reflections of a man

Composing a portrait of a person...without an image of that person...but rather a composition of a still life that reflects who this person is...a still life family portrait...this week's exercise in my bestill52 class...

I immediately embraced the idea and my mind went racing...thinking first of my mother and the things I have that would represent who she was...her skill and talent as a seamstress, her ability to cook and to knit...her willingness to fix/repair/remodel whatever was needed around the house...but then I stopped...

and thought...what about my dad...

In my office, on my bookshelves, I have a large stack of paperbound play scripts...they belonged to my father...who was a devotee of the theater and active in an amateur theater group while I was growing up...

The vintage wire rimmed glasses were a prop for a character he was playing...I no longer remember which play...but when my mom said she was getting rid of them, I quickly snatched them up...you'll notice that they show up often in my photographs...

It was great fun to see my dad perform on stage...so animated and alive...as I've grown older, I think perhaps that he was frustrated with his small town life, the trials and tribulations of raising 6 children, a nondescript middle management job, wanting something more...and that acting on the stage refreshed his soul.  He was an English major in college and instilled in me an appreciation of the spoken and written word...sometimes I helped him with his lines for the play...his notations in the margin remind me of his interpretations...and his decisive handwriting belied a stronger spirit...

It is interesting how just a few items can indeed define a person...and these many years later make me pause...
and reflect...on who this man was...

Linking up to kim klassen's Friday Finds...where my find is reflecting on the foibles of the human soul...

On my nightstand

Its been a while since I've mentioned what I'm reading...I love to know what others are perusing...
always sparks a great discussion...

 

Most of the time I read before bed...it is such a comfort for me...I feel that a good nightstand should hold plenty of good reads, an adjustable lamp, special mementos and a small vase of flowers or greenery...

 

I usually have an assortment of choices...books, magazines, catalogs, sections of the sunday paper...

here's the current round-up...

The Life of a Bowerbird was a special present...haven't really had any time to absorb it yet...I want to relish it...

and I'm sure I'll be sharing details from it in a future post.  The Black Box is my current book...nothing too intense but good writing and an interesting protagonist.

 

Earlier this fall, I finished up the trilogy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...great series, intriguing characters, intricate plot lines.  In between those books I read two others that I'm sorry I wasted my time on...and am further dismayed that they have captured the public's attention...

 

A couple of months ago, Fifty Shades of Grey was sitting on the library check-out counter...after I had just heard on NPR that the New York Public Library had a waiting list of 500 people for the book...I figured I would pick it and see what all the buzz was about...I kept waiting for something interesting to happen...all the while yelling at Ana to run...very fast and very quickly away from this man...I guess she didn't hear me since there are two other installments...neither of which I will read...

 

Gone Girl is beyond a mystery to me...its currently #1 on New York Times Bestseller List and has been on the list for 30 weeks.  Though there is an interesting plot device which kept me engaged with the characters, after you learn the real truth about this married couple, I wanted to throw the book across the room...a tale about the psychological abuse that a couple can heap onto one another is the top fiction choice in the country...its a sad statement...

 

 

 

On a brighter note...today marks the three year anniversary of my blog...and I've just reached 300 followers...I'm thrilled and delighted that so many of you follow along...as I share my artist's life and view of home, work and community...I am honored that you take a portion of your day, reading about mine...

 

And I would love to know what you're reading...
so I can add it to my pile!

Steal like an Artist

I've just finished reading the most amazing book...Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon...(thanks a million Sandy from rhubarb reign for the recommendation!)








It was the perfect kick in the seat of the pants/knock on the side of the head...as a creative type, you need to just do what you do, taking in what fits, subtracting what doesn't, and not getting hung up on approval/acceptance/understanding...

it all fits in quite nicely with my word for the year (which I haven't neglected just because its August!) which is

Just do it...and in the process, you will discover what is important in your work and what about it that speaks to you...as well as realizing there is nothing new or original in creative circles...its the same ideas over and over...all with your unique spin on it...so get over yourself and go make some art!













and talking about making art...Cindy over at Fat Cow Studio is sponsoring a great giveaway (which ends tonight!)...she makes these fantastic necklaces out of vintage bits and bobs...very arty/creative/free spirit feeling...hop on over to her blog for all the details...because she is the epitome of steps #6, #7 and #8 listed above!

