ZOMBIE!

Happy Hallowe'en!

A little dark grey and indigo eyeshadow, blue-toned purple lipstick, and you look less-than-healthy. A Hallowe'en self-portrait.

Altered Book

Whilst clearing out the things that ended up in front of the fireplace (so I could clean it out and replace the too-small grate), I unearthed my belly dance altered book. I knew where it was, I just hadn't bothered to dig it out, because I hadn't felt particularly creative lately - too busy feeling like a slug, I guess. Anyway, I do want to get back to that. I was so pleased with the way things were going, and then *SPLAT!* I hit a brick wall. I want to do so much with it, it's hard to overcome all that inertia.

It may end up veering in a direction I had not intended, in to Body Image territory. Like many women, I've struggled with self-esteem as related to physical appearance. It's hard to look in the mirror to see if you're doing it right when you can't bear to look at yourself! Added to that, some moves are obscured by  fat, and you can't see what the muscle is doing. I'm trying to get started on a healthier lifestyle, and that will play into dance, which may well end up in the book. Fortunately, it's a fairly large book, and I have room for that...

I didn't really mean for the project to be art-as-autobiography. I meant all along to include the few pages I wrote when I started taking Magda's classes, but I never meant for it to be just about my experience with dancing. Sometimes when I'm writing, characters take on a life of their own, and go in directions I hadn't anticipated. I can't decide if that's magical or frustrating because I've lost control of my own creation. *shrug* It's not a question I intend to answer today. Instead, I think I'll try to go vote early and beat the crowds.

Photoethnography

My husband referred to my need to document that which I am about to share as ethnography. Which I suppose is correct to a point, but I'm not planning on doing much writing, so it's more ethnophotography or photoethnography. (I think I prefer photoethnography.)

Without further ado, I present... The Lavender Suit.

I saw this mannequin in a shop window while we were on our way to dinner. When we left the restaurant, I grabbed my camera from the trunk and headed back to photograph it. At first glance, it appears to be a young man's suit, but a closer second look reveals it to be a man's suit rolled up to fit onto a child-size mannequin. The shoes, by the way, are either lilac ostrich leather, or embossed to look like ostrich.

Holiday Cards!

Good grief, it's getting to be that time of year already... Because of a really good deal with a film-processing company, I made up some kaleidoscoped holiday cards. 

I don't think I'm going to attempt to get these on the website - too much work. I think I'll probably just make them available where I take my belly dance classes. I'm pretty happy with the results. These (and the other 4 designs) will be affixed to the beautiful Strathmore Photo Mount cards. It's labor-intensive, but the results are really wonderful.

Paper (Art!) Dolls

These are my Ode to Universal Monster paper dolls (art dolls!) winging their was to a Hallowe'en ATC swap. Making them is tremendously entertaining, even if the pieces get on the small-and-fiddly side.
But my paper doll pride and joy is this one:
She was made for a friend of mine who is a dancer, for her birthday. She has 15 points of articulation including positionable hair.

Another set done for a swap is these guys:

Made with homemade paper and found images, they are simplistic and strange. I love 'em!