Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday brightened by the illumination of friends and family.Please come back in the beginning of 2009 for new work,

Thanks for all your support, Mary Beth

Cardinal In The Snow

Cardinal In The Snow
22 x 30
acrylic collage
on paper

Found Art

"There is no reason not to consider the world as one gigantic painting"

Robert Rauschenberg

Unlike all the wonderful walks I took in the Black Forest in Germany, this walk in the woods in an area called Spring Valley Wildlife Area offered entirely different material.

I suppose it's all about perspective, but I agree with Raushenberg.

Uncut Winter

Winter III and Winter IV -uncut
10 X 14 each
acrylic collage on paper

Winter

Winter I and II

acrylic collage on paper

10 x 14

Live Animals in 4 Stages

The bottom row left to right are the finished pieces
From top to bottom shows the process.
All were inspired from a sticker on Schatzi's cage when she traveled from Germany to the States that says-LIVE ANIMALS!
Acrylic collage on paper
10 x 14 each
click to enlarge

Tanzania III and IV

Tanzania III and IV

acrylic collage on paper

10 x 14 each

Tanzania

Tanzania I and II

10 x 14 each

acrylic collage on paper

Ruptured Routine

Murmur

Murmur

16 x 20

acrylic collage on paper

Sorry for the lapse in posting.

Today I was preoccupied and painting was difficult.

Here is what stole my focus all day:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/20070422_BIRDS_FEATURE/index.html

Apparently this happens every Winter and is a result to climate change.

I wonder what Sarah Palin would attribute it to?

I love the part when he says that the starlings are incribing a secret language in the air. It reminds me of the method in which I paint.

Time with Family

Indian Summer Vines

Indian Summer Vines
acrylic collage on canvas
30 x 40

I did the whole painting with a kitchen sponge!

I had a dream..........

Tapestry

Tapestry I and II
acrylic collage on paper
16 x 20 each

The End Of Indian Summer

Indian Summer
acrylic collage on canvas
30 x 40

Just A Dog

It's Just a Dog From time to time people tell me, "Lighten up, it's just a dog," or, "That's a lot of money for just a dog." They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent or the costs involved for "just a dog."Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a dog."Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a dog," but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a dog," and, in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a dog" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a dog," then you will probably understand phases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise.""Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy."Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "just a dog" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me, and folks like me, it's not "just a dog" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past and the pure joy of the moment."Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a dog" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a human."So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog." just smile....because they "just don't understand."- Anonymous
Schatzi was rushed to the hospital once again last night for emergency surgery.
She made it through, but will have to be put on a bland diet from now on.
No more bones.
Her weak stomach cannot take it.
My mother sent me this poem this morning.
It says what I want say in such a better way than I believe I could at this moment.
Please continue to pray for our little girl.
She is more than "just a dog" to us...............

Indian Summer

Indian Summer

(Day 1)

unfinished

30 x 40

canvas

Hope III

Hope III
acrylic collage
on canvas
30 x 40

The Stages of Hope

Here you can see the before and after of Hope I and II.

As you can see there are quite of few areas that were covered up.

A more appropriate title would have been Change, but it seems too transitory now.

Oh Happy Day

Autumn Notes

Autumn Notes
16 x 20
acrylic collage on paper

The first one on the left is how it all starts.

Leaves Three Times

Leaves I-III

16 x 20 each

acrylic collage on paper

By Chance

I did this pastel drawing about 10 years ago. I used to draw from my sub-conscious. Starting off with squiggly charcoal lines and letting the images emerge. The balding man with the dark beard used to appear quite frequently. This particular drawing was once

in a show in Denver. At the opening a man asked me who the bearded man was. When I began to tell him how he just showed up in my drawings usually taking center stage or placing himself in the background, it was then that I realized it was him that I was speaking to. His name was Steve and whether he places himself in center stage or in the background, we've been good friends ever since.

specimen jars

Still getting the cobwebs out

I still have more cobwebs to place.
Here are a few pics so far.
Enjoy!

City

City I and II
acrylic collage on paper
16 x 20
each

Hard To Swallow

Carnival I and II
acrylic collage on paper
both 16 x 20

She always had difficulty convincing her mother that her abstract paintings were non-objective. Upon further thought, she realized it wasn't just her mother.

