The Continuation of 'They Make Cakes'

So I have these two friends, Katie & Becca. They make cakes. They're dynamic!

After creating an eye-catching, delectable cake for Becca's brother-in-law,
they were hired to make a cake for a 50th birthday party held at the newly restored Clyde Iron Works.

The birthday guy loves his Harley, so they made him one and I got to help!

I'm hoping these pictures aren't too heinous. They were taken on my crappy phone.

I was honored that they asked me to help. I've always veered away from anything pertaining to the kitchen, but I can't resist making things out of straws. So they had my devotion for a few hours on the terms that we would be able to listen to Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Bee Gees, and an excessive amount of the The Spice Girls.

I had forgotten how much I love building minitures out of straws. I had a doll house when I was younger and I made the furniture out of all sorts of straws and marbles. I'll show you some time.

We worked on this all through the night. Everyone was slap happy.

I couldn't stop saying, "May I smell your fingers?". (It's from that stupid Ford Focus commercial with Doug.) And Becca kept on pretending to see things outside in the woods, which gets me everytime.

  

I happen to love green frosting. So I'm really wishing I could have had a piece of this right about now.

The road actually looked like pavement. Like you could literally get road rash.

There was a debate over a few stones and whether or not they slightly resembled feces. That had to have been around 4 or 5. They all look like perfectly normal frosting rocks to me now. 

I'm so impressed by the Harley logo! I know the perfectionist in Katie was letting loose. Great result!

This bike was made for Gromit...or Wallace.

Couldn't you picture it? We'd need a decent side-car though...

Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday, Mike!

The 29th Annual Park Point Rummage Sale

I hardly slept a wink last night. I was so worried that all the bargains would be snatched up before I hit the pavement and began to rummage through those garages of Duluth's Park Point. Even though I didn't make it to my first sale until after three, I am still pleased with my findings. I have to thank the talented Amanda Weis, who will play the Baker's Wife in our upcoming production of "Into the Woods". If it wasn't for her, I would have missed them all together! So thanks, Amanda!
Here are a few of my finds:

Vintage screw-back sequin earrings. I'd like to know what era they are from. My guess is that they are older than the 1950's.

SCORE! Have I mentioned I love this film...and the soundtrack..and these stories? I really need to do a post on my obsession with this film. It's long over-due.

Yep! I'm gonna be having a Murder Mystery Party! Be looking for your invitation in the mail.  I have a feeling I'm going to have a difficult time trying to get people to attend this one though. It's an archaeological theme which kills two birds with one stone for me.

I loved this glass bead necklace. It's really long too and could/will double as bracelet.

Some have called this piece of sheet music my greatest garage sale find. When was the last time you listened to this song? Just try not to cry, I dare you.

Ah, somethings you just can't pass up...

"It's for the kids!" Actually, I got this for James. His response, "Uh, Money can't buy you friendship, Jena." (This is not a typo. He's never pronounced my name correctly.)

Then from the same garage where I found my phonograph cylinder last year, I found this No. 2 Brownie Box Camera for $1. It's from 1904. That happens to be the year that "Meet Me In St. Louis" takes place. I love that movie and know that this will make a great edition to my bookshelf. It's so interesting. The people at this sale were so friendly to me as well and remembered me when I revisited their sale later on in the day.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this bucket quite yet,...that is after I clean the worm guts out of it. Any suggestions as to how I could use it creatively?

Then, as I was walking back to my car, I noticed this was free. It has a new home now.
 

It could be the companion to Martin Crane's infamous recliner.
 
But I believe I've just found my next "before & after" project, which should be fun, because this will be my first ottoman!

John Singer Sargent

I just finished reading one of the worst books I have ever read.  At least it was short and quickly over.  Gee, the television show it was based on is so good. Where did I go wrong?

New rule: Never read a book based on a television show.

This rule should apply to books based on movies inspired by an original book as well. Didn't Michael Scott read the "novelization of the movie Precious based on the book Push by Sapphire"? Or was he just listening to it on audio tape? That brings me to a WHOLE other debate...If one listens to a book on tape, can they claim that they have read that book? You can voice your opinion below.
Back to this atrocious book. It felt like it was written by an amateur who had to meet a deadline and sloppily churned it out to his/her publisher over a weekend.
The only redeeming quality of this book was that a large portion of it was about an art collection. And it led to my discovery of this:
 

"Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" by John Singer Sargent is mentioned as one of the protagonist's favourite paintings. And the print is later given to her as a gift. I could see why she loved it. 
 

I had not been incredibly familiar with Sargent's work, but as it turns out, I have had a postcard of one of his paintings in my room for many years now. The painting, "In the Luxembourg Gardens at Twilight" made quite the impression on me, so much so that I had to purchase its postcard form in the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts gift shop after the tour.  I don't know if I can describe why it moves me, but I think it may reside in the motion of the piece. It looks as if the subjects are still moving and the smoldering lighting drapes a romantic mood upon the scene. I really liked what this blogger had to say about it. http://artdurkee.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-singer-sargent-appreciation.html
 
Here are several other paintings by Sargent that I admire.
 
