Dressed up for Ed Poe

A Bag and a Beret quiz. Based on the first photo, which scenario is this blog post?

1. The post in which I birth a lunchbag handbag. A labour of love. The doctor faints, nurses weep with joy - "Madam, O joyful day! It's, it's not a boy or a girl! It's a handbag!" Celestial bells. Twinkle stars and tweeting birds orbiting my head. I cradle my newborn and immediately stuff her with chocolate bars, chips, lipstick, and my keys.

2. The post in which I scream in the countryside while balanced on a split-rail fence. I had to put in the fence to sit on and support the handbag because otherwise it looks like I've just given birth to a handbag. (In the original photo I was sitting on the stairs.)

3. The post in which I debut the latest trend, the dangling muffy-pack, a fanny pack worn at the front really low, sub-muff-line, and get swarmed by paparazzi in the woods. Walking is awkward and trying to fish out change or business cards is not only difficult but embarrassing. Restrooms? Pfff, and you thought overalls were difficult...

4. The post in which I wear a tarp.


Go to Photo 2 for the answer.

Ding ding ding ding. If you guessed No. 4, tarp, you'd be right!!!

Bwahaha! I saw this tarp hanging off the side of the truck the day after I wore this dress. This is clearly the vehicle of a tailor who does serious gardening on the side.

In reality, this is the block mesh dress, as known before I polluted my mind with all those other images that I'll think of now every. single. time. I put this on. Thank you so much, brain.

I bought this dress on an expedition to My Sister's Closet with Sheila of sheilaephemera and her partner L when they were in town celebrating their wedding anniversary. Sheila picked it out for me. I would not have given it a second glance because: 1) form-fitting; 2) see-through; 3) Kardashian-ish (say it fast five times). And now I love it so much. Thank you, Sheila!

There's a built-in cropped cami, front only, a very short sewn-in slip, and a big slit up the back. I wore black tights and lycra shorts for psychological backup, a light-knit striped top, and knee-high Converse sneakers, also from MSC.

And to finish the look I wore black eye shadow, which my eyelids are cleverly hiding. Believe me, it was there - it took for-frickin'-ever to take off because I forgot to apply my eye-shadow primer. And I'm wearing near-black lipstick called Poe, as in Edgar Allan.

It's hard to imagine how my image of that writer would be altered if he were known simply as Ed Poe. "Look, honey, there goes Ed Poe of The Pit and the Pendulum." Did you know that that story first appeared in The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843? Happy holidays!

In other news, Margaret Manning of Sixty and Me published a transcript of one of the interviews I did with her early last September. I did a post about the interviews HERE, my first time doing a video interview.

Well, I was immensely relieved to discover that I spoke in real sentences, at least sometimes. You are welcome to have a read HERE and post feedback. (Sorry, I can't join in because I'm not on Facebook.) This particular interview is called "Fashion over 50: Forget what others think and express your eccentricities!" Thank you, Margaret, for this transcript.

And there's lots going on here in Bagland. I'll keep you in the loop as much as I can. I hope YOU are all fine, getting done what needs to get done or at least putting it off satisfactorily with dull pencils that need sharpening. I recently bought 450 vintage pencil crayons. Divine procrastination! More divine than birthing a lunchbag handbag.

I'll link up to Patti at Not Dead Yet Style for her Visible Monday and Catherine at Not Dressed as Lamb for her #iwillwearwhatilike. See you's there.

Where angels go, trouble follows

I was feeling particularly Scottish, punk, rebel boarding-school girl, so this is what I wore.

This outfit also makes me think of the 1968 movie Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, in which Stella Stevens, a young nun with gumption, and Rosalind Russel, Mother Superior, drive a busload of giggling high-school girls from St. Francis Academy to an inter-faith rally in faraway California. It was 1968, remember? This movie, which I saw on TV later, was the first time I thought nuns could be groovy.

