I have really been trying to keep my eyes open for images that might speak to me artistically.  I saw this bird in this ordinary tree in the parking lot at Home Depot.  It was a grey windy day and the bird faced the wind.  It was one of the coldest days we've had this winter and the sky was sullen.  The picture was taken with the toy camera app on my iphone.  I then grunged it up a bit with swanko lab and pic grunger.  I love the ethereal feel of bleakness and solitude.  It is funny that just under the tree were several vehicles and in the skyline were other buildings. 

The nature of art is to take what is in front of us and use it to speak creatively.  I think this is a good example of just being open to what is in front of me.  It was very cold.  I could have just hurried back to my truck with my head down and missed the bird.  I could have seen the bird and thought stupid bird don't you know its cold, go hind in some trees.  But instead I took off my glove, pulled out my phone and walked toward the bird trying to frame the picture without any of the commercial distractions.  I have to admit I got a little lucky.  The bird did not fly away.  Yeah, I know its a grackle and they are ugly, loud, stupid birds, but that doesn't translate in this photo. 

This a lesson I need right now.  To take what is freely given and use it to create.  Nature is so crazy to be always available to artists.  We just need to be resourceful and use the images and materials that are right in front of us.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Bottle up the charm.

Finished some bottles yesterday.  Not sure where these will go.  If I were very entrepreneurial I would make a cold call at a gallery/gift shop and see if they are interested.  I love making these.  What to put in the bottle, what drawer pull to cap it off?  How much bling to add?  Are words needed to convey the feeling I want to share?  The ones where I let the flow handle the decisions are easier than the ones that I worry about selling.  None of them have sold out of the arts school gallery so that may not be the place for them. 

Hopefully this jar will help with the key to fulfilling wishes that we keep bottled up.  

This one urges us to have a change of air and fly.  It has feathers inside and a small vintage bird charm attached to the neck.  This sentiment is needed by most of us.

Yes, that is a blue jay feather from my back yard.  It is beautiful.  This is very simple in design.  Nothing to distract from the gorgeousness of nature. The silver heart says it all. Love, love, love.

Had some insights last night while I pondered sleeping.  Hopefully will be able to melt wax and collage some images today.  Need to really construct a body of cohesive work.  The gallery has offered me a reception in March or April.  It is very exciting but scary.  I hope the weather is nice and I want to go out to the studio/workspace and work, work, work.

Like I needed a shot in the arm!

Two doctor visits in two days.  Two shots. No, I am not sick.  I am very seldom sick enough to visit the doctor.  I take some cholesterol medicine that requires blood work every six months. The last time I was at the doctor's office was when I sprained my ankle, therefore when I have to get my prescription refilled I have to be checked over.  You know the routine, blood pressure, weight (ouch), height, temp and breath capacity.  Oh, you don't get your breath capacity checked out? 

I had asthma as a child. Pretty bad but not hospitilation worthy just yucky medicine and inhaler bad.  No playing outside in the damp morning air (really made it hard to make friends on the playground).  As I grew older the asthma got better but I developed the weirdest allergies.  If I had dairy after sunset I had an asthma attack.  This was awful during the summer when you had cranked ice cream all day.  The oddest things would make me start to sneeze and fill up with mucus.  The problem is that the mucus wasn't all in my head it was also in my intestinal tract. ( I know too much infomation!)  I nearly always will have an allergy attack if I drink red wine, beer or whiskey.  I was able to drink all the vodka and tequilla I could hold.  But this made me an outcast at softball games when everybody is having a good time but sober me.

Well, because of my allergy and astma history my doctor felt it was necessary for me to have a flu shot even though it is almost the end of flue season.  She also thought I should get a pneumonia shot to protect my lungs because it seems that pneumonia is bad on them.  Evidently I do not hold enough breath in my lungs.  Who knew! 

It sucked being young and now it is sucking being middle aged.  I loved my 30's and 40's.  I wanted to love my 50's.  It could still happen.

Working to open the door.

The weekend is over and its back to looking for employment.  I have received lots of advice as to how to accomplish this.  Hopefully I can put it all to use and land a job.  I never thought it would be easy to enter the job market after a twelve year hiatus but I also thought my self employment and non-profit activities would be considered as worthy consideration of how I spent those years.  Oh well, sometime, somewhere, someone will hire me.  I only need part time right now.  The most often repeated advise is you need a job to get a job.

On the art side of life, I sold a small piece out of the gallery.  A woman bought "Klee Smile" for her grandson.  It reminded her of graffiti art which he admires.  There was only one student for the encaustic workshop on Saturday.  Still had to lug everything to the school and then back home but you never know what you will need. It was fun helping someone discover a medium.  She really liked the immediate gratification of producing art but was disconcerted by the odor.  I don't think she will be exploring the world of wax.

Sunday was spent watching tv with Maya in my lap.  That and cooking, cleaning and laundry.  Watched three episodes of "The Closer" that I hadn't seen.  Made sense of some story lines that follow these episodes.  I am not a fan of the accent but I love the reasoning process and the instinct to solve the crimes.  Also love a strong woman on tv who also can display weakness that doesn't destroy her credibility with the other characters or the audience.

