On Convenience | Paper 25

("Gas stations, robbing the world of mystery")

On convenience and the problems it presents to us in the end; on convenience and what it robs us of. Following a discussion of how we can never truly be "lost" these days.

From the collection of Original Little Pieces of Paper. 

Context: Picture the gas station for all of your road-traveling needs. From a fancy piece of cheese, to the modern ATM. From water with air, to the exact directions you need when you're lost from point A to B to D and back on track again, recounted to you by the gas station attendant who's using the iMap on their cell phone (since yours is charging in their wall), and not using their local prowess. Everything you need conveniently put there for you.

(This is true story.)

This is a true little piece of paper.

Note* This is also the description of a modern convenience store that also happens to sell petrol, not a dusty, broken-down, picturesque gas station. 

Convenience stores: robbing the world of mystery. 

When we rely only on what is convenient, we may be lead down a path of suffering so great that we don’t realize it is happening.

Copper Lion Revisited | Paper 24

("You are the best human I know. Thanks for making me want to be the best human I can be.")

Certainly that must be worth much.
Acrylic and mixed media on wood, 9"x5 1/2".

Shameful to think that if my wallet had gone missing, so may have this little piece of paper. So I made it part of this piece. Shameful to know that it's doubtful I can use it as my resume.

Tiny Fruits

Marker, watercolor, and ink on paper.

Origination: If I have a moment to put marker to paper, it's usually fruit that comes out. Just for fun. The simplest stupid indulgence.

Paper 23

Some little pieces of paper to start the new year. 

Things that make sense, things that are bits and pieces of what we learn as time happens, things that are in my ink notebook.

Always a good idea to ask this question. Especially to people you love (who are very close to you). Like.. in a timely and relevant fashion.

It always helps.

And now I love leeks.

Just say what you think, just pick something, just choose something, have a preference, keep caring about what you care about. And no one can actually know what you're thinking without it coming out of your mouth.

And sometimes at all costs. People can get pretty creative when they really want to.

Paper 22

("I love music [so much] more than painting.")

 In fact, it is cleaner. 

*NOTE* This is my 100th post! The irony, since this is also in fact, an art blog.

New Index

I was curious to see if I would work better (+faster) with a hands-on version of "every piece of artwork I've ever made" in tiny piece of paper form. It helps and I love it. It's like an odd little game every time I comb the images selecting which work samples to send off. 

Just for the sake of place holders I used things that were unfinished (pear below) but only one shot per mural. New categories coming soon on scbaker.com.

Found: North American Slides

Another tiny, red-toned drawing;

5"x7" ink, acrylic, pastel on paper. 

Based on slide below:

Whose slides?

In 2010 I used to go to the American Corner/Federalsburg, MD auctions. This is deep into Maryland's Eastern Shore.  One night I took three slide packs from a completely discarded table where everything was free, after the winning bidder took only what they were gunning for. They are labeled Alaska 1965, Plane trip to Slippery Rock, Some beautiful mountain landscapes, Cabin Caliadonia [meaning Caledonia?] *Special one, Mary & Walter, and Beach scenes. They are all very gorgeous slide photos. This particular one is a runway in Canada, of which there were several. Out of 90 slides, there is only one with people, (two people standing on a beach). There has to be some universal old photo lost and found. The ones I saw online seem junky. So if you read this and take interest, pass it along. 

Key info: slides, Alaska, Maryland, A. Curtis Andrew Auction, 1965, Canada, Caledonia, Walter & Mary.

Paper 21

I found a lot of new but old tiny-piece-of-paper memoirs while rifling through a box yesterday, this one seasonally appropriate. Happy post-Thanksgiving; I've realized I'm thankful for literally everything! This M. Cromwell card is at least from 2009 if not earlier. Neither of us won that contest, but Forrest and I did spend ten hours baking 3 pies and a cake this year with our homemade mixing innovation. 

Sketchbook Project

The Maryland Federation of Art celebrated their 50th anniversary by putting together a local chapter of the Sketchbook Project (endeavor of Art House Co-op). 100 sketchbooks were on display this summer at The Art Gallery, University of Maryland College Park, before joining the masses in Brooklyn. Mine was there, filled with little fragments and ink.

