listen

This image was inspired by The Phoenix Foundation song "Buffalo", from the album of the same name.

The Phoenix Foundation is The Best Band in the World (and also the kindest).

Hope you will check out this lovely lovely band, yes that is a link above.

Valentine for Oakland

 Yep, I like this city. So I made these to leave around for Valentine's Day, with the hope that those who find them will take them further into the city. The photo below shows the bottom.

These are easy to make, see basic materials below. You will need tape and an exacto knife, and the smallest pair of scissors you can find. print out what you like (simple shape GOOD), tape it to the wire, bend at a right angle, and make a curlicue, then feed the wire through the hole.

Looking into my crystal ball, I am hoping to post similar projects throughout the year. Let me know in comments if you have left art in your area.

And if you're near Lake Merritt in Oakland, look around...

We don't need no stinking apples

It says online that these guys like apples, but he seems to prefer catfood, although sometimes blueberries are acceptable. In any case, he is now being encouraged to eat outside as his apparent need to utliize the closet for some kind of marsupial seizure at 3 AM is not helping me to a night's sleep (the cat, on the other hand, sleeps right through it).

They are slightly uncanny, like something from a Japanese ghost story, with the fathomless dark eyes in the pale face.

Not a Dalek and FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

This was the scene yesterday at the corner of Jean and Santa Rosa. Regrettably, some sharp eyed person has already made off with this personal sauna, working condition unknown. The mosaic ball has gone back into my apartment.

Stay tuned for news of intergalactic invasions.

Post Apocalyptic Thingie

My sister thinks I don't get out enough, I can't imagine why. 

Just posted this lovely item in the Art Lab section of my Etsy store. 

Wide World

Parts of a story....

I bought this very horizontal little frame at the Oakland Museum White Elephant sale, someone had framed what was evidently an original quote (second photo):

Though life is too short,
               it can be
                 ever so wide!

I was touched by the sentiment.

My brother in law passed on a book called A Sense of the World to me, it is about the Victorian Naval Officer, a man who became known as "The Blind Traveller", he circumnavigated the globe solo and wrote about it in travel books.

Since my brother in law is a sailor, I made him this little shadowbox with the 19th century ship, while keeping the original quote on the back. I neglected to mention that he and my sister were visiting on their own circumnavigation of the globe, which is quite a bit easier these days.

It only occurred to me afterward how these things connect.

Visit with Bryan Kring

Two of Bryan Kring's recently completed book arts projects in the magical light of his studio. These are available online at his Etsy store Kring Emporium

Just got my copy of The Ivory Hour by Laynie Browne. I am thrilled that Laynie used one of my altered ancestors pieces as the cover art for this luminous experimental novel. It's a meeting of Henry James characters with pop culture heroes in an imagined future. If you are curious, you can read a bit of it on Amazon:

The Ivory Hour

In praise of escapist fiction

 I think this is the biggest compliment to an author I have ever heard.

My brother in law was in a motorcycle accident which involved getting his head rammed halfway down into his ribcage, and needed to spend some weeks sitting and sleeping in a special chair. A friend of his brought him Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which clocks in at 3712 pages. B.I.L. says he spent 18 hours a day for three weeks and got through the entire series - it was the only way he could escape from the physical pain.

I find this particularly moving in light of Stephen King's encounter with a van being driven by a man who was was trying to keep his Dobermans away from some steaks. King had a long, long road to recovery after the incident.

Biography of a Mechanical Bee

This is what remains of a mechanical bee toy which I had listed on etsy, with the warning that is someone did not purchase it, I would make something out of it myself. This is one of many toys Made in Japan after WW2, when Japan had an advantageous agreement with the United States for export. They were tireless in their ingenuity for making small items, some toys and some china figurines and other novelties for export. I took this apart and found another part of the story of a recovering post war economy, see below.

This shows the inside, where a soda or juice can has been turned inside out to form the body of the bee. This is as moving, I think, as any archeological discovery.

One of the things I made was this Queen Bee Tiara, which I have for sale in my Etsy shop. I used the body in an assemblage which is one of the pieces in my show at Paxton Gate's Curiosities for Kids in San Francisco, the reception is tomorrow- stop by if you are in the neighborhood!