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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

it's a wrap

What is going on here?!



My usual. It's not dyslexia, presicely...or is that precisely...

Coon wars continue around here. Tonight, a couple of kin sunk their teeth and claws into each other. I thought one got ahold of a cat. I went hot and cold, just like you read about, and I leaned over the railing and saw them locked in mortal combat. Snarling and yowling and hissing. I ran and filled up a pitcher of water, thinking I could break it up and send them safely on their way if I doused them, but by the time I ran back outside, they'd gone.

God. Full moon fever, or what. Hairs on the back of my neck are still prickly.

just another manic wednesday

So the bbq shindigger: Ariana's friend Eric brought over his rig. And by rig, I do mean bar-b-q although that seems a mighty small word for such a block-sized piece of grilling wonder. I mean, wow. Another friend went and picked it up, and transported it by loading it onto his trailer. I mean...wow. I'm not finger-wagging, just wow-ing. Ariana won't own a grill on account of personal/environmental/ethical reasons, and I can dig. What I love about her is that she will still occasionally eat top ramen even though she's vegetarian and has her moral compass firmly ensconced. We all do our thing, ya know?

And I am sure that the neighbors roll their eyes when they see my plastic bags hanging on the line out back on the porch. Well, hey. I don't buy garbage bags; instead, I occasionally respond, "Plastic" at the check out line and use those. And I put chard in them at the Kiva, to transport them home, and then rinse and dry and re-use.

I visited Chris Jordan's site just now. Here is one of his photographs. I dare you to go and look at the gallery.

This "Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds." (artist quote) There are detail photos and others....I really appreciate how the photos look like so much noise, until you see the englarged zoom-ins. Of course they're meant to be viewed in person because the sheer size is a surefire way to get the message across. This one is of course more impressive if you go to his detail photos. I think this particular show is in Seattle next month, or maybe July.



by Chris Jordan © 2007
.

Tell me. Why are we still on the planet? Why haven't we done ourselves in already? I think THAT is the miracle.

I watched Bjork's Pagan Poetry video first, and then headed over to Chris Jordan's online gallery. This video of Bjork's, in particular, never fails to impact me. I watch it every so often and I always shiver, get serious chills...I mean my skin crawls with goosebumps...and usually I cry. She's so raw, and by that I don't mean unrefined. Fierce. Holy fuck.

So I was already primed, in a way, when I saw Chris Jordan's photos (I'd seen one before, last week I think, on Drawn!). I'm feeling stunned. Wanting to rage and weep, feeling kinda vulnerable after my hit of Bjork because she allows herself vulnerability...maybe 'allow' isn't even the right word....I hope I'm not immobilized for very long, and when I am mobilized, I can focus on what's good and right in the world, and keep doing my art.

Which brings me around to what I've been thinking about and it becoming more clear to me, about selling on Etsy and CafePress and shit like that. Uh....I'm not exempt from consumerism...but it's hard for me to be adding to the total mass sum of Stuff On The Planet, though. Some existential crisis going on about this. Good to be noticing.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

it is still today



Hear ye, hear ye! I opened up shop over at Etsy, finally. Yup. I git thar, in mah own sweet time. And I updated more on CafePress....or was that yesterday?

Anyway, here's Simian Says at Etsy. So g'wan over and check it out, if yer so inclined. I like Etsy because you can see how many times an item you're selling has been viewed. On the other hand...you can see how many times it's not been purchased :)

Hey but at this point I'm just clapping myself on the back for getting my stuff out there, and I think it's pretty damn cool that self-publishing and selling on the internet is so accessable nowadays. I also submitted to Thumbtack press. Just to get in the habit of it, ya know.

today is today



And I am maybe gonna learn a little bit of Flash animation today....maybe...uh....we'll see.

*edited later that day...I learned some stuff but I did not make anything in motion although I did a very cool sweepy paint brushy figure that I wish I could animate right now

Monday, May 28, 2007

zoinks!



Ah dunnit agin. Up later than I have any right to, if I wanna feel decent in the morning. Oh well, it's for a good cause.

I had no need of a tuna sandwich today - there was plenty of good grub at the shindig, and it just kept gettin' shindiggier. There were at least three waves of people. I biked in and then looped around extra, to warm up (I was frikkin' chilly all day long), and worked up a good sweat on account of the gale force headwind gusts. There was a short footbag game interval (YESS!), many veggies and much not-veggies.

