Artsy Accidents...Not for the weak of stomach....

me & trusty Olfa, still together after all these years....


Inspired by this post by Jan over at DaisyJanie, I'm sharing my artsy accident....

As prefaced in the title, if you're not comfortable with mortal wounds or blood...quit reading now!

While I was a senior in an elective bookmaking class at SCAD, our professor was giving us the basics on beginning bookmaking. When she got to the point about cutting, she gave us two simple rule for cutting paper and bookboard:

1) ALWAYS use a sharp blade.
and
2) ALWAYS let the blade do the work. DO NOT push down when cutting.

As she's describing this, I'm thinking to myself, "Is she freaking crazy? We're ART students for chrissakes!! We've been cutting stuff up since our first design class as freshmen. I can't believe she's wasting her time with this...."

So, one night late, deadline approaching, I was working on a project due the next day. I was cutting, cutting, cutting away. I was down to the last piece of blade on my handy olfa snap off knife, and in a hurry to finish, guess who was breaking the rules?

I remember the knife sinking into my thumb, apparently when you PUSH DOWN with a DULL BLADE, that increases the force and momentum with which you stab yourself. It was in slow motion. IT WENT DEEP. AND I KNEW IT. It was STUCK in my THUMB.

I pulled my thumb up really quick and started shaking it, because then the little pain receptors started to hit my brain. And since those Olfa knives, even with dull blades, make excellent cuts, blood started going everywhere. I had white curtains next to my desk, covered in blood. It look like a horror movie.Literally, like someone was murdered. AND, I ruined my project. I think at that point, I would've rather just cut the thumb off than lose that project.

Stubborn, poor college student me, had a project due, no time or money to spend the evening in the emergency room getting my thumb sewn up. So a quick trip to the drug store for gauze, butterfly bandages, medical tape, led to me working the rest of the evening with a bum bleeding thumb, trying to finish a project. I think I changed the dressing three times that night, and about 10 more times over the course of the next several days.

Needless to say, I should've had stitches and didn't, so the nerves are completely dead in that part of my thumb. Ahhh...the price we pay for art.....

Oh it's healed quite nice, even though I'm pretty sure I could see bone...ick.

Since then, each time I give a lesson that involves cutting, guess which two rules I use?

p.s. that ring I'm wearing is my favorite piece in the whole world, made by the talented Kathryn Riechert, a fellow SCAD alumni. I don't think I've taken it off in 5 years, ugly thumb and all. :)

Yay!

Sexy Mother Pucker at Target.com
Buxom Lip Gloss available at Sephora.com

Has anyone tried this? I am a huge fan of the Buxom lipgloss from Bare Escentuals but these days I'm not wearing as much makeup as it seems ludicrous to spend $18 dollars on a tube of Buxom if the Sexy Mother Pucker by Soap and Glory Cosmetics does the job for $8.99.

And it did! If you're not familiar with either product, both rely on lots of emollients to polish your lips and fill in creases for a fuller look, plus a tingly factor to give them a pout. Just a note, some people don't like the tingly factor, so there's a word of warning.

Good on the pocket but after that post, I feel like I need to wash my mouth out with soap!

my fun weekend....

As of late, I've been enjoying my title as country bumpkin again. However, it is so nice to get out and enjoy good food and good friends in a more sophisticated atmosphere of the city. Charlotte and surrounding suburbs are so close to where we're at but travel 45 minutes away and it is like you are in a different world. This weekend, we were treated to a gallery crawl in Historic South End and despite the drizzly weather, James showed us an amazing spot at The Common Market, which is sort of a hipster convenience store with all the necessities and an amazing beer and wine selection. The best part of a Friday evening? You are invited to buy an adult beverage and enjoy it on their patio. Too cool. Live music to boot! They also have an amazing sandwich counter which includes your choice of breads and great meats, cheeses and spreads. I had an amazing Reuben and Mike & James got the Pimento Deluxe. Normally, it comes with bacon, made on site with local pork from Grateful Growers Farms. Apparently this bacon is so amazing, they were clean out of it, so the boys subbed in some ham. I can't wait to go back and try the bacon!

I baked this!!!!

Okay, I am not a baker. I love to cook but I hate to bake but I was inspired by the kumquat upside down cake over at Beauty Everyday and it sparked a node in my brain about a loaded kumquat tree I saw one saturday morning when we and mr. mike were out sale'n. I tried to get Mike remember where the kumquat tree was so I could go back in the dark of night and assault it's heavy branches (which would be much easier than just knocking on their door and asking if i could pick a few.) But our Saturday morning travels are often quite extensive and we couldn't quite remember. So I settled for the ripe pineapple that needed used anyway. And it turned out so pretty!!!! I should've probably cored the pineapple to make the slices round and pretty but everytime I try to core something, I end up butchering it so I settled for wedges.
p.s. the dark bits are dried cranberries.

