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Free Art on (the) Wall 2023 compilation

 

VIDEOS FROM FREE ART ON (the) WALL

 

FREE ART ON (the) WALL!

 

Throwing Back Nemo #3. I eat the very old cereal.

 

Selling Art

I have given paintings to some friends and family. Some folks have bought my work. I realize that my paintings take a lot of time because of the look and the storytelling nature of what I am trying to do. When I did my Free Art On Wall project last year, I made some nice but small paintings to give away. It was fun to do some work that didn't take over 15 hours to paint. And I really enjoyed giving these small pieces away. 

 I like having my art up in people's homes. I don't need to make a living by painting. So, the temptation is just to give it all away. But, then how much worth does the painting hold to the person receiving it? In some cases, where I have strong ties to that person, I know there's a better chance that the painting is a real gift and  I like that. I have had friends who I have gifted paintings and then they also bought paintings, too.   

So, this is a new venture for me - to create pieces for sale that: 1. Are cool but not too weird (the stuff that I really like), 2. Are affordable, 3. Are sized nicely for a normal home. 

It would be neat to make a little $ to supplement my retirement income and to help me buy art supplies. Maybe I can get a small studio and gallery downtown eventually. Sarah is retiring soon and sometimes I think about traveling around with her,  making art on the road and then selling it to fund the adventure. 

On another note, I have all the video to make the final installment of Throwing Back Nemo 3. I just need to put it together. 

Here is my first foray into making art that fits the three above criteria. "What!?!" It is 11x14. Acrylic on canvas. I am asking $125 for it. You can message me or email me at Spokanarama@Comcast.net, if you are interested.

Cheerio! Maeve 

Throwing Back Nemo #2 - Making Beauty and Honoring a Hero with 19-year-old cereal..

 It's an oft told tale but maybe it's time to look into your heart and make something out of your old food. 

Throwing Back Nemo #1

As promised! And yes, I will eventually tell you what 19 year-old cereal tastes like. 

 

Throwing Back Nemo

 

As referenced here in this blog, almost 20 years ago, I have a cereal collection. Not a cereal box collection, but a collection of cereal boxes with the cereal settled inside, still nestling prizes and other gewgaws within. How did this sickness all start? How will it finish?

I will get into that a little, but mostly I want to say that this pursuit has become a crunchy albatross around my neck, a mocking Toucan Sam noose.  Sarah and I are both working to have a very tidy, very small amount of stuff for our sons to deal with when we pass on. If I were them, upon reception of crates of ancient cereal, I would not waste a precious second before it all went in the dumpster. 

I believe the first cereal that I collected was Urkelos. I saw the box and I thought to myself about what an odd thing it is to have a cereal dedicate to this very temporal character and how 10 years from its inception, no one would even know who Steve Urkel was, yet they were eating this junk. So, something seemed right about purchasing it. This was before “ironic” was a thing. Now it’s 30 years later and when I namedrop Urkelos, indeed, no one remembers poor Steve Urkel, nor the deliciousness he inspired. 

I think deep down I was thinking that some collector would want to buy some of these boxes, maybe some prop master or mistress would want one for a movie they were making. And then it became a thing, a joke, taking up space, haunting my fairly simple life with visions of my children pausing in their parental loss and grief just to curse me.

A month ago, I thought “Why not put one of these up for sale on FB Marketplace?” I started with the newest box  2004’s Finding Nemo cereal. $20, OBO. According to the box, there may be a pass to The Incredibles movie lurking within. No takers! Gee that’s a surprise. There is only one recourse to this situation,  I am going to make a video about opening it, making something out of the cereal, eat a little bit of it, etc. I figure I would do this with each box until they are gone. This could take years. 

So, please stay tuned. Production commences today! Oh and by the way, THE BLOG IS BACK!!!!

Gonna blog!!!!

Yes! I need to be blogging again! I have big plans to start destroying and documenting my cereal collection. It will be lovely. I will start filming that soon. But, in the meantime, retirement is great. My day is pretty much a routine. Wake up. Sit with my cup of coffee. Read the paper with Sarah. Run. Stretch. Meditate. PAINT! write. Prep food. Read. Watch a couple hours of TV and go to bed. And of course all of the other responsibilities of the day get thrown in there. I may be learning my lines, working on my radio show, doing Haiku Friday, building stuff, playing Surviving Mars, putting together videos, etc. 

Yes, my life is a lot less exciting than it used to be, but I am enjoying it very much, thank you!!! 

Here's today's Haiku Friday from my YouTube channel to kickstart this thing. 

Haiku Friday September 2nd 2022

Haiku Friday - August 26th, 2022 - CRAZY WEEK ON THE CRAZY TRAIN!!!

Haiku Friday August 19th 2022

Heron Moon

 

@maevegriffith

Heron Moon

♬ original sound Spokanarama

Haiku Friday June 24 2022

Muccia the Slug #1

 BUONGIORNO, Io sona Muccia! 

I like slow slimy strolls in the garden, long silky rain showers, big salads and jazz musica. I do not like pretentious people or anyone who looks down on me. I avoid the psychic vampira and salt. 

Avete domande? Uh, Do you have any questions for me? Grazi!

Interview with ZuZu the talking zucchini...

Bigfoot. Little skull.

Last winter, I really got into making things with air-dry clay. This Buddha was made from cardboard, papier maché and air-dry clay. 

And when it started cracking and going to hell, concrete and lots of waterproofing. 

