Back in the studio again!

I just sent off a custom order last week. I am now trying to re-organize & re-arrange. The lovely, wonderful, talented Mr. B built me a 9-foot wall of floor-to-ceiling shelving and a separate 5-foot wall of floor-to-ceiling shelving and I am spending a great deal of time doing 2 things:
1. standing and admiring my shelving
2. spinning in a circle with my arms out, a la Maria from The Sound of Music, singing "the studio is alive with the help of shelving"
I am almost positive that no one has seen me do the second one, with the exception of Jacko--my black cat & studio companion. I am working 3 days this week at the Tattoo Shop. Today I tattooed some lyrics onto a girls ribcage. She sat quite well, but I didnt care for the font she picked. It was too flourishy & I dont think it will age well.
And now it is time for jammie pants and BBC programming.

Whadda know?

It's been a month since I talked to you last. I have been working, and ignoring the internets. Sorry, internets! All that work has paid off, though. I am now allowed to take walk-ins at the shop--which puts me that much closer to being a money-making tattooist. Niiiiice.
Also, I have been the recipient of 3 new soldering irons, so I can get back to the jewelry making. And as winter descends I will undoubtedly be seeking refuge in my cozy studio.
Enjoy the photo below of a celtic cross I finished last week.
Cheers, loves!

Mostly..

I am tired, and blearly-eyed, and overwhelmed when I look at my to-do list, but mostly I am content.

I have a job I really really like*. One that I look forward to. And it may mean that my house is home to clutter more than it used to be, or that dishes sit in the dishwasher longer than they used to, but all of that is inconsequential when you get right down to it. In addition to this job, I still have orders coming in from etsy (NoRabbitsHere.etsy.com), I'm prepping to take over as Scout leader in December, and next week we start finishing in the basement. Somewhere in the midst of that, I find time to make meals, clean clothes, and cuddle children. And sit down. That happens occasionally, too.

And while my head is spinning and my hands are busy, I'm trying to remember to have a good time.

And I do, mostly.

* I got to do a tattoo of a Tyranosaurus Rex this week. Need I say more?

Busy, of late.

An 8.5 inch celtic cross--outline only. We're going to go back in and do shading & color later.

Righto, this one is upside down....so just pivot your head or your monitor. It's part of a larger piece that will be finished in stages. 4 skelletons, dancing on a stone border.

Here's the other upsode-down skelleton. I honestly have no idea why these are flipped. When the work is done, I will post the whole thing right side up.

And a manga fairy. This one is only half done as well, it was her first tattoo and she hit her wall at 2 hours.

It's challenging to work in the confines of somebody else's limitations. But you start to get a sense of when your client's body is nearing the point of quitting. The nice thing about doing many tattoos on one person is that it allows you a little more freedom--the freedom to make the work the best it can be, the freedome to let your outline walk out the door because you know it'll come back.

Today I did a tattoo of a Tyranosaurus Rex, and I have to say I surprised myself with its awesomeness. Photos of that later.

Ciao, lovelies. Stay sweet.

Last week

Last week was a busy week. In addition to these 3 here, I started 2 (an eagle & a celtic cross) that still need shading.
This is a daisy that was drawn by the woman on which it is tattooed.

Another sugar skull. This one I drew up from scratch. Like I said, sugar skulls are quickly becoming my specialty.

A name on the inside of a wrist. This woman has gotten me 4 bodies to tattoo. This is the only tattoo I'm allowed on her, as she is my boss' client.

In other news, I am back in the studio, working on jewelry. More on that later!

Sugar skulls!

Sugar skulls are now my specialty. I've done 9--8 of them were on Patti. And I have 2 more slated to happen soon.
Patti's left foot: girly sugar skulls

Patti's right foot: traditional sugar skulls.

Fun fun fun. Today I tattooed a 6 inch daisy, and a sugar skull. Tomorrow I am doing a Lion with 2 cubs and a celtic cross.

