. . . framed random art

In an effort to have some art hanging on my walls when the realtor came over, I framed and matted this foamcore experiment. I hung it in the entry hall, to the left and a bit below a large black-framed round mirror, above a narrow antique mahogany table upon which I placed a couple of small green topiaries and a skinny lamp with an amber shade with little amber beads. Perfect. And a total coincidence. Good comments on the art from the realtors.

. . . showed more papers

(Above) Example of two-sided poster.






(Above) An example of a folio of reproductions of Picasso works. The art is attached to a heavier piece of paper and under the art is a description of the work. There are probably 15 of these pieces.






(Above) An example of reproduction posters, possibly from an exhibit of old posters. Printed on paper like cardstock, nothing on the reverse side.






(Above) Complete magazine from '30s, but unbound, not together any more. Great ads for all kinds of things.




(Above) Complete magazine, 1944, still held together, kept in a plastic bag. WWII themed ads, articles.

. . . asked for advice

Another day of making no art, but I did have a chance to (badly) photograph some of the papers that came in the file cabinet I purchased from an artist and art teacher several years ago. I have no idea if these are valuable to anyone, but they are interesting.




The one above is representative of probably about ten reproduction paintings of famous artists. The art itself is reproduced on some type of linen, then the linen is sandwiched between a mat and a backing. There is another two-sided page that comes with each painting, listing the name of the painting, the artist, and the historical background of the painting.

The above are four cards, nothing on the reverse side, reproduction of old Vogue covers. So colorful and interesting.

Here is the repro Elvis painting by Leroy Neiman. The reverse side is also a Neiman, red, of Ali boxing.

Above is a reproduction of a French poster. There are several different styles, nothing on the reverse side.

and here is a calendar page with I believe James Dean.

There are many many more of these papers. I must have been in a hurry to snap them, because they turned out really bad, blurry, out of focus. I will try again. If anyone has any idea on how to price these things, please please please let me know. Also, tell your friends if they have any interest in old papers. AND, if you want any of these things yourself, leave a comment, make an offer, and it's yours. I will go back and take better pictures of the stuff for etsy, as well as measurements and other pertinent information. I will post more of them later today for your viewing pleasure and assistance to me.

. . .decluttered the house

and cleaned it up so that the realtor coming today won't think I'm a total slob. It looks pretty good. (Don't go in the basement. . . it's like one of those horror movies, you know something terrible will happen if they go to the basement.) I think we improved the place while we lived in it, except for the nasty carpet in the family room. A few things need attention, I'm sure. . . there is a central vac system that I always hated and never used. I think it's screwed up. The water softener is probably kaput, too. A few nicks and dents in the painted woodwork. Just stuff you know is messed up but you learn to live with it until you can afford to fix it or forget about it because you don't really use it. Soon it will be time to clean up the yard and work in the garden, and if potential buyers see the garden in spring, it will blow them away.


So I had no time for making art yesterday. As I worked in the house, I noticed that I had almost no art on the walls, with the exception of a couple of small pieces I had purchased or received from other artists, and a small piece of my own that is small and perfect and that I can never duplicate. I have some spare mats and maybe a frame or two hanging around, so maybe I'll put a couple of my random art pieces up, the ones I create from leftover paint as I make the big pieces. Maybe it will be advertisement to potential buyers, both of the house and the art. That's assuming facts not in evidence: that there will be potential buyers coming through the house.


I have been involved and buying and selling a number of houses. Once it took two years, and we had two mortgage payments. Back in the day when interest rates were 18% or so, it was tough to sell a house. One time the kids and I lived in a house for months until it sold, while the husband lived and worked three hours away. So when we sold the house we had before this one in four days, it was a wonderful surprise. I am thankful that this is not an emergency situation. If needed, I can stay here for a while. And I don't have to take a low-ball offer, I don't have to arrange a short sell.


Everyday I hear another sad story about the effect the economic situation has had on families close to me. Very few of these people lived beyond their means. They were like me. . . we worked hard, saved up, didn't owe a lot, and somehow ended up losing everything. I sound whiny when I say it, but it just doesn't seem fair, does it?

. . .were totally overwhelmed

at the prospect of putting my house on the market. I have been in the studio, trying to sort out what to keep and what to sell and what to throw away. All I have done so far is to make an even bigger mess. The realtor will come tomorrow and let me know what I need to do to make the place more saleable. . . I suspect it will not be what I had thought before I talked to her. For instance, I have needed a new floor of some type in the dining area of the family room for a couple of years. I was all ready to pull the trigger and have some hardwood floors installed late last summer. For some reason I decided to wait and I'm glad I did. That extra bit of money has come in handy since then. I just figured I could have the carpet cleaned, throw down a rug on top of the carpet under the table, offer a carpet allowance and leave it at that. Now I bet I have to replace the carpet. I asked her if she thought I could get at least what I owed on the house; her reply was iffy. . . she was talking about a short sale. Whatever that is. We had 25% equity in the place when we bought it. That has apparently disappeared. So now I'm overwhelmed and disheartened. Maybe I'll just stay put. The mortgage company apparently can't help me until my payments are in delinquency. What a catch-22.


