Denver Post Article by Colleen Smith

Hanzon's magic transforms Hudson Gardens for holidays - The Denver ... Dec 18, 2009 ... Frost Island at Hudson Gardens shimmers in the night as part of the Museum of Outdoor Arts' "Hudson Holiday," designed by Lonnie Hanzon. ...

Come See the Show!

Website:

http://www.hudsonholiday.com/

Nutcracker House YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysnhDbrPEU0

Rudolph House YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ACJ9U-R65g

Flickr photos by bstrie

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17115954@N00/sets/72157622965168178/

Electric Sheep YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM7atCXg-9I&feature=channel

Facebook Fan Page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hudson-Holiday/127633583592?ref=ts

The Shows are OPEN!

Well I vanished off the face of blogland to get the Cabinet of Curiosities Show ( www.moaonline.org ) and
Hudson Holiday ( www.hudsonholiday.com ) show up and they are! And I am still standing!
Please check them out!
www.moaonline.org
www.hudsonholiday.com
Hudson Holiday is also on facebook and twitter!

Participate JOYFULLY...

Yoli (of Musings) was right. A toy store was not handy, nor a quick juant to NYC, but I am thankful that Drew and Chloe left behind a pool-squirt toy which did the trick in firing my joy spark plug that had been plugged with too many wonderful things. I know this may not even make sense to Yoli, but I am thankful for a nudge short of "pull up your socks"

Deep In

I can't even get a photo to upload today. I must be in the middle of production. My emotions are going off like bad chinese fireworks left in the rain, dried in an old barn and lit 6 years later without a thought. No pretty fountains of inspiration, only side shooting fire and dense smoke.

CHARGE ON!

Past the thoughts of the perfect piece, the coordinated masterpiece. Charge on past the classical process and pondered stroke. Charge on to manifest what you pray is a genuine essence in this pile of junk, these ramblings and bits of work.

Charge on to the deadlines, and reach them alive.

Blue

Un touched I-Phone photo of our healer "Blue" coming to get a kiss

Lotus Blooming

The Lotus are blooming at The Hudson Gardens. It is awe inspiring!

Yes, Art DOES Apply!

Yes, Art Applies, it just can't spell.

Joey came last night

Photo: Fentress Architecture of Pallazzo Verdi. Chandelier Chardin by moi.

So Joseph Campbell walks in to a bar....

OK, so Joey walked in to my dream last night to tell me to string together my book. I said " isn't that what editors do? and he said " no, they just cut out the good stuff " they just trim, you have to do the stringing. Then I ran across this rant today, by chance, after my I-Tunes played the Campbell lecture "The Way of Art" by chance. I love chances.

I have been thinking about this book for several years now, and it has yet to manifest itself. Funny in a way – here I am a person that professes that I can help people be more creative, and create anything they want to, yet I wallow in my own blocks and stops and rejections.

Rejection is a strange animal. Most of the time, we think of it as an external force – that someone rejects you, or an institution rejects you. But really, when we really get truthful about it, we often are our own worse enemy.  We reject ourselves. We reject our own ideas, thoughts and visions. Accepting ourselves is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks.

So, stripping the the elements of ego and business away from the project, why do I need to write this book?  What purpose this salve? Why do people need to read it or use it? Hasn’t someone already nailed this? 

I believe that it is a part of my mission as a creator to help others create. The more people inspired to create, the more creative the world will be. The more creative the world is, the more beauty will emmerge. And of course, Dostevesky was right – “ beauty will save the world”. I get to pose the Universal question in a neat package.*1

The creative act is easy. The creative process is learnable. Great creative works are a lot of hard work and not easy. If great creative works were easy wouldn’t we have created a lasting peace on Earth? Wouldn’t we have created enough food for everyone? Wouldn’t we have already created a system of economic sustainability for the many instead of the few? Of course we would have. So that means that 

Everyone needs to become more creative and use more genius to save the world!

Wow!

