Fifi's Graffiti

weapon of choice

2008-12-04T10:02:00.001-06:00

the rat bat
Originally uploaded by lomokev.

Imagine thinking you have a rat in your hair as you sleep. Imagine waking up and thinking it was only a dream. Imagine finding out it wasn't a dream.

I thought I dreamt a rat played in my hair and then stole my orange earplugs. Last night I found out it really happened.

I hear a noise about 2 a.m. I turned on the light. I saw a rat scurry along the east wall, turn and run under my bed. I squealed like the proverbial elephant in the cartoons. My mom got a shoe and rapped it against the wall. The rat ran out. We don't know where it went. I cautiously lifted the bedclothes and peered under the bed. There were my two earplugs, neatly in place and now Gnawed into useless orange bits.

I had to sleep with all the lights on.

Get me a bat.

I'mOVER HERE now!

2007-08-18T11:07:00.001-05:00

Come visit me at my new version of Fifi's Graffiti.

I'm still working on the site so things may be dusty for awhile.
(achooo!)
see, I'm still breathing that construction-site dust!

hot time in the ol' town

2007-08-07T11:38:00.000-05:00

It's finally feeling like summer. It hasn't rained in almost a week (was beginning to think I lived in Seattle again!) and the temperature is inching up towards 100 degrees. It's mighty late for summer to just be starting.

Yesterday was one of those fine days that makes me happy to be outdoors. The ground had dried enough so the mowers were able to cut down much of the prairie grasses that border I75 from here to Allen. I had the windows rolled down and just inhaled the sweet smell while the wind whipped my face. A convertible would've been nice. I didn't need the radio. The sound of the highway was all my ears wanted for the 45-minute trip to work. Only one minor slow-down where the poor sandblasters, covered head to toe in their work get-up, were prettying up the low concrete walls of the freeway divider; otherwise it was clear sailing at 60 per. What more could a girl want?

hard worker

2007-08-01T11:11:00.001-05:00

The body is a strange and wonderful thing, but when it gets tired the brain gets confused over its conflicting messages. The thunder rolled through this morning, and my brain dimly perceived that it was a good thing to continue sleeping. I did. Later, my bladder urgently prodded my brain, insisting it attend to that bodily function. The brain demurred, or was it the rest of the body? "Don't move," someone crooned seductively. "Get up!" asserted the bladder. "No, sleep on," purred my gentle friend. "Get UP!" shouted the bladder. I listened to this argument for some time in a semi-amused semi-comatose state.

Finally I got up.

pair o'pears

2007-07-30T10:22:00.000-05:00

I took my camera out yesterday but it started pouring down rain about five minutes later so here's about all I got. We thought we had a Bradford Pear tree outside the back door; imagine our surprise to find real pears growing on it. The squirrels (or other critters) got most of them so there are only about five left on the thinnest, most precarious branches. These two are the largest. They are 2 1/2 - 3 inches long and hang almost at eye level so they smack us in the head when going down the back steps. Don't know what kind of pears they are yet.

fight corporate domination

2007-07-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

I've been in the dumps lately because I'm so tired. Yesterday I realized (again!) it's no good having the attitude of "I'm so tired, my brain's so numb, I can't do anything." I knew I'd better snap out of it. Today is Day One of my new attitude. I'm trying to get back to my old routine as much as possible, thumbing my nose at tiredness. It's a fight every day.

I did this page in my art journal a few weeks back. I was experimenting with layering rubber stamps & it was the first time I attached tags to a piece (at least I think it was). It was a premonition of how I knew I was going to be feeling after a few weeks of long hours and unfortunately it came true.

altered signal

2007-07-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

Last week there was an extra-bad backup on the freeway so I exited ASAP and took the "back roads" to work. Along the way I spotted this little character on a corner. I didn't have my camera but I retraced my route a few days ago and captured its likeness. Three good lessons learned: 1) a blocked road can mean opportunity elsewhere; 2) always carry your camera; 3) take an alternate route on purpose.

flower hydrant

2007-07-16T11:03:00.000-05:00

I know I've been neglecting the blog. I'm working long hours and my brain is mushy. I have trouble making decisions. Sometimes I've been able to keep up a journal during the summertime crunch at work, but I'm more tired this year. I think overtime is wearing thin.

The sun has been shining brightly for a few days now. Even though the rain has kept temperatures in the low 90s I'm hoping it will go away for a while.....two months would be good for me.

I like fire hydrants. Here's one in front of a dentist's office that someone turned into a garden ornament. Is this legal??

droopy

2007-07-09T12:52:00.001-05:00

Was there a droopy dwarf in Snow White? Let's see: Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful & Doc, who am I missing? oh, I'll look it up later.

I feel droopy like this sunflower. We've had a couple of breaks from the rain, where we've gone almost 48 hours without moisture from the sky, so that perks me up a little, but I'm still getting used to my summer work schedule. My inner clock wants to wake up at 8 am but my body needs to sleep til about 10:30. Maybe I'll be adjusted by next week.

I had to put my art projects on hold as I switched gears to work on the bathroom again. Someday I'll finish it.....

I watched an old re-run of The Twilight Zone a few days ago and suddenly realized most of the episodes are about men. I'd never noticed that before. I'll have to keep that in mind if I watch it again.

beyond fashion?

2007-07-05T10:23:00.001-05:00

"It's going to be beyond fashion." (quote from fashion mag.) Hmmmmm. If we think about just what that might really mean perhaps we don't need the fashion mags or anyone else telling us what to wear.

I experimented with some magazine clippings after looking at some of the faces Teesha Moore has made. Mine didn't turn out as well but I'll get the hang of it.

I was a little bit appalled at how similar the facial proportions were in photos of the same size. One set of eyes or lips easily replaced those in a number of other photos. It says a lot about the narrowness of the fashion industry's view of feminine beauty.

dreamlight

2007-07-02T11:05:00.001-05:00

What I came up with for this week's prompt on Inspire Me Thursday, which was "Light."

Dreams and Vision are two recurring themes in my art so it wasn't a stretch to realize "light" is a part of that. This is the first full-page spread in my new homemade journal, made of watercolor paper bound with twisty-ties. I dug out my old set of acrylics to try something other than yellow and red as a background. I like this Phthalo Blue - who comes up with these names, anyway?

Studio Friday: Studio Summer Brunch

2007-06-29T17:17:00.001-05:00

CHILL! is the motif for my summer snacks and also the cover of my new home-made journal. you can't see it well in the photo but there's a found beer bottle cap that says "chill" on the palm of the hand. I've got to fight that summer heat with cold stuff. My favorite snack is fresh mixed berries when I can get them with yogurt and poppy seeds on top. I also love "nutty buddy" frozen ice cream cones. In the meantime I drink a lot of lemonade or iced tea and maybe an occasional iced coffee. If I get a really big craving for cold coffee flavor I might make a "colorado bulldog". Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass, saturate with kahlua, and fill glass with ice cold diet coke. yummm.

Here's a friendly visitor with his snack of choice - a black-capped chickadee with sunflower seed.

altered book - kubla builds his dream dome

2007-06-27T11:36:00.001-05:00

First spread, wherein Kubla decrees his will.....

I did this spread with a completely different background and ended up ripping out both pages and starting over. I saved a few elements and re-used them and this was the result. I had been trying to duplicate a cool background I saw in one of my art books and it flopped horribly. I really wish I could attend some workshops on altered books and/or collage. I found a class listed for this past spring at the Dallas Craft Guild and am crossing my fingers that it will be offered again in the fall. I get the feeling Dallas isn't really into this type of craft although I think it's one of the major scrapbooking markets.

It's still raining. I don't know where all this water is coming from. This is Texas, for cryin' out loud; it's supposed to be hot and sunny. I think the polar ice caps are falling on us.

turns and towers

2007-06-26T10:42:00.001-05:00

A happy result of the wrong turn I took on Sunday was ending up on the street next to this water tower. I've had a project in mind to shoot a bunch of water towers in this area but haven't had a blue sky for a while as a background. When it's overcast the towers just fade into the background. I've tried shooting when the sky is dark with clouds and those haven't come out too well, either.

I can see this tower from the freeway, but had not tried to find its exact location, so this was a doubly good find. I had to enhance the sky in Photoshop but was glad to get the shot. This tower is in the city of Richardson.

altered book beginnings

2007-06-25T11:24:00.001-05:00

Sometimes it pays to get lost. You think you're somewhere and then you think you're not. Then you know you're not. It can make you nuts, you know? Or it can make you change the way you look at things. That's what happened when I took a wrong turn yesterday.

I started work on my first "real" altered book a few weeks ago but have been hesitant to post anything for fear I'd put myself under so much pressure I would run out of ideas. So I've procrastinated with the few ideas I have and have found that NOT proceeding with them is worse than proceeding and failing. I've already ripped out one page and started over on it with no real damage done.

Anyway, the book is inspired by the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge was addicted to laudanum, a form of opium, and he said he imagined the poem during an opium reverie. The poem is a lovely collection of uneven meter, mismatched rhyme and confusion; and I expect my book will be the same. It should be a fun trip.

Equanimity - or lack thereof

2007-06-21T10:03:00.001-05:00

It rained hard again last night. A year ago we were beginning to be desperate for rain; now we complain about it. "The lakes are full," we say. "Stop, already!!"

We humans can't seem to be happy with things. The weather, our possessions, our selves. We want things to be different.

One of the traits Buddhists aspire to is Equanimity, which I interpret as being accepting of any circumstance you find yourself in. Yesterday while sitting on the freeway for almost two hours I realized a traffic jam was a mighty test of Equanimity. At the first stoppage, a wreck on the High Five interchange, I was irritated. At the second stoppage, a tractor-trailer rig stalled in the second lane, I was equable. I rolled down the windows even though the air was hot and muggy because I didn't want to overtax my car's engine idling with the AC on. I found a radio station playing really old country music from the 50's. I let people cut in front of me from both left and right lanes. I thought I had achieved equanimity. At the third stoppage, another stalled car in the 3rd lane, I got desperate. The radio went to commercials and I switched it off. I began to will the car in front of me to "move........move.........move" to no avail. Alas, my brief experience with Equanimity was gone.

And today I wish the rain would stop for a while.

why did the turtle cross the road?

2007-06-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

I rescued a turtle on Sunday. I spotted it crossing the road about four blocks from the building where I work. It was huge! It was headed toward the parking lot of a large apartment complex, so I put it in the car and when I got to work I released it in a field next to our building, which is near a large pond.

A few minutes later I was sloshing through the water-logged turf with my co-worker, who had volunteered to take the turtle home and settle it in his "atrium". We almost couldn't find the critter; it was traveling at such a high rate of speed it had almost traversed the whole field.

The turtle is a Red-eared slider, an aquatic turtle common to these parts. It was 9 1/2 inches long and almost 8 inches wide. I don't know what it was doing so far away from a large body of water. Of course, with all the rain we've had lately, it wouldn't be wanting for mud puddles along its way.

My co-worker went to PetSmart for some turtle food and found them selling these same turtles as pets. They offered to examine the turtle for any health problems and to determine its age and sex. That'll be exciting. My guess was that it was a male at least 5 years old. I feel like it's "my" turtle, too, even though it seems to be well cared for in its new home. Here's a photo of it with two of its caretakers.

Its name is Gamara, after the Japanese "monster" who defends against an evil alien.
Here's a trailer for Gamara the Brave, the twelfth and most recent incarnation of the transformed box turtle. Personally, I don't think Gamara's face looks nearly as cute or as menacing as a real turtle.

collage mosaics

2007-06-19T11:07:00.000-05:00

I finally got the 3D items glued to my pages for the "Around the World Chunky Swap" on Flickr. This was a really fun project but I got stuck at the end. It was as if I didn't want the fun to end. I put the pages aside, and before I knew it two weeks had gone by and I'd lost my previous enthusiasm. I'm hoping that finishing the project and getting these in the mail will set me back on the road to creativity.

the blahs

2007-06-16T13:21:00.001-05:00

I haven't been able to get into a creative groove this week. Things are gearing up at work for the summer crush and I've been spending most of my time at home ripping out the three layers of linoleum covering the bathroom floor. Dare I hope that we're past the half-way point on its renovation? The physical labor is hard on my back and I'm stiff most of the time. Walking hasn't helped much lately. Today I'm not going to work!!!!

I worked all week on the the first full spread of my altered book and yesterday, when I thought it would be finished, I realized I hated how it turned out. I ripped out the pages and saved the bits I like so I can try again. At least I still have plenty of pages to work with.

