Sad and Pathetic

This post is going to serve more as a cautionary tale rather than a heart-warming story.

I recived this email a few days ago:

Good day to you.

I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you......................

22 Caliber rifle,Hammer,Peaches and Yellows
Hammer,Mallet,Knife,Broken glasses,black,white and gold
Knife,12 Gauge shotgun,peaches
Hammer flowers pink
Hammer magneta
Let me know their various prices.and how much discounts are you going to give?I will be happy to have these selected artworks hanged in our new home in South Africa. As well, I want you to take out the shipping cost.I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.

We are traveling from our Dallas home to our new apartment as soon as possible.On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier`s check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank,please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.

I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.

Take care,
Monica Earley

I got really excited, but also very skeptical at the same time. It seemed way too good to be true. I contacted the woman in a way that I needed payment before sending the artworks out. I also googled anything that I could think of. I did find a Monica Earley, she's a beauty pageant queen NEAR dallas. Here is her response to my email:

Hello Melissa,

Thanks for your response to my inquiry regarding your creative works of art,I`ll love to proceed with the purchase of the artworks as follow:

Hammer, Magenta
Monoprint with Relief on Japanese Rice Paper
$300.00

Hammer, Mallet, Knife, Broken Glass, Black, White and Gold
Monoprint with Relief on Japanese Rice and Tissue Papers
$900.00

Knife, 12 Gauge Shotgun, Peaches
Monoprint with Relief on Japanese Rice and Tissue Papers
$650.00
And as I stated earlier from my first email to you,I`ll be handling shippings and handlings myself..

Therefore, I`ll want you to get back to me with your physical mailing address so that my hubby who has been shuttling between Jo-burg and our Dallas Home since he resumed as the Head IT section for the organisation he works in Jo-burg,SA will make out the payment to you as soon as possible.

Regarding shipping,I`ll forward your contact information to the shipping company contracted to handle all our house decoratives and other house wares to get in touch with you and make shipping plans with you.They can arrange for FedEx pick-up right from your studio/residence..They are also been charged to handle insurance and other logistics involved with the shipments.

I`ll look forward to hearing back from so I`ll know how best we can proceed.

Sincerely,
Monica Earley



So it still seems to be to good to be true. I emailed her again saying that I would take the weekend to locate the work, but in the meantime I need her address and phone number for my records.

She returned two addresses of which I googled and came upon this website:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8107992&postID=5956062646511940496&page=1

I'm glad I didn't send her anything. I'm glad I'm not so easy to trust people. For those who read my blog, just be careful if you get any strange email like this. It's really pathetic what people will do to get anyone's money. It saddens me.

Hanging out with new friends

A couple weeks ago I helped Nicole take photos of her show at the Clay Company. In return she took Adam, Ginger and myself out for a "boat of sushi". The menu said it feeds four, but I'm pretty sure seven people would have been stuffed eating the boat. Soup, Salad, Seared tuna, Tempura Veggies and Shrimp. That's only the appetizers!  The boat had seven delish sushi rolls and salmon, tuna, and white fish sashimi along with more veggies, crab sticks and octopus slices.

Adam when the boat was at full capactiy, Nicole with sushi, Dani "cutting" sushi with chopsticks

Oh no! Man Overboard! Quick, Ginger, Take him down!

I can't believe that we actually finished the boat 'o sushi. It was delicious. Thanks, Nicole!

We also had impromptu pumpkin carving party at the Rudolph's this weekend. Just a warning to everyone: The cooler the pumpkin looks the harder it is to carve. Cheyenne, Nicole, Ginger and myself got the pumpkins with warts and other cool growths on them and were practically impossible to carve. Adam and Nigel got the traditional pumpkins and had no problem slicing through.  Here are the results: Adam created one of his gummi bears, Dani did two talking creatures, Cheyenne did cute little crows/birds, and Nicole did a supertextural polka dotted pumpkin. 

This is my sad pumpkin!  Happy Halloween everybody!

Winter will be a Hott Mess

Adam and I have now been in Florida for 2 months. That's bananas. It seems like we've been missing from Mississippi for longer than two months, and at the same time it feels as though we haven't been in Florida very long. We're living in an apartment, it seemed to be the best bang for our buck. Its a nice apartment. We have a large living room and even a second room where I can make art.

Alien likes it here. Mainly because of her collection of dog beds. She's not a big fan of the obnoxiously hot weather.

