OPEN STUDIOS

I'm very sorry. Right now San Luis Obispo County must survive without my Found Art pieces. :o)
I'm too busy with preparation for the Annual Open Studios Art Tour event.

280 local artists open their studios to visitors. I'm one of them, and if you happen to be in the area on the 13 or 14 of October, come by and visit me at my studio (email me your address and I send you a personal invitation with directions, see picture above.)

For more information about the Open Studios event, visit Arts Obispo, the San Luis Obispo County Arts Council.

After that weekend we're making a trip to Oregon for 10 days or so, and after that we will hopefully be busy to move our store from Grover Beach to San Luis Obispo.

A lot to do. Many new things. Big changes ahead.

Wish me luck! I will be back in November. I promise! :o)

Enveloped

After my last blog Rosa informed me where to find the themes from now on. :o)
So here's my entry for last weeks theme "envelope". I was just working on a set of Artist Trading Cards with my favorite paper - the insides of envelopes. One of them went out as my last entry ("favorite"), two more got swapped at the last ATC session and one was left, coincidentally entitled "enveloped". So I made a little envelope for it and I will probably leave it at the postoffice or on some mailbox.

I found etsy...

... but I couldn't find this week's Found Art Tuesday theme. Rosa changed her website and confused the heck out of me...

But I was busy anyway with setting up my etsy store. A lot of people seem to like the necklaces so I made a whole bunch of them.

I also started a new project call "Drag and Drop - Interactive Art". You can find a few samples in my etsy as well. I explained it there and if you click on the thumbnails you can see different views. I'm not sure if people understand my explanations, so input, comments and critiques are welcome.

I also offer personalized, custom, interactive artwork. That is my Drag and Drop stuff with your pictures. Pix of your kids, your wedding, your pets, your favorite vacation...
You send me your pictures and I put everything together for you, including the backboard with your personal quotes, or dates or names. They make very unique and personal gifts - perfect for Christmas! The picture here is for a couple of our friends who had a baby boy named Kaveh a few months ago.



And I was so inspired by Found Art Tuesday, that I started my own project. It's called the Holonic Art Movement and you can read all about it here: www.HolonicArts.com. If you would like to participate, please send me a note or an email and I sign you up. It's a lot of fun and it's for a good cause!

As you can tell, I've been a busy bee. :o) It's been stressful, but fun. I feel like my creative juices are flowing at the moment...

On the road to yourself (favorite)

ooh, favorites... I have many. Chocolate, travel, art, prussian blue...

I bet one of everybody's favorites is the never-ending quest for your true self. You know, not that YOU that does the dishes and gets angry at people for not using their turn signals... the YOU that pours out of you when you paint, or sing in the car. The one that seems further away the closer you get.

Well, you get the picture...
I used some of my favorite papers: envelope linings and an arrival tag that somebody gave me along with some other scrapbooking stuff.

Let's hope we'll get there eventually....

Portable Ocean

I'm into necklaces lately... can you tell? :o)
I love the idea of combining collage and jewelry. And the format is just awesome. It's tiny (1.5x1.5") and it's SQUARE!
Somehow the frame with the blue paper reminded me of a fish tank, which reminded me of the ocean. And then I though how cool it would be if we could just take the ocean with us no matter where we go. Having the sound of breaking waves in the ears... anyway, that's how it happened I guess. When I woke up from my dream I had another necklace... hehehe...

I'm not sure yet where I'll leave it. Maybe at a surf shop. The people there might appreciate an ocean to carry around...

Chocolate (Candy)

I've changed my mind. This my entry for this week's found art tuesday theme "candy". It can be found around my neck at the opening reception of "Blue in the Face". I was invited by young artists Jessy Gaumann and Chris Love to be their special guest. And hey... who doesn't want to be a special guest. :o)

The past few weeks have been CRAZY! So I thought I deserve some candy. I'm not much of a candy girl though; I have a serious addiction to chocolate. And can you believe it, there is NO chocolate in the whole house...

I've been meaning to make a necklace for myself for a while now. So I took this chance and turned my gravings into a piece of jewelry. It didn't help though. :o) I guess I'll have to wait for my chocolate till tomorrow...