I found another unusual spider yesterday. It's a Texan Golden Lynx Spider. Look at those spiky hairs on its legs. It's a hunter and harmless to humans. I used to be terrified of spiders, but I think I must like them, now. I can't get over the variety of species I'm finding in McKinney.

my zoological alter ego kicks in

2007-06-11T11:01:00.001-05:00

It's got a stinky name, but this pretty little bug is a good guy to have in your garden....maybe almost as good as ladybugs. I saw a tiny spot of red (less than 1/8 inch) moving among decomposing leaves and clods of mud and was able to get a few shots before I lost it. It's called Euthyrhynchus floridanus, or Florida Predatory Stink Bug, and it's one stink bug that feeds on plant pests rather than the plants. This is the nymph phase; the adults are metallic blue with orange spots. I'll have to be on the lookout for them.

It was 88 degrees when I got off work at 10pm last night. One good thing about living 30 miles north of Dallas is that it's just a tiny bit cooler; it was 83 when I got home. Now I know summer's here. I'll be shifting to my summer work schedule next week; 3pm to 1am until at least Sept. 1. I'm hoping my co-worker who usually takes the graveyard shift will do so again this year, as we used to take nightly walks to spy on the local wildlife, and to take advantage of slightly cooler temperatures for exercising. My face feels sunburned when I take my morning walks, now, even though I wear a brimmed hat. I'll probably be talking about the heat all summer; it seems to be a "hot" topic of conversation for everyone.

I'm also finally starting to work on an altered book project. I bought this book almost two years ago and never knew what to do with it. I've recently been inspired, but I'm not going to destroy it the way I originally planned.

chunky page

2007-06-09T09:38:00.001-05:00

It's good to have visitors but it's also good to get back to your regular schedule. I'm not good about keeping up a journal when my schedule's all screwy. I've managed to do it a few times while vacationing, but when I read it later it seems to be a pretty sparse piece of writing.

Anyway I'm back to my somewhat-normal schedule and I have time to work on some art. I'm working on five 4x4 pages for an 'Around the World' Chunky Page Swap. This month's theme is monocolor mosaics. This is my "blue page", which turned out pretty well.
I think I need to add some "grout" between the "tiles", as I had a lot of trouble getting the pieces to line up just right. I think I'm square-impaired, as this is the same thing that happened with my tiling efforts in my bath's tub surround (which is still awaiting grout).

Here's another mosaic of sorts: four lovely cherry tomatoes from our garden. Yumm! My mom has been going outside every day to cover the plants with an old sheet to prevent sunburn. Yep, the blast furnace weather is here to stay, I think. One brief thunderstorm yesterday morning and now the forecast is for hot and humid from now on. That's ninety-plus degrees during the day and we'll be lucky if the temps fall below 75 at night. The waterlogged earth here is already beginning to crack; such is the temperament of clay soil.

Studio Friday: SP(E)ACIAL!

2007-06-08T10:48:00.001-05:00

Take a look around your at your studio space...how much space do you have?
Take a look at your art...how does your space influence your art in any way? Do you create small or large art works? Do you see a parallel?
Take a look at your dream studio space (yippieh!)...what does it look like? What is the layout? Is it big or small? And most important of all: What art do you create in it? Will it be on a larger or smaller scale than before? And what can you do to get closer to your vision this week/month/year?

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but my office/studio is a long narrow room that was a porch once upon a time. Before we moved into the house I pictured it as a cozy workspace; now I feel hemmed in. It may be partly because of the shape, but it's probably more from the clutter that I just can't keep in order. As we're remodeling, this room becomes the catchall space for stuff that's in the way elsewhere, so I end up working at the kitchen table. I have to go through my mom's bedroom to enter this space and that can be limiting, as I sometimes like to work late at night and I don't want to disturb her sleep. Overall, my creativity seems to be hemmed in; that part of my brain is a narrow cluttered place without easy access.

I know the situation will improve and that I will have to be patient, so instead of an ideal studio, I'm dreaming about how to make my existing space work. This old window that is currently the wall between the office and the sunroom will be removed and replaced with a french door. That should allow more natural light to immediately begin streaming in. The opening from the office to my mom's bedroom will be walled up and I'll be able to put up another set of shelves to contain the clutter. I'll then be able to lower the work surface so I can sit instead of stand while working. The carpet will be taken out and hardwoods installed over the old porch flooring. Updated wiring will provide me with good lighting and enough outlets to power all my doodads. And proper insulation in the walls will ensure it's a comfortable place to work year-round!

I've got to finish the bathroom first, though!

butterflies

2007-06-03T11:41:00.001-05:00

We had a day off from the thunder- storms but they returned with a vengeance this morning. The butterflies took advantage of the sunshine yesterday to browse amongst the weeds and flowers in our garden. This is a Pearly Crescentspot, Type A, I think.

We've got 4 or 5 whopper-sized tomatoes on our vines, as well as several dozen cherry tomatoes. I've been taking 2 or 3 cherry tomatoes in my lunch every day but am looking forward to the day when one of those whoppers ripens. "What would life be without home-grown tomatoes?" as Guy Clarke wrote in one of his songs.

We're expecting company this week, our first out-of-town guests. They haven't seen the house yet so I've been stashing stuff in the closets and tidying up the cans of paint and joint compound so that it looks more like our home than the construction site it usually resembles.

Studio Friday: RE-Cycle

2007-06-01T11:49:00.001-05:00

This is a no-brainer for me. The majority of the paper I use in my collages is recycled. When people clean out their offices at work I'm there scrounging for paper samples, cards, anything that looks interesting. I pick up used lottery tickets and bottle caps when I'm out walking. In this corner on my workspace are some good examples of things I use, which include clippings from catalogues and old magazines, receipts, price tags, paint chips, and leftover wallpaper from a home remodel project. I save boxes, too, to house my clippings. Part of this is because I like to save money, but as long as I can remember I've clipped and saved pictures or articles that I liked. When I started collaging I realized I could actually use some of those things instead of hoarding them.

the poison path

2007-05-31T10:52:00.001-05:00

I've lately become enamored of Dale Pendell, chemist, ethnobotanist, and poet, author of the PHARMAKO trilogy. Pharmako/Poeia is the first volume of the series and I can't seem to keep my nose out of it. It's a poetic masterpiece, dedicated to the Power Plants, the herbs and flowers who are both Allies and Poisons. This is an adventure into history, culture, religion, psychology, literature, horticulture and chemistry. He sets the tone in the opening sonnet; here's an excerpt:

BRING THEM ON, THE POWER PLANTS
Come on, O rueful Syrians,
and all you thick-smelling
solanaceous plants;
You cultivated-in-rows tobacco and coca plants;
You maligned poppy plants and worshipped
grapevine plants --
All forgotten plants, and fad plants:
Come forth, you motley troop --
not a gentleman among you --
Not one that wo't lie, cheat, or swindle
a ride --
Come, all ye ruffians:
Be fruitful, we have need of poison.

I discovered this book while listening to a podcast of David Presti's neurobiology class from UC Berkeley. As a former hippie who dabbled in plant poisons during the 60s and 70s the class is a fascinating description of the molecular changes that occur in the brain when various things are ingested into the body. As a student of cultural anthropology it's even more fascinating to learn about humanity's long-running relationship with plants in general, and poison plants in particular. According to Presti, everything is a poison; whether it cures you or kills you is all a matter of the dosage.

I wanted to depict the flavor of Pendell's poetry, but there's so much good stuff on every page, I'm hard-pressed to choose. I will leave you with his description of addiction; in which he admonishes the user to beware the ally-poison:

An ally is like a half-broken horse, a horse with spirit. A horse that will carry you many days, only to suddenly knock you off on a low branch. Some allies are the subtle type. Maybe you have an ayahuasca ally. She is friendly. She gives you things. She doesn't seem at all malevolent. Or maybe you have an opium ally. She is more than friendly. She'll call you up and invite you over. And she is voluptuous, so you go. She is so good to you it seems like heaven.

Gears of the Grind

2007-05-30T11:02:00.001-05:00

a journal page for "A Day in the Life of Me" for "Inspire Me Thursday." I was thinking my daily routine is pretty much just that: routine; and then this morning I've been disrupted by more thunderstorms traveling through North Texas. The ground is so saturated already that flooding has become a real concern. McKinney seems to have much less of a problem than Dallas does, which I'm thankful for. It got dark about 9:00 am, and the thunder and lightning was so intense it seemed wise to disconnect the computer and modem for a while, so I've fallen behind on my morning e-mail chores. The rain came down at a two inch-per-hour rate so I didn't go for a walk. I've been reduced to reading the comics and doing my crossword puzzle, the treats I usually save for my after work, before bedtime, time.

demolition

2007-05-29T09:29:00.000-05:00

The bathroom project has reach a new stage: I need to pull out all the layers of old flooring so a new floor can be laid. In some ways demolition is one of my favorite parts of home improvement because it's an archeological dig. You never know what you'll find. The scary part in this old house is that I never know what I'll find. Termite damage? Rotted wood? Bare wires? I've found all of that so far and so far have been able to deal with it. I didn't have time to rip out the floor before my mom got back from her trip and now I'm enduring her constant worrying about it. She says she's always afraid when I start tearing things up. Well, it has to be done, and I'd rather not pay someone else to do it. Besides, I would lose out on all the archeological excitement!

Doll Face

2007-05-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

The prompt this week on Inspire Me Thursday is "Copycat", exploring repetition in your art.

I shot this photo of a doll's head I'm going to use for another piece, and then I experimented with filters in Photoshop. It's really more of a reference page than it is a piece of art. I really liked some of the combined effects of the filters, and I'm hoping this exercise will inspire some future projects. Then I'll be doing another copycat piece!

Studio Friday: May's Studio Treat

2007-05-25T08:34:00.000-05:00

Treat yourself to something your heart desires, maybe some chocolate or flowers or new art supplies... a nice little something (no spending of a fortune involved). Celebrate yourself !!

I decided to treat myself to a subscription to Somerset Studio magazine. It's such an awesome combination of eye candy and tips that I still thumb through the one issue I have that I bought almost two years ago. It's a little expensive at $7.95 a pop (anyone remember when magazines were cheap?) but hey, I'm worth it! I got a better price by ordering online from Stampington. I missed the deadline for the July-August issue, so it will be a bit of delayed gratification and a wonderful surprise in the mailbox when I finally get my first issue.

I've been working on several home improve- ment projects which include such glamorous things as sheet rock repair, texturing walls, and removing old curtain brackets. One of the fun projects was making these curtains to hang over the kitchen sink. They're made from an old broomstick skirt that I bought at a thrift store several years ago simply because I couldn't resist colors in the fabric. It was really too small for me but I couldn't part with it. I didn't want to use the sewing machine on this fabric, as the loosely-woven cotton is a bit stretchy, so I stitched the curtains by hand while listening to "Grey's Anatomy" on tv last night. I hardly ever watch that show, but I know who the main characters are, so I could get what was going on, at least for the duration of the episode.

have a great weekend; after two or more inches of rain yesterday we're gearing up for yet another line of thunderstorms today.

dark skies

2007-05-24T09:21:00.001-05:00

Phoebe's been waking me up early this week while it's still dark outside. I'm used to getting off work when it's dark, but not used to getting up before it's light out. It's been overcast as well, so I can't get any sense of the time of day by looking at the sky. My internal clock is out of sync with the world. It's hard to get going first thing in the morning. Most places don't open until 10 and outdoors the mosquitoes eat me up when I venture out this early. It's nice to have your routine shaken up a bit but I'll be glad to get back to my old schedule. I am not a morning person.

Here's a shot of the old pharmacy in downtown McKinney with its rotating mortar and pestle. Not as nice as the old Raven pharmacy in Oak Cliff (Dallas), but a cool sign just the same. Can you tell what time of day it was? It was shot about 10am on a sunny day, but this side of the street was still in shade. It's pretty similar to what the sky looks like right now.

I switched from art to home repair the last few days. That protestant work ethic just won't leave me be.

spiderville

2007-05-22T14:01:00.001-05:00

Big excitement after a long morning. I thought the HVAC man would be here early today to check the air conditioner. I don't know how old the thing is or when it was last serviced, and I wanted to be sure it would get us through a hot Texas summer. He didn't show up until noon but it was worth the wait. He had to check something under the house and as he was replacing the panel on the outside of the foundation perimeter he nearly jumped out of his shoes when he saw this little critter hanging on the top edge of the panel.

I can't remember the last time I saw a tarantula in an urban setting. This one was about 3 inches long and seemed interested only in sitting on the panel where we found him. I had to go get the camera, of course. I wasn't sure how close I wanted to get but the spider wasn't aggressive in the least. They really aren't. People just tend to freak out when they see them. Well, I got the lens about an inch away from the spider, hit him with the flash a few times, and generally pestered him to pose for about ten minutes.
Only once did he rear up into a defensive position, and that was when I tapped him with a stick to get him to climb around to the light side of the panel.

Finally I got him into a jar and released him out near the back fence where there is a lot of ground cover and plenty of insects for food. My dog accidentally stepped on him and he went running for cover, which shows they're more scared of us than we are of them.

