk surface was made simply using a wooden audio tape holder and little wooden garden markers, everything painted with a watered-down white acrylic paint, and then glued into place.

The pillow on the chair was just a store-bought one, I just dressed it up a mite with the center iron-on decal.  I can never leave well-enough alone, can I? Sheesh!

Flowers are wedged into the convenient holder and held there with my current best friend, Teacher's Tack.  Do you recognize the paper dolls ?  I thought it was working out well to have tulips with these, and so then I went and rounded up one of my Dutch dolls. A theme, you might say...

And look what's sitting here on my desk now...

Remember when I was talking about the Spring ATC Swap? Look at the WAY COOL Spring ATCs I received yesterday!  I got ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) from Dawn, Amy, Emily, Mary, and Kristin-- thank you all!  Amy, who organized this swap, was kind enough to include some goodies perfect for altered art or what-have-you. 

Go to Amy's Flickr photo album to see ALL the great cards that everyone made!

(Please click on any photo to see larger.)

Big Nostril Pig

Here is my latest pillow, now available at my etsy shop!

You know what they say: You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but why not pick THIS pig with his fairly accomodating nostrils? This 12x12" pillow has REAL overall hardware (hand-rusted, mother-approved) on his blue (felt) ditty with the double-stitch...

He features felted wool, felted wool balls, buttons, and embroidery floss. He is entirely hand-stitched.

 

Click on these thumbnails to see the full-size version in a pop-up version!

(I saw an orange tractor while running errands today and wanted to pull over for an impromptu photo shoot.)

Flashback Friday (1967)

Here I am at almost age 2, with my friends Bunny, Kitty, and some anonymous kid who's giving me 'Whatfor".  I have no memories of this day, so cannot elucidate on the occasion, where the animals came from, nuthin'.  It's just a gratuitous pic of me with a bunny for your pre-Easter viewing.

Doncha just love Polaroids?  This one has been Photoshopped to a faretheewell.  Thanks, Photoshop!

The Last Supper

Jesus and his disciples in the Upper Room.  If you look closely at this puzzle, you can see the items of a Seder meal that I showed yesterday. (Click on image to see it larger!)

This was done for The United Methodist Publishing House. I do a lot of activity pages for kids, and I try to make them as challenging as the age level will allow.  Kids are smart, and can whip through an activity super-fast.  For this puzzle, I kept the colors in a certain range, so that it is not readily apparent what goes where. "Make 'em work for i!", I always say...

Passover

Tonight at sundown, Passover began... Here's an illustration I did of a Seder meal.  The food items get cut out and their tabs get fitted into the slots on the plate.

Click on image to be able to read everything clearly!

Illustration Friday-- SPRING

There is a bountiful Spring breakfast, but poor Puggy's repast consists solely of boring brown crunchies.
"Don't you want to share with ME?" he wonders.