Tagged & Blue Cash

well, I've been tagged by Rosa. my first time.

I feel bad for not making any art to find lately, but I was really busy after quitting my job. you would think I have more time now... haha.

anyway, 8 random personal things about me:

1. I grew up in East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain. I consider this one of the most influential times of my life. I was pretty young still when the Wall came down, but it left a lasting impression. I remember my first hamburger (I didn't like it and wondered what all the fuss is about), my first time in West Germany, my first time in a super market. I remember a lot of firsts actually. but I also remember a lot of thing we didn't have or don't have anymore. we had to wait FOREVER for a car and a telephone for example. I remember being a pioneer and I still have my "Pionierhalstuch", a kind of bandana that you wear around your neck... a neckerchief I guess. :o)

2. growing up in East Germany, naturally Russian was my second language. I had it for 8 full years in school. but I can't remember anything! I would love to take a russian class again. I really like the language. I always liked it better than English in school. Russian language classes are a little hard to find around here, though. Before I met my husband my English was horrible! now I'm pretty much fluent but most people recognize my accent right away. I also know some basic Spanish and I had 2 years of French in school (memory of which is even worse than Russian)

3. I'm a Sagitarius and I love to travel! If I had the money I would be on the road for the most part of the year. I guess that's why I ended up marrying an American and living in a foreign country. I have visited about 20 different countries and I would love to move to south america and live there in an earth ship community with a bunch of awesome people and friends and finally learn how to speak proper Spanish. I think I used to live in South America in a former life.

4. I'm vegan. and I love dark chocolate, especially with almonds in it.

5. I have NO IDEA what I want to be when I grow up. :o)

6. I'm having a hard time making any kind of decision. shopping is a pain for me. I have three pairs of shoes, three pairs of pants and three bras. and I cross my fingers that they don't fall apart anytime soon. I'm fortunate that my husband owns a store (Bambu Batu) and I get some awesome bamboo clothing every once in a while.
if I really can't decide I read Tarot cards.

7. I love letters and typefaces and use them a lot in my art. the lowercase a is my most favorite letter, because it has that little belly that's just soooo cute in some fonts.

8. I need people around me. I miss my friends in Germany most. the conversations, just hanging out and talking about everything under the sky. I love making art with other people. I find it very inspiring. That was one reason why I started the Holonic Art Movement.

hmm... that was all rather random. I really wonder what impression people get of me from reading this. actually, I always wanted to meet myself on the street to see if I would like myself and what kind of first impression I would have. weird huh?I'm always afraid people think I'm arrogant or something because I'm pretty shy when I meet somebody for the first time.

I would tag the granola poet, but he got tagged already so I tag lena and sarah instead.

and here is the last found art project I did but never uploaded. the theme was "blue". the theme that threw me off balance though, was "father" I completely blanked on that, and I'm still trying to figure out the father issue in my life.



It's one of those fake credit cards that you get in the mail all the time. I left it in an ATM machine at the Wells Fargo bank in Grover Beach.

Starlight - for Maria

We went camping at Big Sur last weekend. What a magical place that is! Miles and miles of gorgeous coastline, redwood trees and oaks, and millions of stars at night. I got inspired. :o)
Since I'm short on art-time lately and more practically-minded, I made another gift. A birthday gift in this case. It is for my best friend Merry who's birthday is coming up next Monday. I know she reads this blog, although I'm not sure how regularly, so this is kind of a surprise spoiler. Maybe I get lucky and she's busy with life outside the computer and won't read this before she gets her necklace in the mail.

Anyway, I got the idea for this week's project from the starry night ar Big Sur and from Wandering Star . I bought a bracelet from them about 5 years ago along with a natal chart and interpretation. The bracelet broke after 2 years of wearing it almost every day. I kept the beads in a little plastic bag and I just came across it the other day. I'm in a rather transitional stage in my life right now, so I thought it would be nice to fix it and wear my universe again. I emailed them to ask how much it would cost if I send my beads back and have them make a necklace and it turned out to be around $90, which was a little bit more than I wanted to spend. And so I did it myself. I feel this way my necklace has even more meaning to me.

