Aleksey and Marina - Photographers

Aleksey Kozlov
and Marina Khlebnikova
are a dynamic photography
duo from Russia.

They specialize in both
photography and "phtoto
painting" digital techniques.
Their work is gorgeous,
well thought out, and edgy
without crossing the line.

Damn, this traffic jam...

how I hate to be late
hurts my motor to go so slow
damn
this traffic jam
time I get home
my supper'l be cold
damn
this traffic jam

well I left my job about five o'clock
took fifteen minutes to go three blocks...
just in time to stand in line
with the freeway lookin like a parking lot
-James Taylor

I was stuck in traffic about a week ago on my way home from work, and I decided to take a side road -- but so did everyone else, so I was still stuck in traffic,so I took out my digital camera to capture some scenes along my slow ride home...




The one with the car was a complete accident that I think turned out pretty cool. The car wasn't there when I focused on the tree in someone's yard, but by the time the shutter depressed, it zoomed by. Of course, I was just getting to enjoy this project and traffic started moving again so this was the extent of it.

Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Elvira, and...

my sister Jennifer, all know the truth.
We were meeting a friend for dinner last night, and my sister arrived at my door in black pants, black tank, black shoes, and black accessories. Since I had the air conditioner set to sub-zero to compensate for my latest hormonal rebellion, Jennifer decided that she might be cold at dinner, (in fact she was already freezing), and asked to borrow a sweater. I handed her a black one, but then offered one in a color, so she wouldn't be completely shrouded in black. My sister's immediate reply as she snatched the black sweater was "You can never wear too much black."




In spite of the fact that I'm an artist, and I love color (just look at that blog header), I have to agree. In clothing, black has so many positive attributes. It's slimming (halleluja), it matches everything, (if for some strange reason you want to wear it with a color), and you can find just about every type of clothing and accessory in black - shoes, panties, pantyhose, pants, skirts, shirts, belts, scarves, and jewelry, to name a few. And it's a fact -- most people just look cooler in black. (Not all people - black is just a color, not a miracle worker -- and okay -- black is not really a color either, it's really the shade of objects that do not reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum, but I digress.)
In fact, the only bad thing about black is its mortal enemy - WHITE - as in pet hair, lint, deodorant, powder, etc. So now I have to go up to my attic and take down my fall-winter clothes, which are about 75% black, 15% gray and 10% other colors, for when I'm feeling mischievous!!

Autumn with Abigail

...the Argiope Aurantia

In spite of her frightening appearance, this femme fetale is harmless to humans (though I did not sit her on my shoulder to see). Abigail has taken up residence on my front porch, where she wove this stunning web between an arborvitae and a boxwood. She is often referred to as a garden spider, for her tendency to set up house in gardens, and though harmless to us, you do not want to fly in her midst if you happen to be a bug or butterfly (and I would not want to find her cozying up to me on the sofa!). I'm hoping she hangs around until Halloween. She's such an authentic decoration, don't you think?

If you've noticed an absence of art on my blog lately (as well as an absence of blogging generally), it's because it is my crazy season at work, which will end blissfully at about 10 am tomorrow morning, when my colleagues drive off in a rented minivan for our annual convention in Atlantic City. As the graphic artist, I spend the month of September designing and overseeing RUSH printing jobs for books, fliers, brochures, buttons, stickers, giveaways, cds, and display units. The RUSH part happens because everyone enjoys the last warm, lazy days of summer until Labor Day, and then they panic when September arrives and they've not given a thought to their convention projects. I've become accustomed to this panic, which sets in immediately on Tuesday morning after labor day, when the rested and suntanned return from vacations at the Shore and on the Cape. My voicemail and email boxes are full of exclamations and exclamation points stressing how urgent their projects are, even though they were not given a thought just a day earlier.

So after 10 am tomorrow, I will take a deep breath, a sip of my diet Pepsi, and hopefully get back to a regular pace at work, which allows my mind to wander in creative ways so that when I return home, I can blog and make art again.

New blog topic - My crush of the month...

Now and then, when I listen to a new cd or read a good book, or watch tv, I think hmmmm, I like that guy. So once a month, or not, since I make the rules on this blog, and I can do whatever I want, (so there) - I will share my crush of the month, whether or not you care.

This month it's Vern Yip, whose current claim to fame is as a judge on HGTV's Design Star show, and a new show called 'Deserving Design' which is on too late for me to stay awake for, so I'll have to catch it during the week in reruns. You may also remember him as one of the designers on Trading Spaces in its early days (when it was good). He was the one who made the participants cry with joy, unlike Hilde and Doug, who put fur on the walls and pissed everyone off.

Anyway, isn't he just cute? Plus, he decorates really well. And I love take-out Chinese food, so I think we may already have something in common. (What, you didn't expect this to be very deep, with that title, did you?)

And I know what you're thinking. He's a designer, he's neat, he's single.... he's gay.
I googled him, and of course, he's evasive about his plans for the future, (except that he'd like to have children,) which means, I know... he's gay.

But what do I care? Actually, I do care. Even if I can't have him, I think it's a shame that so many guys with his stats end up on the other team. It's just not fair.

But, I know. Life's not fair.
Feel free to share you comments on this new blog topic, or just tell me who your crush of the month is...

I've moved!!!

I didn't relocate under a toad stool as this photo might suggest, although my husband wouldn't have minded moving all of my art supplies there. I just saw this singular 'shroom in the middle of our lawn and wanted to snap a picture. I will post with a picture of the room once I take one!!!

I've moved - Nope! not my blog, and not my house, but my art room!!! I moved one room to the right, to the brightest room in the house. I have been wanting to do this almost since we bought the house. When we moved in, I chose the smallest room for my studio, not realizing it was also the darkest, and really, way too small for all of my stuff.

I had to swap what was in my new room (mostly my husband's tools and ebay hobby), with my room -- which was a monumental task. I wanted to do it right, i.e., empty a room, spackle, paint, install new shelving and furniture, etc., but I am nowhere near ready for that, and I just got tired of waiting.

My husband and I have lost a number of friends and an elderly family member this summer, which always forces one to reevaluate one's life and goals. In my case, one of my reactions was to say - do it now!! You never know if there will be a tomorrow!!! Another great motivator was the fact that this is my last long weekend for awhile. So while my husband (for whom moving creates great anxiety) was at work on Friday, I summoned Herculean strength to swap two enormous oak armoires and all of our "stuff" from room to room. Max is utterly perplexed, and followed me back and forth about 200 times on Friday, not resting at all and not helping at all, I should add, but he's slowly getting used to it. The room is a bit bigger, and very bright, which will be particularly welcoming in the fall and winter.