Electrified Pineapple, Part III

"But You Promised"

"Homunculus"

"Ingesting Love"

Electrified Pineapple, Part II

"Observe"

Mary writes: My sketchbook is about how we are all connected on this planet. Like this bird, who walks about and seems a free bird, but he's connected in by the electrodes to the universe (sort of like a twist on the whole astral plane cord thought).

"Hooked"

"2 Become 3, 3 Become All"

"Bee Mine"

The Electrified Pineapple, Part I

"The Electrified Pineapple" is the title of my daughter Mary's sketchbook, which is part of the nation-wide Sketchbook Project. Each registered artist receives a bound paper book, on which to create his/her contribution to the project. Once the sketchbook is completed, it is digitized, and then it joins the other sketchbooks in an exhibition that travels throughout the United States.

"Layers of Betrayal"

Mary writes: "I heard about the Sketchbook Project from a friend I made through the ATC forum, but it wasn't until this year that I felt like trying it out. In previous years, there were themes such as "dirigibles" that felt too restrictive to my muse, even though on the Sketchbook website, they said the themes were just a way to get a person started, that anything basically goes."

"Under Seige"

She continues: "This year, the themes are book-like categories: the atlas, almanac, chronicle, etc., and that sparked my muse. When my blank sketchbook arrived, I started working on a piece. I was sitting at the table, and Holly's fish, Wilson, was swimming in his bowl in the middle of the table. Wilson swam in and out of his pineapple house (see photo below) as I began to sketch. Pat came in and looked at my work, then looked at the fish bowl, and said, 'The Electrified Pineapple.' Zap! There went the lightbulb above my head, and my sketchbook had a title and a direction." 

"Forging Ahead"

Wilson's pineapple house

To learn more about the Sketchbook Project, go to: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

F is for Florida!

          This month began with a trip to Florida to visit my daughter Mary, her husband Pat, and my grand-
daughter Holly, who just completed her freshman year of college. During the week, some note-worthy events took place. Mary and Pat accepted an offer on their house, which had been up for sale for a few months. Off-setting this good news were two distressing events which made the front page of The Gainesville Sun. 
          Mary had recently acquired a fresh set of chalk pastels and art pens in preparation for another of our famous bouts of arts-and-crafting.* The convergence of events and art supplies led me to draw a set of "F is for Florida" postcards to commemorate my trip. 
          On Friday, we planned to go deep-sea fishing, but as Pat readied the boat and trailer, he discovered a series of repairs that were difficult to make at the last minute. Our various reactions presaged events to come.
Failure to Launch

Saturday, we awoke to news about a crazed Floridian who attacked another man and chewed his face off.
Man Bites Man

Monday brought a visit from the family who had just purchased the house. They stopped by to examine some furniture that Mary and Pat were selling along with the house. This family was from South Africa and had charming accents, but they were so tall and thin that, compared to us, they may as well have been from another planet.

Finally, on Tuesday, we opened The Gainesville Sun to a bizarre report of an apparent suicide attempt, wherein a man filled his bathtub with 10 gallons of gasoline, got in, and lit a candle. The resulting fireball blew out the wall of the apartment house. The man remains in critical condition in the burn unit.

Fwoop!

At this point, I began to think it best to leave Florida before more oddities and catastrophes occurred. The trip home was uneventful, except for the presence on the airplane of an unidentified person who, we were informed by the flight attendant, had such a severe peanut allergy that no food items were served during the 4-hour flight and no passengers were allowed to consume food they had brought on board. Result: a full plane-load of hungry, cranky travelers. Delightful.

All in all, my visit was fun and relaxing, but perhaps next time, Mary and family will consider coming to my state, where life is (usually) a little less "interesting."

*See http://myturntodayyourstomorrow-cheryl.blogspot.com/2010/01/chicken-project-part-iii-nametags_16.html for another example.

June Zentangles

More colorful zentangles from Mary:
Button

Sailor

Windmill

For more information about Mary and zentangles, go to:http://myturntodayyourstomorrow-cheryl.blogspot.com/2012/03/zentangles.html