I had so much fun doing that, that I decided I wanted to make one for Merry also. So I went to all the bead stores around here trying to find appropriate beads for all the planets. This is an accurate necklace. There's one bead for each degree on the natal chart (360 all together). The Earth bead symbolizes the Ascendant which is the sign that was rising on the horizon at the minute of your birth (also called Rising Sign). So if you imagine the earth bead being the horizon line, you can see the position of all the planets at the time of Merry's birth. If you look at the sun for example, it is just above the horizon on the other side of the circle, the sun was about to set when Merry was born. I've marked all the other planets in the photo above to explain it a little better.

When you wear the necklace, you're literally at the center of your universe. It helps to ground yourself and focus on your true path in life.

Hey Puppe!
Ich hab Dich lieb! Und ich hoffe, die Kette kommt heil an...
Deine Fransi

Rebel

Sorry, if I seemingly abandoned the Found Art Tuesday community. You can find out why if you read a little further down, my last three posts... but now I'm back on track! :o)
I wouldn't really consider myself a rebel. But I have opinions and ideals and I stand up for them.
One thing strongly believe in is being the change you want to see. I hear a lot of people complaining about this and that, but they don't want to change their own patterns and conveniences. A lot of people also think that they don't make a difference, although there are soooo many single persons who DID make a difference. And when you bring them up they say "Oh Gandhi, well that was different..." Different how? He was willing to give up something of himself for a greater good. That different. But we're too obsessed with ourselves and our own problems. Every once in a while though something moves us... a movie, a song, or news reports. And we change something... we start buying locally, we buy organic, we change our lightbulbs. And you know what - it works! WE CAN change something. YOU can make a difference. There are 300 million people in the US for crying out loud. People just have to hear things over and over again to believe them (that's why advertising works...). Think milk is good for you? Have you ever thought about WHY you THINK that? Because you heard it over and over again - from the people who are trying to sell you milk. Got pus? Milk does! (haha, I just had to put that in there...:o) )

Anyway. I don't believe in the way we "produce" our food. Factory farming, genetically modified corn, soybeans, wheat..., processing till no nutrition and life is left in it and then microwave the heck out of it...

For me living vegan is not only about not eating animals. It's about treating others the way you want to be treated. It's a lifestyle of kindness and compassion. It's about awareness. Knowing what your consuming, where it comes from and how it was produced, not only food... but also everything else you buy, from your toothpaste to your shoes.

I don't want to take myself out of this. I'm not better. I too buy processed food out of convenience, or buy non-organic sometimes because it's cheaper... and plastic is just all over the place. It's not about giving up living and crawling back into the cage and live from love and sunshine - it's about being aware, wanting to change and changing - one step at the time.

It's very liberating, too. Just like making art and leaving it behind for somebody else. Once you give up something, you'll notice that you don't need or want it anymore. And once you give it all up, it is all yours.

My piece for this week is a refridgerator magnet and I'm not sure where I'm going to leave it behind... some restaurant maybe...

off to some vegan sushi now... :o)

Close

Well, I finally got my life up and running again. More or less that is.
I didn't really have any time (or patience) to work on art lately. But one of my friends is expecting a baby and I made an art pendant for her. I think it fits this week's Found Art Tuesday theme vere well, since the relationship between mother and child is pretty much as close as it gets (under normal circumstances I guess).

I wanted to make something for her as the mother, because baby showers are normally centered around stuff for the new baby. The pendant has two sides. A naked sexy lady on one side and a blond girl angel with the word mommy on the other side. That way she can wear it either way. If she feels sexy and on a night out without her husband or the girls - or just to remind herself and others that a mother is a woman still, if you know what I mean - wear the sexy side. Feel like a mommy angel? Wear the other side.

I also made a little keepsake box for it with a stamp of the Queen's wedding on it.