On Being Creative

I have been told since I could understand the words that I am “extremely creative” – This has always puzzled me. Maybe I won some divine creativity lottery or some such thing, but why me? I don’t feel any different. I don’t know why I am “creative” and the next guy “isn’t”. I sometimes think that I became extremely creative because people told me I was and I didn’t want to let them down, so I trained myself to be creative.

Buckminster Fuller was right, we are all born geniuses. The recognized genius’ are just that – RECOGNIZED.  Each person’s genius is different, and it is wheather or not it is found.

Someone may be born a music genius, but if they never hear music or pick up an instrument, the genius never manifests.

This is one of the reasons I think crosstraining is so important- both children an adults should be exposed to as wide a range of activities as possible, making it possible to win the genius “lottery”. The slogan for our state lottery is “you can’t win if you don’t play”. That is actually a good motto for the creative process as well – You can’t win if you don’t play.

A big part of creating is the finite side of the process. Do not pass go unless you:

Accept that there is a process that must be completed in order to create. There is actually no happen chance in the process of creating. There may be great happenchance, magic and even eureka in the creative product, but not the processs. 

Hone your ability to know both on a conscience and subconscience level where you are in that process.

If you know that the process is a journey, and you know where you are in that journey, you can end up at your destination. Simple enough – right?

If you don’t accept the process, you will most likely be fooled by the many killers of the process. There are deceptions and lies that are actually part of the process.

Example:

When arriving at the Magic Castle private club in Hollywood, if you were not accompanied by an official member, you might walk in the room, find an interesting but door-less library, turn around and leave. Now if a member of the club is with you, they might speak with the stuffed owl sitting on the bookshelf, and suddenly, the bookcase would slide open to reveal a sumptious drawing room and bar filled with magicians and their guests.

I have seen repeatidly  that people say they want to create something, and they embark on the journey. The first moments of creating something are often the most fun – conception is full of positive energy – but when we come to the first gate keeper, the first wall, the first challenge, the journey is abandoned often with out the knowledge that with just a couple of actions – that wall would have opened revealing magic and new energy to carry us to the next juncture of the creative path. 

We are often also really hard on ourselves and others during creative “infancy”.

Demanding greatness from a newborn child would bee considered a cruel and misguided action. Demanding greatness from your creative work in the beginning of the process seldom yields greatness, but most often abandoment of the very work.  Demand process, demand passion and energy, demand truth, demand compassion, demand expression – you can create great things from these demands, but never shake the baby.

My profession, and all of my hobbies for that matter, involve creating. In the course of an ordinary day, I may need to write, draw, paint, sculpt, communicate, draft, script, budget, arrange and present. And it is pretty common that I need to do several of these at the same time. Just as any mother could tell me, it is not so much heroic as necessary. 

I am a working designer, a working artist – and in order to keep the “working” part of the title in the equation I must work. A lot. That means there is little time for the stars to align and the majestic creative muse to decend with gifts of glorious expressions of great art. No, it is more like hurling yourself in to the creative flux at a moment’s notice. It is neccesary to turn on creat creativity at almost anytime and produce work.

I am what ther refer to as “Creative Warhorse”. I have thousands of projects under my belt, some good, some bad, a few atcrocious and fewer genius, but all completed works. Complete works are the only ones that count. 

Completed works count. Internal visions are entertaining, provoking, and depressing at times – but only to us. These internal operas die with us. Not given to another. Not expressed.

 “A visions’ just a vision if its only in your head” – Sunday in the Park with George – Stephen Sondiem

Ok  - so bigshot, what’s the secret? Where is the facuet you turn off and on?

So after 100,000 hours or more, why can’t I define this precisly for even myself?

“Truth can not be stated once and for all, because truth transcends time” – Jayne Harnett

Does that mean that at the most basic levels, we look for the truths that seem to transcend our time. What feels truth-filled usually is. In other words – 1/2 of this may be predictable, and the other simply unique for every human being.

More clearly: We can define the basic game, but the rules will change constantly, and the game board is moving as well. Other than that, I will clearly define the creative process in a different but perfect way that has not yet been voiced in the last few thousand years. Wow.