I have been painting quite a bit. I just finished a dinnerware set for a fundraiser at St. Pete Clay. Most of my energy is spent looking for a job. Did you know that we're in a recession? And that unemployment rates are at an all time high? Yeah, its pretty rough out there. While there is a lot of art in St. Pete I have quickly come to learn that there is no money to back it, and it seems as though every place is on a hiring freeze until 2010, or looking for volunteers only. LAME

So speaking of St. Pete Clay... It is made up of some of the nicest people I've ever met. The owners are great, and the A.I.R.s are pretty cool too. Two of them have webpages: Nicole and Matt. Good people who make good work. Recently the A.I.R.s participated in the Folkfest. A few pictures follow:

This was my favorite booth. Wacky sculptures made with found materials.

A picture of one of the many, many local harbors.

Miss y'all in Oxford. Peace.

New Paintings

These are a few gouache paintings that I have been working on. They are two of the chairs that were in my Color Theory class this summer.

Student's Chair, Gouache, 11 x 15

Teacher's Chair, Gouache, 11 x 15

Teacher's Chair (detail), Gouache, 11 x 15

We're two days away from the big news. I'm excited, nervous, sad and happy all at once. Saying goodbye to Sheri was really hard. Adam and I have had so many nice going away parties/get togethers. Thank you to everyone. We're very appreciative!

Bookmark

http://store.falkiners.com/store/

New Prints

Countdown T minus 12 days to ship off. Exciting, nerve-wracking, all of the above feelings are happening right now.

I had a few prints to complete before leaving. These are my last two prints made in the Ole Miss Printshop.

1/10 'Print Search' Silkscreen

1/22 'Growing Pains' Dye, Relief, Silkscreen and Stamping

Also, the Saturday/Wednesday Midtown Farmer's Market has a new stand that sells freshly squeezed milk. It is delish! Straight from the cow the morning of. And the bottles are fantastic. I will use them to store rice and couscous! If you frequent the market you must try this milk.

SEE YOU IN FLORIDA

Mission to Ben and Jerry's

Mission to Marzipan = Heaven in a little paper container. For who knows how many years now Marzipan as been a favorite candy. To see it in ice cream form is just perfect!

Second Week's Favorites

Faves

This week I started working with the Southern Graphics Council International Print Archive once again. I'm so thrilled that Dr. Dewey asked me back.  I've put together a slide show of my favorite 20 or so prints of the week. Maybe at the end of my four weeks I'll pick the ultimate winner. 

Enjoy the show:

hortus memoria

Dear In-ground Garden,

I’m sorry that you are gone, and am missing you dearly. We worked very hard together for two months to make you the beautiful and lush garden that you were until this morning. Sweet garden, I am not sure what kind of a monster would destroy something as beautiful as you, especially when you are enclosed in a cute, purple fence.  I question the moral fiber of a landscaper who has mowed 3 times and left you to be, but believes that gardens, unlike cats, have only 3 lives.  I don’t understand the type of person that would take a weedwacker and obliterate such a beautiful plot of land that is so obviously fenced off from the rest of the weeds. You were NOT weeds.  Peonies, Columbines, Ranunculus, Dahlias and Daisies you are missed.

Love,

Your Tender Gardener

I was told about these cards on www.someecards.com  HILARIOUS they are. someecards is great no matter what, but I love the MFA jokes. 

I have work in a show at The Fire House Gallery in Georgia. Its an invitational for Printmaking Professors and one of their students. The show seems really great, and progressive as far as the work is concerned.  You can click here for a link to the show. 

I also received my Oregon Ink Spot Print Exchange prints in the mail. I'll apologize ahead of time for the horrible quality. I took these pictures with Photobooth. I got some really exciting prints back. The theme was What is your current studio practice like. 

Folder

My print submission is above. The prints I received are below in no particular order. 

It has been about 2 years since I've made any ceramics. I was finally able to do a firing and I'm so thrilled with the outcome. 

Wheel Thrown and Handbuilt Porcelain Ceramics with Painted Underglazes, Oxidation Fired to Cone 10

This collection includes:
Butter Dish
2 Cake Stands
3 Dinner Plates
2 Salad Plates
1 Soup/Pasta Bowl
6 Shot Glasses
3 Short Tumblers
1 Rocks Glass

I made this collection based on many things, one of which is how often my mom told me when I was little, "Beauty is pain, Melissa." But the collection also gathers inspiration from the music that I listen to, Arsenic and Old Lace, and tattoo culture.

