Put Me in the Zoo?

When I was growing up, I loved Dr. Seuss.  Many of his books appealed to me due to their whimsy, colors, made up words and terrific ideas.  But the one that stood out among the others for me was Put Me in the Zoo. Maybe it was the colors, the polka dots or the message of trying to fit in, but realizing you should be yourself and stand out. Whatever drew me in, I loved it and still love it all these years later.

Even though I currently drive my 2005 "Mom Minivan" nicknamed Merlin, I can't help but sigh at the sight of cute VW bugs zipping around my town and think "someday." I have gone so far as to paint polka dots on fun VW's in my art series entitled VROOM.  Blue Bug 2 is below.

So, when I woke one morning with the idea that I should just find round plain car magnets and polka dot my mini-van, I couldn't wait to start Googling. Without much effort, I found Instant Karma, collections of fun magnets that you can use to decorate your vehicle.  And though mine is not yet the Beetle I hope to have one day, I couldn't resist putting my own spin on Merlin.







Check it out.  I have a feeling it will attract quite a bit of attention in my little Conservative enclave. And though I won't fit into the sea of white, grey, silver and beige cars I drive in each day, I might add just a little whimsy to the road. (And find my car easier in the parking lot.)

Collage is Not Just for Ransom Notes

I saw this great ad for a show at a museum in London (with the title above) and decided it was going to be our Art Studio sketchbook assignment for this week.  My students are busily working, but I finished first and wanted to share my finished page.

My assemblage is about my journey through art. I have used scans of my Beetle art pieces as the cars driving along the road and some great road package tape as the boundaries.  It was really great fun picking out all the different papers- cutting them into squares- attaching them and filling in with prismacolors. (In fact, I think I would love a quilt made out of these patterns and colors.)  It would also have been fun to make the entire background then attach 1 or 3 major figures or themes.  Hint: Nikki is playing with Ninjas from the Ninja Gmail background- can't wait to see how it comes out.)











From the beginning to the end (where you reach my newest Twitter avatar), you can see many fun mediums (symbolized by the papers/colors), twists and turns into new directions (shown by the road)-  always bounded by the tape, which are my guard rails.  It was fun and frothy and therapeutic.  Who doesn't like to color?









Coming next?  I'll share the other collages when finished, but this week, we are moving on to t-shirt rag pillows.  A great way to upcycle old tshirts and to create a really fun piece for your bed. I got the idea from a tshirt rag rug tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I'll share our inspiration with pics of what we make. To give you a clue, here's a preview of our trial rows.  Color, color, color!!