Eating it up

Well, Thanksgiving (that great American turkey day) is fast approaching, and I am jumping on a train on Tuesday morning to Colorado, to visit my family, and of course, eat my little heart out—literally.

I wish you all lots of gobbling and family fun. For those of you who are not in the U.S., I suggest you cook yourself a fine feast too, and in general, live it up while eating it up, in this fine month of November.

I will be back on December 1, and back in action on December 2 and 3, so talk to you then!

Rest in Peace

This is a blind contour drawing of my good old 1988 Honda Civic. I am posting it here today as a way of commemorating this wonderful machine that is on its way out of my life, and I really like Sarah’s way of commemorating things that she’s getting rid of by drawing them.

My car is old, and it’s finally come to the point that it’s no longer worth fixing up. I am not normally a car person—I just want to be able to get in the car and get where I’m going. I don’t much care about aesthetics, or speed, or having the latest technology. But this is my first car—I got it when I was just shy of 16 and even took my driving test in it! I drove it to prom and homecoming, across the country to college, carried all of my car-less college friends around in it. I’ve driven it on more road trips than I can count, moved 5+ times with it, and in general, this car has been a part of all of my major life events since I turned 16. So, you see, it is more a family member than a car.

Now, 10 years later, it’s done so well for me that we thought I might have this car forever, but it’s time to move on. I am getting excited about having a newer, more energetic car. One that I don’t have to wonder, “When is this car going to break down?” But, I am a pack rat, and perhaps this car is the biggest item I’ve ever clung to. My red Honda is still in the driveway, but it’s going to have to be towed out of here, unfortunately. It will be a sad day, but I hope to find another car that I can make new adventures with.

Thanks for reading my eulogy of sorts—Rest in Peace Big Red!

Happy Thursday!

Buttons, buttons

In getting ready for the Indie Sacramento craft show, I’ve been making some different items with my art. The first are some buttons/pins with different words and drawings on them. I have been wanting to make buttons for quite a while, but had never made the time. This craft show gave me a swift kick to get on it.

I had plans to get some little buttons made, but the company I wanted to work with had their 1 and 1/2 inch button machine break. So I opted for a 2 and 1/4 inch button because The UC Davis Craft Center, where I teach photography, has a button machine of this size. Since I was making them myself, I had the ultimate freedom to make as many designs as I wanted. I made six different ones (some based on prior drawings, some completely new). Here they are in all of their button glory:

It was really fun to see the final buttons, after going through the whole process. I made about 120 and sent 25 off to the craft show people because they are giving away free gift bags to the first 200 entrants. The button-making process is simple and fun, and it’s gratifying to see my art in little bit of a different format.

Climb

I sat down at my desk today with the image of a ladder in my head, and this is what happened on my paper:

“Climb,” 5 x 7 inches, pen and ink, marker (available in my shop)

It was fun to draw, but definitely one of those drawings where I had to keep revising what I though I was going to do. There was a lot of sitting back and trying to figure out what was missing. That is largely how I do a lot of these pattern-based drawings—sometimes I just start with one line or shape and don’t even have an overall image or idea to start from.

This type of creating keeps me open and sharp. Sometimes, if I sit down with too much of an idea, I am closed to other options that would make the drawing more interesting.

I find this to be true about making most anything (except perhaps the art of baking which doesn’t always benefit from improvisation). Writing, drawing, painting, cooking all benefit from a little in-the-moment improvisation and the basic goals of learning, exploration and fun. In general my hardest days as an artist (and probably as a person) are the ones in which I am so obsessed with perfection, or being “good,” that I won’t let myself relax and make mistakes.

I think it is safe to say that every drawing I’ve ever done and liked has had a “mistake” in it (a slip of the pen, a bleeding marker) which pushed the work in a new direction and took it someplace I never could have gotten without that happy accident.

And so, this is the creative process—always changing and moving. Always a process. I think the stairs or ladder are somewhat of a distant metaphor for my life right now—every day I’m taking some new step on this staircase to somewhere I can’t quite picture right now, but it’s there. Maybe it’s also a metaphor for the creative process—each artwork is just a piece of the staircase, as is each line and shape in that artwork.

