she's a pinball wizard...

it's official—i bought my first pinball machine. i've been looking for over 2 years for that perfect machine to grace my home. i was picky, i admit, but i knew what i was looking for and i was determined to find it—even if it took me a few years, i was relentless.

what made my search even that much more difficult was the era and the price range i was wanting. i knew i wanted a pinball machine from the 1960's-70's era and of course, i needed it to be in the $300-500 price range. that was a challenge. as i perused craigslist, i knew given in the small town where i live that my options would be limited.

but i kept searching.

obviously, given the size and weight, i couldn't go much farther than an hour away from our home, knowing it'd be a risky drive back. at the time, i had no idea that transporting a pinball machine was a lot easier than i had envisioned. this made my quest that much easier. however, living in a loft with close quarters always presented a new challenge with my desire to own a pinball machine.

ya, i know, i'm crazy.

just like my endless search for those perfect gym lockers, i finally found the size/price that would be perfect—after a year and a half, craigslist had come through—as always. i found lockers that were in a shed of a farm sitting outdoors collecting dust and weathered all kinds of outdoor changes, only adding to the patina of the lockers. all for a low price of $60. needless to say, i was elated.

i had hoped to find a similar deal for my daunting quest of a pinball machine. 

until i found it! it was perfect. it was exactly what i was looking for. the seller advertised $500 but brought it down to $450. hey, $50 is $50—i'll take what i can get.

it was originally made in 1973 by the well known pinball machine designer/maker, gottlieb. although i had hoped and wanted to find that perfect design in addition to my price range and desired era, it was absolutely perfect. i knew once i would look at it, i would immediately fall in love and want it!

oh boy did i want it.

my husband had hoped deep down that i wouldn't want it for whatever reason, but boy was he wrong. i gave the seller $100 to hold it and i picked it up with a borrowed truck the following week. 

i admit, carrying it upstairs presented a whole new challenge, but it was worth it. 

1973 gottlieb Hot Shot pinball machine

thankfully, my search came back with this perfect vintage pinball machine. it's what i've been looking for and wanting for so long. i'm glad i didn't give up my search and i remained patient, because i knew, in the long run, my patience would pay off.

and this time, it did.

good things come to those who wait.

One Girl Creative on Twitter

vintage or bust

if you've been following my blog, you will know that i love vintage/pre-own objects—because i love what they encompass and their history; knowing there's a story there. although i may not know the history involved in these objects, it pleases me nonetheless. it's a part of the cycle of life as we continue with the future ahead of us. a desire that ensures our peace of mind. in lieu of buying new (for most objects, of course), we decide to continue with our search of that one single vintage piece in hopes of changing it to what pleases you the most.

as i fill my home mixing new with old, i always add a bright color which only transforms my surroundings. although color won't solve how i may feel at that moment, it makes me happy regardless. something about color encompassing my home gives me a sense of peace. whether it's short-lived or a part of who i am, i know that bright colors filling my life and my home will brighten my day. even if it's only temporary.

my latest obsession has become the busts of small statues. whether or not they're of famous people such as Beethoven, et al, i find the retro creation of a design aesthetic spray painted with my chosen color(s), describes my personality in a way that cannot be explained verbally, but visually instead. maybe in a therapeutic sort of way, it explains for that moment in time, how i feel and how i may look. a funky outlook of something unique that permeates my soul.

as i walked through my local Goodwill, i found these busts sitting lonely on the shelves for a low cost waiting to be loved. since the colors were of a dull patina, i couldn't wait to take them home and give them new life. with spray cans of bright colors sitting on the shelf inside my locker, i couldn't wait to get started on a new project i have been craving for some time now. i knew once i added color, it would bring them a look that may have been unacceptable during its time.

although i still rummage through local eco and second hand shops, i was pleased with the final outcome overall. as i continue my search for vintage busts—or anything of interest, for that matter—i realize that these searches can be beneficial for me, especially allowing me to recycle and create new life to such an old piece, or pieces. a feeling of satisfaction as i salvage another composition of an aesthetic work of 'art.'

One Girl Creative on Twitter

look, up in the sky...

it's a bird. no, it's a plane. no, it's superman!

superman flying - pop art design by one girl creative 2010

yes, that famous superhero that we all know and love has brought back a renewed sense of nostalgia for me these past few weeks. don't know why exactly, just know that i love the whole superhero concept and anything related to it. because let's face it, in this day and age of technology du jour, i love the simplicity of a comic strip superhero.


many of us have not grown up with superman, et al, but we definitely are familiar with their origins and what they represent. show a picture of superman to a 4 year old boy, and i assure you, he'll just GET it. his reaction and excitement will not only surprise you, but enlighten you at the same time.


how can something so simple and fictitious create such happiness to a young, naive little boy? because as a little boys, they understand what it's like in all their dreams and their glory to become the perfect superhero (even if only in their mother's eyes at that time in their life).