So I've got on the "code" kilt, well below the knee, vintage (both the knees and the kilt), from Marks & Spencer. Plus, I bought it at a church, the West Vancouver United Church Flea Market. Probably the kilt/church combo made me think of that movie. The ultra-high-top runners (with rear zip, whew!) are from My Sister's Closet and the faux fur jacket is from Community Thrift.

I always liked Stella Stevens. She was in another zany TV movie called Call Her Mom, 1972. She played the housemother for a bunch of fun-loving boys at a frat house. Oh yes, highly plausible. I was very young when I saw it, but the movie inspired me to start writing my first screenplay. Hahaha. I wish I still had it! I drew Stella's face on the cover.

Another reason I loved Where Angels Go was the theme song. And I found it on YouTube!! It's a bit Gidget, but hey. It's by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. But I can picture myself bopping around home in my bib-front, two-tone purple bell bottoms and red striped top at the time.

A little sass below.

And below, what I wore today, and I wasn't even cold! My legs kept throwing off the camera's white balance. That's an expression of bliss, imagining that I have some brownies and a couple of C-notes in my lunchbag handbag. What more could a gal want?

I just noticed today that Montecristo Magazine has posted me on their Instagram account HERE. Hurray!! I'm happy how well that piece, Defying Ageist Fashion Rules: Styleactivism, has gone. You can read my post about it here. I would love to do more articles/photos like this.

Canada definitely needs more women over 50 in ALL MEDIA. Everyone needs more representation of women over 50!

I used a binoculars prop to gaze into my future. All I saw was my tripod, really badly out of focus. Heh. But I was still feeling like a beacon of positive energy having survived a dizzyingly (great word) busy couple of months.

Below is a detailed picture of the inner workings of my brain. I am very fond of this piece. It's just over 4 feet square.

That's all from here. Stay groovy!!

Of course I'll link up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb.

Through the looking glass

I wore this today. And below are the places it took me. Like Alice, I fell through the looking glass, or the modern day equivalent - the selfie camera lens. 

Outfit for my adventure in wonderland

My adventure started in the cafe when the barista handed me a cup of coffee, and said, "Drink it." That's odd, I thought, and when I sipped the brew it tasted freakishly like fruit and flowers, not coffee beans at all. To work off the foul taste I visited several thrift shops where I exhausted myself trying on clothes. When I got home I felt very sleepy, as though I had been drugged by a shopping and caffeine high. Then, as I was taking my outfit selfie, I fell into a deep nap.

Journal sketch of Turnip Head

When I woke up I discovered I had grown into a 6-inch-high two-dimensional card person, and was now in a strange land of artwork populated by turnip-headed people and other bizarre creatures. I realized with a fright that my frump shoes were not the least bit appropriate to navigate a terrain of muppets and sequins.

Oil pastel/acrylic, 31" x 30", "Camping at Square Fish Lake" (sequins as top and turf)

Suddenly a woman rushed past shrieking, "Off with her head! Off with her head!" I think her name was Miz Bagg, Queen of Tarts, so-named for her sleazy behaviour, predilection for stealing pastries, and making her minions pucker up. I ran into her again later at a fantastical fashion court where she pronounced that everyone has to dress the same! Everything became curiouser and curiouser.

Acrylic, 40" x 59", "Waiter, there's a lily pond in my soup."

There were Middle-aged Kittehs who lounged in trees. Their beguiling grins and colourful claws were camouflaged by acrylic and oil pastel leaves, but I sensed their whiskers twitching and their tails flicking when I stumbled past, as if we knew each other. I also encountered a stylish wise crone called the Hatter on her way to a wedding, wearing a pink flamingo-feathered cap.

Acrylic, 59" x 59", 004

Other flat creatures, all dressed the same in fear of fashion court, were feverishly rushing around in circles muttering, I'm late, I'm late, for very important dates, whilst peering down into lighted devices clutched in their hands. Sometimes they smooshed these devices against their ears and then started talking into the air!

