Recluse

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"Love?" she said quizzically. 

"...I haven't the heart for it..."
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<> Hello my little friends <>

So I have some confessing to do.

I have this hobby...

No, scratch that.

I have this obsession. 

It started some years ago, around the time I realized the full extent of my infatuation with The Past...

Officially {that is, according to my Etsy transaction records} it all began with this:

Yes, this was the snapshot that started it all.

I can't say for sure what about this picture started me on the road of vintage photography collecting.

Could be the romantic sentiment, or the overall aesthetic.

Maybe it was because I recognized a kindred spirit within the unnamed girl.

Realizing subconsciously that the way she holds her arm at her side {like a slightly retarded but no less adorable T-rex} was the same manner in which my own occasional awkwardness would manifest itself.

Regardless, what was done was done and now I find myself quite happy to be digging in baskets of of old photos in the most obscure antique booths and flea markets, claiming the unnamed and unwanted as my own.
Hoping, perhaps, to learn their secrets.

>=<

The fruits of my latest endeavor are as follows:
(Please do not view .gif if you have a heart condition or are prone to seizures. It's a little intense, ya'll.)

Like I said, it's an obsession now, and not one I would even venture to call "healthy".
But this illness of carefully sorting through mounds of glossy images of black & white and faded sepia in search of that ever elusive peek of beauty, of "something more than us-ness", is one I'm quite willing to suffer through.

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   Oh and yes.
Yes, you did just see the Pope.

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More of the same...shenanigans...

{Best Bro photo-bomb: "Sorry...he doesn't always act like this..." ^-^}

I started my collage collection some four years ago for no other reason than it gave me something to do. The first victims of my stainless steel fury were old Anthroplogie catalogs, hand-me-down National Geographic magazines, and whatever other object filled zines that might or might not have been sent to the previous tenant.

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Some of the scraps I freed from the page are marked by true affection, while others are merely half-hearted efforts to be less wasteful. When I first began, some of those chosen scraps were carefully arranged on a 2x3 foot cardboard sheet and then glued; now a vibrant and complex visual symposium of the many components of myself. That piece of work will probably never be shared here. It's large and confusing and frankly a little worse for wear. But maybe one day when I'm gray, I'll take it out and explain away the mystery to those dear ones huddled near.

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But these days, every third Blue Knock Sunday, I'll rummage through my stuffed closet and pull out my collection of paper scraps to fiddle with. Only this time around there is no gluing and the subject is rarely anything related to me.

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{Not sure where I was going with this but yes, the crease was intentional}

{The girl looked suspicious by herself; thus, the protective and protected rat}

{Surprise ex spotting...how embarrassing...*laughs*}

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Obviously I have no reason to take myself too seriously...I am, after all, just layering paper...but sometimes layered paper can tell a really good story.
Or inspire them.

Dreams of Eames...

Earlier this week, while valiantly fighting off a savage stomach bug, I had chance to catch up on some much needed rest and watch a few documentaries via PBS (God bless those people, wouldn't know what I'd do without 'em).

One such visual and intellectual morsel was "Eames: The Architect and the Painter".

Highly -highly- recommend catching it while it's still available to stream. I had never known much about the Eames legacy outside of a few (though admittedly very cool) chairs. Now I am much more enlightened. :)

One particular point of Eames-ness I became acquainted with and further fell in love with: The Eames House (aka Case Study House no.8).

Behold what mid-summer scented flights of fancy are made of:

{via Wikipedia}

{via the LA Times}

{both via cyberquirky.org}

I -have- been converted to the color block/Mondrian window idea...tempted to go at mine with some festively colored cellophane and masking tape...

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Thanks for being so awesome Charles and Ray...