from Ava: Easter Sunday, I had a cake epiphany. I made a carrot cake and decorated it like an Easter basket. I put candy eggs on it, and coconut all colored with food coloring to look like Easter grass, and a forsythia branch over the top like a handle.
I was icing it with a cake spatula and I mentioned to Alberta that my cakes were always messy looking, and she told me--get this--that you could go back over it and smooth it out WITH A BUTTER KNIFE! I was so excited. My cake turned so pretty, but Alberta, then she started making fun of me, and I had to remind her that I have the best vocabulary. Alberta, she ain't all that.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Easter Weekend
Kendall, an old student and dear friend of Ava's, came to visit usf at ArtFort this weekend. I knew we were kindred sprits within the first 5 minutes because she had brought, of all things, a collage to show Ava. It is so luminous and magical. On Saturday we went to Little 5 Points, and it was the perfect balmy spring day. The colors of the buildings, the people, even the graffiti were so saturated and the light so clear that it felt like being inside a mixed media painting. While we were at Little 5, we met an amazing Atlanta artist named Jeffrey Lerner, and all three of us bought one of his pieces. We really hope Jeffrey will post his work because we want to see more of it!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Um, I've gotta call Alberta on this...
From Ava: One thing Alberta conveniently FORGOT is that as soon as she does her 180, she also pretends she never felt any differently and that you're crazy for remembering her "alternate stance." So this next request goes out to my big sis and her charming eccentricities:
Maaaaaake new friends....but keeeeeeeppp the ooooooold
One is silver and the other's gooooooold...."
It's a Brownie scout thing. Troop 49, unite!
Maaaaaake new friends....but keeeeeeeppp the ooooooold
One is silver and the other's gooooooold...."
It's a Brownie scout thing. Troop 49, unite!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I'm Not As Sweet As I Used To Be
Ava mentioned to me recently that I have a habit of making a declaration of intent and then indignantly doing a complete, yet arbitrary, 180. I prefer to think of this trait as being flexible, free-spirited, even whimisical, if you will. Ava called this to my attention one evening, when I politely insisted that we curtail our Walmart shopping so I could get home and cook dinner for my hardworking CPA husband. After all, it is tax season, and he needs his stamina to work the necessary 18 hour days, and providing a hot, nutrititious meal is the least I can do for him. Before we arrived home, though, I remembered that he had plenty of chips, salsa, and grape Kool Aid on which he could dine very happily, and Ava and I could then go to the movies. I explained to Ava that I, like Bill Mahr, reserve the right to establish "New Rules." So here's my initial list: (more to come, naturally):
1. No silliness at bedtime, unless it's me or Ava.
2. No planting of pampas grass.
3. No gum smacking.
4. If you must use a cliche, use no less than three.
5. Credit where's credit's due.
6. Bedsheets must always be tucked in on three sides.
7. Always leave at least one cup of coffee in the pot.
8. The last person out of bed has to make the bed.
9. No singing of old Girl Scout songs.
10. No outward display of bra straps; lingerie is an undergarment, not an accessory.
What are your New Rules? .
1. No silliness at bedtime, unless it's me or Ava.
2. No planting of pampas grass.
3. No gum smacking.
4. If you must use a cliche, use no less than three.
5. Credit where's credit's due.
6. Bedsheets must always be tucked in on three sides.
7. Always leave at least one cup of coffee in the pot.
8. The last person out of bed has to make the bed.
9. No singing of old Girl Scout songs.
10. No outward display of bra straps; lingerie is an undergarment, not an accessory.
What are your New Rules? .
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Here's a painting I'm working on now. At first Ava said that Amarylis' eye looked like a kiwi. So I changed it. Yesterday I had the best time. First, I painted the entire canvas pink, and then I fingerpainted orange to add dimension. Good times. Amarylis was with me in the art fort, uploading pictures. Earlier in the day she had been to her art class and finished both of her sculptures. It was like art camp at our house this weekend. Only Mary Ann and Abby were missing.Oh, and the Nan (of course). XLO05!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Blonde men
From Ava--David Beckham, if you are following our blog, this DOES NOT apply to you in any way, shape, or form. Please feel free to comment, post, link, or communicate in any venue that suits.
POST TO WEBMASTER--URGENT
Not sure of html protocol, but any posts to Ava and Alberta's page from the following should be disallowed:
Gordon Lightfoot
Margaret Atwood
Ted Koppel
Michael Ondaatje (even though we realize he wrote The English Patient, the movie was far superior)
Bobby Orr
all members of Rush
Wayne Gretzky
Howie Mandel
Hume Cronen
Matthew Perry
Celine Dion
Alanis Morrisette
Why? Yes, they're Canadian. This is Alberta's high horse, and I suggoost that she dismount, but as usual, I have little influence. I'm 21 months younger and an inch shorter than Alberta.