A Laundry Love Letter

Sometimes the littlest things inspire me, and I am trying to teach myself the same principle in love. I grew up with a few too many romantic comedies teaching me that love=epic, sweep-you-off-your-feet escapades. What I have come to learn is that love shows up in the most unlikely place. Take laundry for example—

“Laundry,” 8 x 10 inches, pen and ink

These lines popped into my head one morning recently when I looked out the window to see my fiance pulling our clothes off the line (our house did not come with a dryer, and we haven’t bothered to buy one). I felt thankful that he was doing this sometimes annoying little chore, and that I was able to fully appreciate it, even in my morning hustle. The original is available in my shop. Prints to come.

Good Times

Last night’s show in downtown Sacramento was a lot of fun! We had great traffic all night and even live music! In the hustle and bustle, I neglected to take many pictures (or force my fiance, Mike, to take many), but here’s one that shows how I hung the Saving the World drawings:

I was happy with how things turned out and it was really fun to see all of these drawings matted, framed and hung together.

And now, a little peek into my Sunday. We woke up to a beautiful, sunny Fall day, and Mike and I decided to go on a long overdue bike ride to appreciate the farmland views. The weather couldn’t have been better (aside from a little wind)—crisp, but warm in the sun. The scenery was gorgeous—wide furrowed fields, glistening trees, and wispy clouds. Here’s a picture Mike took of me experiencing the farmland views:

The great e.e.

Every once in a while, I am knocked over by poetry. Sometimes it is just the right moment, just the right light, just the right poem to make me swoon. If you’ve been reading this blog you know that I love poetry, especially E.E. Cummings. Yesterday, reading his poetry at lunch, I fell in love again and felt so thankful that he lived and he wrote the poems he did. Here is a poem I discovered:

SNO

a white idea(Listen

drenches:earth’s ugly)mind.
,Rinsing with exact death

the annual brain
clotted with loosely voices
look
look. Skillfully

.fingered by(a parenthesis
the)pond on whoseswooning edge

black trees think

(hear little knives of flower
stropping sof a. Thick silence)

blacktreesthink

tiny,angels sharpen:themselves

(on
air)
don’t speak
A white idea,

drenching. earth’s brain detaches
clottingsand from a a nnual(ugliness
of)rinsed mind slowly:

from!the:A wending putrescence. a.of,loosely

;voices

There are so many words and ideas I love in this poem, I wouldn’t know where to start (although I do regret that I wasn’t able to duplicate all of the spacing in the poem through my blog text program).

E.E. Cummings can be a challenge to read because he throws out punctuation and pushes words together, messing with normal sentence structure. But if you can let go of normalcy, you can see where he is truly golden: I feel like he gets to the deepest truths because he goes beyond sense.

Enjoy!

Flutter

“Flutter,” 5 x 7 inches, pen and ink

Well, it feels like it has been forever since I’ve been on this blog! So many business things are taking precedence over the actual making of art (and blogging about it), but yesterday, I vowed that I would make time.

After a drive on the highway this morning to take care of some business (the actual business of setting up a legitimate art business), I came home with the image of a group of birds turning and fluttering above me on the road. Isn’t it amazing how a group will fly in tandem, doing all sorts of whirling tricks?

The drawing above, “Flutter,” is loosely inspired by this minor miracle! It’s for sale over in my shop.

Have you witnessed any minor or major miracles these days?

The Great Frame-up

I wish I had a spooky drawing for you on this 31st of October, but I’ve been participating in what I might refer to as “The Great Frame-up.” You may remember that I recently mentioned an upcoming art show and here’s the flyer:

In preparation for this show, I have been framing up a whole bunch of my work, including all 10 of the 8 x 10 inch Saving the World drawings, and some other small works. I will also be hauling along some large word paintings that have never been seen before (except by me, my fiance Mike, and my dog Lance)!
Here’s a sneak peek of some of the works hanging in random order on my wall (I apologize for the strange lighting—my house is very dark on this rainy day, and the glare on the glass is horrible with lights):

On another note, I also mentioned a second “art show” opportunity, but didn’t want to share the details until it was set. I can now officially say I will be participating in Indie Sacramento, a “trunk show and craft bazaar” happening in downtown Sacramento on December 6th. I will be selling prints of all sizes and whatever else I can dream up. It should be a great place to buy some creative holiday gifts! Check out their website (link above) to find out more about it (and check back here because I will be talking more about it), and come out and visit me, if you’re in the area!