Saying yes to the call is perhaps the most daunting task in the creative process. By our very human make up, there is an instinctual reaction to things and moment or riska and danger – fight or flight . In most cases it far more rationale to flee from a creative problem than to stay and “fight”.

The brain is a very protective device, an it can come up with increadibly rational reasons not to be creative.

Every aspect of us can be challenged, and can result in “system rejection”. The systems include: emotional revelation in front of pears. Intimacy. Ego/id fear of downgrading, hiearchy disruption, physical danger, uncomfortibility – paint on my clothes!, being revealed as un-educated or un-hip or a fool, oh ya – the list goes on an on. Creative endeavors demand a level of trust and respect in or to function in a group or be judged by others. 

So following the concept of the brain almost wired to not create –

How could this corrilate with the observation that many artists, inventors, designers, architects are a little “odd” or outsiders. Is is easier to create if you are not in the A group pear pressure? Do oddballs become creative to compete with suave executive types? 

Back to the point. Creating doesn’t take as much magic as moxy. Creating is not for social sissies. You gotta have guts to create. No pain no gain. 

*1 

I believe the Joseph Campbell description of the “proper work of art” … a proper work of art asks “the universal question”. It is not didactic or pornograhic but a static, well intended and balanced view of the center of it ALL. The viewer can then glean enormous energy and inspiration from the work. 

Timing is Everything

I  Must AdmitThat I was getting pretty excited about auditioning for the new "Project Runway" type show (Working title American Artist) about Art and artists. It has the best producers (Magical Elves - the originators of Project Runway and Top Chef working with Sarah Jessica Parker's Pretty Matches) , and promises to be a very interesting show. 

Since the beginning of my career, I have always dreamed (and trained)  to compete in an "Arts Olympics".

But it wont be this time.

The auditions are over the next few weeks and shooting in the Fall and next year. Of course the Cabinet of Curiosities show and Hudson Holiday are in full production now, and I can't go skiping off until Hudson Holiday opens November 20th, so I need to let the younger chicks stratch each others eyes out and scramble to win. 

It was fun to answer the application questions in my head, plan out my trip to Chicago to audition, and imagine all the fun and stress and tension and madness. What a rush.

Sort of like that few minutes after buying a lottery ticket.

Timing is everything.

Dan Solo - Type Hero

Dan Solo is a living treasure in America. When using one of his rescued types for the up-tenth time,  I decided to look around on the internet for him, and of course found him. This is his  biography. I think it is a good read. He teaches, through his amazing collection, the language of alphabet and typography. A language that is lanquishing........... (not bad - huh?)

...And certainly seek out his fonts on MyFonts and Dover - He is the master. I will need to give the link, as I realize that the bio was not pasting in the blog:

http://new.myfonts.com/person/Dan_X._Solo/

Chirping

So the world is twittering and posting and socializing and blogging and texting. 

Welcome to 2009. 

This morning, without i-tunes playing or people talking or anything broadcasting, I heard the birds in both my front and back yards at once, singing and talking and tweeting and socializing. I am happy I have both of those worlds in my life. And I am especially grateful that I am finally getting to the point in my life that I will allow myself to occasionally just listen. 

Pitch Flick!

Ok, I know that I said I would set up a Hudson Holiday blog, and I will, but I just received  this link from Kelley Bergmann, who with our fearless leader Cynthia Madden Leitner created this piece to promote the event. I think it is really cool. Please check it out and send the link on to ANYONE you might want to join the fun as a sponsor or promotional partner. We have been working on this project for 3 years and we are finally flipping the switch!

Http://gallery.me.com/moaonline#100112

Confessions of a Young Magician #2

OK, I will only use initials, (I'll be LH) to protect the dignified

Or I should say the presently dignified in their grown up lives. 

Here is a verbatim Face-Book exchange, after I have received a snapshot of me in the late 70's at a sewing machine stiching a gigantic, satin, (striped turquoise, teal and ultra-marine) curtain.

