day #6--my bucket list

i haven't seen the movie with morgan freeman and jack nicholson yet but i get the jist that it's about finding out you have a terminal illness and figuring out what you really wanna do before you kick the bucket...

on the way back from a hike with my friendy emily, i was spouting off something about something i'd like to do before i die... she sagely handed my a notepad and a pen and told me to write that bucket list....that moment has remained with me as a profound smashing up against my own mortality...

you'd think i was pretty aware of this for as an oncology nurse, i see people, well, get the word that they might just be leaving here soon... people who are just cruising along in their lives, making dinners, seeing kids and grands grow up, making plans and boom...arrrr...they get cancer and look ahead to weeks, months, years of chemo, nausea, doctors appointments....do they have bucket lists? well, i've never asked a patient this but i bet they have one at least at the back of their minds...

i'm gonna die one day, so i GET IT that i gotta make my dreams, plans and goals reality....sooooo, here's my first efforts toward one of my goals....in 2009, i want to have my art shown locally say in a coffee shop...this is the year to create the body of work to be shown...

so i bought a piece of mass produced art (i think it had gondoliers on it) at goodwill...i liked the shape, the plastic frame around it that makes it a deep canvas and it had a ready-made texture painted on it....i painted it with sophisticated finishes iron metallic surfacer on the canvas to ready it for the rusting solution... it comes out black/grey before you antique it...

you can see where i wiped it away to allow gluing the box with a found nest in it on the surface...


i added one of my "word salad" cut outs...


and collage papers...i love the one of the iridescent bottles found in a national geographic ( i find the best pix there)...




as the piece evolves i'll share it with you...questions? comments? constructive criticism? let me know.....

and now, for your viewing pleasure, not my art: day#5

while i wait for dear mr. pop pirate to bring back the camera from his job site (ehem!) in berthoud, i will share another fave artists, david wallace ...this time a collage artist that, again, uses minimalist aesthetics. What i enjoy is his use of vintage, fifties paper ephemera and at times color that pops....so much of today's collage work seems to use antique, senna colored victorian imagery....static and boring for me...

the piece below is a collaborative work that was sent back and forth a few times between artist rebecca trawick and himself. check out his site for interactive pictures that follow the evolution of a number of collaborations...


back next time with a larger piece i am working on...part of the " get to that list of things to do before i die" plan....

day #4 james michael starr

here is a peek at one of my fave assemblage artist, james michael starr... i love his simplicity, an almost stark approach to his art...i appreciate this as i'm not really into a lot of precious collage detris ...

happy day...

day #3 cook book art

last year i joined my second altered book swap...all of us came with a book decorated on the outside in a theme we chose...one was "forest lovers" another a vintage cookbook by erikia ghumm, famous for her paper crafts and collages....it was a three ring binder of better homes and gardens full of color saturated food pictures that almost looked inedible...we all have seen these pix that make the food look gross...

well i finally got around to (ehem) finishing mine (looks down at her feet in shame)...you cannot see the buttons, the recipes and the collages very well from the pictures i took but here they are...the section i selected was "pies"...i had snagged some of the cut out newspaper recipes her pack rat family member had squirreled away...helpful hints from helloise, newspaper articles about hugh hefner's business prowess (????) and a recipe for millionaire pie...

the above pix (sorry it's tipped on its side, i couldn't make my photo program run today..could bode ill for my future posts...) but this one is my fave...it has very rusty bottle caps...i rusted some vintage material...i learned the technique from an article in cloth, paper, scissors ...the fun old photo i cut from a national geographic mag of a class for immigrants to learn verbs related to cooking...thus, "cooking with verbs"...


off into the mail it goes...back to its rightful owner...arrrr

day #2 who knew ipods got cold...

montana my teen pirate, has an ipod nano that she has not sleeve for so i googled "ipod cozy" and came up with a few different ones including this cute hoodie ... i didn't feel like something so intricate so i jumped over here and started right in to the sweet pea cozy...felted wool to keep that little micro chip warm ... i had her pick from a number of cute large buttons for the i-cord loop to wrap around...there is even room for earbuds at the top...also, i love lamb's pride wool...felts up nice, feels good in the hand and is very inexpensive...
sorry for the shady yellowed pix...still working on the photography side of blogging ....also, my mom just sent me a new-to-me h.p. camera...fewer pixels but somehow better pix...aarrr...

