new painting abandoned: lambertville high school

so, from our last adventure, here's my new painting.
Abandoned: Lambertville High School



see my last blog for more details and click the link above to see the listing in my etsy shop.
thanks for looking!
cheers!!!

the next adventure

yesterday was a pretty nice day. almost spring-like :)

i collected my husband and kid and we went for a ride out to lambertville, nj which is not too far from us and only over the bridge from new hope, pa. it's really lovely out that way, and they are both quaint little towns for shopping and gallery browsing.

however, i had a mission...a new adventure!

lambertville high school was erected in 1854. there was a fire there in 1926, which is rumored to have killed 150 students. i still have to find out how true that is...
there was another fire not sure when. there are different stories, but maybe sometime in the 70's. i'm also not sure when, exactly, it was abandoned.

it is featured in the book weird n.j..
there is a lot of talk of hauntings and creepy things, including some really cool chalkboard paintings (engravings?) these are from the weird n.j. link. i've read that they were spray painted on (why???). we didn't find them while we were there, unfortunately. maybe they are gone?








so, we went. the place seems to have gotten worse since what i had investigated online, and it did not seem safe enough to go inside anywhere...especially with my kid in tow (even though he is now bigger than me), i didn't want to risk it.
but it was a great time and it was fun looking around.
we took a lot of pics and some video.





afterward, we parked over in the cute little town of lambertville and decided to have a walk down by the canal. there is the deleware river that separates lambertville from new hope pa, and each town has a canal. mules used to pull barges through there...

i had been along the canal many times in new hope, but never in lambertville, and to my happy surprize, i looked up to see this!



i was so excited! i had to get over to the other side. but because my husband wouldn't dream of walking all the way back to cross over the regular bridge, we walked on to the old train bridge ahead. we were getting over there no matter what!


seeing that the train tracks were so overgrown from the other side, that bridge hasn't been used for a gazillion years!!!! it was sooo scary walking over it. some of the planks were missing and little scraps of wood that someone nailed down were all we had to walk on...that, or the rails themselves, but i would have surely fallen.

i squeezed the bejeezus out of my husband's poor hand while my son skipped over the thing without a fear in him.

i made it!!!

and we investigated the old train.

this was the side we could see from the other side of the canal...

then we went around...

it was all colourful and bright!

there was absolutely nothing inside except for a few empty paint cans and paint splattered on the walls like some bad 80's t-shirt. jackson pollack style...





what a great day!
i wonder what's next!?!

adventures of a cellar dwellar....

so!
i have found a new interest and something to do that doesn't involve me always being in the basement! about time for me! haha...

a few weeks back, a friend and i were discussing old abandoned places...i think stemming from my train paintings and some old photos i had taken from eastern state penitentiary back in the early 90's.





he told me about a place called pennhurst that sounded like a pretty cool place to check out.
that started it all...



pennhurst has got to have over 20 buildings grouped together...all abandoned since 1987. it was originally made a school and hospital for the "feeble minded and epileptic" it was built in 1908. it gradually gained more and more patients, so that it was overcrowded, and understaffed...many problems resulted from that, which caused it to be closed down in 1987 for neglect and abuse of patients. it is privately owned and you're not supposed to be there at all, but we decided to risk a few photos. i'm glad i did. it was a great experience. since then, i have read so much about the place from el peecho's link above, and in writing to him, he gave me permission to use some documents he had on his website in a painting that i did...


the listing is here...it is in my new shop:
Abandoned: Pennhurst


now, i have been looking into other places to discover and make new art from.
my feeling is that i'm having the experience of being at the place, learning history about the place, and having some connection to it...making the paintings are like keeping a piece of something that may soon be gone with out a trace...

