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

My Parent's House

I love my parent's house. They have great colors, cool collections and no clutter! The flash on my camera is broken, so I only have a few photos that came out. Here's the fish pond my dad built:

Wallpaper handpainted by Polly Cook

Kitchen window:

I aspire to grow up to be like my parents! i wish more photos had turned out. I wish i had a fancier camera since i fancy myself a photographer.

Like a Virgin

Wow, I haven't written in awhile. It's almost like starting a whole new blog.

I promise to do better.
We just flew back from Texarkana, Texas.

I read Lonesome Dove on the way down. I want to read some other books by Larry McMurtry.

Here are my two children, and my sister's son, Gabe

I don't believe in Psychics, but...

On Saturday, I was at this Mindful Living Community Holistic Health and Wellness Fair in Maplewood and there was a psychic giving readings for $1.
I chose to have my tarot cards read over a palm reading, cut the deck and heard the following:
I enjoy my role as a mother, and I especially enjoy my role as a wife. The man i am with is the one I will always be with, she sees no other man coming into my life. I will live to be 88 or 89 years old. Then, the best part! She saw lot's of money and success with my career!
She said it had been slow for a few years as i focussed on my family but this spring and summer the money and success would come rolling in. She pointed at Daisy and said, "She is highly creative and she will give you a lot of ideas. She will be a big part of your success."
That was just what i was hoping to hear when i plunked down my dollar!

When I told my sister she started whooping and hollaring like i had the cash in my hand, then my parents called back on a conference call wanting the details of the session and congratulating me. Can you tell my family puts a little more stock in psychics than i do?

I've been working on my signature (i guess almost a logo type thing). I have almost filled up a whole pad of paper with my name. Gary was trying to do a Shelly Duvall imitation where she discovers that Jack has just been typing "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over and over for thousands of pages. He really does love to make fun of me. But that's okay, he's stuck with me for the rest of our lives (and mine will be a long one, don't know about him) and i'm going to be rich!

State of the City Dress

Usually, I see some really outrageous outfits while sitting in my booth at the Direction Show. Think Ab Fab. Think people who may have had a real style going on 30 years ago but are still wearing that style 30 lbs heavier and with a lot more wrinkles. Think people trying too hard. This show was pretty boring in the fashion department. If i saw one pair of black jeans tucked into black boots with a low heel, I saw 952 pairs. At first I was thinking, "I have to walk out of here and buy myself some boots like that!"
Then I was feeling like I was watching an army of stormtroopers walk past, and I wasn't sure I wanted to join the parade.
Okay, I admit it, I still want some black boots.
The other part of the outfit was a very blousy, almost spring like, long top, or a tighter fitting skirt or sweater that looked like either a very short skirt or a very long top. There were no butts showing.
I only saw about 3 pairs of Ugg boots. Are they on their way out?

My Critics

My first art review in, ummmm, a few years:
This was from a review titled "Art Quilts Lowell 2007: A National Juried Exhibition" in Artscope New England's Culture Magazine September/ October 2007 issue.
It's fun to see my name in print, even if they did spell it wrong! I'm putting the quilt in the mail to mom tomorrow morning. I'm having trouble letting go of it. I am proud of it and I don't have other Art. yet. so I guess I best get crackin'.

Recycling Center of my Universe!

Here's a quick tour of my trip to the recycling center today. I am trying out an idea. Here's the idea. I will take photos of things that attract me instead of bringing them all home. I'm sure Gary will like this idea.
In order to take these photos, i jumped out of the van and landed in a big puddle. All the while Hudson was screaming his head off. What did he want? He thought he saw a toy catalog in one of the recycling bins and he wanted me to get it for him.

He's only two years old and i've already taught him to dumpster dive! Awwwwww!