Red Invasion...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there. Things are very busy here! So much to share. To start, as promised, I have uploaded all the edited shots from the recent engagement shoot I did for a fun couple (and their dog) who were really up for anything. (And yes, there was glitter all over the studio when we were done, but I think you'll agree, it was worth it!) There are a few of those shots below, and the rest are in my Flickr stream here.

And some of you may remember that I decided to do a Fun-A-Day Project the entire month of January. Fun-A-Day is a way to incorporate more art time in your life by doing a piece a day for an entire month. For my project, I decided to shoot one red thing per day using the Instagram app on my iPhone. I now have 30 shots done and printed I will be showing them this Friday for First Friday here in Portland at the SKG Gallery. Here are some of those, and the rest are here.

And speaking of red, I have just completed the third (out of four) shot in my Red Army Series. I love how these are coming out. And if you're new to this conversation, this series subtly depicts the true power behind the man, as well as showing some of the very young faces that could have fought in wars past when even teenagers were made to serve.

And speaking of a sort of classic, timeless look, I am loving illustrator Jonathan Bartlett's work lately. He has an almost surreal style that also features timeless fashion and character choices that elevate the strange themes to beautiful art. Take a look at some examples, great work. I especially love those rabbits in the venus fly traps.

Let's wrap up with a blog recommendation, shall we? Have you heard of Black and WTF? I've put some examples below, but you could get lost for hours in the pages of unusual, old black and white photos on this blog. Great stuff. Check it out.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Glittery Garland and Shimmery Ampersands...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there in the world. I am doing very well over here! To start, I am diversifying into engagement photography and I shot an amazing couple over the weekend. I offer styling services with my engagement shoots so people can pick unique clothes that really compliment their look. Well, this couple was all for it! They looked adorable. I will post some shots from that next week, but here are some pictures of the things I made for their shoot.

Mini corsages are all the rage for boys this year. I made this one out of felt and put it on the girl!

I made this glittery ampersand to use as a prop and it looked really good under the lights.

I see cool garland everywhere and it's always astronomically expensive, so I made my own! Looks like a 1950's prom. I love it.

If you're local and want to book a shoot, give me a hollar on my Facebook wall. It's a ton of fun.

And, I found the most amazing thing in a recent junking escapade, Kiddies! I have been looking for bull horns for above our mantel for years but they're always too expensive or damaged or have an ugly mount etc... Well, imagine my delight when I came across the huge pair below, complete with hair and an inscription that says: "Tijuana, Mexico 1969" for $40! I love them and they're hanging above our couch now (the boar I mentioned months back is above the mantel). What do you think?

Speaking of vintage goodness, a friend recommended I check out Jena Ardell's vintage-inspired Polaroid work and I'm glad I did. The faded colors and fun angles look like many of the Polaroids you see from the 60's and 70's (back when they were throw-aways, not objets d'art). I especially enjoyed her Wanderlust series, some of which is below.

I found a great shop on Etsy recently that makes handmade pillows that look retro and like the type that my Grandma had on her couch. MillsDesignCo also carries vintage items, but it's really the pillows that reeled me in. My favorites are below, but she makes a ton of different styles. I would like about 14 for my couch.

And I'd like to wrap up with a movie recommendation. I'm not sure if you've heard of Roller Boogie, but if you haven't, you're going to want to check it out ASAP. It's from the 70's, it stars Linda Blair and Jim Bray (some random dude who roller skated a lot back in the day), there is a ton of ridiculousness, oh, and there's Linda, playing a flute and rocking a side ponytail (as shown below). It's hilarious and it's on Netflix instant play right now. Go watch!

In this scene, Linda is thinking "Wow, and I thought I'd stooped as low as I could doing The Exorcist."

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Beautiful Ladies & Ghostly Gals

Hello Lovelies~

So much to share as usual! First off, as promised, here are some of the vintage hat shots from my recent studio event for the ladies! Everyone had so much fun. You may view more here.

And speaking of photos, I am always on the look-out for things I can use in my photography and at any given time I have approximately 10-15 projects going. Well, a trip to a local army surplus store yielded a surprising amount of stuff I can use in upcoming projects, including a Cold War, sexy Russian spy themed shoot I've wanted to do for awhile. This coat was great. It had all the original buttons on the front and a great Russian look to it. Now that we have some snow on the ground up here in Maine to lend a Siberian look to things, I will be kicking that project into high gear. Standby!

Oh! And remember a few posts back when I posted about buying Liza Corbett's Sweetheart Come piece? Well, it came recently and it looks amazing in person. The detail and level of craftsmanship are truly amazing and I couldn't wait to hang it right up above our bed! So, here are some shots of it hung up and looking snazzy.

