Altered Calendar Project: August: Go for the Heart! This is not a Metaphor.

For this month's altered calendar piece, I've got a girl who will not settle for peaches! No way! Why go for the peaches when a giant human heart is in reach? Always go for the heart, not just peaches. This is not a metaphor, though in the process of writing this post, I have just realized that it could be. I was just putting interesting images together, I swear. This is not a metaphor. I found the heart lying on the ground at MIT. The other images are from an antiques catalogue that I picked up from the Boston Public Library book sale. 

Still not a metaphor. 

Altered Calendar: July

Now that it is the last day of July, I figure it is about time for me to post July's altered calendar piece. I basically filled this mountain with flamingo silhouettes. It's flamingo mountain! That's all I have for you today.

Altered Calendar: June

My roommates had a yard sale this weekend and, poking through the wares laid out on the front lawn, I discovered this treasure trove of vintage postcards! My roommate had an incredible collection of old postcards and she was selling them for real cheap so I spent $2 at my own house for this beautiful pile of exciting new visual material to work with!

The first order of business was to alter this month's calendar page. I cut up three identical Christmas cards and made a new composition. I also threw a basilisk down there at the bottom.

Also, what appears to be a flower is actually an upside down wise man in a robe. In the Christmas card he was kneeling to give his regards to baby Jesus. Look closely!

Altered Calendar Project: May

May is the fanciest desert house, 

complete with sky chandelier 

and horse skeleton embellishments. 

(This is part of my altered calendar project.) 

(I bought a boring calendar and I strive each month to make it less boring.)

(See also: April, March, February, and January.)

Altered Calendar: April

I just completed the Altered Calendar piece for April:

I cut out over 60 of these tiny little shapes from a jewelry catalogue.

Skulls, big cats, and a rabbit are all hidden in here. Birds, flowers, and a heart as well!

May's calendar collage is already in the works!

Altered Calendar Project: March

With creative input from my sister Anna who is visiting New England this week, I have completed the altered calendar piece for March: it is inspired by the popular Victorian Era pass-time of goat stacking. Wealthy gentlemen vacationing in the Alps would hold contests to see who could create the highest and longest-standing stack of goats. Mostly it was men who participated, but one woman-- Elizabeth "Bitsy" Gladstone was undefeated in goat stacking for several years running. Turns out goats are highly stackable!

Anna documented the collage process:

Collage detail: 

Historic Alpine Goat Stacking:

I hope y'all are having a goat-stackingly good month of March!

Altered Calendar Project: February

As I wrote about in January, I am going to be altering my calendar every month because it is a really boring calendar full of boring, pretty landscapes. I have been pondering what to do for February and (now that it is almost the end of the month) here is what I came up with! 

March and April are both already in the works. I'm really excited about them!

Triple Project Update!

Hi all! I have three projects I want to update you on. FIRST PROJECT: Were you wondering what ever happened to Project Fox Bed? Well, I'm still working on it! Here is the progress on the headboard:

I am excited about how far it has come, but I clearly need to finish up those dandelions. I also am going to do the back of the headboard even though it will be up against the wall. I'll know it is there even if I don't see it!

SECOND PROJECT: Marker portrait practice is ongoing:

 

Look! Some of them are even not in profile and they have their eyes open! PROGRESS!

And finally, THE THIRD PROJECT. I am introducing a new project for 2014-- Every year I get a wall calendar and aside from helping me organize my busy life, I think the images set the tone for my year in a way. It is important to me to have a calendar that I like, that makes me smile, or inspires me. Then I save my calendars from past years-- I have calendars dating back to my high school days. I have had Penguins, Japanese Woodblock Prints, Black and White Photographs of Paris, Gundam Wing, Van Gogh, Ferrets Dressed in Silly Ferret Costumes, Bread and Puppet, Inuit Art, and Goats in Trees (who knew-- goats love to climb trees!) 

Anywho, this year I waited until about January 6th to start looking for a calendar and by then they were %50 off at least, but they were also the worst ones that no one else wanted. I could not find the calendar of my dreams to define 2014! I found a $2 calendar at Walgreens that has pictures of beautiful and generic landscape photography and I was like, "ok, fine, this one is not the worst" but then I decided that these landscapes would be perfect surfaces for collages or drawings. Each month I'm going to alter the photo in some way and create a new, interesting art piece! Here is January-- I turned the negative space of this glacier into a disgruntled hippo monster and its grand baby:

I'll keep you posted on the upcoming months!