Collage is very meditative for me. And that's where I need to be right now. And in doing so, has brought me so much relief from this VIBRANT spring energy currently upon us all. I thought I’d start back into meditative collage-world by updating the Five of Cups card I wasn’t happy with for the Bird People Tarot Deck a bit back. This time I used a goblet shape verses a tall cocktail glass with a straw in it and I’m leaning more towards the new goblet shape. It's definitely a more recognizable "cup" shape. I've posted both to compare and contrast. I think some more ornamentation is required for the goblets, but I need to have a think on what that will be exactly. So! More experiments. Please stay safe and well this weekend. The vibes are rather reckless.

Upright Meanings:
Loss
Sacrifice
Regret
Tradition
Quarrels
Reversed Meanings:
Hopeful outlook
Invitations
Reunion
False projects
Beneficial friends

Today’s Studio Closeup is a work currently in progress. This will look completely different when it’s done, I just don’t know how yet and that’s the greatest worst place to be when you’re in the middle of it all. The excitement of the possibilities and the dread that you’re going to ruin it somehow. I haven’t touched this piece for quite a while and I think that’s because while painting it, it stirred up some things I didn’t even know were "things" for me so I had to sit with all of it for awhile. I've been enjoying working on it today and that was a nice feeling that I am grateful for. The dioramas are in plastic bags because I’ve already learned the hard way that no matter how careful you are, you will drip paint inside your dioramas.

Today I decided to cover one of Madison, Wisconsin’s own rocker chick band, Garbage! I have so much love for Shirley Manson. Actually! Rob Miller, our rhythm guitarist for Sweet Jelly, was the one who got me into Garbage’s music in the first place. And Kirsty MacColl come to think of it! While building Sweet Jelly, I was working for a corporation that dealt with toys. Besides commuting to band practice every week in Milwaukee during that time, I also had a 30 minute commute to work so I used that insane amount of time that I was in my car practicing my vocals. This song was one of those tunes I’d sing to on the way to work before I went into my silent cube all day. Please enjoy my scratch track version of Garbage’s “Stupid Girl”. This took me back to a good place. Please keep safe and well.

Today’s Freaky Friday is all about embracing your inner child again which ultimately helps you become a happier adult person inside. It seems so simple and ridiculous but it really is true I’m finding out. So for today, I’m sharing the fact that I’ve always loved building plastic model cars since I was a kid. I haven’t properly built and finished a car model since high school, mind you, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it. Through the years I’ve been collecting a few 1970’s cars here and there along with an 80’s snow plow which are all pictured below for today's Freaky Friday share. I’m also not ready to let go of winter yet as you can see by the plow post, but it’s becoming glaringly obvious that I need to.

I will let you know that I have future plans to use said models in some of my museum series pieces down the road, but first you have to build the models before one’s vision of grandeur can fully be realized. And that takes time you hadn't originally factored in. So over the past year, I’ve realized that I have had to become my own project manager. That’s both a liberating and terrifying sensation especially when you have many interests and mood changes. This blog has helped me keep motivated and focused and I’m really grateful for that which is why I continue. Thank you for stopping by and checking in today. Please keep safe and well this weekend everyone!

I've been working in the studio and hiding inside the quiet world of color and it has been glorious and the only way I am achieving any sort of inner peace of any kind. So instead of new stuff, the closeup today is a retrospective of a couple watercolors I did WAY the hell back in art school (1992-1993) range that only exists in slide format (flood casualty). The first watercolor is that of an old English telephone booth that existed in real life near school in the Third Ward District of Milwaukee and when the sun came up in the morning, and we’d walk past it on the way to school, the booth really was that vibrantly red on this white brick wall from the sun so I took a picture of it and decided to do this piece. I have no recollection of what the blonde haired boy drawing on the sidewalk is all about.

The second piece centers around a movie, “To Be Alive!” I saw as a kid that they showed only at The Golden Rondelle Movie Theater in Racine in the 1970’s. I’ve scanned in the cover of the book to give you all a visual idea of where I was headed. In the film they do a lot of split screen moving images on white space effects and I wanted to recapture that somehow with all of my white space. The drawing of the crabby ass little girl on the left is a drawing of me from an old photo taken in the 1970’s in our backyard in Racine, WI. I originally intended for the pencil drawing to remain a pencil drawing in the final piece as some contrast to the watercolor's "color".