Today's agenda . . .

Spent the morning making backgrounds for ATC's and finishing up a few collages I had started.
Still have larger backgrounds to make today.



After I was done with the ATC backgrounds, I realized the paper towels I used to blot were pretty cool looking. You should see my fingers.

9/30/08 copyright Marsha Jorgensen
3 x 5 collage, watercolor, vintage pic reprint, paper borders, dresden fish painted, old book page, rubber stamps

9/29/08 copyright Marsha Jorgensen
3 1/2 x 5 collage, vintage pic reprinted, K&Company sticker borders, Dover wings, watercolor, misc. rubber stamps

9/29/08 copyright Marsha Jorgensen
Artist Trading Card, 2 1/2 x 3 1/2, watercolor background, vintage photo manipulated, Dover clipart wings, heart and star stamp

So frustrated . . .

9/29/2008 copyright Marsha Jorgensen
5" x 7" collage, vintage pic reprinted, dover clip art, old envelope window, watercolor, K&Company sticker border.

Okay, worked a lot today on scanning my old cabinet cards and vintage portraits, printed out dover clips and meticulously trimmed them, had this piece all laid out and messed it up in the attaching process. Remember, this is a new art form for me, I'm an old school academic artist and graphic artist, so collage is not second nature. I am struggling with my "rough draft" shadowbox 3-d project (my first) so much that I decided to work flat today. I had been asking around on my altered art group how other artists attach their pieces. I tried Golden's gel medium and when that didn't work (wrinkled and got lumpy and didn't stick well at all) I tried watered down white glue, that made it shiny and smeared everything. Up close, it's not as good as the scan. I couldn't sell it or give it away and feel good about it. I am so frustrated! A waste of most of an afternoon. Finally, on the atc I'll post in a minute, I ran everything through my xyron - that seems to be the only thing that will work for me. I need a "collage basics" class I think. AAArrrrgggghhhhh!

In honor of Linda Crispell . . .

I would like to thank Linda for taking the time to post a comment on my "rough draft". If you've looked at her blog she is one busy lady and to take the time to post and then email a reply to my reply is much appreciated. If you haven't checked out Linda's blog, you're missing out, it's one of my favorites . . . maybe because she collects chairs like I do! No really, all of her collections and art work are to die for. My pictures aren't as good - I'm learning to take pictures, but thought in tribute to Linda I would post my chair collection. It's stuffed onto one little shelf until we've organized everything from our recent move, but I'm glad they're out of a box and where I can see them everyday. Cheers Linda!

Another photo you can use

This is another pic from the Library of Congress collection. It has no restrictions and the copyright has expired so feel free to copy and use. Have a good weekend!

Rough draft . . .

Sorry for the glare - I still have to learn to photograph my art. Anyway, thought I'd share the rough draft of my first 3 dimensional piece of altered art, a shadowbox. Nothing's attached and I move things around and add stuff and take stuff away every time I walk by it, but I feel good that I am finally brave enough to even try this. I'll show you the finished product in the next few days (if I make up my mind by then!).

Had to use this one too!

More from The Graphics Fairy . . . of course, I had to show the fish pic!



Added new links as I went blog touring tonight - check them out, WOW!

The Graphics Fairy

Found the coolest place tonight! Who doesn't really appreciate free graphic and picture downloads? You will love The Graphics Fairy! Click the link in my "favorite spots" and enjoy!

A Not So Recent ATC

ATC, old book page, magazine pic, tape transfer, rubber stamping, white ink, watercolor
copyright 2008 Marsha Jorgensen

I have had a few choice comments . . .

. . . myself, about my comment link not working correctly. Despite hours of effort yesterday between my husband and I reading all of the troubleshooting information, researching past problems and patches in the help center, trying numerous layouts and settings options, and sifting through html codes and tags trying to figure out what's wrong with mine, we've given up. There is a glitch somewhere and of course there's no way to contact Blogger folks to have them help with it. So, for now, if anyone would like to leave a comment for me, you have to click on the time notation below the post. Weird, huh? Oh well, perfection is over rated, I think, I would like to think, I have no idea since I've never attained it! Have a good week world!