I also had time to make my little puppy a new food bowl. 

Alien sightings!

I had a conversation with friends last night talking about ghosts and/or spirits, which always leads me to thinking about the extraterrestrial. So I was looking up area 51 news, and conspiracy theories on the internet this morning and stumbled upon a few pictures of the landscape. And you'll never believe what I found in a few of these pictures!

Alien in her pre-adoption days! This explains so much. I just wonder how she made her way to Mississippi? We're a pretty long way from Nevada!  

It's Spring Break and I'm gearing up to do more archiving for Southern Graphics. I'm jazzed that Dr. Dewey asked me to intern again. I absolutely love this job. 

One of my students asked me if I was doing anything fun for Spring Break and I replied with, "Fun to me, but probably not fun to other people." and I told her that I was archiving. To which my other student replied, "Booorrrriiiing."  Ahahaha! 

Print no.1 and the last two are silkscreens by Tim High. These prints can be about 30 inks tall. Gooorrrgeouuuussss!  The second print is an etching by John Winters, a former printmaking professor at Ole Miss. He has an amazing mustache. Print no.3 is 2 full sheet, CMYK etchings placed side-by-side.  And lastly, the print with the pig is a lithograph that reminds me of Gulliver's Travels. I'll be so bold as to say it's a top 3 print from the thousands of archived prints I've gone through. 

*and as always, click for a larger image. enjoy! 

What an awful way to start off the new month

I woke up to THIS in my yard this morning. I'm not a lover of snow. I'm a lover of humidity, and 100+ degrees in August. However, everything covered in white is a really beautiful scene and I couldn't help but take a few pictures. Growing up with about 2 snowfalls in my younger life I doubt I'll ever not be mesmerized by the site of snow. It still blows me away that its a constant every year of my life now. Makes me wonder what next year will bring.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for....Cake?

I decided to make Dominiqua a cake for her 29th b-day. I wanted to do something a little more for her than just buying something or giving her the standard, "I'm a printmaker, so I'll just give 'em an old print." She deserved something special. So I sent her a fake quiz about a month or so prior to the big day. Asking silly questions like, What is your fave city? What is your fave drink? But I also added fave flower, fave colors, fave cake, etc. So essentially she designed the cake, and I made it.

German Chocolate with coconut pecan frosting and chocolate frosting. Then covered in a dark chocolate ganache. And I sculpted a bunch of flowers out of fondant with her fave colors. Of course her fave flower, gerbera daisy, was the hardest flower to make since it has about 30 tiny petals!

Click on the pictures for larger image.






Success! She loved it! Happy 29th, Dominiqua!

A few new pieces. I haven't had any work fired in 2 years! Very exciting. 3 Vases to enter into the upcoming 500 Vases book. The third vase happens to be my personal favorite.



Happy Factory: Ice Cream Dream
Wheel Thrown Porcelain (Thrown by Adam)
Painted Underglazes fired to Cone 11



My How Communication has Changed
Wheel Thrown Porcelain (Thrown by Adam)
Painted Underglazes fired to Cone 11



Beauty is Pain
Wheel Thrown Porcelain (Thrown by Adam)
Painted Underglazes fired to Cone 11

We also have a new member of the family. Meet ...? I haven't settled on a name yet. I got her from the Humane Society on Friday.

Employment Days/Daze

yes. YES! YES! YES! I finally got myself a copy of the lithography bible. The Tamarind book that I preordered several months ago came in today and I am freaking jazzercised about it! Its great. I've already skimmed through it and found a few methods that I'm interested in trying. I've never been so excited about a book in my life, and believe me, I get excited about books.


in other news, some of you may be saying, "Hey, Melissa! What are you up to these days? Where have you been hiding out lately?" The answer is: Making job packet after job packet after job packet. They look nice. I'm impressed with them. Now lets all cross our fingers and hope I get hired by one of these great schools.










I'm also finishing up Adam's packets, since he got to leave and have fun for two weeks and call it "class". His packets look nice as well.

Meet the Parents

Ohio was really a lot of fun. I enjoyed being around Adam's family. Very welcoming, great people. I put on a slide show of some of the places we went. The pictures that look like a plastic zoo or an amusement park are actually a grocery store called Jungle Jim's. Its the most amazing grocery store I've ever been to.

