Evil Squirrels and a birthday in Georgetown

"don't mess with me, this is MY tree bitch"

Man, those black squirrels in Georgetown have a real attitude LOL! but what a gorgeous squirrel, first time I have seen a black one. He stood his ground staring at me for a quite a long time. I thought he was going to go after me . Don't you just love his back legs.

Had a great trip to D.C. For my 53rd (sheesh time is flying by) birthday we went to Georgetown and ate at a Turkish restaurant called Cafe Divan. I got a wee bit palatic after sharing a bottle of Turkish wine, Kavaklidere.

Which explains why I seemed to have an inebriated urge to take a photo in the loo, lol! but heck I was so impressed with their netty (their food was outstanding by the way) and that cool mirror.

COMPETITION
Art News Blog had a link to an art competition, I thought what the heck, why not give it a go! If you have time check it out and tell me what you think.
Design your own Pizza Box
Oooh, check out pollocksthebollocks pizza box design, I would buy pizza just so I could get the box :)

Faces, Faces, Everywhere

My daughter saw this face in the tree when we were walking in Glen Helen, and Nancy saw one in the Newstand. My favourite is the one below that I saw at the Docs office, it has this non plussed look, which is exactly how I felt that day.

To see more check out I See Faces by photographer Dave Gorman at Flickr. I never knew there were so many hidden faces in so many objects.


Not one but TWO Arte y pico Award

How cool to get two of these babies, one from Margaret at Mop Heads Unite,
and one from Original Art by Lynette Clay
Thank You

I have to nominate 5 blogs who I think deserve this award too.
BUT ... my winners then are requested to do the following :

1) You have to pick 5 blogs who deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and also contibutes to the blogging community no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to the blog to be visit by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him award itself.

4) Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "arte y pico" blog (linked in my title) so everyone will know the origin of this award. (Cut and paste the info into your blog to make things easier). There are quite a few bloggers I would like to give this award to, but off the top of my head.

MadSilence, Casey Klahn, pollocksthebollocks,margot potter, jean yates and laketrees.

recycled art

I love the idea of recycling things to create art and so when a neighbour's son gave me about 30 old records he had rescued from the trash I was over the moon.
I have been mulling over the idea of using photographs of dolls and then using adobe to overlay patterns on the dolls, which I then paint on the records. It is in a similar vein as what madsilence was talking about on his blog, The Art of Camouflage" but not quite.

Most people know Abbot Handerson Thayer for his beautiful angel paintings, but as madsilence pointed out he is considered the father of camouflage. I saw a retrospective of his work many years ago and it was fabulous. Despite how they look on the internet/posters his angel paintings are not smoothly rendered but very loose and thick brushwork, and his camouflage paintings were incredible and intriguing.

FOUND ART FRIDAYAgain using recycled materials, this time a lucite shelf I got  for 25 cents at Mendelsons Liquidation Outlet in Dayton.
I used acrylic to do a reverse portrait painting of the actor Benicio Del Toro.

Art Fairie's at It Again - Found Art

Well we just can't seem to help ourselves (Nancy and Moi that is) LOL! Tuesdays are our day to walk and then exercise/ unleash our creative mischief. So we decided to add a little knitting and flowers outside the Nolaa Gallery, much to Jafa Jens delight, and add lace to a tree outside the Village Artisans.

Since it was Found Art Tuesday, I left this little flower painted
cd piece on the side of a newsstand.

Rosa Murillo's theme is "a good message" and mine is

Awake, thou wintry earth
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
Thomas Blackburn

To see more found art with this theme visit undaunted at Rediscovering Art


Got got to check out this gal, Ulrika, who does public embroidery, talk about COOL!
"Cross stiching performed on seats in buses and trains."

Blither Blather Bother

Blither

Blithering on seems to be my thing lately, but Jean Yates at Snap out of it Jean! There's BEADING to be Done did ask me to do an interview. How could I say no, she is one of my fave bloggers, and it was a honor to be asked. I know many people are probably sick of reading about me, but what I found interesting is how different interviewer questions exposes another facet of a person's character and life. Kind of weird seeing your life up there in print though. Thank you for inviting me to participate in your interview series.

I found, in the process of trying to find something to describe my creative side, a great site by Robert Alan Black talking about 32 Traits of Creative people. I found #5 tolerant of ambiguity really interesting, because there are many who just see things in black & white and find my acceptance of ambiguity quite maddening. How about you, is there one trait that resonates with you the most?

Blather

ChamberPot Gallery
"Commodus"
Print on Canvas based on an original painting
24" x 36

Jafabrit's Brain Ticking
Hum, how to name the painting. Has to relate to the theme "beasts in the bathroom" for the June opening exhibit. Who was a beast in Roman times. Ah, yes! commodus, and it sounds like commode (I didn't realize it is pronounced comm o dus NOT commode us). Ah, his name sounds like a loo, a commode, how cool, will work perfectly (well commode does derive from Latin L commodus convenient).
How do the flowers fit it, hum, well he liked be seen one way when really he was quite a BEAST behind the facade.

Bother

I don't know what's the matter with me, but I just can't seem to be bothered to get my backside into the studio...... I am going to use one of Margot's great words, ShiPoopy. I am having shipoopy days.
BeGone Shipoopy Mood
I curse ye and challenge ye to desert your mistress
she has bloody art to do

Nothing's New in Art

I read some comments by several artists on an art board that stated they are reluctant to share an idea for fear of others stealing it, that they, for example, "wouldn't paint a baby lying in a flower because that style and subject has been done by someone else very successfully." I don't think she meant it quite how it sounded, but it is reflective of some people's opinions. The problem with that belief is that there is very little that hasn't been done already one way or another. So often what seems like a new idea is really a variation of a theme, just with your own unique way of representing it. Who came up with the idea of painting images/faces/pets on rocks? Who came up with graffiti? Materials may change, the way it is done might be different, but the human compulsion to make a mark using universal images/ideas hasn't changed through the centuries.

I loved seeing these Petroglyph's in the Valley of Fire National Park in Nevada

These date back to Prehistoric times and were done by the users of the Valley, the Basket Maker people and the Anaszi Pueblo farmers. These petroglyph's were in the Mouse's Tank Trail in Petroglyph Canyon. If you click on this link you can see more examples of the petroglyph's.

Markings on River Stones
I used to keep this on my coffee table, but most of the stones are sold now.
I might have to get back to doing a few as I quite miss my bowl of stone faces.
Do I worry that people might steal my idea of painting faces on stones?
While I have done a mega google search for anything like mine and came up empty I don't doubt for a minute someone somewhere painted a face on a stone, just not quite like mine :)
By the way these are faces of real people, some I know, some I don't. The guy with the fag hanging out of his mouth was my old painting pal George whose mouth never lacked the presence of a ciggie. The guy with the beard and glasses is Chuck Close.