Anyway, back to the studio clean up: a few years ago I went to the garage sale of a local artist and retired art teacher. What a treasure trove of stuff at unbelievable prices. I purchased a two-drawer cabinet, kind of like a lateral file but old, wooden, and stuffed with papers this guy had accumulated over the years. I wanted the cabinet, but got the stuff for free. I suspect some of it is just crap, but some of it may be worth more than I think, especially after cruising around etsy and ebay for prices. Here's what I think is probably worthless: a bunch of those black old-time photo album pages to which are pasted reproduction art work of famous painters, taken from magazines and newspapers. Here's what I think may be more "valuable". . . reproduction of French caberet posters; reproduction of an oil painting of Elvis; a limited series of black and white drawings of old barns, etc. complete with Certificates of Authenticity; and the list goes on. I don't know how to put a price on these kinds of things.


Then there are the papers: mostly scrapbook papers, 12 x 12, in every color and pattern you could possibly think of. I am sorting these by color and will sell them for ten cents a page. Unless you all think that is too much. For instance, the first set I have completed is the blue, 50 various sheets for $5. But then I think, wow, what if I need that paper some day? Maybe I should keep it. Hah, the question is, where would I keep it? Ruthless is the word for this job.

. . . had lotsa fun

painting this piece. It's about 44 x 44" and although it looks crooked in the picture, it's not. . . that's just my photography and the fact that the canvas kept falling down around me as I tried to tape it to the wall. Anyway, there are lots of layers, marks, splashes, circles. . . just really letting go and seeing where it all took me. I used the brayer on this, too. And, just for good measure and because it felt good to do so, I had a piece of twine that I had embedded into another canvas, covered it with white gesso, and then removed it, and I flung this twine onto this canvas in random places.


In other news: my mother called last night to tell me that "Osage City is on fire". . . I made her explain what she meant. Apparently several buildings were damaged and/or destroyed by a fire in my hometown, and she, along with apparently everyone else in town, went to watch the fire. All the buildings in the "downtown" area are old and usually they have not been repaired or restored, but rather covered in lovely vertical sheets of metal siding. Or just left to do whatever old buildings do. So it's a wonder that the entire downtown didn't go up in flames. There's not much left of it anyway. But it's sad. . . the entire block that included my dad's store back in the day was razed a few years back, because the last building on the block just fell down. The city decided that the rest of the block was just minutes away from collapse, so now there's nothing where there used to be a bowling alley (movie theater before that), grocery store, doctor's office and bakery. See video here.



And perhaps you read my previous post on the status of the lovely junkyard on I-35 just south of Kansas City. A 20-acre veritable treasure trove for photographs of rusted piles of junk. And an eyesore. The State has moved in and started crushing everything in sight and hauling it off. I'm sad. . . I thought that mess would be there for a long time for me to take pictures. According to the paper, however, there are armed guards there now, keeping sightseers away. And apparently other people saw the treasure in that pile of junk, too. Historical automobile buffs are sad about the demise of the junkyard, too. The owner and the state got into a pissing contest over the area, and of course the state won.


And finally: I put Joe and Betsy into the shower last night with plastic bowls, measuring cups and a can of shaving cream. They would have stayed in there for hours playing. And they created some of the coolest contemporary abstract art with the shaving cream on the doors of the shower. I only wish I could have run downstairs and picked up the camera to record the masterpieces.

. . . painted by brayer

On a lot of this painting, I used a brayer. . . a set of hard rubber printing brayers that have paint and medium crusted on them. . . so that when I ran it over the canvas, the paint would only be deposited on the peaks, the high points, of the texture. It was while I was working on this painting that I read the quote in Nita Leland's book about different colors every inch. There really isn't a solid one-color section in this painting. I think I'm getting back in the swing of painting, loosening up, having a lot of fun here. Still very geometric, a remnant of making all those later collages where I was really working with squares and rectangles.


Friday night and yesterday, my art rep teamed up with a local gallery and showed not only my paintings, but tons of other original art work: large, small, oil, acrylic, on canvas, on paper. Wonderful art to look at. Tons of invitations, a respectable RSVP response, and very light traffic. It is so rude, I think, to not show up when you've said you would. The gallery owner was a bit disheartened. The art rep said it was just the way things are going right now. It's hard to sell art at any time, but during difficult economic periods, you have to be a real optimist to continue in that line of work. I feel like the gallery owner and I made contact, which could prove valuable if and when people want to buy art again.