It wasn't til I got out my spider book that I found out tarantulas are nocturnal. No wonder he wasn't interested in posing. He was trying to sleep! I hope he or she sticks around. Maybe we'll have a tarantula family come July.

shrine assemblage

2007-05-21T08:47:00.001-05:00

This week's prompt on Inspire Me Thursday was "Circles". This assemblage, made of recycled parts, is my submission.

I had a few square wooden rosettes we removed from some of the doorframes as we're remodeling (someone tried to give the illusion of an update) and thought to do something with the circles on the block. I've been wanting to experiment with assemblage, so this was a great opportunity. The collage elements are clipped from catalogs and an old book. The spikes are roofing nails, and the spire is from an old birdhouse that couldn't stand the weather. The buttons are from my longtime button box. I'm very happy with the results and look forward to doing more. Maybe this is my little niche!

Studio Friday: 3 Wishes

2007-05-19T13:10:00.001-05:00

If you had a magic wand what 3 creative issues would you solve? Maybe they are space issues that you are experiencing in your studio or issues about creating itself?

Only Three Wishes? well, I'll try to whittle down the list.

Number One Wish would be for a more ergonomic work space at home. I seem to end up doing most of my work at the kitchen table since moving to this house. I used to stand up and work at a glass-topped light table, but my back doesn't like doing that anymore. My mom is out of town for a week so I'm making the kitchen table my studio for a week - getting stuff laid out as you can see.

Number Two Wish: more time for art. I was going to say to get organized to to be more focused, but I think if I had more time those two things would naturally follow.

Number Three: Some hands-on learning with like-minded artists. I get tips and tricks from books, experiments or online, but it would be really nice to attend a class and connect with local artists with some similar interests.

As a postscript to this - as I was thinking about my wishes and what to say about them I realized I was simultaneously thinking about how to get the things I wanted. I'm thinking about some workspace solutions that will work temporarily until my office space is remodeled. I'm thinking about how to make better use of the time I have now so I'll be able to do better with any future extra time I may get. I have a week off from work and have been a busy little bee as I continue to throw out old stuff and arrange my supplies more neatly. Finally, I began searching for any craft classes nearby that I might attend. I may have to wait until September, but at least I know there are a few options out there. As for community, I've begun to better appreciate all of you at Studio Friday and Inspire Me Thursday. This online network is teaching me a lot about how similar many of our emotional and creative experiences are, even though we are working in many different areas. Thanks for sharing your experiences!!

this morning's catch

2007-05-18T14:00:00.001-05:00

I picked up a couple of more pounds of junk from the back yard. Usually I have to dig down an inch or so, but all the rain we've been getting lately seems to bring stuff right up to the surface. Maybe it's washing away the dirt I already loosened. Anyway, this is typical of what I pick up when I'm puttering around out there. Usually it's rusty nails, broken glass, and bits of old roof shingles.

This morning I found some pieces of broken pottery, including one with a scalloped surface and one with some nice blue edging. Also two plastic beads, a plastic flower-shaped bead, a pearl-like round thing, a piece of glass with an "R" showing, and a heavy rusted metal plate about 5x5 inches. I think the elongated green and blue things are plastic pieces from some kind of game or maybe from old Christmas lights? I'm keeping most of this stuff now in order to possibly incorporate it into some kind of future art. I've been getting inspired by some of the recycled junk turned into art around the neighborhood.

Originally I hoped to find historically significant items, but I think it's mostly what was left of an old tool shed that was torn down. The historical preservation officer told me to try to find evidence of our house's original color (it's now white) so I'm hopeful I'll find something with original paint on it. We've found evidence of green or turquoise paint on the old cypress fence and red and green paint in places on a door. Today I found two pieces of some strange material with green and turquoise paint on it. I don't know what the material is yet. Maybe it's wood and maybe it's some kind of plaster or stucco. I found a piece of caulking with evidence of red paint and it also had newspaper print embedded in or transferred to it.

No cans of money yet.

retro fun

2007-05-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

We've had a brief respite from the hot muggy hazy days of early summer and this morning I walked to downtown for the first time to shoot some photos. Usually I have Phoebe with me and we skirt the business area but today I left her at home. I've been in McKinney for almost six months and this was the first time I really took the time to just lollygag about the place on foot. Some of the shops were open and others were setting their wares out on the sidewalk in preparation for the day's tourists. My camera battery died so most of my gawking was caught only in my brain's memory.

I liked this retro mannequin in front of a soda shop. I'll post her face later. I've got to get to work early today.

chunky book - travel

2007-05-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

"Lulu was always ready at a moment's notice to take off anywhere!"

I got this beautiful little collage in the mail yesterday from Tyn at pookieville. It's part of another chunky book swap I'm doing at Flickr. The theme is "travel" and I love the way Tyn interpreted it. She is much more generous with her stamps than I am!

It was the kick in the pants I needed to finish the five pages I started on Saturday. They are drying as I type this. I'm still trying to get the hang of this chunky book thing, but I learn a lot from the pages I get from other artists, just as I did when I was trading ATCs.

Here are my pages recalling a trip to Vermont several years ago.

The Invention of Dreams

2007-05-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

I got a request to trade an ATC I accidentally left in a swap group two years ago. I thought the group had disintegrated but apparently it has been recently revived. I couldn't find the original ATC so I made this one as a substitute. I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy making these little art pieces. They were my real introduction to collage.

I hope the recipient likes it. It's always so hard to let go of the pieces because I know I'll never be able to replicate them. (one of those clinging desires Buddhism tries to free you of)

I've been discouraged and/or uninspired of late, and had been thinking all the time I was spending organizing my clippings and tossing out extraneous papers was just a useless exercise in busy-ness. It had begun to feel like an excuse to not do art. Making this ATC showed me how nice it is to have things in a place where you can find them. I think I'll feel better about continuing the spring collage cleaning now.

Now I have to get to work on some pages for a chunky book swap due this week.

after the silence

2007-05-14T11:46:00.000-05:00

This week's prompt for "inspire me thursday" was "Silence." I'm one of those people who doesn't mind silence. My offbeat work schedule, which includes Sundays and evenings, means I'm often the only person occupying my side of the office building. Sometimes I listen to podcasts, but often I just revel in the quiet as I do my work. I'm inspired by silence so often I couldn't think what to do for the thursday prompt.

I decided my take on "silence" would be to abstain from posting on my blog or on Flickr; in other words, I would silence my web voice for a week. I realized I had become a bit obsessive about posting. The break did me good, as I was feeling uninspired anyway, and I spent my blogtime taking my dog Phoebe for an extra walk. I didn't worry about whether or not to photograph or write about what we saw or did, and the payoff was seeing and smelling the changing season. We're moving from spring into very late spring or early summer and the magnolias are blooming. The flowers smell so sweet!

altered postcard

2007-05-13T10:20:00.000-05:00

ok, I have been lazy, sort of. Partly I have been uninspired. I felt like a slug last week. Maybe the hot muggy weather and a case of poison ivy had something to do with it. (Yes, I stumbled into that lovely venomous vine with three leaves. It's clearing up now and I'm sick of the subject.)

I perked up after a day in which it did not rain. Like the roses in my neighborhood I've been weighted down by too much moisture, and I'm just now getting my branches back up towards the sun.

I made this postcard for Michael's Let the Postcards Do the Walking project. I hope it makes it across the Atlantic to Chesire!

old mckinney

2007-05-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

I really like living in the historic district of McKinney. When I take Phoebe for a walk I can take a different route every time and almost always see something new. I have been leaving my camera at home, but here's a fairly recent shot of one of the gingerbread gables. Many of these houses have lace curtains hanging behind them, which really make the windows look pretty. I think I may need some for my own windows. Dallas was preoccupied with tearing down old houses in order to build brick McMansions, so it's a wonderful feeling when I see that not every city has that awful mindset.

I took a break from working on the bathroom this weekend to sort through my collage stuff and to think about priorities. These "Studio Friday" essays on the Seven Deadly Sins, coupled with my reading of "Hooked!" has me re-assessing things almost daily. I had a stack of magazines that I had collected for collage and decided I needed to either use'em or lose'em. As I paged through them looking for items to clip, I found many of them were useless. I had been hoarding them for no good reason. I was "attached" to them. So I'm letting them go, now. It feels good. I'm finally getting some space for the stuff I do use AND it's slowly becoming organized as well.

Studio Friday: Seven Deadly Sins (Pride)

2007-05-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Number 7: What feeds your desire to feel that you are more important or attractive or better or more special than others? How does this excessive feeling of pride feed your Ego and distort your reality? How does its shadow become your downfall? Is there a way that you see towards a healthier way of being?

My first thought was that Pride is not a big issue for me. I take pride in my work, so I try to do a good job. I'm proud of my accomplishments, but I try not to brag about them too much.

I think where my pride really injures me is when it comes to asking for help. I've always been proud of my independence. Since I never met "Mr. Right", I learned to do many of the things my friends always had their husbands do, and felt really proud of that. The unfortunate consequence was that when I met with something that was too much for me to do it was nearly impossible for me to humble myself and ask for help from my friends. I thought it would puncture my aura of the-woman-who-can-do-it-all. I've mellowed a bit over the years, and now that I have a tricky back, I have the ideal excuse to ask for help.

I want to thank Tine for coming up with this Deadly Sins series. Even though I came in at the third or fourth one it's been a worthwhile project for me to re-examine my motives for some of the things I do. It coincided nicely with my reading of "Hooked!", the collection of Buddhist writings on greed and desire. I read something yesterday which is worth considering: The Seven Deadly Sins only become deadly when they become indulgences.

altered altoids

2007-05-03T09:12:00.000-05:00

Here's my first mini assemblage made from the Altoids tin I "rusted" with bleach and vinegar. I left the pieces outside for several days, and the slimy goo that covered the metal dried nicely and stuck to the can. It got rained on, too, so some of it may have washed away. If I rubbed the surface the "rust" came off on my hands, so I covered it with a thin layer of gel medium to seal it.

This piece is my submission for Inspire Me Thursday. The theme this week is "Words" and how they fit into your creative process. Melanie poses some interesting ideas to think about: Do you begin a piece with a word or phrase in mind? Or do words emerge as you create? Do you often use words in your work? Are you more inspired by words or images?

I have a particular fondness for words (of course! why else would I be blogging?!). I use words or short phrases in many of my collages. I usually start with an image and that will bring a word to mind. If no words come, I may sort through my collection of clippings until I find something appropriate. I tend to like puns or odd juxtapositions of images to words. I shoot photographs of signs or words with this same attitude. In photography the words will usually inspire the juxtaposition, as I can't pick and choose them.

Here's how this piece came about: Since it was an experiment, I didn't really plan anything; I was more interested in how paint, gel, etc. would work with the surface. I found an old illustration of a peasant girl and glued it down. As I wondered what to do with it, the word "toil" came to me. The girl was "toiling", yet the illustration was remiscent of "toile" fabric. I added a piece of quasi-toile fabric and some buttons; finally a piece of grass representing the girl toiling in the wheat field. To me, it's ironic that luxury-minded folk would indulge themselves with "toil" fabric. I don't know how well my idea is conveyed to others.

bla bla blah

2007-05-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

We're having some dark rainy days after a weekend of hot sunshine and it's wreaking havoc with my arthritic joints and my sleep. I'm getting up early because I don't sleep well, and I am NOT a morning person. Even a pink flamingo sighting failed to perk me up. Art projects are languishing. I have tried doing a bit of cut and paste, or journaling, or reading when I can't sleep but usually my brain is as blank when I put the project away as it was when I took it up. I did make this silly poem.

What to do at night when sleep won't come.

cut & splice
eat some rice
shoo some flies
close your eyes
climb a hill
take a pill
kill some time
make a rhyme.

experiment in rust

2007-04-30T10:14:00.000-05:00

I didn't have much energy for art this weekend, but I did experiment by concocting this solution that's supposed to "rust" objects. I've been wanting to do some assemblage and thought a rusted Altoid tin would be a nice starting place.

The recipe is equal parts of vinegar and household bleach. I used white vinegar. DO NOT TRY THIS INDOORS!!! Well, I guess you could; it doesn't seem to be volatile, but the stench is horrific. I did this outside and was still almost overcome by the fumes. Even my dog did not venture within five feet of the stuff.

I separated the parts at the hinge, poked some holes in them with a nail, haphazardly sanded the surface, submerged the pieces, and waited for the magic. Oh yes, I placed a rusty nail in there, too, which is supposed to accelerate the process. Two days later, this is what I got. What looks like rust is a runny slimy brown goo. There's a bit of oxidation around the edges, where the sandpaper bit more deeply, and where I scratched with the nail, but overall this is not what I expected. I'm letting the pieces dry to see if the goo will harden and/or stick to the metal. If not, I will probably sand a bit harder and try again.

I don't know what to do with this stinky pan of bleach and vinegar. I don't think it would be good to dump it on the ground or put it into the sewer system. I could let it evaporate, I guess. I don't know if I want living creatures to have to inhale the stuff. If I knew it wouldn't explode if put into a glass jar, I could do that and drop off at the hazardous chemical place. I should have thought of this beforehand.

