Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Carlos and the Aunties and Mom


As promised here is the photo of my aunties and mom amd Carlos from Switzerland. He was just standing there and helped them down off that ledge behind them. In doing so he garnered the love of all 4 of these women for eternity as they did not stop talking about how cute he was and what a gentleman until we were back to the car. It was about 95 outside so they might have had a little heat stroke too. I thought it was the perfect ending to our wonderful lunch and outing to the beautiful red rocks of Sedona.

here is the video... you can hear their further comments about Carlos. Little did he know what an impression he made. Enjoy your Wednesday!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Wonderful Weekend w Aunties from Michigan~A Michigan Glass Negative


this is a photo that was made from one from a series of glass negatives from Michigan. Click on this link to go to the auction on eBay if you are interested.

I had a wonderful weekend, my mom and three aunts from Michigan were visiting. It was so nice to see all of them and for the aunts and my mother a chance to reconnect after so long not seeing each other. I think sisters are so important and I for one am so happy to have them. I try to let them know now and again by a phone call or birthday card and gift and also just a thoughtful email now and again. I realize I wouldn't be the same person without all my sisters. I have 5 living and one that has passed on. It makes the ones still here even more special.

I loved having the aunties yesterday in my tiny condo and making a huge and delicious lunch for everyone, and Rita helped by cleaning up all the dishes afterwords. Today they left for their drive to Las Vegas for the first time visit before they fly back home. I hope they win big. This will probably be the last time flying for all 3 of them as they have families and pets and grand kids they left back there and this truly was a once in a lifetime trip for at least 2 of them. My youngest aunt Patty who is only 3 years older than me still has a lot of travel left in her. Who knows, it could be the start of a new life for all three of them. I know they talked about it for months before the trip and will probably talk about the gorgeous Spanish guy Carlos they met yesterday when I took them down to the local Red Rock Crossing to get some wonderful snaps of the red rocks on the river. There was a slight drop of a few feet to the beach and he helped each one down, one by one, with them fawning all over him until we got a posed photo with them and him. I promise to post that one soon. He had moved from Portugal to Switzerland and was on a visit to Sedona.

Friday, September 25, 2009

T-REX ~PAris Blues ~FRIDAY! hooray!


Here is someone who probably would need a really good dentist to look over all his wonderful pointed teeth. He was or still is a roadside attraction in California somewhere. Tried to find it an even w google it was nowhere. I have always been amazed at roadside folk art and even bought a book once to go looking for the more unusual. I love anything that is real looking but fake. I remember once as a photo student at the University of Oregon we went to Portland and I loved the restaurants with the fake food in the window. It was made of plastic but looked so real. It would never go bad. Of course I saw Jurassic Park a few times and was afraid every time. That is one of the better scary movies to see. I saw a wonderful film the other night with Paul Newman, Joanne woodward, Sydney Poitier, and Dinah Carroll called PAris Blues. REnt it... its jazz at the underground cafe in Paris in 1961, black adn white.. doesn't get better. The story was good and there was a guest appearance and horn ensemble with Louis Armstrong. I really enjoyed it.
Joanne Woodward steals the film. I think they have always been one of my favortie Hollywood couples. I met their daughter once in APtos at our little small store there. They had a second home there for awhile and she was a local who I believe took over her parents' food business. They gave so much to charity and were such a cute couple! Here is a beautiful photo of them.
Poitier and Carroll also sizzle!newmanwoodwardpariblues
click here is a link to a promo for the film on youtube

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

California Mission San Juan Bautista~Tuesday


This is my most recent addition to my Etsy store. I took this in the late 1990s on one of many trips taken there for an afternoon away from Santa Cruz. It took about an hour to get there and it was always such a peaceful and relaxing place to go. Quiet and like stepping back in time. Often there were small festivals held there where they would do demonstrations of how to weave baskets or carve a wooden toy. I was always fascinated with this place because it was where Alfred Hitchcock filmed Vertigo. Being a huge fan of his I was thrilled to see where he set his final scene of that movie. There was a small cemetery behind the church where the original Fr were buried. From the looks of their website which I include as a link here you can see that in 10 years they have cleaned the place up quite a bit since I took this photo. Here is an excerpt from their website"

The Old Mission San Juan Bautista...

...began with a group of leather-jacketed soldiers and a few Native Americans watching a tonsured Franciscan priest raise his eyes and hands toward the sky...

"In the name of our blessed Father, and the saint whose feast we commemorate today, St. John the Baptist..."

