Heart of Gold

I remember the first time I felt moved by Neil Young. I was in 8th grade. My mom was meeting with her co-workers in Barnes and Noble and I tagged along. I loved (and still love) sitting on the floor in a book store and flipping through giant (and expensive) art books that I hoped to someday afford. The meeting dragged on for hours. I was actually starting to get bored. And I was starving. Just then, the music changed. I'm the kind of person who likes to have a mental catalogue of musicians who seem to have passionate fans. I like to know their sound just enough and eventually check them out thoroughly. This was the case that very day. I recognized that it was Neil Young's voice, although I didn't listen to him much. I fell in love the with the live recording of his songs and looked for books about him. I flipped through the images and text for until the albums end. Then my mother called for me.

Seasons Belated Greetings...

Hello!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I had a nice Christmas with my family and enjoyed defacing traditional gingerbread cookie designs (Pearl Jam, pre-acid Beatles and a few Sabbath members.) I'll post some pics of that later...

Digby and Iona for Everyone!

If you've wandered this far down the page you get the special prize! (corny, I know. But I couldn't resist.) I recently recieved an e-mail from the very cool Digby and Iona who have a holiday gift for all of you. If you go shopping on their site and enter the word "holiday" in the promo section at check out you get 20% off. And that goes for anything in the store. I recommend checking them out. Since I've organized my jewelry I've been really into my vintage and antique pieces. The Digby and Iona shop is full of jewelry that evokes a period from the past. Plus, they sell Beetle and Flor (the designer I wrote about last week!)

http://www.digbyandiona.com/

Beetle and Flor

I have recently become interested in bone jewelry. This first began in my drawing class. There are props for still life's all over the room and in the back of the studio, animal skulls. Before class I often put my portfolio down and gaze at them. Sometimes I pick them up gently and look at the signs of aging: pale yellowing bone tones that Georgia O'Keefe loved and hair line fractures. As time went on, my fascination was stimulated. Some of my longtime readers know that I am a Japanese anime geek. While watching an old tape (yes, VHS) of Trigun I become envious of the villain Legato's ensemble. He wears a long white coat with a human skull below the shoulder. (How bad a' would I look wearing that!?) All the while, my style was slowy looking quite Americana (perfect for bones.) And so, the wheels of my mind turn, "Should I ask my drawing instructor where they get the bones? If I could find a small iguana skull it would make a great pendent. But I was going to watch that special on the Amazon head shrinkers........Maybe a tooth? But a real one, not the plastic ones at Forever 21." Then I got an e-mail from the folks at Beetle and Floor. The artist Christine makes porcelain casts of muskrat and skunk remains. The skunk jaw even has gold teeth. She also makes casts of animal skulls that would look marvelously interesting on a coffee table or a book shelf. Don't think that you can only gander at them longingly, I've found her prices to be quite reasonable (the jawbone pendents are $70.) I might have to buy myself a birthday present (which is tomorrow. Hint,hint.)

Check everything out here.

Something....

This is one of my favorite rock portraits. The idea of shooting a band after such an epic show is on my dream list. Playing a festival head to toe in dirt is on there too. Nine Inch Nails played an intense set amplified by the fact that they were covered in mud. Can you imagine what it feels like? Besides that, I have no idea who came up with the Woodstock '94 line up (I'm sure that if NIN were around in '69 they would not have been invited to the peace and love festival) but I love watching the videos on Youtube. Do any of you Nine Inch Nails fans know who shot this work of art?