The glass of the pendant broke on the way to the baby shower, so I showed it to her and took it back home to fix it. It's not really Found Art by definition, but that's as good as it gets this week... :o)

Blue Moon

The second full moon in a month is called a blue moon. "Once in a blue moon" actually happens about every 2.5 years. There's one coming up on May 31, 2007. Since it has been almost 5 years since I bought my last computer make that "once in every other blue moon". But here it is. My new baby. She doesn't have a name yet, but somehow I feel "Blue Moon" would be appropriate. :o)

It was like Christmas to unwrap it and set it up. Everything is nice and white and so slick. No more messy cables - mouse and keyboard are both wireless. We bonded instantly and I'm sure we will have a long-lasting relationship.

so lost - F2H2 (2002-2007)

well, my computer F2H2 decided to perform an act of selfdestruction for the weeks theme "lost".
It died and I lost all my files...
Here are the remains of my harddrive. F2H2 must have overheard a comment I made to my husband, mentioning my desire to buy a new computer. It probably broke her heart. She was a truly reliable helper for almost 5 years. I'm sure she is in a happy place now with all her friends, a place where she can shut down every once in a while and go to sleep, and where she can spread her wings and fly, now that she has lost all her earthly weight (of my 30GB of data).
May she rest in peace.

Honorable Mention (Mother)

How often does the Best Of Show award go to the wrong person? :o)
Well, this weeks Honorable Mention goes to Mother Earth and all other Muttis out there. You're the secret stars of the show and everybody knows you're the real stars.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Earth laughs in flowers". And our yard is one happy piece of Earth. And if you have never seen California poppies before, you have no idea! Those are the most amazing flowers I've ever seen. They're not as fancy as some roses or orchids, they are simply beautiful and their color is astounding.
I used a few dropped petals for my homage to the mothers. Since they are California State Flowers you are not allowed to pick them. Which led me to the idea of "Guerilla Gardening": collecting the seeds and spreading them around the neighborhood.

harharhar... :o)

P.S.: I hid it between some dollar bills and gave it to the guy in the toll booth at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I noticed that it produced a short jam at the booth and I appologize for it to fellow travalers.

Water Drop

A disguised light bulb. In case you didn't see that right away. :o)
Water is very precious. And almost every day I'm reminded of American wastefulness (is that a word?) Be it water, gas or energy in general. It amazes me how much I'm used to recycling, laundry drying outside, grocery shopping with my own bag... and so on... just because it is NORMAL in Europe. Almost everybody does it. And here, even in California, I get the "huh"-look when I tell the cashier that I brought my own bag. Some people have told me that they HAVE TO bag my groceries. I don't get it. And living here in a place that is pretty much a desert, I get outraged when I see the juicy lawns in people's frontyards just because the have their sprinklers going all night (ah...you wish at night, a lot of them are watering their lawns in the middle of the day...)
It is pretty frustrating. All we can do is educate people.

And this is what my found art piece is about this week.

SAVE WATER!

Left at the door of a water store in SLO. I hope it survived the door and didn't break...

Mr. T (Toy)

Meet Mr. T.
Green eyes, irresistable smile. You can tell by his ears that he is a great listener. And he has a big heart. A lovable guy all around! His name is Thälmann, but his friends call him Mr. T.

He is looking for a new home. Will his story have a happy end? We will find out...hopefully.

P.S.: I made him out of an old towel. His eyes are buttons I found and the T is from a set of scrapbooking letters I found at the Dollar store. I used to have a teddybear that traveled with me everywhere. His name was Jürgen and he was my favorite toy ever. :o)

I left Mr. T sitting next to the computer at the Nautical Bean, a wonderful cafe in San Luis Obispo.

Travel Log

I love traveling! If I had a lot of money, that's what I would do. Travel the world, meet new people, explore different cultures, learn new languages. It's so exciting to be on the road. Everything you own is cramped into the backpack on your shoulders and you feel like the richest person in the whole world. I almost died on that trip, and yet the 10 months when I was traveling in Mexico, Cuba, Belize and California were the best 10 months of my life so far.

The cover for my Travel Log was a leftover from a book arts workshop I took a while ago. I just never put a signature in. I found it and it was perfect for this weeks Found Art Tuesday theme. In November last year I made the fabulous discovery that there is a treasury of patterns hiding on the back of all the stamps I have. Since then I've been collecting envelope linings, the insides of envelopes that is. For me envelopes and stamps are symbols of travel and I use a lot of stamps in my artwork. The tell stories of different cultures and different times, and they have traveled the world.

