non-obligatory blogging

here we go...

2011-04-20T17:11:00.002-06:00

3, 2, 1 . . . launche'

2011-01-06T09:24:00.006-07:00

This is one of the few new things I've done recently. We draw names for Christmas in our family of 14 adults and I had the brilliant idea last year that all gifts should be handmade...either by us for our person or we had to purchase something handmade. Consequently, I ended up helping to make several of the gifts for other people and my person ended up with something I ordered online. Fail.

The image above on the left is one of the projects I 'helped' someone do for their person. The background is painted with acrylic and the tree, etc. was done with a polyester plate print. Quick and fun to do. I tried to do another in reds and oranges as shown on the right but the print slid and when I tried to clean it up it just made a smeary mess. Fail...again. The one on the right has been photo-shopped just to satisfy my desire to see it in those colors. Besides a sunset, it makes me think of a rocket blast or an explosion of some kind. I'll have to try it again someday because I like it and it reminds me of my word for the year...

My word for 2011 is launch. I like the word and its meanings but I can never think of it without thinking of the silly joke that Jimmy tells using the word... (Jimmy doesn't mean to offend any ethnic group btw...he just enjoys remembering and retelling silly jokes... over and over and over...)

"Do you know why the space program has never taken off in Mexico? Every time they get ready to set off a rocket and the countdown begins -- 3, 2, 1, launche' -- the workers all go to lunch." (launche' -- I presume in silly-joke-world -- is spanglish for 'launch' and 'lunch'.)

So, here's the big dictionary definition of my word for the year...

launch¹ (lônch, länch)

v. launched, launch·ing, launch·es

v.tr.

1.a. To throw or propel with force; hurl: launch a spear.

b. To set or thrust (a self-propelled craft or projectile) in motion: launch a rocket; launch a torpedo.

2. Nautical To put (a boat) into the water in readiness for use.

3. To set going; initiate: launch a career; launch a business venture.

4. To introduce to the public or to a market: launched the new perfume with prime-time commercials on the major networks.

5. To give (someone) a start, as in a career or vocation.

v.intr.

1. To begin a new venture or phase; embark: launch forth on a dangerous mission; launched out on her own after college.

2. To enter enthusiastically into something; plunge: launched into a description of the movie.

n.

Sometime soon, I'll launch into the explanation of some of the reasons launch is my word for 2011. Suffice to say for now, anytime you get ready to launch into anything...even lunch...it is an exciting time.

Jimmy the jewelry maker?

2010-06-13T22:41:00.001-06:00

Jimmy's been interested in working with metal and learning how to make some unusual jewelry with some of the odd bits and pieces he can get out of the trash at his job. Because they do some one of a kind sort of things in the machine shop, they also produce some one of a kind, kinda trash.

Today he took some old turquoise beads that we had and some of the copper glob bits that he had brought home from work and made quite a lovely pendant, in my opinion.

I don't think he's wondering anymore what he might like to try doing when he retires. :)

learning

2010-06-13T22:30:00.001-06:00

I've been so inspired by Elaine and Leau's great photography that I've decided to play some with taking (and messing with) some photos myself. Leau pointed me in the direction of some cool camera apps for my Droid. It was a really boring and lousy phone camera before I discovered Camera Zoom FX and a bunch of other fun apps with different effects. The photo above is a combination of some of the stuff from the Droid camera apps and a little bit Photoshopped.

my ambition...

2009-12-28T03:19:00.001-07:00

Found the following quote today in an interview with artist Geninne Zlatkis. Love her blog and her birds. :)

Albert Einstein once said “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind."

It reminds me of a scripture that I've chosen as my life's goal..."Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands..." 1 Thes. 4:11

what a difference a day makes...

2009-11-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning I had to take a photo of the warm glow that the sunrise cast on everything. I used to think the dead grass was ugly but over the years I've come to appreciate its beauty (even without the pinkish-golden glow from the sunrise). What a different look we woke up to this morning. I had to take another photo of pretty much the same view from the east end of the deck just to show the contrast.

Let it snow. I'm ready for it now. Have a warm and happy winter everyone.

Granny's Gold Recipe Box

2009-11-25T14:28:00.004-07:00

where women create

2009-11-10T01:13:00.009-07:00

How did I miss this new magazine about studios? Probably because I missed a lot last year starting when I blew out my knee exactly one year ago tomorrow. I had a lot of time on my hands and began obsessing about my own tiny, cluttered art space while sitting with my leg in that brace for two months. I also became fascinated by other artists' studios during that time so I'm anxious to get my hands on this magazine now that I know it's available.

The current issue is of particular interest because New Mexico artist Pamela Armas and her studio are featured in it and also on the Where Women Create Blog where you can see several photos of Pamela's amazing 22,000 sq. ft. studio and art space. My friend Yvonne (who does the annual Egg Show here in Magdalena) knows Pamela and we tried to visit her last year when we attended the Mountainair Sunflower Festival but were disappointed to find that she was out of town. We're still hoping to get back there one of these days. Yvonne says that photos just don't do Pamela's place justice...you just have to see it...it's that fantastic.

journal folder

2009-11-02T12:24:00.004-07:00

My son needed a journal/sketchbook for his cabinet/furniture building business and asked me to come up with something for him. Not sure this will hold up to being tossed in a backpack but it was a start. I'm working on a different flexible cover for it today. Maybe it will work better. (oh and try to ignore the puny elastic cord...I'm in search of some that's bigger but haven't had a chance to shop for it. Does anyone have a good source for bigger corded elastic in different colors?)

not ready for this yet...

2009-10-28T08:40:00.003-06:00

I can't believe we've gone so quickly from the fall beauty (shown in some lovely photos posted this week on Elaine's and Leau's blogs) to this. I don't love winter.

Haevyn's art doll

2009-09-25T15:02:00.002-06:00

I'm doing art with my 5-year-old granddaughter, Haevyn, once a week. We made this yesterday. :)

our new granddaughter

2009-06-20T22:20:00.003-06:00

Promise Lynn Doyal, 7 lbs. 7 oz., 20 in. long arrived today (June 20, 2009) at 2:59 pm. She's beautiful and looks so much like her mom!

"And so, after we had patiently endured, we obtained the Promise." Heb. 6:15 (NKJV) (sorry for the slight alteration of scripture "he" to "we". :)

confessions of a chuckoholic

2009-05-16T03:23:00.035-06:00

Hi, I'm Laurie and I'm a Chuckoholic. I have become obsessed with and addicted to a television show. Never before in my life have I done anything like this but I was vulnerable and in need of serious escapism and comedic relief in my life during the past year. I hate to sound so dramatic but the NBC show Chuck sorta saved my sanity even while inducing an insanity of it's own into my life.
With all the drama associated with what has been happening with my grandmother's deteriorating health, this silly little techy fantasy (which combines comedy, romance and spy action and a tiny bit of drama with colorful, endearing characters that are surprisingly well acted) became my weekly escape from reality and a bit of a tonic for my mental and emotional well-being.