When the crowd caught sight of my sequins, they began dragging me toward the volcano of doom. "Guilty, guilty, guilty," they chanted. But the sound of "guilty" was simply the insistent low-battery beep of my camera, and there I was, still at home, wearing what I had put on that morning: an old sample sale stretch skirt, gorgeous black sequin top with periwinkle stripes from Shelley of Forest City Fashionista (thank you!!), black tights, frumpy mended shoes, DIY broken-wristwatch choker with velvet ribbon, gifted lava pendant, magic loupe from O. To my relief, fashion court is just a bad dream.

For this mini project, I made a 6-inch-tall T-stand cut-out of myself from a photo printed on cardstock, then positioned it on piles of clothes in front of my artwork on a computer monitor. Except for very minor edits, these photos appear as they were taken. I used a similar photo technique in shoots here and here. Ironically, these photos of the mini me provide a snapshot of the bigger me, which includes my artwork and vision. I hope you enjoyed this little adventure.

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In other news...

The wee flurry of fame I had is calming down, and I'm relieved that there are no stretch marks left on my head as it begins to deflate. What a great ride. Hehe. Thanks for bearing with me.

Visible, Shiny, and animated

I like this. I wore this. I feel good in this. Rain. Dripping awkward umbrella. Wet pant legs. Wet grit crunching under shoes. Cafe. Steaming coffee. Loudness!! Escape into my journal. Home. Fiddling around with photo-taking. Fiddling around with quick edits. Grainy, dissatisfaction. Stray bits. Posting anyway. Pickle face.

Wearing:

• thrifted shiny-buckle bronze-brown shoes
• striped socks
• thrifted Dolce and Gabbana side-zip slacks, old, had to restitch all the seams
• thrifted T-shirts and DIY T-shirt
• pink scarf, hand-me-over, worn under coat
• thrifted shawl, worn over the coat
• thrifted vintage R coat, made in Tokyo
• thrifted beret
• magic loupe O made for me

These slacks (best word for them really) make me feel tall with that vertical stripe. I'm linking these pics up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, and the shoes of course are being linked up to Bella's fantastic Shoe Shine at The Citizen Rosebud. Scored at Value Village, the shoes may not be glamorous - they may in fact be men's shoes - but they give me a weird sixties vibe that is irresistible. Plus, I can wear them in the rain.

And... I am including a short video of a little kids' story that my partner O and I collaborated on. O often sketches on napkins when we go out and then later I sometimes digitize them, colour them, firm them up slightly, and add backgrounds and filler scenes. You could say that the inspiration comes from O and the final product comes from me. Either way it's a collaboration that works.

I hope this little vignette relaxes you. The quality is not the best. The original digital artwork was trashed a few years ago and this video is made from scans of the surviving printouts, about 2"x2", which I stumbled across about a week ago. Thanks to the Creative Commons contributors at freesound.org and the music library that comes with VideoPad for the music and sound effects. 

Thanks for your encouragement on my journal sketches in my last post.

Every day starts a new year

I don't like to forget that each and every day is the beginning of a new year, a new 365-day cycle. The whole January 1 thing is just a day, hot for some, cold for others, a day picked out for us by a few men in the somewhat distant past, to reset to Day 1. While the every-day-is-new-year's idea could conveniently lend itself to nightly partying, for me it's a powerful reminder that each day has the potential to kick off something amazingly awesome and excellent.

Having said all that, since January 1 or so I have been focused on organizing my journal sketches and am at last thinking maybe I can do something with this jumbled collection of words and pictures. So today I am posting a mini-movie of a few of my sketches with acoustic accompaniment. The added sound animates the pictures to more closely reflect what was going on in my head when I made these drawings of what I wore and the adventures I imagined with my furry buddies.