We racked up for Christmas. Thanks again to my parents for the vacuum!

I also came home with a Chia Donkey. I hope the Yungbluths are proud oh me:







Yes, that is a fully grown chia pet, and yes those pots are sprouting!

Memento Mori

I've been browsing Mourning Jewelry on the web. I've been so fascinated by the Memento Mori artwork and jewelry since first reading about it. I think these objects are so lovely and the idea behind them is incredible. And creepy at the same time!  It's just so fascinating living in a world where jewelry is based almost solely on luxury, and to think these were made by hand with a specific person in mind so they're one-of-a-kind.  These are a few of my favorite pieces found on the internet. 

I'm in a book!

I made it into 500 Plates, Platters and Chargers. I'm excited. I have my own full page spread. 

Now I'm waiting for 500 Prints, Lithographs, Reliefs, Serigraphs, Etchings, or Monotypes...

Xmas Presents

I decided that this year I would finally make everyone's Christmas presents. I've wanted for a while now to screenprint gifts for friends and family. I'm going to make a 12 month calendar with all 5 color serigraphs. I completed January today...

I'm lovin' the perspective of this picture!

I was trying to let New Years and winter be my inspirations for the month of January. I'm also using all metallic paints. I love metallic paint! 

Birthday

  

Saturday was my 28th birthday. Adam got me this vase by Diana Fayt. She is one of my favorite ceramic artists. I think her style is incredible. I'm so in love with this vase. It also gives me an excuse to always have fresh flowers in the bedroom. I absolutely love it.

He also got me a sweet set of round cookie cutters. Thanks, Adam!  

Hello! I've been painting ceramics lately. I thought that I might post them. I'm loving them. They are full of bows, zippers, fish netting, corsets, and lace. And blood. You know I'm a sucker for adding a dark element to everything. 

Here is a corseted dinner plate, and a zipped up salad plate. They also kind of act as shallow bowls.  (by the way, the photo quality is quite shoddy. these were taken with the help of photobooth.)

 

Mmmh.. Chantilly Lace. I'm really into Memento Morie artwork and jewelry. That's a lot of the inspiration for what I paint on my ceramics. A dinner plate and a large salad plate.

 

And Black Chantilly Lace, but this time with pink blood.  A dinner plate and a salad plate. 

  

And I made cups! I'm so excited about them. 

  

I can hardly wait to get the party started.   

These are the cup bottoms. Can't forget that area. 

I'm also working on a toast rack. Its hard to make out in this picture. It holds 6 pieces of toast and there are shallow dishes on either side to hold butter and marmalade.  Tres delicate. And I have two cake stands and a butter dish. 

Sale

I just sold my first print on etsy. I'm so stoked! 

I heart etsy.com

I love browsing on etsy.com but I always stay within prints and ceramics and never venture to other areas. I was browsing in other sections today and am completely fascinated with the handmade dolls.

If I had 85.00 to blow for no reason I'd definitely get this little green teddy bear. I'm so in love with how odd it looks, and am really impressed with the workmanship. 

 

Is that not the cutest damn thing you've ever seen. 

I'm also pretty smitten with Tiny Humphrey:

I saw Jupiter!

I went to Kennon Observatory's Open House tonight along with Adam, Dominiqua and Michael Ashley. I've always wanted to go and see what its all about. I'm really glad I went. 

We were able to look through this telescope and see Jupiter and all its glorious rings. Its a telescope from the civil war era. Its huge! It was insane. Kind of scary climbing up the ladder, but to see Jupiter so clearly was amazing.

This is about what Jupiter looked like through the telescope. It was bright, but I could definitely make out some of the rings. 

We were also able to look through smaller, but just as impressive telescopes. One was set up so we could see Jupiter at about this size and with its accompanying moons. There was four moons, and the nice man with a more trained eye than myself could see all 4, but I only saw 3 of the moons. Ah well.

There were also a few telescopes set up to see the moon. So amazing! I'd never seen the moon so clearly and with so much relief on it its surface. It was the most beautiful gray color. 

And lastly, we saw a binary star. A star that looks like one to the human eye, but is actually two stars close together. The guy operating this telescope said that many stars work that way. 

It really was very cool. Thanks to the Astronomy and Physics Department.