what's a girl to do?........

What's a girl to do when she is sick and needs to stay quiet for a couple of days, has no interest in daytime TV and not a good book in sight? Well she trolls eBay for some funky autumn fashion! That's what she does! I love thrifting and eBay is a great place to troll if you know what you're looking for. I made a game out of it and gave myself $100 to shop with. $100 in today's retail doesn't go very far, but if you like a treasure hunt, you can make it work for you. The first item I searched for was a new leather, well not new, but pre-owned, handbag for fall/winter. I found a seller that had fabulous bags and great prices and I got a great deal on the black bag in the pic below. Then I knew I wanted another little shrug. I love these little sweaters. They are perfect for Fall evenings. I don't wear polyester because it heats me up faster then noon in the desert. Cashmere or cotton or a blend of silk and cotton, etc. Well I found the one below and won the auction. It's perfect! Then it was off to find a cashmere scarf.




Yum! I found the one below and it should be here by the end of the week. I love the two patterns together.



I still had some money left so I started searching for a pair of vintage doc marten 1460 8 hole black boots. Found them! Won the auction and they should be here at the end of the week also. I went a bit above my $100 limit by about $12. Not bad. I then moved on to etsy and why I would shop anywhere else, I don't know! They have some of the most amazing designers selling fabulous clothes. My Christmas list grows by the day. That's what I did when I had my cold. It was fun and I got some things I've wanted without leaving my house and staying on budget! There is one more thing that I'm dying to own and it is a little Italian black leather and studded bag at my local consignment shop! Oh, I love it. It sits in a special case with a price tag of over three hundred $$$$$$'s. The owner paid over $600 for it in Italy. Sigh. However, I'm in negotiation to lower the price a bit and my own credit (from my consignments) gets higher everyday. I visited it today on my way home from town. We had a walk-a-bout through the store together and then it was put back in it's special case. sigh......

I have also been working and I'm in that deconstruction phase - deconstructing my work on cardboard that I did in the spring and reworking it on some old canvases. This seems to happen every Fall. Must be some sort of unconscious ritual that I have to perform every year. Anyway, this is one of the pieces. Some of the muslin I ripped off of things is also showing up on these. I have a couple more in progress and some paintings in the works also.


Hope you are all well into your week and finding it good.

better.......

Feeling better and am deep into some experiments in my workspace - one thing I have been doing is ripping the muslin off some of my work and then sewing it onto the shoulders of my sweaters - hard to get good pics, but the sidebar photo gives you an idea - finished this painting today -



'She Had a Secret' - mixed media on board 24x24


will be back with other things I'm up to later in the week - have a great weekend everybody!!

damn.......

damn! I have a cold! I hate colds - they are energy suckers and no one wants to hug you - sigh - I worked as slow as a slug today - I would make a choice and then it would be wrong (yes a choice can be wrong, very wrong) - so I just stopped making choices and painted - it was an underpainting day - that's all I could muster - these photos are up close and personal details of the underpainting - little art pieces on their own - lots of yellows since there wasn't an ounce of yellow outside - I just took some echinacea and vitamin C and am now ready to lay down and close my watery eyes for awhile - hope you are all feeling better then I am - sigh













these are all details of mixed media on board 24x24

it's about the turquoise......

That's right, turquoise - I've fallen in love with the little threads of this rich color - it's like mining for gold - finding the little veins of sky blue color - outside is a typical NW color palette - light gray, gray and dark gray with slate gray rain hitting the ground - in the studio, it's yellow, red, burnt orange and delicious turquoise - and of course, tones of gray - it's the way it is today -


both of these paintings are mixed media on board 24x24



Hope you are all enjoying the transition from summer to fall - I am.........with turquoise.

oh, right!, I get it now.......

Okay, so it's always harder then I think - letting go of summer - don't get me wrong, Fall is just a wonderful season, but summer? for me?, it's a ten plus - then a certain malaise sneaks in and zaps my energy - I never quite catch it in time and then I remember - it's almost over - those warm/hot days that infuse me with energy and make the work spill out of me - almost gone - the light starts to change, a coolness in the mornings, leaves start falling, night comes sooner - it's started and I never seem to quite get on board soon enough to make the transition smoothly - my color palette knows before I do - this painting just finished -



it speaks for itself - cold white starting to cover warm tones and the browns sneaking back at the edges -a different way of working has already started - there is more warm up time in the studio before the real work - it's almost Fall and I'm finding my way there.........

I wonder.....

I wonder where August went - I mean I just got out of bed yesterday and it was August 1st, then I got out of bed this morning and it's September 3rd? Serious??!! Where was I?



How can I be tired of over 400 songs on my iPod? I mean really!! It's true, I am...sigh....



Why did I wait two years to order these boots?!! These just arrived at my door a few days ago and I love them! True, they look all spanky new right now, but in three months? Fabulous! Frye engineers - get them! Don't wait!



And when did I paint this? I did because here is proof! And when I peeked into my studio this morning, it was sitting on the floor drying - I looked at it and then, yes, I do remember this journey - fire, ice, and something I can't name now.....



These are the things I wondered about this morning, September 3rd, 2010 .......

ps - .....and why doesn't my spell check recognize ipod?

pps - the painting? yes, I do know - it's about fire, ice and how my August was - all scattered with a detour around every corner - that's how it was