My organizational tirade....or why I am Barbara.... a packrat.

Hello. My name is Barbara and I am a packrat. Boo! How did this happen?

I am a painter, amongst other artistic endeavors and so I guess I come by it honestly. One of my greatest weaknesses as an artist, I think, is that I like to do too many things. In art school, I was always envious of those who had this one media or vision that they never deviated from. For example, this one person whose focus was pencil drawing. They would draw and draw and draw with plain old pencils and never get tired of it.

Me, NEVER. If I drew, I wanted to try out every possible drawing media known to man. Pencil, colored pencil, pastel, oil pastel, charcoal. Same with painting. I like it all. Acrylic, oil, encaustic, collage….and the list goes on…..

For me, mixed media was and still is, the perfect vessel to try and focus my efforts. I am a Jane of All Trades. Herein lies the PACKRAT, in that I never expunge anything for fear that one tiny scrap of something will be the piece de la resistance of my greatest work ever. WHAT? That has never happened, but what if it did?

I think that I have every bit of art supply and bit and bauble I’ve ever accumulated. Actually, no, that’s NOT true, I’ve actually gotten rid of stuff, then I stumble onto some new nifty thing and I horde that as well. A sickness to be sure….

So here lies my dilemma…

mr. mike and I are leaving in just a few short weeks to spend the summer in North Carolina at the farm…we plan on gardening and practicing a much simpler lifestyle….But I need to figure out what to take from the studio so that I can continue to create up there, albeit on a smaller scale. We will have very limited space for transportation. We’re taking a small c-class RV plus the Corolla. I’m freaking out, have to tell you. I’ve been sorting and organizing for 2 weeks now…and the more I look at something, I keep thinking, WAIT! I MIGHT NEED THAT….

Being a mixed media type of girl, I always seem to want it all right at hand, so when I decide to add typeface with a stamp, I have 4 types of vintage antique typewriter fonts at hand to choose the perfect one. Or ribbon or paper, or wood, or canvas, or crayon. See what I’m saying?

So here’s my plan, I’m going to devise my perfect mixed media travel kit….and that is what I will take, all else left behind for the fall when I return and perhaps THEN I can purge the rest of it and I will FINALLY have developed this cohesive style that seems so elusive to me.

So stay tuned for my next post…. The perfect mixed media travel kit.

growing tall and green....

off for coffee in cocoa village this morning and then to stroll by the farmer's market they have here on wednesdays. i've been growing some garden goodness of my own on the patio. my tomatoes are growing tall and i will soon have to pick the first round of hungarian was peppers. yum!

a tribute....

spent a happy sad week up in North Carolina at Mike's family farm. Unfortunately, our trip was not for pleasure but to attend the funeral of his beloved grandma, Edna Beam Logan. Living 90 years, this incredible lady was honored in the traditional country way, complete with a lovely remembrance at the small country church, a hearty southern tureen supper prepared by the ladies of the church, and lots of tears and smiles as everyone remembered Edna, truly the best kind of lady...All the stories just made me think about how women like that were truly pioneers of their day. Loving dutiful wives, who lived tough country lives, both minding a house, a farm, a family...always without complaint, doing it with quiet wisdom, fortitude, and grace. We should all be so blessed to have had a woman like this in our midst.

Finally....

I am proud to announce my newest baby.....Second Surf.

Second Surf will be my venue for all things Barbara Bechtel related. Here's a little story about how I came up with the name and why:

With my divorce now final and the name change in progress, I wanted to reinvent myself. All of the successes I have currently experienced so far have had to do with my married name, Barbara Ann Tubbs. And I love my maiden name, but let's face it, it's hard to pronounce.

I live now a block from the beach and I love everything to do with that relaxed atmosphere. I started to think about all the things that make up personality, painting, art, the beach, thrifting, second hand stores, etc. and came up with second surf. Something about it really resonated with me. a second stab at recreating my life as an individual, the ocean which is my favorite place to be, and the healing cleansing quality of the water. It stuck.

I'm not a surfer. Let's just put that out there to begin with but I love the lifestyle. Many of my friends are surfers and nearly all of my friends live at or in close proximity to the water. It is a part of our lifestyle. Whether it inspires our passion like surfing or just inspires and informs our lives, it is a great place to be. We all live here because we choose to and we all love where we live.

Second Surf will be the touchstone for all artistic pursuits from here on out. Welcome and enjoy!