Palm Springs... Part 3.

On the way to Salvation Mountain we passed by the Salten Sea. The Salton Sea is an inland saline lake in the Sonoran Desert of extreme southeastern California. It occupies the Salton Basin, a remnant of prehistoric Lake Cahuilla. It is bordered on the south by the rich agricultural areas of the Imperial Valley and on the west, by Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Both the Salton Sea State Recreation Area and the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge are located on its shores.

Read more: https://www.desertusa.com/salton/salton.html#ixzz58ndnhYvs

Leaving Salvation Mountain we drove through Slab City. Very, very interesting. Slab City, or The Slabs, is a free campsite and alternative living community located near an active bombing range in the desert city of Niland, California. Previously an old WWII base, Marine Barracks Camp Dunlap, the campsite earns its name for the concrete slabs that remained long after the military base had been bulldozed and abandoned. More here https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/slab-city-california

The other side of this building welcomes you and this is the message on your way out.

Of course there was golf for John and some shopping for me. As far as I could tell the shopping was all DT. One end the nicer stores and as you continue you get the souvenir shops. If you like the artist Shag's work stop in his store. I always like to get a piece of art when we travel. This time I got this graphic on a pillow and similar coasters. Goes well in the living room with the green couch and loveseat which although new has mid-century lines.

I also shopped at Dazzle which has old 80s plastic or bake light earrings. I am collecting some for Summer.

I can recommend the Eight 4 Nine restaurant for lunch near the Shag store. I am still thinking about the smoked salmon nicoise salad. Ask for the happy hour menu. Even if it is lunch time.

We enjoyed our first visit to this area. I had some preconceived ideas about Palm Springs that were wrong. The house colors were almost always white and sandy earth tones. I was looking for the old Palm Springs. I expected an old area that was pastel stucco, especially soft pink. I hoped to take photos of old signage and didn't find any. I thought there would be an area that would have supper clubs and tiki bars where we would have old fashioned cocktails with Frank singing in the background. Not so.

And that is the end of a lovely week.

Palm Springs... Part 2

Mid week we took a day trip to Salvation Mountain. It is a bit of a trip from Palm Springs. But it was a good way for us to get out in the desert. I love kitsch. Salvation Mountain is visually Grandma Moses gets religion.

Salvation Mountain is Leonard' Knight's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." Leonard's passion has lovingly created this brilliant "outsider art " masterpiece resplendent with not only biblical and religious scripture such as the Lord's Prayer, John 3:16, and the Sinner's Prayer, but also including flowers, trees, waterfalls, suns, bluebirds, and many other fascinating and colorful objects. - Official Salvation Mountain Site

For some reason I really love this composition.

Thanks for traveling along... one last post next week.

Palm Springs or an Escape from Winter!

This was my first trip to Palm Springs. Land of blue skies, sun and warmth. We stayed in a great house with a pool. Bliss.

Our first day was spent looking at open houses, mid century modern, of course. And a visit to the stunning Palm Springs Art Museum.

Heart Cone Chair was created by Verner Panton. and Produced by Vitra in 1959.

I have one of those chairs but mine is matte black and is vintage. I would love to have that little TV.

Bird. 1996 by Enrique Martinez Celya

This was Modernism Week. Unfortunately we did not attend anything. Since this was our first trip there we kicked back and played tourist, lounged, napped, drinks by the pool.

We left Wisconsin which had typical Winter weather. We came home to find my Mini's tires frozen in a little pond of ice which is our driveway.

Next Palm Springs post will include Salvation Mountain, Salten Sea and Slab City.

Mike's Dish Towel Fabric #1

Here is another set of wilderness dish towels. These 4 dishtowels are one yard of fabric 54"x36". You need to cut the dish towels apart and then hem the edges. Or find someone who will do that for you.

These are tighter shots so you can bet a better look at the designs.

This fabric is printed by Spoonflower.com. Spoonflower is a print on demand online company. This means you can have any pattern on their site printed on a variety of different fabrics. You can get one yard or many yards. 

These make great hostness gifts when visiting your friends at their cabin, cottage or lake home.

These  dish towels were inspired by my font Wilderness Doodles.  These were drawn after an amazing trip to Alaska. And were a Christmas gift a year ago for our friend who lives there. You can see them here.

Hey DIYers... make your own Valentines!

I know it seems like Christmas was just here. But I am here to tell you that Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Frankly, I like Valentine's Day more than Christmas. Expectations are lower, little kids exchange valentines in school, it involves candy.