Ahhh . . . Trees & Some Observations

copyright, 2008, Marsha Jorgensen

So many things we could say about trees. Some are older than we'll ever fathom. They have watched the world go by forever. Some are as young as today. They give us shade. They give us something to lean against, something to swing from and climb. They give us somewhere to hide when we want a secret smooch or a private tinkle on a hike. They take that nasty old carbon dioxide and change it into oxygen so we can breathe (like it was part of some elaborate plan when the earth was created!). They give us shelter at times, give birds shelter too, and possums somewhere to hang from their tails. They give bees a place to live (other than our chimneys) and make their sweet gooey treat we all love to eat. They give us other food with their nuts and yummy fruit too. They give us roots that sometime cause plumbing problems and gardening headaches, but we emulate those roots when we want to feel like we have a place in the world. We watch their leaves to confirm what season we wish it to be. They can give us wood to build and create with, and burn for heat or obsession with dancing flames, but we try not to use them for that much anymore. We are protective of them now, which is good. We hug them. We groom them. We water them.

And sometimes, we decorate them in all sorts of traditional and rebellious ways . . .



The one above is my neighbors fruit tree. I'm not sure what kind of fruit it produces cuz I've never seen it. This is more of a utilitarian decoration. The clothes and bags hanging from this tree protect the fruit from flies and birds - I'm not sure that is fair in the balance of nature.

This one is a shoe tree we passed by somewhere on Route 66 a few years ago. We, in fact, drove out of our way to see it. Now, I'm not sure of the purpose of the shoes in this case, but in L.A. hanging shoes from a telephone wire means that drugs are available nearby, I guess (we didn't know that at the time, just learned this interesting street-wise tidbit recently).



This one below is, of course, a . . . . can you guess?



a chair-ee tree! Aha! Get it, cherry, chairy, chair-ee tree. My favorite. This one we saw in Kansas just a couple of months ago, right next to the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Replicas of the Worlds' Largest Things (sometime I'll fill you in on my obsession with seeing and experiencing the world's largest things).

24 Minutes . . .

Not 23, not 25 . . . you have 24 minutes to get your business done, except on Sunday of course. On Sundays, you can stay as lllllooooonnnnngggg as you like. Of course, I was there on Saturday.

Coping Queen, by Marsha Jorgensen
5" x 7" paper collage, pastel, rubber stamping, vintage papers

I fell in love today . . . .

Well, I fall in love with my husband every day. But today I also fell in love with a new blog and pair of artists I found through another blog. I have a link at the right. Be sure to check out Jack and Cat Curio. Right up my alley, they are. (If I talk like Yoda, I am very excited about something, you can tell) I could not emulate what they do but boy oh boy do I find inspiration there. I would post a pic below but don't know if that's cool to do. Guess I could ask and add it later. Now, go click on the link, go on, right over there, see?, go on now . . . just come back and visit me someday.

Oh! Wait! Before you go, Jack and Cat inspired me to give a little back (they give cool collage sheets on their blog if you do their challenges) - I should give something to my readers (if I have any). If you've been reading my droning drawn out blog you deserve a reward. Feel free to use the little pic below - it's from the Library of Congress collection and has no restrictions as the copyright has expired. (You have to come back and visit now, cuz you don't know when I'll have another treat for you!)

Artffiti

Having just moved from very sterile (beautiful, uncongested, clean, but sterile) Thousand Oaks to "the city", graffiti is much more noticeable. We are very lucky here, though, that graffiti gets cleaned up by the city (and/or residents) within a day, so it's not around long. I have to admit some graffiti is beautifully done . . . lettering I couldn't do with a pen in hand let alone giant sized on a big wall with a couple of cans of spray paint (I really think they must bring a ladder sometimes or truck with a boom arm - how do they logistically get it done?). But, then again, most of the graffiti is done in haste most of the time (maybe because they have to hurry so they don't get caught), so sloppy, no artistic quality whatsoever - just a giant illegible scribble. Now, I guess that's technically "tagging" and its sole purpose is marking territory. But, honestly if you were going to leave your mark to claim an area wouldn't you at least try to be neat or artistic or at least purposeful?

Artffiti (what I call more artistic vandalism) seems to linger, lucky for me. Below are some examples - one around the corner on an ugly electrical box (I think the artffiti improves it!) and the other on the sidewalk down the street. No doubt left by artistic vandals, vandals that have taste, talent, and an eye for improving things. I like looking for it on walks wherever I go. I wonder if the city workers and neighbors like it too and that's why they don't get rid of it.