(Cover [tiny pear with tiny gold leaves, on gloss white])  

("Are you getting enough? [Vitamin A]")

("coffee fox")

(Page 2: "Pear, identical to a new painting of a pear. Except that one looks like this: [arrow]

And then, I agreed to an adventure with an adventurer and a photographer.")

 ("On our way to Centralia, PA in Tucker's green jeep")

They even gave me this odd little sketchbook tattoo!

Hook, Rack, & Holder

I installed my sister's easy gift: the sanded branch with a painted popular aesthetic. Now she can hang her skivvies and earbuds from it. I went with the less dramatic hardware, due to the shells and turquoise hunks wired through the centers, with a few feathers on the end. 

Next was a solution for bracelets. I like a lot of the DIY "movement's" solutions for all things that get tangled and are tiny, and are almost always in a woman's room. This one is pretty obvious. Glued wood (Forrest abandoned our mailbox sign), with knobs on sale from Anthropologie. They can be knobs from the dumpster, it doesn't matter. Let them hang out far if you have a lot of thick bracelets. My cousin Deanna made me the dreamcatcher in 1994, a great artifact. 

Another part of this non-tutorial: The Necklace Frame. There are so many gorgeous frames circulating in the world, but even an ordinarily plain one you can paint or metal leaf. Attach chicken wire or a mesh metal, like window screen. If you don't have chicken wire because it's expensive to buy a bolt when you need only a foot, you can attempt making it (see below).

Side note: I found it much easier to lean than to hang, so I attached a small foam pad to the back upper side.

 And here's an extra Indian print bag in green! I've noticed for some reason this is a popular previous post...

Paper 20

("Go to town")

This may or may not be my handwriting, but it was in the stash, and can mean absolutely anything.

Paper 19

("just somewhere that has palm trees and monoliths")

Día de los Muertos

The Day of the Dead coincided with my friend Damien's 30th birthday, so that was a party opportunity waiting to happen, especially since earlier in the year he was being a diva of sorts about the whole ThirtyMilestone. We kept a slightly satirical funeral vibe, complete with a coffin that he popped out of after we stood in a large circle reciting hilarious eulogies. What better way to dramatically tell your friends you love them? But the Dia de los Muertos aesthetic can be completely gorgeous and I think from now on I'll be skipping Halloween and sticking with this. Of course they really do it up right in Mexico and other participating cultures; large breads shaped like skulls, and parades...

Backyard lighting

Hurricane Sandy day two. Candles were not just for looks.

Forrest painted this both pretty and practical, and now he has a newly awakened love of painting all things. Looks like I have a new studio partner. 

Another by product of Hurricane Sandy. A rope was strung up indoors for this. It reminds me of 'putting the F-U-N back in funeral'.

 Going to work

Colors we could wear everyday. Totally.

Paper 18: Indian prints

 Not my print job, just some very old favorites. Tiny 3" paper Indian gift bags. Held on to since 1999, via moksha-imports.

Paper 17

("There is no boldness anymore")

 Is there, or isn't there.. I would like to see it.

With additional note to pick up the typewriter.

Paper 16, Ladybugs/mortality

Ink on paper; After once upon a time stumbling into Lindsay's cabin and noticing hundreds upon hundreds dead (ladybugs), though they looked peaceful. 

Tonight: Sneaky Pete watching Forrest reading Grace Slick's autobiography and blankly asking "what is this?" Note the neon melon paper and tank top; the camera cannot even do their brightness justice.

Paper 15

Here's a little piece of paper for the old rocker in all of us..[related fact]: Today is also Melissa Cromwell's birthday. Check out her work http://melissaannecromwell.wordpress.com/. Check out her other work at http://www.jonathanadler.com/, too.

("How do you feel LOVING the most popular man in AMERICA?? [Bruce Springsteen]")

PS PS PS

http://yesbaker.tumblr.com/ is my new mood board style blog. Here you can also find a little montage shrine dedicated to M.Cromwell today. Other days see spectacle, color, and tableaux vivants.

Leftovers part 1: Valentines (Paper 12)

Only because I actually do enjoy the celebration of St.Valentine's Day, thanks to all of the colors in the middle of dreary Winter.

 Cara Cara oranges are in season. So are heart ice cubes.

 Click to enlarge; top right corner!

 Thanks to chef JC Lowery; Brie En Croute with too many fresh berries.

And of course our handmade paper selections...