Sunday Scribblings: Wings

2007-04-29T08:36:00.000-05:00

The first thing that came to mind for this subject was an audio cue, a line from an old Bill Monroe song: "Give me wings, that I might fly away to Glory."

I thought of the close link between the Spanish spelling of Alas (wings) and Almas (souls). Why that constant association between the soul and wings? Has it to do only with angels? Probably not as the reference to one's heart being light as a feather seems to have been a part of ancient Egypt's religion.

There are so many kinds of wings and feathers one might wonder just which ones are the ones to do with souls. Are they are the tiny wings of hummingbirds, muscular whirling rotors rotating faster than the eye can see, allowing quick and precise access to the nectar hidden in the recesses of colorful flowers? Are they the enormous bouffants of the ostrich, largely useless to the bird, but coveted by Victorian ladies for their hats? Are they the "wings of the snow white dove," often alluded to in Christianity, which signify peace or allow the softest of landings on the grass? Or are they the gliders, the wings of eagles and red-tailed hawks which allow them to soar high above us earth-bound creatures for hours on end, seemingly without effort?

I would choose the raptors, the ravens, and the turkey vultures. Watching their endless drifting on unseen currents gives my heart wings. And when my heart takes flight I have no need for physical wings.

Studio Friday: Seven Deadly Sins (Envy)

2007-04-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

Challenge #6: What do you desire that you are lacking and someone else has? If you could have it would you really want it or is it just a notion? How come you want to have it? What can you do to still that desire so that there is no need to be envious of any thing or anybody?

How do I envy? Let me count the ways....

This is a hard one to write about. I could do a humorous take-off on greed and sloth, but I can't find a way to mitigate the deadliness of envy.

The enviousness I see myself feeling repeatedly and most often have to do with health and time. I don't think a day goes by without me thinking about someone who is in better straits in these areas and wishing I was not in the shape I'm in. My health issues are twofold: physical and mental. I have severe anemia, which limits the amount of energy I have to expend on projects; and a bad back, which limits the length of time I can spend standing or sitting in certain positions. Mentally, I suffer from lifelong chronic depression. The medication I take to alleviate the symptoms tends to block my creativity. I so often wish I could be like "normal" people, that I could work ten hours instead of six without feeling exhausted, that I didn't have to fight medication as well as the usual mental blocks to creativity. As for time, it seems there's never enough of it. I spend almost two hours a day commuting to work, which seems like such a waste. Of course when I have the time I don't have enough energy to fully take advantage of it. If I had the energy I probably wouldn't appreciate it.

In Buddhist thought, desire is often tied to the suffering we experience in life, and desire is one of the key words of the definition of envy. I've been reading Hooked!, a collection of essays on desire and the urge to consume, and the solution proscribed to combat desire is to just let go of it. One writer calls it "Freedom through Non-clinging." If you cling to your desire, or to your envy, you'll inevitably be unhappy. I'm trying to apply the idea to my own urge to consume, and now to my envy.

thursday walk

2007-04-26T10:30:00.000-05:00

I've been working on the house lately and have had to sacrifice my "art" time. Posting on this blog is my small way of keeping myself doing at least one small creative thing. I find myself also looking for "assignments" from other blogs and from groups on Flickr. My latest creative boost for photography is from Utata. This photo is from my first "Thursday Walk." I've been extremely lax about exercising and realized this was a small kick in the butt to get me out at least one day a week. I took a few short walks earlier this week in preparation for today's walk-and-shoot session. My dog, Phoebe, realized that I was going out and was so excited that I've had to start bringing her with me. The walks benefit both of us, of course, but it's sometimes hard to focus the camera when she wants to take off after some interesting scent.

stormy weather

2007-04-25T11:17:00.000-05:00

Morning has come and we survived another bout with Mother Nature. Traffic was barely creeping along the highway last night as 60 mph winds drove sheets of water across six lanes. I was glad to make it home in one piece. The honeysuckle is pretty perky today but many of the watersoaked roses are bent nearly double to the ground. Those that are still upright are mostly bereft of their petals. There are clumps of petals on the sidewalks, piled up by the driving wind that tore through yesterday. A neighbor who was anticipating the storm invited us over to view her backyard collection of roses, and I'm glad now that I took her up on the invitation. I shot this photo just as the storm was beginning to roll in. The pink showed up nicely against that grey house at the corner.

We also had our first tornado drill at work yesterday. I know the folks in charge of emergency procedures were itching for a chance to try out the system, and I guess the severe weather warnings yesterday were their golden opportunity. First we had a pre-recorded announcement in an annoying female voice: "May I have your attention please! May I have your attention please." Then a short blah blah blah and the voice urged us to "continue with normal activities." The announcement was repeated, then repeated a second time, a third, a fourth, a fifth time. By the third repetition we were nearly screaming at the speaker. "How can I be normal when this annoying loud voice will not shut up!!?" Some folks were keeping an eye on the local radar on their computers and we heard a possible funnel cloud had been spotted in Crowley, at the far end of the next county. This is enough to set off an official "Tornado Warning" from the National Weather Service for the county. That was the pretext needed for our emergency system to announce a "Warning" for our building.

From now on we are calling Tornado Drills "Sardine Drills" because in essence what happened was we had 30 people crowding into a room that wasn't meant for more than 4 or 5. We may become quite skilled at stuffing people into a phone booth, if there were any phone booths left to stuff ourselves into, or maybe we could stuff ourselves into a Volkswagen. Our "shelter" area seemed much less secure once it was packed with people. I don't see how we could do a "duck and cover" if a tornado were ripping off the roof. We'd stand there dumbstruck, goldfish caught in our bowl, bug-eyed, staring straight up, as that would be all the room we'd have. Mercifully, we were only confined for about ten or fifteen minutes.

We learned two important things. One was that the ventilation in our shelter wasn't made for a packed room and the other was that with the door shut we couldn't hear the "all clear" signal. Someone cheated and cracked the door to listen for it.

night music

2007-04-24T09:20:00.000-05:00

Hush little baby, don't say a word;
Papa's gonna buy you a mocking- bird.

The song should end right there, because the following verse, which begins, if that mockingbird don't sing, is something that just AIN'T gonna happen.

I've been thinking about the bio-clocks of mockingbirds. I believe I could set my clocks to the mockingbird who sings outside my bedroom window. His song begins about 2:30 am and seems to continue nearly nonstop until dusk. I can see him through the window, usually perched in a particular tree, but sometimes flitting to the electrical wires above or to another tree, singing even as he is in flight. During the day his song is sometimes lost in the cacophony of the cardinals, the doves, the woodpeckers, and of course the sparrows, but I can almost always pick him out even while he imitates his neighbors. Such a talented creature. It's sometimes mentioned in books that these birds can imitate machinery, which sounds kind of crazy, but I have heard a mockingbird imitating a car alarm. Someone in my old neighborhood had an alarm that went off at the slightest vibration. It was one of those alarms that cycled through about ten different noises. Now, the bird that mimicked the car alarm didn't sound exactly like it, but it had the cadence, the spacing between each sound and the up and down flow of volume down to perfection. I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing.

There was nothing to do at work again yesterday so I had the day off. At the rate the work is coming in I'll have used all my vacation days by the time my scheduled vacation week rolls around. So I stayed home and tried to put some order to the workshed. I cut and installed some wooden shelves and hung two fluorescent shop lights and somehow used up all my energy by 3 pm yesterday. I was worn out and went to bed early. I couldn't sleep because my physical tiredness was in deep conflict with my internal clock that said it wasn't bedtime.

And then at 2:32 am, just when I was drifting off, the mockingbird started his aria.

Greed Revisited

2007-04-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

I think I spoke much too lightly about Greed on Studio Friday a few weeks back. I got two new books from Amazon the other day and they are wreaking havoc with my psyche.

The first book was this glorious Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin that is fully of scrumptious ATC's and is making me crave a bunch of new art supplies so I can try out some of the techniques she describes. This has made me realize some new things about Greed. I don't just like to hoard my little stamp collection; I like to hoard all kinds of things. I love to pore over books, especially how-to and art books, and I love to buy new art supplies. So today I'm here at work, all alone, just me and my Greed. There wasn't much for me to do today when I clocked in, but I feel like I should stay at least long enough to pay for the gas that got me here. After I finished my few projects, I spent a little time searching for some supplies mentioned in this book. I had been wanting to add a little luminescence to some of my pieces and the Lumiere metallic paints by Jacquard and a Krylon metallic leafing pen seemed like good possibilities. I found both items at ArtSuppliesOnline. The price isn't the lowest but they are offering Free Shipping to new customers until May 31, 2007, which makes their supplies a good deal. I just had to place an order.

Here's the ugly side of this lovely story. The other book I got last week was Hooked!, a collection of Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume. It was easy to be greedy far far away from the cover of this book, but I know it will be staring me in the face when I get home. The bits I've read are so logical, so Sensible, I don't know why I want to choose to ignore them. The best I can say to myself right now is that I will do my best to use the supplies I purchase, much as I use the nails or drywall compound or trowel I bought to work on repairs for the house. The greed seems to come from my internal gushing over lovely supplies and imagining a roomful of them at my beck and call. It's not the purchase of the items that's greed; it's the overwhelming desire to possess them. The idea that struck me most in the chapter I was reading was that Freedom in your life comes from Not Clinging - to things, to people, to ideas. I wonder how it can help me with my art?

roots

2007-04-22T10:22:00.000-05:00

My roots more closely resemble those of a honeysuckle vine rather than an oak tree. Like the vines, I've stretched so far from my roots that we hardly bear any relationship to one another. Like the roots, my spirit is always alive, but hidden by dirt and no one knows for sure if I will reappear. My branches look like dead sticks most of the year, tough brown extenders woven into chain link fences, creeping along the ground and around trees. Then spring comes and the woody stems show tiny buds of green. Soon the green vines are growing madly, sprouting leaves and clinging to everything in their path. Finally flowers of purest white burst forth, dispensing their clean sweet scent throughout the neighborhood.

That's me and my creativity. It may only be noticeable a few times a year, but when it blooms, it's sweet.

the eyes have it!

2007-04-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

The sky was overcast but bright and it seemed ideal for shooting macros. I shot 3 or 4 different small flies sampling wildflower nectar but this one is just crazy: its eyes take up most of its head. The camera can see so many things I can't with my faulty vision, and it gives me so much more to appreciate about everyday things.

I've got a crush on my new electrician. I guess I can't resist a guy in a uniform. This guy certainly was a credit to his crisp white shirt with sewn-on nametag and navy blue Dickie's pants cinched with a leather western belt. It didn't take him long to get that shirt dirty, creeping through the tight attic space above the bathroom. He did a great job. I feel a lot safer now those old wires have been pulled out and replaced with properly connected new ones. Maybe this is similar to the fixation experienced by patients who become attached to their doctors or psychiatrists. I hope they send the same guy next time. I'll look forward to that. Next time I hope I'm not wearing my dirtiest sweatpants and that I've gotten rid of this huge glowing red zit that appeared on my face last week. Sheesh. What a picture I must have made.

Studio Friday: Seven Deadly Sins (Wrath)

2007-04-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Challenge #5: Wrath. Anger. Hatred. Prejudice. Discrim- ination. Not...good. How does it show up every now and then in your studio? Do you break things just because you are in its grip? Why? Do you smash your last creation and destroy it? How do you deal with it?

I'm rarely angry because of my art. Maybe it's because my studio is my "happy" place.

I think anger mostly appears in my studio after it has lost its brute force. In its aftermath I'm able to think through matters more clearly: to masticate my thoughts before spitting them out. I may rant about my dissatisfaction with politics, or social situations, or corporate stupidity in my blog, but I try to couple my anger with humor. It helps keep me sane.

I don't usually bring anger into the studio because my anger doesn't usually foster a creative atmosphere. I remember the outrage I felt at the treatment of the New Orleans citizens stranded in the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina. I tried to channel my anger into a collage and became frustrated because it didn't do much to alleviate my outrage. I felt less anger but more hopelessness.

The photo above is one of the few times a satisfactory creation came from the midst of anger. About five years ago my office was working ten hours a day seven days a week trying to meet impossible deadlines. After six weeks without a day off most of us were very tired and very angry. A co-worker suggested we all create a piece of art express our feelings. I created a digital collage with a scene from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" to depict our daily drudgery and used Jose Guadalupe Posada's portrayal of the infamous General Huerta as a representation of our company's CEO, who seemed to be the only one profiting from our labors. That one felt really good.

STAR (ling) WARS

2007-04-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

We put out the last suet cake for the birds during the cold spell last week. Some of our favorite birds, the woodpeckers, chickadees and finches love the suet and seed concoction. Unfortunately, so do the "nuisance" birds: the starlings. They are virtual pigs when it comes to suet. I got a few shots of these two squabbling over the feeder.

