Friday Feature - Throo Da Looking Glass

I often check in at "Best Posts of the Week," scroll through the listings, and click on anything that sounds interesting. I rarely read all the posts in any given week - there are too many, usually - but I always stop in and read some of them. So this is a shout-out for BPOTW, as well as for my featured blog. It's fun to see what's out there, and I often discover new blogs I like.

This past weekend, I discovered a new favorite blog: Throo Da Looking Glass. It features gorgeous and interesting photographs, generally one per day, with usually minimal, but insightful, commentary. It's exactly what I need some days -- a few moments of beauty to brighten my outlook.

Check it out!

Cool Stuff From LegalMist's Daughter

I've written before about my daughter's art talents and Zazzle gallery (here). She may not be the next Monet or O'Keefe (then again, she might be...), but she definitely has some natural ability that I lack.

My daughter has a pretty good natural ability for photography, too. She hasn't developed her portraiture talents quite as much as Kim Ayers[fn1], my blogger buddy who also writes "Ramblings of the Bearded One," a blog I've read for years. But she takes a nice photo.

When she was two, nearly three, I took her to my cousin's wedding. She wanted to take pictures with my new camera. Since it was simple enough (point and shoot), I let her take a few photos of me in the hotel room. She told me where to stand and when to smile.

I figured I'd end up with typical kid photos of my torso & chin, or half of me at the edge of the frame with a bunch of crud that should have been background showing as the main focal point, or, at best, a blurry shot of me not smiling.

Instead, I ended up with several well-centered photos of me, actually smiling (she got the timing right), with minimal annoying background crud. The perspective was a little off -- she was not-quite-three, and very tiny, and she didn't think to climb up on a chair to photograph me straight-on instead of from her looking-up perspective. Then again, that was her usual perspective on the world, so it probably didn't occur to her that it wasn't "normal," and I didn't think to suggest that she stand or sit up higher for the photo shoot, so whose fault is that, really?

Overall, I was impressed. I let her take more photos with my camera any time she wanted to after that, and I am disappointed far less frequently with her photos than I am with my own.

So when we went to the Desert Botanical Garden to see the butterfly pavilion, I let her take lots of photos of the butterflies and flowers. She did a nice job.

I made a calendar out of her photos and posted it in her Zazzle store. Check it out:

Blooms and Butterflies 2011 Calendar by coolpuppies
Browse Butterfly Calendars

I also designed some magnets and mouse pads and mugs and other items, just for fun, from some of the photos. And there are items made from some of her drawings, too. You may have noticed the "Zazzle" display bar in the margin - it shows some of the things posted for sale on the site.

But here's the cool part: People have actually bought things! And not just me or my relatives. We have sold actual calendars and magnets and cards to people completely unrelated to us! Not many, mind you. No one is getting rich from this particular endeavor. But it is fun, and a good confidence-booster for her, to know that other people like her art and photos as much as I do.

So, if you have time, check out her Zazzle store. You don't have to buy anything (it can be expensive, although they do have frequent sales and discounts and free shipping offers), just look around and let me know what you think.

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Footnotes (because lawyers love them):

Fn1: Kim Ayres' portrait photographs are unique. Instead of the typical photo of everyone with smiles plastered on their faces, dressed in goofy outfits, sitting and/or standing next to each other in front of some idealized background (or, worse, stacked on top of each other in some ridiculous pose meant to suggest "family love and harmony reigns supreme here"), he captures real faces with real expressions, in real places (or with black backgrounds, for maximum focus on the actual person). I love them. You should definitely check out his photography web site - and his blog, too, if you have time.

If I am ever in Scotland again, I am going to have him photograph me and whoever is with me (husband, kids, friends, whoever). It would be a hoot to meet him, and I'd end up with some way cool photos, to boot.

Some Friday Photos

Here are some photos my daughter and I took at Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden. They are currently hosting a glass sculpture exhibit, by artist Dale Chihuly. Apparently he makes glass sculptures and exhibits them in botanical gardens all across the U.S. (and probably other places, too), so maybe you can see some near you sometime. Or you can just check out the photos below.

We went to see the sculptures twice, once during the day, and once at night. They are quite interesting and beautiful. I was surprised that my kids were actually interested in seeing them a second time, but they both agreed the glass was "way cool" and they wanted to see it at night. I thought it was worth a second look, too. Since most of you live too far away to visit these yourselves, and anyway the exhibit ends May 31, I thought I'd give you a quick tour of the "highlights."

First up, a giant blue "orb" hiding behind the prickly pear cactus - very cool:





Here is a photo of a boat full of glass balls....




... and one of some tall-ish blue glass sculptures that almost seem to wave in the wind like an odd bulbous prairie grass (get it, "blue glass / blue grass"?) ...




Next, a photo of some strange white bulbous sculptures among the organ pipe and prickly pear cacti:




Here we have the giant neon yellow ... what - saguaro cactus? phallic symbol? ... you decide. This one is visible as you drive up the road to the garden's entrance, and acts as a beacon, luring the multitudes in to see the exhibit:




And here is an "arty" photo my daughter took of her brother in front of the giant neon yellow phallic sym- ... er, saguaro cactus:




Here are some interesting tall blue skinny ones with tops remiscent of the "crested saguaro" cactus:



Here is a giant round-ish sculpture, reminiscent of a sea anemone, or perhaps medusa, with all the snake-like tentacles sticking out all around:



And here is a close-up of the same sculpture:


Beautiful, odd, awesome, different, pretty, cool, neat, elegant, strange ... these are all words I heard used to describe the glass sculptures during our visits. How would you describe them?

