The Rootababies. . .

Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you all well, enjoying cups of tea and formulating your plans for the arrival of spring!

Recently,  I have been researching which plants I would like to plant in my container garden on the porch this summer and I started thinking again about an idea I had had a while ago.  I was thinking about how kind of funny and creepy some root vegetables look.  So, you know me, as soon as I spot them, I feel compelled to follow those breadcrumb trails of creativity!  After finding some public domain illustrations of root veggies, I added some butterfly and insect wings and some images of doll faces (and even one from a spirit photograph!) and soon, I had discovered some new friends!!

And so, in celebration of my newest collage sheet set at my Etsy shop Velvet Revived, these are The Rootababies and this is their story:

(As always, please click on the images to see them larger.)

Somewhere near here (or perhaps, far away)

there is an ancient abbey in ruin.

Covered in vines and overgrowth,

a mysterious group of creepycute creatures lives within.

There, behind the crumbling wall of the ruin,

there is a patch of bare ground,

frequented by a variety of insects and butterflies...

During the day,

these creatures lie in slumber underground.

But at night,

they come up from out of the Earth...

They are so curious about you!

I hope you won't mind if they flutter close to your face!

Here they are, 

emerging from their hideaway in the ruin,

fluttering happily away into the moonlight!

If you find these little creatures interesting,

they would be happy to come and live with you

and make your projects more creepycute!

Click here to be taken to my Etsy shop

Velvet Revived

in order to find The Rootababies!

Valentine's Day Tea Dance 2016....

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,

Not everyone loves Valentine's Day like I do, but the Queen of Valentines hopes you are having a lovely day nonetheless.  Here's hoping that those who are having a day of gooshey red, pink and purple, mummified in doilies, wrapped in yards of lace, covered in cupcake crumbs will be able to share some of their joy with those who take a more cynical view of the holiday!

I do hope that all Friends of the Tearoom, the Covered-in-Cupcake-Crumbs Crew as well as the Cynical of Commercialism Crew will all join me on the dancefloor as I spin a selection of cynical as well as sweet odes to the day!

David Bowie

Strangers When We Meet

Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith

I'm Not in Love

New Order

Bizarre Love Triangle

Scritti Politti

Perfect Way

Echo and the Bunnymen

Lips Like Sugar

Psychedelic Furs

Love My Way

Marc Almond

She Took My Soul in Istanbul (Blue Mosque Mix)

(Whew!  After so much dancing, you should have a piece of cake!)

(Images used in my collages from Tumble Fish Studios on Mischief Circus.)

A Tribute...

(As always, please click the image to see it larger.)

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,

The collage above is the one I have finally finished in tribute to David Bowie.  

I was so very shocked and saddened to learn of his death very early in the morning on January 10th, shortly after it was announced by the BBC.  

I always admired him and his sense of innovation.  In his career, he constantly re-invented himself. 

As we now know, he was still creating art until only a few days before his death, in spite of being so ill.  As an artist, knowing this affects me greatly.  He leaves us with a tremendous gift of an enormous body of work, hours and hours, days and days of music, endless amounts of video performances, interviews and movies.  In this amazing time of digital information, you can surround yourself with his art and almost forget he is gone.  As I listen to his music and watch him online, one thing occurs to me:  To my mind, his parting gift to us was raising the bar as an artist, one last time.  He has challenged us all.  What can we do to devote ourselves to our art by spending every moment we can, perhaps even some of our last ones, making our art?  

UPDATE:  Please see my response to a comment by my friend Bill below for a note about something interesting I learned after posting this collage and blog post.