LH:

Just recieved the photo without a black-mail note! That's a first in years

What a crack up - I wonder what ever happened to that 564 yards of satin?
You were such a good sport. I can't believe you still talk to me. 
Actually, you don't. 
oh. well... 
Love your writing. Smart and glibby with an occasionally smarck and high giggle.

LP:

Yes, well, I spent a lot of time handcuffed in a box because of you. 

Sounds bad out of context!

LH:

Handcuffed, in a box, in a bag, in a trunk, with a costume change to make - 

No, I didn't expect much.
But you did it!- and boy does it sound strange.

To my dear LP and the special collaborators that have marched in to my manical dreams and been willing to go to these places and do these crazy things for the sake of foolishness and art and the seeking of magic, I dearly thank you for playing with me.

But I can't promise I wont go to the next impossible, and possibly embarrassing quest.

Edit: I have already been informed that this is way to obtuse to understand. At one point in time, I did a magic act that included "Metamorphosis" or the "Substitution Trunk" routine. My assistant would be handcuffed, stuck in a large tied bag, and put in a chained, padlocked packing crate, and the keys given to an audience member. I would then stand on the crate, raise a curtain above my head, and when the curtain came down, my assistant was standing on the crate, dropping the curtain, and had made a costume change - I had disappeared, and she had escaped. the keys were then obtained from the audience member, the crate opened, the bag untied and I was found in the bag, in handcuffs, also changed in to a different costume. Spectacular illusion, still can't believe we ever pulled it off, and hope that whoever now has the cuffs and curtain and accessories is using it well.

Intimate Black Hole

In terms of the experience of blogging...

 It feels to me like writing notes to your dear friends and the universe. Then you send them, with great intimacy, out in to a black hole, without any expectation of(an)echo. 

Don't get me wrong, the echoes are wonderful, but unexpected.

"stroke an artist and surprise a child"

But for most of my waking hours it is about being productive in the service of my crafts. I love being able to express some of the feelings, without expectation.

In real life, with pen and paper, I am on sketchbook #96 or something. 99% of those books will never see the light of day. Yet the internet is both collective and perpetual. The cosmic dictionary. 

At least a tear in the river

Ok, back to heady stuff...

"Participate joyfully in the Sorrows of the World"

We can not cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

 - Joey, or J.C.

Several references led me to remember this quote and tenant. We must not be overwhelmed with all the pain in the world or we will not paint with pretty colors or make useless things or experience any joy - we will be vacant of strength to help the human condition. 

.... and lord knows,  misery loves company.

Jayne and I refer to Joseph Campbell as "Joey" and Leonardo Da Vinci as "Lenny"

It makes it all less ominous, and although conceited and blasphemous, it is meant as endearment and familiarity. It makes it easier to absorb lessons if they are coming from a dear friend, rather than a Genius or God. (Joey would hate those last words)

(Click on the picture for a better view)

Behind Curtain #2...

You heard it here first!

The Museum of Outdoor Arts has inked a deal with Hudson Gardens to create an outdoor light show and display called 

Hudson Holiday

We have been working on this project for three years now, and we finally have the perfect site and a great partner.

The show will open mid November and run selected nights through the New Year.

The thirty acre site is a stunning landscape to work with - 

I am so excited to be designing this show! I love my job!

In addition to light-scaping, we will be bringing back and expanding the Emry Gweldig's Wondrous Keep display (This time outdoors in a Conifer grove), and launching many projects we have had in the works including the Herd of Electric Sheep & Crazy House.

This will be a ticketed event and will benefit both non-profits - MOA and Hudson Gardens.

In the not tooooo distant future, I am going to start a separate blog "Designer's Sketchbook" for the Cabinet of Curiosities and Hudson Holiday projects and keep this blog for the more personal sputterings.

Rights versus Privilege

Many Moons ago, one of our business partners was Irma.

She is gone now, bless her prickly soul. but None-the-less...