I added the captions and background with Plasq's Comic Life software for Macs. I played around with a free demo of this program about a year ago and then forgot about it. In the meantime the original publisher was acquired by Plasq, so today I was able to download a demo of the new improved software. I may have to play some more.

Intuitive Demolition

2007-04-16T10:45:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you just have to follow your muse in whatever unexpected direction it wants to go, especially if it's the Muse of Destruction.

One of the therapeutic advantages of renovating an old house is the opportunity to tear stuff apart in the name of discovery. Yesterday I was installing a new light fixture in the bathroom when I unearthed some scary connections made by the electrician we used a few months ago. He was highly recommended, but after seeing what he left behind the sheet rock I don't think we'll be using him again.

I couldn't quite figure out where the power came from. I had to dismantle several outlets and pull switches and wires trying to find all the links on the bathroom's electrical circuit with only partial success. Where some of the wires come from and where they go is a mystery. This photo shows the kind of wiring that exists in most of the house. Would YOU want this kind of wiring in YOUR house? I tend to forget quite quickly how much abuse this old house has taken in its 100 or so years of existence. Electricity scares me enough that I don't like to do much more than replacing outlets, fixtures, or switches. This circuit needs to be entirely replaced and connected to a new breaker in the circuit box, a job that is beyond my capabilities and my courage. I just hope I can find a good electrician this time.

tornado warning

2007-04-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

A series of tornadoes passed through North Central Texas last night. Here is a photo of a small church in Haltom City, just east of Fort Worth, that had its roof ripped off and another photo of a funnel cloud approaching Oak Cliff in the southwest part of Dallas just minutes later. If you've never seen an approaching tornado you don't know how scary it is. I'm really glad McKinney was too far north to really worry about this storm. I was especially glad we moved when I heard about the damage that occurred just a few blocks from where we used to live in Dallas. I hate tornado season.
About 3 weeks ago the two signs you see at the upper right suddenly appeared in the office where I work. I've worked in this building for eleven years and we only just now got these signs and a plan of action for tornadoes. I think this happened because of the lawsuits in Alabama filed against a school where some students were killed when a tornado devastated the school. The people in charge had no plan in place and kids died because of it. I guess my corporate masters didn't want the same thing happening to them. These areas that are labeled aren't even the primary tornado shelters. It takes about five minutes to get to the real shelter, a little quicker if you're running, but tornadoes tend to travel much faster than humans do.

Office Move

2007-04-13T08:52:00.000-05:00

I'm moving into a new cubicle at work. I packed all my stuff into two cardboard boxes yesterday. When I return to the office on Monday they will have been relocated to my new cell, if all goes as planned.

Lego Guy here (an office mascot located in the coffee/copy/fax area) is ready, too. You can see he's got his stuff in the official-size supplied cardboard box. The piece of cardboard inserted into his cubicle between his desk and the box is there because the "move" is really a matter of disassembling the cubicles in our office and re-assembling them so they are about 30% smaller than they were. I think we're going to have to find a new cube for Lego Guy, too.

Notice Lego Guy has used the requisite Green Sticker for this week's move. God forbid he should use the orange sticker from last week's move; his stuff would end up in the trash bin. The label thing is one of those corporate mandates that makes no sense to me. Our move/reconfiguration is being done in 4 phases. The office was divided into 4 sections. The group scheduled for moving packs their stuff and leaves on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday the moving crew comes in, moves the boxes out of the scheduled area, reconfigures the cubicles, and moves the boxes back into the appropriate cubes. Each box is labeled by its owner with the appropriate cubicle number so it gets to the right place. I don't understand why the label must also be a certain color. It's a little like the post office saying they won't deliver mail to a particular state unless the address is written on a colored label specified by the government.

I guess I should be grateful I wasn't required to attend a seminar on how to pack my stuff into the cardboard box.

Studio Friday: Seven Deadly Sins (Sloth)

2007-04-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

Challenge #4: "How do you fail to utilize your gift and talents? How do you feel at those moments? Are you unwilling to act? Is it that you are afraid? What is really going on? How can a few simple steps change you? What do you need for that to happen?"

I am woman: hear me snore! Yes, it's the deadly sound of sloth at my house. I'm guilty of slacking more often than I like to think about.

Look at this corner of my workspace. It's a fair representation of what seems like my whole life these days. My desk, where I delayed doing my taxes, and tend to put off paying bills, doesn't look much better than this. Stacks of art stuff have crept onto the kitchen table and into my bedroom and sitting area. We've packed a few boxes of extras to donate to charity, but they are likewise scattered about. I like to use the excuse that it's because we moved into a smaller house, that I haven't unpacked and found everything yet, or that things are continually shifting locations because we're renovating. Those things are all true, but it's been four months and it hardly seems things are any better now than they were in December.

I'm overwhelmed by projects pulling me in all directions. I'll walk in, look at the mess, and stand transfixed until I throw my hands up in despair and walk away; or I'll rummage through the piles until I find enough interesting pieces to create "accidental" art. The act of rummaging results in more stuff piling up and the mess gets worse.

I think the trick is not to let myself become overwhelmed. Something I read a while back said if you looked at a pile of food, which was all the food you were going to be eating for the rest of your life, you'd go crazy trying to figure out how you were going to eat it all; but you don't have to eat it all at once. You're going to be eating it one bite at a time, one meal at a time. I'm trying to apply that parable to my messy house. One paper at a time, one pile at a time. I tried this yesterday and was amazed at how far just a little bit of organizing and rearranging went to clear up our living space.

My own workspace still has a ways to go.

recycled tags

2007-04-10T09:20:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been using Artists' Journals & Sketch- books by Lynne Perrella as a reference tool. I study the pieces I really like and try to imitate what the artist has done. After all, many art students hone their painting skills by copying the works of the masters; why shouldn't I do the same kind of practice?

One of the things that caught my eye was the interesting use of shipping tags as attachments and embellishments and I wanted to experiment with them. Before spending money on new tags I decided to see if I had anything on hand that I could use first. I am above all, a recycler. I'm also cheap. I'm thrilled when I can get free art supplies by re-using old materials. I found a small assortment of price tags I had saved from purchased items. I had intended to use the words on the tags in collage but realized I could create some faux shipping tags by resurfacing them with gesso. You can see the results in this photo.

The tag with the attached string had an interesting technical drawing on one side and an ambiguous technical message on the other so I left it alone except for smearing it on an ink pad to add some "age". It had some nice crinkles that gave some depth to the ink. After laying down several coats of gesso on the other three tags I drew lines with a pencil on one, used a black permanent marker on one, and added pink squiggles from a pink brush/pen to the other. Then I put a light coat of acrylic medium yellow over all. I mixed a little burnt sienna with the yellow for the middle one.

Of the three tags I gessoed, the only one that didn't come out well was the one that was slick on two sides. The gesso didn't seem to add any body to the tag, and I think it may have become even flimsier than it already was. The tags with a matte surface worked much better.

muffle my brain

2007-04-09T09:38:00.000-05:00

I picked up this car muffler yesterday. It had been lying in the median across near the old McKinney Dairy Queen for a couple of weeks. I spotted it one day in my rearview mirror and almost couldn't believe my eyes. I had just been telling a friend about an art installation I saw once in which someone aligned several hundred of these things in a grid on a grassy quad. I've never forgotten what a great piece it was. I walked amongst those heaps of metal, all different, in wonder at the imagination that created the display.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this but I'm sure I'll eventually think of something. In the meantime I'll let it Rust In Peace.

memento mori

2007-04-08T09:17:00.000-05:00

This roadside cross represents the beginning of one of my non-artistic projects. When I moved to McKinney in November I noticed several roadside memorials prominently displayed around the city. I've seen lots of these in New Mexico and Arizona and here in Texas, too, but usually they're not smack dab in the middle of a residential area. This cross in particular spoke to me, as the deceased person was only a child, a nine-year-old boy. I decided to do some research, but so far the passage below, an obituary from an unnamed source, is all I've found. I'm hoping to investigate further when time allows.

In the meantime, I imagine what might have happened. He was killed by a drunk driver; as only those memorials are allowed to remain by the Texas Highway Department. The apartment complex where this cross is placed is about a block away from a Movie Complex. Was he waiting for a ride one weekend night after watching a funny animated film? Did the driver come roaring around the gentle curve so fast he didn't see the little boy standing on the sidewalk? Maybe I'll find out some day. I guess my goal is to change these memorials from objects of curiosity into real people.

Dezmond Christopher Raney, born July 25, 1993, in McKinney, passed away suddenly Oct. 26, 2002, at the age of nine years. He was a student at Malvern Elementary School. He enjoyed many hobbies such as soccer and playing video games. He was also a proud big brother to Ethan.

He is survived by his parents Gus N. Raney and Christina Raney; brother Nathan Berrios; grandparents Ruby Berrios and Martin Hernandez, Domingo and Yolanda Berrios Sr.; aunts and uncles: Jessie Berrios, Paul Berrios, Domingo Berrios, Jr., Cynthia Berrios and Esmerelda Berrios; cousins: Jesse Berrios, Jr., Savanah Berrios, Paul Berrios, Jr. and Meranda Berrios. He is also survived by many friends and classmates at Malvern Elementary.

Services will be held 2:30 p.m. Oct. 30, 2002, at Belew Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor James Haynes officiating. Interment will follow at Ridgeview Cemetery in Allen. Visitation with the family will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

A memorial fund has been established at Bank Texas in Dezmond’s name, sponsored by Malvern Elementary School.

return of winter

2007-04-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

After several weeks of warm albeit often cloudy weather we're having a cold spell. The thermometer isn't expected to reach 50 degrees today and tonight we may experience freezing temperatures. We've had to turn the furnace on again. "They" say North Texas has never had a freeze during the month of April (March 20 is supposed to be the latest). Of course "never" really only means as far back as they've been keeping track of these things, which in this area would be about 1900. There's no telling what things were like before then. Still, that's a long time. My mom brought in the one tomato plant in a pot that has tomatoes on it and she is covering the tenderest plants outside with plastic grocery bags weighed down by bricks.

Here's a collage I made for another challenge called Inspire Me Thursday. The theme this week was "change of scenery." I took myself and my notebook into our little sunroom yesterday morning. The cooler temperatures had already arrived, but the room was sunny and comfortably warm. I relaxed in a rocking chair and drew the base of this page, "Beware the Caffeine Dealer." Later I cut and glued my collage in the same space. I was so happy with the feeling of the room I may have to make it a permanent semi-occasional workspace. The light was wonderful!

I used a graphite pencil and a plastic template to draw a square border and a bunch of circles. Then I used a felt-tip marker to embellish the border. I got the idea to cover my drawing with a thin layer of yellow paint. You can still see the pencil marks although they're muted a bit, and the border embellishment ran into the water-soluble paint, creating some nice blurred and mixed up tones.

new project

2007-04-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

I decided that participating in some challenges from other bloggers might be a good way to spark my creativity. I found Studio Friday from tine sparkles which is a weekly challenge related to your personal workspace. The topic this week is "Greed."

Here's my take on Greed. I love the miniature art of stamps and matchbox covers. I think it stems from a childhood phase of stamp collecting. I have kraft envelopes full of stamps that I've been acquiring for many many years and a while back I started acquiring matchbox art. I love looking through my collection which I usually do on the pretense that I'm going to use some stamps in a collage. (Stamps are copyright free, after all.) Then I decide the stamps are too pretty to be taken out of their "natural" environment (my desk drawer). Lately I've managed to use a few stamps in projects and it hasn't hurt, so I hope to continue the trend.

Here's the third and last page I did with my "little princess" pic. This time I covered the stark black and white Asian written characters with a thin coat of white gesso, which softened them but still let them show through. It also added some substance to the page I used a few pieces of fabric in addition to the paper cutouts to add a different kind of texture. I was really happy with the fabric bits although the scan doesn't reproduce the texture very well.

After doing 3 pages with this image I ran out of ideas for it. That was one of the things that prompted me to start looking for some challenges from other bloggers. I sometimes do better when I have a deadline!

Reign O'er Me

2007-04-05T09:38:00.000-05:00

Here's another page using the same "little princess" image posted in yesterday's blog. I finally found my rubber stamps and had to start stamping. I found my stamp pads a month or so back, but for some reason the stamps weren't packed with them. They were in the one box I hadn't expected, of course. We were having a tremendous rain which we badly needed and I ended up stamping hearts for raindrops.