I used pieces of envelopes to create some sort of map as a signature for my book, then I added names of places I would love to visit.
I've been going through some sort of identity crisis lately... naaa maybe not crisis. More of a search, I guess. Trying to figure out who I am, where I come from and where I belong. And one thing I have figured out: Home is where your heart is, and that doesn't have to be a place... it might well be on the road or just with a special person that shares my values, ideals and world view.

Are you home yet?

Art Found!

Yippie! Another piece found a happy new home. Mother Nature spread the love and the word about Found Art Tuesday! I knew it. :o) Lena found "The Full Price", and joined Found Art Tuesday. How exciting! Here is the story:

"I walked into the grocery store one day and was immediately drawn to a small green piece of art. After looking suspiciously around me, I studied it closely, turned it over, and saw the name of a familiar artist. She was a local favorite of mine so I was excited to have my hands on her work. Again, I looked around, and began spinning different scenerios in my head,"hmm..." I thought, "could she have lost it? Is it some sort of self promotion, and I should leave it where I found it? Was it a gift ,left here for a friend of hers?" . Against my instinct, I left it where it was and rushed home to email her about my find, that's when I was introduced to ,"Found Art " . Wow, a way to share art with the world with no strings attached. Freedom from judgement, from money, from expectations... I have been painting for many years now, and yet , I approached my first found art piece with no paint at all-not even realizing that I'd done so until I sat down to write this. I'm eager to see what other walls will come down. I look forward to this expedition . -Oh, and when I went back the next day, Pachas piece was still there, at the store, waiting to come home with me, now it lives in my kitchen ( : "

Thanks Lena!

Love Connection

For some reason blogger sometimes doesn't allow me to upload pictures... very frustrating, since I'm late on my posts anyway.
Oh well, I had all kinds of ideas for this one. It started out as two pieces (halves, I guess), that I wanted to leave behind at two different places for two different people, and tell them on the back to go here to find the other half. I wanted to make a connection between two strangers. But I didn't like the way it looked, so I started over again and ended up with this ltlle wired piece. I was trying to show the different connections we can have: some of them rusty, some shiny, some rather loose, some not really pretty but nevertheless connections. If you connect the dots in the center you'll get a heart, of course (in case you haven't had that figured out, yet :o)). And the heart buttonb symbolizes Love as well as Connection (being a button, which are usually used to connect things). At the top it says "Be Connected" and on the tag is a quote from my cup of yogi tea that I enjoyed while making the piece: Where there is love, there is no question. Weird coincidense, huh?

I left it on a gate at Domaine Alfred, a winery that makes biodynamic wine. I think the girl that works there must have taken it, since she closed the gate while we were there (we were almost the last ones in their wine tasting room.)

The Full Price (Green)

I just dug deep into my green bag. :o)
Somehow the face appeared later. No idea who she is... Mother Nature maybe?

There's a quote in the second square from the top by Sir Rabindranath "Tagore" Thakur:
"We gain freedom when we have paid the full price for our right to live."

Deep stuff, dude! :o)

I left it at VONS a local supermarket, where Mother Nature can spread the love (and the word about Found Art Tuesday :o) )

Penguin Felt (Bird)

I got the felt at work. It is from a machine that stuffs and seals envelopes, and the felt wets the brushes that "lick" the envelopes to seal them. We just recently replaced it, and everybody at work knows by now that I'm a collage-maniac, so they saved it for me! :o)

I came across the penguin while looking for the right bird for this weeks' found art theme. I sewed some icebergs on there and added an American Express card. It just kind of happend like that, I didn't think too much about it. Who knows what it all means...

I left it in the refridgerator in the Cuesta College Cafeteria. I thought that was appropriate. :o)

Passion Pendant

ok, ok... it took me way to long to put that on here... I'm sorry. but here it finally is. I put the original date here though, so I can keep track of it.

I was trying to figure out what I'm passionate about... and there are so many things.
although there are many mundane things, I have a passion for anything extraordinary.

so here ya go.

and we WILL meet again! harharhar...


