I used a different pair of headphones to record with today. Professional mixing headphones from AKG and it was a a bit of a struggle trying to "record" with these. They're too big for my head and the audio plays below my earholes so everything is off and annoying. The pair of headphones I usually use to record with are PortaPro Koss headphones which sadly finally lost their life today probably due to too many "mishaps" catching on kitchen cabinet handles and doorknobs in the past. I will be ordering a new pair hopefully in time for next week's Carolaoke because that's the low budget way I record vocals. I was really surprised how a different pair of headphones really affect how I sing the song but now I know. And that's what my music experiments are about. Please enjoy my Carolaoke scratch track of The Eurythmics' "I Saved The World Today". Despite my headphone woes, I really enjoyed being able to sing again after my little music intermission this past summer.

Title: The Museum Series | Arctic Sea Ducks - Common Eider
Year: 2021
Media: Acrylic Paint, Paper Diorama and Collage on Wood Panel
Total Dimension: 4” x 4” (1.5" Cradle)

Well, no surprise to anyone I’ve been far down the rabbit hole making my items, trying my best to tune out the insane world around that seems to be getting crazier by the minute sadly. I check current events on the internet to keep aware, but too much threatens my mental health so I do it with extreme moderation. Instead, I follow a lot of museums, zoos, aquariums, artists, musicians, photographers, "retroists" and animators in my various social feeds to limit the despair factor, get inspired and remain positive and somewhat hopeful for the future. Today’s Studio Closeup is a smaller version of the panoramic Arctic Sea Ducks piece that was posted last week. Let’s hope there are real Arctic Sea Ducks in the future. Enjoy, please stay safe and keep well everyone.

Title: The Museum Series: Arctic Sea Ducks
Year: 2021
Media: Acrylic Paint, Paper Diorama and Collage on Wood Panel
Total Dimension: 6” x 12” (1.5" Cradle)

Regarding The Museum Series, I cannot remember if I’ve mentioned this before or not, but the “white borders” on all the pieces are representative of the walls and halls of an actual museum. For this piece, I’m keeping both top and bottom borders gesso white to also suggest the snow and ice of the arctic. The line that goes through the bottom border represents a history timeline and the button for the diorama lights is the placement on said line. I’ve been listening to a lot of what I call “Wind Music” lately (Kelvin Mockingbird Radio on Pandora for the curious) because it reminds me of the music/background sound effects they play to add ambiance to the museum exhibits. The Japanese Teahouse exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum is one of my favorite exhibits. They pipe in relaxing Japanese flute music overhead to add to the stillness and tranquility to the exhibit and it’s totally awesome. The igloo you can sit inside of is probably my most favorite exhibit there. They pipe in wicked winter howling winds overhead and there’s a glowing fire inside the igloo that is quite convincing.

After taking a couple weeks off recently from posting music and art here on carolkroll.com, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to take more time off from my self imposed deadlines right now to slow down, focus and take my time with the things that I’m currently working on and in the middle of. Haste makes waste, garbage in garbage out and so forth.

Like the internet, summer is loud, busy and distracting so back down inside the quiet dark rabbit hole I must go. I’m planning on resurfacing Wednesday, September 1, 2021 with more art, music and whimsy. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you all in the fall with new concoctions and nonsense. Until then, please keep well everyone. The world is still quite a mess.

This is a piece I did right after I decided to go freelance in 2006 and leave the corporate world. I hadn’t watercolored or properly “drawn” in years, and I remember it being foreign to me which was not a good feeling. It took a long time to readjust to civilian life and be in a place where I could really focus and center. I came across it last week when I found the Bluebird vs Blackbird piece and I'm happy to report, was not a flood casualty. It’s postcard size and there is a front and a back which I’ve posted here. This was the result of a gorgeous spring day on the patio drawing the flowers in the planter and finally, I was able to be “in the moment”. Please enjoy and thank you for stopping by today!