Fabulous Finds...and a little more

For some reason, I'm really tired tonight, and have used that as an excuse to, yet again, not run test prints of my lino blocks. When I'm tired, I find writing seems to be much easier than pulling out the art supplies and working them. Surely, I'll kick myself if I don't get those test prints done soon! Seriously, what's the point of carving them if they're just going to hang out on the table! And why do I find it easier to carve linoleum than to print the carved pieces? Who knows!

A few months ago my cousin, Beverly, sent me some copies of old family photos she has.  I actually got the photos the same day I got the Records Release form from Fairview Developmental Center to request my grandmother's hospital records. The photos were so cool, but this one has really haunted me.  It was a copy and probably the original is not very big, so it isn't the best quality nor clarity, and I really need to get a scan of the original to better "research" the people in the photo.

Now I know my dad, and I know that the little boy with the ball on his head on the right is him. I also know that the tall guy with the wild hair next to my dad is my grandfather, Earl (aka Red) - and it's funny that tall and wild hair does run in the family. Could the lady next to Red possibly be my grandmother, Lola? I don't know as I've now only seen one picture of her that I'm aware of and that was the "inmate" photo on her admittance forms from the State hospital; a photo that does not depict a happy, young woman in her 40s. I also wonder who the other people are, and wonder if this picture was taken in Mason City, Iowa, where my dad was born. I'm still not sure when or where or how Lola and Red landed in Mason City, but I do know that they stayed there until my dad was 10 years old and then they moved to California.

You know that saying, "Those who can't, teach"? Well I think that saying sucks! In my opinion, anyone that teaches, provides a tremendous service to society, and sometimes, they are lucky enough to teach something they absolutely love!! What better way to spend your 9-5? I've always thought it would be so cool to be an art teacher. Imagine spending your days teaching people to paint, while you're also working on your own paintings that you might just show or sell!! Today's Fabulous Finds features someone that is an artist and an art teacher!

Katt, from Black Friday Studios, is a fabulous painter! Some of the best Johnny Depp paintings I've seen, have been at her Etsy shop! Yes, I do L-O-V-E Johnny Depp.

She is also an animal lover, and does donate to her local shelter and animal charities (which I find admirable)! This multi-talented lady is also a blogger. But she doesn't ONLY paint Johnny Depp, she also paints fabulous animal portraits! I really love her work and find her totally inspiring!

 The realism in her paintings amazes me, as I am NOT a realist when I paint. I think any student lucky enough to be in her art classes should be "thanking" God, and I'm sure learn a lot from this cool teacher!

Etsian Artists Team Treasury Challenge, Week 4

Yeah! I made the finals in this week's team challenge! The theme was "geek". Now it's time to vote. I have some serious competition here, but the cool thing is that the winner will be interviewed and featured on the team blog (which has an ever growing following) for a week and that means any shops featured in the winning treasury will also get the exposure! How cool is that? The other fun rule - next week's challenge must feature an item from the winner's Etsy shop.

So, without further ado, here's my contribution! Of course, I want to win, but really do exercise your rights and vote for your favorite.  I did buy lottery tickets today, so maybe I can win there if not in the challenge LOL!



Also, I pulled out my fabric ink to test print my lino blocks and much to my horror the ink was all dry! I had to grab my mom and run out to the art store! Yikes. Got new ink and will have to test print tonight. On a downer note, didn't get my hair colored. I wonder if I can use that as an excuse to not go to work tomorrow. Probably not. Ugh.

The Hair Color, Wash and Set, and a Genealogy Challenge

Busy Saturday. Took my mom to get her hair colored today. Three hours later, we left the salon! You might gasp that it took that long, but you must realize that we are not talking about the blow-dry type salon here. My mom comes from the wash and set with curlers and sit under the hairdryer generation.  Once the hair is dry, it is followed by back-combing and teasing and lots of hairspray! But she was happy, and that's the point!

After the appointment, I made her lunch and we went to get her vitamins and pick up a few grocery items (and lottery tickets for me). Then home to watch recorded episodes of Keeping Up Appearances while I put the finishing touches on The Dionne Catuplets (should be ready to list tomorrow). So, yet again, no test prints of lino blocks! Tomorrow for sure. I will get up in the morning, make a cup of coffee and get printing!

In between the above, and making dinner, I checked my blog reading list and found a fun post at GenBlog about a challenge. The challenge is to list your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places), countries, etc.  Well, since my genealogy research of the past two years has really only focused on my paternal grandmother, Lola, and her family, I am not ready to participate in a challenge dating back that far. However, I can list two of my paternal great grandparents and give a little history of them! So here goes.