Weather you were part of her family, commune or business you knew that she divided all the good things in life between Rights and Privileges.

So here is my grand epiphany:

To make art is a right, not a privilege.

...And the world would be a better place if everyone made art like they make pasta!

Perhaps the privilege (or sacrifice) is to be called an artist -  by others.

I believe that people can call themselves anything they want, as long as it is attached to one or more crafts : Painter, illustrator, storyboarder, sign painter, weaver, dancer, writer, bon-vivant, gad-about, traveller, provoucture, 

But I have come to run from the word, the beautiful word and honest profession of 

 - artist -

It has become  artiste'  - Artiste' de pu' pu' in our society.

I feel so blessed, so lucky, happy to have the life I have.

And even though I am working for a fine art establishment, and my job is to manifest collaborative works of art, 

they encourage me to do the common magic. 

Wizard in Residence is a title I can hopefully accept and prove, because it is a craft.

It holds me to this world, this community, and demands my waking moments for the results.

Then my job can be about making a(n) (inner) child giggle.

Curtain #1 of 2

Thank you, thank you,...both of you 

(as I would chime to a small audience..)

Let me share what I have been working on...

I have not meant to be mysterious, but have been waiting for this blog to split for the 

Museum's (Museum of Outdoor Arts) Fall projects of which I am proudly a part of.

Now that dates are getting booked and t's are dotted, 

I am going to attempt to cover 2 projects

 and keep this personal train going at the same time.

MOA's indoor show this fall is Cabinet of Curiosities. 

It is a group show curated by Cynthia Madden Leitner, and involves 6 incredible artists (including Jayne HH) plus the Museum team.

My charge in the show is series of cabinets and acquired objects that make up a room for the

Imaginary and Impossible Wunderkammer of Lewis Carroll 

& his Collection of Fairy Tale Reliquaries

or something to that effect.

The show will open in early October.

Stay tuned for Curtain #2. The big enchilada 

Ok, I'll try this

No, not some secret society of Di Vinci esque concoction, but an I idea that I started to write about that quickly became a gigantic chalkboard paradox, and I had to walk away.

It started with an examination of the emotions one (I) go through in my daily work, and the dilemmas the very structures of the work creates.

See, I told you....

Ok, as a "creative type", a person that creates stuff for a living, there are are structures and constant questions that we are always honing and asking.

1. Purpose. The work must be serving some purpose. The work must have a purpose, or it is simply pornography or phycological doodling. Why would you sign up for a job this tough unless it was at least an honest service. 

Hitch:  The more "popular" your work, the harder it is to find a handy purpose. People like Koons or Hirst or other "Fine" "Artists" can name ART as the purpose on the form and they are done for the day. For a craftsperson or designer, we are audience based, like many of the other collaborative arts. The audience's reaction and acceptance is paramount. The audience is the purpose.

2. The Rub: Who the Hell died and decided you had a destiny to share your "talents" with the world as some kind of purpose? Did you win American Idol or the Art Olympics in the Auto-didactic triartathon?  AHHHHH - Enter EGO - Id.

So, could I please, pretty please, obtain, for even one single moment, the humility of an ancient monk, the bravada of an opera tenor, the social skills of a politician, the physical focus of an athlete and the technique of great magician? 

No.

But I can try. Decoro - the skills, Sprazzazia - the sell, Grazia, the harmony.

Perhaps it takes our whole - the good parts and the bad parts, the pretty parts and the unpleasant parts, all is spinning balance, to create.

Does purpose demand ego, or ego create purpose? 

I warned you.

If...

Oh lordy....

 I'll have to get back to you on this one.  

The thought plickens.

Sorry Jayne, had to leak it!

I am so sorry Jayne..... But when going through the manuscript/Dictionary  that Jayne is writing about our work together over the years, which I am collaborating on, I ran across the following under the letter W , and I couldn't help but sharing : 

Working

--- Working with the work; 

1. Have the right tools or the right people. Anything done without the proper 

whatever-you-need is the bad timing in a black whole. 

