BLOGAHOMA

Star Sprite all began during Michael’s chemo session. They can run anywhere from less than 2 hours to more then 7. It took me several sittings to come to the realization that although it was good to be there with him I could use the time to draw. And so I began. Since it is the Christmas season and I am an illustrator from a toy and greeting card background what I drew were holiday themed. Sometimes I struggle with a drawing but while drawing Star Sprite my pencil seemed to have been guided by its own GPS. Once on paper and then scanned and color rendered the simple shapes lead me to the inevitable question, “Would this work as an Animation?”. The simple shape of the sprite reminiscent of Scandinavian candle powered carousels lent it self to animation. I loaded up Cheetah 3D, found a tree out of my previously created objects and so it began. My daughter said I needed music that sounded like twinkling stars. I found just the right music on Cylinder.de, “Winter Fairy” a piano piece by Caela Harrison. After deciding that the winter shot from our yard was a bit scrubby looking I downloaded the perfect piny image from Creative Commons. I did my final editing in iMovie including adding titles, transitions, music and timing. What you see here is the 3rd go around fussing with the details as artists will do.

The drawing took 45 minutes, color 45 minutes the animation 3 days off and on. It is hard for artists to estimate time. Time has so little to do with creative flow. The storyline (all one minute of it) is strictly mine. I am pretty happy with the results. Would I change it again? Yes. And that’s why I have to walk away from it now.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good sprite…..

June 3, 1997 began my stint at ebay. It was very early in the game actually before Meg Whitman started! I’m not sure how I found the site but it was quite intriguing. I remembering someone selling a bar of soap with Jesus’ face on it. It sold but not to me. My first purchase was a Rubber Baby Buddha designed by Rose O’Neill of Kewpie fame. A squeaky toy that I learned later was named “Happy Ho Ho” created in 1940.  I payed the starting price of $9 (I was the only bidder) its now worth around $60. Pretty happy with my purchase I decided to sell. We had an old Camel cigarette can from the 30’s that someone had left in our first home, a 1906 late Victorian. We kept pennies in it for years but I photographed it, scanned in the photo (before digitals were affordable) and put it up starting at a penny for the fun of it. It ended at $51. Amazed I asked the guy he would pay that much and he said he would have payed $80. I knew then that this was my game. Part time of course. It also allowed me to buy things, as I haunted the antique shops, that I did not collect but liked enough to sell.

I am not, by the traditional sense of the word, a gambler but ebay is gambling and not for the faint of heart. It’s more than just chance however. To do it right it takes an eye, knowledge and research, decent photographic skills, marketing and follow-up (my husband handles the after sales including shipping). Selling at first was a whim and then it became an income when I was laid off my job. It helped buy the house I live in, helped pay for my daughter’s education, and buy the groceries for a while. Now after thousands of transactions I don’t need to sell but I am back for the fun of it trading out collections for the fun of it. We’ve sold estates and remainders of a closed pawn shop auctioning only antiques, collectibles and art. Hankies, guitars, Kiowa paintings, pottery, furniture and vintage cars have left from here to points where they are appreciated most the time in the US and Canada but also to Europe as well.

So when I buy a photo album for $35 and sell one of the pictures for $400, buy a hanky for $50 and sell it for $140, a tin pail for $70 and sell it for $400 it’s all worth it. Sometimes is not the high price that it goes for it is the thrill of someone receiving it on the other end who’s been looking for IT for a long time.  Oh, our rating, well it’s 100%.

Times Up on Ebay

I had tried to construct a 3D version of a stapler from pictures but I had too many starts and stops to even count. It wasn’t until I owned a vintage one that I could actually create all the componants. I am after all an artist/ illustrator and references is essential. And the real deal makes it possible. The EM 230 was made in France in the 1950′s. I love the sleek profile the dark forest green. It took me a few days and nights. There was very little “that will do”. And then there was the sounds. I know I could go to soundsnap and find what I was looking for, the rustle of the paper, the distinctive click of the staple being applied. Nice!

So EM is my favorite of any stapler I have owned. I have owned some nice ones but they usually move on to ebay and get sold. This one, however, is going to stick around.

L’hourra pour pour les agrafeuses de tous les jours !

The clock I chose to render in 3D is the Nelson Wall Clock designed by
George Nelson in 1948. George Nelson was a signature mid century designer. And this clock clock which produced in wood and metal both painted and unpainted symbolizes that post WWII era (the atomic age).

A full Nelson is a wrestling hold executed from the backside and so the the metaphor. Holding back time, grappling with time, wrestling with time. Interesting to note that it is not a “finishing” action and you cannot pin you opponent “time” down.

Not that either of these came to mind when executing this 3D. I liked the clock and thought “easy” to recreate in 3D.

So what’s next in my 3D brain buffer? Perhaps something by Heywood Wakefield. Mid-centure Moderne so much easier than Victorian.

Created in Cheetah 3D on a 13″ MacBook.

She didn't look up for long!

My mom is gone now, my husbands mom is a 1000 miles away and my kids, although they will call, live too far to stop by. I wanted to celebrate anyhow, celebrate by handing out Medicine Park Marauders Mother’s day cards with mini roses attached in “Random Acts of Marauding”. Some will ask to have their pictures taken with us. It will be fun.

Mother and Son have a Heart to Heart

I gathered some quotes from various sites around the Net. Many from thinkexist. Read and Enjoy.

“My mother always told me I wouldn’t amount to anything because I procrastinate. I said ‘Just wait.” ~Judy Tenuta

“The patience of a mother might be likened to a tube of toothpaste – it’s never quite all gone”

“When I was a child, my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.’ Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.” ~Pablo Picasso

“To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.”~ Maya Angelou quotes

“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork. ~Mae West

“No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.”~Florida Scott Maxwell

“Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or kiss the place to make it well? My mother” ~Ann Taylor

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.  ~Abraham Lincoln

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” ~Mark Twain

“Nobody loves me but my mother, And she could be jivin’ too.”~ B. B. King

Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother's Day Cards from the Marauders