And next week, I am up to eyeballs in prep for a 5 year-olds pirate birthday party. Ar matey, and all that.

More as time allows!

Images via phone

So, mostly what I have been doing of late is tattooing. Or drawings for tattooing. The jewelry is on hold for a bit because my camera died & all I have now is my phone. As you can see below, the images are really grainy--the phone only does 2 MP.

This one is a lily & reverse stars. It's a really popular motif right now.

And on friday I tattooed 2 blue roses on 2 sisters. This one is on the younger sister's right shoulder.

And this one is on the older sister's left hip.

And that's all I have for you today. Until next time!

Oh yeah!

I totally forgot to tell you about the phone call I answered at the tattoo shop last week. It went something like this:

ring ring

Me: (Name of Tattoo Shop) This is Kara, how can I help you?

Girls Voice: Um, hi. Yeah, I was wondering, would you guys do a tattoo of Daffy Duck lawnmowering my pubes?

Me: One, That's really funny. Two, this is a Christian shop, so I'm going to say no, probably not.

Girl: Well fuck my ass.

And then she hung up on me.

Never a dull moment, I tell ya.

A long, rambling update.

This past weekend I went to a wedding in Maine. It was wonderful. I got to watch two people enjoy themselves & promise their "ever after" to each other. Also, the bride & I have been friends for 22 years, which is nothing to be sneezed at. There were many admonitions for leaving the kids at home, but if I had brought them along I wouldn't have been able to spend the weekend with my other longtime friend...who also happens to be my brother. We don't always see eye-to-eye but we can comfortably agree to disagree. And you know, he's my younger brother, so we have that whole shared-childhood thing too.
That was a long and rambling way to get around to telling you this:

my digital camera has died.

She's a Cannon with 5 MP (which when I bought her 5 years ago was a BIG DEAL) I have used her for 5 years to document family gatherings, birthdays, artwork, and my jewelry. And now when I turn her on, the lens won't open. Which means that through the viewfinder all is black, through the screen all is black. I put her down, walk away and come back and check every so often to see if maybe it was just a bad dream. So far, nothing has changed. And since you now can purchase a digital camera with 15 MP, maybe it is time to just get a new one...of course last year I was seriously considering hunting down a Diana camera .

Blah. But the biggest blah of all means that until I decide to either A) repair current outdated camera or B) purchase new camera I can't photo new jewelry & put for sale on etsy. Blah!

In other news, tattooing is going great. I am managing to get to the studio 2-3 days a week, with people who will let me tattoo them. I am not making any money, and have to pay the baby sitter one day a week so I can go in, but at some point all that will level out, I'm sure. (Note crossed fingers)

That's all for now, ducks. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to upload pictures from my camera phone, because at least that's something, right?

More Ink for you to gawk upon

So, this is the one that I want to go back into and re-do the outlines. Here is Bob's awesome koi...

And this is the Halloween fairy I did on Friday.

Saturday I did a tattoo on a wrist, a touch-up on a foot, and 2 tattoos on a lower-torso/hip area. It was lovely to be busy. I really like what I do.

Tattooed

Hey y'all!
I have been busy. Mostly without my camera, due to the fact that in addition to busy I have been a space cadet.

Last Friday I did 2 tattoos, which turned out...well, one turned out really well, and the other one was done on a forgiving soul who will let me go back in and fix it. (Patti is my hero)
Also, I have been working on my Halloween jewelry for etsy and it is AWESOME. Just wait til you see it. The awesomeness will blow you away.
I would've finished it this week, but instead I have been nursing a wicked cramp between my shoulder blades. How bad was it? Bad enough that dinner on Monday was peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with a side of string cheese.
But back to the ink-slinging! Today I had the generous Mr. Bob at my disposal for 4 hours. And we accomplished this:
It's the head of a viking on his knee. After that heals up, we'll be coloring the mammajamma in. Two things you should know about tattooing knees:
1. they are reeeeeeaally stretchy
2. there are a lot more involuntary muscle spasms than on other parts of the body.