This morning I made myself a new banner and bio over at my Cafe Press Shop. Learning stuff in Photoshop is being pretty fun. I like combining my hand drawn illos with elements of non hand drawn illos :)

*yawners* Must go turn in now, I'm right under the midnight hour limbo line.

my morning head. space.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

now, besides this already being mildly (or maximally) annoying.......it's going to be in your face every time you visit, until I post enough to bump it into an archive!

wicked.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

again



play play play

What do you think it is? What do you want it to be?

sunless day



Just piddlin' around.

What does one bar-b-q for a holiday thing? I'm wracking my brains here. I want to skewer some veggies I guess. The girls and some other people friends are doing a bbq shindig tomorrow afternoon. Maybe I'll just show up with a tuna sandwich.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

be that way



This is a very accurate self-portrait. I need a little levity, besides. Feeling crunchy and dorky. So if ya cain't beat 'em.....

Finally hung up my windchimes the other day, after being here two months. They're in front and they don't constantly bang around - they're sheltered just enough to give a nice ring now and then.


*Da-a-a-amn, I didn't know my ears were so elephantine.

take that



Well, this one was hell to do. I'm experiencing what I guess is the equivalent of a writer's block. Common sense tells me that I should just do mundane things, like print up a bunch of prints and select the best and get an Etsy store together. Or learn more Photoshop and dink around with my Cafe Press shop. (although I did add a ringer tshirt, which I think looks smashing and I will want to be ordering one for myself)

So...maybe I will listen to common sense, or maybe I will continue to bash my head against the wall. Actually it's kind of fun, to see how much abuse I can dish out for myself.

No not really, but I do enjoy finding out how long I'll keep trying. Which, so far, I'm still trying. So I did this tonight:



I learned about a really cool site to sell prints. It's called Thumbtack Press. I gather that it's a pretty rigorous course to run through to become accepted, which has a lot to do with how many amazing artists there are out there. BUT, I really like the tack they're taking....ha ha ha...gak. The art for sale is a bit edgier and in fact they say don't bother submitting cute teddy bears or toddlers holding hands. They do all the work - printing, packaging, shipping. And, they take 50%. Which, hey. To me it'd be worth it, to not have to shlep and ship the stuff myself.

I need to practice more, and in the meantime, submit some stuff anyway.

Doggedly hanging on to thursday's amazing sunny and warm weather, I am dressed in shorts with no socks....I have donned my favorite long sleeved fuzzy though. I will NOT close the windows and doors yet!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

say again



I about gave myself an ulcer this morning. Couldn't draw worth shit and hit the panic button. What if I never will again??? (draw halfway decently, that is) And then I started boiling over. Stupid art! Stupid brain that doesn't work when I want it to!

Do you know how many times I've gone through this over the last year and a half, since I started drawing and painting again?

Well, lots.

So I ate a poisonous cookie after dinner at work and immediately felt so tired. By poisonous I mean full of crap like high fructose corn syrup and probably hydrogenated oil. Your basic cheap Safeway cookie, I think. I rationalized that I eat so many whole foods and so many vegetables, one lousy cookie wouldn't hurt. Wow it was sweet. And, good. But this happens sometimes after I eat high fructose and shit. So I dragged my ass up the hill on my bike, and I got out my pencil and eraser, and just ignored any reference photos and worked from the sketch I'd begun this morning, filling in my own details.

This works for me! And, the time that I spent drawing, then painting, brushing my teeth, showering, photographing and now blogging, has been the best ninety mintues of my day. Possibly my week.

Thanks for saying hi everyone! Will reply to your most entertaining, heartening and lurvely comments later. I really need to sleep now though. The neighbors were up at all kinds of horrid hours tromping around last night. I'm hoping that tonight there is none of that, and I dream a cool dream or two, to draw a few pictures from.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

no shiver me timbers



I really don't know why this brings to mind the title of a movie that was mostly forgettable - certainly the title isn't forgettable:

At play in the fields of the lord

I remember Kathy Bates losing her mind, which in my opinion, was a very good thing. There she was in the middle of the jungle with her fundamentalist husband and they were there to convert the Indians. She stayed behind the fence they'd built around their hut (it was a pretty big fence). But one day she covered herself in mud and went out into the yard, into the rain dancing nude and stark raving. It was great. You know she's not a supermodel. But she is beautiful and I remember thinking how awesome she was for being able to do that. I was in my very early 20s when I saw the film.