Scene 1 Alley Cats: I'm wearing my thrifted pastel nicotine faux fur coat (also here), my green shag Fluevog boots (also here), my red knit hat (see Hat Attack 5), sample sale Bardot low-rise jeans (also in Wendy Brandes' Huff Post article, in the scroll part at the bottom).

Scene 2 Outdoor Ballroom: I'm wearing a brown mid-thigh knit tunic with bell sleeves, denim jeggings, thrifted slip-on shiny brown buckle shoes, thrifted red beret.

Scene 3 Cat Holiday: I'm wearing almost the same as what I wore in Scene 1 - thrifted pastel nicotine faux fur coat and red knit hat. 

Scene 4 Tea Party: I'm wearing my thrifted silky dress (also here) with a thrifted brown turtleneck underneath, turquoise tights, thrifted D&G shoes.

Scene 5 Shady Ladies: I'm wearing my thrifted muslin black maxi dress (also here), thrifted wooden platform/leather upper Michael Kors sandals.

*Thanks to freesound.org and all the incredible people who have posted sound effects under a Creative Commons License for their contributions to this soundtrack.

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Doing "sweet" art was strictly taboo in art school, so it has been a very long process, decades in fact, to once again accept that sweet and even hokey are not only okay, but have incredible restorative power. That's why I do these sketches in my journal. And how thrilled I would be if you get positive energy from them too.

I'll be back to posting what I wear in real photos soon. Hope you're kicking each day off like a new year's day, but without all the fuss. 

Fleeting twirly madness and captured in paint

Just a quickie twirly madness as feebly captured in the park -

My vintage evening gown with leather jerkin. The photo is small, I know. I'm still learning all the functions on my camera. Gurrr. Why can't I upload them directly into my brain. Surely a feature such as that should exist by now. But twirl I must. The breeze did most of the work for me.

During my inspiration walk I ever-so-lightly dusted passersby with the dress's magical powers as I brushed the silky folds of the skirt into the fresh wind. I had several laughter-filled conversations along my travels with different groups of ladies who had descended on the city for shopping and site-seeing adventures. The dress called them to me and enveloped them with new worlds of possibilities. Just fabric on skin? Maybe. Maybe not!

Details

• gown, vintage, gift from wonderful Ariane of Style Sud-Est, first worn here 
• leather fringed jerkin, vintage, thrifted
• D&G shoes, thrifted
• magic pendants twirling everywhere, made for me by O
• sunglasses, vintage, thrifted

I hope you all have something to twirl madly about this week. I'm linking this up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Jane George at Flight Platform Living for her Shiny T Tuesday (Leather on Chiffon). I wouldn't normally do two-fers but my schedule demands it be so.

Also...

Anne of Spy Girl painted me! 

The image above is just a sneak peak. You'll have to click here to see the bigger version on Anne's blog Spy Girl. I love how she used that wild technique to do my patterns. Anne is an incredibly talented artist who widely exhibits her work in a range of media. You must see it, look here. Hugs, Anne. I LOVE that piece. Art camp is awesome!!

That's all.

PS I put on blue lipstick a couple of days ago for my morning outing but took it off because it gave me the pallor of a fish belly. The addition of eye shadow and blush would have helped balance things out but I was too lazy (!) to do it. I'll try again later. Thanks for your comments on my blues. I appreciate your feedback.

Maxi dress across the universe

Such a huge job for such a wee maxi dress - transporting me across the universe - all for the low, low price of $4.99 at local fabric mecca Dessew.

The dress is a new old stock garment made of jersey knit fabric so the plasticization effect that often occurs with old polyester is not quite as deliciously cringeworthy as it would be with a heavier-weight fabric. The triad of blue, striped middle, and bottom are cleverly sewn into unified magnificence. I love the shoulder pads in this too, which is odd because it's one of the first items to go when I buy a period piece. 

Obviously I am continuing the space theme I started a couple of posts ago. I carried my gold bag out again to protect from cosmic rays, but I think in this dress I am impervious to meteor showers, cosmic rays, and other such space matters - except Dr. Spock.