But Bob is the king of tattoos and sits like he was born to it. (and the villagers rejoiced)

More later lovelies!

BUSY

Little man starts back to school Wednesday. I have been going to the tattoo studio two days a week, and plan to go more frequently once school is back in session.
I LOVE going to work. If I'm not tattooing, I'm drawing. How cool is that? Last week, I worked on some birds for a friend, and some wings just for practice.

I am also working on new jewelry for Etsy, which should be up by mid-September.

A bit of lovely

These are all over the place. I have no idea what it is but the colors are lovely. We'll be going on a bit of vacation, and I've packed some art supplies just in case. Probably we'll be too busy to use them, but it's always good to be prepared for a rainy day.

I done did it!

I am officially an apprentice!

A tattoo apprentice, that is.

Don't worry, I'm still making jewerly too. I just need a new tip for my soldering iron before I can finish the new series.

And now I must go--my son has turned into a chattering monkey boy.

If toads had wings

I'm guessing they'd look something like this:I have made time here & there to create little pieces. I drew the above tonite, after wrestling 2 kids to bed and ignoring the dirty dishes in the sink.
More later as news and art becomes available!

Tuesday Morning Thoughts

I heart Neil.

He makes me wish I could write things other than terrible poetry. I am a master of the truly awful poem. I take a small amount of glee in knowing that I can turn out a terrible poem in no time at all.

That's why I stick to the visual arts. I know how to do that in a way that doesn't make people cringe.

And hooray! Today I'm back to the tattoo shop, with cookies, in an effort to establish a rapport and secure that much coveted apprenticeship.

Nothing to do with the 4th of July.

Hey!
So I have had my camera for 4 years now, and I just recently figured out the macro setting. (Technologically advanced, I am not) I wish I had figured this out sooner! I love the macro setting. I am still having difficulties getting good close-ups of my smaller jewelry pendants, and I'm not sure if it's a lighting issue or the fact that the images are under glass that is giving me problems.
But the macro setting is perfect for capturing new growth in the yard.

We transplanted a whole mess of ferns from the in-laws yard to ours and they didn't do so well when temperatures jumped and daily rain showers ceased. But behold! There are tiny (one inch) fiddleheads emerging, so it looks like they are tougher than I thought.

Aaaah. Summer.

Today I painted and drew a cat and practiced drawing.

I watched my kids play in the wading pool and answered questions about volcanoes, continents, and learned that even though you tell a 2-year-old you are out of popsicles they don't believe you until they have emptied the freezer themselves.

I practiced a smidge of kitchen alchemy (from nothing, dinner!)

I successfully avoided folding laundry.

I learned that inchworms are moth larvae, and that I'm going to need to get a terrarium soon.

I enjoyed cool breezes and blowing bubbles and the fact that my first born insisted I call him Oberon for about 2 hours.

New for Etsy!

I had finished the bird series and the postage series in time for the Tutti Insieme festival this past Saturday. Both the circles and the squares measure 1" across. The birds are watercolors, and the postage series is made from real-live stamps with a silhouette of the country of origin over top.
All have mirrors on the back.
Next I have to finish a collaborative work, and then it's back to more pendant making!
Oriole

Ireland

A warbler.

After this weekend!

I am not abandoning you, I promise!
I have been involved in tunnel vision! I am set to sell some work at the Tutti Insieme Festival (at Arabian Knights Farm in Willowbrook Farm, IL) this Saturday.
Once the festival is over I can breathe a giant sigh of relief and get back to chatting with you.

Till next week!

Onward!

Hello, friends!
I have a new favorite art blog: Geninne's Art Blog
It reminded me how much I love to draw & paint birds. To that end, I am doing a new pendant series for etsy--tiny watercolor birds. The oriole below is 1 inch across.
It was good fun, too.

I should be

I should be painting now (or washing off all those scratchy hairs you collect after a haircut), but instead I am quietly bubbling with anger.