...but i was there....

momentum

some artist friend once told me "momentum is everything". i think she has a point there.

i'm trying to keep up my momentum, but quickly running out of supplies

i have some new things to show you though!!!

muscles of the face



this was inspired by both duchenne's photographs and the mutter museum in philadelphia.

also new is the counting of the crows


i love the little counting thing...i have to learn me the magpie one too!
was just experimenting with stuff in this one

and finally, himself i had been working on this here and there for a while now. thought it was about time i finished it!

these are all listed in my new etsy shop http://SusanMoloney.etsy.com
i hope you like!
cheers!
xo

new shop new look new stuff

hello!
i have been very lax with my blog. it's embarrassing really...
but i do have sort of an excuse? (that is stretching it...)

i have opened a new etsy shop for some new paintings i have been working on!
i have been using found objects and collage. i am having a great time with it too!
i will post some pics here, but you can see the whole shop at http://SusanMoloney.etsy.com
if you haven't seen my "old" shop, that is http://susarto.etsy.com
when i work, i've noticed different cycles that i go through. sometimes i need to paint in oils or just draw an awful lot...and sometimes i need to be really messy...other times very precise (or as precise as i can be)
but collage/assemblage is exciting for me because i have to actually FIND the stuff that i want to put in it...or i will find something and a whole new idea will come from that thing.

i also want to try to use things i have made myself as much as possible,such as the drawing elements, or paint...or use photographs that i took myself instead of using found ones. the stuff i find i want to look used...well loved, as they say, or has seen many hands before mine.
we'll see what happens.

i recently went to an old train station nearby where i took photographs of old trains. i don't know why i love the old trains so much. there is just something about them. maybe it's that traveling on them allows you to take it easy, read a book, have a coffee in the dining car...better than flying with white knuckles wrapped around the armrests.

here are my train pieces.



i hope you like them!!!
i wish it weren't so snowy and icy outside or i would be out walking around looking for more stuff to appear on the ground :D
spring is coming??? soon????

authors

author is a funny word the more you look at it.


i'm just after making some new bookmarks in my shop with author's quotes...
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=108334§ion_id=5041851


i hand paint these on acid free heavy watercolor paper.
it's really fun looking for the quotes to put on...but i get distracted and spend hours just reading different quotes!

they are stamped on letter by letter, and embossed.
the edges are lined with metal tape that i put impressions in, and the beads are strung onto embroidery thread.

i have a couple that i have been using for myself and they are pretty sturdy...even when i have lost them in the bed under the covers!

lucky.

hey, so...i'm on the etsy plush street team...which is a bunch of people who make plush toys (like me) and sell them on etsy.
you can go here www.plushteam.com and see.
anyway, there is a new project that came up where we re-create one of our favourite childhood toys...

i was really excited about this, (as you might know) since i just was having a toy crisis recently, and buying all my old toys up.
(i think i'm still going thru it...i just bought two unazukins )
anyway...

i just finished my project today.
i guess i'm somehow supposed to put it on the plushteam blog, but i don't know how ;)
anyway.
here's lucky.



that's him with lucky on his head.

his body is a bit roundy and not so sharp edged (as the plastic or the wood luckys) but then again, it is plush and not plastic or wood...and i also don't really know how to sew (shh...don't tell anyone.)

here is plush lucky on his roundy-own.


i don't really have a good ending for this blog.
i just wanted to show him to you to see whatcha think....

bye.
xo

Unazukin

Unazukin
Originally uploaded by tamaravdp

i'm really questioning my sanity.

i have been going through a major toy crisis these days.
desperate to get back some of the old toys i used to play with....

i even bought a few.

today i was putzing around on etsy, when on the front page i saw a plushie doll with these little weeble type dolls behind it.


i fell in love.
(not with the poor girl's plushie, mind you :( sorry...)

i searched frantically to find out what they were and discovered that they are not so easy to find...

AND!!!

i discovered that not only are they really, really cute, but their heads nod "yes" or "no" when you ask it a question...sort of like the magic 8 ball, but MUCH cuter...

I NEED ONE.

i did buy one from a website today, but it does not let you pick which one you will get.
and i am SO partial to certain ones.

but i got one anyway.
(shhh...don't tell my husband)

i begged him to buy me one that i really want from ebay.
:/
where it costs twice as much!

i hate how sometimes ebay just has you by the cojones...

anyway.
i cannot wait to get it, and if you'd like to know your future, i will be taking questions for the great unazukin ;)
xo

wii wii wii...all the way home.

today was my 13th day on my wii fit regimen.
and i think it's going pretty well...



and i think i actually like doing it.
it's just the turning on the thing that needs work ;)

i never do it at the same time everyday, which i should...and get a routine going...
but i HAVE managed to do it everyday for a week.



i think it's impressed. ;)

i thought i'd make an update now and then to see if this thing is really working...

