A present for Wolfie. Besides underwater themed art and photography, I also have a penchant for using light in art, glowing art, strange lamps, 6 foot ladies with light bulb heads.
When I saw these pieces utilizing vintage photographs AND light, I knew I had to try to make something like it. This was my first attempt and as you can see, somewhat poorly executed, but still pretty satisfying.
I plan to find the perfect photo incorporating water and people, have it printed on a huge canvas, then shine lights through it so that I have an entire beautiful wall. I already made a large piece like this on a movie set to act as a romantic headboard for a steamy love scene but it only featured cherry blossoms.
I think a photo of actual people staring out of the past illuminated will be much more interesting, though slightly less *cough erotic.
It's finally done. We've been waiting to see the finished version and to
share with our friends this beautiful tiny film. The band: Explosions
in the Sky (a wonderful Texas band). Directors Annie Gunn and Peter
Simonite.
This project is close to my heart because
Annie is an old friend of mine (who actually was the photographer at my
wedding), Peter is her mega talented and kind sweetheart, our fake
family Ryan (Wolfie) Hall and Kathleen the Fashion Queen are the kissing
couple, Evan (my husband, Tacks the Boy Disaster) has a short cameo on
the piano, Rachael Morgan did the 1950s makeup (she married my old high
school chum AND did my hair in my wedding, and Ruby's first haircut) her
handsome son Memphis plays the boy in the coonskin cap and of course,
Ruby and I are the bubble girl and mom. (Jesse missed his chance at
stardom when we had to leave set for naptime)
Aside
from being surrounded by my favorite people, I am completely honored to
be part of something so well done and gorgeous. The song is epic, the
lighting dreamy, the period costumes and set impeccable. I cried the
first time I saw it and I hope you thoroughly enjoy the the next 7:06
minutes of your life.
Wolfie on kissing his hot girlfriend: "IT WAS SO HARD BUT I THINK I DID AWESOME"
Oh kitten power. Wolfie brought over the newest member of his family yesterday, rescued from a future of hard knocks on the streets of Austin and tossed into a sumptuous new life complete with unconditional love and soft meats steeped in gravy.
He has an ongoing contest to decide the little hero's handle and my favorites so far are "Jimmy Cream", "Kidbones" and "Cell Phone." What is your best feline moniker? Ruby is set on naming him "Baby". (disappointing considering her own menagerie is peppered with awesome ones such as Bean, Daisy, Dinah, Sunny, Koko, Emerald, Gwalfo, Roscoe, Rose, Minty, Michi, Lavender, Little Girl Blue, yes-Kidbones and Hans)
This fuzzy guy was smothered in kisses and rough love until he passed out from exhaustion so we tumbled out of doors to exercise the neighbor pup and freshen the fig tree. Ruby was delighted to find a large sleeping snail and was desperate to wake him so we plopped him into a bowl of water and watched in fascination as his gooey highness slowly emerged.
At our last house we had a biblical plague of these same largish garden snails, I thought they were kinda kitschy at first, then when I couldn't play in the yard without the inevitable "POP!cruuuunch" underfoot I became enraged with disgust and spent an hour collecting a couple hundred of the buggers in a box and deposited them down the block in an empty lot. It didn't really help curb the population though and it still took me quite a few barefoot mollusk murders before I learned my lesson and started wearing shoes constantly.
What a boring story. The point was: after touching it's weird stem eyes and watching it slime around with rapt attention for 20 minutes I convinced them to release him so we could go inside and learn all about snails on the internet.
These particular ones are called Otala Lactea, or Milk Snails and are in fact, edible! Not kosher of course, but a delicacy in France and free in Texas. So, if you have a hankerin' for fresh escargot I have the hot foraging tip ya'll.
I have included below a strangely satisfying sped-up video of a milk snail eating lettuce. More fun snail facts here.
This recipe is from the hot haute kitchen of Wolfie, I just added cilantro.
What you need:
scallions
cilantro
olive oil
small glass container
some kind of blender
style
I think the pictures are self explanatory. Combine. Blend. Transfer. Dance. Feed herb sprigs to silly children(sorry, "baby goats"). Flavor improves in the fridge. Shake the beauteous green drops on anything, stir frys, eggs, tacos, ice cream, or just for pretty on a big white plate. I just had some on my fish curry and doubled my satisfaction.
Ruby made her first real sculpture this morning! I was beginning to wonder if the art gene had skipped over her, considering the colorful stacks of scribbles I've been gifted so far. This thing not only resembles a human, but has a very intricate twisted hairstyle featuring painstakingly rolled individual hairs. Needless to say, my little artist mommy heart nearly burst with pride and I immediately built towering castles in the sky for her and her budding talent. "She needs arms. " says Ruby. Inspired by Wolfie...