I have discovered what is the ultimate downside to Facebook(and other networking sites): people you thought you were well rid of sending you lame "hey i'm sorry, let's be friends" messages.

Heads up, dude: if we parted on sour persimmons 10 years ago, I'm not real keen on being fake internet friends now. Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna pass on this one. Have a swell day.

Madder than a March Hare

Dooooom!
It is summer break & I havent had any studio time for days. Instead I have been trying to keep my kids from killing each other, killing me, and me killing them.
In all, I have to say that crazy begets crazy....
and at this point they are too young for me to just throw them into the backyard to fend for themselves.
Thank goodness the babysitter starts next week.
Until then, I'll be fighting the urge to recreate the scene below....

The cool thing about doing jewelry design, as such, is that it gives you the opportunity to make people really happy. The kind of happy that makes them say "oh, wow" a lot, or cry occasionally--not that I want people to cry, but I get a bit of a buzz off of being able to connect with someone on an emotional level through art.
The cool thing about starting the Etsy site is that it has afforded me the opportunity to make these emotional connections more frequently.
Those of you who know me well know that in the past 7 years I have moved around A LOT. The upside to this is that I have met all sorts of amazing people, many of whom inspire me still. The down side of this is that until recently all of my closest friends were geographically far away. And through the miracle of modern technology, they are close at hand, but there is something to be said for an actual hand to hold in your dark hours.
Art has provided me with a way to deepen new friendships. This is not a benefit that I hear touted often but for me, as I have moved from place to place, it has been the biggest benefit.
That was a really long-winded way to get around to showing you what I was going to show you! A piece I created for my brother, the musician.

Look familiar? I totally scrambled it in photoshop to use for my header. But I still love the original and thought you might like to see it, too.

I don't really do flowers

The local art center is having an open show (no juries/no entry fees) and the theme is florals.
Flowers are not so much my area of interest, but I figure I should put something in the show. Et voila:
On the left is my homage to Brian Froud and on the right are three herbs to cure a broken heart.
Both have flowers IN them, so I'm hoping that they'll be accepted.
Otherwise, I guess I'll put them on Etsy.
Cheers!

Where...

I woke up this morning to grey skies, 55 degrees and a seagull screaming in indignation.
I woke because my first thought was that the seabird was one of my offspring, bellowing from the warm confines of their bed for me (which happens more oft than it ought).

We have seagulls here, on the very outskirts of Chicagoland. Is there any place they don't reside anymore? I remember their cries used to tell me I was near the shore--I could hear them calling 10 minutes before I would smell the delicious salty sea air, 20 minutes before I would run across hot sand to the cool Atlantic waters or warm Gulf currents.

Now we live an hours drive from the Indiana Dunes State Park. It's a close facsimile of the beaches of my youth, but the little clues are missing. Salty sea air? Nope. Trails left by sand crabs while we slept? Nope. The sand is sandy, some days there are waves that break upon the beach. The smell of sunscreen and the sound of shrieking children are all there. But there is a part of me that still yearns for the ocean. To come home and have your skin salt-covered, to smell the sea in your hair.

Playing & thinking

Thinking: Making art makes me a happier person. Or at least easier to be around.

Playing: At collage: The squares are images from a long-ago trip to Florence, Italy. I'm not sure if the whole thing works, but it was good to work without an end product in mind.

JUNE 18 aaaand a rant about twitter.

Here is a link to the info for THE GHOST SONATA's ALBUM RELEASE PARTY.

You east-coast type peeps should TOTALLY go. Because I am stuck inna midwest and not so much able to go. I will live vicariously! But not as vicarious as twitter, because frankly that shit is rediculous.

Dear peeps of twitter:
I do not care what you had for lunch. I do not care what color your pants are. If you are on fire, you should call the fire station and not worry about updating your twittery rediculousness. For the love of god--THE WEATHER CHANNEL is on twitter. Is the golf channel on there? How about the watching-paint-dry-network?