the more things you do, the more you earn...so if you keep working, you unlock new exercises, PLUS you get more wii credit in your piggie.
i have found a couple of the yoga exercises to be favourites...a couple of strength (mostly for torso and abs) and the step and the boxing.

these are just my favourites, as i completely suck at any of the balance games.
i haven't even tried some of them because i'm just that bad.
although, when i started out, i think i could only get 5 soccer balls with my head.
and i think my personal best now is 80? of course pat's is over 300 :P
he's got to rub it in...

but while he was away on a motorbike trip, i got really good at boxing...(well, for a beginner, like....) and tonight he tried it (i suppose because nobody else can be winning ;) )
but he was awful! haha!
and a poor sport too cause he turned it off in the middle of it, so his score wouldn't be kept.
tsk, tsk.
sore loser.

and of course i have to gloat because i NEVER beat him at anything!!!

(insert sinister laugh here)



also, i'm trying to figure out if what you're wearing effects your bmi stuff.
it asks you when you begin for the day if your clothes are light, heavy, or other...whatever other is...but i've been trying all the different ones.
i think when i say i have light clothes on (shorts and a t-shirt) it seems to always say i gained a little.



i like that you can see the chart of your weight and that it tells you every time how much you have till you reach your goal.



i'm going to keep at this.

it took me 4 months to get like this, so i guess it won't come off so quick, eh?
btw, for the record, my "normal" area is looking a little bleak....
i mean if i gain just a couple of pounds, i'll be in the overweight area!

and you KNOW i can't have a pudgy wii.
i'll never hear the end of it after the slagging i gave pat! eep!!!

i still love comic books....so what???

i wanted to see speed racer tonight.
only because i loved speed racer as a kid...
but i loved/love comic books too....
and the people we were going with.....
well, i didn't think they would really like speed racer.

i didn't really think they would like iron man either.
but it was a better chance.

i wanted to see both.

lemme tell ya.

i really liked it!!!
i loved the cast!!!
i have this deep respect for robert downey jr.
i don't care what anybody says about him.
he's a brilliant actor.
and i think i kinda have a crush on terrence howard ;)
and i love gwenyth paltrow....and jeff bridges too!!!

gah!

it was cool and funny and stuff blows up.
i really liked it.
go see it!




next...speed racer?
or batman the dark knight?

i have a feeling batman rules.
christian bale was incredible in the last one...
and you KNOW i have a crush on cillian murphy...is it true???is he in this???
gary oldman is in it, morgan freeman
and heath ledger????

eep!

oh and i can't forget michael caine cause EVERY single time we see him in something, my husband has to say "ELLO. moy name is moykal cayne"well, not exactly like that, but sort of...



it's really sort of creepy about heath ledger.
it's very like brandon lee dying in the middle of making the crow.
i loved the crow....


also....coming soon

new hellboy
(would you believe there is no movie trailer on youtube?)


and



the spirit




and the incredible hulk!


not really sure why they keep trying to make him so cartoony in films...
i'm not sure it works...but this one definitely looks a bit better than the last one. that was just bad.
they should be ashamed...

oh yeah!!!

lads!
c'mere and i'll tell ya.

i got my wii fit today!!!!!


first let me tell you that on may 15th 2008, i celebrated my 4th month of NO SMOKING!!!
I DID IT!

but what i also did, (and for those who know me in "real life" can see) was to become a bit of a pudge...
i gained quite a few pounds.

i am terrible with routine and i absolutely have A.D.D. so any sort of thing that doesn't keep my interest is GONE FAST.

and i need to not be fat.
now, i was not fat before, you might say.
a little on the thin side even...
"you could AFFORD to gain a few pounds" is what i always heard...
but i now can feel my belly jiggle when i run or anything like that...
and i can honestly say...
i am not comfortable with that! AT ALL!!!

so hope for me lies in my brand spankin new wii fit.