So I guess I connect a sort of peace and restfulness...relaxing into wherever you are with what I thought her character and maybe even she as a woman was doing - a sort of surrender, giving up a struggle. What a relief.

It finally turned a corner today, weather-wise. For weeks, it's been off and on sunny here and there, but usually with this chilly edge. Yesterday was gorgeously sunny but still that coolness. I felt myself becoming so frustrated. Really wanting some warmth here folks.......well today, it was 73 degrees by 11 o'clock. Sunny!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!

The shopping trip yesterday was such a success, I took myself back down the mountain and bought more shirts. And two pair of shorts. I am totally set. For months. And months. I found shirts and shorts in the men's department. Perfect cut, perfect material. Five bucks a piece for the tshirts. In a glorious array of colors. The downside is, I'm sure they're made in a shop where natives don't get paid shit for their labor. Fookin' hell.

I really do mean it when I say thank you to all the people who grew the cotton, and did everything to make it possible for me to enjoy these very comfortable, soft, wonderful tshirts.

It's raining! How about that?! I made it home about five minutes before the downpour. But see, it's warm, and I am warm and that makes all the difference.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

p.s.

In the last couple of days, I have seen a coon and a squirrel up close and personal.

core



Okay, well. Hmmmmm.....I like some things about this a lot, and some things, eh - I just gotta keep practicing. Instead of filling the center with shadows I thought...it'll be a place of warmth instead.

It's 2 o'clock here in alpine country and the sun is blazing glory. So I think for my sanity's sake I will get on out there. What I really need to do is buy some shirts for the summer. Last year's are a wee bit too small. I do not really relish the shopping experience. What I really want are clothes that are functional, no frills. I want some plain cotton t-shirts.

You think it would be easy, right?

Uh...wrong.

Most of women's shirts are cut so weird.

I really need some shirts though, so I am going to ride into town (car is still dead and I suspended all insurance except for the minimum comprehensive in case that tree does decide to fall on it) and see if Old Navy has any sales going on. If I found some shirts I think I'd just buy four or five in different colors, and that is my summer wardrobe. I have no problem wearing the same clothes week after week. After week.

Keepin' it simple.

Monday, May 21, 2007

day's end



Printed on Stonehenge, 5x7". I sketched this out last week over the course of a couple days, and then did a little tweaking today, and carved it this evening. There are some things going on in here that I'm liking...I'm learning stuff!

There are of course things I see that I would like to change. I am still getting the hang of the high contrast light shadow thing. Kathe Kollwitz is a good one to study for prints like that. Wow is she amazing!

But, I like seeing that all my net surfing and ogling art day after day and doing art day after day is producing some skillz. It's so cool to see how the coordination develops when you exercise it.

Placing shadows where they make sense to produce a desired effect is truly an art. I hope to keep learning how to make strides in that department....I am so fascinated by creating depth and perspective on a two-dimensional surface.

next!



Single page, 7x4" (about 18cm x 10cm).

Okay now I feel even BETTER...I always do when I doodle!

And my shoulder and neck are barely squawking any this week - hurrah!

So last night's pizza fest was truly epic. The best ever. Us girls are such good cook and collaborators, I gotta say. The thing was mile and a half high and super deelish. Here's Jacque putting the final cheese layer on top:



They also brought six little (very sweet) strawberries from the garden! Oh they were good. And did I mention sweet? I can't believe those little babies are making fruit already! They also brought the camera loaded with pics, and took a picture of the garden before coming over (I haven't been there for a few weeks, as they've been off gallavanting in Seattle and the coast - so this weekend was a warm reunion indeedy):



Jacque made the frame from bamboo in the yard - cool huh.

I think I shall dash between raindrops for a walk or a ride.

the usual

Hey! One more thing down the shitter! That thing being my car. Well, so long as it's not my computer...or my bike...previous shits: the breadmaker (three times), the camera...lightbulbs don't count in my book although I did just replace several at once. Same with pens running out of ink. What's the deal?

