Be Fly

fly (fli) , adj. cool; awesome; stylish; fun

The owner and curator of Sweet Love Vintage is so fly.

Truth be told, I haven't been feeling fly.

I'm suffering from a bad case of online-vintage-store burnout.

How do I know this?

Because I came home with a freakin' pitchfork the other day.

That's right. A pitchfork. What in the Hell-man's Mayo am I going to do with an old rusty pitchfork? Use it to bail the imaginary hay on my imaginary farm after I gather the eggs from my imaginary chickens while stepping in imaginary horse poo on my way to the kitchen to fry up said eggs laid by Mavis McMuffin, my favorite imaginary chicken with one leg? (Her hop is adorable by the way.)

I'm certain I could think of something cool to do with the pitchfork, but that's not the point.

The point is, I'm tired. I'm tired of hauling home the 1960s and it taking over my garage and my house. My active mind is exhausting me with it's I'm-gonna-do-something-with-that-so-don't-get-rid-of-it mentality. Like those 5 rusty handsaws leaning against the wall going down to the basement just waiting to give somebody Lockjaw. They've been lurking there, eyeing up my klutzy limbs for months.

Though I do need to use creativity to run my shop, I'm getting bored with the repetition. My item descriptions stink like the horse poo on my imaginary farm. How many more times can I say awesome, fantastic, fabulous, swell, terrific, amazing and any other overused descriptive? The same ol' same ol' is killing me and my lack of effort in adjective-ville is obvious. Since my energy has not been into it, it's very hard to motivate myself to get back in the game, but Curious and Sweet Love are back in school, which means our summer playtime is over and I need to up the ante.

To distract myself from the burnout, and to satiate my craving for a creative project, I started a new blog. A space to post my art, random thoughts, things that inspire me, music I love - a place to catalog my daydreams and express myself. This Sweet Love Vintage blog has taught me that I totally dig this writing thing, but I am the most comfortable and feel my truest self when I do it visually or in my brief, sometimes nonsensical, poetic run-on style. Which is the style you'll find on The Art Blog of Sarah Leu. That's me!

Check it out and if you decide to follow me I'll be happier than Mavis McMuffin when she had two legs. I have no idea of where it will go, or how often I'll post, but Doc Burnout* told me to quit stressing about starting another shop to sell my art, and just have some fun making it for awhile. So that's what I'm going to do, and since I don't have the attention span to spend hours on a single piece, I'm retreating to my 6-year old self again with a single marker and simple drawings. For now anyway.

I think having this new blog will help me to feel fly. Like Superman when he's in the sky.

Maybe my superpower will be to make you smile or inspire you along the way.

After all, that's one of my favorite things to do.

And in case you were wondering, I am going to do something with these old rusty handsaws.

Someday.

Something fly.

*My therapist, whose name has been changed for privacy to something obviously fake, but totally fitting.

Sarah Rebecca Leu. Age 6

This is "My Book About Me", circa 1979.

Written by a 6-year old kindergarten girl named Sarah Rebecca Leu. (That's me.)

The book is full of facts about me including where I lived, my favorite things, how many forks I had in my house, etc. I filled it in with my big fat adorable kindergarten writing. It sits on my studio bookshelf and I get a kick out of perusing it from time to time.

One of the most important things in a little girl's life is her favorite color. Though I still enjoy pingk and all colors, greegn is my preference today. Tomorrow it might be glurple and the next day something different.

Art is still my favorite subject just as "Hurt 101: Introduction to Emotional and Physical Pain" is my least favorite subject. I'm a very good student if it's something that interests me. I am interested in gobs of different subjects at any given moment and it changes constantly, as I get bored quickly and thrive on finding new brain stimulation. A handful of current obsessions include learning yoga, finding inner peace, clean eating, old R&B music, "Friday Night Lights", the victorian era, drawing with a black Sharpie, how to make my bulging arm veins look smaller, raccoons, this blog and this blog. I am an awful student if I have to figure out board game instructions, read a chick lit novel, follow driving directions, talk politics, or organize my junk drawer.

