Friday, December 28, 2012

Found Art and Annual Report

Art Ranger's yearly digestive bisquits, here they come.  What the Happy newyears time slot conjures up is that to be human and present in today's world, we mark time in strange ways, some people wearing tiny hats with tight elastic strings.  But somehow we must attempt to clear the decks. Year end Clearance is to consider the inventory and deficits, inside and out.
Wrestled from Restless thoughts left on Postit Notes..
To live here in america, (in various formats and platforms) we keep on watching the badgood tv movie of ourselves unfold. We sift through the clutter and try to make sense of (at least ) our own lives. We try to know where to put everything old, new, and vastly inbetween.  In our relationships, our identities, our social interweavings, our communities, our country.

Last week it caught her eye, an article with this headline:  "U.S. Mint testing new metals to make coins cheaper:  http://www.mercedsunstar.com. Come to find out, it costs more than two cents to make a penny and more than 11 cents to produce and distribute a nickel. "The quandary is how to make coins more cheaply without sparing our change's quality and durability, or altering its size and appearance." There is a 400 page report describing two years of trial and error recipes, concluding that none of them met the ideal.
"nonsense dies" used to practice. ie Martha Washington wearing that hat
This "quandary" seems a fitting metaphor for our so called "fiscal cliff" impasse/ crevasse/ morass.  Which is where people are trying to get more of something for less, and where people are not taking into account the true costs of our actions. In chemistry, metals boil down to their essential elements. We are using more and more and more of things that are actually finite.  Certainly by now a penny physically costs more to make than the concept of its "worth".  The true cost of a penny, if we took stock of the huge environmental impact of metals mining on the planet, would amount to so much more than 2 cents. We are (so like) subsidizing even our money in this country like we do the corn.  The "Fed" is feeding it. While we the people are, of course hemoraging it.

Where the workingest ones are staggering with the heavy-lourdes-double-mucho-pesado weight of it all (and often simultaneously consuming vast amounts of cheap high fructose corn-fed diets with their own costs down the road).
While the latest exorbitant financial sponge creature morphs; the jowly hedge fund manager or credit default obfuscation swap debt suckers uppers of america still run the show (insider trading duh) sitting on fancy desk chairs with high blood pressurized mouse clicks. They are betting and hedging while lobbying and lining and stacking their pockets courtesy of their own private banking system.  All policies still in place for their own self- perpetuation, certainly not for true costs, true value or any greater good.

Yep, they got us a fiscal cliff allright, a chilly winter one with a deja vu of dangerously bad playground manners.  That is Art Ranger's 2 cents.  Well, she's ranting again! Now stop that.  Phew!
 Insert soothing interlude with cucumber slices over eyelids
As a form of radical activity, in honor of our image-celebrating tradition, we are now going to have a year-end collection of some faves from our correspondents during the 2012 earth rotation, blogging season:
from Michelle Aranda's Nevada City series:  http://artranger.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html
 This one from Richard Piscuscas
from Los Angeles
who also brought us this:
 
 And two from Bonnie Hotz practicing her craft outside Salinas
Who ya gonna call? (from down south somewhere)
And so have yourselves a sweet new year while simply acknowledging what you are looking at:
Gull head, from Jim Lindenthal in Pacific Grove

The Art Ranger will be very glad, as usual, to receive your images and thoughts about daily existence in 2013.  Afterall, it's going to be an odd year so please don't hold back :)  Send love to FAF@homelandinspiration.org

Friday, December 21, 2012

Found Art Friday 107, bare root pain


Dear Ones,
Moments of silence could never be big enough for the sad horrific America-gone-toxic event of last week. Going to sleep with this perversely chilling episode in our minds, the funeral bells of six year old children and their teachers.  What's the world coming to?  Despite many of our good intentions.  
NOW cut it out we're GONNA TRY AND SHIFT GEARS unlike the shiny seamless botoxical newsmans ...
And carry on with our story of images:
Because of what day is near, we have collected some moments in commerce:
 #1
 Parked Her Car for Lunch:  "If you say so" said she to the window.  It's not looking too mosaic-like quite yet.
#2  The new Mascot for FEDEX.  Okay, really?  Your package arrives courtesy of a frog with a mushroom chef hat?  Impulse buy area for Alice in Wonderland?  Suddenly, we don't feel like we're at a Fedex Kinkos store, but maybe the Whackamole Booth at the county fair after having eaten something fried with powdered sugar on it. 
#3)  Moment of profound non-art.  Amount of packaging used to send the Art Ranger two pair of socks.  Gosh!
# 4,  Proud moment in world of commerce.  A hand-made shopping bag made by art store employees 
  http://searleartandframing.com
******

Now we shift themes again: BLESSED BE THE SOLSTICE - a few things just are, no matter what we humans are doing on the surface.

Frost Painting 1

And even on the day of the year with the least amount of day, Hidey our 4 yr. old chicken, aims to lay a magic egg.

Big Useful Bird doing her job
And a most lovely shade of red


Wishing you well over your holidays and beyond .... when in doubt, take a little picture. Even then, you can't be sure.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Found Art Friday 106

Dear Citizens of the Blogoshpere,
Have you had a disgustingly busy day? Here are the findings that we almost forgot to share due to the unrelaxing time of year.  Alas ......
"Sea creature needs a break" witnessed by Normi Burke and her dog, Lucky.  

This made Art Ranger pine for a repeek of an offering from 2010: 
"Park Bench Mickey", all the way from Caracas, Venezuela courtesy of Gary Ghirardi
That same day, she is reminded of a Salinas classic
Just to keep paying homage to stuffed things and give a new twist and optimistic squeeze to the Holiday spirit, we had to commit the radical act of stopping the car to celebrate motel phonebooth pride.
I hope they are going to say "I love you" a lot in there and send $$. 
Peace out youall, and don't let the neck ache get a grip on you.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Found Art Friday 105

Dear ones,
Today has found it's Friday in the bottom of a cup.
Richard Piscuskas on the job site, "Serpent Found
And even more amazing are the words he said about it:
 This all began as a cup of water in which a 1" chip brush I used for spreading glue on a cabinet had been saved for the next day by total immersion.
On that next day I needed to dump an excess of glue that the brush was holding, so I pressed it against the lip of the cup.
The glue did its dripping down and the serpent dis its slurping up, birthed all on his own,
ready to sip to its morphing content of the hospitable grey water.
Bless those serpents
for they are often thirsty and know not from whence
to satiate that thirst. 
Until they are born
While waiting, not dashing around, Bonnie Hotz witnessed this in Salinas
Ranger's son in passenger seat, early evening
leaving the schoolgrounds

And from friend in the Bay Area, "pseudo street signs"

Well, recently, the algorythms at Google Blogger alerted the Art Ranger that she has used up her amount of free images to be hosted by their service. She now owes them $2.99 a month in order to Maintain the Department of Homeland Inspiration Archives. Plus they see that we haven't put up any advertisements ... Have you been reading about how much energy it takes our cloud to exist?  Anyway, we will probably continue pursuing this small contribution to the images detritus and maybe some day add a book list off to the side. Please send us yours: FAF@homelandinspiration.org