It's probably just the battery in the car, but time and money being what it is, and the season too, I think I'll just leave it be and deal with it in the autumn or the winter. I may change my mind on that. But I can drop insurance down to ten bucks a month, enough to cover damage like a rogue tree falling on it, something of the like.

One of the prerequisites for moving was that the new place be on the bus line (I am). Plus, I am already used to riding miles (and miles) to commute and stuff. And, it's not COLD and rainy, just chilly, so....the car can just sit there.

Well, wow. I feel much better now. Needed to get that off my chest I guess. 'Cause I woke up feeling really really tired and really really nonplussed about life in general. I say again - What is the deal?

I live like a queen. Roomy apartment. Food. Clothes. Able-bodied. Art supplies. Good job. Awesome friends (who make a mean pizza - more on that later). So why the despondency? Could it really be so weather and light related? This apartment is like a cave (compared to my other place) and the cloudy weather seems interminable to me this year. Jacque says that to her, the winter felt short, and we've had more sun. So....what..is..the...DEAL?

Usually don't do explicitly nude drawings but you know what? Why not. I was going through old photos from last summer and I've ended my moratorium on posting nudes. You know I like the perspective play. And this altered book is for me to just do studies, quick studies, to practice.



I think that too much weird emphasis is placed on bodies. Don't get me wrong. They're great, they allow us to do things we would not be able to otherwise. But folks, it is just bags of skin and bones. No matter how much or how little or what shape we got it in. I've been up and down the weight scale so many times, I should have buns of steel just from climbing the up and down. And if what I want my life and art to be about is honesty, then..........

......

Saturday, May 19, 2007

greetings from the alps



'Homeland Security'....I think that's what the name of this mini-series is. It may just be a mini-series of two panels.

I don't know why but this is titled Estonia:



A slow day today. An extra day off, as I need to use up some banked holiday time before our fiscal year ends on June 30. Nice! If I lived in Hawai'i I probably couldn't afford to work half-time. Unless I figure out how to sell some art on a regular basis. And raise my confidence level to do that. Which just means keep practicing and drawing and painting, Victoria!

Yeah....still having this big nostalgia for San Diego. I think I would not like to live there now, so why not Hawai'i? I long to be warm year-round, to go barefoot, and to swim in an ocean that is not frigid. And I dare say I wouldn't miss the seasons, such as they are, around here. But, how do I know? Maybe I would. Maybe I would miss a lot of things. And people..of course...but I am so ready for some steady warm weather. This winter seemed so long to me and when I think of next winter and getting through another one, I just want to cry. And it's months away!

So maybe by next autumn I'll be feeling differently.

I hope so.

Friday, May 18, 2007

s.o.s. (?)



Make of it what you will.

I am totally infatuated with banksy. And by infatuated I mean completely in love with. And by that I mean a life-long long long long long love affair.

Aunt Flo is visiting, so I am very very tired. I must put myself into the horizontal, possibly with a hot water bottle. Will that aleve kick in soon, I wonder? Let us do hope.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

hi. hi there. hell. oh.




ooog I'm waiting for my brain and eyes to start working in concert, feeling all sortsa discombobulated trying to draw. I deliberately drew this one fast with hardly any corrections. I need to do more of this.



using some acrylic and markers...

I was really hoping for another eighty degree weekend, but it didn't arrive. And for some reason, mid sixties didn't warm me up. So, after drinking my smoothie today, I checked the mail (art in mail!) and then read it (and Squee) in my CAR where it is BAKING HOT. Finally, I warmed up.

I haven't droven my car for uh....hmmmm....well it's been weeks. You would think with fuel prices nearing $4.00 a gallon, people would cut back on their driving. Where do they get all that money to drive around all the time?? It's weird.

time to catch that bus to work for me I go!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

great goodness

Here is a small video of my view this afternoon.


These are carved from erasers! I used an exacto knife mostly...I must've been wanting to challenge myself because man, these are some intricate little drawings for such a small area.



ha ha!

