ballooning out of proportion

Mole's Mountain

14 inches high x 11 inches wide

collage

Let's always remember that, to a mole, a molehill is a mountain.

IF: balloon.

ps. This is a photo of the work. The large scanner is at work; I'll replace this image with a scanned one once I get it scanned.

I am back

I Think

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Very late in the week for Illustration Friday's opinion. I had to think about it.

ah, cold softness

And now, winter. So much for that forsythia...

forsythia in the fall

This straggly forsythia shrub manages to flower in the fall when its leaves are turning purple. Seems like a desperate survival scheme.

Exhibit opening

Vicious Scissors
Paper and fiber collage by Ren Vasiliev
On exhibit at Milne Library Gallery, November 13, 2008 to January 11, 2009
State University of New York College at Geneseo
Opening reception, Thursday, November 13, 5–7 pm
Milne 213
Artist Q&A at 5:30

um...what can I say?

Get Well Soon

7 inches high x 5 inches wide

collage

Repair.
Sigh.

if only life were so easy, eh?

This made me smile.

raking leaves....or not

Passive aggressive invisible fence.

moon in morning

Time: Last week, sunrise.
Place: Near Redfield, Tug Hill Plateau, NY.
Weather: Crispy cold, frost, clear sky.
Breath deeply of the chill air. Relish the sun rays. Walk to the water of the Salmon River Reservoir. Watch the mist rise from the warm water into the autumn sky. Sigh contentedly.

who and what and how

You For Me, Me For Me

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Here is how it went.
Strings: attachments: theory: physics: science: dimensions: weavings: knots. Who ties what to whom.

how to be good

Attitude

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Sugary:sickening:flattering:suave:unctuous:oily:greasy:slippery:slithery:honey-tongued:self-righteous:smug. Beware of how things are said.

erosion will take all

In the far distance is the cooling tower for Nine Mile Point Nuclear Powerplant, which is nine miles east of the two tall smokestacks that are to the right of the tower on the horizon. They are for a conventional powerplant in Oswego. However, the point of this photo, really, is the interesting formation of eroded shoreline called Chimney Bluffs, now a New York State Park on the shore of Lake Ontario. Nice place.

time to go

Go

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Packed and going. I have all that I need along with some things given by others, things I have no use for, but don't argue against too loudly. They mean well, those who give.

breaking traditions

Every year at about this time, the American Sewing Expo does its thing in Michigan. And a most remarkable woman, Lynn Krawczyk, curates an exhibit of art quilts on some theme. This year's theme was With One Voice. We each made a 12 inch x 12 inch block that somehow showed something good in the world. The image above is the entire set of blocks. My entry is in the second column from the left, third from the bottom. I suggest that you all take a look at the online catalog of each person's work and her thinking behind it.

This group of pieces will be traveling around, so go see it, if you can:
Fabrications Retreat
Garland Resort
Lewiston, Michigan
October 7 - 10, 2008

Carnegie Center for the Arts
Three Rivers Michigan
November 9 - December 20, 2008

212 Arts Center
Saline, Michigan
July 1 - 31, 2009

Siouxland Samplers Quilt Guild
Siouxland City Convention Center
Sioux City, IA
September 19 - 20, 2009

back to kane mountain

A view of the actual tower from the other weekend, courtesy of my hiking partner.

do something

Talk

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Clique, clack; chitter, chatter.
All we ever do is talk.

from kane mountain

A short walk up Kane Mountain near Caroga Lake, New York, yields this view from the top of the firetower that is still standing healthily there.

no reason

Contrarian Fate

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Illustration Friday word: island. This is how it went: island, alone, swim to shore, what goes around comes around, contrarian fate. Nothing happens for the best—it just happens; not expected and separate from desire. Nothing happens for the worst, either—it just happens.

cluttering rocks

Listen carefully, and you will hear the rocks moving, rearranging their clutter (see Illustration Friday).

what will we remember

This Was

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Illustration Friday wanted memories this week. I want to know what we will remember, not what we remember now, because that is how we might make a good future.

piece for michigan

Women's Revenge

12 inches x 12 inches

art quilt

Every fall, there is an art quilt exhibit at the American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan, curated by Lynn Krawczyk. And every year there is a theme: this year's theme is With One Voice, about all that is good in the world. All the pieces will be 12" x 12" and will hang together, side by side, to make one large piece.

This is my entry. It came out of my desire to see women truly run the world, which would mean a complete overthrow of the world's entrenched patriarchism. And maybe, just maybe, in the next presidential election there will indeed be a woman as candidate. And then, in the one after that, maybe we will actually elect a woman. Then, a hundred years later, the women running the world will be able to do it on their terms, not the ones left over from the centuries before.

end of summer

The official photographs for my good friend's wedding were being held below the balcony where the ceremony had taken place. The unofficial photograph from above: the bride and groom with her family.

business as usual

Second Nature

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Illustration Friday: routine; that which is habitual, customary, automatic.
Yeah. Nothing new here.

free the beast

Remove the Monster

10 inches high x 8 inches wide

collage

Illustration Friday word: detach. I wanted to illustrate the theme more closely than I have before. Usually, I riff on the word and get going somewhere else. If I'm ever to really illustrate anything, I should try to do that, eh? So, here it is. Tell me if it works.

And yeah, I missed two weeks. Hated to do that; traveling and working on a needlework piece for a show, the deadline for which was moved a week earlier than I originally expected it to be. Yikes! I finished on time. And now am back here.

um...see here

A little bit of. . . what should I call it? Bragging? Self-promotion? Giggly appreciation for the attention! That's it!!!

See GoFlyingTurtle's spotlight on my collages here. And then go look at the rest of his work here.