I discovered it last spring while house sitting for my daughter in Colorado. I never would've seen it at home because at the time we didn't have local channels. After returning to NM, I watched online so we could see the episodes I had missed but the more I watched it the more I enjoyed it so that soon I had to resubscribe to local channels on DirectTV, just so I could watch season two of Chuck. Pretty soon that wasn't enough and I had to buy the season one DVD so I could enjoy the episodes on a larger screen and any time I wanted to see them again. Just this past January, when Gramma's health began the intense decline and I never knew where I would be or what might be happening on Monday evenings at 7 pm, I finally subscribed to the show on Amazon Video on Demand so I'd never miss an episode and could rewatch season two whenever I needed a fix. I even joined some Chuck forums online so I could see what other "Chucksters" were saying about each episode. I became very much like a drug pusher, successfully convincing my husband and some family members to become viewers. Just like any addiction, there was a progression into the insanity.

The show became one of NBC's "bubble shows" and in danger of cancellation this spring (largely due to the extremely competitive time slot when it aired) but a group of incredibly loyal and crazy fans (and critics) banded together to fight for their favorite show. Sometime this spring during the darkest hours of my grandmother's decline I finally crossed over that fine line between being fond of something or being obsessed with it and joined the cause to "SAVE CHUCK". I wrote letters to NBC, I pre-ordered season two on DVD, I made sure to watch online just in case viewing it on Hulu or NBC.com counted toward anything in the ratings game and I downloaded every episode onto my computer so I would never, for one moment be without Chuck if I needed to rewatch an episode. I've annoyed all my FB friends with an endless assault of Chuck-related updates. We even stayed with my son and his wife in Albuquerque the night of the finale just so we could buy Subway sandwiches and participate in the "Finale and a Footlong" aspect of the Save Chuck campaign to show Chuck's sponsor Subway that we meant business and paid attention to commercials and product placement in the show.

Two days after the finale, Gramma passed away but I continued to self-medicate with Chuck. I scoured the internet for news about renewal and anxiously awaited the day of NBC's Infront announcement of it's fall lineup only to be disappointed, along with millions of other Chuck Fanatics, that NBC was postponing it's decision and would announce Chuck's fate on May 19th. About a week after Gramma's passing I was on the NBC Chuck forum and we were discussing what more could be done to Save Chuck. If you'd like to know the rest of the story and hear about my involvement in the Have A Heart - Renew Chuck AHA Campaign go here to read an online article by Brian Howard.

The craziness continues as we await news of Chuck's future but we are hopeful and cautiously confident that we have been heard. If not, and Chuck isn't renewed for a third season, at the very least, perhaps our obsession has benefited someone. Click below to go directly to the We Heart Chuck blog.

Leona Mae Killoy. 3-25-1914 to 4-29-2009

2009-05-02T08:59:00.006-06:00

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I feel so sad and relieved all at the same time but Gramma passed away this week on Wednesday. I didn't know it was possible to feel both emotions to this extent, all at the same time.

What a fighter she was. CHF, diabetes, heart valve issues etc., and 95 years of age but man, such a fierce little thing. She actually had a fever of over 108 degrees before she finally gave it up the other day...it was crazy. Her nurse said he had never seen anything like it.

She was always so fussy about her appearance and grooming she would've hated the way her hair looked that day. She was also very, very picky about her personal comfort. We were always fluffing pillows and changing her sleeping (beds, bedding, etc.) and resting (chairs, couches, recliners, etc.) accoutrements because it seemed her opinions about such things changed weekly. Her food preferences changed frequently also and she preferred a varied menu up until the last week or so. Except for a few standbys. If nothing else sounded good, most of the time either mashed potatoes and gravy or buttered toast, scrambled eggs (made with half and half, of course) and coffee with cream would do. She also drank multiple glasses of "zippy water" (gingerale and perrier water mixed together) throughout each day for the past three months since her stay in the hospital in January. I asked the funeral home director on Thursday morning, when Mom and I went to make arrangements, if she had given them any trouble the night before because she was always so persnickety about her accommodations. I was glad he laughed and didn't look at me strangely for trying to interject a little humor into the situation.

Anyway, gonna miss her like crazy. I hope there is pinochle and feather pillows in eternity. She'll probably be pissed if there isn't. :)

Maybe I'm depressed or something

2009-04-05T15:21:00.004-06:00

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I guess that's what it is. Maybe, hopefully, it's just a temporary condition because I'm just so tired of watching my gramma die slowly, ever so slowly -- a little bit more of her gone every day it seems. It's very sad. And it's wearing me out -- draining the life out of me -- more mentally than anything. Her hospice nurse said that she had declined around 30% during the month of March when he visited last Friday and I'm not handling this prolonged, protracted dying process very well.

I wish I had taken the beautiful photo above but I found it here and I loved the comment that one person made, "A very nice shot. I congratulate you for this picture and it really touch my heart because the water drops on it can't make her alive anymore." I can actually feel the reality that this photo portrays.

Consequently, I'm not very creative right now. I feel a little brain dead myself and like I want to hold at bay all feeling and emotions. Too painful to allow so I fill my bits of spare time with meaningless TV shows (like the Chuck link I've just added to the page) or movies that make me laugh and escape when I have time to escape the present circumstances. Some people seem to draw creativity out of the dark places in their lives but it appears that I'm more of a fair weather creative.

Are you able to create during times of stress and sadness or heavy situations? I'd be interested in hearing from others and their experiences.

more cheater art

2009-03-19T12:13:00.009-06:00

Just got this one back from the framer in Socorro. This is an ATC (3.5" x 2.5") I did several years ago to use as an example of a hand-painted artist's trading card. I needed it in a hurry for part of a presentation to a group I was trying to interest in the concept of ATCs. Anyway, it was a quicky painting accomplished (again) by sort of cheating because I didn't have much time.

I turned a photo of a tea cup (this one I had actually photographed myself) into a line drawing in photoshop or illustrator (can't remember now what program I used) which I then printed out on watercolor paper in a very, very faint light gray. Then, using watercolors, I hand-painted it using the original photo as a guide for the colors.

cheater art

2009-03-14T08:31:00.005-06:00

I got a call yesterday from someone requesting that I donate some art for a silent auction to benefit the local hospice program. How could I refuse since the hospice program has been such a benefit to us with what has been going on lately with my grandma.

I messed with an art idea yesterday that had been on my mind to try but still didn't come up with anything appropriate for their "spring tea" benefit luncheon being held tomorrow afternoon. I was awake this morning at 4 am so I decided to try again and throw together something a bit more tea partyish.

I put a "borrowed" photo through a bit of digital manipulation to make it little less photolike and then made a mask from the outline of the photo printed onto regular copy paper and adhered that onto watercolor paper cut to 5"x7". I then rubbed in powdered pigments all around the masked area and sealed that with matte acrylic. I flipped the photo in the program I was using (Illustrator), printed it onto a transparency sheet, removed the masking from the watercolor paper, rolled hand sanitizer over the background and placed the printed transparency face down and ran both through my etching press. After a couple of minutes I removed the transparency, let it dry, added a few more pigments and sprayed again with matte acrylic. It was super fast and looks more in keeping with their theme but I can't get past thinking that using photo transfers is really a lot like cheating. Maybe if I had done more to make it my own art (like using a photo I'd taken or adding more details and layers) I wouldn't feel so uncomfortable about it. If only I'd had more time.

my cutie gramma

2009-01-19T20:54:00.007-07:00

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Here's a photo of my cutie gramma, Leona. She's 94, going to be 95 on March 25 if she is still with us. Knowing her, I'd be surprised if she isn't. I call her the energizer bunny because it doesn't seem to matter what happens, she always seems to bounce back and keeps going. She has been living by herself for the most part except when (because of her health) she requires some extra help (like right now) and then my mom and I are there.