The height of the season

Its August...and junking season is in full swing...
Over the weekend, there were sales everywhere - garage/estate/yard/ - whatever you call it, its happening now.  In our community, it was the weekend for the Mother of All Garages Sales (that's the name of their event - with sponsors and a printed map...it was organized!)...100 homes participating in North Everett...and though we didn't hit all 100 by any means, we spent three glorious hours on Saturday morning, perusing the goods, chatting with neighbors, patronizing several lemonade stands, strolling the streets and uncovering a few fabulous finds...

I picked up an English ironstone plate for free...love the old grazing on it.
The mustard jar was a quarter...my mom had one just like it.
And a stellar collection of these vintage texts...Little Blue Books...

It was at the Historic Everett's sale that I found these vintage books...it was at the start of our day so I just didn't know if I wanted to commit to them yet...I only brought $15 with me (my attempt to control my junking urges!)  Three hours later when we were walking back to the car, I stopped in once again...they were still there...and I knew they had to come home with me...all 45 of them...for a total of $10.

I've been junking for quite a while...but have never seen these slender volumes before...and don't know why they are called Little Blue Books...since you can see, there are other colors besides blue...but with a little research, I did find out this...

from Wikipedia
"Little Blue Books are a series of small staple-bound books published by the Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company of Girard, Kansas (1919–1978).
Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, an atheist-Jew, socialist, and newspaper publisher, and his wife, Marcet, set out to publish small low price paperback pocketbooks that were intended to sweep the ranks of the working class as well as the "educated" class. Their goal was to get works of literature, a wide range of ideas, common sense knowledge and various points of view out to as large an audience as possible. These books, at approximately 3½ by 5 inches easily fit into a working man's back pocket or shirt pocket.

The works covered were frequently classics of Western literature: Goethe and Shakespeare were well represented, as were the works of the Ancient Greeks, and more modern writers like Voltaire, Emile Zola, H. G. Wells. Some of the topics the Little Blue Books covered were on the cutting edge of societal norms. Alongside books on making candy (#518 - "How to Make All Kinds of Candy" by Helene Paquin) and classic literature (#246 - Hamlet by William Shakespeare) were ones exploring homosexuality (#692 - "Homo-Sexual Life" by William J Fielding) and agnostic viewpoints (#1500 - "Why I Am an Agnostic: Including Expressions of Faith from a Protestant a Catholic and a Jew" by Clarence Darrow). Shorter works from many popular authors such as Jack London and Henry David Thoreau were published, as were a number of political tracts written by Robert Ingersoll or Haldeman-Julius himself.

Following World War II, the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover viewed the Little Blue Books' inclusion of such subjects as socialism, atheism, and frank treatment of sexuality as a threat and put Haldeman-Julius on their enemies list. This caused a rapid decline in the number of bookstores carrying the Little Blue Books, and they slowly sank into obscurity by the 1950s, although still well remembered by older people who had read them in the 1920s and 1930s.  The works continued to be reprinted after Haldeman-Julius' drowning in 1951 and were sold by mail order by his son until the Girard printing plant and warehouse was destroyed by fire in 1978."

Looking through my stack, I have Macbeth and King Lear, Chemistry for Beginners and Latin Self Taught...
but these were the best of the bunch...

and my favorites...

I'm already thinking of how I can incorporate them into a collage but still have the capability to read the pages...
the information is priceless!

I'm adding the stack of 45 volumes to the pile of books on my nightstand...this should keep me occupied (and informed!) for quite a while...

Linking up to Texture Tuesdays at Kim Klassen's Cafe...the images are all so beautiful...

