What's New Monday
08.21.06 12:56
"Mummies CAN Dance" 10" x 10" available on etsy
Hello my little empanadas,
Happy Monday! I hope you're all having a nice summer. It's winding down I see. Our lawn has officially dried out into a warm shade of yellow. August is on the down slope, and I'm sad to see it go! It's been really full of all of my favorite things..barbecues, swimming in rivers and lakes, bike rides, and eating pie.
I'm back in the studio after a week of hanging out with family. We camped out, swam, picked a million blackberries and transformed them into jam (and pie!), and had a big party on Saturday for my brother and my new sister-in-law. It's been awesome, but I am more than ready to be back in the studio today, getting down to business. Renegade is only a few weeks away, and the pile of to-do's are mounting.
It's been a weird transition, being a freelancer again. There are so many little kinks that I still need to work out. Mostly I just want to shake this feeling that I'm not doing things the "right" way. That feeling is the worst. Sometimes working on my own feels like this giant ship that I just barely know how to steer. And if I don't steer, who will? Pirates? No chance! You can't trust those stinkin pirates!
august ch-ch-changes
08.24.06 14:44
A hawk or falcon or some kind of large bird captured, killed, and flew off with a bluejay, right in our yard yesterday. This morning, a similar bluejay and hawk fight woke us up! I can't believe that last August we were in Brooklyn, dealing with entirely different kinds of scuffles, (burglars, people being shot in front of our apartment...).
It's strange how dramatically life changed because of the decision we made to move to Oregon, and the plans we put into motion, last August. It makes me think about all of the choices that I make everyday, and how they shape my whole life. What will I be up to a year from now? What will all of you be up to? It could be anything! Maybe I will start making August the, plans-in-motion-month, and check in next August to see how life has changed.
what's new monday
08.28.06 13:05
Nellie Bly, images from a History Place.
Hello friends! Happy Monday!
A nice warm last-weekend-in-August here in Portland land. The usual awesome-ness..barbecues, listening to some music, painting, strumming on ye olde ukulele....etc. I have a lot of new paintings, but they are all in the in between stages and not quite finished yet.
I also spent the weekend searching out free audio books to entertain me while I was working. I decided on listening to "Ten Days in the Mad House" by Nellie Bly. I remember learning about her when I was a kid, and was pretty happy to find this particular story floating around in the public domain. What an amazing lady, only nineteen and one of the first stunt reporters, (a lady stunt reporter in 1887! Who knew?). She manages to get herself committed to Blackwell Island Insane Asylum for ten days before her lawyer comes to release her. Oh man, it is a rough story. The treatment of the patients and ease that a person could be committed and trapped forever on that island will make your guts turn inside out. You can listen to the story for free, right here.
illustration friday
08.31.06 13:08
Ratty Race, for Illustration Friday
So I have a little bitty obsession with long distance running. Marathons, relays, that kind of thing. It could be that I grew up in Eugene, running capitol of the world in the 80's, home of sweat bands and knee high gym socks. It was the birthplace of Nike when it was still a cool little company, and a lot of running stars trained there... Mary Slaney, Alberto Salazar, Steve Prefontaine.
It could also be that my family is really passionate about running. We did lots of little races when I was younger, like the "Truffle Trot" on Valentines Day, "Fools Run In The Rain" on April Fools day, where you ran in costume. (tricky but fun.) And the toughest one, a 10k called the Butte to Butte on the Fourth of July. I have amazing memories of all of these races, and watching just about any race these days, makes me cry and cheer like a crazy lady.
There is a big race here in Oregon that happened this last weekend, called the Hood to Coast. Runners relay in a 195 mile course from Mt.Hood to..(you guessed it..) the coast. We just happened to be driving home late Friday night when some of the runners were making their way through Portland. Ahh! They were so inspirational in their reflective vests and head lamps, running along the dark streets. I cheered wildly out the car window, enough to spook some of them and make them twist around suspiciously.
I haven't ever done a real long distance run, and it breaks my heart. It's a big dream of mine to pull it together and train for the long haul. Inch by inch I'm making a little progress. I'm hoping to be ready for the Turkey Trot by Thanksgiving...