Corky Name?

While we were shopping this weekend, I spotted a few inspirations. Anthropologie had some interesting decorations using wine bottle corks to celebrate Earth Day. They were large designs hanging in the windows with clothing. Some corks were dyed and others were layered. Really cool effect!


I thought I could take the concept and do something smaller. (I also like to think of things for Christmas gifts!) Plus we have oodles of corks around our apartment...

Framed family names have been popular in the past few years, whether they are crocheted or photographed objects spelling out the name, so I thought why not corks? I took all the corks we had and spelled out our name on a random piece of fabric. Not the best choice of color, but it's all I had. Then I mocked it up in photoshop as if it were framed. I think there is a lot of potential and variation for a project like this. I really want to play around with layering the corks and painting them, but that's for another day. For now, here's my quick idea:

What do you think? Would you hang something like this in your home?
(Sorry, not the best photo)_____________________________________________________________________

On a totally separate note, I'm really ready for summer and continuously enjoyable weather to be here. This rainy, icky junk is starting to get on my nerves....
We were lucky enough to have a few sunny days this weekend while my parents were visiting Chicago. We took a trip to our local Home Depot and picked up a few supplies for my "Porch Garden!" Our landlord had agreed to help us create a rooftop garden, however the access to the roof is too difficult to attempt every day and can't be done easily by one person. So, I think its back to the porch idea, which will hopefully prove successful!

We don't get a ton of sun since our porch faces north, but I put the pots on the west side, so hopefully they will get enough sun to grow. I'm excited to have some working space on the porch now since we created this little bench! I think the grill will have to be moved once I start planting though!

One last photo for inspiration. Easter Sunday ended up being a really nice day, but the Cubs failed to take advantage of it. I do believe they lost this game in the very first inning. Ugh...

Lungskulls [a rainy day doodle]

Lately I have made numerous attempts at creativity, only to be stopped dead in my tracks by that colorful demon called laziness. I will try to blame the weather that has been quite gloomy, but also my kitties have been super cuddly, and those cuddles often end in naps.

A quick update on my projects. The altered book journey has hit a few road bumps. I have not yet received a book to work on!!! There has been communication and an artist will be withdrawing, but still no book. I hate being a pain in the arse, but I really want to get started on this!

The T-shirt quilt. I have gotten out the sewing machine and shirt squares a few times, but just cannot bring myself to sew more than one square at a time. (if that!) Perhaps I am not a sewing girl...who knows. I am afraid that with summer approaching this project will not see progress unless there is a long stretch of rainy days.

But there is some good news to share! On one of the latest rainy days, I got out my trusty sketchpad and just started doodling. The TV was on and I was too lazy (surprise, surprise) to mute the commercials like I normally do. One of those asthma commericals came on with an animation of lungs showing how the medicine works. Somehow, that lung image must have stuck in my head and a few minutes later I had produced this lovely piece.

"Lungskulls"

It is just a rough sketch/doodle, but I intend to work on this some more and have fun with it. The hubs said it looked like an anti-smoking ad! He suggested I add a cigarette hanging out of one of the mouths! I have a few other ideas, so we shall see...

Question of the Day

If you saw this in my living room, would you:

a) Un-friend me and run away
b) Call a therapist for me
c) Slap me a high-five
d) Try to steal it for yourself

A Chair with Guts
http://www.cultofweird.com/art/a-chair-with-guts/

"A chair with guts hanging out. Though it appears to be a part of an art exhibit, the exact origin of this photo is unknown. It may not fit your feng shui, but who wouldn’t want an eviscerated chair for their home or office?"

I want one. :-)

6:30am Vitrectomy

I might be slacking in the creative department lately probably because work has picked up slightly. For example, me getting up at 4:45am this morning to be at a suburban hospital at 6:30am. I got to observe a pretty neat surgery (Vitrectomy) where they remove all of the fluid inside the eye. They also repaired a detached retina. But I realized I am not that much of a morning person!! I got home around 1:00pm, collected and organized my notes, then snoozed for a good solid hour before my next meeting. The working-from-home gods were smiling upon me today.

Here's a YouTube example of what I got to watch today, minus the scleral buckle (i think).
Warning: video is graphic. Enjoy!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I am currently vacationing in the south, so I'd better celebrate their famous holiday, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras! I'm not in New Orleans however, I am in the panhandle of Florida on Cape San Blas. It is absolutely gorgeous! The weather isn't beach-bikini worthy, but it's very relaxing to walk the beach and pick up shells.
The big thing that moved me about this place is the darkness. I hail from Chicago where the light pollution is ridiculous. I haven't seen stars since I was back home for the new year. Here on the cape, they have no street lights, no security lights and a law that requires people to shutter their beach houses so the sea turtles can follow the moon light to the ocean. So, at the end of the day when the sun is totally gone, it is PITCH BLACK. It creeped me out at first, but then I could hear the waves on the beach and it became a very relaxing and spiritual moment.
Although it has been chilly and windy, we've been able to walk the beach a few times and picked up quite a collection of shells!

Enjoy a few of my favorite Florida finds so far!

Finally, my favorite photo, along with a comment that provoked gut shaking laughter in our car!
"The Ass Farm"

"Astonish" - The altered book journey begins...

Today is the day that I ship my altered book away! I finished up the final touches on the cover and the sign-in page last night! Nothing like leaving it to the last minute! But I think it turned out pretty neat!

My initial cover idea involved covering the book with an old handkerchief and collaging pieces of a skeleton cutout that I found at our local Uncle Fun store. The book covered well but I sat on the skeleton idea. It was a large piece and I wasn't too thrilled with how the layout turned out. Lucky for me later that week I found some skull fabric that I absolutely adore! So that became my new cover design.

I wanted some sort of title for this book that would carry through all of the unknown artwork that was yet to come. With the skulls on the cover, it sort of took on an anatomy theme. Anatomy is astonishing to me, and so the word stuck. I found some scrabble-like letter squares and went to work! "Astonish" became the title of this altered book.

Astonish - Book Cover

I decided to go with the anatomy theme for the start of this book and brainstormed what to do on the title page (you know, the page that usually only contains the title inside the cover). I thought about what astonish meant in the context of this book. This book was going to be visually astonishing, so I started doodling some eye cells (rod & cones) and came up with a simple title page design.

The skull fabric that wrapped around the cover was just a tad too short to fit perfectly on the inside, but a happy accident occurred when I realized that one skull was appropriately cut off at the skull cap! Using red thread I tried my best to make it look like I was sewing the skull cap back on! :-)

Inside Cover & Title Page

Artist Sign-in Page

I mail the book this afternoon to the next artist on the round robin list. I'm hoping I will receive my first book to work on before I leave for Florida on Saturday. I'm so anxious to see the other books!! There are about 14 artists in this round robin, so this project will last more than a year. Each artist gets a month to complete their portion of each book.
I will try to post in-process pictures of my artistic contributions to the books, but for sure you will see the finished products each month. Stay tuned!!

Anatomical Tunes

I promise to update you on my creative endeavors shortly, but first a break for some good tunes. Brought to you by my amazing friend and music arsenal, Ms. Bridget!

"Help I'm Alive" by Metric uses some interesting anatomical imagery in their music video. Some of the medical illustrations I definitely recognize! I like the overlapping animations and band video - gives it a lot of depth and it's really interesting to watch. I really enjoy this and I hope you will to!