Angels and Teddy Bears

Since I can't be gardening right now, I'm creating little imaginary houses made of plants and inhabited by teddy bears and angels. Collages can seems strange even to the person who creates them, much like dreams.
Visto che per il momento non posso fare del giardinaggio, mi creo casette immaginarie fatte di piante e popolate da angeli e orsacchiotti. I collage possono sembrare strani anche a chi li crea, un po' come i sogni. 

Il Frutto della Passione - The Fruits of Passion (Jan. 28, 2011)

Mixed media collage for Misty Mawn's Stretching Within online workshop

Silly 3.3

Silly 3.3
Originally uploaded by stonetta

This is my third drawing for the Art of Silliness- 3 class offered online by Carla Sonheim.
Interesting stuff coming out here......ummmm. This is the caption beneath it, using some names that were part of the assignment. Demented but fun, what can I say?
"The Squeen and her Squeenettes, from left to right: Zerp, Poogy and Bragula. 
Bragula got her name because her mother, Count Dracula's sister-in-law, thought it so cute that her sister, Count Dracula's wife, would refer to her husband with that nickname whenever he recounted how much blood he had sucked on his most recent outing with the boys.
The Bleefleeper was recently fired because all the blees he was in charge of fleed the country.
Pencil, Uniball Vision Elite pen, watersoluble Neocolor II crayons, on paper.
I got too lazy to write anything on the page....."

Terzo disegno per la classe online di Carla Sonheim "L'arte della sciocchezza" .
Non traduco la descrizione che ho aggiunto perche` e` troppo demente!
Mi diverto cosi`, che vi devo dire?

Everything happens at once - tutto succede allo stesso momento

It seems like that sometimes, doesn't it? After 4 months of no work getting done on the house, my household goods traveling through unknown lands for 2 months, my not feeling like making art, not taking any classes, being on crutches for two weeks........whammo! The new year starts and everything happens!

A volte sembra proprio cosi`, non'e` vero? Dopo 4 mesi di lavori fermi, dopo due mesi in cui le mie masserizie hanno viaggiato per terre sconosciute, dopo un lungo periodo in cui non mi andava di disegnare, ne` dipingere, due mesi senza classi, due settimane di stampelle........BUM! Comincia l'anno nuovo e tutto si smuove.

Five days ago I signed up for Carla Sonheim's Silly 3 online class AND I signed a contract for new windows and doors; 4 days ago workers started tearing up the bathroom at the house AND I joined The Sketchbook Challenge; today I visited the driving school because it looks like I'm going to have to finally start driving - stick shift to boot - AND the movers called from Milan to say that they HAVE to deliver my stuff on Saturday morning, which sent me into a tail spin since that means that a room full of spiderwebs, dust and a refrigerator that was struck by lightening down in the seventies will have to be cleaned out between now and then, and locks sawed off of the outside entrance to that room, so half of a 20' container can be stuffed in there. To top it all off the people providing the windows and doors just called to say that on Friday they will start installing. So everything is happening on Friday, Jan 7th. According to this gentleman 7 is a great number, so why worry?

Cinque giorni fa mi sono iscritta a una classe online di Carla Sonheim E ho firmato un contratto per porte e finestre nuove; quattro giorni fa hanno cominciato a smantellare il bagno di casa E ho aderito allo Sketchbook Challenge; oggi sono andata alla scuola guida preche` a quanto paro` dovro` finalmente mettermi a guidare - con le marce nientemeno - E il traslocatore ha chiamato da Milano dicendo che DEVONO consegnarmi le mie cose sabato mattina, il che mi ha fatto andare in tilt perche` questo significa che una stanza piena di ragnatele, di polvere e con un grande frigorifero freddato da un fulmine negli anni settanta dovra` essere svuotata e pulita tra oggi e sabato e lucchetti tagliati dalla porta di accesso, per fare posto a mezzo container di Roba. Come se non bastasse la ditta che fornira` le finestre e le porte mi ha appena comunicato che venerdi` mattina vogliono iniziare l'istallazione. Quindi tutto succedera` venerdi`, 7 gennaio. Secondo questo signore il sette e` un numero meravigloso, quindi di che mi preoccupo?

The good thing is that I don't have to (and I can't) think about any of this (as if!) until Friday morning, because tomorrow is the Epiphany and everyone is on holiday!  

Per fortuna non dovro` e non potro` pensare a niente fino a venerdi` perche` domani e` la Befana ed e` festa!

Any way this is all b... s... because there are lives in which really serious stuff happens, the stuff that makes my days right now look like a stroll in the park.

In ogni caso, queste sono tutte c....te perche` vi sono vite in cui succedono cose veramente serie, cose che fanno sembrare una pacchia le giornate che sto vivendo.

The bathroom, as it is right now.

Il bagno, com'e` attualmente.

Visioning with paper, glue and paint.

I'm taking two online mixed media classes at the moment, in addition to a twice monthly icon painting workshop, and trying to find some time to read.

For the first project in the class offered by Kathryn Antyr of True North Arts we were supposed to make a "vision card" that depicts a place that to us represents relaxation and serenity. For some reason what came to me was an image of myself in nature, at one with it, not separate from it. Sort of an ambitious vision, but it is what it is. I reduced the image, printed it as a 4x6 card, and propped it up on its little stand. There should probably be a colon after the word creation, but I wanted a comma. Call it poetic license. Guess it could be called a lot of things.

Anyway, the photo was taken of me in 1974, approximately, in a tropical forest in Hawai'i, probably on the island of Molokai, and I'm wearing a very large leaf. Ah, the good old days.

The other online class is with Suzi Blu and it is called "The Goddess and the Poet". Here is a sample of my latest drawing for that class.

I think I'm in love with her and I think there is a touch of Hawai'i in her too. Something is in the air between me and Hawai'i at the moment. The islands where I lived from 1969 to 1974 are leaving me little messages all over the place, but I am resisting. I HATE to fly. Even with drugs and alcohol.

The icon writing (that's what it's called) workshop is taught by Betsy Porter at St. Gregory of Nyssa's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. There we try our hand at painting Byzantine-style icons under the gaze of the colorful "dancing saints" who grace the walls of the church.

Here is the icon I have been working on for over a year and a half. That's not as crazy as it sounds because, yes, there are a gazillion steps, but class is only 2 to 3 times a month, and I skipped several months! I have about 3 or 4 more steps to go.

The Archangel Gabriel

Is it any wonder I can't find time to start reading "The Gift of the Jews" by Thomas Cahill?