Photo Per Day #20: Gingerbread House

By the time young boys masterfully glue the roof and walls of a gingerbread house together using a thick, sticky, viscous confectioners' sugar and water combination, thereby staving off structural collapse by a thread, they've lost total interest in decorating. Eat a disgusting green, mint, jellied candy. Spit it out. Throw the rest of the gummies on the roof (or at least the parts that you've bothered to frost). Open the other bag of candies and and throw it on the "ground." Call it a day.

Less Martha Stewart. More foreclosure.

Photo Per Day #5: Genesee Beer

Went to see itinerant artist Jim Mott speak yesterday at the ROC-ART exhibit at High Falls. This exhibition contains local paintings which I loved: Irondequoit Bay, Gibbs Street, the Little Theater. I wanted them all! And the paintings hang perfectly in the gallery which overlooks the falls and the High Falls Brewery.

Afterward, my girlfriend and I walked along the bridge at Pont du Rennes and snapped pics.

Makes me wanna sing. I got a Genesee beer at home, in the fridge, with my name on it.

More than Ordinary Significance

I'm not sure why, but I've been thinking a lot about the concept of art lately -- maybe because so many of my friends are artists from painters and illustrators to musicians, dancers and tattoo artists.

Art.

So it caught me a little by surprise when meditating on the Lord's Prayer a few weeks ago that the word ART stood out in the first sentence -- transitioning in my mind from a Middle English second person singular conjugation of the verb "to be" to a somewhat verbified (yes, that's what I said) noun. As defined in dictionary.com: the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

And then I remembered this verse from Isaiah 64:8, "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

More than ordinary significance.

Pretty cool, right? (No need to answer.)

Snow Monster

Every morning during the winter months I pass the incredible snow monsters on Highland Avenue. They're usually brightly colored (food coloring?) and awe inspiring. Yesterday, I finally stopped. The snow sculptor was on a ladder fixing the larger of the two so I grabbed a quick picture of the unadorned creature to his left.

Isn't he great?

I asked the dude on the ladder if he's an artist. Nope, he's the chef at Rooney's! (Yum!) Art in the kitchen; art in the world.

I'll have to walk up the street at lunchtime and see how the other leviathan turned out.

ArtAwake

What a fun, sun-filled weekend. Hammock. Basketball. A little light cleaning.

Late Saturday afternoon, my mom, kids and I went to ArtAwake: an art/performance art gathering in a beautiful, vacant, old bank downtown. We went to see the opening band, 441, which is a bunch of 13 year old boys (i.e., a girlfriend's son and friends) who played rock hits like Led Zeppelin along with their own tunes that I preferred. Mad talent for middle school boys. There was food and wine. Interactive spaces for music and photography. People dressed in white who you could paint. (My kids declined; they're much too cool for that.) All-in-all, it was a nice diversion from the everyday tasks of life.

Afterward, we got delicious, pulled pork sandwiches at Sticky Lips then the kids had a sleepover at Grannie's while I went to see the hubby's band at Abilene. So. Much. Fun. There were heaps of bands playing elsewhere that night so the crowd was pretty light but we had a blast -- especially later when we had the dance floor to ourselves. My torn ligament was healing nicely so I tried to cement my feet to the floor and awkwardly dance in place; however, that gave way as the more fun songs were played later in the evening. Dancing without moving your feet is difficult and not so much fun, I've discovered.

It was pretty hot in the bar so we kept escaping to the patio out back to cool off. It was either that or take our shirts off -- which prompted us to ask ourselves if we had nice enough bras on to bare it all. (No, thankfully. And the ringleader of such activities had just left early so we weren't going to take up the reins in her absence.)

As a result, we started reminiscing/laughing about a night out maybe <20 years ago when a bunch of us went bowling at Clover Lanes. As the stakes got higher throughout the night, one thing led to another, and we were challenging each for extra points with daring feats of stupidity (e.g., five points if you take your shirt off). The night later became dubbed "bra bowling" as the men's Christian league beside us left quickly and the young man who was using the bowling lane equivalent of the zamboni to clean/buff the lanes before closing, fell over his equipment. Serves him right for staring at us and walking backward at the same time. D'oh!

I need to walk into town and hit Embrasse-Moi in case the occasion presents itself again soon. Must look my best.

The Donald

Some people age gracefully, their taste becoming more refined over time. Perhaps, not me? 

I ordered this print last night from an awesome little shop on Etsy. Seriously, isn't it the cutest thing ever? I would really prefer the original painting but my budget begs to differ.

Oh, how I wish I could paint.

Art for Scouts

I decided to pawn off my week of leading a Cub Scout meeting by kicking off their pursuit of the Artist badge and immediately passing the baton to Jim Mott, a local "celebrity" of sorts and a friend of the hubby.

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He shared his adventures and some of his paintings with the kids. Beautiful scenes -- some painted in our own backyard. (Well, just up the street.) Unbelievable talent. And friendly to boot.

I hope to check out his show at the Mercer Gallery this weekend. Thank you Jim!

Talking Smock

Sheer fantabulousness close to home: Smock! Absolutely beautiful thank you notes, party invitations, wrapping paper, Christmas cards, etc. all designed and printed using 20 letterpresses in sunny, downtown Syracuse, NY.



The best part? At $14 for a box of six or eight, they're affordable. Support your local artisans!

Papier Mache

I'm not really into folk art but aren't these sweet little blue birds adorable? Or this awesome Labrador?



I love how Etsy enables shops like this to thrive. I just wish I were crafty enough to create and sell my own pieces. Instead, I could spend the better part of a day going from seller to seller and checking out the handcrafted goods. Sure beats hitting the mall during the Christmas season!

Concentrate

This would be so great framed and hanging on my office wall!

The site Right Brain Terrain has a number of beautiful motivational posters that lack the insipid sayings of traditional posters or the biting sarcasm of their kissing cousins over at Despair where, by the by, I found this t-shirt!




How appropriate.