Pardon my vitriol, but that twitter really gets my knickers in a twist.

Not as awesome as all that.

Hey! I didn't make the cut for the dia de muerte challenge. Which is a yay/boo story.
yay: I get to keep my clock!
boo: they didn't think my clock was as awesome as I thought it was.

Enh. Their loss.
Here is my clock:

From the UK? There's More!

And here's more UK fantasticness:
The Hoobs!

They're Brittish Muppets, from a galaxy far far away... exploring the planet Earth to make entries in their Hoobapedia.

They really cheer me up when I'm feeling down.

Enjoying this...

Hey!
Another feature in my love of things from the UK:
Lily Allen!

She's like a cupcake with a razor on top.

June 18--you busy?

If you are in the New England area & looking for a way to spend a weekend, you should TOTALLY go to the album release party for The Ghost Sonata. JUNE 18.
And I'm not just saying that b/c I did the album artwork, either.
Check them out!
www.myspace.com/theghostsonata
JUNE 18.
do it!

Sneak peek

Hello, lovlies!
This is a detail of the thing I created for the Dia de Muerte challenge. I submitted it today, so it's out of my control now (but here's hoping!). Now on to the next project!

Three years later!

Hey there! Remember this project? I started this for my dear friend Kathleen waaaaay back in 2006. It took me 3 years to figure out how to turn the teeny illustrations into an accordion book and attach it to the larger illustration.

And here it is, all open and attachy-like. Grommits! Jump rings! (Yes. It took me 3 years to come up with that. Clearly, I am NOT a bookmaker)

thinking

there is no description to match the sound of the wind
as he rushes through new spring leaves

Thinking aloud...

Okay, so some of you who read this know that I maintain 2 blogs. As the other blog deals mostly with raising children & is read mostly by parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles of both myself and my spouse I started this blog to deal with the art-related side of my life AND have a place where censorship is almost non-existent. Although there are subjects that I do not plan to discuss here, there are things that will happen here that don't happen there.

BE FOREWARNED: this post may have something to do with sex. if that makes you squirmy, go away; don't leave me a snarky comment. just go away.

AHEM.
So! Yes! There is a musician who has recently announced his engagement. I am bummed out by this b/c I have been harboring a school-girl like crush on him since about 1994. (Hey! Check me out! I am approaching old!) Not that I in any way have attempted to meet him or harbored fantasies about being soul mates or anything like that. Nor am I looking to go gallivanting around the globe while simultaneously abandoning my family. But...

Well, I think it's important to have a healthy fantasy life. It's important to imagine yourself gallivanting about the globe with someone attractive & slightly mysterious. It's important to be able to say "I won't, but I could if I wanted to".
All of these things are MUCH easier when said mysterious musician is single. Because then you don't ALSO have to come up with a plausible reason for his relationship to end. I mean, it's hard enough trying to come up with likely scenarios wherein you actually meet, let alone run away together. And given that nowadays my regular haunts include the grocery store & the post office, I have had to come up with some really off-the-wall occurrences to align the stars in my favor.
I learned today that this musician is also on Twitter. I have decided not to check that out for 2 reasons.
1. I am not a stalker, and will not allow my life to involve anymore time reading about other people's lives than already happens.
2. If I learn about the REAL guy, it'll probably put a damper on all of the things I have had time to make up over the years*.

SO...congratulations to Trent Reznor. I hope you'll be really truly awe-inspiringly happy.

But I am totally reserving the right to use your likeness in my elaborate fantasy life.

*although i did learn that he has a soft spot for greyhounds, which is sweet & endearing.

ARE YOU READY?!

I'm just asking, are you in a state of general preparedness? I find that being in such a state alleviates much of the daily panic that can result from a lack of organization.

That being said, I own 3 tape measures & cannot find a single one. I could take to using my mother-in-laws method of measuring (walking hands) or guesstimate, or use an 18"ruler and do some math. Instead, I will place project: measure upstairs bedrooms on a back burner for the distant & illustrious day when the tape measures return.