28 days of art---day #1

hello my four readers! i have been on a blogging sabatical so to make up for the long absence i wanted to offer up 28 days of art and craft...i have been busy working on several projects, one for sale and others for fun...

art number one: beaded mirror candleabra...i saw something similar in a craft mag awhile ago but it involved buying a ready-made form...i thought it looked a lot like an old vanity tray, the mirrored ones ladies used to put their perfumes and makeup on...i am hoping to put this and another two mirrors (soon to be revealed) in an art sale that happens three or four times a year at my friend caterina giglio's home...


it's been placed on a white wraught iron candle pedestal and has three crystal tea light holders placed on top...the flames are amplified by the reflection in the mirror...pretty! you can see i've attached vintage millinary flowers as well as found objects like an old key and a vintage diamond ring...
i've beaded some draping pieces, added a few chandelier crystals and vintage necklaces to create what i think is a one-of-a-kind functional art piece...let me know what you think...

have a great day...it's 60 degrees today and just two days ago it was snowing...aarrr....

surfing for knit and craft

i was surfing yesterday and i came across threadbanger, a craft/sewing site with useful videos like this one...





also, more poop to peep...i forgot to give the link so you, too, (not youtube) can knit a mr. hankey the xmas poo...whoda thunk it

arrr....

merry merry silly

tagging (not the graffiti kind) and a contest

"howdy ho boys and girls..."

things have been hopping here at craft pirate lounge...taggers have crafted and conquered! all ten of us created fun and cheerful tags for presents...here are (in some cases blurry and shiny because i have a crappy camera) some close-ups of some of the ones i made....





this last one is so cute i wish it came out...it says button up your overcoat...its from the end of a player piano roll box...then there is the pix of the gal in a heavy 4os coat... a piece of veil from an old hat completes the collage...

drum roll please...

i now present the group shots of each crafty gal who participated...their names are on tags in the pictures themselves....(except this one which is mine...of note: i didn't do an xmas theme at all...i went with my usual multi-media assemblage/collage gig)...










thanks to all of you who participated in this swap...i'll be hosting another one soon if you care to join the next round... it will either be "inchies" or atc's (artist trading cards) ...i'm open if you have an opinion...don't know? google these and see what you like...let me know...

things at the lounge are mellow .... we celebrated the season last sunday night as my in-laws are leaving this week to be snowbirds in arizona and mr. pop pirate is leaving for alabama soon ...we ate a lovely turkey dinner...now, i didn't take pix of said bird but it was a small one--9.75 lbs--on the serving platter it looked like it could be a big chicken....turned out great...didn't do a fancy glaze like i did for thanksgiving (honeyed fig balsamic vinegar glaze gleaned from the food channel ) just slid my hand under the skin and applied a rosemary,garlic,salt 'n pepa, sage and basil rub...delish....we've been playing waaaayy too much guitar hero....this is our xmas present to ourselves...

i'm on to searching out my UFOs...in knitting lingo that means unfinished objects....i've got a sweater i've been working on (or not) for too long to say...wanna wear it...gotta finish it...... new pair of socks is on the needles for mr. pop pirate...the first (and only so far) pair of socks i made turned out perfectly....i mean, they fit his feet and everything...they both are the same size and there is not one imperfection....hard to live up to ...the pressure's on....

ok-- now for some more fun....go back to the top of this post...see the quote? it's an xmas reference...who says this? the first one to comment with the right answer gets some arty goodness from me....

ride

at work we have a "secret santa" gift exchange...i know my recipient may read this but doubt it...here is what i made her...


it's called "ride"...rita the nurse is a horsewoman, owns them, rides them...

here is a close up of the barn wood and painted wish bone...love the western paper...

this is an original old photo of five children on a horse...on the back it says "if everyone wants to ride at once they go and catch old clyde. see turkes the dog under the hay baler." there isn't a date on it...


i know she'll like it...

we are all doing well here during this holiday season... mr. pop pirate is getting ready to leave for alabama for a visit with his family...i'm working xmas day...i really like to work holidays as people are usually in great moods and there is a sense of "well we're working on this holiday, let's make it fun"...