And speaking of crazy (not that we were), yesterday, my Sweetie and I were out driving around doing errands, and we looked over at a car parked next to us and we saw this action. Yes, that's a tropical bird on the steering wheel in a car in Maine during the winter without the car running. I guess Polly just wanted to drive, eh? Poor thing... but it was hilarious to see.

And speaking of hilarious, have you heard of Randy Regier? He is an artist who takes vintage and new toys and creates tongue-in-cheek toys with packaging and everything. Check out his work, it's very funny. My two favorites were the Godforsaken Astronaut and the Bonnie & Clyde car. Great fun.

Let's wrap up with a movie suggestion, what do you say? Do you like Wes Anderson movies? (The Life Aquatic, Rushmore, Fantastic Mr. Fox.) I do. And apparently, he's releasing a new one this spring called

Moonrise Kingdom that looks just as quirky, colorful, random and funny as the rest of his work. I can't wait to check it out. What's your favorite Wes Anderson movie?

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Ghosts, Icarus, & Ladies in Hats...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you are all well out there. Things here are very busy and wonderful! To start, I had a free couple of hours in the studio this past weekend, so I hosted free head shots with a vintage twist for the ladies. Mimosas, vintage hats, makeup. We had a really good time. Shots to follow in the next post, but here are some pics of the studio all gussied up and ready to go!

Hats galore!

Don't miss the next event like this. If you're local, I announce all my fun stuff on my Facebook page here.

Have you heard of the Fun-A-Day Project? You basically gather a group of artists in a given area, and each artist agrees to create one piece of work per day for a whole month. I am doing Fun-A-Day with a group here in Portland. I'm shooting one red item per day the entire month of January, using the Instagram app on my iPhone. Here are some, and the rest will be posted on my Flickr stream here. Fun-a-day, indeed!

I came across a great short film from the 60's I believe that combines two of my favorite people: Ray Bradbury and Joseph Mugnaini. (Some of you may remember the little piece I wrote about Mugnaini here.) This film breathes life into Bradbury's short story Icarus Montgolfier Wright about an astronaut about to fly into outer space for the first time, looking back through the aviation history that brought him where he is. Take a look, it's a great little film.

Oh! I have to show you the great daguerrotypes my friend gave me recently. She said they are haunted, or the couple in them haunts a house, or something. The bottom line is, the tag said "haunted" and that makes it cool enough for me! I immediately put them in my very special bookcase full of old, rare books and special treasures. Take a look, I think they fit right in!

The same friend lent me a book I can't wait to start: Swamplandia. Heard of it? Apparently, it's a story with a bunch of eccentric characters who live at a gator farm in the Florida Everglades. If you read it, let me know what you think!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

New Year!

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this Monday finds you all in good spirits and ready to start a brand new year. I am excited about all the things on my horizon this coming year and I hope you are too. I have just discounted the rest of my Venomous Vixens 2012 Calendars to a mere $7 each + S/H. Only a few left, grab them while you can!

Those of you who have been reading my blog awhile know that I'm an avid junker and thrifter. I love finding new treasures and cleaning them up and using or selling them. It's a tradition for my Sweetie and I to go thrifting all New Year's Day and this year was no exception. We went to a ton of places and after climbing around in some dirty basements and dusty barns, we found some great things, including a vintage adult-sized clown costume. That's right. And I already know how I'm going to use it in an upcoming photo shoot. Take a look at what else we found below and here.

Clown costume!

This bull head actually goes on a bottle and you can pour liquor out of the mouth! Amazing.

I love ocean-related stuff and these Disney 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea puzzles were the bees knees.

I'm sure most of you have heard of Stanley Kubrick, he's the director of Clockwork Orange and 2001 a Space Odyssey, oh, and The Shining. But did you know he was also a photographer? Yeah, neither did I. And he was quite good at it. Check out these amazing shots! The rest can be found here.

And speaking of amazing things, in my travels through cyberspace recently, I found Stranger & Stranger, a package design company specializing in alcoholic drinks. As you can see from the examples below (just a few of their designs), their look is distinctive and seamlessly melds vintage fonts with modern class. I would buy these bottles just for the labels, Folks. Not kidding.

And while we're on the topic of vintage-inspired class, let's talk about Bonlook, a site specializing in fashion glasses and sunglasses. Well, I wear glasses myself and I love vintage-looking frames, but the few times I've bought a pair, they've been bent or bowed or scratched to the point where I can't actually wear them. Enter, Bonlook! I have earmarked 3 of their styles already and event that was tough... I love them all. Here are a few examples:

Until next time: Unpleasant dreams...