2. pick two; fast, cheap, or good....

3. Be aware that absolutes are not true things, but tendencies, and roll with them.

4. Don’t suffer future pain.

5.. Materials / Work/ Altar ... Method / Material / Alchemy... Inspiration / Media / Spirit....

4. Try to know if that was the easy part or the hard part. Try to get passed it, indeed it may be all down hill from here.

5. If something is not changing you are not looking close enough.

6. Draw yourself in.

7. Paint yourself out.

...more or less...

--- working with the peers; see CRAFTSPEOPLE

• process of elimination; Making elimination a process.

Magic 1977

Right Costume, Wrong Play (Sfumato Series 2001)

Magic 

I was still trying to make my living as a performer in 1977. 

Clown work, Character wave at cars, and magic shows.  Yes, really.

One night, I did a show in a conference room in the basement of a bank for a group of metaphysical devotees.  

I played it fairly straight. I was wearing a (bad) suit or tuxedo, and I presented a couple of typical tricks, and then I tried a very difficult and finicky illusion - levitating a small piece of crumpled aluminum foil in between my outstretched hands - 

Full light, audience within five feet.

And then something happened. I entered "Grazia" - I was the instrument of my magic, not the creator or seller of it. 

That little piece of aluminum foil was levitating and the room was very still and happy. 

They loved it. They believed it. They, in a way, created it through their suspension of dis-belief and allowing me to practice my craft.

The belief of magic had created those moments - 

Magic is the truest feeling you'll ever feel.

Golden Egg

I heard baby Geese have been seen at Hudson Gardens,

and several little signs that projects will be announced and Winter's work will be over soon.

Promises of golden eggs and sparkling lights

Mad dashing Summer

to reveal secrets and brighten the night

of the Fall

To all the Mother's out there

who pluck us from obscurity

and nurture us and love us 

and defend us and cry for us

smile for us, and sometimes curse us

I say for all humans everywhere - 

You are amazing. Thank you.

What Shall We Grow This Summer

Oh what should we grow?

we could grow potatoes

we could grow squash

we could grow melons

all juicy and soft

But,  'sted

let's grow some laughter

and let's grow some corn

let's grow some instruments

like tambourines and horns

Sometimes I think

we need a bite full of love

of silly antics

and innocence

unformed

Cross Section / Cross Roads

Ok, I don't know if it is just me, but I am bumping in to my past - a lot. 

As we were puttering through the French flea market (I think they call it French because is sells nice things - go figure) anyway  - puttering through an antique stall and finding an old wood weaving shuttle and and flute that I was in real need of, (really - for a project) and the purveyor asked " Are you Lonnie Hanzon?" It turned out to be an associate I worked with in the early 1980's.  

This is not just the Facebook "Finding people you never knew you lost" syndrome. I am physically and electronically visiting moments of my past. Some say it is about turning 50 - What? Do I get a visit from each year - wow - interesting.

But then is started to make sense when I heard a brilliant and funny science author on NPR. She was talking about probabilities and the Bell curve in ways that made actual sense, and even though some of what she spoke was about good and bad slimy things in our mouths and bodies, she exposed for a moment the sameness of everything and the logic of it all.

I have to admit that I am often truly astonished and perhaps even ashamed at what nut cases we are as peoples and societies. But then it made sense that we were just changing and adapting and morphing to rise to the challenges of our environment just like all the rest of the  slithy toves. 

Evolution is not finite. Duh.

Yup, its spinnin the other way!

It seems to be spinning the other direction.

Do not panic. Yes, I know that the

entire world we thought we trained for the first 20 , oh God its already 30 years - never mind. Anyway, What I was trying to say is that yes, everything is shifting.

BIG TIME

Wow. Hold on. 

but....

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Everything. every thing . ever a thing. 

Nevrything?

(Last two lines sound like, and I undoubtedly ripped off from my dear Dear friend Jayne Harnett Hargrove  - you can find her great writ, wit and with @ harnetthargrove.blogspot.com 

click on one of the Joan of Arc Twins on your right.

