Halloween at "The Home"

Let's mosey a little further along in our trip down memory lane! Here are some Halloween photographs I took while working at Knoxville Convalescent Center. Circa 1983.

The first photo is children who were visiting. They are petting a poodle with a costume on.

Trip down memory lane

Here is one of the humorous moments that occurred while visiting Willie Mae Tyler (my mother-in-law) at the assisted living place.
The cheery recreation person(hey, that used to me be!) said, "We will now take A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE!"
A resident yelled out, "WHERE are we going?"
Another resident answered, "To your MOTHER'S house!"

Anyway, since I am not making any new art lately, and I have been looking through old photos to put pix of my friends on Facebook, I thought I would share some of my artwork from over half a life time ago. How do I feel about art made when I was 20? I feel a little thrill when I see it and think, "Damn! I'm good!"
I feel a twinge when I think of art I made that is lost (a large number of my drawings and photos from my theses show were stolen off the porch -- but you have to wonder about my lazy head -- I had left them there for a few weeks).
I also hear this phrase going thru my head, "That was back when you had potential."
This phrase is sort of serious and sort of a family joke. My dad had worked at the Review and Herald and then went away to art school, not just any art schools, but some of the best, Pratt and Cooper Union. When he returned to his old job and was talking to his old boss, his boss pulled out a realistic drawing done by my dad. My dad, with his new sophistication, saw the drawing as facile, stereotypical, certainly not "Art". The boss looked at the drawing with appreciation, and said, "Now this! This! This is from back when you had POTENTIAL!"
Kind of a slur on my my dad's new, modern art take on things.
Okay, here is the first batch. These are some photos of some kids in Atlanta, and some kids playing in Knoxville, and taken around 1982. They look like they are from a much earlier time period, don't you think?

I am well hung!

Yesterday I drove to Watchung and after going around a traffic circle about 4 times I found the Watchung Arts Center . It's a pretty building that was an old school house.
I feel privileged to be part of a group of serious artists, making art that I respect and enjoy.


Quilts on the floor.

Lunch break!

I may have to give my Best of Show Award to this work by Diane Savona. It's very large and very beautiful. It seems like an angel watching over the show.

That's my humble work on the left. So far, people don't see that there is a jig saw puzzle in the middle of the piece. This is puzzling to me!

I'm in an art show this Sunday!

I guess I would rather play Wordtwist and post on Maplewood Online then blog.
They say that whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you will do that for the rest of the year, so maybe I'll blog a little more this year! (I also did 20 sit ups in the hopes that this superstition is really true)!
This is a great bunch of artists and I am truly privileged to have the opportunity to meet with them for inspiration and critics.
I hope you can come to the opening this Sunday, January 4th, 1 to 4 p.m., Watchung Arts Center

Lipstick on a Middle-Aged Mother Artist

Driving in my car, i heard Elizabeth Hurley on the radio talking about how i could get lipstick and a bag FREE with a purchase of $27.50 and for "just a little bit more" (another $27.50 to be exact) i could get even more FREE lipstick! I didn't exactly do a U-turn, but I did head over to the mall the next day. I examined the colors, but I wasn't thrilled with the bag and didn't see any use for it. I tried on some perfume and tried to decide what my purchase would be -- maybe some lipstick to get the free lipstick. Luckily, my daughter wanted to hurry on over to Build-a-Bear to think about a birthday bear for herself, so i tore myself away, promising to come back.

A few stores later and I stopped in my tracks. What? why did I want lipstick so much? I already have some I don't use very often and i can always pick up a few tubes in the drug store, what was going on? (I bet you know where this is going)!

I wanted lipstick so much cuz I have been hearing the word so often in the media! Talk about impressionable minds. Sheesh!

Embracing My Inner Flashlessness

I think I mentioned that the flash doesn't work on my camera. At the last meeting with the Studio Six art quilters, Randy Keenan mentioned that you should move your camera around and let things be blurry. So i am embracing being unfocused (this is also a metaphor for my life, not just my photography), and will now show the photos of my parents' house which did not
"come out right."

It's about time! and it's not perfect...

but i finally published a website. Any feedback appreciated. I want it to be whimsical and artistic, but professional and competent looking as well.
Kristen's Website