We have a lot to do at work this week so I have to sit at the computer for long periods. I have been searching for some new podcasts to enliven the drudgery and last night came across Anton Peck's ARTCAST. It's a podcast about using Photoshop as a painting tool. He reveals a side of Photoshop I didn't realize was there. This is great for me because I Know Photoshop. I work with it every day, but what I do is photo-related not drawing-related. I've tried to do things in Illustrator, but I just can't get the hang of the program and always quit in disgust. Anton's demonstration was a bit slow, but I think that's a good thing if you haven't seen Photoshop used this way. He comments on his site that some folks are calling him the "new Bob Ross" which gave me a chuckle because I don't remember hearing Bob ever say "what the hell". (There's no other profanity, by the way.) His soft-spoken narration is easy to listen to, and I'll definitely be checking out the rest of the series.

birthday celebrations

2007-04-04T09:03:00.000-05:00

I'm going to have to start calling Wednesday "Slump Day." Because Sunday is my Monday, and Thursday is my Friday, Wednesday can't really be "Hump Day" for me. That's reserved for Tuesday. I seem to get rolling pretty well for 3 days and then Wednesday I run out of steam for awhile.

Today I'm slumping. Maybe it's "abstainer's regret" for the homemade birthday cake I passed on at work yesterday. It's a good thing I didn't know it was homemade when it was offered or I'm sure I would have stuffed my face with a nice thick slice of sugar-saturated texture with cream cheese frosting, causing that blissful state known among most office workers as "cake stupor."

I'm trying to avoid processed sugar as much as possible since diabetes runs in my family and I'd like to avoid the condition, but it's hard to do when you work in an office where there are more than 120 employees. Chances are good that it's someone's birthday every other day or at least that there's a birthday every week. The office in which I work is big on birthdays and birthday cakes. Someone tried to offset the constant birthday celebrations by having one office-wide celebration each month to honor that month's birthday people, but instead of reducing the mini-celebrations among departments, it's only given people another excuse to avoid work for 10 or 15 minutes while they chow down yet another run-of-the-mill mass-produced crisco-laden confection from Costco. I had to draw the line somewhere so unless my craving for a sugar high is unbearable I say "NO" to birthday cakes. I was sorry to miss a real homemade cake though; it's a rare treat these days.

The page from my art journal is another experiment. I copied an image I liked (the little girl) and created several pages in different color schemes to compare the results. I realized that I had a mindset that told me each page I make should be completely different from anything else I had ever done and this is my attempt to break that mindset. Each page doesn't have to start with a unique element. If you look at works by Lynne Perrella or Teesha Moore you can see that they use favorite elements over and over. You can use the same element many times with unique results.

new blog header

2007-04-03T08:47:00.000-05:00

I've been fooling around with my template's html. I've wanted to change my header from the default plain type to a personalized one but I could never figure out how to do it. I know only a little html and haven't had much interest in learning more. I've got enough stuff jammed into my brain as it is. But I really really wanted a new header.I downloaded the page source code of pages similar to mine and compared the code, but there was just too much code for me to figure out where people had inserted their illustrations. I thought, too, that I would probably need to have my illustration hosted somewhere so Blogger could see it. I have been bugging people to help me with what I thought must be an easy task. I'm sure I've been annoying. At last I found a way to do it! yay.

The instructions are at Beta Blogger 4 Dummies. As I suspected, you do need to have your illustration hosted somewhere, but Google is kind enough to provide 100MB of free space at Googlepages

There is also a Blogger Help Group with a discussion on customizing templates.

For anyone who wonders where I got my avatar, I cropped it from this photo of a colorful trash bin behind a vegetarian cafe in Fort Worth, Texas. It's best viewed large so you can see some of the great stickers. It's the only time I've seen this sticker posted.

vampires & oprah advice

2007-04-02T09:59:00.000-05:00

She's a sleepy vampire; she'll be up all night.
"Sleepy Vampire" by The Supersuckers

The trouble with working an evening shift for more than twenty years is that I get lazy about getting up in the morning. In the winter it's so easy to languish beneath the warm covers until it gets fully light that it becomes a habit that's hard to break in the spring, especially when Daylight Saving Time has arrived early. Or is it that I've finally become one of "the children of the night"? (said with a Bela Lugosi accent). A night stalker in search of....oh wait, I'm a vegetarian. But I suddenly noticed there are NO MIRRORS in this house.

I clipped a paragraph from an old O magazine someone gave me and a journal page developed from it. The quote came at a good time for me. It's from Oprah's "what I know for sure" column:

I believe we discover our destinies in the smallest ways - in a fascination with words, in the thrill a child's laughter evokes, and even in a familiar song we keep humming. If you pay attention to these cues - to the times you've felt most joyous, most fully engaged, most connected with yourself and others - you'll always be guided to the next best place.

I know for sure that every person in the world has a purpose for being here - a calling. The work of your life is to discover that purpose and get on with the business of living it out.

The song I've been humming?
I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony
My Rhapsody Playlist

If the link doesn't work, you can find it at Rhapsody Music.

altered matchbook & exodus according to lego

2007-04-01T09:52:00.000-05:00

Here's a project idea I've been toying with. I acquired a bunch of old matchbox stickers a while back intending to use them for collage but many of them are so lovely I hate to cut them up. I got the idea to use them for their original purpose, as matchbox covers, only with some added embellishment to make the art really stand out. This was my first experiment. I painted an ordinary small matchbox, glued the sticker and some gold stars to it and smudged it with some ink from a stamp pad to "age" it a bit. I haven't been burning the candle at both ends lately, so I haven't got enough empty boxes to play with yet. When I do, things will get hot. I'll be on fire. ha.

Do you like LEGOs ? Do you love Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments" ? At last there is a website which combines the best qualities of this colorful toy and the epic movie that coincidentally were products of the same era (the movie was produced in 1956 and according to one source the toy was patented in 1958). The site is The Brick Testament. Here you can find stories of the Bible illustrated in exquisite detail by the Reverend Brendan Powell Smith, who by the way, doesn't appear to have any official religious credentials. I hope you enjoy his amazing creations as much as I did.

My mind links things in the oddest way. One year ago today there were nationwide demonstrations supporting the rights of the many immigrants from Mexico who live in the U.S. There is a similar demonstration planned for today. At the same time a local community, Farmers Branch, is attempting to prevent anyone who cannot demonstrate U.S. citizenship from being able to live within its city limits. The juxtaposition of today's demonstration with Palm Sunday and my discovery of The Brick Testament prompted me to edit some of the verses in Chapter 1 of Exodus, towit:

1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Lorenzo de Zavala [native Mexican & Texas statesman who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence & supported the rebellion against Mexico] were seventy souls: for de Zavala was in Texas already.
1:6 And de Zavala died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
1:7 And the children of Mexico were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
1:8 Now there arose up a new king (George Dubya Bush) over Texas & the U.S., which knew not de Zavala.
1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold the people of the children of Mexico are more and mightier than we:
1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, wherein there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Dubya treasure cities, Los Angeles and Chicago.
1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Mexico.
1:13 And the Republicans made the children of Mexico to serve with rigour;
And they made their lives bitter with minimum wage, in construction, and in cleaning, and in all manner picking crops in the fields; all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with minimum wage.

Well, we all know how the first story ended for the Egyptians.

A brief history of LEGOS.

cutting my teeth on a tile cutter

2007-03-31T10:36:00.000-05:00

A night of thunder- storms, high winds and nonstop rain across North Texas. I began to think the house might not stand up to the wind and water but here it is a sunny morning and we're still standing. Puddles everywhere and even the birds look bedraggled but it's a brand new day.

I played with the tile cutter for a couple of hours yesterday. I'm using this 14" tile cutter by Work Force that I got at Home Depot about 4 months ago for about $15. It must have been a close-out item because I can't find a cutter there now for less than $50.

This was a pretty cool tool once I got the hang of it. Cutting a tile is done in two steps. First you score the finished side of the tile by pushing the handle down and forward to press a rotating circular blade across the top of the tile. Then you pull the handle up and push down so that a cross piece behind the blade applies pressure to the tile to cleanly break it along the score. I had about twenty 3-inch tiles that I cut to 2" in about 30 minutes. The cutter works great if you're cutting off at least a half-inch of material but I had much less success when I tried to trim just 1/8" off the tiles. I could score the tile but when I tried to break it the tile would not break along the score but instead would break perpendicular to the score. I ended up scoring the tiles and then using tile nippers to break each tile bit by bit along the score. They ended up reasonably straight though not with such a clean edge. I don't know if a larger tile would fare any better. Using the nippers was more time-consuming and required good hand strength. Since I was cutting small pieces, they tended to fly in all directions so I solved the problem by placing the tile, the nippers and my hands inside a plastic grocery bag so it would contain the flying pieces. Gloves and goggles are also recommended.

All in all, a very practical tool for small jobs, and one I hope to use in the future for some kind of mosaic work. If you're going to do a lot of tile work you might need something more expensive, like a higher quality manual cutter or a wet saw.

Now I have to get those tiles cemented.

ceramic tile part deaux

2007-03-30T08:13:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I've made some progress on my bathroom project. I set most of the field tiles on the wall above the broad side of the tub last weekend. I left space for a grab-bar and a soap dish and I still have a vertical row on the left and a partial row along the bottom which require the tiles to be trimmed to size. Today I will be learning how to use my new tile cutter and tile nippers to accomplish that.

I got this tile at Lowe's for a darn good price. It's "Cayman Dolphin" by Portobello and I think it was probably both the cheapest and nicest-looking tile they had. I think when I bought them they were said to be made of recycled materials, which made me like them even more, but I can't find any mention of that on the current websites. The tile came in 3x3 inch squares attached by plastic spacers to form a larger 12x12 square. This is my first attempt at setting tile and I thought it would be easier to set fewer big squares than a bunch of little ones. It was still quite a bit of work to trowel on the mortar and get it evenly thick on the wall. Then when I set the tiles I had to pound them with a rubber mallet to get them to sink down deep into the mortar and I found in many places I had put way too much mortar on and it squeezed out between the joints. I spent a lot of time wiping away the excess and that is a very messy job. I was glad I had laid a sheet of plastic in the tub and had a lot of old towels on hand. Even though the tiles were in big squares it wasn't that easy to keep even spaces between them while keeping them level. I had penciled lines on the cement board per many instructions I had downloaded from the net to help me line up the tiles but when you trowel on the mortar you can't see the lines anymore. I need to write somebody and ask how they are able to see through the mortar. :)

These jobs are never as easy as they look!!!!
I'm still pretty happy with the results so far and I think once they're grouted the tiles will be stunning.

imagine possibilites

2007-03-29T10:17:00.000-05:00

Another recent experiment in collage. I tried a couple of things for a background and was unhappy with it til I spotted the guy in goggles. Words about "success" kept jumping off the pages I was clipping and I decided this was my affirmation of the day - to think about success. Later I made up an alphabet of affirmations. My ABC's started like this:

AFFIRM

BELIEVE

CREATE

Even though my original idea didn't work as planned, I kept at it with my "regular" collage stuff and it turned out ok.

I'm realizing the sketchbook I'm using for my art journal doesn't stand up well to the layers of stuff I'm starting to glue and paint onto it. The pages are starting to get thicker and to curl at the edges from too much water. Pretty soon I won't be able to fully close the book. I think I'll try a book with watercolor paper in it next.

songbird music & dentistry

2007-03-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

Lately I'm awakened almost every morning about 3 a.m. by a mocking- bird perched outside my bedroom window. About 6 or 7 the cardinals begin their vocal exercises. It's nesting season and these territorial birds are establishing their domains. It's one of my favorite things about spring. Here's one of said redbirds shot a week or so before these trees started setting leaves.

I went to the dentist yesterday for my second root canal in 3 weeks. I have bad teeth, heredity, I guess, so I've already had 4 or 5 root canals and I don't look forward to visiting any dentist. My newest doctor, a McKinney DDS, has amazed me with his technique & technology. It's been 2 years since my last dental work but it seems light years in the past compared to my recent experience. This guy has a computer monitor next to each chair and they take x-rays by inserting a small camera in your mouth. He and you can see the results of the x-ray immediately and you can sit there and study them as you wait for the anesthetic to take effect. Yesterday I was reflecting on the vast difference between my first root canal, done about 1976, and my more recent ones. Back then it took at least 30 minutes for your mouth to become completely numb. Now it takes about 5 minutes. Back then dentists worked with their bare hands; now they and their assistants use latex gloves and surgical masks. Back then you had to gag from whatever substance they had in your mouth and pray they would let you spit into the mini toilet bowl next to the chair; now they stretch a "rubber dam" across your face, isolating the area they're working on and preventing all that crap from running down your throat. It also allows you to swallow without disturbing what they're doing. When you do have stuff in your mouth they spray a mist of water in your mouth and let you use that wonderful straw invention that sucks everything away. Finally, I remember that first root canal hurt horrendously. I almost jumped during the procedure because the anesthetic didn't go deep enough and they had to give me an extra dose and wait to continue the procedure. Afterward, my dad drove me home, stopping on the way to pick up some superduper painkiller the dentist had prescribed. I had to take them immediately I hurt so bad and I was falling asleep by the time we got home. I was out for at least the rest of the day from those painkillers. With my recent work the dentist recommends Advil or Motrin and those far less potent drugs do the trick. I can drive, I can work, I can go about my life with what feels like soreness rather than pain. Now it's the next day and I'm almost ready to crunch apples with my new temporary crown. I don't know if it's the type of anesthetic or the technique the dentist uses, but I am really grateful for progress in dentistry.

chunky book swap

2007-03-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

I made 5 pages for the "Around the World" Chunky Page Swap on Flickr. This was my first experience making a "chunky" page and I really wasn't sure how to go about it. The pages are 4x4 inches with a 1/2 inch allowance for binding. I started out with collage components relating to Texas and my town of McKinney that included blubonnets, longhorns and a cowboy; typical texas themes. There aren't a lot of cattle in this area anymore as the land is being eaten up by new houses but there are definitely bluebonnets and cowboys, though the cowboys mostly drive pickup trucks. I added a photo of a local victorian house, because there are quite a few here in the old part of McKinney, a toothpick Texas flag, and a piece of rusty twisted wire from what's left of the 100-year-old fence on my property. Most of the wood pickets were either gone or broken; probably rotted from the English ivy that had enveloped the fence. I cut the ivy back, moved the fence from its precarious location and reassembled it as best as I could. I still have a number of pickets that I hope I can piece together and I'm looking at wood preservatives to see if I can save what's left of the wood.

