I entered the now defunct restaurant/gift shop in Turkey, Texas. In a small town like Turkey, I wasn’t expecting much out of the place. I found the proprietor/waitress/chef meticulously snipping and clipping pictures from a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. I asked what she was doing, and she smiled a Cheshire cat grin. “Oh,” she replied, “just making a little collage.”

Bless her heart. I had to muffle a smirk and bite my tongue not to make a cutting remark, lest she give me a good pasting. My 10th grade English teacher forced my class to clip pictures and words from magazines to make a collage to “describe ourselves.” They were pretty awful.

Then, I took a gander at her “little collage.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I tried to act uninterested as I asked her what she would charge for it, and she said, “Oh, about $8.00.” I sat there at the table until she finished it, paid my money, walked out and have been enjoying it ever since. She didn’t even value her work enough to sign her name to it.

Since that day, I’ve had a new respect for collage as art. When I heard that a Romare Bearden exhibit was coming to the Dallas Museum of Art, I got all antsy. I gathered a group of friends to go with me to view the exhibit. There was only one word for it: amazing.

Romare Bearden (1912-1988) was a prolific artist who worked in many mediums and artistic styles. He is probably best known, though, for his collage work. Colorful and richly textured, his collages told stories. In 1968, two of them were chosen to grace the covers of Time Magazine and Fortune Magazine.

The Village of Yo is on display at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Though Bearden was born in North Carolina, he grew up in Harlem, and later had a second home in the Caribbean. The influences of all of these locales can be seen in his works.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a wonderful on-line “Explore and Learn” series about artists. The one for Romare Bearden has music by the Branford Marsalis Quartet, and features “The Block,” by Bearden.

The Romare Bearden Foundation has a full biography, as well as examples of his work. Cover Art from books, oil paintings, water color paintings and collages are all there for you to view.

Seeing any kind of art on-line is a poor substitute for the real thing. Watch for the opportunity to view his work at a gallery or museum. I was shocked that some of the pieces were tiny, but had to remember that he was clipping pictures from magazines to make the artwork. You might just find it fascinating.

You can find several books on collage, but one of my favorites is called Creative Collage Techniques, by Nita Leland & Virginia Lee Williams. I keep it handy just for inspiration. One of these days, I’m going to try my hand at it.

A lot of people slave for years at jobs they hate. They harbor the hope that one day a dream job will come along. They hope that maybe they could come up with an idea for a business that would make a living—better yet a fortune. They know they could do it “if only.”

If only they had an idea. If only they had the time to learn new skills, or the money to start a business, or a little bit of luck, or no mortgage to pay, or knew where to start. Unfortunately, we get trapped into our jobs by the demands of the real world.

I love my job as a storyteller, and feel fortunate that I didn’t end up working as a drone in a factory. Well, I love parts of my job. Performing for an audience is a magical experience. The hunt for stories and the writing is enjoyable. Marketing and accounting are the pits. There are days, like when I lose business because of the weather, that I also dream of having an “epiphany” and discovering a new way of making a living.

If you find yourself daydreaming about a perfect job, here is a website for you. Uncommon Business features stories about everyday people who had an idea for a business AND made it happen. Be forewarned: you can spend all day reading these success stories! Especially, if you follow the links in the story that lead you to their own websites.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• After surviving cancer, and suffering through the indignities of buying a wig, Sheril Cohen began Girl on the Go offering wigs and consultations.
• Terry Feinberg got angry about animals snooping in his garbage bags. He designed Repellum Garbage Bags and predicted 2006 sales to be between $1 million and $2 million.
• After having difficulty getting contractors to show up on weekends, Debra Cohen founded Home Remedies of NY Inc, a business referring contractors to clients. Where were you this weekend when I needed a plumber, Debra?
• Jay Shafer lives in a 70 sq. foot home! Yes, seventy square feet! One of the homes he designed was featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and that launched his business Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.
• A “Hip-Hop” website was bought by 20 year old Jermaine Jones. He improved it and sold it for $13,500.

Those are just a few of the ones you will find. Read them and get inspired.

Remember: those who never chase a dream never catch one.

My new apartment had no overhead lighting, and I didn’t get custody of many of the lamps I had owned. My Momma said, “Honey, I have some lamps in the garage.” I went over to scavenge what I could. All of the lamps seemed unbearably ugly to me, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I chose two of the least offensive and brought them home. The more I looked at them, the more I fell in love with them. That was several years ago, and I’ve acquired other lamps. But, this one with the vellum shade is still my favorite lamp of all. If you don’t like it at first, look at it again. It grows on you.

A couple of years ago, I lucked into finding a pair of turquoise and chocolate ceramic lamps from the 50’s at a garage sale for $10. They had no shades, so I began a search. Wal-Mart and Target didn’t have anything that suited me. It had to be a shade that was just right for the lamps.

Fortunately, a young woman who worked at a local vintage store told me where I could shop online. Moonshine Shades, a company in Spring Branch, Texas, offers delightful vintage reproductions. I went to their website and ordered a pair of them in a color called “nicotine.” I’m in the process of re-arranging the house, and am using one on the original lamp and one on a “freebie” that my sister gave me.

The shades aren’t made out of vellum, which is fortunate for the critters that supply this material. Vellum is a parchment-like material created from calfskin or sheepskin. I’m not sure of the material that Moonshine Shades uses, but it has a similar texture to the vintage vellum on my other shade.

Was it cheap? Well, no — not really. For the two shades, I paid a little over $100 with the shipping, and I had to wait several weeks to get them. Each shade is hand-made and high quality. Quality and durability aren’t inexpensive. For me, at least, “vintage” will never go out of style. I would have spent much more on two lamps of equal quality at a furniture store, so I’m happy.

Moonshine Shades offers 47 different styles of shades that range in price from $48 to $118. Most are in the lower end of that price range. They have 22 different colors, 3 textures, 23 different hand-applied patterns, and you can even add photos or images to your shades. By the time you have designed your custom lampshade, you can rest assured that no one else on the block will have one like yours.

Moonshine Shades also offers vintage screen door inserts, pillows in retro fabrics, lamps, and 50’s-style “boomerang” tables. And like a boomerang, I’ll be going back to Moonshine Shades again!