I still have several of my 6-year old girl qualities. This can be good, and not so good.

GOOD (the short, but very important list):

• My imagination

NOT SO GOOD

• Attention span
• Impulsiveness
• Not wanting to shower
• Paint/marker stained hands
• Spilling my almond milk, water, or whatever is in my cup.
• Finding dried food on my face several hours after consumption
• Finding dried food on my face the day after consumption
• Talking in robot voice to my family which used to generate smiles but now annoys them because once I start I can't stop.
• Talking in an English accent so I can feel sophisticated. This too, annoys everyone but me and goes something like this:

"Mom, stop it!"

"Why no dahlings, I'm bloody mahd and I musn't stope untel you clean up yoah bahthroom".

"Pleeeeeeeeease Mom! AAAARRRRRRG!"

"My. superiors. told. me. i. can. stop. if. the. little. human. with. blue. eyeballs. will. push. my. reset. button."

"Not the robot! Stop all the voices!"

Sometimes I am a 6-year old in a body 31 years my senior. Only my family and a select few of my close friends see 6-year old Sarah. If you met me, you would think I was friendly and outgoing and I pull off 30-something very well.

As I said before, drawing has been on my study list so I've been goofing around with a single black Sharpie and learning how to digitally color said drawings, along with writing and letting my imagination wander into the 6-year old world of Sarah Leu.

Because zebras enjoy straws even more than I do.

We would also shoot trap wearing our matching ripped-at-the-shoulder plaid flannels and trim the split ends on each other's mullets. If I can keep my 6-year old attention span focused, I'd like to create a series of "If I Had a..."

Only this blind, wise owl knows when the world is really going to end. And when my PMS is going to start.

Sushi had a difficult time keeping friends because she was such a square. I enjoy making up nonsense like ridiculous names and combining things that just don't go together like Beatles songs and geometry.

Many of the items I sell in my vintage shop come with a story. Some of these become drawings like the one above, inspired by these slippers.

I try hard to see my cup half full as much as possible, but I absolutely have those moments when it is half empty or evaporated. Whether it's full or empty, it's almost always upside-down.

I moonlight as a professional dreamer.

When I wake up with a zit the size of a unicorn horn, I feel like Hattie. Have I mentioned that I love dark humor? Except when it's on my face.

I find the strange quirks, qualities and habits of people so charming. I did this drawing for a friend of mine who is not bipolar, nor a polar bear. She does, however, hate goat cheese and tissue boxes.

For a friend who cannot start her morning without a Mountain Dew.

Purple rain was pouring down all over him in his previous dream. Prince was holding the umbrella.

Old Blue Eyes on the ipod makes me want to croon in front of my mirror wearing my fedora. (Hey mirror, wanna hang out Friday?)

I'm a sucker for dots and plaid. And fuzzy caterpillars.

Totally crushing on Bill Withers lately. "Lovely Day" has been playing on repeat an awful lot. When Bill Withers is singing to me that he is going to have a lovely day just by looking at me, it makes my knees quiver. Drawing people has always been something that scares me.

Now when I get scared to draw people or share my art, I will tell my shadow to back the hell off and go annoy a peacock. And then I will draw people. Take that, scared self.

It would be even more fun if Yes came with.

My name is Sarah.

I think life can be much more inspiring and joyful if you look at the world through the eyes of your 6-year old silly and curious self.

I say put on your best pingk glow and give it a go.

Hey Feb roo ary. Where'd you go?

Here it's the last day of February and I haven't posted a single entry.

On the 14th I had a whole entry written about Valentine's Day.

How I love romance.

Just not the expected predictable kind. I crave think-out-of-the-box kind.

I'll even settle for the empty-the-dishwasher-without-me-asking kind.

When I read my entry it was so boring.

I was forcing it. The writing.

Delete.

I am so not a writer.

