Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Need Vintage ... You Got It!!

You have got to check out this site for some of the most beautiful vintage steampunk and other art that can be downloaded and used in your art: http://www.alteredartifacts.blogspot.com/.   This is truly a treasure trove of some of the greatest altered art I have found!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Such Nunsense!!

My mom turned 85 yesterday and to celebrate her birthday, I made a doll for her as her patron saint.  Mother Merry Walker is the Patron Saint of Senior Walkers.  She comes with an iPod tuned to "A Closer Walk with Thee," and the photo on her monitor is a miniaturized scene of the view out my backdoor which is graced by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
Mother Merry Walker is about 7-8 inches high and she is signed and detailed on the back of her wings.  She sports cross-trainer shoes and is full of zip and vigor just like Mom. 

My mom walks every morning for a half hour at 4:30 a.m. in her condo highrise apartment building.  She is bright, adorable and beautiful.  Mother Merry Walker is just a reminder to Mom that I am thinking about her as she starts her day.  Love you, Mom!









Mom

Sunday, May 1, 2011

It's A Hit!!!! Off-Broadway Production Goes Off the Charts!!!

Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!!

After three intense weeks of designing, sewing, painting, photosmithing and national security level secrecy, the details of the finished production of the 40th anniversary gift may now be revealed!!!

It's a Hit!!!  There was a 40th anniversary bash given by the two siblings/daughters of the gorgeous couple which had the anxious crowd in tears, applause and laughter after the presentation of nostalgic slides and a loving  film of a collection of most precious memories and a tribute to the special love shared by my sister and brother (b-i-l).  Talk about love ... there was floor to ceiling Love in the entire day from sumptious and lushious food, a gorgeous, multi-tiered wedding cake, elegant decorations, tearful toasts and most rapturously ... the initial "Surprise!!!  Happy 40th Anniversary!" chorus as the clueless couple stepped across the threshold into the smother of hugs and kisses from friends and relatives.  Needless to say, they were both speechless and later reduced to futile attempts to smother tears of joy as the party proceeded from greetings, to slide presentations, to an unforgetable "This is Your Life" musical portfolio of the couple's romantic years of love and devotion from precious childhood, high school prom and engagement to a concluding scene of a romantic stroll arm-in-arm together down a garden path into the softness and future of two lives well-spent together and the continual reassurance that the love they share crowns each day of their lives and will always grace the future.

So, without further ado, here are the final pictures of the anniversary project and tribute to these two: 


The idea :

Punch & Judy style taken from the historic past ~
Beautiful Rendition of Punch & Judy Style Theater used as inspiration

Mike starring as Punch ~~ with crown moulding as his bat (long story but he is renown for his valiant efforts of embellishing miles and miles of crown moulding in the rooms of their gorgeous home at Chris's request until he finally fell victim to a ruptured Achilles tendon):


Chris starring as Judy ~~ Chris sports a rolling pin suggesting her modern-day feminine equality in this union and carries their two daughters (now grown women), Erin (with glasses) and Kelly (with red hair).


and the stage ~~


This picture shows the playbills.  The second playbill says:  "40+ years, Longest Running Show in Off-Broadway History, Starring Chris & Mike McDermott."  The ribbons hold the puppets in place when in storage in the stage box.

The sides of the stagebox have renditions of actual Broadway reviews or currently running shows decoupaged to the sides.  The review credits and reviews themselves were adapted to suit this unique presentation and may or may not be accurate.



Finally, the completed artpiece ensemble ~~




 
And that concludes our presentation with congratulations and best wishes to my sweet sister and brother for a continued long and happy marriage and hopefully we will see you at the 50th anniversary!!
Finis!!!!