Nostalgia...

In every real man

a child is hidden that wants to play.

Friedrich Nietzsche

A few days ago,

i was thinking about my childhood

and how fortunate i was

to have such loving parents

and so many cool toys. :-)

I wanted to share with you

some of the toys i remember most.

i'm guessing some of you

might recognize a few of these. 

The 1970's version of an ipad.

Even then, there were selfies.

giggle.

This actually played music.

I was so impressed. 

Who hasn't played with Fisher Price?!

i remember the pig was my favorite.

Just cause he was so damn cute.

Yeah. Barrel of monkeys.

We spent hours playing with these little guys...

hooking one arm into the other.

Why we didn't end up in an asylum

after 2 hours of this

i'll never know. ;-)

colored lights,

the freedom to create what we wanted,

and a dark room...

what more could an artist want?

DON'T BREAK THE ICE...

You had to slowly knock out the ice blocks

without breaking the whole surface.

If the surface broke,

and your little guy fell through,

you were scarred for life.

And you lost the game.

Double whammy.

Who remembers these?!?

Basically, a free trip

to the emergency room.

I smashed more fingers, wrists and elbows with these babies

than i care to recall.

(yes, elbows. I sucked)

For a while back in the 70's

telephone pole wires everywhere 

had these "Clackers" hanging from them.

This is how we rated

whether a town was cool or not.

"Yeah but dad, they're probably really BORING here!!

I see no clackers ANYWHERE!"

Today's Canadian health & safety version.

(yawn...)

Poor kids. They don't know what they're missing. 

ah.... Doodle Art.

An overdose of fun.

And of butterflies.

These large format posters

were sold in tubes back then,

along with the markers.

Kind of like a huge coloring book page

on its own.

They all had specific themes.

My favorite theme was the underwater ocean one...

For obvious reasons.

In one of my past lives,

i was a fish.

Ah... another free trip to the hospital...

Basically, a pen with a metal tip 

that you plugged in until it was hot enough to burn wood.

Or skin.

Or the kitchen table. 

It came with several different tips,

and a series of different wood designs...

Flowers, horses, scary clowns.

Whenever i needed to threaten my brothers,

this was the object of choice.

Who needs Mafia when you have a wood burning gadget?

...and the Etch a sketch... ;-)

Do any of these resonate with any of you?

Did you have a favorite toy as a child,

or a favorite thing to do?

I have tons more i could share

but i'll keep those for another post.

Thanks for hanging out.

xox

can art ever be a bad obsession?

hi everyone!

Last night, i didn't know too much what i felt like painting, if at all.

I sat there for a bit, put on some music,
sketched a few little things on paper,
wrote a few words,
looked around,
opened the window,
looked at some books,
made myself a tea...

and then did this (above) with a palette knife,
for a little warmup. ;-) 

Then this came about on a little piece of cardboard,
about 4" x 6",
acrylics and ink and white pen.

Looks like a little alien to me.

It's funny how on some nights,
i stay away from the good stuff -
the good quality paper, or the good paints,
for fear that it'll just be wasted for some reason.

Sometimes you just know it's not gonna be a masterpiece.

Or at least you think you know...

So i grabbed this old leftover piece of shiny bristol board,
made a few marks on it,
and flipped it over, counter clockwise.

I kinda saw a face in there...
(again, we see what we want to see, right?)

added some blue...

a bit more blue and the infamous dots...

And there you have it. 
Definitely no masterpiece, but a painting nonetheless.

Sometimes, when i finish a painting,
i'm really proud.
Whenever i do a painting that i love,
I wake up the next morning,
and the first thing i do is go into my little room
to see the painting again.

Do any of you out there do this,
or am i just full of myself?

Let's just say that i didn't go into my room this morning for this one. 

But despite not loving it,
it was fun to do and as always, very meditative.

Even as i'm painting sometimes
and thinking "what the fuck is this now?!"
I still go with the flow and try not to let myself
get in the way of the painting,
or get too judgmental about it.

I think it's important to get out of our own way sometimes.

So there you have it - 3 very different pieces on the same night,

within the same hour or so...

maybe i do need therapy.

(giggle...)

It's an obsession, but it's a good one!

And THIS, my friends... is the work of art of the wonderful Lorinda.
You can find her blog here, at Everyday Endeavours.

I got this postcard in the mail from her this week and love it.

Sharing art with one another is about more than just sharing a painting,
don't you think?

I love this. I see an ocean and the wind and fields of grass and sand... 
THANK YOU Lorinda.



It even looks great this way too...

Yup, it's on my wall.

And this, from the lovely Nora Clemens...
You can find her here.

i love these!
Such beautiful illustrations filled with vibrant colors and TWIRLS!!
Thank you Nora. 2 more for my wall... :-)

i LOVE snail mail...
there's nothing like opening an envelope
and finding these little gems inside...
makes me all tingly.

Wishing you all the kind of day you love.
If not the whole day, at least part of it. :-)
xox