Details of the outfit:

• new old stock maxi dress, fabric shop Dressew
• long-sleeved black T under short-sleeved dress
• black tights, retail
• Frump heels, retail
• universe, free for all

It looks like I'm falling from one world into another and orange energy is spewing out of my head. I sometimes feel like the expression on my face. 

I didn't retouch these photos except to crop them - I simply curled onto my painting's surface on the floor under my camera, which was balanced (precariously!) on its tripod jammed into the painting rack. I don't have a remote so running back and forth with the timer was challenging - especially when the shot demanded absolute repose in the galaxy enveloping me.

Below is an excerpt of lyrics from the Beatles song Across the Universe:

Images of broken light

Which dance before me like a million eyes

They call me on and on across the universe

Thoughts meander like a restless wind 

Inside a letter box 

They tumble blindly as they make their way

Across the universe

I did that painting a few years ago. It's big, and until now I never much cared for its galactic imagery; now I love it. If you've got art you are not fond of, try putting it on the floor and rolling around on it - and photographing the process. I guarantee you'll feel differently about it afterwards...

Gorgeous Patti is hosting her magnificent Visible Monday again. Of course Monday's there are great, but her blog is welcoming any day of the week: Not Dead Yet Style.

PS - If you couldn't watch my band's (Just Bad Enough) debut "music" video on your system, I've put it on YouTube. Fabulous Miss Simmonds commented already because I gave her a sneak peek, but sadly I took down the original (and her comment - so sorry!) because I reposted it with better quality. So if you haven't seen it yet and want to question my taste even more, go have a look. Watch out for Language.

One mouth four ways

Foreskins and corpse and bovine fat are just some of the lovely ingredients that women, and sometimes men, inject into their faces, especially their lips, to look beautiful. Of course these ingredients have pretty names once they are packaged, but they are what they are. Why do we do this? Why are big lips such an attraction, especially for 40+ women? Why is it that I'll never hear these words as I walk by: "Wow, she has the most awesome thin lips!!"

So I-Of-The-Thin-Lips decided to do my own big-lip investigation as part of my series of art projects on identity and some of the results are scaaary, in an unexpected way, which you'll find out if you read on.

Below is my lip transformation. On my face I am wearing foundation and translucent powder to maintain colour under the lights. Unfortunately, I didn't smooth out the powder on my nose, which I suppose is not such a big deal considering all the other little imperfections competing for attention under the bright lights.

The Transformation

Top left: no lips, foundation on my lips; Top centre: outline of natural lips; Top right: Look (1) lipstick on natural lips. Bottom left: Look (2) lips drawn bigger than real lips; Bottom centre: Look (3) lips drawn even bigger; Bottom right: Look (4) big, huge, ginormous lips so I can't even talk without drooling.

It's easy not to appreciate how much my lips have taken over my face from start to finish, but have another look. Compare the bottom right photo, Look (4), to the one directly above it, Look (1). How, you may ask, did I achieve those whopper-licious lips? 

Bounty (the papertowels). "Mah wips ah bwootifoe. Kwiss me bwaybee!" You can actually see the wadded papertowel sticking out on the left - those are not my teeth, great illusion though. And the next photo is me removing the papertowel... Pitui. But better than having corpse fat in there...or is it?

And below you have the evidence of my fun experiment. Those lipstick stains around my mouth took some scrubbing with Bounty to get off. 

And one gratuitous movie star photo of me below with the most huge lips, minus the papertowels, Look (4). This is the kind of photo I would use on my book jacket if I ever had a book. But now you know my big-lip secret...

Oh no! I like big lips!

Oh gentle reader, I may not be ready for injections but I do indeed like the bigger-than-natural lips from drawing outside the lines in Look (2) and below. Now I GET it - this is what all the fuss is about. But it still feels odd drawing lipstick outside the lines, even though I would be the first to tell you to break that rule. Joan Crawford didn't mind doing it. I like the bow-like shape below even though this photo looks a bit like a mug shot. This is from a test photo the previous day.