I can, however, crack open some white & and burnt umber acrylic paint and paint some bones*. Which I am off to do.

'ta!

*boy, that sounds macabre & slightly illegal. I mean (of course) paint pictures OF bones, not paint ON bones that are questionably lodged about my house. Because there are none of those, unless the dog has a stash of which I am unawares....

Crafty ain't all bad...

Usually I reserve the right to look down my nose at people who are crafters.
I don't know why--must be residual art school influence. Because, to be quite honest, I enjoy making stuff with my hands--from food to paintings to blankets. I get a great deal of satisfaction from the "I made that" when people ask where stuff came from. I also get a little warmth when I can say "my friend so-and-so made that".
To that end, today was "teacher appreciation day" at little man's school. The PTA sent home letters suggesting each child bring a single stem for their teachers and the PTA would have buckets of water for them (in my head, this translates to buckets of dandelions). I would love to send a flower from our garden, but our daffodils & hyacinths have gone kaput, and the alliums have yet to open. I thought about tissue paper flowers, but we had already done that this year. So instead, I made flower pins out of felt. And yes, I just happened to have a stack of felt in assorted colors. And some spare buttons. And some giant (2 inch) saftey pins for the back. I guess in addition to being an artist (note the beret & glass of wine) I am a closet crafter (pay no mind to the giant rag bag of fabric)

Word of the day

Exhaustion?
Exhilaration?
Accomplishment?

I have finished 3 series of pendant jewelry for etsy. I have figured out what to do for the dia de muerte challenge (deadline in 9 days) and I feel I have a substantial body of work with which to gain entry into a show/sale (deadline in 19 days). I have also figured out what course I am qualified to teach at the local art center: printmaking!

I have been doing lino prints for 14 years now. Granted, I often by-pass the actual linoleum for an easier-to-carve medium, but the principle is the same. And from reading the offered courses, I get the impression that the desired result of the class is to come away with a finished product. (Unlike art school, where the result is to push your skill set forward & gain knowledge in a medium) I was leafing through the offerings hoping for a silk screening class. (No such luck) That was when I noticed that there aren't any printmaking classes AT ALL. Which is a shame, because it's a handy skill to have. So I thought I'd toss my hat in the ring & see what happens. First I figure I should wrangle together a portfolio of works.

And in other news: Spring has arrived! We are a few measly weeks away from the last frost date! I am going to try to set up a studio in the garage so I can work (sort of) outdoors. Also I have about 20 packets of seeds that need planting.
But who cares?! The weather is warm & the birds are singing!

BUSY!

What with little man's spring break & being sick last week, I am WAY behind.
I got to play a little bit of catch-up yesterday--watercolor paintings,pen-and-ink drawings, and calaveras for a dia de muertos art challenge I am entering. In 2 weeks.
The 6 calaveras on the left are 1" across.
At the bottom of the page are recreations of three cards from the major arcana of the tarot. These are based off of the illustrations from the Rider-Waite deck. I am doing a series of 6 that I am going to turn into pendants for the Etsy store. Today I am back to work (after little man gets on the school bus).

Check 'er out

There is this VERY cool gallery in Atlanta, Georgia and they are always looking for artists to participate in their shows.
This one struck me because I know quite a few photographers (hi, guys!)
The show is called A Million Little Pictures. They are looking for 1,000 people worldwide to document their lives in 24 frames.
http://arthousecoop.com/projects/amlp

Crash!

I was so full of plans for last night! I had photos to edit! I had paintings to finish!

I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30.

Deadlines!

rushing at me with alarming speed!
Deadlines that have been bumped forward!
How far? About 4 weeks.
Lucky for me, I was wise and sage (and lovely and good with animals, too) and prioritized months ago. All I have to do now is re-photograph the work, colorbalance in photoshop, and email the happy camper on it's way.