The day was June 24, 1797, a Saturday, and the priest was Fr. Fermin de Lasuen, Presidente of the California Missions successor to Blessed Junipero Serra. This mission was one of four established by Fr. Lasuen in the summer of 1797 and the fifteenth of the twenty-one missions in Alta, California.

Construction began almost immediately under the care of Fathers Jose Manuel de Martiarena and Pedro Martinez. By Christmas, because of the friendly and
cooperative indigenous people, not only was there an
adobe church built but also a grainary, barracks, a monastery, and some adobe houses...
If you are ever in that area of California, drive off the road about a mile when you see the sign and visit this mission. Its really quite a nice one.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Blue Sky Nothing but Blue Sky


Really there is nothing but blue sky..above my house. this is one cloud, one of millions that float by here every day. What is so special about that you say.. well nothing. I don't need a reason to have a cloud be special. I just love that they are there and keeping the sky busy with all of their whiteness. This is Sedona on Sunday. You really need to see an Arizona sky to understand that the desert skies are really something special. Look up once in awhile. If you live in a crowded city or a town or country, check out those clouds. I think we need to have a cloud day now and then where we all look up and thank goodness for real clouds and not artificial ones that are often produced by other things that I won't get into right now because it might bring me down...off my cloud.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Red Roses in a Blue Vase~Farewell to Otis


Here it is Tuesday already, actually its dinner time so the day is almost done. I was in such a home maker mood today. I know why, the change in the weather. It was so gorgeous today with temps in 80s and a slight breeze. That is fall here. Last night my neighbor Susan and her friend Eleanor were out walking Susan's new little long hair dachshund puppy named Remington(Remy for short). Her other dog Otis(who was my dog Blue's best friend), died last week at the age of 3 yrs because he was hoarding money. He kept eating change he would find and although they were able to save him once before this time the coins were too much and the poor dog died. I tried to tell her from day one to give the dog tap water because at least there are natural minerals in that but she wanted him to have the best and gave him bottled water only, so he craved minerals and that is what happened to Otis. Now Remy is only 3 months old but soft as can be and a red head like Susan. She told me not to bring Blue out to meet him as Remy had been"attacked" and bitten already by a dog and he was"afraid" to meet any dogs. So poor Blue whined at the door hearing Eleanor and Susan's voice and not knowing why he was kept inside.

The stars were like I had never seen before. I mean we get gorgeous desert nights but this is one that I could have stayed outside all night and just walked aimlessly for the delight of the temperature and the zillions of stars in the sky. Nothing could bring me down. I hugged Sandy and gave my condolences but that brought out a bucket of crying which no verbal juggling could have held back those tears. I truly felt for her. This woman has had her share of sorrow moving to this town by really throwing a dart on the map. That is how many folks end up in Sedona, they come to get away, to heal or hide or find a vortex.

I think little Remy is cute enough he will heal her sadness in no time. I went back in and hugged Blue. Rita mentioned how little the dog was, anyone could miss it if it not looking. A dog like Blue is just too hard to miss. I know I would miss him if he were gone. I am giving a silent prayer to Otis..he had boundless energy and a taste for cheap coins. May he rest in doggie heaven.

The painted photo above was done over a photo of old roses from my garden in California.. I took the photo, printed it and painted over it. I never tire of that option, to cover a photo with paint. It seems to have a timeless appeal to me. If interested to see it bigger click the link.

Friday, September 11, 2009

BAby Iris Welcome!~Blindsight MOvie!


While watching one of the best movies ever made called BLindsight, I finished my watercolor for FAwna's baby who was born 2 weeks ago, Iris. Again this is gouache and its getting easier to work with after a month of practice. Please see that movie~ about a blind young woman from Sweden who alone goes to Tibet to open the first blind school for children. She succeeds on horseback going door to door getting a group of children, most of whom the parents are happy to let go as they feel it a burden for the family. She writes a man who lives in Colorado who is blind to come visit and tell the kids his story of climbing Mt Everest, instead he comes with an entire team of climbers and a film crew and they climb the mountain. I defy a dry eye at the end of this one when the little boy sings through the credits....please see this film!!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day-Indian Summer- School girls painting