Homicide: Life on the Street

2007-03-25T10:02:00.000-05:00

I love detective stories. Good detective stories. I think it started with an old Sherlock Holmes movie starring Basil Rathbone, which led me to read A. Conan Doyle's series of short story masterpieces. There have always been tv shows about detectives but my all-time favorite is Homicide: Life on the Street which ran from 1993 to 1999. Last fall the "collection to die for" was released on DVD at a bargain price, all six seasons, the final wrap-up movie, and extras neatly enclosed in a grey facsimile filing cabinet. Since McKinney is pretty far from the main broadcasting antennas in Cedar Hill I'm no longer able to get good regular tv reception and since I'm too cheap to purchase cable, I bought myself the set of Homicide DVD's so I could have something good to watch during my weekend down time. It's been money well spent.

Because of my work schedule I didn't even know about this show until it was well into its 3rd season. Last night I watched what I think was my first exposure to the show: "Cradle to Grave" in which Munch & Lewis investigate the death of a motorcycle gang member. I originally came in at the end of the episode in which two long lines of motorcyclists twine among the crosses and headstones of a cemetery to bury their comrade and Lewis, the only non-white person in the scene, makes his way through the gang to deposit the framed photo of a little girl onto the dead man's coffin, while Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders belt "I'll Stand by You" in the background. I didn't know what the scene meant, but I was intrigued. Later I caught a nearly complete episode with Lewis and his new partner Kellerman, and I was hooked.

When I got this collection I also began reading again my well-handled copy of David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets the story of the year he spent with the Baltimore Homicide Unit in 1988, and the basis for the Homicide tv show. Reading this book gives a lot of insight into what the Baltimore detectives have to deal with. That year there were 234 homicides in Baltimore, and in the next two there were 567. I've long thought of Dallas as a dangerous city, but in checking some reports, the most reported homicides in a single year was only slightly more than 200. According to the Morgan Quitno Awards site Baltimore is consistently rated as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. For 2006 it was #2 while Dallas was #6 in cities of more than 500,000. They're close together on the list but when you compare the RATE of homicide, what a chasm between the two. The national homicide average is 5.7 percent (of what I'm not sure :). Dallas is much higher at 18.4 percent, but Baltimore is a whopping 41.9 percent, sandwiched right between Washington DC and Detroit. Suddenly Dallas looks a lot safer and I feel much for the war-weary homicide police of Baltimore. You go, detectives!

You can find some statistics for some major cities at InfoPlease.

blogging frontiers

2007-03-24T08:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, I went & got my blog listed on the Delightful Blogs website. Thank you, Lynda, for featuring my blog. I don't know why I did it; I guess I just crave fame. Ha. Or at least attention.

I've used writing as a means to keep myself sane for a good part of my life, filling spiral bound notebooks with pages of drivel, writing a weekly music column for a local Bulletin Board (back in the day), doing research papers for college classes and co-authoring a genealogical history on my mom's family. Blogging seems to be the latest means of exercising my writing muscles, but sometimes I need a little kick in the pants to keep from slacking off and I thought if I think the blog is public I might be more likely to keep it up.

Here's a collage I did last night after reading yesterday's post by Tommy Kane. He described the creative process for his illustrations of the day wherein he picked up on things that he happened to run across, added some seemingly silly words, and came out with an integrated whole that was more than the sum of its parts. I decided to pick up a couple of piles of magazine clippings I have laying about and just pull out pieces until I got a composition. I also added silly and serious words with clippings and a gel pen and added some color with crayons. I was pleasantly surprised at the result. Practice is good for collage as well as for writing.

old houses

2007-03-23T09:37:00.000-05:00

I drive past this house almost every day. It's just a few blocks from where I live and is affectionately referred to by a number of neighbors as the "Oh My God" House because the huge old victorian structure is such an unexpected sight after driving past nothing but single-story bungalows. The owners of this house have been renovating it for more than ten years and it's still not habitable. I guess I'm one-up on these folks; my house is nowhere nearly so grand, but at least my mom and I can live in it. Just barely. We had the kitchen rebuilt before we moved in and I probably would have had the bathroom done also but I just didn't have enough money at the time so I decided to do the work myself. Almost as soon as I had ripped out the crappy shower installation and pulled off the mildewed sheetrock cold weather set in. I insulated with fiberglass batts and screwed some hardibacker boards to the studs but the bathroom sat all winter in its twilight zone of disrepair; a depressing sight every time you'd go in. Last weekend I finally got the walls prepped and today I start installing tile. Wish me luck.

o, happy day

2007-03-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

In Texas blue is the color of joy.
The bluebonnets are peeking through!

Some days I don't know whether to carry my camera or my art journal with me. Some days I just say "forget them both." Yesterday I picked my camera because the sky had turned dark and I hoped to shoot a couple of white water towers against a black sky. No such luck. The sky went light and started spitting rain but when I got to Irving I had to stop and shoot some of these yellow flowers that are covering fields and many slopes along the highways. As I approached the still-bare mesquite trees I noticed dots of blue in the greenery. It seemed too early but yes! they were bluebonnets. Soon these yellow fields will yield to the onslaught of our State Flower to become a mass of blue.

I feel good!

focusing

2007-03-21T09:22:00.000-05:00

I've been worried about the way my brain seems to dart hither and yon, never wanting to stay focused on any particular subject for long. I wondered if it was a form of Attention Deficit Disorder. Now I find I'm not alone - that the wandering mind seems to be a common occurrence. Some scientists have been studying the phenomona for several years trying to find out just why it happens and if there are ways to help us focus better. It seems two activities during which our mind wanders most are reading and driving (yeeow!) and that the mind wanders most when we try to prevent it from doing so. Here are a few articles about the subject:

Studies focus on why our minds drift
What happens when the mind wanders?
LIFE'S WORK; In the Age of Focus, How the Mind Wanders
Why the Mind Wanders

I wonder if we're seeing an evolution of the brain. These scientists say that the thing our mind most wanders to are mental "to do" lists. And that brings me back to thinking of ye olde caveman - what kind of "to do" lists was he thinking about?
1) find mammoth
2) kill mammoth
3) eat mammoth
3) butcher rest of mammoth
4) get back to cave with mammoth meat
5) draw pictures on cave wall

sorry, forgot what I was thinking about.

barbarians at the gate

2007-03-20T09:25:00.000-05:00

Another recent page from my art journal. I'm taking some advice from The Image Doctors to help me out of my creative rut, which is to not take my collages so seriously. I have quite a few clippings of images that I like but I don't use them because I tell myself I've got to save them for some imaginary future masterpiece. I can't see me creating a masterpiece if I never practice so I'm trying to be more spontaneous and just put together elements that attract my eye without worrying too much about it being a "masterpiece." If I'm not having fun, what's the point of doing it?

A video of Hillary Clinton superimposed onto an old Apple Computer ad has popped up on YouTube. The original Apple ad aired only once, during the 1984 Super Bowl. Here it is. And Here is the rather clever take-off on the ad. Note that the hero in the clip is now wearing an iPod.

I know who I'M voting for!

things that scare me

2007-03-19T09:17:00.000-05:00

One of the signs of spring is that first wasp you get inside the house. This one relentlessly traversed the front window for more than an hour, searching for a way back to the great outdoors. I followed it for as long as I dared with my macro lens only half an inch away, fearing I might touch the little animal and provoke it. It really creeped me out when it tilted its head and looked directly into the glass. That's when I had to walk away.

I'm not sure why wasps spook me. I don't remember seeing any of those black & white monster movies of the 50s with a wasp. Ants, yeah. Spiders, oooh, and how. But no wasps. I don't think I'd ever really seen a wasp until my family moved to Dallas when I was eleven years old. There were so many creepy crawlers in Texas that I never imagined really existed I was always getting freaked out by something or another. The wasps seemed so ominous, slowly circling with their back legs dangling beneath them; you never knew who they were after. My younger brother, too, was particularly frightened, and to this day he will duck and flee the presence of such a monster.

I got over most of my fears of wasps after I realized they were mostly non-aggressive.

Until I read "The Shining", that is. In a few visceral paragraphs, Stephen King undid years of good sense. You wanna be scared of wasps? and a few other things? Read this book.

back to the glue

2007-03-18T10:32:00.000-05:00

Here's a recent page from my art journal, which I have neglected for some time. This is one of the first 5x7 collages where I didn't feel intimidated by the larger page size (my first journal was 3 1/2 x 4 1/2).

I've been really frustrated that my collages don't turn out how I think they should. The truth is I'm out of practice and practice is what usually allows you to get better at something. I've been listening to about half a dozen podcasts to improve my foreign language skills and it suddenly hit me: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. Someone once told me, "Repetition is the Law of Memory." I don't know if it's been codified but listening to a skilled speaker and repeating simple phrases seems to be the key in all these podcasts for learning both pronounciation and vocabulary in another language and it was also a key ingredient of language classes I attended in college. So what I'm planning is to apply the same principle to collage. I cracked open one of my books on Art Journaling and I'm going to imitate the examples of those more skilled than myself in order to learn technique and eventually have my collages looking more like I would like them to look.

St. Patrick's upon us

2007-03-17T09:40:00.000-05:00

I can't believe people still pinch those who don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day. I'm ecstatic, therefore, that the day falls on the weekend this year so I'm not required to endure the extremely bad jokes of a particular colleague at work. Dare I say, "bay, humbug!"?

Here's a guide to the origins of Green Beer. I particularly enjoyed this line from the article by Carolyn Heneghan (is that Irish?) regarding Saint Paddy's special day: "...it is also one of the most hated holidays in Ireland itself, no doubt popularized namely by North American partiers. If you plan on being in Ireland this Spring Break, please do not ask for a green beer if you'd rather avoid an Irish fist to the temple."

Ha!

Lunch Box Brief

2007-03-16T10:54:00.000-05:00

I came across this old ad from a 1950s Sears Catalog for Roy Rogers/Dale Evans costuming for children and began to wax nostalgic.I remember watching his tv show when I was a kid, though now I think they were probably reruns, as I hadn't been born yet when the show first appeared. I'm guessing this was one of earliest marketing campaigns driven by a tv show.

I had a Roy Rogers lunchbox I used to take to school during the winter. I wondered if I could find one for sale but when I saw what was available I found I couldn't remember exactly what my lunchbox had looked like. I think it was the one I've picture here, which doesn't seem to be the original design.

The bidding for this rusty box on ebay starts at $32, while the original design goes for about $400.

Then I started looking for the Yellow Submarine lunchbox I took with me to high school. My friend CT had an identical box and every day we would sit in the lunchroom at Kimball High and flip open the metal lids of our matching tin boxes and extricate our matching yellow thermos bottles. I was making my first foray into vegetarianism as I hated sandwiches almost as much as standing in line for the awful cafeteria food peculiar to schools in those days. I would bring raw pieces of coconut in baggies to serve as my protein.

This version of the Yellow Submarine box goes for about $300 on ebay.

If you wax nostalgic over old lunchboxes, check out The History of Lunchboxes or Whole Pop Magazine's Pailentology page. Another interesting site is Wendi's Lunchboxes, which has many vintage lunchboxes for sale.

I Wanna be a Flintstone

2007-03-15T10:37:00.000-05:00

Don't know what's wrong with my brain.

Is it early signs of Alzheimer's Disease?
Do I have A.A.D.D.?
Is it a P.M.T.? (post menopausal thing?)
Or am I just Plain Loco?