And also, I have to take some commissioned work OUT of my head and put it ON paper. It looks quite nice where it is, not subject to the laws of dimensionality or static placement, although rather difficult to deliver in the agreed-upon format.

And then there are 2 more deadlines in May, which I am pretending is a very long way away and not really 14 days.

I took this last week off (art-wise) to play hostess to in-laws and my very own mum...now I will simply have to do a run-up to get back to where I ought to be.

The art of life

Today is Thursday. I have a list of things to do the length of my arm. I have accomplished maybe half of them. This morning I decided to throw the "need to" out the window & spend some fun time with my kids. We went to a kids museum, where they went art crazy as though we hadn't spent the morning up to our elbows in markers & crayons. I guess it's always better when it's someone else's supplies. I felt that way for a long time. My grandma is an artist (one of many in my family) and she always made sure I had art supplies. But it wasn't until high school that I started getting the good stuff: windsor & newton watercolors, prismacolor colored pencils, liquitex acrylic paints.

I've been doing watercolors again--they make for excellent backgrounds & small space fillers. And I have the giant John Pike palette, with many little rectangles filled with colors arranged chromatically. But the watercolor set that I keep coming back to, the one that I reach for first is the one that my grandma gave me for Christmas in 1994. It's a Windsor & Newton travel set. It has 12 tiny (8 ml) tubes of paint, and a #2 round brush, and the lid flips open to become your palette. Folded closed the whole thing is about the same dimensions of a business envelope. I'm not sure why it is my favorite--maybe because it was my first real set of tools, maybe because I made sure to toss it in my backpack every day for 4 years.

It isn't often that I am completely certain about something, but I am certain that I will use & treasure this set until the day it falls beyond repair.

Sneak Peek

I have finished the art for the next series that will be for sale on etsy.
I started with little rectangles that I painted with watercolors...

Then, I added the alphabet. And a few extras. Next step, I will glass & solder them. Then I can start on the next series, and work on some stuff I'm going to submit.
At this point I have enough ideas to keep me busy for quite some time.

It is just possible

that the top of my head will fall off. I have made a giant list of "things to be done for Etsy shop", as well as "creating curriulum to teach class at art center" (because I figure it's easier to hire someone who has a plan), and in addition to all that I have 2 projects for people who are getting married that need completion pronto.
All of this would be easy-peasy if I didn't have anything else to do....

And all of it is self-inflicted.
Clearly, I am crazy.

New Work

Up to my eyeballs!
5 new works up on etsy.
Also, working on new series and finishing old works.

Studio time

As an artist you try really hard to keep the ideas flowing. Sometimes there are days when you can't stop creating & then there are days when all you want to do is lay in bed.

As a mother there are many more days when you don't get to do either of those things. The house, children, and animals need tending to. Someone has to cook the meals, do the dishes and the laundry. Someone has to vaccum and sweep and scrub toilets. I try to accomplish all of the necessary chores before the kids go to bed so that I can slip down into the studio before I have to rack out and rest up. But then I also have to make time to spend with my husband and my friends (and update blogs!) . And I do. Surely this is not all possible in the given hours of the day. There can be only one conclusion:

I am living outside of normal time.

With this brilliant new insight I am off to scrub the toilets.
(Don't be too envious)

Open for bid-ness!

Howdy do!

My etsy shop is now up! I currently have 4 items listed as that is all that time allows, but I will be listing more in the coming days.

Go look!

NoRabbitsHere.etsy.com

Coming soon!

I have secured my storefront name on Etsy!

By this time next week, I plan to link you up.

Until then, troll the couch for lost quarters!

What's the buzz?

Hey! It had been about 6 years since I soldered anything so I thought I should practice before I put 900 degrees worth of molten metal near my collages. below is one of the 4 tests I did, and I have to say that it turned out quite well. I learned the importance of a well-burnished edge, and that taking it sloooow is alright. I also learned that the trickiest part of the whole procedure is getting the jump ring attached where you want it. Onward!