George Cloos - Father of my paternal grandmother, Lola. Born 23 Dec 1871 in Germany (not yet sure where in Germany). Son of George Cloos and Elizabeth Grauhausen (both from Frankenthal, Germany, according to grandpa George's death certificate which I have a copy of). From what I can tell, he arrived in the US in 1876 at age 5. He had an older sister named Catherine E. Cloos Sowers Mauzy that he was very close to. He married my great grandmother, Effie Furst Beck 14 Dec 1892. They had five children - Bessie, Lola, Monroe, George and William. They split up before 1910 and were divorced 11 Oct 1920. George remarried Grace M. Hayes Abel Cloos sometime after 1920. I have established contact with a granddaughter of Grace and she has a picture of grandpa George to share with me once I make my trip to Illinois. George died in Decatur, Illinois on 28 June 1947.

Effie Furst Beck Cloos Roby - By far, the most notorious of my great grandparents, Effie was the mother of my paternal grandmother, Lola. Born 9 Aug 1871 in Prairie Home, Shelby County, Illinois. Daughter of Wells Marcus Beck and Emma Mayben (both from Pennsylvania). Her middle name, Furst, was the maiden name of her paternal grandmother, Leah Furst (mother of Wells Marcus Beck). Effie was the fourth of ten children. I have learned quite a bit about her thanks to a favorite site for genealogy research called NewspaperArchive.com. They have many Decatur newspapers archived there.

On 23 Sept 1889, Effie gave birth to an illegitimate child she named Zetta Fern Beck. According to newspaper articles, Effie was "betrayed" by a 25 year old "Lothario" named Charles Cox, who refused to marry her after, as her father, Wells, put it, "blighting the life" of his daughter. Effie did charge Charles with "bastardy" and that must have been terribly scandalous in the 1889s! A young woman of 17 years old being pregnant and unwed must have been enough to drop a family from certain social activities of the time. Wells and Emma did claim Zetta as their daughter on later US Census reports, yet, Zetta was never mentioned in obituaries for Wells, Emma or Effie.

I'm not sure yet how George Cloos and Effie Beck met, but I think George may have known Effie's brothers (from articles I've seen). George and Effie married 14 Dec 1892 and their first child, Bessie, was born 7 months later on 1 July 1893. They then had four more children - Lola, Monroe, George and William. They split up sometime before 1910 and Effie and the children were living with different families as either laborers, domestics or servants for their board. Obviously, Effie was in no position to financially support five children once her marriage split up. I still cannot find grandpa George's whereabouts in 1910, but have found him in newspaper articles in Decatur from 1915 on.

Effie was arrested a few times in 1914 for being drunk in public. The articles did mention that she had a hard life. On the 13 Jan 1920 census she was "married" to Ellsworth Roby, yet her divorce from George Cloos wasn't "official" until 11 Oct 1920. Effie was arrested in 1930 for illegally selling booze and died at the young age of 59 on 13 Apr 1931 in Decatur, Illinois.

Moms, and My Attempt at The 30 Day Art Challenge

I went to a really nice memorial service today. A good friend of mine lost her mother last week after being diagnosed with brain cancer a few months ago. These past few months have been extremely hard on my friend as she and her mother were very close. Her mom was an amazing woman. She had a bit of a hard upbringing and was a single mother raising two young daughters when her marriage broke up, but did manage to overcome the hard times and succeed. She also instilled that drive in her own children, who are both very successful and independent young women now. She had a love of life and was taken way too early. She was only 59 years old.

After the service, I went to the office for a few hours before leaving to pick up my mom for her eye doctor appointment. As I've mentioned before, my mom has macular degeneration and has stated that she didn't feel like her glasses were good any longer. She had the full eye exam and her prescription glasses checked. Basically, the doctor said she is in the "end stages" of macular degeneration and that there is nothing that can be done to improve her vision and that it would just be a waste of money to get new glasses at this point. He also said that two major factors contribute to this condition - age and genetics, and then asked me when I last had my eyes checked and told me that I had a 30% chance of getting it! So, some things you can do to help prevent or slow the condition is to eat well (fruit and vegetables with every meal), don't smoke, and avoid hardcore drinking.

We left the appointment and I took my mom to a salon for some pampering. Then we came home. I made vegan lasagna for dinner and it was killer! I made a double batch of tofu ricotta from the Skinny Bitch in The Kitch cookbook, Daiya cheese, lasagna noodles, black olives and two jars of tomato and basil marinara sauce. Layer and bake for 60-75 minutes at 375F and then let it set for about 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. I think what made this batch of lasagna sooo good was the marinara I used! As it was baking, the house spelled so fabulous!

Making some minor finishing touches to my latest mixed media "masterpiece". Then I can list the prints on Etsy. This was inspired by an episode of Antiques Roadshow. Someone showed up with collectible Dionne quintuplets dolls and that inspired this piece that I call "Dionne Catuplets". Now, I just have to finish it and list it.

Then I must run test prints of my carvings! That is on my "to-do" list daily and still isn't done. Ugh. Maybe I'll find my second wind after I finish this post and wash up the dinner dishes.