even though i didn't grow up watching these superhero shows or cartoons, i can appreciate—now as an adult—what they represent to our culture. for me, they represent more than just a cartoon or a superhero, but within our pop culture of our own unique universe, something that is beyond innocent and timeless. i love what it represents, because personally, its meaning is an art, a timeless art. if you flip through the pages of any comic strip—old or new—you immediately get a sense of being thrown into a time machine and going elsewhere in your existence; an existence that only you can comprehend.


for me, it's about childhood and being born all over again. feeling that while your life starts anew, you can look forward without trepidation about the mundanes of everyday life, but your happy childhood instead.


don't grow up. enjoy your life.

right or wrong?

recently i was approached about one of my pop art designs—batphone. the person whose image this belonged to was upset by my use of his photograph for my design/artwork. imagine my surprise when receiving this email. i didn't take the image and use it as my own, i distorted the image to create my pop art design.

(due to copyright issues, i am unable to post the image of the design in question). and for that, i apologize.

this particular phone was really cool. it reminded me of the phone during the 1960s batman series that was frequently shown throughout the show. at the time of creating my pop art design, i had no intentions of using a 'batphone' per se, but an old, retro-styled phone.

when i came across this particular image during my google search of a retro-styled phone, i was thrilled. i thought this is just perfect, i can easily create something retro and stylistic and have it look groovy at the same time. it would go perfectly with my retro-filled theme at the time i created this design.

since my first day of art school, i was told by art professors that when you take an original photograph and obstruct its purpose or originality, it's completely legit. one of my first projects during my freshman year at parsons school of design was just that—take an original work of art, and thwart its logic. in this particular case involving the "batphone," i took said image into photoshop, wiped away the background completely, and added my own color and flair to what i thought at the time—a somewhat simple image. this is my process. i do it with most of my pop art pieces and i change them completely to suit my own artistic needs.

let's put a few things into perspective, shall we.

for starters, this process has been going on for decades. how did andy warhol capture that infamous campbell's tomato soup image? from memory? i think not. what about his infamous brillo pad boxes? same thing. this is how the term pop art originated. an expression of commercialism.

i recently came across this website deconstructing roy lichtenstein's famous comic book pop art and how he took the exact images from comic books, in addition to the speech bubbles, and incorporated them into his now famous works of art.

was this approved and accepted? most likely not. but with the advent of internet, things are much more complicated and easily accessible.

andy warhol's silkscreened brillo soap pad boxes

andy warhol's campbell's tomato soup, 1964, silkscreen on canvas

pop art noun

art based on modern popular culture and the mass media especially as a critical or ironic comment on traditional fine art values.

The term is applied specifically to the works, largely from the mid 1950s and 1960s, of a group of artists including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns, who used images from comic books, advertisements, consumer products, television, and the movies.

during the 2008 presidential election of barack obama, graphic designer/illustrator/artist shephard fairey has been under criticism and is currently undergoing a lawsuit for his representation of his artwork provided for obama's 2008 "HOPE" presidential campaign. in 2009, it was revealed that reuters photographer, mannie garcia, made claims that fairey took his 2006 photograph of then senator barack obama and used it as his own to create this now famous illustration.

shephard fairey's illustration for barack obama's 2008 HOPE campaign

late 19th century bohemian moulin rouge artist, henri de toulouse-lautrec, apparently used this process as well. he would use original images and create his illustrations representing these images. isn't that how art works? you use a photograph as a still representation to create a painting, illustration, etc. as a way to capture that image without doing so from memory?

regardless of what is right or wrong, as an artist, i am very apprehensive to agree with such claims that this is wrong or considered copyright infringement. and just because you find an image on the internet, it doesn't necessarily make it copyright protected—there are still legal channels to pursue to copyright protect your images/art. yes, if someone took my original artwork and signed their name to it, would i be upset? of course, that's a different story entirely. but to take a photograph that you get from the internet and change its original intent to your own, is this wrong as well? it's a dilemma we all face as artists.


i also found this particular pop art creation by artist, billi kid. the original photograph is a famous mugshot of the late, frank sinatra. clearly, the artist's intent was not to 'steal' the photograph/mugshot, but to distort its content, thus turning it into his own unique composition. 

same thing, right?

billi kid sinatra stencil by artist, billi kid

spray paint and stencil on wood panel

i'm sure there are many gray areas on this subject, but for now, i will leave it at this. i would love to hear your thoughts on this problem. do you think it's wrong to take an image that was found on the internet and create a painting from this image? or my process of turning it into a pop art creation?

tell me your thoughts. i'm listening.

regardless, my process is my process, and will most likely not change. i assure you, i am not the first artist to implement this process, nor will i be the last, however, that being said, out of respect for the original "photographer" of this batphone image, i chose to politely remove any and all representations of my design out of respect for his request. i am no longer selling this particular piece, nor do i have it displayed anywhere on my website, blog, facebook, et al.

heck, it never sold anyway.