(and maybe laying off the sweets a little )

so i went and got the thing today...
we set it up.
and of course the boys were all over the thing...
but i don't really know how to use the damn wii.
it's always set up for me when and if i do play anything, and i just have to try like hell not to die.

so i got to watch how to set it up.
we set up my mii for my height and weight...and SURPRIZINGLY it said i was in the normal range!!! but i did need to loose a few pounderoobees.
(obviously...)
but my mii stayed the same.


we set pat's up.
mr. confident pat. (my husband)
it said he was overweight, and his mii got PUDGY!

just that right there was worth the $90!!!


my son is HILARIOUS on the hula-hoop thing...

i was trying not to laugh too hard...but it isn't easy.


the thing seems fab though!
i did some of the yoga (which i was surprized i was pretty good at) and some of the aerobics (running, step...which is sorta like dance revolution...)
there's all different things to do so you can't really get bored.

you have a little piggie bank that saves your time...how long you have been at it...and the more you do, the more games you unlock.
it keeps a calender of your BMI (body mass index? i think...)
and what you weighed each day...
pretty damn cool...


i'm terrible with all of the balance games!
but it's just my first day...
so wii shall see!

wish me luck!
my goal is to lose 12.8 lbs. in 3 months

goin for the burn....

so i put money down a few weeks ago for the wii fit.

i am so excited about this game.
is anyone getting it?
i wish it had wi-fi...so i could have a fit partner...

have a look and see what it does!
(i get mine in 3 days i think!)



i think it has snowboarding too.
which might be tough to get the boys OFF.
this is MINE! hahaha

now that's GOOD!

when my mother in law came over last month, she brought us lots o' goodies from the motherland.

so, i had the opportunity to create my very first trifle.

purrrrty good stuff!
i imagine if i made one every day for a week i would have it perfected.
and i would also be very very fat.





if you've never had a trifle...let me just tell you.
it is fantastic.
and i can't understand why we don't make them here in america. OR EVEN have the stuff to MAKE them.
well, we have poor substitutes, but not nearly as good....

they have actual cakes called sponge trifle cakes. i suppose the closest thing we have is "lady fingers" meh.
you make jelly (which is the stuff we call jell-O in america) and you put in these cakes. you can add fruit...fruit cocktail or raspberries...stuff like that...
some people put sherry (i'm pretty sure it's sherry) in it, but i didn't.
after the jelly sets, you make and pour custard on top.
we can now get this custard at some supermarkets like wegmans (thank you wegmans!) wait till the custard cools!
i made whipped cream from real whipping cream and put in a little sugar and some vanilla essence and put that on top.
then the hundreds and thousands (jimmies/sprinkles)
and then you eat it till you think you will pop because you don't want someone else to come along and eat it all up!

i am now full and happy and smiley.
and i am sad because i won't get another one of these for a very long time.

frida kahlo exhibition

yesterday, a friend and i went into philly (it's not too far...) to see the frida kahlo exhibit at the art museum.

i am a big frida fan, and it was really exciting to see so much of her work all in one place :D

there were quite a few paintings that i had never seen...
including a really small one painted on metal of a little girl with a death mask.
it was a very small painting, and one of my favourites.


there was a whole section of black and white photographs of herself and family members or with diego rivera.
i think i read that they were from her own private collection.
some of them were written on by her, and i guess parts that she didn't like would be scribbled out, like a line in her neck or something.

looking closely at her paintings, i think she used really small brushes always...
and very smooth in most places, but a tapping of the brush to add texture in others.

some of the paintings i had always seen in books, were just so much more beautiful in person! all of the detail was just amazing.

there were so many cool things you could buy in the shop on the way out, but i just got a poster:



i'm going again in a couple of weeks with my husband and son. i think i will be just as excited to go the second time!!!

great show!

in the works....

working away here...
i was asked to try and see if i could come up with a hot water bottle cover for a friend who is an irish dancer.

it was a good challenge, and it was fun making it!
i think it turned out ok :D






now she's asked to make another one...an irish weirdo one...
so that's what i'm doing right now ;D

french guy head

french guy head
Originally uploaded by susarto

i just finished my french guy head today.
a lot more hand sewing than i'm used to.

he's inspired by the big head we saw in paris!

ima try this again.

i started this blog last year, but i sort of just abandoned it...
hopefully i'll get it right this time...
just really testing it out right now.

my friends call me the cellar dweller because i'm almost always in the basement making stuff.

it's not exactly the most exciting life, but i guess it's fine sometimes.

i've got an etsy shop where i sell some of this stuff.


i love etsy :D

i blog a lot on myspace, but i know a lot of people who won't go there, so i'll try posting some stuff here too...

i hope this isn't dreadful already...