Happy New Year!

Santa has lumbered on to colder climes. "Prince Valiant's King Arthur" watches over the New Year's arrival.

A Lot of Promises

...from Our Nation's Capitol!

Ho Ho Ho

It looks like Santa is bringing a second storm system. We still haven't dug out from the Big Dump of 2009.

Bizarre Holiday, National Suckling Pig Day, 18 Dec

Wishing everyone a warm place for the duration. We have been traveling back and forth to West Virginia to visit M's brother in the VA hospital. The holidays are to be endured in the most graceful way possible. How about a dinner with a friend?

Bizarre Holiday, Wear Brown Shoes Day, 4 December

Whoops! Can't neglect this Bizzare Holiday. I couldn't find the origin of this holiday but because this is a Japanese matchbox label we will celebrate when Santa brings me new shoes. No alterations to this label so maybe one can find the shoes at that phone number.

Bizarre Holiday, Bathtub Party Day, 5 December

Yesterday was a snow day here. It would have been great to soak in a hot tub and do 'pretend spa'. This collage is old but still works. Collage of images from a matchbox label, poster stamp, 30's magazine and digital bubbles.

Posterised

This well used photo technique is a cliche of sorts. I spent a day looking for my favorite way to posterize a photo. I like the ways the visual space is broken up. This was done on my iPhone.

Sagittarius-Zodiac

There is a debate about when this sign begins. So for those people who don't want to be Scorpios I'll put this up for today.

Scorpio

It's my birthday! This greeting card was done in 2002. I scanned in that frame and used it around all of the signs of the Zodiac that year. The watercolor background is my chart and the collage is photoshopped.

Bizarre Holiday, Absurdity Day, 20 November

Eleven years ago I bought my first computer and spent the first few days trying to figure out what 'drag and drop' meant. By this day in 1998, I was in love with all the strange and wonderful things the internet had to offer. I started collecting Bizarre Holidays and started using this theme to do greeting cards for family and friends. It was also a good excuse to search through my collections for meaningful plunder. I Googled Absurdity Day today and found so many more sites including eCard sites.

This is an appropriate day to begin posting a few of the older collages. I haven't found the origin of this day but it is always celebrated November 20.

This German Poster Stamp is an ad for pencils and reflects the struggle for the North Pole. My background is an 1880s engraving of ice and water.

Go think of something absurd and make it your own!

Japanese Screen Scraps

I am getting back to working directly with these rich scraps.

New Banner and Template

I found a free template from Free Blogger Template: „Nymphont Style” | Nymphont. Google had picked her site as "blog of note". I wanted to customize a little and have something to build on in the future. Thanks to that gifted and generous person, Lauren Thompson, I have no excuse not to look better. Her 'how to' was helpful and is totally 'Dashboard' friendly. I am sure I'll be tweeking it a lot.

I started with a collage of Japanese screen papers. I lightened the section I used for the banner.

Birthday Boys

Tomorrow the family is gathering for Marty's birthday. Gerry, his twin brother, and Marty turn 75. It is a surprise (kinda). and will be great fun. I made this polaroid transfer into a card.It was taken in sillier times, probably the sixties and I did the transfer in 1990. It was sent to Gerry as a postcard in 1992 when he lived in Connecticut. Boy! Time flies. They are both getting around much better than this looks.

A Salute

The "Librarything.com" has had me looking at my literature on stamps. Subjects include their history, histories told in stamps and world wide interest. I have loved these small etchings and more currently the designs by contemporary artists. Truly a miniature art gallery. I made this small scrapbook for a collection of patriotic stamps and collaged the cover with George Washington images.

Amlash Sculpture

Amlash Art

A rhyton in zebu form before 8 BC from northern Iran.

I asked my husband about this shape because it seemed so familiar. Guess what? He repaired a somewhat similar piece at home so it was around the house for awhile. I asked him what he remembered about that statue.

His reply: "It wasn't this piece that I repaired, but one very similar to it. It belonged to a Mrs. Echivera, the wife of the Mexican (?) ambassador, who got my name from a friend who had me repair a pot. I remember going to the Embassy to pick it up, and all the broken pieces were in a paper bag...! I do recall that the fragments of the body showed 'throwing marks'. I later returned the figure intact, and was invited to stay for lunch, alone with the Ambassador and his wife."

Wooden Graveposts

Wooden graveposts from a Hungarian book titled "Peasant Art" 1958.

I am going to try to upload a few of my finds as I catalog our eclectic library. I am just picking a shelf and entering some everyday.

Library Thing

I just joined and I have begun adding books and tags to "my library". The best part is looking at books I am listing. If you care to look at my library go to Kamt.

Home | LibraryThing

Halloween

Had some great oldies on TCM.