taggers! only a few days left until the due date! the ones i've received....wow! you are each crafty and artsy in your own sweet ways...these will be great for tagging your gifts!

i'll be posting this weekend a sample of the tags so's you knows who made what tag....most of you didn't sign them so i'll just post 'em...fun!

a banner day

who doesn't like to get packages in the mail... well, this gifty came all the way from palmer alaska
from fellow crafter lisabeth ... she decorated the jewelry box complete with pop-up armadillo... inside was a great jewelry pendant "inchie"...


lisabeth, who went to art school before she became an A-#1 R.N./F.N.P., made a linoleum print card...love the raven...thanks l.b....only 126 days until artfest, baby...

the day the package arrived, i was busy...i took these....


cardboard templates, beautiful papers and sparkly letters and made this...

it says"grateful"...i think it turned out fab...it is hung above our new xmas tree i picked up at
a&j antiques, where i have a booth, as many of you know... it's plastic and white and pre-lighted, and has glitter all over it...




for someone who really could take or leave xmas...i sure am having fun with the holiday spirit already...ho ho arrr...

grateful

i'm grateful for so much these days...morbid as it may seem to say, my mantra has lately been "every day above ground is a good day"...it gets to the heart of the gift here on earth...only so many days i will have... being an oncology/hospice nurse makes that perfectly clear to me...

i am grateful for my family and friends...you all make me who i am and you are my only wealth...

i am grateful for my healthy body that is going to carry me on the four mile turkey trot run this very very cold morning...gotta earn my extra slice of pie...

i am grateful for art/craft and how it is a vehicle for my heart's expression...i'm sure you all can relate to this as you are all creative people...

i am grateful for technology that allows me to talk with you and share my visions, humble as they may be...(i am currently not grateful for my digital camera however...broken...no pix for a bit here in blogspace..)

eat ... drink... and be merry....life is a gift....

inch by inch

been working on getting my "inchies" on...what kind of debauchery is that, you say? inchies are one of the latest new art swap...or maybe i'm getting in on the fun late in the game...either way, i'm having a blast working with paint techniques and working in simple assemblage accouterments, as well as working with what i call my "word salad," scrapping incomplete sentences, mixed with visually pleasing punctuation, creating grammatical tension...all that in one square inch...or at least that's what i'm shooting for.. this is in preparation for Artfest...whoopie!

sorry for the blurred pix, still learning the ins and outs of digital close-up snap shots...i love lumiere by jacquard ...iridescent, pearled paint...


tags are in the mail, compadres... tag! you're it!

swap update

Great news, crafters! craft pirate's tag swap has been linked up by Swapdex , a site dedicated to crafty swaps everywhere! so here's the skinny...the cut off date for our current swap is the 15th.... tags will be sent straight away and due back to me by 15 december... i will get the finished tags to you all swiftly for holiday use if you chose...simply email me your street address (don't leave it on the comments as that is public) at waters at frii dot com....i will email you with my address as well...let the tag-fastic fun begin!

swap-o-rama

wow, seems like an age since i was back bloggin'...so sorry to my three readers, but....iiiii'm baaaack....(snicker)

so, in case you didn't have enough to do around the beginning of the holidays, i am going to add to the chaos... join up for the tag swap! what's that, you say? this is how it works: the call for participants is made, i tally the number of us and send out that number of plain, manilla shipping tags to each of you...say 10 of us sign up you receive 10 tags...then you proceed to decorate, paint, alter, sew on, collage, glue found objects....all of them the same or each a unique work of craft and art... you send them all back to me and i'll organize them so that you each receive one of each of our tags.... you can use them on gifts or, as i'll be sending them back on a string for hanging them up, you can just enjoy them as a hanging piece of art.

so, who's in? here's the guidelines: on one side leave enough space for us ,if we wish,to write on them. Have a string of some sort in the hole so that we can hang them on the gift. send them all to me by 5 december...this is important for the swap to go smoothly...

here is my example:


collaged tissue paper, paint, old children's book cut out and magazine words, wire, plastic flowers and lace.

here are some other examples i gleaned from Somerset Magazine...



email me at: waters at frii dot com or just leave a comment if you wanna do this!

recently i took myself on a walk along the railroad tracks just off of trilby road...look at the rusty stuff i found.....yippee...

i love treasure hunting...aaarrr!