The warrior puppet was very tired. His boots were very large and heavy. He was missing buttons. His helmet was hot. He was tired of fighting.

Sooooo looking forward to warm enough weather to open the studio doors and hose out the winter.

The time is fleeting but action slow. Everyone still wearing their Winter armour.

Thoughts are hot but fingers still chilled.

Concrete Trampoline

When I read the papers these days about what to say to a friend who lost their job, or what to say and not say, I find it very foreign. - 'Don't use platitudes, stay neutral, etc... like people are going to go postal if you say "sorry" or "another opportunity will come" (which is the truth)

People in the arts seldom are afforded to "have" a job long enough to mourn it much when they "loose" it.  And if the futurists are correct, the old days of staying in one place or at one gig for life is like much of the old ways - quant and antiquated.

A career in the arts is often like a concrete trampoline - 

 buoyant on the rise and hard as hell on the decent. 

But arts are only a reflection of life, so maybe we lifer's just acknowledge and get to know the cycle a bit more, or that crazy overdose of optimism in our brains just moves us on to the next shiny thing as quickly as possible. I have also learned that strapping several pillow to your body when you are flying high is a good idea.

More than once people have said I am like the little boy digging through a pile of horse manure - when ask what he is doing, he exclaims " There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

Somewhere along the way, I heard Joseph Campbell say that if you really look at your life, you will see that the greatest moments are usually preceded by the worst moments. I have found this to be true, so true. So when your hurt and splatted on the concrete, remember, something really shiny is coming....

Buying Stuff

For those who know my work, you know that it is often made from hundreds of parts.

I found myself pontificating on my buying strategies the other day, so I thought I would share them.

My buying strategy has always been to buy the highest quality objects from the lowliest sellers, rather than be forced to buy the lowest quality items from the tony or high end seller. That way you often end up with a better quality at a really good price. This is the sweet spot in where you can really get credit for having a good eye. As a buyer, you want to have the best eyes in the room.

The market separates in to categories including furniture, lots and smalls. Lots, as indicated, are grouping of objects. Smalls are pieces from breadbox size down to a button.

Smalls are not difficult to find or buy. Smalls are now nationally competitive, due to E-bay. I can check market value and buy any smalls on e-bay and it makes sense.

For low end frames, curiosities, and heavy items  such as furniture obviously local. and the fewer times it has been moved or re-sold the better ( always getting as close to the Mother source as possible)

I think that remainder houses and true Estate sales have the highest quality for value. Auctions next, then booths, e-bay, co-ops, dealers & boutique.  Quality, Value & Time spent acquiring.

Confectionary

When I was giving one of those "go interview an artist" interviews, which usually starts with my vocal distain for the title "Artist", and my diatribe on art as service, the seeking of art, craft as art, art as medicine - which I am sure I will get back to at some point....

She asked the "If you weren't you, who would you be or what would you do for a living? " question. Since I turn 50 this year, I have decided that from now on,  all answers must be pulled from previous material, cause at this rate we ain't gonna get to the wonderful spot in act 3.... So, my new persona would be the spirit of Danny Kaye, the eye of Walt Disney and the occupation of Sugar Sculptor. I ADORED working with sugar in the recent past, and can not wait for an excuse to play with the dangerous yet magical substance again.

Let's start at the very beginning

I have no problem imagining, seeing, drawing, painting, sculpting, speaking, calculating, directing, and 57 other obsolete or quant skill sets, yet allowing myself to write is daunting and stilted and scary. Yet we have more words than ever, and people spewing their guts is as common as coffee.

Maybe it is my generation. The computer, internet, cell phone, digital everything  - are all things that happened in my adulthood. To be published meant something totally different then. 

It is wondrous that the world is once again flat, but I was trained to walk on a ball.

Ok. I made a start. That is a beginning.

Yes, I am in the development of several projects - working deep. Gathering bits. All for the Fall and Holidays. The late snows help me stay in winter mind.

Hello World