When I try to write an actual paragraph, it's like a chaotic mess of letters.

Like Campbell's Alphabet Soup was dumped in my brain.

Then overcooked.

It's hard for me to get my thoughts out into paragraph form.

This is how my creative brain works.

My right brain. I'm super right brained.

In fact, this test says I'm 72% right brained.

Lost.

How I feel when I have so many ideas in right brain.

When I can't concentrate because of them.

Pulling me.

Lost.

Sometimes I love to feel lost.

I love getting lost in the arts.

This artist's work makes me feel like I'm lost in a world of organic, amoeba-like, science fiction.

Allusion print by Yellena.

I love to get lost perusing the aisles in an antique shop.

To be lost in imagination. Making up stories in my head about the old stuff.

I bet this vintage monkey creep has a great story on how he lost his eye. By Plundered.

I love to get lost in music. As long as it's not country or Meatloaf.

Music is my little ear vacay to paradise.

Sometimes my soul goes along for the ride.

Gonna go to bed now.

Gonna go to bed and hopefully get lost in sweet dreams.

Meatloaf and his mullet are not invited.

Weakness. The Happy Kind.

I have a strong dislike for "The Price Is Right" game show.

Come on down! So I can trip you and make you bleed, Price Is Right.

Who watches that show?

Game shows are not a happy weakness of mine.

Exception: Old Match Game reruns from the 60s.

Minus the host with creepy grin, Gene Rayburn.

Board games? Another story.

Other things that make me swoon:

Tiny little things

Art, art and more art

Funny bedheads

Licking the cake/muffin/brownie batter and frosting beaters. (Yes, I share with the kids)

Dogs in Halloween costumes

Old games

Family Guy

Vintage boots

Black and white cowhide

Elderly guys with suspenders

Old pick-up trucks

Quotes and song lyrics

A Cheerio dipped in butter and stuck to a bunch more Cheerios

Endearingly tacky restaurant decor

When the clock says 3:33 or 5:55 and making a wish

Starbuck's Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte

The smell of puppy breath

Lightning bugs

Marshmallow peeps

Thinking outside the box

Milkweed pods

Toads

People watching

Giving and receiving winks

Leftovers for breakfast

Blowing big bubbles with a wad of Hubba Bubba or Big League Chew

Itunes and Pandora

Old tin ceilings

A brand new pack of 64 crayons

Original vintage paintings

Oh, original paintings, why must I always want to rescue you?

I think this large, framed 1964 original painting is fantastic cool.

and it's pretty amazing when you look close up at the details and texture:

Although I appreciate it and think it cool, it's just not my style.

Is it yours?

For sale in the shop!

Shout Out

A special shout out to Amy at Aqua Velvet for featuring me on her blog with this perfectly retro photo composition of items for sale at my shop:

Be sure to check out the Aqua Velvet blog for fantastic graphic design, illustration and artful inspiration!

The blog is designed by Amy Henderson, a very talented designer/illustrator who shares my obsession for vintage typography and doodling.

Here are some of her amazing works of art for sale at her shop:

Paradise Best

The Elephant Men, NYC Coney Island

Grants Cafe

Nostalgic Music

Tom Waits.

A musician I am becoming obsessed with.

I can't believe his first record was released the year I was born.

And I only recently discovered him.

I think he is a brilliant artist.

I love how nostalgic his music feels.

How his smokey, grovely voice sounds.

How bizarre and creative his lyrics are.

How he doesn't really fit into any specific music genre.

He is truly his own.

Listening to him inspired me to dig through my studio for old junk.

I took apart a bunch of vintage junky costume jewelry and combined it with some rusty stuff.

Like an old skeleton key and parts from old doors:

And a keyhole:

And my favorite flower.

The daisy.

Sweet. Simple. And they come in every color.

I took this old enamel daisy brooch and made it over into a choker necklace.

It will look sweet with my Hanes wife beater tank!

I bet Tom Waits wears Hanes too.