Sunday, November 30, 2008

Tagged for 7

I've been tagged by Kay.  I'm supposed to list 7 unusual things about myself.  Well.  It's actually hard to pick 7 that I haven't previously mentioned cause I have talked about a lot of my oddities before.  Anyway, here goes:  

1.  Whenever I walk outside into the bright sun, I sneeze three times.  Yep, always 3.  My husband will wait for the 3rd sneeze before he blesses me.
2.  I treat animals as though they are people.  And I'm not talking about anthropomorphizing.  I mean I *really* treat them like they are people; I talk to them, ask them their opinion, etc. I swear they respond.  
3.  I have a lot of little rituals that I follow.  Wearing my "lucky" earrings when I set up a show.  Keeping "heads up" pennies.   Wearing certain clothes for certain things.  
4.   I am pretty tuned in from a psychic standpoint.  I know who is calling before I look at the caller ID.  I can predict where I will find a parking spot.  That kind of thing.  It doesn't work all the time but I am always grateful when it does.
5.  I go through phases with food, eating the same thing all the time.  I've talked about this before, but I'm into a new food right now.....powdered peanut butter.  It totally rocks because it is good plus it is very low calorie.  The company that makes it smooshes up all the peanuts and gets the oil out of them so nothing is left but peanut powder.  You activate it with water and voila!  
6. I like for all my books to be organized so they are even with the edge of the shelf like we used to do when I worked at the library.  
7.  I secretly wish I could dance.  Not like dancing with the stars, but just a kind of graceful movement that looks like I feel comfortable in my own body.  

Ok, that was seven.  
 

The floggings will continue

What a lovely 3 day holiday.  When I used to be in the "corporate" world, I would enjoy 3 days off as pure vacation and use the time to relax and decompress.  Of course now things are quite different since I work for myself.........and I basically used this time to jam in some extra hours.  

That's not to say I didn't have any fun, because I certainly did!  We spent Wednesday night with family and friends and then spent Thursday with more friends.  On Saturday, I went to an Open Studio event held by a ceramic artist I know, Yael Shomroni.  I met her several years ago at Venus Envy,where she bought a piece of my work.  She's a total doll, just the sweetest person who radiates the most beautiful energy.  Her studio is a dream and I bought John a mug in her signature cobalt blue glaze.  It is gorgeous.  

Then a friend and I went to Craft Alliance and the Rock + Roll Craft Show.  Both events had incredible art & craft items and I got some Christmas shopping done.   I love this time of year with all the fun events by creative folks.

The rest of the weekend was spent putting my studio back together after a season of back to back shows.  Things were quite a mess.  Not to mention, I had some new lighting installed in the "gallery" room and it was completely wrecked.  John painted it for me and it looked quite amazing after I worked all day Friday organizing.  Of course today I did something completely stupid and I really messed it up.  UGH.  I am beating myself up over my idiotic actions and trying to figure out how to fix the carpet disaster I created......why I cannot leave good enough alone I will never know.  Argghhh, slaps self in head....once I get this figured out and everything is fixed, I may show photos.  For now, I am simply too mad at myself.  

I added some new items to my etsy shop.  Link is on the side.  I'm sending a free gift with every purchase between now and Christmas.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thankful























Finally, some artwork!  I scanned these and they are a little "bright" on my monitor, but I could not get them toned down.  Hopefully you will not be blinded looking - trust me, they are really nice in person.
The pieces are a mock-up that I made for a proposal last week.  I was invited to appear before the Board of Directors of a local public library to offer my ideas for art.  I made this little quartet on claybord - they are each 6x6 - so they could see the colors I had in mind.  Plus I wanted them to see how cool the claybord is, the texture, etc.  
To say I was  wreck is an understatement.  I used to do this "presentation" stuff all the time in my previous (corporate) life, but doing it with my art just made me crazy.  I spent a lot of time getting organized and even prepared a Power Point presentation.  
Then(lucky for me), the Universe intervened and we ended up in a room with no projector, ha!  So I pretty much scrapped my whole talking plan.  It was definitely for the best though cause I got really excited (like I do) and I think everyone could see my true enthusiasm for the project.
These circles really rock my world right now.  The connections and compartments have so many meanings for me.  I feel this is an expansion of my Community series in some ways, like the Community pieces are moving toward a new Connection series.  Geez, what is it with me and all these C's????  
C.  See.  Si. 
And yippee, I got the gig!  They want 8-16x16 paintings.  
Woo hoo, I ordered my claybords and can't wait for them to arrive so I can get started. 
Life is indeed good.  To do what I love, surrounded and supported by those I love......well, it just doesn't get any better than this.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Day of Sharing Song

Yep, LK has done it again, thought up a terrific idea.  And, as much as I loved the poetry one, I have to say songs might just be even better.  It will probably be more expensive though because I will find a bunch of great (new) music and have to download like a mad woman.  
So start thinking about your fave song.  I will hopefully have an image along with mine.  I am sooooo often inspired by the music I listen to, I think this will be great fun.  
Here's a link for more details:

Monday, November 24, 2008

Good one, John

My husband is a funny guy.  He is pretty quiet and some people miss his sense of humor which is why I have to rat him out.  
Here is his latest idea:

You know those credit card solicitations?  We get them from a ton of companies including one that advertises on TV with Neanderthals (Huh!?!?!? who thought of that idiotic campaign?). Anyhoo, we get an average of 5 a week for one or the other of us  We have apparently not used up enough of the credit available to us, so they feel compelled to offer more and more and more.  It is annoying, not to mention a colossal waste of paper and postage cost. 