She broke her hip five years ago and bounced back from that and several things since then. The last few weeks she's been declining in health and vitality and had a five day hospital stay. It was pretty serious the day she went in and we don't remember ever seeing her so out of her head. Turned out to be a sinus infection and from what we've been told, any type of infection can be serious for the elderly. It's been up and down since she went in on January 3. One day we think she's not going to make it and the next day she's ready to play a round of four handed pinochle. Jimmy and I have joked about it over the past few months and started saying, at times when she wasn't feeling very perky, that we had to make a trip to Socorro to administer theraputic pinochle to Gramma. Nine times out of ten it has worked although this past weekend despite an extreme effort on her part. she was admittedly off her game. She and Jimmy lost two in a row to mom and I. Normally, losing one game would make her very determined to put up a good fight on the next one. Course Saturday morning we couldn't get her to wake up until after 11 am and discovered that her blood sugar had dropped very low and as a result, she was pretty tired and worn out all weekend.

She's been amazingly on top of things mentally until the past couple of months, in fact we always used to make her keep score when we played games. It's been sad to see her going downhill but she's stubborn so she is always trying to gain strength and get back on top of things. When she was in the hospital a couple weeks ago she didn't even know us for a couple of days, then suddenly she was there again and you could see her fighting to stay on top of details like what day it was and find out exactly what had been happening to her.

Apparently, Leona means "Lion", which makes sense and is very fitting for her. Maybe when I have more time I'll explore that a bit more but for right now I just thought I'd offer this introduction to my little gramma and explain that taking care of her has priority over pretty much everything else in my life right now. My long absences from blogging will probably continue for a while.

After sitting on my butt for almost two months with the knee thing I wasn't exactly prepared to jump back into full time, intense caregiving but in some ways having to focus on her physical needs has forced me to recover more quickly than I might have otherwise. I'm still a little gimpy but I've made tremendous progress in the past few weeks thanks to the scheduled and the unplanned physical therapy.

progress hurts sometimes

2008-12-20T19:44:00.003-07:00

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Not sure I even need to add anything to that title -- it applies in so many ways in life. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like there's any real improvement for a while but eventually even discipline can bring rewards.

Surgery went well. At least I got by with the arthroscopic surgery instead of the full-blown, open up your knee kind. So now I'm healing from the surgery and I'm still healing from the injury but I can walk without crutches and I've started physical therapy and so despite the continued pain and discomfort, there is definite progress.

just looking at art supplies makes me happy

2008-12-10T08:31:00.004-07:00

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My dwelling place has become our fairly good size living/dining/kitchen great room these days. Jimmy set up a daybed where the sofa used to be with a 2.5' x 4' table next to it where I can keep within arms reach just about anything I might need. (Anything except art supplies, that is) He did this because I am still unable to get in and out of our small bedroom safely and after two weeks on the couch I finally said I couldn't take that anymore. (It's was a month yesterday since the freaky weird dislocation.) Mostly I've been reading or messing with my wacom tablet or getting online or watching movies and such to keep myself occupied but I have had some hints of borderline insanity hit on long days here by myself.

After going to the orthopedic specialist (O.S.) last week, and being put in a better brace that allows me to bend my knee a little bit, I was ready to do something other than spend all day, every day on the daybed. Actually, I was ready way before this but the brace I was in before made it difficult to be comfortable for very long in a chair and until I saw the O.S. I didn't want to make many plans. With surgery coming up this Friday and the prospect of an unknown amount of more time continuing to living this way I started begging Jimmy last Friday to bring a bunch of my art supplies downstairs and set up a makeshift art space for me in the living room. After blowing it Monday by barely acknowledging my birthday, I guess Jimmy was willing to do just about anything to make me happy and stayed home from work yesterday to move a bunch of my art mess downstairs. And happy I am. I haven't made anything yet but just looking at the art supplies nearby has done a tremendous thing for my spirits.

The living room has become a studio/art production area a few other times when I was working on projects that were too overspreading for my little studio so it's not the first time I've taken over the main area of the house. I don't know that I've currently made it look any worse than those times but I'm finding it difficult to limit myself to just a few things. Mixed media is wonderful fun but dangerous because of the diverse number of supplies you think you might need. I think I was probably pushing it a little this morning when I handed Jimmy another list of things (that I had made at 3 am) of more junk I needed him to find upstairs. Even Jimmy has his limits.

straight paths for feeble knees

2008-12-03T20:53:00.010-07:00

(photo by Peter Hellebrand -- http://home.planet.nl/~helle004/)

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

Hebrews 12:11-13 (NAS)

pink stilettos and other shoes

2008-12-01T12:25:00.005-07:00

I know I should be living in the very present reality of Today but dang!, 2008 has been one hell of a ride and I'm sure hoping 2009 is a bit less dramatic. I can't go into all of it here but thinking about the six (or more) life altering or at the very least, life shaking events in my life or the lives of family members this year has caused me to think about the fact that no one ever really knows what other people are going through, even if they really open up and fill you in on the details. I can't even come close to revealing all the different stuff that happens let alone the many ways that circumstances might be affecting me. Besides the fact that I can't broadcast everything that touches my life because many of those situations involve other people who I want to protect or at least not expose to public scrutiny, the real underlying fact is that I don’t even comprehend how it all factors in and fits together or what I’m actually learning from it all. I talk openly about the things I can and process much of it as transparently as I possibly can but honestly, there are really very few people in my life that I feel I can be completely open with and like I said, even then they are limited in what they can know or actually do to help. (I have to say though that even if they are limited in their ability to really fully bear my burdens, as I think about the comforting, stabilizing presence of friends in my life, I am truly thankful.)

All this brings to mind the old cliché that has to do with the same concept… “You never know until you have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” And really we can’t. Even if someone does fill us in on their own current events and we try to identify and empathize, each one of us has had that unique set of experiences that factors in to all that is 'us' and we just can’t know how all of that is fitting together to affect someone’s thinking or emotions or reactions. Sometimes it may seem that someone is reacting to us when in reality they have a multitude of other things that have led up to their response in any given moment. I’m hoping that in the future I will have at least become more sensitive to other people because of being made more conscious of this.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this but these are my thoughts today as I ponder yet another change in our lives. I am determined to be at peace and will entrust it all to Him who judges justly and try once again to rest in His comforting presence. Life is good despite all it throws at us (and boy am I glad I don't have to walk a mile in pink stilettos! :)

still learning

2008-11-24T01:33:00.010-07:00

I love this verse in Psalm 131...

My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.

I believe I'll probably be learning this 'til the day I leave earth because of the fact that there will never cease to be some new area of thinking or new situation that I can apply it in. The need to understand what's happening in the grand scheme of things or just the basic need of trying to make sense of my own little world is not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that to wrestle with those sorts of things to the point where it makes us uneasy or fretful isn't conducive to a peaceful life or enjoying good health and I just can't seem to get the hang of quieting my soul to the extent that I can do it consistently. I truly am better at it in complete crisis when I know there is absolutely nothing that I can do to change the circumstances but even then (like now) I still fuss and struggle to some extent. I think mostly I worry about that big unknown -- about what's going to happen tomorrow or what can I do to help a situation or why in the world did a particular event transpire in the way it did and what am I to learn from it.