Cold comfort

Now that January is here, I'm happy for the clean start to the year...but the weather turns unbearably gray and drizzly (well...actually that's been a little snowy lately...no, make that alot snowy...for us here in the Pacific NW!)   All I feel like doing is staying inside...working...or reading...or cooking...


I just finished reading Gabrielle Hamilton's autobiography, Blood, Bones and Butter.  It was a fascinating read...and not sugar-coated in the least.  In the same vein as Anthony Bourdain's books, you might sometimes think twice about your restaurant meal and what it went through before it arrived at your table...but Hamilton's book also inspired me to go into the kitchen and cook...preparing heart-warming and soul-stirring food...or at least, give it my best shot!










We had a ton of carrots leftover from our annual New Year's Day open house...and there's only so many carrots I can chomp on during the day...I thought I would roast them until they were sweet, soft, caramelized, melt in your mouth nuggets...

raw carrots with garlic cloves, sea salt and cracked pepper...

I added chopped red onion, parsley and green olives to the roasted carrots...tossed the carrots with olive oil, a handful of roasted sunflower seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes along with some rotini pasta...

with a glass of rough red wine, it provided plenty of cold comfort on a chilly January night...

Guilty pleasures

long week
tired muscles
fried brain

warm water
soft light
fragrant bubbles

flannel pajamas
quiet house
new Sue Grafton novel

sound sleep
ready tomorrow
refreshed inspiration


what's your guilty pleasure...

Unexpected delight

While out and about with the holiday shopping crowds, I spied this magazine among the racks at Borders...at first I thought it was a parody of those high-end lifestyle magazines...but as I looked closer, it was the real thing...

Garden & Gun magazine's tagline is the Soul of the South - the people, the places, the food, the music, the art that celebrates all things Southern.  Now the reason why I was even drawn to pick up this publication is that the plan here is to move south in the next two years...and I don't mean moving to Portland!


My partner in crime, Monty, is a southern guy...and wants to return to his roots.  Me, I'm a northern gal...and though I love to visit Wisconsin now and then, I have no desire to move back...nothing against the people or the place...I'm a weenie now and can't tolerate temperatures below 30 degrees!  Before I met Monty, I had never been to Florida.  Over the years, we have travelled to Florida, Georgia and North Carolina for family events and I have seen a fair share of the area driving around all three states...and I liked what I saw.  So when the topic of retirement came up (for him, not for me - I'll be working forever!) and he said he wanted to move south, that sounded like as good a plan as any to me.

We bought a copy of the magazine, took it home and read it cover to cover - interesting stories, great writing, wonderful photography.  My favorite article was their Made in the South Awards - "twenty remarkable entrepreneurs who are keeping things local, small-batch, and made-to-last".  Two winners really appealed to me -
Red Bird Ink with their letterpress stationery

and Star Provisions Furniture with their salvaged wood farm tables.

Needless to say, we subscribed and look forward to discovering what the good life has to offer south of the Mason/Dixon line.  To pique your interest, visit their website at Gardenandgun.com.  
all images in this post courtesy of Garden & Gun website.

A new face on the scene

Since many of my favorite magazines folded in the last two years, I've had a dearth of reading material next to my bed.  I find magazines to be the ideal reading material at bedtime - short articles, inspirational ideas, food for thought.  I gravitate to the shelter magazines, with a few art and cooking ones thrown in (as well The New Yorker and The Week - have to stay informed!)  This new cover caught my eye a couple of months ago but I didn't pick it - until prompted by a friend (thanks Kimberly!) that I might have good reason to give it a look...

Not only was the magazine filled with fresh decorating tips, easy DIY projects and great photos, the last page really caught my attention-

This is one of the projects from my book, The Salvage Studio!  Written with my former Salvage Studio partners, the book features 35 sustainable projects for your home & garden.  Not only did I buy the magazine, but I signed on for a charter subscription for only $10  - and you can too - all the details can be found at FRESHHOMEMAG.COM