Fabularsenic! And Turnip Head. And The Shelley.

Yeah, it's kind of like Janet Leigh in the shower scene in Psycho, that moment you look down and realize exactly what you've put on.

I wore them. I did, a couple of days ago. Under my maxi wool turtleneck dress, from Talize thrift store, which I bought a couple of years ago when Suzanne Carillo and Sue, A Colourful Canvas, and I met up. The leg garment was purchased a couple of years before that at a different thrift store. Sometimes I wear them around home but they felt really warm under this dress. Because of the pants, I would call this a fabularsenic look -

- except the magic loupe O made for me, which is always AWESOME. You can be my twin and get one at his Etsy shop HERE.

CLICK BELOW FOR MORE SHOCKING NEWS.

Yellow Skirt Freak Show Update!! and more...

I was thinking the other day that some women would probably like to build a wall around me so they don't have to deal with my style. Heh.

I say this because I recently heard a few 50+ women disparage non-conformist style, which I can usually laugh off - and a little friendly back-and-forth can be a catalyst for growth - but this time they also threw in some armchair psychologizing, saying women who dress in "advanced style" are: desperate, trying too hard, insecure, loud, hurting inside, not serious, and (my personal favourite) not intelligent or smart.

Girls running in the wind with skirts hoisted, ready to fly. Acrylic on canvas paper. I painted it a couple of years ago.

Well, actually, they said "the messages the clothes are conveying are...blah blah blah." Fine line, folks, fine line. Apparently, they don't have style rules, but if you don't dress to their narrow specifications of joy and confidence, you need help. Hahaha! Too bad it's so much fun breaking those non-existent rules! I'm hoping they were just carried away. You know that never happens to me. Never! Hahaha.

Imagine if everything looked like this, except sometimes the lines are squiggy instead of straight.

So imagine how happy I was to see the Freakish Yellow Skirt fly again. Hoist them yellow sails!!! Arrrrg. And on whom?

  Sacramento! Hurrah!   

  Mis Papelicos - No. 27  

Marching band. Ticker-tape parade.

She's the doyenne of Free Styling, 

life-embracing, joy-jumping, 

sproingy wonder. 

See her here. And in the gallery here.

Thank you, Sacramento, for joining this ride!

After the style lambasting incident, which took me by surprise, I was feeling very down about blogging in general and, to my shame, about the Freakish Yellow Skirt, no joke - I thought my faux fur gave me thicker skin than that - but as I was updating the Freakish Gallery of

 27 WOMEN!!! 

from all over the world 

that bitter taste in my mouth turned minty fresh, the air suddenly smelled like spring flowers with a whiff of pine trees, bluebirds started nesting in my hair, a fuzzy dice pendant appeared around my neck, and a baby deer tried to sit on my lap. It was magical, wonderful pastoral mayhem.

OOM means, "This crab hand position sucks!"

In the nick of time the Freakish Yellow Skirt and Sacramento leapt in and saved the day!

So let me pass on this wisdom: when someone interprets your joyful style as a seething mass of desperation and unhappiness, it's time to start handing out those rose-tinted glasses from the dollar store. Emergency!! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there's some really weird stuff going on out there.

It's called the Travelling Yellow Skirt Freak Show because joy wins over freak labels every time - I hope. As the original skirt post from 2012 says, the skirt represents "positivity and solidarity" among everyone who dresses with happiness, whatever your definition. We celebrate style in all its forms. Right? RIGHT?!

Let's be clear: no walls. 

The skirt will soon be winging its way to Beate in Germany. Her awesome blog is HERE. She's a fierce art woman.

And more news...
I was on a photo shoot today, a real one with a photographer and a stylist, a prelude to a professional gig coming up next month. Bwahaha! I don't like all the baggage that comes with the word model so I shall say I was a clothing host for some garments designed and made by uber-talented Claire Cormeau, who saw my blog and asked if I would showcase her designs. You can find her HERE.

The turtleneck has merino wool and the asymmetrical tailored jacket felt like an expensive dream. Claire even designed the bracelet, which her partner manufactured with 3D printing. Amazing. The pants/shoes belong to the clothing host. The shoot was only for the waist up; these are fun out-takes.

I should have slathered on some hand cream last night. Auch - hopefully, everyone is looking at the bracelet.