Maybe it is meant to be just as uncomplicated as what I've observed with babies before and after they are weaned. We've all witnessed a nursing infant or toddler who, until their demands are satisfied, just won't be still or rest quietly in their mother's arms. Because of what she can provide for them it seems they just can't be comforted simply by her presence with them.

I think that's what I'm to learn again -- that in the midst of this and any circumstance to find my hope and comfort in His presence. Not in what He can do for me or provide for me or questions He can answer for me but only that He is with me and will hold me close no matter what.

2008-11-21T07:14:00.005-07:00

I guess I'm under house arrest. MRI results are in and not sounding too encouraging but we still won't know for sure until after seeing a specialist at NM Orthopedics on Dec. 4. That's two more weeks on the couch before I find out whether they will have to do surgery or not. In the mean time I'm supposed to stay off my leg as much as possible apparently because whatever it is behind the kneecap that connects it all together is the major part of what's wrong with the knee (ie: "a complete tear of the medial patella retinacula predominantly involving the patella insertion at the apex") among a few other, a bit less scary sounding, technical gobbledigook. It's crazy. I'm trying to discover the meaning of life right here, right now but can't seem to stay quiet enough (even in this restricted condition) to hear. I'm starting to sort some things through though.

Because I'm an only child and the only one of the two existing grandchildren in our family that lives nearby, I accepted that caring for my mom and grandma was primarily my responsibility. I have been fully committed to doing whatever I could (Jimmy helps a lot too) to assist them in any way they have needed me to. I'm reminded that they are not ultimately my responsibility and the weight of the whole thing needs to rest squarely on Bigger Shoulders than mine. So, lesson #1 -- don't try to lift more than you can safely carry.

My niece, Kym, made an observation the other day when I explained how this had happened. After hearing that it was a direct result of trying to wiggle into a control top undergarment she said, "that'll teach you to stop trying to control stuff." So, lesson #2 -- I must stop trying to control the lumpiness of life.

To be continued...

lame

2008-11-18T10:03:00.006-07:00

Wow. It’s sure been a long time since I posted. I’m not sure what happened but I wasn’t creative at all during that time. I guess I was sort of preoccupied. It all started because I found out last month that my cholesterol was way up so I immediately changed my diet and started walking almost every day. It is boring to walk on the treadmill so I decided to rig up a stand and my laptop computer so I could watch something while I was walking and found it very helpful to have something to take my mind off the 2 miles of going nowhere. My daughter had been telling me I should try the TV series “The Office” so since it was available for instant viewing on Netflix, I started watching it from the beginning – 4 season’s worth. For a while I just watched while I walked but very soon I was watching at every available moment (and this is the danger of watching a TV series on DVD or instantly online, it’s all too easy to end up watching it whenever you can). I’ll admit it, I have a bit of an addictive personality and I’m a little obsessive/compulsive. Ok, well maybe more than a little bit but not in horribly hopeless, destructive sorts of directions. Well, now I’m caught up with The Office and wish I had shown some restraint – I could really use something so ridiculous right now to get my mind off of what is happening. I’ve been wishing I could have some time at home but you know what they say – be careful what you wish for.

I blew out my knee this past Tuesday morning. I actually thought at first that I had broken it because the top part came out of the socket, the bottom part was going a different direction and my kneecap was on the side of my leg instead of the top. Scary and painful. Most of the stories I remember hearing when people have had knee accidents were adventurous or athletic. Not me. I had been walking for 40-45 minutes and had just gotten out of a hot shower and was hurrying around trying to get dressed so I could make it on time to a funeral that was happening in a town about 1.5 hours away. As I was putting on a control top undergarment to wear under my skirt it happened. That’s it. It’s only embarrassing to tell of – nothing truly adventurous or athletic about it.

I will forever be thankful that it was a holiday and Jimmy was home. If I had been home alone he might have found me after work that evening still on the floor in the bathroom, between the toilet and the tub, exactly where I had landed that morning. We did have a bit of an adventure getting me out of there since I couldn’t straighten out my leg with it being out of the knee socket and all. We somehow maneuvered a blanket underneath me and while I held my leg at the only angle that wasn’t excruciating, Jimmy pulled on the blanket and I scooted until we finally made it out to the living area. While trying to dress, Jimmy had to lift me up a bit so I could pull up some athletic pants (oh good – there’s the athletic part of my story) and my knee slid back into place. Thankful, thankful, thankful for that!! Don’t know how I could have possibly gotten to the car with it still out of place. Anyway, the x-rays that were taken during the emergency room visit indicated an MRI should be done so Saturday (after a long week on the couch) we went back to Socorro General Hospital for that. Now there’ll be a few more days on the couch until the results are read and we find out what is next. I’m hoping I won’t have to have surgery but they thought that maybe one of the bones had chipped so we’ll see. It’s been a week today – I’m getting around a lot better and hoping for good news.

I’m sad to be losing ground on the exercising part of my cholesterol lowering program but Jimmy has made the dieting part possible by taking such good care of me while I have had to keep my leg up. He’s amazing. If I end up spending much more time on the couch I thought maybe I could convince him to bring some art supplies downstairs but so far I haven’t felt like being very productive. Yesterday I had him bring down my Wacom tablet and Corel Painter IX which I’ve hardly touched since I bought it three years ago. Painter came with a Lynda training disk that I’ve never even cracked open and I also have a book by Jeremy Sutton about Corel Painter so I thought I’d see if I could learn something today. If I had a lot of time on my hands (which I may still if I end up having surgery) I think I’d sign up for a membership on lynda.com – there’s training for every program you’d ever want to conquer on there.

Ok, enough already. See ya.

my daughter's work...

2008-10-08T10:00:00.002-06:00

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I meant to do this before now but take a look at my daughter Nicole's recent art project. A couple months ago she was asked to participate in an upcoming Habitat for Humanity fund raising project. I think the event is scheduled for late October or early November but they will be auctioning off bird houses that have been created by Durango area artists.

The quote above the birds is from the song Volare (volare means 'to fly' in Italian, just in case you didn't already know that) and says, "No wonder my happy heart sings, your love has given me wings." I helped a tiny bit (with the image transfers) but I think she did a great job and just had to let everyone get a glimpse of her creativity.

so cool...

2008-10-03T06:43:00.008-06:00

This is the coolest thing. Maybe I'm slow but I just discovered Wordle. You paste in some text and then it generates a "word cloud". You can change fonts and colors and redo the design over and over 'til you get something you like. It will make words (that are repeated more than others in the text) bigger than others so you can force it to emphasize some words more than others. So cool. And they say you can use the "clouds" that you create in any way you want to -- you can even make money with them by printing on t-shirts or using in designs you sell in different ways.

Here's another one using the text from my blog post about my dog Duke a few weeks ago.

more little books

2008-10-01T19:21:00.002-06:00

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Jimmy (my cutie husband) told me Sunday (after the book-making ladies left) that he wished he had joined us Sunday in making little books. He had to take today off of work to take care of some business stuff and so this afternoon he had me show him how to make little books. His is the one on the left with the spider and the one on the right is one I did for my granddaughter, Haevyn, who saw the ones we did Sunday and said, "I want a little book too Llama." She has a new, pinkish-red Betta fish so that's why the Betta on the cover of the pink one.

