No surprise. I like Joseph Cornell. I have a thing for those boxes and  for those found objects. I am fascinated by and empathise with his compulsions to collect and organize his prosaic treasures into beautiful works of art. Yes, I speak pack rat. I love the poetry he made with his flea market finds. I am also fascinated by his life. He was a self taught artist. He led a quiet and intensely private life, never straying far from the home that he shared with his mother and brother. But oh, how many people he reached with his intimate works. They are often referred to as little theaters. I certainly see them that way. Go here to play around in the Smithsonian “Wonderland“.

I can’t believe it!

This photo was taken through the bottom of s Superhero plastic tumbler that Buggy kept blocking my lens with while I was trying to take her photo. I kind of like the effect. She is eating a mint if you wonder what the funny face is about. My nutty girl.

I have to complete the bunny art for a party this weekend. My air conditioner is broken and I am painting in front of a fan. It is a little steamy tonight. I am cool enough but now the paint is drying too fast. If I cut the fan off I sweat on the work. Nice image huh?

After the art party and Buggy’s birthday party I plan to have a little art giveaway inspired by joybucket’s recent trivia/comment/art giveaway. I won a goody over at her blog and want to pay it forward. Stay tuned.

X is touring again. Hmm.

I have to clean house for the big birthday party this weekend. My house is a disaster. My kids are like gremlins. They move and take things the moment I turn my back leaving everything sticky and cluttered. What’s the deal with stripping down the minute they come into the house leaving a trail of clothes through every room. Why are there always little panties and crocs by the toilet when I go the bathroom? Why is the soap bar always dirty? Gah! Why is the refrigerator door always sticky? How many times a day do they have to knock over the dog’s water bowl? Argh. While I am cleaning one corner they are destroying another. Gremlins I tell you. Gremlins.

I feel weird and a little grumpy. I have poison ivy so bad this time that I actually went to the doctor for drugs. I never go to the doctor. Since we moved to this house I have had my butt kicked by a bug and a plant. I now officially hate ticks and poison ivy. I love my dogs and cats but they MUST stop wallowing in the poison plant bug infested tall grass and then coming to me for lovin’. I hurt. I have itchy spots in places that should never itch. My ear lobes itch. Who gets a rash on their ears? Ugh. I also have it on my lips. I am so, so pretty. I am now taking prednisone. The doc warned that the meds might make me irritable but I don’t care. As long as the itching stops I don’t mind resembling someone you might see at Lorne’s Karaoke bar Caritas (Tetris!) for a few days. Calamine lotion ain’t cuttin’ it. I need help. Oh! My brilliant husband thought it would be good to tell the kids to be good or mom might get grouchy with them because of the medicine. Twigs later begged me not to take it because she doesn’t want me to be rowdy. Um. Okay. I promise not to be rowdy.

I am so itchy and tired today (why does itching make a body so tired?) that I actually let my kids pick out Kung Fu Panda TV dinners at the grocery store. We may all feel bad tomorrow. Oops! Again, I don’t care. I itch!

On top of being itchy and splotchy, I weighed more today at the doc’s office than I have ever weighed in my life. I freaked when I saw the number and people–I don’t think about my weight–ever. How much can I blame on my Chucks, hoody and jeans ya think? The nurse weighed me fully clothed. Hmm. Good news. My blood pressure was in a really great range. No more 400+ calorie lattes for me for a while though. Back to black tea for me–with no foam or soy milk. And no zuchinni bread or lemon loaf. Sigh.

I am excited. The book The Diving Bell and Butterfly is waiting for me to pick it up at the library and the movie will be here tomorrow from Netflix.

The highlight of my weekend was that I heard Sarah Vowell on This American Life and I had a good laugh. I also found out she has a new book coming out in October. Yay!! Have I mentioned that I love Sarah Vowell. Love her.

Oh! This American Life started on Showtime last night too. Isn’t Ira Glass cute?

Okay, I am off to bathe the dogs, put clean sheets on the bed, slather on some hydrocortisone cream, pop some pills and watch some trashy tv in front of the fan. Hope you are having a good week.

I have never seen an anole with this ridge on the back and that facial coloring. Have you? This is still an anole, right? He was on my front porch last week eating some bug.

I am not going to show the whole sculpture here until after the garden party but here is a sneak peek of the bunny and her house. I am far from finished but it is coming along nicely, I think.  Did I mention that I am having fun with this one? I am…

Things are growing in my woods and meadows–like crazy–I mean really crazy. The grass in the meadow is as tall as the kids. I lost one of the cars for a while yesterday as she wandered off into the tall grass looking for something to torment (last week it was a chipmunk) and (oh joy) the poison ivy is everywhere. Honeysuckle is taking over the juniper and Virginia creeper is creeping along the house and walls at a rapid pace. I swear you can see it move if you just sit still for a moment. We have had rain (thank you rain gods!) and things in our woods are happy–but a little too happy if you ask me. They are closing in around us and I feel a little like a fly caught in a Venus Flytrap. Yesterday I weeded around some of the roses that are looking a little spotty and eaten and and untangled the yellow iris that promptly fell over without the wild things to hold it up.  I made little progress though. I can hear the flora and fauna  crawling up behind me when I turn my back–like something in a horror movie slithering up behind the victim ready to absorb the unsuspecting idiot. Ugh. I think we have to pull out the big guns this weekend and trim hedges and yank big vines up and mow, mow, mow. If we don’t we may have to send out a rescue team to find us when the wilds consumes the house.

If you peek around the scary poison ivy and behind the creeper there are some fun things happening in the gardens. We just need to work harder to tend to the unruliness out there so we don’t lose them.

Tomorrow, blueberries! The kids are already asking for pie.

I had to stop myself from thinking too much about how to choose the first artist I wanted to show you. I was making it too hard. I am just going to leap. There are so many artists that inspire me–that influence me–that excite me. I am just going to pop links and pics up here like I would on the wall of my studio. I am making a sort of virtual inspiration wall for us to share. I do this in my real studio with magazine clippings, post cards, gallery papers, photos and museum posters. The montage is like the inside of my head–hopefully giving you a little insight into how I look at art and what I take away from the art I experience. I hope you can take a little something away from the miscellany that I tack up on my inspiration wall too. Enjoy!
Okay. The first artist whose work I will direct you toward is Kiki Smith’s.

Art:21 the PBS series has a nice web page and there is a great page on Kiki Smith with interviews, images and a biography. I highly recommend checking out her work on the MoMA site too. The nature series is just beautiful. It may be my favorite of her work. There is an eerie, quiet melancholic quality to her work that I am attracted to on some level and there are mystical and religious narratives juxtaposed with those natural themes that are just magical! Mostly, even when I don’t like something in her work, I am in awe of her ability to make prints and books, sculpture and installation art. It is the way I want to work.