I left it on one of the bins at the COOP in SLO. I think it was chocolate-covered nuts or something like that...

Obsession

This was a hard one! I think my obsessions change on a constant basis. But I don't have a long enough attention span to actually stick with them... :o)
I come across something that fascinates me...and a new obsession is born. Even it lasts only a few hours.

This piece started as packaging for bamboo socks my husband gave to me the other day. I loved the little extra flap that was on there. I think my current obsession are shiny things... Sarah Winkler just brought 3D fabric paint to my attention and I decided to check out metallic paint for a project on memories I'm currently working on. Since then I have been using metallic puff paint in all my projects... :o)

But I wanted to make the finder think about his or her own obsessions. I copied the definition from the dictionary: "A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion". What's yours?
I must say that many of my ideas seem unreasonable. Actually, wasn't it Einstein that said: "If an idea doesn't seem absurd at first, it's not a good one." He's got a point there... :o)
I included the classic nude just because I love vintage photos and the piece needed something on the inside flap.

I left it on the door of the SLO County Historical Museum.

Beauty Kaleidoscope

We had a power outage last night. It was truly wonderful. No TV blasting commercials in my face all night, but candle light dinner instead. I wish I could convince the city to do that once a month or so for the whole city (except hospitals and so on, of course)... we would save sooo much energy, families would pay more attention to each other again...
Anyway, I didn't have a chance to upload may latest Found Art piece, but here it is...

I took a jar lid, glued some silver envelope lining from a fancy envelope in the back, then pieces from a broken car mirror that I found on top. I added a few "pretty" things like fake gems and a little filigree ornament and a line from a book that says: "Such a clever and attractive creature", and a piece of lace underneath. oh, some washers, too. Then I filled it up with resin. Man, that stuff is highly toxic, it smells aweful. But is looks really awesome when done...like glass.

When you look at it you can see parts of your face enlarged and only the piece of mirror in the middle shows your whole face, although somewhat distorted, hence the title kaleidoscope. I added a tag, on the back it says that it is supposed to be hung in a spot where it is seen every day to remind the finder how beautiful he or she is.

I left it in the beauty department of New Frontiers in San Luis Obispo. There were people there the whole time. I was a little scared to be discovered but managed to get out of there without being seen. It was very adventurous.

Book Of Inspirations - Update

I just finished it. It is my very first altered book.
I will send it off to my friend Becca tomorrow. I'm pretty excited and a little bit proud. :o)
Hopefully she'll like it...

The projects are "collected" from all over the world wide web and several books I have. On the last page I included the key to success, so she basically can't fail! :o)

Here are the pages in order:

Art Found!

Yay, somebody found my Mimulus Bell .
Here's the email I got from Colleen:

I found your mimulus bell... Unfortunatly my boyfriend somehow lost the bottom half of the bell, but when I feel like it's time to set it free again, I'll fix it and send it on it's way..

Thanks =)

Too bad it fell apart...

Peace Tin

"Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals." (Mahatma Gandhi) That's what it says on the back of the found art tag.
When you open it, you find a purple clay pendant with the peace symbol on it. I first came across those pendants at a peace rally in the Golden Gate park in San Francisco. A guy named Joe Murphy makes them. They come in all kinds of colors and sizes and they all say "Peace" on them, in any language you can imagine. He made over 350,000 pieces already and says he will make them for the rest of his life. He calls it a Peace Chain. People are connected through his pendants, they are part of the big piece, part of world peace. I just love the idea. When we got married, we gave away those pendants as wedding favors to friends and family to symbolize that they are all part of our family and are connected with each other and everybody else who has a peace pendant. We had a rather international wedding (our minister conducted the ceremony in Spanish, my vows were in German and my husband's in English, for example), so those peace pendants with all the different languages on them fit perfectly.

Well, I still have e few pendants left, and every once in a while I pass one on. With Peace being the theme this week, it was a perfect time to make somebody part of world peace.

When I was working on the tin, I had a cup of Good Earth tea. On the tag it said: "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." (Moshe Dayan). Weird coincidence, huh? So, I decided to include it in the tin, and it ended up on the inside of the lid.