Didn't Jimmy do a great job on his? He was so meticulous about the way he went about putting it together, even adding a 'half-hitch' knot when he was tying the signatures of the pages together so they'd stay together better!

little books

2008-09-29T07:55:00.004-06:00

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Not much time to post this morning but I thought I'd show the little books Yvonne, Kellilynn and I worked on yesterday.

They are ATC size, using playing cards for the light cardboard in the covers. We did some image transfers on some paper from Nepal and coated it lightly with acrylic medium. It ended up looking a lot like leather. Lots of fun!

follow up to my whiny studio blog

2008-09-17T08:43:00.009-06:00

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Hey, check out The Altered Page postings from yesterday and today -- Studio Shots 1 and 2 showing tons of artists' studios with pics and comments by each one. I love it!

Seth Apter has organized "the third edition of The Pulse: an artist survey" and began posting the results on August 18, 2008 with 95 artists participating. Very interesting and inspiring to read. Actually, check it all out.

fun news

2008-09-16T22:20:00.010-06:00

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I found out last week that I sold one of my prints that had been in the VLA (Very Large Array) gift shop. It had been there for about 8 months at least. Jimmy always says that art just needs to wait for the right person to come along -- the one who's just gotta have it. He told me last week that the lady who runs the gift shop told him that some guy who was with a film crew out at the VLA site recently had bought it and it was going to his office in New York. Cool, I thought and Yay, the print finally sold. Found out today that apparently (or so I was told) it was David Muir with ABC News and he's hosting an ABC Primetime special about UFOs that aired tonight. (Honestly, I've never heard of him before this but I still thought it was kinda cool news. Apparently, he's pretty hot stuff in the news world. He sure looks like a hottie in his pictures anyway ;) Now I'm wishing I had framed it more professionally and included a certificate of authenticity (standard procedure for "real prints") or at least attached a business card to the back of it.

I also wish I had a better photo of the print but the one shown above is the best that I could find in my photos. The print is titled, "Still In The Box". It is called that because of a story Jimmy told me of a family that was traveling and stopped by the VLA for a tour. They were all exclaiming over the size of the radio telescopes and the interesting spectacle that they are out there on the Plains of San Agustine and one of their little girls pointed to the one that was in the huge barn where they go for repairs and said, "Look Daddy, that one is still in the box."

what a mess!

2008-09-14T20:08:00.006-06:00

Cloth Paper Scissors is publishing a special issue about studios. It will hit the news stands early in October. There's a lovely photo on the cover of some artist's very nicely appointed, clean, well kept art space. It will also have, "85 ways to find, sort and store your stash" and "11 best organizing tips from an expert" and "BIG solutions for small spaces". I need to read all of these articles, I'm sure and I'm really looking forward to getting a copy so I can be inspired and encouraged by all those organized artists. Or possibly not. Usually, I just feel depressed when I see the large, clean, orderly work spaces that other artists work in. Anyway, just knowing this special issue was coming out has made me think about what condition my art condition is in.

Here's mine...Sorta pathetic.

Actually, I try to be organized. I really make an attempt at being organized but I don't love to organize or the discipline that it takes to stay there. I get shelves and containers and try to put things in their place. Sometimes I try anyway, like on those occasional, I'm Really Going To Get Organized Weekends that happen maybe three times a year. But then projects or shows happen in the middle of life happening and more times than not, I end up trying to do art in ten square inches of space and frustrating myself while searching for supplies that have gotten buried under supplies from past projects. Or moving those materials and supplies from past projects to tables that are already piled with stuff from other projects just so I can get to an essential piece of equipment (like my press) and making more clutter and chaos in the process.

Another thing I've been thinking about lately is how my always wanting to experience new art mediums or learn new techniques (which usually then require new art supplies) is a lot like someone who is always wanting a new lover in their life; always wanting to experience that excitement and thrill of new love over and over again. I can't seem to stick with one thing long enough to actually ever make a commitment to explore all the possibilities with it before becoming infatuated (or just intrigued) with some new art interest. I guess I'm feeling like I'm acting a bit fickle or kinda like a player* toward art related things these days and that maybe it's high time for me to quit taking more classes, buying more books and accumulating more art materials and just focus on using the stuff that is currently cluttering up my art space in our house. I'm beginning to think that many times all the books, blogs, workshops and online info that I'm constantly taking in also only adds to the clutter in my head and prevents any real artful inspiration and creativity from taking place. (*Player: a guy who is sustaining supposedly excluisve relationships with multiple girls simultaneously.)

I'm not sure why I thought I needed the world (or the half dozen people who actually read my blog) to know this about me. I must be in a true art confessions sort of place.

Rosh Hashanah--the Jewish New Year--is coming up (Sept. 30/Oct.1) so this is actually a very good time to be feeling new resolve. Not that I'm Jewish or believe in keeping the Law or anything but I respect the idea that there is a particular time set aside to consider old ways and determine (with God's help) to do better. I'm so there, in so many ways.

transfer experiments

2008-09-10T16:41:00.007-06:00

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I bought some HammerMill Color Copy Gloss paper this weekend at Office Depot. I had never seen it before and I keep trying to find a paper that gives me a really nice, consistent transfer without a whole lot of effort. (besides that I'm just a paper junkie.) Anyway here's a couple of samples of what happened. (remember this is just an experiment, I'm not going for art yet.)

In the first photo (above) the images are transferred to MDF that has a light coating of dried white gesso. I applied a layer of Golden Polymer Medium (gloss) and then burnished the images face down with a brayer -- the back of the paper covered with plastic to prevent gel medium from going everywhere. The daisy on the right was printed on a color laser printer and the one on the left was printed on an epson c88+ with durabrite ultra inks. This next one (below) is transferred to some untreated matboard -- again the laser on the right and the inkjet on the left.

Of course, the laser print is the more vivid of the two on both and I did have to be careful not to rub too hard on the inkjet one because it wanted to lift off a bit once I was down to the image. I only let it dry about 30 to 45 min. before I removed the paper. Whatever this paper is coated with makes it really easy to roll the paper off the image/gel layer. It rolls right off leaving kind of a chalky white film with just a tiny bit of paper fibers still attached. Doesn't take much after that to get the remaining paper and white stuff off. I used a wet paper towel to completely remove the white chalky stuff when all the paper had been removed. Not sure why the gaping hole in the daisy on the right -- probably didn't get gel medium spread evenly or I may have been too energetic in removing the paper.

I think I love experimentation more than the art. It's nice not having any expectations or being afraid I'll ruin something I'm working on.

the grand duke of hop canyon

2008-08-22T12:33:00.009-06:00

Two o’clock this morning I was awake and afraid to go out of my bedroom because of not knowing whether my dog, Duke, would still be breathing or not. Jimmy was sleeping on the couch in the living room to be near him, just in case. He’s been in and out of the dog hospital the past couple weeks while they tried to figure out what was going on with him and they decided on Monday that a cancerous tumor on his spleen was causing his declining health. Actually, he was in pretty serious condition when he went back to the vet’s office this past Saturday. I’ve been grieving since then and I guess I’m weary of the pain. The pain of grief is odd – it seems to rise to the surface and be multiplied by each loss that is experienced. I think partly because it is simply a reminder of other losses but also each loss has some regrets associated with it and each loss permanently removes a blessing and a joy of some kind from our lives that we must learn to do without. And then once you’ve experienced many losses, you know there will be others, possibly even harder to accept and adjust to than the previous ones. Once it rises to the surface, grief seems to consume your thoughts and gets you centered up on the empty half of the glass and all negatives of life in this world.