Desert Botanical Garden Butterfly Pavilion

Every year, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix exhibits butterflies from around the country in their "butterfly pavilion," which is essentially a large tent with lots of flowers growing inside, and lots of different types of butterflies and moths fluttering around. If you have an insect phobia, you should not attend this event. If you think butterflies and luna moths are awesome, beautiful, and very cool, it is not to be missed.

I took the kids to it twice this year. They had a blast. The first time we went, my daughter had a grand time looking at all the butterflies and comparing them to the identification chart. My son didn't care so much about which kind was which, but a butterfly landed on the butterfly identification card they had given him, and he was fascinated. He gave it a "ride" and then encouraged it to walk off the pretend "elevator" onto a flower. He named the butterfly, and when we went back a couple of weeks later, he walked around looking for "his" butterfly, and calling its name. He found it (or one that looked like it) and was soooo happy.

Meanwhile on the second trip, my daughter (age 10) snagged my camera and had a blast taking photos. I didn't expect much -- thought we'd end up with a lot of blurry photos of butterflies in the distance -- but she was having fun and I was busy keeping my little guy out of trouble, so I didn't wrest the camera from her happy little hands. I just let her go for it. As it turned out, she took some darn good photographs - probably better than I would have done!

Here are just a few of the photos she took:

I made some note cards and other items from some of the photos at her Zazzle gallery, at http://www.zazzle.com/coolpuppies*. I'll add more when I find the time. Check it out if you are interested.

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My Husband Is Andy Warhol

I came home from work today and this is what I found on my kitchen counter. A wall of Pop-tarts, looking very much like an Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup painting:

Apparently, they were on sale at Safeway for $1 a box. My husband loves Pop-tarts, so he stocked up.

LMK's Art

My daughter loves art. She has always loved to draw, color, paint ... create. She is not a child prodigy in the sense of being able to paint perfect representations of things at the age of 5. But she has a good eye for proportion, design, and detail.

For example, at age 8, I would never have thought to draw highlights in a dog's eye, but she did. Heck, when she was 3, she was putting eyebrows on her line-figure drawings to show various expressions -- anger, surprise, happiness.... When she was in first grade, she drew a picture of me (stick figure in a dress) in front of a wood-framed stand-up mirror. How do I know it was wood, not metal or plastic, around the mirror? Because she drew the wood grain, and it looked realistic! And she got the angle on the reflection just right, too. So even though she hadn't developed her people-drawing talents yet, I thought (still think) the picture itself was amazing, coming, as it did, from a 6 year old. When she was in second grade, she was one of six kids in her school selected to have her art (a butterfly collage) hang in the School District Office, along with art created by 6 kids from each other school in the district. So she's no Michaelangelo (not yet, anyway), but she's pretty good for a kid.

My Mom suggested I start an online gallery of her art, and also said she wanted to buy a fridge magnet and some note cards, if I would just make it possible. So I uploaded one of my Mom's favorite pieces of my daughter's art (a purple butterfly) onto Zazzle.com and used it to create some items for sale online -- a mug, thank you cards, fridge magnets, stickers, keychains, mouse pads, apron.... even postage stamps. They have a lot of things you can make on Zazzle. Here is a sample thank you card:

"Thank you" card w/purple butterfy by coolpuppies
Create a unique note card With http://www.zazzle.com/
View more Digital Art Cards

Dr. Zibbs has some items available on Zazzle, too, including this coffee mug:

That Blue Yak Coffee Mug by mcglinch
Create a coffee mug With Zazzle
More Humor Sayings Mugs

so if your taste runs to Blue Yaks instead of kid art, you should check out the "That Blue Yak" line of goods on Zazzle. You're welcome, Dr. Zibbs. (He didn't even ask me to do this promo; I'm just nice that way).

My daughter then brought me another piece of art she made and asked if I'd put that up on the site, too. So I did. The second one is not my favorite, but it's cute -- a puppy dog with angular-looking ears. Here is a sample "awesome" sticker:

Cool Puppy "Awesome Work" stickers by coolpuppies
Design a custom sticker At http://www.zazzle.com/
Browse more Domesticated Stickers

So now we have a whopping two designs in the gallery. I am still working on editing them -- for example, some of them need a little work re: centering the design on the product, or revising the color scheme. My Mom says I should add my daughter's initials and date to each piece, as well as the web address for the gallery in case anyone sees the mousepad or thank you card or whatever, and wants to buy one.

I am thinking no one but family will actually buy anything, and they will know who made the stuff and won't want the www.zazzle.com/coolpuppies* web address on the art.

What do you think? Should I dream big on behalf of my daughter and assume that strangers may see and love her art work and therefore may want to know where to buy it? Or would the addition of the web address to the products take away from the overall design?
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Late Breaking News - Kid's Art - "The Assassination of Lincoln"

We interrupt the fascinating saga of the Spelling Bee, to bring you this photo of LegalMist's Kid's ("LMK") famous painting, "The Assassination of Lincoln," as described in this prior post.


You can see the bad guy in the back, on the right, holding his gun. The large rectangular-ish thing between the bad guy and President Lincoln is the bullet. You can see that President Lincoln, in his top hat, looks very unhappy, perhaps because of his impending death, or perhaps he just was not enjoying the show at the theatre that evening.

This painting was done via a unique method of putting colors on the page, then painting the entire thing in black paint, then scratching off the top layer of black paint (a form of "etching") to create the masterpiece. Quite a complicated process when you're five years old.

At the end of his art class (yesterday was the last day), his teachers thanked me for allowing LMK to participate in the class. Apparently he gave them quite a few memories to last a lifetime....