Here it is Monday and a holiday. I awake to a sunny blue sky day and a dog who I love. My daughter harder to wake up than the dog, has to go to cross country practice at 8:30. The weather couldn't be better for a run or anything on this bright and beautiful Labor Day. I myself will be laboring. I am warned and pleaded with to take a day off. I find that every day is a work day, and that although I am not a physical laborer,(I have done plenty of that in my lifetime), I am pleased with the job I have created for myself. I have met the most amazing people, loving, creative with a passion for history and art and also have been fulfilled by earning a living working for myself and not being bossed around. I never was happy with that, and being the oldest of 11, it was always hard to take orders from anyone.
So, hopefully today, as we honor labor, we will remember all those who work for us, the men and women in the fields of central California, bringing us our vegetables and fruits, those in China who really sew all our clothing, make our toys and walk to work and back. Let's not forget the construction men and women who work out of doors to construct our buildings, homes and roads. What about those who work the hospitals and universities, schools, we owe them so much. I also do not want to forget anyone and I am sure I have, but I want to pay tribute to the mothers and fathers who work every day to keep their children fed and clothed and sheltered, who care and clean for their families. I honor the workers of the world.

I have finished another gouache painting-this time of two older teen schoolgirls. This from another gem photo that I found and just loved. Enjoy your holiday day and the week to come. Fall is on its way and then winter. The last days of Indian summer are upon us.

Friday, September 4, 2009

The Swimmers~Ode to the Wind by Percy Shelley


This couple seeming to have slightly more fun than the last one I painted. They are swimming under a waterfall created by a small dam in Texas somewhere. that is all I know of the photo I used to paint it from. Again it has been painted with gouache and was a big challenge as my mediums have always been acrylic and watercolor. This paint is rich in opacity but difficult in layering. Nevertheless a challenge is always good for an artist. This one was no exception as I spent 2 nights on it and now am happy with the results.

I have had a week filled with both excitement and work, lots of it. I am selling the vintage photos on Etsy almost daily and to get to my Ebay customers is difficult sometimes as so much is ending without sales but really I love both venues so will continue to work on them both.

I realized that its important to meet strangers. I have met a few this week, one on the internet which I am happy to say has become a friend somewhat as we have so much in common that I like being able to converse about our past, our children and our families. Another was a woman with two children I met this morning when her tea cup chihuahua got loose and chased after Blue barking and I thought he might go to the street so walked back to meet her. After talking to the owner a nice woman named Alicia and her two daughters I found out the dog's name was Mayan and he thought he was a pitbull although can fit in your hand. Her oldest daughter is obsessed with the Titanic and is 9 years old. She loves history and cannot understand why people are not more fascinated by it. I think I like this kid already. So the bad news is that after a year of living there they are moving across town and I will not see them again. Now I wish I had met them sooner. Oh well. I guess I am mentioning this as its always a good thing to meet a neighbor or stranger you see alot of. You never know who they are and they could be a friend all along and then they will move and you will never know that they could be so. My advice, don't wait, say hello to people as you walk or pass them.
I also would like to recommend a poet, someone that I discovered never too late and his name is Percy Shelley. His wife wrote Frankenstein and he was probably the most famous of all the English poets and I am going to leave you with the only poem I have read of his so far. Its really worth the read. The last stanza or section seemed to resonate with me so much. Enjoy it. And enjoy the coming weekend!

Percy Bysshe Shelley. 1792–1822
Ode to the West Wind

O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being

Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,


Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed


The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow


Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill;


Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver; hear, O hear!


II


Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,
15
Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,

Shook from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean,


Angels of rain and lightning! there are spread

On the blue surface of thine airy surge,

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
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Of some fierce Mænad, even from the dim verge

Of the horizon to the zenith's height,

The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge


Of the dying year, to which this closing night

Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
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Vaulted with all thy congregated might


Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere

Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!


III


Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams

The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
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Lull'd by the coil of his crystàlline streams,


Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay,

And saw in sleep old palaces and towers

Quivering within the wave's intenser day,


All overgrown with azure moss, and flowers
35
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou

For whose path the Atlantic's level powers


Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below

The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear

The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
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Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,

And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!


IV


If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
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The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O uncontrollable! if even

I were as in my boyhood, and could be


The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,

As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
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Scarce seem'd a vision—I would ne'er have striven


As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!

I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!


A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd
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One too like thee—tameless, and swift, and proud.


V


Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own?

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies


Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,
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Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!


Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,

Like wither'd leaves, to quicken a new birth;

And, by the incantation of this verse,
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Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth


The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

About Me

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I am a mother of 2 wonderful girls, grandmother of 4, don't worry you will see photos of them one day! I live in Sedona Arizona, a beautiful place, lots of sun and blue blue skies! I listen to politics and my favorite radio channel is Cinemix. I am the oldest of 11 , I love my kids, my parents and my siblings and my friends!!

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