The next several dictionary pages turned into the continuation of what's around the corner from yesterday. I dreamt of my brother last night. He died several years ago. So interesting, that I dreamt about Christopher after spontaneously taking those photos of myself to draw the picture of me peeking around the corner yesterday afternoon. I like these:









In the dream, I was haunting and rooting around an apartment that my mother and I lived in, when we were in San Diego. It was a place called Birdland, because all of the apartments were built on streets named after birds. We lived on Hummingbird. That was when I was in...third grade. (this part's all true) So in the dream I was back in Birdland, but no mom. And the apartment was rather dilapidated. And then I discovered an upstairs inside the place, and some noise. There was a white light ( more like a TV light but the celestial reference is sooo funny) and I climbed the stairs (again with the manmade heaven and it being 'up'). Then this male voice (not the voice of someone's god!) said, "So where did you finally park your bike?" And it was my brother!. That was the COOLEST thing. The whole upstairs attic was like a shrine, and my eyes had finally adjusted to the relative darkness. I was so happy to see him even though I was thinking in the dream Hey wait a sec, you're dead......so....people really come back!! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Time for me to hit the hay. A good day here in alpine country :)

Hello to all, near and far!

Monday, May 14, 2007

another one down!



I worked from a photo of myself I took yesterday - I like that the eyes aren't symmetrical to each other. I don't even know how I managed to make myself look like a kid. I know it has to do with proportions but I haven't studied human anatomy and art to know how I did accidentally what I could learn to do purposefully. But I wasn't even trying to make a child figure.

Half the face looks alert, the other half all squinchy like sleepy. My mother would draw faces that weren't symmetrical, too.



There are areas here where I think I am on to something very cool.....

4x6" on Stonehenge printing paper, again working from a photo of myself.

Wow I feel like I've really had a proper weekend (ha! like I always do! three days off being the norm........). Okay more like a vacation. The girls and kids were away at the coast this weekend, so I didn't do the sunday fandango with them - time always seems to go so damn fast when we do our sundays. It's not a bad thing, we have fun, but there is so much stimulus and activity usually of a kidlike nature, I think that has something to do with it. Yesterday was very introverted (not a bad thing), slow paced....same with today.

But, here it is already ten o'clock. I gotta get away from the box....I've been carving for HOURS, on some little tiny erasers that I'm not finished with yet and I need to unkink myself, lie around and read some Squee and sip some tea. (my neck is MUCH improved though...wow, that was a long haul)

ta

Sunday, May 13, 2007

happy mother's day

My mom used to drink Coors from a can with a straw. She doesn't do that anymore, because she is dead (RIP mom - do not worry I am okay). I threw out all my straws when I moved, and I cannot bring myself to drink a Coors. So I made a smoothie. This one's for you, ma (and Wrick's mom too) (er, and Trish's also):



Know what I could do? Make some beer bread! That stuff is good.



Based on a sculpture from Mirta Toledo. I liked her 'Offering' sculpture and I was thinking I'd offer to buy my mom a beer if she was around. I think my drawing mixes young and old.

Now the one below....there is a bit of cloth over one of those people's mouths. I had this dream last night, the lead singer of Metallica was in my place (dream place, not this place) and had this piece of cloth over his lips and kissed me. I'd like to think of some deep freudian jungian meaning, but I don't think it was very deep. I think he probably had a cold sore and didn't want to give it to me, or something. Dreams are so weird. (and anyway......James Hetfield??? that is so not my dream guy..oh wait...dammit!)



I gotta go check out the sunshine.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

that's a wrap

....this critter knows where to find single socks!



I'll mail it to a bloke in Germany who wants to trade some art, and his mail art call is about socks.

Today was very cool, almost chilly, and the sky was low and grey. Up here, it was misty and the foghorns were mooing (not really, that is just for atmosphere). I was determined to carry on with the summer spirit, and so I wore shorts. Rode to the Big Market on my laden bike after work (already had groceries from next door to library market Kiva)...splurged and bought some good chicken and some sausage for my brekkie tomorrow (the girls are at the coast for mother's day so I am flying solo). Near the checkout, a guy walked by carrying two artichokes, one in each hand. They were still attached to their trunklike stems and that is what he held them by. I wanted to give him a Carmen Miranda fruit hat and ask him to mambo.