Falling out of Bed

I took my mom Saturday for her massage and chiropractor appointments. Luckily, both are at the same place. She had the massage first. While my mom was having her treatments, I waited in the lobby thumbing through magazines. It was hot Saturday morning and the office didn't have A/C (not sure if they don't have it or if it wasn't working), but they had fans blasting and doors opened.

Phyllis, the massage therapist, came to the lobby to get a cup of water from the dispenser. She told me that she noticed a huge bruise on my mom's lower back. I hadn't noticed this. It turns out that while I was in San Diego on the business trip, my mom fell out of bed and that is what caused the bruise.

When I got home from my business trip, my mom did tell me she fell out of bed. She said she just woke up and was on the floor. Good thing she didn't hit her head on the corner of the nightstand! Since then, I check on her at night to make sure she is not on the edge of the bed. If she is, I have her move towards the middle.

I wonder why people fall out of bed. Could it be active dreams that cause them to roll around? I can't remember the last time I fell out bed (if I ever have). I know that my mom fell out of bed a few months back, before she came to live with me and did recall a dream she was having, and just waking up on the floor.

The massage seemed to really help her as she had been complaining about a pain in her side and low back (which I suddenly understood why she had that pain). When we got home, she knocked out on the couch for an hour and I took advantage of the quiet and worked on a mixed media painting and began carving another lino block.

I spent a good portion of the weekend working on these two projects and they are just about done! I tried taking a few pictures, but they don't look that good so I can't share them here now. Hoping to get pictures during daylight tomorrow. I'm also hoping to run some test prints of my carvings! Yes, I still haven't done that.

Visions of Sugarplums, Visions of Art to Come, and Retro Modern Projects!

After my business trip Monday night to San Diego, I have found myself busy with day job work and just not being creative! Not good. Needless to say, I now have even even more sketch/collage/painting ideas that are just waiting to come to life. I still haven't test printed my weekend carvings either.

Funny thing happened at the business trip on Tuesday. I took my older Epson all-in-one with my co-worker and I so that we'd be able to print and/or scan documents we needed for our trip. I purchased a newer model printer a few months back and my older model has just been hanging out at the house unused. When I needed to scan something Tuesday morning, I lifted the cover on the printer and noticed a page there, face down. I picked it up and was so surprised to find one of the medical reports I received from Lola's State Hospital files! That was weird, I thought. I wondered why I left that there and didn't put it in the file I am keeping on her. Hmm.

It did remind me that there is still much research to do on Lola (although that is always on my mind). For one thing, I really need to take a trip to Sacramento (State Capital) to see her records as I've learned that these are public. Now, I do find that odd, considering HIPPA laws, but maybe it isn't so much about medical records being public but rather court or inmate records. Basically, Lola was in the State Hospital system and therefore considered an "inmate" and inmate records are public!

The other thing that is still a mystery is when and where my grandparents met and married. I have no clue. I would love to find something on that, especially if there is information as to who witnessed the nuptials. I find it odd that I cannot find anything documenting their marriage, yet as far as I know, they were married (my dad was not listed on his birth certificate as a bastard child).

So, while I try to get back in the creative and genealogy detective groove, let me introduce another artist I absolutely L-O-V-E! Her name is Stacy and her Etsy shop is RetroModernProjects.

I absolutely love her work! I was a child in the 60s and just love all things mid century, modern, atomic and retro. I also love shapes and lines and lino carving! She does awesome work all while raising kids! She has also had some gallery shows which is so cool and is about to release new prints! Do yourself a favor and check her out! She's quite cool.  You can find her on Etsy and on Facebook!

30 Day Art Challenge - Do I Dare!

Lately I feel like I have been busy with so many things that being creative has taken a backseat. I really do hate that. I know of some artists that have challenged themselves to do something creative each day in the month of July. I thought that would be fun, but I'm afraid to openly commit to it for fear of not sticking with it!

Now that this challenge was in my head, I decided on Saturday I could work on a few things to either make up for the fact that day 1 had nothing creative to offer and also in case I don't make or find the time to create during the month.

I started by pulling out the sketch pad and found a face I drew about a month ago. I thought I might be able to work on that while sitting in the beauty salon with my mom. She was getting a perm, shampoo and set, and a manicure.

I thought possibly, I could remove the "cross-hairs" from the face, and using my Prismacolor pencils, finish the drawing. Well, I didn't do that. Instead I started a brand new sketch and spent the time at the salon working on that.

Once back home, I decided to carve. I started with a soft rubber block and drew circles on it and began to carve.

I also pulled out an old carving and worked a little more on it. I can't tell you how many half carved blocks I have!

On Sunday I watched I Love Lucy and drew squares on a lino block and began to carve that. I haven't yet printed any proofs and hope to do so this week. You might ask why I don't do it today (since it is a holiday), well that would be because I have to go out of town on a business trip! Ugh. Anyway, I was happy with the way the lino carving came out.

The other "creative" thing I worked on both last night and today, was rather torturous! I was trying to create a grab button for the blog. It took me forever. Well, if you look to the right, in the sidebar, you'll see the finished product!