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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?