I left it at Linnea's Cafe in San Luis Obispo. First I thought about leving it on the shelf with the cutlery but there were too many people around... I got scared. So I went to the bathroom. :o) They have a shelf above the toilet and I sat it on there. I was about to leave and turned around one one more time to look at the tin. And it totally looked like it is part of the decoration. So I moved it again, to the sink this time. And I made sure that the found art tag is visible. There I left it. I stayed a little longer to have lunch, but nobody went to the bathroom...

Book of Inspirations

oh, this week has been crazy. this weeks found art theme was "Inspiration, and I'm actually very inspired right now! I have many projects to work on and my painting class and the people there make new ideas pop into my head on a constant basis. But of course in times like this, there is never enough time.

I'm feeling bad for not getting my found art project done on time. But this one is a special one for a special person. And it turned into something bigger than I thought. Oh well.

I just wanted to let you know that I didn't abandon the ever growing Found Art Tuesday communty. :o) I have just too much work right now. But as a proof that I actually DID something I will post the cover of my inspiration piece. As I said, this time it is for a person I selected and just in case this person actually follows my blog, I don't want to spoil the surprise of finding it later.

I will keep you posted and update this with more pictures later (after it was delivered).

In the meantime you can enjoy some inspirations by other great artists:
Rosa Murillo
Kathy L
An Odd Duck
Deanna Wood

Enjoy!

Bottle of love

I had to wait for Valentines Day for this... :o)
It is an altered ketchup bottle with an Hershey´s kiss attached to the bottom of the lid.
They say if you love yourself, others will love you, too. That is the idea of the bottle. Be your own Valentine. Indulge yourself, treat yourself to something nice, make yourself happy - hence the kiss inside. Since it is "Random Acts of Kindness" week, I got myself an iced chocolate drink (like hot chocolate but cold, it was a beautiful sunny day here) and paid for two. They tag explains that it is found art and to be kept; it also says that there is a cold drink waiting at the counter to be picked up and enjoyed by the finder. I left it at the entrance to a Starbucks in Pismo Beach for someone to find it BEFORE he or she buys a drink. A couple of people saw me leaving it there, but weren´t brave or curious enough to check it out while I was still there...

Superhero magnet

When you get your morning coffee why not pay for the next person in line. You will definetely make their day! And you will feel like a superhero all day long. Or write a letter to your grandma or your best friend, they would love to hear from you! Put some change in an expired parking meter, spread some wildflower seeds in your neighborhood, tell a joke. The possibilities are endless! These are "random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty", a phrase that started a movement and enriched countless peoples lives. It started with Anne Herbert, who jotted the phrase down in a restaurant after turning it over in her mind for several days. The simple concept she developed was to think of any good deed that should be done more often, and then do it randomly. Make today your superhero RAK day and spread the love and happiness. You can't commit a random act of kindness without feeling as if your own burdens have been lightend. For more info about the movement visit www.actsofkindness.org .
My husband wrote a limerick for the piece:

There's a mild-mannered hero Clark Kent
His exploits were such an event
Put your mind to it
You too can do it
If you give it a hundred percent

Brighten up your fridge with this piece of art and be reminded that there is a superhero in each in every one of us.

I left it on a car in the Cuesta College parking lot. :o)

P.S.: February 12-18 is Random Acts Of Kindness Week!

Mimulus Bell

So here it is, the very first one. The Found Art Tuesday theme for January 30 is MUSIC, and although this isn't neccessarily the most musical piece, it was directly inspired by it. I found the bell in my big box of stuff while working on a different piece of art, and was immediately reminded of the theme.

My best friend's mom, who has a golden soul, told me this once: Should you be depressed, sad or stressed out for some reason, just say "Mimulus mimulus minulus" and you will be happy again, because you can't say it without having to smile. It really works, I swear. Try it next time!

I wrapped a little note explaining the bell and the mimulus around it and hopefully it will make somebody smile. I haven't released it yet (it finally started raining here), but I can hardly wait to set it free for somebody to find...

January 28 - It is gone. I feel a little sad I must admit. It was hard to let go. I left it on the bulletin board in the Hemp Shak in San Luis Obispo. Hopefully some good soul will find it and take it home...