The plan for today is to jump in the shower, get dressed as for work, leave the house, send resumes and do some more networking.  Hopefully I will be able to do some art this afternoon.  I need to finish some bottles and melt some wax. Really need to open all the doors that I come across to be the best I can be as a working artist.

Working

 I did my biggest piece of encaustic.  This is 24"x24" on a deep cradled board.  Not having a digital camera I took pictures with my iphone.  There is something weird that happens between my phone and my computer when I download images.  They get flipped onto their side.  I have issues with right, left and directional.  Therefore when I try to flip again they get all wonked up.  This piece could be hung from any perspective although I do have a favorite.  The only thing I don't like is the spottiness in the red.  It is currently hanging in the Visual Expressions Gallery in Cedar Hill if you would like to see it in person.  I left it to Javier to determine how he would like to wire it to hang.



I also did a small bottle this last week.  It is small!  But I love the sentiment of remembering the past bling that fell apart but is still cherished.

Changing the subject, I am looking for employment outside my home.  I need to get out of the house and connect more with people.  My husband is self employed now and can handle anything that would come up while I am at work.  If you know of anything that you think would be good fit for me please let me know.  I know my dream job of working in the arts is probably a little unrealistic but you never know unless you put in the universe.

I am still teaching encaustic workshops at the Creative Arts School on the third Saturday of each month.  It is so much fun to share the wax with artists.  The rent houses are stable and steady.  So I am facing a new phase of life. I hope to meet new people and learn new skills.

Looking out the kitchen window and the traffic of life.

My kitchen window is over the sink and I always keep the shades open.  This enables me to look out into the backyard a lot during my day.  In the morning there are squirrels and birds eating at the feeders or on the ground.  The winter view is stark with bare limbed trees and brown grass.  Spring is the most fun with the greening of plants and increase in bird activity.  Summer is also very busy with the bird bath being frequented and fought over sometimes by the nosy blue jays.  Fall is beautiful with the changing colors of the leaves and the way they fall silently down to the ground.  I love my back yard.

We had company last night.  A friend who had just recently killed a beautiful buck and a feral hog on his seasonal hunting trip.  He then spoke of his love of the outdoors and how he could sit for hours waiting for the opportunity to see wildlife.  The way the squirrels and the birds behaved without knowing he was present. My thought was that I have that,minus the deer and hog, without traveling.

He then started to complain about the noise of the traffic that passes in front of my house.  I said that you stop worrying about it after awhile.  You hear it but its like the ticking of clock or the snoring of a dog.  Its sometimes brought to your attention when your worry about what time it is or where exactly is the dog and what is it doing.

The traffic noise is part of the background to my life and I can  gauge how the weather is just by listening to the sound the tires make on the pavement.  The shhhhhhhing noise of the wet.  The silence when it is so very icy and the occasional crunching when someone is brave enough to traverse the ice.  Morning is always about the traffic.  It makes me feel connected and helps to realize I am not alone. 

My mom complains about traffic in front of her house.  I don't think she likes being surrounded by others.  I want to always be surrounded by things I care for and the rest of the world is part of what I care about.    Life does exist for others and they have jobs, children, relatives and responsibilities that require they get in their cars and travel down the roads in front of peoples houses.  Sure, some people will hide away on roads with less or no traffic and pat themselves on the back for their good sense.  But for myself I like where I live.  I like thinking about the lives that are passing by and hoping that today is a good day.

Wet morning.

Hey y'all.  This morning is wet but warmer.  I have hibernated inside for the last three days.  Just needing to be on pause for a while. 

I have already cleaned out the fridge this morning.  Which was quite a task.  There were  things in there that would scare you. Filled up a recycle bin with old glass and plastics from the discarded juice, salsa, cheese, dip and condiments.  Hopefully this will be a step in getting  tasks done that I have been putting off.

Went outside to take a few pictures.  I love the small moments of space in my backyard.  I need a better camera to capture them.  These were taken with my iphone.  A new camera will need a micro lens and the one to take pics from a distance (can't remember what you call that).  Money is tight so not sure when that will happen unless I can get a good deal.

I also started a project that I have been delaying for months.  Its a creative prompt book that I hope will help me get in the groove and out of my insecurities about my artistic abilities.  I need to open that stream and let it flow.  I know all the things I need to do to be who I want to be as an artist but the fear crept in this past holiday .  Its funny how small conversations can become such big hurdles. 

Hopefully everyone will have a productive day. 

Putting away and cleaning up.

Okay,  i just deleted two paragraphs of griping and whining.  You don't need to be a witness to my pity party.  Christmas tree is gone but lots of decorations still waiting to be packed away.  Trying to conceive a transition from christmas to valentines.  I love the excess of red and the warmth it creates although I am thinking of going silver and white next year. 

I have the new big cradled boards gessoed and ready for wax.  The fear of using so much wax and not getting it right is stopping me from diving in to create.  Small pieces need to be done to get the art flowing onto the substrate and out of my head. 

Unfortunately all the art will have to wait until after I get my mom's stuff straightened out.  Her last bedroom is painted but she still does not have enough space for the trailer full of stuff my brother brought from Jacksboro.  So I will be cleaning out her garage (which really means just moving stuff around since she doesn't want to get rid of anything).  Hoping the sun will shine today to make it a more cheerful job.  I really need to find my ipod so I can get a music groove going.