She cringed when her mother thought that yesterday's paintings were about her teeth.

She hopelessly tried to defend herself with that ever useless monologue, "No mom, my work is strictly formal. It's only about the elements of art; line, color, shape, texture, and space."

But she only saw her daughter's ongoing and upcoming visits to the dentist. She couldn't get passed the teeth and gums. It was too hard for her to swallow.

Her art unexplained,

out there in a world that is confused,

only causing more confusion

and she wonders why.

Is it really only about nothing?

Branching

Branching I and II

acrylic collage on paper

both 16 x 20

Lovely Hat

Clearly Now

Clearly Now

Usually from the backseat of an old Chevy on long trips to Grand-maw's house, or as you tinkered on that broken down truck, but mostly on Sunday mornings when you made your famous beer- battered biscuits,I heard that song.

You whistled or hummed to the forgotten words, but it was your song all the same.

I can see clearly now the rain has gone............

It's going to be a bright bright sunshiny day........

When the big storm hit, did you close your eyes?

Why did the rain sodden your days, months,then years?

Saturated, you allowed time to weather that storm.

But the clouds have passed.

It's over now.

I hope you can see clearly by now.

Years since found me on a country road just after a rain.

Your song came on the radio.

I could see the sun poking through the clouds.

When I called you that evening you said it was still raining, but you were doing alright.

A lttle rain never hurt nobody.........

I'll be back next week. I am going to visit my family in Dallas-maybe I'll have a few biscuits on Sunday morning if it's not raining too hard.

Talk Soon,

MB

Hold On

This pic should motivate you when you feel like giving up.

You see, Sienna has no teeth!

We call her our little sock puppet or Madame, http://www.madameandme.com/

I am not giving up, just taking a long weekend and maybe a few days tacked on.

So "Hold On" I will be back soon-
MB

Autumn I and II

Autumn I and II
acrylic collage
on paper

Tag I'm it!

I have been tagged by http://sodistressing.blogspot.com/

OK here goes…

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my 7 random facts:

1. I am terribly insecure, but believe I am destined for greatness.

2. I live in a dream world, which I believe has something to do with that destiny in becoming famous.

3. I am obsessive about my weight and weigh myself at least 3 times a day, those who know me know that already.

4. I have to paint everyday, otherwise I feel worthless.

5. I call my mother everyday.

6. My husband is my best friend.

7. I question my existence daily.

Here are my people. I do not have 7 people that I feel comfortable tagging, but here are a few:

http://www.kellys-krafts.blogspot.com/

http://www.corinneas-chaos.blogspot.com/

http://normasnonsense.blogspot.com/

Corinthian

Corinthian I and II
16 x 20
acrylic collage on paper

Something to think about

I heard today that when they preformed the autopsy on Albert Einstein

his brain was cut into 240 different pieces.

Throughout his lifetime it was speculated that his brain was larger than average, but

to this date there has been nothing substantial discovered about his intelligence and the size of his brain.

It has been proven that brain size does not determine intellectual ability. If that were so, imagine the lengths people would go for brain augmentation.

So this makes me wonder.

Is there a visible difference between an artist's brain to that of a fool's?

Fall

Fall I and II
both
16 x 20
acrylic collage on paper

Fleurs-De-Lis

Fleurs-De-Lis

I and II

both 16 x 20

acrylic collage on paper

Handkerchief

Travel I
16 X 20
acrylic collage
on paper
Travel II
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

She was quick on the draw with even the slightest sniffle.
There was no where to run when that sharp, hollowed clank echoed through the room.
Her handbag, now opened, set free that suffocating aroma of lipstick, Juicy Fruit Gum, and occasional peppermints. There I was with a moist handkerchief thrust beneath my nose.
This is a dreadful memory.
One that will stay with me the rest of my life.
I know she meant well, but why she never offered it to me unused, I will never know.
Last night I got to thinking about handkerchiefs and how absurd they seem.
Their delicate nature defies their very use.
The word handkerchief is even confusing.
It sounds like a sneeze.
When I saw a box of them at the thrift store the other day, I wondered how many fugitive nose drops each one may have caught.
I pictured all the different grandmothers thrusting them below the noses of unsuspected children.
Then I found it ironic how something so dainty could hold such a dreadful memory.