Today's german-english dictionary page offering:



anziege


That's one word underneath the picture...it means 'advertisement'. Okay well actually, it's a similar word -- I didn't copy it down directly before I painted over it, so I referenced my other german english dictionary for the german definition. The dictionary I am altering is for colloquialisms; the one I am not is a basic no-nonsense very straightforward by the book dictionary.

The painting is based on a picture from Interview magazine, for some hoity-toity clothing line that I can't recall or probably even pronounce. I like the high contrast though...the leather clothese aren't bad either.

I think I'm gonna call it a day, catch up on some sleep maybe - my weekend has officially begun, hoo ray! And, it is supposed to be in the 70s and sunny by monday. HOO RAY.

Friday, May 11, 2007

fry day again, already



...or is that a name with a face? If your cow's name is Bessy, is it
more difficult to eat her? I'm not a vegetarian right now, so that's not a preach. But if your duodenum had a face AND a name, would you be so unkind to it by stuffing it full of non-food items (like most things sold on grocery shelves are, really...)? I'm just sayin'....

I honestly don't know how these weird things surface to surface to draw. I'm sure it's subconsious and maybe even metaphysical. I like how I'm getting the hang of portraying depth. The paper and the pen go real nice together and each lends itself singly and in combination to helping it look this way, for sure.




A picture of Patti Smith in BUST magazine provided the framework and inspiration for this. I like it. I sketched it out at work, since I couldn't check the magazine out - it being the current issue and only non-current issues circulate.

Big news for my weekend: I am going to make a big ol' stir fry with shiitake mushrooms. This is a big treat for me! I am even going to buy some chicken. Gasp! Living high on the hog here.

My neck is still funky but it's not hurting so much, so thank god for small miracles. I was ready to just...I dunno...do something dramatic. God! I'm glad I don't get migraines and I feel sorely for those who do!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

live from the libary

I'm on lunch and just scanned this in - a scanner! sieze it!...last night and this morning I did this'n. Now it's time to go find an unoccupied table, preferably not next to loud teenagers or snoring anybodies, and draw something!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

In the Labland of Stereo

I was feeling constipated. Now, I am not. Thanks to Stereolab.

I LOVE BEING A DORK!!!!!!!


tidbits and bits of tid



ManGoes back and forth, back and.....yeah okay you got it. I just slurped down a mega mango (and banana and pineapple, with yogurt) smoothie.



page 9 in the dictionary - I dreamt I was at a sort of comic-con last night. Nice! I am trying to understand how to make recessed eye sockets. Lots of shadow. How to create the depth, ya know? How to recognize the underlying structure of what I am drawing, so that I can draw how the shadow and light plays on that surface. I lost some of the spontenaiety in this page because I wanted to draw what I sort of saw in my head but it didn't come out really the way I want to. I'll just keep on trying.

Ah yes, there is the sun. Woke up to fog horns, it was so grey outside, and nippy, like the coast! It's pretty amazing how suddenly, the cloud cover is just.....gone.

I am going to put an ad in our Weekly paper for a cabana boy, to come and rub my still-aching neck and shoulders. You think I would just go and pay for a chiropractic and/or massage visit, right? Well...it's money and....the pain subsides and I think okay cool and then it comes back again. Reminds me of how much of my life has been being NOT in pain and how cool that is. And that some people live with chronic pain...ohmygod. At least it doesn't stop me from drawing, and when I'm absorbed, I don't notice it anyhow.

Gotta go check the mail!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

insensitive speck



ahah! ha ha ha!

I found another book today - this time, it was FREE! That is right. Apparently, tuesdays are 'leave the bins for St. Vincent's on the dock' day. St. V's is a thrift store and the bins are full of rejected donations from the populace who give books and print items to us for the annual book sale. St. Vinnie's is where I bought the german/english dictionary. So now, it's like I got two for the price of one. Plus the thrill of doing something technically illegal.

I like this!

All of this!

I'm gonna go find a mail art recipient for it.

frontispiece



Ooookaaaaay......

ha ha! This book needs a good introduction, don't you think? I do!

I'm having such fun reading Squee, too. I may never leave the house again.

Life's Too Good

O happy day, sunny and warm and my tootsies are ten free birds!




why a german/english dictionary? the pages are of the texture I prefer when I paint on them, that is why! and it was two dollars. and it smells old which is not a bad thing. I'm working my way up to a Moleskine.