I guess Duke represents so much more to me than just a good dog. He somehow reflects all the good in my life – the uncomplicated, non-demanding, un-annoying good in my life. Simple joy and blessing and unconditional love. I feel like I’ve taken him for granted, believing he’d always be here with me but that’s how I felt with every good thing I’ve ever had and lost. There is regret for not appreciating the person (or thing) more and really, consciously taking note of the joy their presence brings into my life. I’m wishing I had taken more note of the pleasure brought to me each day that we’ve had Duke here with us, alive and well. But I suppose it could be exhausting being fully conscious every day of everyone and everything and being extremely conscientious about expressing it to them as well. Maybe it’s better just enjoying our many blessings more naturally and less intensely and obsessively.

Duke has also represented life to me somehow. We got Duke 10.5 years ago during an extremely grief-filled time for our family. We had just experienced a grave loss that week when my niece was killed in a car accident. Her husband and six week old puppy had survived the accident. We had all been together as a family the day before the accident to celebrate Stacie’s birthday and had all marveled over her wonderful new springer spaniel/australian shepherd mix puppy, one of her birthday gifts. She had told us that there was one last puppy available, her puppy’s twin, and she had given us the contact info for the owner. Jimmy and I made the decision to go ahead and get the twin to her puppy the day after she died, mainly to give our children a diversion and a small joy in the midst of all the grief. Duke has been sort of a constant reminder of Stacie to me all these years. Of her death, inescapably yes, but more so of her life because I always associate Duke with that day our family was together enjoying Stacie on her birthday and participating in the joy of her new puppy which caused us to think about obtaining one of our own.

Duke ended up coming down with Parvo two weeks after we got him and miraculously pulled through. I bonded with him during that time. I’d go visit him at the dog hospital where he was all tubed up and sit with him and tell him how much we all needed for him to live and be part of our family. I prayed for him to survive so that our kids would not have the pain of him dieing added to the grief of Stacie’s death that we were all still so acutely experiencing. I probably invested way more emotionally than I should have in a pet because of the circumstances and somehow came to see Duke as a survivor like his brother who had been in the accident.

It’s hard to watch suffering, especially if you are a “fixer” like me. I function much better if I can actually do something to help bring comfort to someone or relieve a burden in some way. It is also so hard to let go, especially when it is a prolonged letting go. Having to remain in an indefinite, suspended state of relinquishment and resignation is almost harder somehow than sudden, unexpected, forced separation.

Usually, goodbye means, I’ll see you again soon or I’ll see you next time but when you’ve already acknowledged the upcoming final separation that will be occurring, each encounter can be more painful than the last. Jimmy says, “Prolonged goodbyes don’t really extend the visit, just the goodbye.” Perhaps that also is part of the pain, the extended goodbye with Duke is causing me to relive all the other final goodbyes in my life and in the lives of others in my family who are dear to me, who have had painful goodbyes or are currently experiencing extended goodbyes of their own. Life does go on and other people and interests or even pets seem to fill in the gaps a bit but never really fully replace those who are no longer with us.

Duke was doing better this morning and so am I. I’m going to enjoy each moment I have with him and try to do the same with all the other things and people in my life that the Lord has blessed me with. He and I went for a short walk and he found a big stick to bring to me like he always does and I smiled and felt joy in the moment. I’m certain there will be more pain but I will delight, with thanksgiving, in each occasion of joy.

nature's own eights

2008-08-06T16:00:00.008-06:00

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This poly-litho print was first a composite of photographed items in my neighborhood. My son Josh and I took about 20 minutes when he was here for the weekend recently and shot photos on our property and next door. The US Forest Service has been doing some thinning in my front yard (I'm 15 ft. from the forest boundary) and the eight stump is probably about 40 yards from my front door on the Cibola National Forest. It was a fun find.

That's it for the 8x8x8. I had more ideas but ran out of time. I think I'll be glad to be able to think about art in a different format than 8"x8" and maybe my obsession with "eight" is finally over.

octopus's garden

2008-08-06T15:45:00.004-06:00

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My first attempt at a mosaic (sort of) with Glass Graveyard and Kelly (ghost town near Magdalena) dump finds along with some other odds and ends. Even some crash glass swept up from the road near my grandmother's house in Socorro. The images behind the two bigger glass glob thingees are of the rings from a blue ringed octopus.

One more to post for the 8x8x8.

time is so distressing

2008-08-06T15:27:00.006-06:00

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The scans of these clocks have 'photoshopped' hands in these images but they are now real clocks. The one on the left is one of those typical mixed media, never could be duplicated sorta pieces. All the texture was accidental, a result of an attempt to deviate from the recommended components of a crackle technique. The one on the right turned out a bit more like it was supposed to except that the background (which was the residue of a failed photo transfer) added a yellow cast that I don't love. Someone who saw it recently said that they loved the "quinacridone gold" color of it so I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder. :) The show isn't until this Friday and I've already sold the one on the left (have the check and everything -- thanks Josh and Stacy) and possibly the other clock as well. woo-hoo!

hippie dippie doodle moment

2008-08-02T15:39:00.003-06:00

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Decided to go ahead with this one, just cause it was fun and I didn't have to think about it. I've probably over-thought most of them. I keep trying to get over that. Oh well.
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my favorite

2008-08-02T15:32:00.002-06:00

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I just scanned this piece to replace the photo on the 8x8x8 blog so I thought I'd post it here as well. As usual, photos just don't do any favors for artwork. It's better in person. All the red squares are high gloss and then the prints on the black squares are matte. I like it. I don't want to sell it. :( I might just mark it sold and keep it.

crazy eights

2008-05-25T19:55:00.003-06:00

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This was already posted a while back on the 8 x 8 x 8 blog but I thought I ought to put it over here as well. It was intended as more of an experiment instead of a final version but since I haven't made much progress yet, it's probably going to end up in the final eight. It's a poly-litho print on an acrylic painted panel. This one is all about the eights.

For those of you not familiar with the project check out the 8 x 8 x 8 blog.

one for the 8x8

2008-05-25T12:29:00.005-06:00

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.I've decided this one looks a lot more like a decorative tile than real art but it was fun experimenting with the dimensional acrylic in the vines and then trying to figure out how to get the image on there. This is actually the second one I've done. On the first one I used the gel medium image transfer technique and was not quite happy with the depth of color on the pomegranate and tried to fix it by applying a second transfer on top of the first one. I should know better. My fixes are more often disasters than successes.

Anyway, the image on this one was printed onto tissue paper and then basically decoupaged onto the panel with acrylic gel medium. I made a carrier sheet using card stock sprayed with 3m adhesive spray (that I blotted to remove some of the stickiness) and then stuck on and trimmed the tissue paper to 8.5"x11" before printing on my Epson C88+ that uses durabrite inks.

published!

