fanciful devices: Eye Candy for the Treatment of PMS

A Stone Is Nobody's

A man ambushed a stone. Caught it.
Made it a prisoner.
Put it in a dark room and stood guard over it for the rest of his life.

His mother asked why.

He said, because it's held captive, because it is captured.

Look, the stone is asleep, she said, it does not know whether it's in a garden or not. Eternity and the stone
are mother and daughter; it is you who are getting old. The stone is only sleeping.

But I caught it, mother, it is mine by conquest, he said.

A stone is nobody's, not even its own. It is you who are conquered; you are minding the prisoner, which is yourself,
because you are afraid to go out, she said.

Yes yes, I am afraid, because you have never loved me, he said.

Which is true, because you have always been to me as the stone is to you, she said.

Russell Edson

FAQs

1. Are you a Southeast Asian dancing girl from the 1800s?

No, sorry to disappoint. My avatar and banner images are from an ancient book I found in the depths of my grandmother's cabinets. More on that here.

2. How do you make everything look so old?

First, you need a good oxidizer to brush on every bit of metal you can reach. I'll tell you all about it here.

Then there's this wax. I first mentioned it here. You'll have to scroll down a lot.

3. How can you be so productive?

I'm insanely obsessed and I have no offspring. I do nothing else- I don't have a day job, I don't clean my house or cook, I spend all day in pjs, often completely abandoning personal hygiene... I only interact with other humans when I walk my dog. And I like people! But I prefer dogs.

And I'm sloppy- but I make that sloppiness work for me.

4. Any tips you'd like to share?

No! Except for these 16 posts about techniques and this one about how to find your aesthetic.

5. Would you be offended if I took some inspiration from your designs?

Well, I'd be happier if you outright copied them.

No really, imitation is how we learn. I have enough ideas to go around. And even if I don't- please. No one's going to do this obsessively enough to threaten my business. (Probably.) I learned by copying others and I've seen others copy me as a step toward developing their own voice. So feel free. (I'd love if you tossed me a link in my comments, so I can feel like a proud momma.)

6. What do you look like?

Why, what have you heard? Really? Wow.

4/23/10

Eye Candy for the Treatment of PMS

The level of PMS I'm dealing with has sucked out my will to exist. Guuuuhhhhh.

So I'm cheering myself up with this heavenly inspiration.

These sparks of mad glory are from the sold section in Sparrow Salvage's original shop, Little Brown Magpie.

Something about the color, vibrant against some sort of black inner background. It bewilders me with its beauty.

And this is from someone w/a massive knee-jerk reaction against all things purple- and we're looking at a loooot of purple.

Something about all this is so LUSH.

And look at these impossible stripes:

And these shapes? These random, ridiculous shapes? What right do they have to look precisely correct and totally accidental at the same time?

This orange and green makes my eyes say thank you:

Even these dirty whites (and I love dirty whites) seem to be struggling to push down an intense orange and green magic from behind it.

This pale dirty teal is breathtaking.

Even here, one of her earliest pieces, has the perfect raggedy layering of threadbare bits of treasures.

How does someone have such a consistent vision over so many items and over such a long period of

time?

In comparison, my stuff looks like it was made by an ADD sufferer with multiple personality disorder.

2 comments:

Penelope said...: Good grief lady! You make me feel special.You also make me realise something else. I lost the spark. That loving feeling. Oh that loving feeling. I was trying so hard to get to a certain aesthetic lately that I lost...all this, up there.

I love you. I know it sounds naff but you really hold a mirror up.; 4/23/10, 4:32 AM
fanciful devices said...: Hold a mirror up? naff? you know, i can make up words and expressions, too, chickafleedupala.
(I love you too.); 4/23/10, 9:32 PM