Today I woke up early, which is good because I need to go in to work for a meeting (it's my regular day off, but hey, I'll just swing by the art store on the way home). I've had time to mess about painting and stuff. And listen to Bjork's Breezeblock mix and Sugarcubes...I'm saving her new album, Volta, for later tonight maybe (it was released yesterday! ooh! yes!).

Last night I dreamt about my nephew Steve (you have a nephew? i hear you exclaim. yes I do). I haven't seen him for uh...um....scritch scritch...years. And more years. He's only like two years younger than me - gah! that's weird. Anyway he was rilly rilly tall in my dream and he was all, 'you look great!' and I'm all 'you are really tall - are you taller than that tall man over there?' and he's like, 'oh yeah, by several inches' and I go, 'you look great too!'. Smacka! Victoria! He's your nephew! So anyway...that's the story thing behind where the drawing above originated.

I gotta go!

Monday, May 07, 2007

welcoming committee

Hey-lo! What an amazingly beautiful day here. I am going to weep, I am so glad to see the sun, feel some warmth, be in bare feets and tank top and shorts with the windows open front and back. I did the laundry and hung it on the back porch to dry! yes!!! I will thoroughly enjoy this reprieve because it is almost guaranteed that we will experience a relapse, and it'll be in the 50s and it will rain. Because this is Oregon.

Here are a couple of greeters for the new digs. They'll sit and jeer I mean wave and smile at the people walking by:



(that's Tong!, and below is Trudy)



You can see more of them in this corner.

I am seriously considering moving back to San Diego.

Ha! Not!! Too expensive, too crowded, probably smoggy and crime-ridden. Man I am having a serious SERIOUS case of nostalgia, though. Like my body is not wanting to stay another winter in Oregon. I don't remember feeling this ready for summer last year...this ready for the frikkin' rain and cold to begone.

In the meantime (while I wait to brew up a plan to become wealthy enough to live somewhere warmer, near a beach, and I mean a beach with water that is warm and sun that is warm too, mostly year-round)....



Goal: to fill up this german/english dictionary I bought at the thrift store yesterday. Page 7, May 7th, Preface. Can I do one a day?? I'd like to make it so.

Another one - I was doing some little sketchy things to work out Trudy Bird sculpture:



That's a wrap! Gonna go catch me some shuteye before too long.

ps - my back is fine, it's only the back of my LEGS that are tighter than a bowstring. But I can walk juuust fine after the weekend warrior yardening yesterday.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

wakarimashita

or, in plain english, "got it! right! understood!"

I am pretty sure, if my somewhat creaky japanese language memory serves correct.



A little doodle I diddled after arriving home from a day's worth of gardening and yard work over at a friend's. I hope my body lets me walk around and do stuff tomorrow.....must go get in the horizontal, now. And drink more water. Finally got some color on my skin, and some warm weather. Sure was awesome to be outside all day, plus I rode my bike over there which was about an hour each way....maybe I should hope for just being able to lift my eyelids tomorrow.

nighters.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

this is Tungstun



more messin' about with messin' about

I was gonna do...what was I gonna do?? Some kind of ass view thing. That just wasn't doing it for me. So I put it aside, and then I looked at it some more, and then I turned it opposite/upside down, and saw some ears instead of legs now...added an eye socket ball, and another...the sock puppet was the last thing and there you have it.

I am done foregoing the pleasure of just mucking about. I've been a little sidetracked (constipated) because I've an eye towards selling. Well, it's back to the drawing board on that. I gotta do what I love to do, not what I think will sell. And THAT is also what I keep reading other artists saying the last few days! So I guess we have all come to the same conclusion.

Remember being a kid? You PLAYED ALL DAY! It wasn't wasted time, either. You learned all sorts of things without consciously realizing it. Same deal with any kind of play.

an eight-legged freak



He begs the question.

I felt inspired after visiting an insect gallery. I chose the 'understand it' link, which means the Russian is translated into English. I followed Barandash's link there, and I guess that you could submit a piece of artwork....you meaning me, too. Hmmmmm....just chop off the 'gal_en.htm' in your address bar and you'll jump back to the main page of that insect gallery thing.