Finished Painting

"With Folded Hands"

Finally finished this piece. It's been floating around the studio for eight or nine months, first as a sketch in my sketchbook, then as a shaded sketch on a large piece of watercolor paper, and then as a partially painted piece.

I like her.

Journal 01-15

Journal 01-13

Journal 01-12

Journal 01-11

Journal 01-09

Journal 01-06

Journal 01-05

Oh My It's HOT

And if I could add little animated flames, I would!

Richard checked the temperature this afternoon and it was over 110 degrees. I won't even tell you what the thermometer actually read, because it's too ridiculous.

Of course, the old air conditioner in the studio stopped working two days ago. And of course, every new one we looked at needed a larger opening than the old one. We got an inexpensive new one, and the Two Stooges installed it this afternoon. We had to cut the drywall, cut the stud, and cut the siding. And of course, we did not have the right tools, BECAUSE WE ARE THE TWO STOOGES. But it's done, and the studio is gradually cooling down, and my computer didn't fry...

Katie leaves early tomorrow morning for the annual trip to the beach with her friend's family, so she'll miss the heat here. She's packing jeans and jackets along with shorts. Joel, on the other hand, has baseball practice tonight for the All-Star team, and a tournament this weekend in the blistering heat--it's supposed to get hotter during the next three days. He got sick after catching most of a doubleheader on Monday night, so we're trying to make sure he's well-hydrated.

I'm working on some new digital pieces as well as continuing to try and paint faces. I've also been experimenting with using my scanner as a camera, scanning 3-D objects and taking advantage of the incredible light and focus for about an inch or so.

I'll post some of the experiments tomorrow.

Illustration Friday Paradise

I love what I wrote--

I'll live under the sea
in a forest of anemones
where I can feel the ocean's gentle swells and
ride the furious waves,
where the cold of the depths balance
the heat of my heart's desire...

But I'm not happy with any of the ways I tried to incorporate them. I'm looking for help, folks! Any suggestions are welcome...

Monoprints

I was so inspired by the article on monoprinting in this month's Cloth, Paper, Scissors that I decided to make some of my own. Yesterday I experimented. Of course, I didn't have any glass on which to roll the ink so I used a piece of palette paper instead. And, oh gee, I didn't have any printing ink so I just used cheap acrylics with retarder added. I'm pretty good at making do when I have to.

I drew houses, much like she did in the article, and then added some big popsicle trees. I don't want to make a paper quilt with these, just individual prints. Yesterday I mentioned using this same process on fabric--that's on tomorrow's agenda. I'm still trying to figure out how to control the paint absorption by the fabric...

The bottom print is done, I think. I liked the combination of machine- and hand-stitching...

No Name

I'm stumped on the name for this one. I think my brain's just not working right...

I'm smiling as I write this, so obviously the dark cloud is lifting a little bit. I took Pissed Off Housewife's advice this morning, and I'm trying to collage my way to calm (although I suppose I could try to collage my way to clam, as I typed the first time).

Some Thoughts, If I Had Any

This may be one of those TMI posts, so if you're not interested or sympathetic, perhaps you ought to go somewhere happier. It seems to me that the last couple of months have been unusually turbulent around here, in every way imaginable. And I think I'm finally starting to crack.

On Saturday I scared everyone in my family with my anger, which included pointing out to the eleven-year old girl that "if you're hurt enough to lie in the middle of the basketball court crying and then come out of the game, then you're too hurt to play anymore--okay, you're hurt. You're crying. Dammit, get up and keep going." And though I've mellowed a bit since Saturday I can tell I'm not functioning at the same level of sanity that I was three months ago.

The question is really WHY? I need reasons. Is it the beginning of menopause (I'm 43) messing with the perfect balance of Zoloft in my system? Or is it just the worries about money and the challenge of having a thirteen-year old boy in the house? Am I finally cracking under the strain of being on the school board? Are my concerns about inept teachers just too much for me? Enquiring minds WANT TO KNOW.

Science Fair at the Memorial Building tonight, and Katie's project is in it. She did a great job on her experiment and I can't wait to see it. Board Meeting tomorrow night, but fairly routine agenda. One of my dear friend's mother just had a stroke, but she seems to be doing well. My kids are healthy and funny and loving and smart, my husband's terrific--but wow, am I ever wound up.

I know, I need to make some art, but I'm having trouble starting. I'm putting it off by doing anything else I can think of--yesterday I cleaned all the bookcases, for crying out loud! When I clean the house, you know I'm desperate.

Sooooo--here's a piece I just finished. I made my own handcut stamps from foam for the buildings. I was going to add some wispy words, but I think it's done. I'm going to go start cutting and pasting--I can prep canvasses and maybe that will get me going. Fingers crossed for luck...

another postcard

Here is another of my altered postcards from today. Of all the vintage postcards I've collected, this is one of my favorites. I only use photocopies of the original; I just can't bring myself to alter an original. It breaks my heart that there is a family out there somewhere without this picture of their great-grandmother or father; I can't destroy the original.

Journal Quilt 4

This quilt is entitled "The Road to the Beach"--my middle one is off to the beach for a week with a friend--down through the foothills, across the valley, over the coastal range, to the ocean. It's lonely around here without her...

More from Asilomar

My first day's class was with Nina Bagley. I love her! She's a wonderful teacher with a dry sense of humor and loads of patience. We made tiny copper books that hang from a necklace, thus the name "booklace". The pages were small pieces of mica sandwiched around teeny tiny collages. My booklace seems to be a potent vessel of magic, and I know that sounds corny, but that's how I feel. Each page was a small collage that used pictures of my mom when she was a tiny girl. Maybe becauseI waited for four years after my mom died for my sister to share scans of these pictures with me--maybe because my mom is gone--who knows? But my booklace contains something very special.