Busy busy!

Coming to an Etsy store near you! Collage pendants! All handmade by me, and dreamed up out of my overcrowded brain. I just need to encase each of the above gems in glass before I put them up for sale. Once they are up, then I will link you to my personal Etsy store. I am doing these in between working on the album covers for TGS. (And running a household. You know how it is.)
Ta, lovelies!

Things I do not like.

Oooh the list is long and plentiful, my friends, but at this moment bobbing at the top would be horror films.
Zombie movies in particular. I tried once, a long time ago, to watch Night of the Living Dead. The result was that I slept with my light on and a baseball bat under my bed for about a year. I am just not equipped to watch those kinds of films. They get into my brain and they haunt me for a long time. I can't simply say "the make believe is over now. go about your life."
Sadly, the Mister rates all zombie movies at the top of his list. Which means that there are many nights when he is watching a movie and I am doing something else...like updating my blog!

Also! I have discovered my one true kryptonite. Whining! I cannot stand the wheedling little voice that implies that I will do your bidding merely because you can make my brain melt out of my ears by continuing to vocalize in that manner. Enough! I say! (That's a lot of exclamation marks. Sometimes when I type an exclamation mark I hear a tiny voice in my head. It says ole[plus slanty accent thingy])

And lastly: I do not like that my day starts so very early. One should be allowed to sleep until the sun peeks over the horizon. So I am off to bed, in anticipation of another long and tiring day.

Goodnight, me lovlies!

Give and Take

I happen to be anal retentive about the most ludicrous things. (No, really, ask the Mr.) For instance, is it give and take or give or take? Can it be both? Is it? This will bother me like when you've got something stuck in your teeth and you can almost get it with your tongue, but you are miles from 2" of dental floss. The spoken word. Pronunciations. I am ridiculous about the way things are pronounced...but poor grammar just makes me shrug--hey whatever.

So...in that vein*, I have been in the studio arting it up for the Ghost Sonata and giving oral history lessons of the Cherokee Indians. I work in the afternoons when the Mr. is off and can watch the brood, or when Adrian (boy wonder!) is in afternoon preschool, and occasionally in the evenings if I haven’t used all my energy being patient and not yelling.
I have the art energy tonight, but yesterday! Yesterday morning I woke to a cheerful 4 year old demanding chocolate milk and something to snack on, and as I hefted myself off the pillow the muscles in my neck went into spasm. In a word: excruciating. It hurt more than my swollen face from Thursday’s trip to the dentist. I spent most of yesterday knocking back advil and wrapping a microwaveable heatpad around my neck. Today is ouch, but I figure I should hold off for at least one more day, as I work standing. OK, I work hunched over my worktable, but I am standing while I hunch so it’s all the same, really.


*the give/take vein. Not the anal retentive vein.

Success!

I have located the copper tape!
Let the soldering begin!

Once I find my safety glasses.
(How sexy am I?)

New week, new work...

But you can't see it yet because it's in progress and people are paying for it.

But I can tell you that a new president is a beacon of hope. It's the first time in a looooong time that I've been able to say that I'm proud to be an American. I don't expect miracles, but a return to dignity would be nice.

So very cold.

I am experiencing frosty unpleasantness. And as my studio is in the uninsulated basement, you'll have to forgive me for staying above ground wrapped in bankets and trying to push us closer to Spring.

The Ghost Sonata and Me!

Hey yo!

So, the super awesome fantastico The Ghost Sonata have picked me (yes, me!) to do their album artwork. I'm not sure if it's because I have an in or because I work for cheap (cheep cheep) but I don't really care WHY they picked me. I'm too busy doing the happy dance 'round my kitchen. Hot cha cha!

And also I am collecting my supplies to begin making jewelry for sale on etsy. Because why the hell not?

A new year!

And quite possibly a resolution I can keep: once weekly posting!

Coming to you live, from the cold north!

This weeks edition:

The Ghost Sonata and Me.

Stay tuned!