Gordon Lightfoot
Margaret Atwood
Ted Koppel
Michael Ondaatje (even though we realize he wrote The English Patient, the movie was far superior)
Bobby Orr
all members of Rush
Wayne Gretzky
Howie Mandel
Hume Cronen
Matthew Perry
Celine Dion
Alanis Morrisette
Why? Yes, they're Canadian. This is Alberta's high horse, and I suggoost that she dismount, but as usual, I have little influence. I'm 21 months younger and an inch shorter than Alberta.
My turn: Alberta's secrets
One thing many people don't know is that Alberta, despite her name, has a deep and instinctive dislike of Canadians. In fact, and I hope this incurs a flurry of indignant comments, Alberta is the least tolerant of anyone I know. She bears arbitrary hostility toward many groups and/or individuals, including but not limited to the following:
slow left-lane drivers
crazy people
people with generally bad manners
Canadians (see above)
sloppy dressers
people who talk on cell phones
hiccupers
Rosanna Arquette
Ugg boot-wearers
People who mistreat children or anyone less fortunate
The best secret I have about Alberta is that she is in love with John Wayne Gacy as portrayed by Brian Dennehy.
slow left-lane drivers
crazy people
people with generally bad manners
Canadians (see above)
sloppy dressers
people who talk on cell phones
hiccupers
Rosanna Arquette
Ugg boot-wearers
People who mistreat children or anyone less fortunate
The best secret I have about Alberta is that she is in love with John Wayne Gacy as portrayed by Brian Dennehy.
From Alberta: After a very long dry spell, I'm feeling creative again. Somewhere along the way, I lost my confidence, and along with it, my inspiration. For too many years, I've channeled all of my artistic impulses into teaching children's art classes, cooking, gardening, and scrapbooking. I've bought oil paints and returned them unopened to the art supply store, never brave enough to get out a brush. Twenty years ago I wrote two children's books and stashed them in a drawer, too timid to attempt the illustrations I envisioned. I admit it: I was a chicken. a big chicken. Once upon a time I hardly left the house without a sketchbook. I drew, I painted, I experimented with textile art. What happend to me? I think it had something to do with the feelings of inadequacy I experienced in college, as a commercial art major. There I soon discovered that I had not a commercial bone in my body, and, since, there was no other art-related major at my school, I quickly changed my field of study to education (which I've never regretted, by the way, because my students have been my biggest inspiration).
But, after visiting an opening for the Atlanta multi-media artist Kenson, I was filled with a craving to see more. So, somewhat compulsively, I began to surf the Internet and read art magazines. I discovered the publication Art, Paper, Scissors, in which I read an article: Blog for Your Soul and, consequently, I found the sites and blogs of some of my favorite artists: Anne Hathaway, Celine Navarre and Elsie Flanagan. Their blogs inspired me and led me to so many more amazing links. I found a kindred spirit in Violette, whose colorful, bold folk art just plain makes me happy, and Traci Bautista whose collages reminded me how much fun cutting and pasting could be. Now I can hardly wait to get home from work each day to go up to my "Art-Fort", as Lee Ann calls it. (By the way, she writes every day). I scarcely begin one piece before I'm overtaken with another idea. My heart and my head are so full. Colored pencils, patterned paper, textured paint, I want to try them all! Not only do I want to do all this, I want to teach my students to collage, inspire them to write, encourage them to create.
This blog is for everyone who ever had a creative fit. Just start. Don't wait any longer. Get out your paintbrush, your journal, your needle. Take a picture, write a poem, draw a sketch. And then tell me about it. Post it here or start a blog yourself. You have nothing to lose, I promise. Be like the Nike ad; Just Do it. For your soul.
But, after visiting an opening for the Atlanta multi-media artist Kenson, I was filled with a craving to see more. So, somewhat compulsively, I began to surf the Internet and read art magazines. I discovered the publication Art, Paper, Scissors, in which I read an article: Blog for Your Soul and, consequently, I found the sites and blogs of some of my favorite artists: Anne Hathaway, Celine Navarre and Elsie Flanagan. Their blogs inspired me and led me to so many more amazing links. I found a kindred spirit in Violette, whose colorful, bold folk art just plain makes me happy, and Traci Bautista whose collages reminded me how much fun cutting and pasting could be. Now I can hardly wait to get home from work each day to go up to my "Art-Fort", as Lee Ann calls it. (By the way, she writes every day). I scarcely begin one piece before I'm overtaken with another idea. My heart and my head are so full. Colored pencils, patterned paper, textured paint, I want to try them all! Not only do I want to do all this, I want to teach my students to collage, inspire them to write, encourage them to create.
This blog is for everyone who ever had a creative fit. Just start. Don't wait any longer. Get out your paintbrush, your journal, your needle. Take a picture, write a poem, draw a sketch. And then tell me about it. Post it here or start a blog yourself. You have nothing to lose, I promise. Be like the Nike ad; Just Do it. For your soul.
Monday, March 3, 2008
I Don't Understand
by Andreous Money
I don't understand
Why people dislike me
Why people can't love me
Why people don't care about me
But most of all
Why people can't take me for who I am
Why people can't have a heart
Why people can't stay in love
Why there is fighting
What I understand most is
Why people make up
Why people cry
Why people die
This I do understand why
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