Map I and II

Map

16 x 20

acrylic collage

on paper

Map II

16 x 20

acrylic collage on paper

Fox II

Red Fox II
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

Revisted and Revised

If you don't recognize the past, are you prone to repeat it ?

How would you ever know?

You could be stuck in a unrecognized pattern and I'm not talking about plaid.

Plaid is very recognizable, especially if you attended Catholic school.

Change is not a constant, but it is constant.

It can be drastic and subtle

at the same time.

It cannot go unrecognized,

nor can it occur.

Red Fox

Red Fox
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

Hawk II

Hawk II
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

Hawk

Hawk
16 x 20
acrylic collage on paper

Today I realized what a relief it is to paint on a textured surface..........
Schatzi came home on Saturday and she is doing fine.
We are so relieved......

Deer

Deer
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

Thank you for keeping Schatzi in your thoughts and prayers.
We are looking forward to her coming home tomorrow morning.
Please continue to pray for her healing.
Thank you,
Have a great weekend,
MB

Schatzi

Friends,
I need everyone to pray for our little girl, Schatzi.
She had emergency surgery last night, because something was obstructing her bowels.
It turned out to be a sponge that a military doctor in Germany left from surgery a year ago when we had her fixed. The sponge was pressing on her small intestine which caused her colon to twist. She made it through the surgery, but is not out of the woods yet. We will have a better idea on Saturday the doctor says.
Please pray for her recovery, we love her so.
Thank you

Antelope

Antelope
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

A Tale of Trees and Teeth

Deer
16 x 20
acrylic collage
on paper

It was difficult to ignore what had happened around me, but the truth was I had a dentist's appointment. While the rest of the neighborhood was busy gathering broken branches and chainsawing fallen trees I was fretting in a serious way. The tentacles of Hurricane Ike stung the Miami Valley on Sunday. There were record winds the likes of which Dayton had never seen.
Luckily, our tress were still standing, minus a few branches and about a half dozen bags of leaves.
This gave me permission to concentrate on the matter at hand, the dreaded dentist. Over the years I've grown accustomed to chewing my food on the left side. I just assigned it to getting old, like the odd way I have to go downstairs. It's a sideways gait one stair at a time. It's painful, but more so for the person behind me.
Yesterday was just a meet and greet with my new dentist. Why they do this is beyond me. I have to go back in 3 weeks for him to tell me the "findings".
In the meantime I'll endure the pain. I've put up with it for this long.
On the drive home I was able to access all the wind damage to the tune of, " lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!" with the words, "trees broken, branches strewn, and leaves amass, oh my!"
Once home I saw the fallen Linden tree that barely missed the house across the street with it's broken, exposed roots, I was back to fretting about my teeth.
I winced when I heard the buzz of a chainsaw, because it reminded me of the dentist's drill.
Then I put my work gloves on and began gathering branches.

Sweep The Blues Away

It was during the Great Depression when two young boys came to her door selling vacuum cleaners. Her husband was away on a business trip. In these tough times they were still quite fortunate to have the means, but she was so lonesome without him. This would be her first chance for human contact all week and it was already Friday.
She invited the boys in and offered them a Coca-Cola.

As they began to assemble the brushes on the newfangled model Hoover she returned with the cokes and a plate of cookies. She couldn't help but notice the distraught look upon their faces.

As ostentatious as the house appeared from the the outside, it was sparsely furnished and there wasn't a rug in sight. She quickly excused herself and came back carrying a small floor mat that they kept on the back stoop. It was quite muddy because of the recent rain. The boys caught a glimpse of her pocketbook peeking out from her apron pocket and knew they had made the sale.
Her husband returned that evening. She never mentioned the vacuum cleaner. Just as she never mentioned the other two she bought earlier that year. She was just so desperate for attention while he was gone. The closet underneath the stairs hid all her attempts of interaction. Among the vacuum cleaners was an array of Fuller brushes in every shape and size. Her husband was never privy.

Monday he would leave again and her lonesomeness would return.

Her only comfort was knowing the doorbell would ring again.

Maybe there would be a special broom that could sweep her blues away.

This she could only hope.