That's all. I hope you have a great week everyone. I'm linking up to:
Patti: Visible Monday, Not Dead Yet Style, and;
Catherine: #iwillwearwhatilike, Not Dressed as Lamb.
Thank you, Patti and Catherine, for these style refuges just when I need them most.

And I'll link up to Anne at SpyGirl for 52 Pick-me-up: Sky Blue/Expansion/Connection. Just my earrings are sky blue. That counts, right?

Tool-belt handbag

Karate-ish Queen. The Queen executes a flying helicopter kick to thwart a rabid Canadian deer.  Original, painting 18" x 24", acrylic on canvas paper. By me, painted in - why must I remember such details - um, maybe 2009?

Too bad the auto body shop near me was closed because that's where I would have preferred to take the first photo. I'm wearing thrifted button-fly jeans, $5, thrifted pretty black lace sleeveless top, thrifted Steve Madden army boots, and a leather tool-belt bag, a hand-me-over. Instead of a cigarette, I'm chewing on my seam ripper and that's a measuring tape in my tool belt. I embroidered eyes on the pant legs, black on the right, as shown, and a matching one in white on the other knee.

The second outfit is one I wore in March, a groovy thrifted tunic over a thrifted blouse, thigh-high socks with a silver lurex diamond pattern, black leather boots, magic loupe, and caramel-coloured jeggings. I hated this photo when I took it, I forget why, but now I don't mind.

Of course I had to show you the Karate Queen when I stumbled across this jpg during a desktop cleanup.

I'm linking up with Bella's Secondhand First at The Citizen Rosebud. See you there!

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.

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?).

Coming out of the clochet

Today I did something different. Usually I grab things in my closet pell-mell to create an ensemble that reflects an overall mood, giving equal weight to all parts. Today I chose a signature piece, an accessory, which singlehandedly seemed to embody everything I was feeling, and then constructed my outfit around it. I'm speaking here of my felt cloche with the flower. Poor little thing was buried in the closet.

This one little hat said it all: I wanted to partially shield myself during my walk (still in recovery mode) and I wanted to feel romantically 1920s. The colour palette is quiet, but my cloche demanded it be so. The jacket has convenient velcro tabs for closures on the front and the shift has a freighter neck, much wider than a boat neck, which is concealed by the jacket.

Details of the outfit:

• cloche, new decades ago from Sears(?)
• shimmery green jacket, thrifted, Value Village
• moss-grey shift, new years ago from Eatons closing-out sale, downsized 4 sizes
• black tights, "Frump" shoes, The Bay
• magic teacup carrier with heirloom teacup inside; I made the carrier, O did the hardware
• hand-me-over black vinyl bag that holds all my pencil crayons, sketchbooks, etc.
• Shar Pei wool sweater

I'm still recovering but managed a brief, low-intensity game of squash today. It felt good to MOVE!

And finally - 

Ms. Helga recently posted a brilliant photo essay of her drunken escapades under a tree. I immediately thought of this painting I did, although Helga was much more visually exciting than the waitress in this piece.

Title: "Becky had had trouble sleeping lately; she finally realized that it wasn't the coffee keeping her awake but something much more sinister." Acrylic on canvas paper, 18" x 24"

Have a great weekend everyone!

Impode/Explode

As a tribute to all the fantastic Fluevogs I've been seeing these days, I drew the following cartoon last night. I had the idea for it last year and finally got around to drawing it up:

That's not me in the final frame, but those are certainly my shoes, the Fluevog Munster in lilac suede! (That's a startled cat in the first frame.)

Some of you were asking, so here are some shots of the magic pendants O has made for me. He machines them on a watchmaker's lathe in his studio from blocks of metal such as aircraft-grade aluminum or stainless steel, and he adds bits of gold or emeralds or rubies or other little stones. He doesn't sell them; if he did they would be too expensive because they are so time-consuming to make. Each one is an original and I cherish them.

O's work is usually super-duper small, like this:

He machined those screws and the other metal pieces, shown above with grains of Japanese rice. So you can imagine when I look at his work I get a huuuuge headache (in a good way) and I must rush to my studio and make something like this:

Implode - Explode.

That particular painting is 5 feet high and 11 feet long and is called Sunny Noon Downtown Saturday. (Note the framing or capping on the ends to keep the chaos from exploding off the ends of the paper!) You can see more of O's work here if you're interested.

That's all for today, something a little different. The forecast is for rain all week. I better arm myself with more colour!