I'm beginning to think Attention Deficit Disorder is a byproduct of modern society's requirement that a person, even a child, must be able to multi-task at any given time. Those who unthinkingly drive, talk on the phone, chew gum and juggle at the same time are "normal". Those who freak have A.D.D. I don't think it's human nature to want to multi-task. Can you imagine the proverbial "cave man" hunting a t-rex while trying to learn another language while worrying about what the price of gas will be when he gets back to the cave, while wondering if his paycheck will clear in time for his bills to get paid without incurring overage charges, while figuring out whether he can get from his son's soccer practice to his daughter's track meet?

I think A.D.D. occurs because people are trying to to things in a linear fashion rather than simultaneously. They're guilty of reminding us that computers have not made our lives easier, have not given us more leisure time, and have not made us a paperless society.

I must be an Anachronism.

Neon Bible

2007-03-14T10:57:00.001-05:00

Arcade Fire

This CD left me breathless. Twice already.

I liked the few tracks of Arcade Fire's first CD, "Funeral", that I heard but never got around to hearing the whole CD so I can't rightly compare the two. This one was on sale at Target last week for $8 and I got 10% off with a coupon so I bought it, sound unheard.

The dark religious theme is paired alternately with a wall of anthemic sound or acoustic guitar which includes violins and a pipe organ crescendo Saint Saens would die for. Angelic children voices sail over a pulsing bass line. . My own dark attitude toward religion probably accounts for my attraction to many of the tracks, especially "Windowsill":

Don't wanna hear the noises on TV.
Don't want the salesmen coming after me.
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't want it faster, I don't want it free.
Don't wanna show you what they done to me.
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.

Arcade Fire was part of the huge wave of musicians that surged out of Montreal in 2006 and from the reports I've read this album has exceeded expectations. Neon Bible will likely require multiple listening sessions for those who want to get to the bottom of the many layers of vocals and music.

Highly recommended.

springtime for hitler

2007-03-13T09:04:00.000-05:00

Whoa! almost a week since I posted. Time flies when you're busy, especially when you're accompanied by gorgeous scenery like these Bradford Pear trees that popped open all over North Texas last week. I didn't need this sign to tell me to "Stop and Look!"

As for Hitler....er Bush.....er Cheney.....er, oh yeah, this week it's Rick "governor" Perry, our worthless republican state ruler who's finally getting some come-uppance. First he tries to saddle Texas with 11 more dirty coal plants from the evil TXU (electric) people and then issues an edict that all school-age girls MUST get the new HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Even his republican henchmen in the state senate have taken offense at "teflon hair" Perry's attempt to exert personal power. Thing is, in Texas, the governor has no real official power; it's mostly through influence of his personality that he gets things done. Perry was Bush's little protege, and like Bush, he looked good in a crisis. His high profile during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and throughout the approach of Hurricane Rita almost made me like him, much as Bush's appearances after 9-11 made folks like him. Then they both overstepped their positions. Here's hoping Karma takes its course.

my loving protector

2007-03-07T10:18:00.000-06:00

I ain't religious.
I AM superstitious.

so should I credit the successful sale of my house in Dallas to faith or luck?

I heard about the Catholic tradition of burying a statue of Saint Joseph in your yard to sell your house from a co-worker who had friends who swore by it. Since I never got even one offer when I had the house on the market for 9 months in 2004 I thought I would take help wherever I could find it.

I bought an "official" St. Joseph House-Selling kit, which included this tiny plastic statue of said saint, a page of instructions, and a prayer card. Per instructions I buried the statue and every day made a special point to recite the prayer, which is really rather a poetic request:

Remember, o most illustrious patriarch St. Joseph, on the testimony of St. Teresa, thy devoted servant, never hath it been heard that anyone who has invoked thy protection or sought thy mediation has not obtained relief. In this confidence I come before thee, my loving protector, chaste spouse of Mary, foster-father of the Saviour of men, and dispenser of the treasures of His Sacred Heart. Despise not my earnest prayer, but graciously hear and obtain my petition.

I used the prayer card to recite the proper words and after a few days I had them memorized. After two weeks there had been 11 showings of the house and I had an offer. I continued to recite the prayer daily, sometimes more than once, and yesterday the house was sold.

Oddly, this transaction occurred on the anniversary of the date I was "saved" by "asking Jesus into my heart" in 1972. I remember this date because a lot of strange things happened afterward relating to the day. I'll just say my relationship with Jesus ended badly and I haven't practiced religion for many many years.

Christians might say this occurrence is God manifesting himself to me.
Some eastern-religion-fan might say the prayer was really a mantra in disguise.
My new-age friends might say my focus on the prayer was really me focusing my energy away from the worry of selling the house thus preventing negative energy blocking the way.

Some might say it's Fate.

this is my brain

2007-03-06T08:43:00.000-06:00

at least this is what my brain feels like.

Cracked.
Empty.
A Shell.
A Shadow of its Former Self.

I worked a nearly normal afternoon shift Sunday. Then I had to decompress, sleep fast & get up at dawn for an hour and a half drive to work in Monday's Rush Hour. Ha! Doing 20 on a 65 mph freeway is not my idea of Rushing. This was so I could attend a boring mostly useless corporate orientation about stuff I already know or don't really need to know. No wonder we're so inefficient. Meetings meetings meetings. I hate meetings. At least my butt got plenty of sleep during the day. My inner time clock is all screwed up. I came home in the afternoon about the time I should have been going to work. Couldn't stay awake til my normal bedtime so my brain is in a funk.

If I can just hold this position til Sunday I'll be all set for Daylight Savings Time.

What is up with DST coming in early March, anyway?

new adventures of superman

2007-03-04T09:23:00.000-06:00

Superman decided to get a new job. The disadvan- tages of having multiple personality disorder, er, an alter-ego were becoming more apparent as each day passed. Clark Kent was tired of being out-scooped by Lois Lane. Every time he had to sneak out of the office to save the world he missed a big story while Lois would be covering it and getting her by-line on the front page. While it was true Superman adored Lois, (Noel? Margot? Teri? who was it this year?) Clark felt spending so much time with her was a ball and chain. He wasn't ready to settle down. And the incessant belittling by that micro-manager Perry White was getting on his nerves.

So Clark quit the Daily Planet and opened a restaurant. At last he could use his superpowers to advantage on the job, checking the souffle in the over with his x-ray vision and using his heatray vision to ensure those dishes were delivered piping hot to expectant diners. He had to hire a chef for each shift and waitstaff to cover the place when he was out fighting crime but Clark was ecstatic. At last HE was the boss.

It's a wonderful life!

don't believe everything you hear

2007-03-02T08:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the dj on the "oldies" radio station said it was "National Wear-a-Smile Day". Now, I'd never heard of this special day but it got me to thinking about the point of it. It seemed like one of those pointless redundant type themes concocted by some ad agency solely for the purpose of selling greeting cards. Why designate one particular day for this event? Is it because the majority of people do NOT wear smiles? Do people need to be compelled via a designated day that they must wear a smile? Will those folks who are depressed or angry flash a fake smile because of this day?

I don't know, but it was a good excuse to display this photo I took while practicing backlit macro shots. My eyes are so bad I can't seem to focus the lens properly. Oh, for a pair of glasses that would focus my eyes and not fall off my face. That would make ME smile.

By the way, I googled "wear-a-smile day" and could find no mention of it.

archeology

2007-02-28T11:21:00.000-06:00

Friday before the wind and dust set upon us I played archeologist out in the back yard. A dilapitated shed was removed before we ever saw the house and the number of rusty nails, nuts & bolts, pieces of broken glass and china seems unending. Apparently someone also used the area as their personal dump. There are remnants of an old carpet (only the stringy parts remain) and partially decomposed pieces of clothing and innumerable pieces of shredded plastic, probably bags or sheeting. I've also been told there was once a barn and a chicken coop somewhere on the block so there may be parts from those buildings. I keep hoping I'll find something cool, like an old medicine bottle or interesting buttons or maybe a tin can stuffed with money that hasn't dissolved. Yeah, for cash I think I'll keep on digging.

Gust Storm

2007-02-27T11:08:00.000-06:00

Finally I'm able to get back to blogging. Our phone's been out since about noon Saturday after our neighbors' ancient oak tree was split by 60 mph gusts of wind and crashed into the street, downing power, cable and phone lines. A firetruck arrived about 3 minutes after three brilliant electrical arcs between two poles successfully fried the transformer. Our short street was blocked at both ends and the fire department requested we stay indoors since there were live wires dangling from the pole at the end of our driveway.

I can't remember having such high winds for such an extended amount of time. They started about dawn and never relented during the daylight hours. About 3 pm the DUST hit. The sky grew dark and orange as the dust grew thicker and thicker. I could taste the grit in my mouth and could literally smell West Texas when I opened the back door to peer out. Even the dog didn't want to be outside. The next day I learned it was the first time a Dust Advisory had ever been issued for North Texas.

My mom went to bed about 6:15 saying there was nothing she could do without light. About 7:30 the power company sent trucks to repair the electrical lines and a gang with chain saws and a front-end loader to clear away the tree. Today it seems like it was weeks ago. That's the trouble with time when you don't have a timepiece - it's a matter of personal interpretation.

Time spent at the dentist = Eternity minus ten. I had a root canal done today and lost all track of time. Now an eternity later it's time for lunch and to get ready for work.

old-skool portable phone

2007-02-24T09:41:00.000-06:00

yeh, it was portable if you were a weightlifter. Notice the guy in the back changing the batteries. Need I say its sales weren't much to write home about. But ya gotta start somewhere.

seriously, though, yesterday I made what may be my last trip to the Dallas house and was glad I brought my camera when I spotted this box. It looks like something by Calculator, but there was no tag visible. In the olden days I used to hear that this many drips was a sign of sloppy artwork but now that Dallas has a "Graffiti Czar" the cops are more busy looking for spray-paint artists than drug dealers so lightning-fast throwups are the norm.

Dallas graffiti is one thing I do miss.

thru the looking glass

2007-02-22T12:12:00.000-06:00

(better viewed large)

Which side of the glass do YOU prefer? Me? I don't know.

It's been weird this week. Great weather - finally sunshine and 70 degrees and flowers blooming but the buyers' inspection of the Dallas house turned up numerous deficiencies which sent my stress levels soaring. Never knew what a firetrap I was living in. And I don't know who has contrived to make buying or selling a house one of the worst experiences of your life.

The worst thing is that the showerpan leaks and has left rotted subfloor underneath so part of shower must be demolished and replaced. Other than that, the process seems to be moving forward and the house is to be appraised today. Maybe I will be making my last trip to the house this week.

almost spring

2007-02-20T19:30:00.000-06:00

I couldn't stand it. There wasn't much to do at work today so I stayed home and played at gardening. I raked up about 6 bags of leaves and cut back a bunch of English Ivy that's dragging down our 100-year-old cypress fence. Along the way I found these very tiny violet flowers that appear each spring. They're called corn speedwell and are part of the Veronica and Snapdragon families. I had to literally place the camera on the ground to get level with the little wildflowers.

ghost rider

2007-02-19T10:18:00.000-06:00

I almost didn't go to work yesterday. The sun was shining, the temp was 65 degrees and I stopped at a traffic signal and saw the ghost of my youth pedaling furiously across the intersection. Of course we didn't have helmets or knee pads or elbow pads in those days. We didn't even have child-size bicycles. How is this kid ever going to learn about pain if she's not allowed to fall down and scrape the skin off her legs?

towing enforced

2007-02-18T11:24:00.000-06:00

Where was this Tow Truck during the last two elections when we really needed it?

----------------------------------

A neighbor down the bock is a "Road Avenger." He drives a huge dark blue flatbed truck that roars up and down the street at 40 miles per hour. You do NOT want to be out walking the dog when this guy heads for work in the morning. It makes for a nice alarm clock at 7:15 a.m.

Except That's NOT what time I want to wake up.

Vivian Refused to Check Her Fish at the Door

2007-02-16T18:25:00.000-06:00

I've started following the collage themes posted at Scrapiteria, a Collage Collaboration. I thought it might get me out of my rut to try to follow along, as I really don't know what I'm doing, and these folks are pretty much masters at their craft. Besides, it's still cold outside and you know how much I don't like that!

herminio

2007-02-16T09:53:00.000-06:00

I had a wisdom tooth pulled on Tuesday and stayed home from work that day. I stayed home Wednesday as well because there wasn't much to do at work and it was cold outside and I just didn't want to get out. I played indoors.

I found many of this collage's elements on walks around my Dallas neighborhood. A coffee-stained photo of a young lady dated Feb 14, 2005; Texas Lotto tickets (no winners); Camel Cigarettes poker chip; a torn check; a crushed beer bottle cap. The objects just seemed to capture what life is like for many people in the area.

I'm very much out of practice with all of my arts. Our "new" house isn't very warm and my office is still in a state of confusion from the move so I haven't puttered much this winter. I'm trying to get back in the habit, though.

heart apparatus

2007-02-14T14:06:00.000-06:00

I have valentine issues.

I had some leftover bits from the postcard I made for a valentine's day swap and this is what came out of it.