So, These Ideas Just Pop Out of Your Strange Little Brain?

Um, well, yes. That's pretty much what happens. This, uttered by an older man, who, together with his wife (/partner), have bought prints from me before. He is not unappreciative. He compared my sense of humor to that of New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, which that's pretty flattering. He asked about the Cakesaurus project and I laid out a couple bullet points. He held up "Sus Pasteles..." and said, "That's a weird thing to be carrying around in your head, M." Well. I didn't have a brilliant response. I was operating on a sleep deficit and the double thermal layers weren't doing their job in the barn. He arched an eyebrow and said to his spouse, "Well I think we should buy lots of things from her, so she can just be an artist." But then this somehow morphed into my adopting THEM because they were ponying up in my direction; I offered my small guest room, but apparently they already HAVE a guest room, and GOODBYE LIFE CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES, even the BEST LAID PLANS, yadda yadda yadda. Pssh. I was all ready for patrons!

A small group of women were in hysterics over a larger, older woodblock print, which may or may not have been about online dating; I wandered over and told them that shockingly, no one ever wanted to buy that one. "Your sense of humor is hysterical, do some people not GET you?" Which was nicely timed, as a few minutes before a man had stood before a framed "Birds Don't Like You"; he frowned and shook his head once. "Strange." He muttered this to himself. To be sure, this is better than someone bubbles, "CUTE!," and fails to notice the stalker's eyes in the next panel. 

So Art on the Farm passed pleasantly along, with moderate sales, heartening interactions and lovely connections picked up once again...

Yesterday I stopped by the Ann Arbor Art Center to investigate the sophomore Liberty Local. Would have loved to join in this time, but schedule did not permit. The artists and craftspeople put on a nice show, though the general consensus was that the crowd was down from its first year -- hopefully third time is a charm, as it's a lovely event -- nicely organized, presented, marketed. Some favorites were there, including Sloe Gin Fizz (a/k/a Nicole Raye), Janelle Songer and Aromaholic.

What especially struck me this time was the photography of Janna Bissett (a/k/a LilacPOP). She sold there last time, and the larger part of her display was given over to her industrial jewelry (lots of repurposed machine parts). I was noodling about with various necklaces, oggling a really cool one Bissett was modeling herself; and just idly began leafing through a couple small bins of sale photos. I scored a number of smaller photos from her "1950s Housewife Goes Mad" series (used as proofs to determine which ones were worthy to blow up). While the link takes you to a happy-happy one, most shots channel tension and domestic unrest, delivered in campy kodachrome tones. Super fun! Apparently this was the first ever shoot for our 50s gentleman, Michael Pack, a football player for Wayne State. He's trouble, that one! They're both adorable, really. The dress she's modelling was designed by Matthew F. Richmond; I think this is a shot of one of his creations made from Kroger bags. 

I wanted to get a snap of the necklace Bissett was wearing yesterday, but my camera was acting up. I fear it's close to giving up the ghost. Here's an instagram shot from her Twitter feed -- NOT the necklace in question, but undoubtedly another one she made. She does photography shoots for some of the automotive big shots, Live Nation and her work recently appeared in Vogue Italia. See more of her great photography here.

On an entirely different note -- and with full understanding that weather isn't subject to well wishes -- am wishing the East Coast well. May Frankenstorm sputter out/dissipate/underwhelm us all. My family told me about gas stations sold out of gas, barren grocery store shelves and possible hotel stays. Fingers and toes crossed.