Is this what we'll look like in our ever-fashionable pointy hats? 

We have a name ... I think

Last night's get-together of Edmonton-area mixed media artists was great. First we spilled out our goodies (everything from buttons to handmade paper to rusted stars) that we wanted to exchange. It was just like Christmas and we were like a bunch of little kids!! Then we drooled over each other's art and exchanged ATCs ~ so much talent. A few of us brought rubber stamps to let other people stamp some images to use in their work ~ only problem is is that no one brought a stamp pad except for a tiny-teeny little black one. Doh! Finally we sat around and discussed a name for our little group of artists ... and I think we decided on Pointy Hat Art Posse. I don't know ~ does this mean we're bringing Art Justice to an Uncreative World?? We hope to meet the last Monday of every month, and next month, we're all supposed to create dunce cap-like pointy hats for the occasion. This is all wayyyyy too much fun!!

A couple Zetti ATCs I created today. Left: Things to Do, Zetti Style Right: She was in the School Play 

Going to Lexie's tonight

Tonight a bunch of us mixed-media artists-types are getting together at Lexie's Latte, here in Edmonton, to show & tell, swap etc. I'm looking forward to this ~ it's always fun, educational and inspiring to be with other artists. Yay!! Tomorrow I'll share what we did!

Dad's probably in his early 30s in this photograph 

Dad

Dad was always a quick thinker, well read and extremely intelligent. Now he isn't well. For the past week, he's been sleeping most of the time, and when he is awake, he doesn't communicate much. It's been about 10 years since we noticed his dementia. About 4 years ago, he wandered once when he was visiting in Calgary with Mom. (A kind stranger alerted EMS that he seemed to be lost, he was taken to a hospital, and when my brother Dave phoned police to report his disappearance [at 5 or 6 a.m.], they checked with the hospitals and located him). That is when we realized that we really had to be in a protective environment.

Although it's been a long time since Dad hasn't really been DAD, it's hard to see his continuing decline. We all know he is ready to meet his Father in Heaven, but sometimes I think he's just holding on to this earthly shell for my mother's sake. She'd be lost without him.

It's been difficult to find out what's happening with Dad physically, but yesterday, I left a note on his file to get the doctor to contact me when he comes in so that I can ask him what's going on.

4 Chagallish ATCs ~ pretty much copied from some of Marc Chagall's paintings. Very good exercise to do. 

Copy cat ART

I had fun tonight with doing some "Van Goghish" and some "Chagallish" artwork. How did these artists make their work look so effortless? simple? almost childlike? I loved copying some of their stuff ~ it's a great exercise. I'm pretty happy with the ATCs that I created in their "styles". Time for bed ~ it's almost midnight.

ATC I created at Arlene's April 19th 2005 

We shopped, ate and played

Grrr! I typed this whole blog out and then didn't save, so this is me writing my blog today for the SECOND time ...

Yesterday I went to my art buddy, Arlene Travnik's house. From her place, we drove to the local Antique Mall to see if we could find some ephemera for our art. Arlene found a collection of old 78s in book format which she is planning use as an Round Robin Altered Book (AB). I can't wait to create something in it!

Arlene and I have similar tastes in home decorating, so we were checking out all the retro/collectible/antiquish things there. We loved the paint-by-number paintins (yes, we realize they're tacky), parking meters, a jukebox radio and little-old-lady-hats!

After the mall, we headed over to the Leduc Library. Arlene is currently teaching an AB teen class. She decorated two display cubes with all sorts of Altered Art to spark interest in the class. The art is by Arlene, Cindy, Corinne and myself. The cubes looked great and I'm sure stirred a lot of curiosity!

After returning to the house again, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed down to her studio to play. She was gracious enough to give me about a 10 inch square of space to work on ~ way more than my usual 4x4 inch space I use to create my ATCs! I will post one of the ATCs I created while at her place. It was a fun day, but of course, we didn't have nearly enough time!

Drunk or a Dwarf 

Where I've been ...

It's been a long time since I've posted a blog, but a lot has been happening. First I was working ever so diligently on my Wacky Photo Booth Swap 2 ATCs (and by the way I'm very pleased with the results). And then my dad who has advanced dementia has taken a turn for the worse in the last while, so I've been very pre-occupied with all that entails. But! I thought that I would upload one of the pics that I made for the swap. I am in the pic along with my art buddy Arlene. If you ever want to feel the pure joy that childhood offers, simply head off to a photo booth and make all sorts of silly faces and take home a strip of almost instant insanity! Fun!!