John has decided to fight back.  He first opens the solicitation and removes the blank checks and app and shreds them.  Then he takes the postage paid envelope and seals it up (empty) and places it in our mailbox with the flag up.  That way we can easily glance out the window and know when the mail has arrived cause the flag will be down. 

Pretty good gag, huh?  Not to mention useful.


Wednesday, November 19, 2008

ee cummings















Buffalo Bill's
defunct
             who used to
             ride a watersmooth-silver
                                                            stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
                                                                                            Jesus
he was a handsome man
                                            and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Paint on paper

You all know how I love to paint.  Well, making paste painted paper is just the best.  Painting with abandon, no worries about composition, just painting.  And painting. And painting.  It doesn't get any better than that.  I do it every year at the holidays as I make gifts to sell at holiday boutiques and on etsy.  

Here are some of my recent papers, ones that I love.  They have already been deployed as covers for sticky notes.  I will post the "products" on etsy shortly, but thought you might enjoy seeing the papers.  I used ceramic tile as a printing plate on these, FUN!!!!!  And webbing spray on top, cause I love the organic nature of that stuff.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Crossing lines

Well, I already did it last week (crossed the line, that is) when I talked about politics.  So now I'm doing it again.  Religion.  It's a topic we see a lot and I will confess to not attending a regular church or being part of any organized religious effort.  I do have my beliefs though.  And they can pretty much be summed up in 3 words.  Compassion. Golden Rule.  So imagine my surprise when I heard about this short video.  These are my people!  Just click over there and you will find the video.  It's fantastic; The Charter for Compassion.  

In other news, I am sick with infections in both ears, fever, sinus, etc.  Ugh, it's horrible and propelled me to the doctor yesterday.  I am now on an antibiotic which seems to be helping since I am actually out of bed, yippee.

And I made my first sale on etsy.  What a thrill.  I will try to upload more things as my strength returns.   

Monday, November 10, 2008

It's a new day

I'm working on stuff for the Unique Boutique.  This is always a lot of fun for me.  I enjoy making crafty functional items (for a change) as I tend to do this only during the holidays.  The last few days I've mainly painted paste papers; the massive assembly part will start later this week.  

Here's a preview of the sticky note/legal pad/pen gift set.  The neutral palette was fun.  

  

















I've also set up an etsy shop.  Finally!  Check it out as I continue to add more items each day.  You can click the link above or there is a box in the sidebar.  And I started to twitter (never thought I would say that, huh?).  Link also at the side.  

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Nature restores

I've spent so many days during the last week just thinking and hiking and meditating.  This crazy prolonged election has had me befuddled to say the least.  In some respects I've felt paralyzed, like I didn't know which way I wanted to move till our country made a decision.  Yeah I know that sounds slightly crazy.  

But at the ripe age of 48, I don't think I've ever felt so invested in an election.  I guess I've never heard a politician who moved me until Barack Obama came along.  I am just so very very thankful he is our President.  

I celebrated yesterday with yet another hike.  Breathing the crisp air of autumn, soothing my soul with nature, clearing the cobwebs from my head.  I know I need to do some work as I am so far behind.  

I'm just about re-energized and I'm feeling hopeful again.    

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

A hopeful sign

Walking home from the polls yesterday, John and I saw a woolly bear caterpillar.  Around these parts (ha, I always wanted to say that), the woolly bear is a predictor of winter.  If only I could remember what it means - something about the width of the brown stripe means an easy or a tough winter?  Like groundhogs, I can never remember which way it goes.
Anyhoo, this particular woolly bear was all black!!! 
I wonder what on earth that means!?!?! 
I think it was a very very special woolly bear and a sign of good things to come.  
I feel soooo happy today and proud of our country.  We have a long way to go but this is quite a amazing start.  

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Get out and vote

You all probably know who I support.  
I love this video, it brings tears to my eyes.  
No matter who you are supporting, go vote.  It's your right and your duty.  
I hope and pray that we can put all the divisiveness behind us and get to work for the future. 

Monday, November 03, 2008

Falling for fall


This is my favorite time of year.  Crisp crunchy leaves, blue skies and a gentle breeze.
Perfection.

I taught all day Saturday and then Sunday John and I hit the trail.  I've been walking a lot lately, walking and thinking - thinking and walking.  

Life is so beautiful.