I believe it is now a performance piece, of sorts. Not killing the Buddha when I meet him, but letting him crack, calve, and then dissolve back into the good earth.

 

My initial plan was to make a mold of him, and then create concrete statues from the mold. But, life is suffering and surrendering. 

In order to explore how to create casts (not castes), I made a quick little statue. In keeping with my fixations, it was a Sasquatch head. I was going to make a mold of it and then start leaving these heads around town. But, I didn't. 

Finally got tired of looking at it in the studio, so I enshrined it. That wiring and antenna are all part of my vision of what Sasquatch might be - animatron, android, alien?

I like the idea of these little shrines and will make more. But no more air-dry clay. This thing weighs about five pounds! And I did just acquire some glow-in-the-dark paint...

Backpacking to Trio Lakes

Every year, Sarah and I take at least one backpacking trip together. This year, I was particularly excited because I retired my old backpack of thirty years and bought a new one - and shaved off about 4 pounds! Which is good because I think I may be 4 pounds heavier than 30 years ago. 

Sarah was really stoked about taking me to Trio Lakes. She was up there last year and the trail was easy but long - about 7 miles. Perfect. We would start at the Goose Creek trailhead, make our way through Idaho up to Goose Lake and then onto Trio Lakes, just inside the Montana border. She had camped at Goose Lake last year and then took a day hike up to Trio. She saw very large trout there and was looking forward to having me fish. I get a Montana fishing license every year, so I was ready. 

The hike started out pretty easy, until we started getting into more and more downed trees across the trail. It was pretty obvious that there had been no trail maintenance since last year. Most of the blocking trees we had to either bushwhack around, crawl under or over. 

I had the trail on my “airplane-moded” phone and was tracking our position using my Gaia GPS account. Sarah had the trusty paper map. I was also tracking our progress with my watch. 6 miles to Goose Lake and then another mile and a half to Trio Lakes. 

We went through the usual beautiful forests, but what really floored me were the wild flowers that sometimes were over our head and  expansive meadows that were miles long with not another living soul in sight. Amazing. Unfortunately, the wildflowers, huckleberries and thimbleberries had also grown over much of the trail and had, for lack of better words, “consumed” our path. 

At 6.5 miles, according to my watch, we were nowhere near Goose Lake. This was disappointing. We were hot and tired. And I should have known not to trust my watch. The week before we had picked huckleberries at Mt. Spokane and my watch’s GPS said I had gone 10 miles, when I had really done about 6. So at 8 miles we reached Goose Lake and at 10 miles we are at one of the Trio Lakes, which is the only one of the "trio" with a really nice campsite. My Gaia GPS told me that we had gone 7.5. OK! 

The first order of business was to get naked and go swimming. The water was cold but not as cold as most alpine lakes I have hiked into. It felt SO GOOD! 

We set up our camp and made dinner, and we realized that I had forgot the wine. Oh oh. I had also forgot (misplaced) the hand sanitizer and the cribbage board and cards. Boy oh boy, my hyper-vigilance and constant state of worry has really been disarmed since retirement (and counseling and wonderful medication). That’s the way it goes. 

Last year, we purchased backpacking camp chairs and they are wonderful. Totally worth the extra pound or so. We had a great evening. Tea and cookies took the place of the wine and were a fine substitute. In the middle of the night, a storm brought rain and high winds. Sarah sprung into action before I had a chance and had the tent fly up and over us immediately. The wind was extreme and really buffeted our tent. My sleeping mat was comfy. I had my usual light sleeping bag with a down comforter and a great little pillow. Same with Sarah. The rain pelted. The wind was ceaseless. My hearing aids were happily  charging next to me. So cozy!!! And back to sleep.

In the morning, Sarah was concerned because we saw very few fish jumping and she was apologetic. This was the main reason she wanted to go to this lake. No worries! For the first time ever, I brought along some watercolors and a pen. At least I remembered these! 

I have a Tenkara fishing rod (a gift from my brother Joe) and some flies that Joe had tied. The beauty of this rod is that there is no reel. It is super light and telescopes out of a very small package and into a very long rod. I caught a really nice cutthroat which I released immediately (more like it released itself). That was good enough for me. 

Then onto some painting. I haven’t done water colors in such a long time. I don’t think I have ever brought any art supplies with me backpacking. But, I will from now on!

A quick little painting - 

And a sketch of an idea for my next big old oil painting. 

A day of total relaxation, although Sarah did a short hike to one of the other trio of lakes. I fished, read, painted and snoozed. 

We ate great meals (thank you Sarah)! The next morning, when we hiked out, we counted 28 trees, or piles of trees, that we had to crawl over, under or around. My legs were bloodied by the end of the trip. 

We were both exhausted, but we made it to Saltese’s Montana Bar and Grill (now mostly a casino) and had an excellent meal and then onto home. 

We’ve been back in Spokane for a couple of days now, but often my mind is not here. Standing in those boggy meadows, watching an owl swoop up, staring at wolf scat and expecting to see a grizzly sunning herself in the steamy grass, I felt at home and I miss that feeling. If the coneflowers, thimbleberries, huckleberries, honeysuckles, asters, and trees have anything to say about it, this trail is unlikely to exist next year.

Garden Tour 2021

 No one asked for this video. 

It's a garden. Vegetables grow in it. Earthworms move underneath it. Water trickles through it. In other words, the excitement is almost unbearable. 

Enjoy?