And I know you DIYers start early making things. I think early is now. So here are 4 fonts for almost nothing. You can make Valentines for years. Plus they can be used for weddings, birthdays, invitations, flyers. I know you are a creative group you probably have more ideas than I do.

But I'll share a couple of mine...

This is an old card I made. It was initially for thank you notes after our wedding. But have been used as note cards and Valentines over the years. Our wedding announcement was a seven panel accordion fold piece also using these hearts.

You can make smaller notes with 1 or 3 or 4 hearts.

This is a personal favorite. The inside says, "I love you more than bacon." And who doesn't like bacon? It could also say, more than sushi. Or hunting season... or Paris... you get the idea.

A multi-use blank card. Very simple. Use it to convey your thoughts on a break up, death, heart break, when someone is sad, a loss of any kind. It is actually an all-occasion sympathy card without all the hearts and flowers.

These 4 fonts include over 100 hearts, something for everyone.

If this at all interests you visit my store here. You MUST buy from the link that is for the 4 fonts in order to get this deal.

Happy making!

Art Therapy #16

Yes, it is postcard post time again! This is where Nancy and I exchange postcards that we make and send them through the mail.

Samsara: In Hinduism, the cycle of death + rebirth to which life in the material world is bound.

It appears that we started the new year with New Year's cards. Look carefully to see Nancy's wishes in the above shot. Nancy's is a collage and mine was made while cleaning my office. My rule is that I have to make my cards with what I have in my studio area. And to work quickly.

Another thoughtful one from Nancy, meant to be a sort of New Year's resolution. She puts so much into her cards.

This is the view from my desk. Well, not today. Today it is all white and shades of grey and snowing. I want to paint again and want to do something abstract and quick looking. So these were some quick scribbles. And then I did 4 more. That is often my process. Although I think this was the first one.

New paint brushes, new watercolor pencils. Arteza 24 woodless watercolor pencils. I do like these. First I drew with these and then used a watercolor brush to soften some of the lines.

I also love these. You can get intense color with these. Derwent Inktense Blocks. They are ink sticks. I know I did the red line with one of these. I waited until the paper was damp, not wet. When the paper was dry I went in again with a blue colored pencil and added some black lines for the waves too. These are great fun. Make some art today. You know you want to.

Chazen Museum of Art

November 17 to February 4 | Leslie and Johanna Garfield Galleries

Fantastic Illustration from the Korshak Collection

This exhibition explores the ever-evolving visual landscape of science fiction and fantasy literature with illustrations from the collection of Stephen Korshak. Featuring original artwork by both American and European artists spanning more than a century, these vivid illustrations bring to life adventures, beings, and worlds conjured in novels such as Don Quixote and Tarzan, and pulp magazines including Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures and Wonder Stories. Accomplishing far more than simply guiding readers in their explorations of new and sometimes bizarre realms, the range and impact of these illustrations is far-reaching.

On a bitter cold Sunday we ventured out to visit the Chazen Museum of Art. John was interested in seeing this exhibit. He enjoyed it but expected to see more of this artist rather than a wide range of illustrators.

We then just wandered and saw art until I went into complete visual overload. We were in the new part of the museum. And we did not even see all of that.

The grouping of the naked ceramic people always make me uncomfortable. So much so that I haven't even read any info about the artist or the name of the piece of anything. Next time maybe. Or not.

Not only did we not see everything in the new wing we never even got into the old one. There is endless exploring to do. But that can wait until another freezing Sunday afternoon. If you live in Madison take several hours and see some art here.

Art Therapy #15

Here we are again. This is where Rae and Nancy make art postcards and mail them to each other. My guess is that we exchanged our cards 30 weeks last year. So 30 times I went to the mail box and there was a slightly oversized kraft envelope from Nancy with something thoughtful or silly or fun.

My goal is always to do something quick because in all the other art things I do I think too much. I did a series of these Black Haired Girls. They were fun.

Inspiration came from this shot of 3 vintage mannequins. I am awaiting mine which is the first one. If anyone knows the age of these plz leave a comment. I am guessing they are from the 40s or 50s.

I have endless art supplies in my tiny office. I ran across a couple boxes of these silver and gold metal stars. In fact I glued them on everything, packages, cards etc.

Nancy and I seem to both be trying our hand at watercolour again. I particularly like the white space behind the flower. A reminder to me to leave some white space. Also like how she painted her leaves. Nice one!

Another bit of Spring just as the North has gotten cold and snowy. Thanks Nancy for that.

Back again in a couple weeks with more postcard art. In the mean time plz send some real mail to someone. It really does mean a lot. I have 3 friends in their 90s who I send a postcard to every week. It means a lot to them. And they tell me so.