The Path to Hell-O Is Paved With Flip Flops

The recent mandates from the LDS leadership about Flip Flops has inspired me. I have been contemplating a new addition to my yard and I want to make a pathway to it but at the beginning of the path I'm going to make a sign that says, "The path to Hell-O is paved with Flip Flops" and it'll lead to a big sculpture I'm making from an old satelllite dish armiture.

On the eight steel arms will be a different resin or concrete sculpture of various gods, Vishnu, Jesus, Shiva, Buddah, etc. but in the middle will be the FSM, with his noodly appendages spread out to the various other Gods, welcoming them into his care.

On the armitures I'll hang some cables that will then have various scanty scandalous and obscene ladies underwear and the sculpture will be a tribute to the eternal Gods of Laundry.

So I know this is bizarre to request but if you have some old flip flops, some bizarre underwear that is too uncomfortable but entertaining to look at and you don't mind contributing them to my next freakish art project, please PM me and I'll give you my mailing address.

I calculated that I need about 200 pairs of flip flops to attach to the wire mesh that will then be embedded in the concrete and grouted to make the pathway.
I need approximately 30-40 bras, panties, girdles, and various oddities to hang on the clotheslines.

I can acquire at least six of the various Gods at my local Import and Swapmeets but I'm having a hard time finding the FSM. I think I'll have to manufacture him from my own mold or sculpture or assemblage.

When I get the FSM made and enough Flip Flops I'll purchase the other Gods and then put it together. I hope to offend most of my neighbors and all of my family but at least put a smile on someones face. It's the price I pay for art i guess.

I'm not kidding ladies and gentlemen. I need your old ratty flipflops. the more colorful the better. Don't worry if the straps are broken. That's where I'll wire them to the mesh base anyway.


HELP ME MAKE AN ARTISTIC STATEMENT!

We Are One

This is a tribute to technology that I collaged together from various images off the Net. I had first seen this incredible image of all these blue tv screens in a lovely arc and thought how technology can bring us the world in a nanosecond. I can read about many places in the world that I may never get to see, learn of different cultures, different music, art, etc. and all from the comfort of my own living room. I may never get to be a world traveler, but I get to do the Google and it's brought me a lot of joy and fun.


I also think Monkeys are running everything.

Rain soaked float

About 20 years ago we were having a family reunion at my mother's place in Sanpete County Utah and we wanted to surprise her with a float in the annual Pioneer Parade. I lived in California at the time and knew that I couldn't make a float in the three short days of the reunion so I made a collapsable cardboard house that we folded up and tucked into a car top carrier. When we got to Utah we mounted this cardboard house onto a flatbed hay wagon and then my siblings helped paint it. Unfortunately July's in Utah are known for heavy afternoon thunderstorms that can soak things in a nanosecond, and then be clear the next. The little house got pummelled with rain and hail the day before the parade and it warped and looked pretty sad by the time we got to use it.

Our last name being Dahl, we made a Dahlhouse with seven windows, one for a child from each of my siblings and I. Mom rode on a rocking chair on the front porch holding one of the littlest ones and the rest of the grandkids ( a mere 20 some at that time, now grown to 45) rode on the rest of the float. It was a lot of fun and a good memory for our family.

Lewes Delaware Pen and Ink Drawings

These eight pictures are actually four that were scanned in in halves but I haven't put stitched them together yet. The story behind these pen and ink drawings is a sort of love story with a very dear friend, old towns and homes, and my affection with an artist named Charles Wysocki. He did these very frontal folk art pieces showing some of the most charming New England towns in America, often in a sort of late 1800s theme.

My dear friend and his partner of 15 years were getting married on Cape Cod last October and he was gracious enough to invite my husband and I, as well as our daughter. In anticipation of his wedding I collected various photos of historic homes and buildings in Lewes Delaware where he and his husband live and I arranged them into Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall themes, trying to incorporate about ten historic homes in each seasonal image. I went to Google Earth and all over the net as well as got pictures from my friend showing the homes and buildings.

Then using the frontal style of Charles Wysocki I cut and pasted the houses onto a computer scrapbooking program and scaled them to a size that gave a little depth and proportion to the compositions. I used various Wysocki themes throughout the sketches since Lewes Delaware is a coastal city and has a lot of the same sorts of landscape details.

When I finished the drawings I inked them with  waterproof pens on bristol board and my daughter cut the mats, and my husband made the nice crisp black poplar frames. They were a huge hit at the wedding and according to my friend, many folks from Lewes love to look at them to find their home or a treasured historical building.

The project took about 100 hours including research. Maybe more. Going to Cape Cod and watching my friend marry the love of his life, priceless.

First Baby Clown Bedroom

Twenty seven or so years ago when I was expecting my first baby I was so broke I didn't have any money to decorate a nursery or even buy a crib. Most of the stuff we had was hand-me-down stuff or culled from dumpsters or curbside leftovers. I painted these pieces with some scrounged leftover paint and then decorated them with a clown theme that reflected some knick knack clowns my husbands grandmother had given him. My son was tiny enough to fit in what I now use as a spice bin.

Painted Dressers

This is a poplar, maple and hdf dresser I made for my daughter many years ago. I was tired of having cheap dressers fall apart so one year when I was working for a cabinet company I had a co-worker help me make three of these large highboy dressers with heavy duty drawers and hardware. I hid them in my bedroom for two months while I painted them (before art school and while I was LDS). My other daughters has the Manti Utah temple on it, and my son's is painted like a big leather steamer trunk with old fashioned car stickers on it. They were not cheap even though we built them from scratch and so that year I bought some very small toys from the dollar stores and put them in the drawers with new pajamas and shoes and that's what my kids got for Christmas. They were initially a bit disappointed that there weren't too many toys under the tree but now 15 years later they're still using these heavy duty dressers. I think they've forgiven me for not buying too many toys that year.

Growth Charts For Grandkids

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When my kids were born, many of my nieces and nephews, and now my grandkids I make them a themed growth chart from a 12" x 6' piece of pellon, (wallpaper liner). It accepts paint, crayon, marker, and glue well so is a great medium for a hardy piece of art for a kids room. These are two of my recent pieces for my granddaughters. I've done everything from Dinosaurs, robots, religious themes, alphabets and numbers, antique toys, and so many I no longer remember. It's a fun way to give them something they'll keep as a memento of their childhood and an artpiece from Grandma.