So now that I have become thicker skinned with my thin lips, I think I should cut some slack for female Hollywood stars in particular and their big lips, but if you should ever encounter me out walking my own new big mouth, say hi but ironically don't expect a reply - I'm afraid I'd drool and my papertowels would fall out.

Have you ever thought of buying big lips? Are you blessed with them naturally? Have you ever augmented your lips? Do you draw lipstick outside the lines?! Thoughts?

Happy Fourth of July to my American blogger friends!

My art exhibit, what to wear...

I am a haggard harridan. Why? Many work deadlines, and I have been busily preparing for an art exhibition that opens on Sunday, all while battling my cold. (Do you hear the tiny violins? Neither do I!) O custom-designed a metal mounting system for my acrylic works on paper, each piece is about 5ft x 5ft. I am as excited about how wonderful his architectural mounts look with the paper as I am about finally letting my art out for some air.

So I have been working with all seven hands and feet, not quite a Medusa, although I do hiss under my breath when I'm tired and irked. I have been devouring nuts like a maniac, a weakness, and these odd flax, sugar-free cookies by Red Square, which are like sand blocks - when you bite into them they just disintegrate in your mouth. I think I like them...?

I don't know what to wear to the opening in two days, something oh so artsy fartsy and yet sophisticated and demure, with a dash of impish Frenchness perhaps. It's a group show so the pressure is not quite as heavy as a solo affair. Okay, I have no more time to fritter. I must get back to the important job of freaking out. This is a DIY poster for the show below. That colourful squiggly painting is one of mine.

If you are in the Vancouver area and are free on Sunday, 2-4 p.m., please come to my opening reception!! I will be bleary-eyed but oh so happy to meet you! The Baron Gallery website has details.

PS: I have been remiss in commenting on all your wonderful posts lately! I have been visiting briefly, guiltily, between tasks. Normal life should resume soon. And thank you sooo much for all you lovely comments here. They are like Wheaties (North American power breakfast cereal which I've never tried - have you?).

One face six ways

New York-based photographic artist Cindy Sherman specializes in dressing as different characters, male and female, then taking self-portraits in her exploration of women's place in society; she recently appeared in a MAC cosmetics campaign and you'd probably recognize her if you saw her.

I am interested in how people respond to others based on what they wear, at least at first glance. This topic has been a subject of my artwork on and off again for years and has been growing again since I began blogging.

In January I decided to use photography for the first time in exploring this idea, so I gathered up a bunch of stuff and headed to my studio where I tried to create different versions of me with a handful of accessories. How many illusions could I create with these few things? The shoot took about two hours and it was pretty chaotic since I'm not used to self-portraiture. This is the result.

This is me BEFORE, the way I look when I'm painting.

This is me AFTER.

Accessories

3 hats, 2 light scarves, 1 burgundy winter scarf, 3 pairs of gloves

some bangles, 2 pairs of earrings and a necklace, a fur collar with ties

Cosmetics

foundation, white powder, blush, lipstick (exaggerated bow lips)

Clothes

my ratty studio shirt and grungy brown hoodie

I am wondering how much women question their image decisions and how many wish they had taken other paths presentation-wise. Do you think it's possible to consciously alter your image after presenting the same version of "you" for most of your life? If you push your boundaries of style, does that push your personality as well? Is that artificial? Are there parts of you that you would like to express but don't? Why not? I am interested in your views on any of these points.

Thanks for stopping by! By the way, let me know if you think of any funny captions for any of the photos - some of the looks are...interesting.


This last photo is my friend Sandra after her first cosmetics lesson (true). Her beautician couldn't stop laughing. I know why!

PS March is a crazy time for me and I won't be able to post very often or respond to your comments right away, but I will check in as often as I can!