2008-05-13T20:37:00.004-06:00

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A free copy of the new summer 2008 Somerset Studio Gallery arrived in the mail today. It feels a bit weird to see it finally in print but there it is. Not sure why they decided to only show the red hair from the beaded fairy that was attached to the house but it really doesn't matter. Maybe it didn't photograph well. I included a website in the short bio at the end of the article but I've never found the time to do anything with it. I wish there were time for all the art and blogging and websites I would like to be doing right now but at the moment, life (as my friend Leau often says) "is what it is."

creativity

2008-01-30T10:13:00.001-07:00

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"Creativity is a lot like happiness. It shows up when you're thinking about something else."

I saw this book in Michael's last week. I didn't buy it. Kinda wish I would've but I will later when I'm actually ready to move on to something besides what I'm doing now (which is just doodling basic shapes and simple drawings of everyday objects). Keys To Drawing With Imagination by Bert Dodson looked so interesting though that I finally googled it so I could read more about it and see some of the pages. Realread.com has the introduction pages which I'd recommend reading even if you have no desire to get the book or ever learn more about drawing. Below is one paragraph from the introduction...

"Imagine you are sitting in a room with your sketchbook in hand. You have an urgent desire to create. Your pencil is poised. Your energy is focused. You are determined. But nothing happens. Why? Because wanting to be creative is all about you. It is a goal, not an action. Goals are about the future. Actions are about the present. Try picturing yourself differently. You have a definite project in mind. For instance, you might try combining two of your previous sketches into a single drawing. Now you have a specific task. While the rules may be simple, the possibilities are vast. The project is no longer about you but about solving a problem. Your creativity comes alive in the present instead of being stalled in the future."

I think he reveals my biggest obstacle in that one paragraph -- not only in art and creativity but in life. Heck, maybe it's everyone's biggest problem. A line from a Matchbox 20 song comes to mind... "It's me, yeah well I can't get myself to go away." If we can just get over ourselves and get out of the way maybe something significant can be created or revealed through our lives. It's not all about me and I'd like not to take myself so seriously.

It is so true in so many applications, not just drawing. I think back to times of creativity and agree that they have been most productive when the focus was on solving the problem or completing a specific task rather than on my desire to be creative or come up with creative ideas (or my frustration in my own inabilities). Besides this nugget of a paragraph there are at least eight principles of creativity explained in the two introductory pages of this book. Very simple but very wise principles.

beginnings and endings

2008-01-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

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(Readers consider yourselves forewarned...the following contains scriptural references.)

Appreciating God's artistry and creativity and honoring Him is meaningful to me as an artist because I know that I enjoy being appreciated and honored for the things I create.

I think it is amazing that The Source of all creativity has designed our day to begin and end in exactly the same way -- with spectacular beauty. (Represented in the above photo of today's sunrise in Denver, less spectacularly than I wish I were able to.) I find that encouraging somehow.

I've always loved sunrises and sunsets and I've never ceased to be awestruck by their intensely colorful beauty and God's endless variety in their presentation. I'll have to admit, I've seen more of the sunset variety but nevertheless, they are equally beautiful to me. For me it means the day begins and ends with hope and with promise. In the morning we are greeted with the splendor and warmth of the sun and light and then, as though God knew that we needed the sunset as reassurance of the return of light after darkness, in the evening the day closes in the same way. The Light separated from Darkness by Beauty.

"There was evening and morning, the first day." (Genesis 1) I also find it interesting that God's way of measuring the day is different from ours. He starts with the evening and we start with the morning. When I look at it His way, it means that each day begins with rest rather than ending that way and I find that encouraging as well.

the view from here

2008-01-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

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I'll admit there are much prettier pictures that I could have posted from here in Colorado but this is from Jon and Nic's upper deck. I think if you have to live in the Denver area, the Golden foothills are not a bad place to be.

I've lived through four of the six days that I get all by myself up here. What a luxury. I don't remember ever having six days all by myself, anywhere. Well, I'm not entirely alone. I'm dog sitting for my daughter and her husband while they travel to Jon's grandmother's funeral in Louisiana so my biggest responsibility is pottying dogs and making sure they don't tear up the house or run away. They are such pains but I find myself talking to them and liking them a bit better than ever before. That's what happens when you have no one else to talk to, I guess. I've been allowing them to sleep in the same room I'm in at night just so I know where they are and I'll admit, to feel a little more secure in a strange place. Woke up this morning with some of my clothes scattered about the room and Mocha sleeping in my suitcase and Brewster wearing my black bra. Well, not wearing it exactly but all tangled up in it. Funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. Guess I didn't think to take a picture because I was still half asleep and laughing hysterically. Outloud. All by myself here, laughing hysterically outloud. That in itself is funny. Actually, I can't seem to stop laughing outloud about it which feels kinda weird when you are completely alone. Maybe six days of being by myself is too much. I may have gone over the edge.

My biggest daily dilemma has been what I'm going to do with this totally blank canvas of a day which is also very strange for me because most days have something required of me. I've been blessed this week. Kinda bumped around the first couple days without any real sense of purpose but I've had some things sort of solidify in my thinking and understanding as I've prayed and reflected this week.

One thing I thought I'd be doing is spending some time in a couple of heavy-duty drawing books that I brought with me. I tried one morning and came to the realization that I really don't want to do heavy-duty drawing coursework at the moment. That was liberating. I've been feeling guilty that I haven't been doing that (because I have these great books) and now I know that it's ok.

I've discovered that I really just want to doodle and jot down thoughts and prayers on a blank piece of cheap copy paper. That is satisfying somehow. What is not satisfying is a lovely, empty journal filled with multiple blank, white sheets of quality drawing/watercolor paper sitting on the table waiting for me to create equally lovely journal entries. Intimidating and paralyzing, not liberating. And I'm way into freedom and liberation at the moment.

More later...right now I'm off to either the books stores, the galleries, the Denver Art Museum or Jerry's Artarama. So many choices, so little time left. So very, very blessed. Thank you, Lord!

pirate ATCs for 1-12-08 trade

2008-01-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

.I was planning on going to Albuquerque today for the ATC trade but couldn't get it together. I've been fighting a cold all week. It never has quite gotten me but every other day it feels like it is threatening again (sore throat, sniffles but not really sick, you know what I mean). Also, my granddaughter Haevyn is here for a few days (always fun) and so my productivity has been a bit hindered and that means only 3/4ths of the cards are actually ready to go. I finally gave up on the idea of making the two hour trip to Albuquerque this morning, 30 minutes past when I should've been leaving. I decided the stress wasn't going to help me conquer this cold once and for all.

What's up with me and time these days. Well, maybe it's not just these days. Someone gave me a sign about 20 years ago that read, "This is the earliest I've ever been late" so I guess this really isn't a new thing. I just thought I'd be better by now since all our kids are raised and all that time I thought it was their fault I was so often late.

I really try to be organized and have my act together and be on top of things and all that but I rarely seem to be able to pull it off. As I wrote a brief intro this morning for a yahoo group I was joining and read back through previous blog posts, I suddenly became aware of how often I'm pressed for time or mention time being a factor in my life. Hmmmm. Could SomeOne be trying to get my attention? Must be my 'Word' for the year. (see Leau's blog and Christine Kane's blog)

I'll have to ponder this to figure out what it all means when I get a little time to think it through. :)

little houses made of ticky-tacky

2008-01-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

.Little houses made of gift cards, actually -- which is probably a lot like ticky-tacky. I submitted them for the "Le Chateau" challenge for Somerset Studio magazine but I found out just before Christmas that they'll be a technique article in the summer edition of their Gallery magazine. Yes, that was exciting news.