Eagle Rock, where I live, is very near Pasadena (I could walk to the Rose Bowl) and Eagle Rock has had it's posh days, then for many years it wasn't so nice an area, and now has become a yuppy artistic haven, lots of refurbished houses, classic cars, creative landscaping, coffee shops galore (artists need their caffiene) - you can't throw a rock without hitting an musician, movie production specialist, or artist of some type (just found out my neighbor is a tattoo artist and on the other side of my house is a high school art teacher and board memeber for the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts). Of course, in my house, I am the artist and my husband works in the movie industry so we have more than met the demographic requisite.

I have to tell you about the interesting tree across the street, but my camera battery is dead so that will have to wait for another day, or later today. I'm off to do laundry, clean, and hopefully finish a piece of art today - I'll post if I do. Hope the world has a good day!

Okay, I'm in!

I'm checking my nose . . . hope there's nothing hanging. I didn't drown at least, didn't hit my head or scrape a knee. Now that the first post is over and I'm in just kind of adjusting to the water and bouncing around and balancing on my toes and moving with the waves . . . it may be awhile before you see me attempt a handstand or backward underwater somersault but I'm in.

Should you be someone that is actually in the pool with me or watching from the side, I'm thinking maybe I should just tell you a bit about me. I tend to write too much, way too much. I'm a better speaker than writer. I'm quicker at giving the facts with my voice and than through my finger tips. So, today, I thought I'd really, really try to nutshell in very quick short phrases who I am and what end of the pool I hope to swim to.

just moved to Eagle Rock from Thousand Oaks
lived there 15 years
was an elementary librarian, art teacher, and art program director for the last 10 years
am 42 yrs old
married 20 years, husband Kent
2 kids - Shawn, 16, Lauren, 15
graduated with a BFA in graphic design from the University of South Dakota (just before computers!)
worked as a scenic artist in the movie industry for a short time
worked as a freelance graphic designer
worked as a florist and plantscape designer for LAX, Carnation, Glendale Federal, and several celebrity homes
quit working for a few years when kids came
woke up and found myself in elementary world
now find myself in a position for the first time ever that I can finally make art or attempt to make art full time
have lots of house restoration to do before I won't feel guilty about spending time following my own dream (feel like I have to have the house done for the rest of the family)
am a huge nester, researcher, collector
want to study, study, study to find what I really, really, really want to do or I end up all over the place and can't focus
love, love, love: vintage things, surprises, humor, fortune telling games, cards, magic, curiosity shops, the circus, romance, halloween and Christmas, toys, papers, pictures (especially old ones), good stories, whimsy,

I'll stop for now . . . in fact, I'm pretty much done with introductions. You get the idea - maybe not the idea I want you to have but that will come. Now I think I can just post in the moment whatever that moment is saying to me.

So, I'll end today's very scary journey into the pool of blogging with one more little push of my limits. I'll post a couple of pics of some work I haven't yet shared with the world . . . I've found myself working on little bird houses. Not sure why - kind of scared of birds too and they don't have anything to do with the fish in my studio name. But, I make them and have ideas cramming my head for many more. So, here world, I'm throwing my birdhouses in for a swim too.

Oooooohhhhh . . . here it goes

I am standing on the edge of the pool. I've been here a while, a lllooonnnggg while, just looking, dipping a toe in once in awhile, splashing a few tiny drops on my other foot, just trying it out. Right now, right this moment, I'm in that place that you just grab your nose, count to three, close your eyes, and jump in. Those split seconds in which you wonder if the water will be too cold, if you'll hit your head on the way in and drown, if you'll hit the bottom and scrape your knee, if you'll breathe in too soon and suffer from that awful sinus burn and pop up coughing and hacking with stuff hanging from your nose.

But then . . . you realize . . . people are watching, you realize people just WANT you to jump in. It may have been much easier for them and they can't for the life of them wonder what the heck you're so worried about. Or, they may have been just like you - afraid to do it. But they did. They've done it, they're in the pool, they're floatin' around and doin' handstands and other nifty water frolicking tricks . . . they love it and they know you will love it too if you just get over yourself and dive in.

Okay, so . . . (grabbing my nose) 1, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2, 3, big breath in . . .