The "Taco" grill

One of my best friends recently bought a new truck; a Tacoma. And when Jesse showed up at my house to show off his new purchase I thought that was the end of it. Nice truck-REALLY nice truck. Then he spent the duration of his break here in the US doing random auto-junkie things to it and now it is really a work of art in of itself. He was showing me picts of various stages of the alteration process and agreed to give me the ones below.

Truly "found art"

His explanation follows.


"I took the "Tacoma" emblems that came on the sides and tail gate of my truck off to give it a cleaner look. I was replacing the stock grill with the mesh one in the photo and decided to get cute and cut the "ma" off the end of one of the emblems to make it say Taco and put it on the grill. The emblem was chrome and I was on a chrome killing mission all over the truck so I decided to paint it the body color. The silhouette you see in the picture was happenstance, I just moved it a couple of times while I was painting it and it stenciled the outline onto the cardboard. After it dried and I picked up the emblem the pattern caught my eye..."

Alternate Realities

My new room mate, "Bobby" Laitman, is an artist.

He is also a maintenance manager at a trailer park; a creator of insane levels of noise when he plays with my son; and someone who insists on leaving one swig in the bottom of every beer can(which is terribly annoying when sorting the recycling).

We operate on completely different levels.

I am fascinated by how he manages his existence. And while he has been utterly disruptive to my life, somehow it works.

And sometimes I crave chaos...I think.


I came home one day and he has posted his latest drawing on the fridge.


He said it reminded him of me.
I am immensely flattered. Maybe I flatter easily.

Moss Man Revisited

The holiday season was disapointingly hectic for me this year. Hence the LONG gap in posts. I always resolve not to be sucked into the commotion but then it hits and it seems inevitable. That said, I had a lot of fun making this painting for my friend Boyd. He is the sort of amazing person that makes you feel like at least there are a few solid souls in life on which you can rely.

Boyd introduced me to The Moss Man. It's an incredible story (in Outside Magazine) about a man who stayed in a hot springs so long that when they came to get him, he literally had algae growing in his back hair. Hence the title of my painting.

It turned out really great when framed and matted by the super-sweet (owner?) Cliff at Wild River Publishing Company here in Missoula. I am plugging the shop here because he was such a kind person and did a fabulous job... and cut me a deal.

If you want to check out the story of the Moss Man-and you should- just Google "Lean, Green, and Amazingly Serene." The article should pop up.

Hope you all had splendid holidays...don't forget to include me in the giving spirit...send me some of your art-finds and or creations....

Tired Poetry

This is a super raw-format poem. Wrote it one night nodding off at the dining room table. Passed it on to my sis who thought it needed some tweaking. But I prefer it in it's unrefined state.


Sometimes survival
Is a sigh of simplicity..
(I’m too exhausted for desire).

Remember broken hearts are a luxury.

Lust-
Not love
Because there is no time...

I find temporary relief
in chocolate chips straight from the bag; crushed candy wrappers on the dining table and dreaming next to my softly snoring
Son.

Yes,
These days I plod past the poetry.

Value the art in
Existence.

How your heart is
muscle-meat
with electricity.

Reincarnation of a Door

I am always amazed at how many covert artists there are. So many people harbor these hidden caches of talents that they don't view as "art" and I like to discover them.

This is my not so subtle hint to you that occasionally peruse here to SEND ME YOUR STUFF.

Kelly Bryan is an artist. I think she knows. She is an amazing seamstress and makes these super-cute bags (see her blog kellybeesewing.blogspot.com ). So I KNEW about the bags but I was pestering her to send me some picts for this project here and she told me about her table.

She started with an old door and refinished it.

Then as appropriate for her craft, had cloth swatches placed under cut glass that filled the hollow-portion of the door itself. Cords conveniently can come up through the knob hole.

End product being an amazing table!

I plan on pestering her more for picts of her other projects...

Kitchen sculpture.

About a week ago, I was visiting with my brother, whirring around making dinner, while my 3-year-old climbed in and out of a lower kitchen cupboard where I keep my mixing bowls. I was happy he was content and only half aware as he clanged around. I paused in my chatter only when tripping on the contents of said cupboard which methodically emptied out onto the floor.

My brother stopped mid-conversation and started to chuckle.

I turned around and my little boy had constructed this impromptu sculpture. How he balanced all those things is beyond me, (in case you didn't catch it, there is a colander buried in the middle).

My mermaid

At friends' house for dinner, flipped through a catalogue and fixated on this mermaid. Never had an affinity for them before but this one stuck with me.

Next day at work, forced co-worker after co-worker to give me their opinions and all politely gave me the that-is-really-hideous-but-i-want-to-be-kind smiles.

Bought her anyway.

She is fabulous on my dining table. Forget-me-nots that I inherited, seem happy in her tail.