In The Midst Of Summer I Found Within Myself An Invincible Winter, with apologies to Camus

What happens when you mix a desire to spend the Summer making Wintry things, a love of vintage, a load of glitter, all this crap gathered up over several months while brain(snow)storming...

...a need to incorporate this guy in it...?

You get this 11x14" canvas mixed media collaged orgy of glitter and frosty love, is what you get. Vintage newspaper, sheet music, book pages, post cards, matchbooks, stamps & button cards sprinkled with a generous helping of Things That Remind Us Of Johnny (see below for I Spy list), bling, ice, snow, the city at Holiday time, and of course ice skating all 'melted together.

The picture sucks but I was so excited when I finished it I threw it in front of the first thing it would lean on which happened to be a laundry basket full of freshly washed polar bear slippers.

*Please click on images to see larger...and click again to see HUUUUGE*

It started with this matchbook from my favorite junque shoppe advertising The Terrace Room, Famous For Ice Shows... some one must have had a great time here to have kept a beaten up matchbook for so many decades. I knew I needed to bring the life back from this memento. And stick Johnny in it.

The idea is to see the jar pouring out the winter Holidays, all whooshed and swirled in sparkles, like everything should be.

I doodled Joni Mitchell lyrics along the sides, from "River". The other side says "I wish I had a river I could skate away on". I like the unexpected something there.

Among the Weirish bits hidden in plain site are:

"Be Good" (Johnny Weir)
An aggressive row of Swarovski crystals down the side of the car
A play on "Louboutin"
A crown of roses
Russian text & Russian stamps
Vintage fur advertisement
Cleaning accoutrements
A tiny pair of skates
Three Johnnys...

BE OF GOOD CHEER!
*Please click on images to see larger...and click again to see HUUUUGE*

:O)

ATC made with the Lemon Slice Bits & Pieces digital collage sheet from Ten Two Studios

Relatives I'm Not Related To, & Update on Actual Projects

I am SO. CLOSE. To finishing my Winter piece. I tend to take four hours to decide to add one little thing to it every time I drag it out to work on. But I am almost satisfied. You know when you make some 'art' and you feel you've added enough to it...or not...to make it complete. There are times when something is 'done' but then a piece of perfect flotsam or jetsam (which I was surprised to see I spelled correctly) floats in and you add it to the awaiting spot that nobody but you knew was missing something, and then it's COMPLETED. I have some Snow-tex to add, and a pound of snowy frosty glitter, and some words I've decided to either print or stamp around the outside edges, and then I think I'll be finished. I am so excite. So why am I here blogging.

Because I'm so excite, duh!

So it's not a wasted trip, here are some fake relatives I gathered up over the last few months. I love my fake relatives.

Sent to me by a dear swap partner, this fella is ready for band practice, circa 1939.

Obviously related, as you can tell by their identically mirrored stances and dour expressions, these ladies, their gentleman friend, and the lad in the Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, were also a swap treasure. How would my sons react to an outfit like that? Not even funny.

At first I thought this gal was sporting some thick soled heels that are trendy now, but upon finding my glasses I see she has flower adornments on her shoes. Also from the 30's, this gal's coiffe is identical to the way my mother wore her hair. :O)

This is my favorite. I was sad to have only half the picture, but what a great half. I need to do some research to see if I can identify the circumstances these men are engaged in. Miners? Militia? I can't really tell except there are tents, and they all have hat hair or big foreheads. But the best thing about this pic?

THESE GUYS. Buddy's? Brothers? Big guy taking care of the little guy? Lovers? I dunno. But this single act of camaraderie makes this picture so special to me. I love it when my long lost fake relatives bring me such happiness. I'm glad to share these pics with you to use for your own play. :O) Don't sell 'em tho, or I'll hunt you down on the astral plane and give you guilty nightmares.