Now all I have to do is write the article and get it sent off before February 1. I've had it on my to-do list all week but do you think I made time? I hate that one of my favorite sayings is, "if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done." Blah!

luminaria photo

2007-12-28T14:21:00.001-07:00

.Thought someone might like to see the original photo that I took on Socorro, NM plaza on 12-07-07. Wish I could make a print that looked like the photo. :)

farolitos

2007-12-24T05:17:00.001-07:00

These are my prints for the wetcanvas Christmas card print exchange that I participated in. Both were less than what I'd hoped for but there was no time to redo. I had already missed the deadline by 6 days when I sent them out on Friday. When they were sent out, the bag on the left contained one of the prints done on the black lokta paper and the message (shown at the top - if you click on the top image it should be large enough to read the printing details.)

I had hoped that the printed bag would show the image lit from behind when used as a luminaria but alas it didn't work as I had hoped. The print quality on the lunch bags wasn't consistent and so most of the bags didn't print as dark as I had hoped. Oh well.

The black lokta print was a bit of an experiment. I was shooting for a glowing nighttime photo look but of course I wasn't quite happy with the results of this one either. It actually looked much better when I framed it in the metallic bronze frame. Sorta made it pop (not that you can tell on screen).

I'm not sure holiday time is the best time for me to participate in a swap (I'm pretty scattered most of the time but during the holidays I'm terrible) but I have received some beautiful prints in the exchange. I have loved each one and have enjoyed all the different styles and choices of images. What fun!

busyness

2007-12-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

.I can't believe it's been so long but it really has. Busyness has overtaken me again.

Too much to tell about. No one would really want to wade through it anyway. :)

Above you can see a creative something that I squeezed in sometime during the past month or so. A soldered ornament with a feather sandwiched between microscope slides and wire/beadwork dangle-doodads that I learned how to do. Fun! It actually sold at the gallery last week. Cool! I've been planning on making more but haven't found the time.

I joined a printmaking exchange and have been trying to get those finished and in the mail. I'll try to add those in a day or so.

i love polyester plates!

2007-11-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

.I love polyester plates! Oh, yeah, I said that already. They are so flippin' useful! The photo shows some of the hanging copper whachamacallits that we (our friend Glenn Bigelow and I) etched today for the wind chimes that I'm making for the Santa Fe Recycle show coming up this weekend. (they are supposed to look "distressed", just in case you wondered). We printed the plates with the words on a laser printer, inked them up with oil-based ink, printed them on the copper, embossed them and then put them in ferric chloride to etch them. After 1.5 hours (!) I removed them from the mordant and scrubbed off the resist, heated them on the stove to give them a patina, rubbed black shoe polish into the etched word and ta-dah (a la Katie, little fists raised to the sky) etched-dangle-doo-dads for the wind chimes.

before and after

2007-11-03T14:30:00.000-06:00

.My husband is convinced I'm nuts but for some reason he still supports me in almost every crazy thing I involve myself in. It is far more than, "sure sweetie, go ahead." His support comes with a friendly, amused, helpful attitude most of the time and he gets in there and ends up working harder than me if that's what is required. Amazing. (Although, he has put his foot down about ever getting involved in the food service industry again and he did make me quit loading glass on the trailer before I'd gotten all the free glass the Freecycle folks were offering.)

Above on the left you can see my latest insanity and there's about three times as much under the tarp. That's glass, just in case it is unidentifiable. On the right is the first thing I've made from it -- wind chimes (just in case they also cannot be identified).

My friend Yvonne is ball-of-fire, production-mode artist. She can crank out more great art faster than anyone I know. And just about anything she puts her mind to. (Her shop/studio is amazing -- there's a table for glass cutting, one for jewelry, several tables with her ornate, decorative tiles in progress, sandblasting going on outside, drawers and boxes full of art supplies and beautiful beads and findings, tools and just about anything else she might need -- it's crazy.) So she says, "Hey, we should get a booth at the Santa Fe Recycle Show (which is only two weeks away). So we email back and forth encouraging one another in our delusions of what could be accomplished in such a short time and lo and behold -- in no time we're signed up (half-price thanks to her wheeling and dealing) and now need to crank out some work made with 75% recycled materials, in a flat hurry. (Hence, the glass photo.)

So, if you don't hear anything from me in the next two weeks, I want you to think of the two people I've mentioned here today -- I'm going to blame them and I want you to do the same.

more than we bargain for

2007-10-25T21:48:00.001-06:00

.
I was working on something earlier this fall and thought I'd scan some fall weeds/grass and possibly use it in a piece I was working on. I ended up not using it but on closer examination I discovered more than I bargained for. I'm not sure you'll be able to see it very well because of the resolution but if you zoom into the area inside the white circle you will see some sort of critter. I have no brilliant insight or revelation about this -- no deeper meaning. It was a fun discovery though.

unenlightened doodles

2007-10-23T19:12:00.001-06:00

.I really don't normally do weird southwestern or Mayan looking, abstract sorta art but trying a new method of doodling produced something quite unlike my usual little daisy flowers and tiny semi-stick people doodles.

I found zentangles online one day and thought they were pretty cool looking doodles. Their site describes them as, " Zentangle is an easy to learn and relaxing method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns."

I don't think I love them enough to order the kit they sell for $49. plus shipping so one can learn to doodle in the purist zentangle way and use only the absolute best quality paper and pen which are provided in the kit. I also don't care to find a zentangle class to take so I can understand what they are all about and have a corporate, zentangling community experience and produce genuine, authentic zentangle doodles but I do like the concept of therapeutic doodling and they looked interesting so, I tried my uneducated version a couple of times and found it to be just as they say, relaxing.

I think I'll go find my cheap pen and some sub-standard paper and do a bit of unenlightened doodling for a bit before I go to bed. :)

nothing new

2007-10-22T21:57:00.000-06:00

Ok. So I'm blogging. I still say who cares? I really wonder. I also wonder what I have to say that hasn't already been said. Somewhere. By someone else. Before I even thought to say it. There's nothing new under the sun as someone before me has so wisely said.

For instance take the above example. I had tumbled the antique purple Glass Graveyard find (aka dump glass) in my brand new rock tumbler overnight with water and sand to simulate a frosted sea glass look. Today I (being afraid even of miniature power tools) took my brand new $10 off, cordless, bargain Dremel tool and actually, successfully drilled a hole in the glass. (First try!) Jump rings were then inserted successfully into the hole by this non-jewelry maker. I printed the image of the flowers on the glass by a printmaking technique called polyester plate lithography and then embossed the image in silver, inserted the ribbon and ta-dah . . . a necklace.

I thought maybe no one else had ever thought to do this but before I got very far in my personal glory-basking moment I thought maybe I should take a look online just to make sure so I didn't falsely claim originality when I told folks that I thought it up. Anyway, someone over at B-muse will be saying 'been there, done that' if they ever stumble onto my blog.