The reflected clouds are stunning.

 

And like many artists and musicians, Sargent was close friends with other talented artists like himself. Apparently he was close to Claude Monet. "He did landscapes." If you ask me,they should be featured on the Awesome People Hanging Out Together site. 

I can almost see the finish line...

This poster hasn't been given the green light quite yet, but it's getting there.

I trashed my background sketch and reused the realistic pine trees instead.

Why? My reasons were two-fold.

1. It was too busy.

2. I'm never content with the outcome of Live Trace in Illustrator. It always obliterates my lines and makes everything jagged.  (And, yes, I've tried messing with all the options.) I wonder what Al Hirschfeld would have thought of Live Trace?


But back to the poster...It will appear much larger, so if you find it difficult to read, rest assured that the fine print won't appear so fine in the end.

What do you think of the slanted double red line divider? I needed a divider and thought of that at the last minute. In my symbolic world, it doubles as the road.  Is that too corny?


Hey, and look what I found when I was searching for a swanky picture of Hirschfeld! I should have known that one of my favourite illustrators of all time would have a depiction of "Sunday in the Park with George". To see more of Hirschfeld's work, click on the picture. It should direct you to his foundation.

After 2.0

Here's the picture of the chair with upholstery tacks. For some, it makes a world of difference.

Well, there are worse things than staring at the water on a Sunday

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891)

This painting is perhaps the most iconic piece ever done by Seurat. Even though it's wildly over exposed, it holds a special place in my heart. I'm not really sure why, but I've always been drawn to this. I always thought it was because I like parasols.

It must sound absurd, but I think I have a connection to this. After all I was born on Seurat's birthday and he painted this pointillism masterpiece in 1884, exactly 100 years before I was born. But I guess that doesn't mean anything because we share a birthday with Britney Spears as well.

I had always associated it with the scene in Ferris Bueller when Cameron Frye is in a trance staring at this speckled canvas. I'll refresh your memory.

I don't know if John Hughes was responsible for the cinematography for Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but it leaves me wonderstruck.

That reminds me, I need to take a Bueller tour of Chicago someday. Dear Jana, Add that to your ginormous list of goals. Thank you. 

At one point you could Adopt-a-Dot  from the pointillistic painting at the Chicago Institute of Art. I believe that window of opportunity is now closed. But I know you could pick the colour of your adopted dot and they would send you a sample and let you know the location of your dot on painting. I should have splurged and adopted one then and there. Ah, that would have been grande.

Several years later, I learned that there was a Broadway musical starring Mandy Patinkin & Bernadette Peters called Sunday in the Park with George which was inspired by the life of Seurat and the characters that model for this painting. His love interest was a woman named Dot.  It was also released the year I was born and written by Steven Sondheim and James Lapine. The former also happens to be the name of my brother. I love those sort of things.

Why I haven't seen this Broadway production yet, I don't know, but I ardently adore the music that I've heard so far.

Then my favourite television show released this promotional photo. I can't get enough. Superb! Although it's missing Michael.

And a mug of mine that I have somehow acquired over the years. Where did I get this?  I guess that's a mystery.

So do you have a painting that you feel an affinity to? Also, have you seen this painting anywhere else in pop culture?

Well, I hope you had a pleasant Sunday...and maybe it was spent in a park...with someone named Georges.

After

I still have to add the uphosltery tacks, but I was too anxious to share my progress on a project that has been in the making for 2 years. Plus, I get to cross off two items on my 2011 New Years Resolution list at once. This post also signifies my 66th post of this year which was another goal (The goal was to have 30 more post than last year. The number 66 has no significance to me. 666 on the other hand...jk)

Here's the before picture:

You can view the process here. Let's just say there were 4 layers of this onion to peel away.

And here's the after:

I'll definitely post a picture once the tacks have been added, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's comfy too!

If this has placed you in a 'chairy' disposition, perhaps you would like to browse through my favourite paintings of chairs found on the web.

The prolific artist's name is Kimberly Applegate. She paints chairs in the style of classic artists and often features one of their masterpieces on the wall in the background. She even imitates their style in order create the perfect habitat for the model chair. Her blog is called joie de vivre. Please allow for yourself at least 45 minutes to peruse her work. It's phenomenal.  Here's a teaser:

I love this for more reasons than I can list.

Here's the original Edward Hopper: A Room in Brooklyn.  I don't think she could have picked a more fitting companion painting for that chair. Yet that green light is impossible to recreate. It's legendary.

 

Why do I expect to see Calvin and Hobbes everytime I see this one?

And doesn't this make you want to be part of Christina's World?

Go ahead. Take a seat.