For my second Found Art Tuesday I decided to not worry so much and just put something… anything out there into the world. While doodling on an envelope I realized just how often I do this and how the piles of scrap papers build up quickly. I never know what to do with them and they usually just get tucked away into a sketch book until the sketchbook can no longer hold all the scrap papers. I decided that I would put this envelope out into the world, and since it was an envelope, it would be perfect to hold a few little somtin’ somtin’s.
I love the idea of guerilla art and just putting stuff out there and the idea that anybody walking by can find it and how things like that just shake up the day and add interest to life. I have this real phobia though about people talking to me (face to face) about my art so I like the idea of scattering it far away so that they don’t track me down (as if anything I make was important enough that a person would track me down). I give props to Rosa for freeing so much artwork in her community that she has been featured in the news, something like that would probably make me hyperventilate :)
But for this piece, because it is not so important or I am not so attached to it, I decided it might be fun to just attach it to a street post in front of my house. When it came down to it though, I was too afraid, so I started walking down the alley. Sure enough, a guy is walking towards me, so I had to wait till her passed and then I was so afraid that people in the houses down my street were watching me. The street posts in the alley were too visible and so I started walking further away until I noticed some beautiful flowers at the edge of the alley against someone’s garage. I stopped to take a couple pictures of the flowers and while I did that I noticed a beautiful huge tree at the edge of the property. It was perfect to tack the envelope to. Inside I tucked a little note explaining that it was found art and that it should be taken, a tiny skein of handspun yarn, a 1″ button with a little sketch on it, and this wooden pendant with a locust on it. I notice people walking down our alley quite a bit so I hope someone takes it. I know this isn’t the theme, but I think I might continue to do Found Art pieces like this each Tuesday, as it was fun and I wasn’t stressing myself out about it having to be GREAT ART.
Oh, and Rosa tagged me for a meme, so you will probably see that tomorrow.
Inspired by this post by Lexi Boeger, I spun this yarn (on the left) on Sunday and immediately started crocheting it, into what will become a hat (right).
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I got a great package in the mail from the fantastic Natasha, full of fiber goodies. As I opened the package, all I could say was “oh my gosh, oh my gosh”. Is it wrong that when I saw those delicious locks, I just wanted to stick them in my mouth? The batt is just so gorgeous I am almost afraid to spin it. Thank you so much Natasha, this swap definitely rocked! Everything is gorgeous.
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Today I achieved a lifetime goal. I went to the gym begrudgingly, I didn’t think I would be able to go very far and wasn’t in a very good mood. But then… I ran one mile straight!
When I was in school, every year there was a unit where we were supposed to run a mile. I always participated in gym but with little enthusiasm, and did the training, running the straights and walking the curves of the track. But when it came to running the entire thing, I just could never do it. 7 years ago I added jogging to my regular exercise and discovered how much I loved running. I had a route I always did my walk/jog routines, hoping that someday I would be able to jog the entire path, but no matter how much I tried I could never lengthen the running sections. I always had this goal that someday I would be able to run an entire mile, but kept that goal far away by thinking that I would have to have lost weight before I could do it. Then I heard about the Couch to 5K program and read about people of all sizes being able to complete the program. I am still quite a way away from being able to complete a 5K but I can now proudly say that I can run one mile. AND by using this program I can also proudly say that I am slimming down as well.
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This weekend my friend Nikki was in town and she looked great. We got to hang out several days and she seemed to be doing so much better and had so much more strength and energy than the last time I saw her. She only got to be here for a short time between chemo treatments. Sunday she drove back down to St. Louis, where she is having her treatment, but she did say that she would be coming up again soon. I was just talking to her online, while she was at the hosptial and she said she had some really great news, her hormone levels have dropped so low that her dr. believes she will not have to go through as many treatments as they had originally predicted. She is doing amazing and I am sure all the positive thoughts and prayers have done wonders as well. This week she is going to have an appointment with her dr. to schedule another scan to see how things look inside, so please continue to keep her in your thoughts. Thanks.
The other day I had some guests over and after one made her way back from the bathroom she asked “did you make your towels?” She had thought because they matched my shower curtain and were embroidered I might have made them. I had to say “No, their a store bought set” This was then followed by a “you probably are so sick of people asking you if you made this or that, all the time”. I can’t say that I am bothered by it in the least. Being an artist and crafter and general “maker-of-things” I get asked this a lot. The funny part about it though is that I usually get asked if I made things like my Old Navy bag, store bought clothes, and handmade jewelry by other artists.Tee hee :D
Good news and bad news, what would you like to hear first? Okay, Bad news first. It’s not really bad news, just venting.
The internet is so great some times for connecting with others, inspiration and self education, etc. But there are some times when I feel it closes up our world. I found a link to an artists website and I was looking through her portfolio and was just in love with each item in there. But then I started seeing items that were almost exactly the same as pieces I had made, ranging from jewelry, textiles to even her drawing style and techniques within that style. Then there were pieces that she had made that I had thought of as well, but had not had time to execute yet. Her pieces were all lovely and done better than what I’ve done too. Now, I never thought I was the only one to ever make such things, but that a person made so many of the same things in the same manner and same style, it was like she was a better me. It’s like that idea that “everything has already been made” or “nothing new under the sun”. You start looking around and the things you prided yourself on have already been done and done better by someone else. It’s just disheartening.
But onto good news because honestly I’ve been in a great mood all day.
Things that are making me happy, and have put a smile on my face:
- This picture of my grandma when she was 18.
- Rosa and I “breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law” said in your best beavis and butthead voices. I haven’t opened my bottle of wine yet though.
- Buying tickets presale to some of the best concerts coming up, yeah, I’m seeing the Smoking Popes and Flaming Lips again as well as going to lollapalooza again this summer.
- The 10 free itunes downloads I got for buying the Lips tickets (they weren’t share-able though, like the one you sent me Chris, and I had to download them then and there, so they are on my work computer)
- It’s FRIDAY!
- Hopefully going camping this weekend with Jenny in Galena
- Having tons of energy
- Being able to run for two 10 minute stints and not feeling like I am going to die. Best run I’ve had in weeks, felt great.
- Being able to watch netflix movies from my computer at home, and not having to wait for them to come in the mail each time, yay!
- hearing the song “Hey There Delilah” on XRT and thinking of Nikki, that is her song.
- Matt and I having a Qdoba dinner date right after I finish this post. We haven’t gone out to eat all week long and that is an accomplishment.
It is Thursday evening already. Ever since I joined the YMCA and have been going there regularly after work, my evenings fly by. I get off work and next thing I know it is 10:30. I’ve actually hit a brick wall on the Couch To 5K program. Going from the two 8 minute runs into a straight 20 minute run scared the heck out of me. The day I was supposed to originally do the 20 minute run I quit after only running 5 minutes. In the meantime I have been repeating the two 8 minute runs every other day and they don’t seem to be getting any easier. Today I let myself have a rest day and didn’t go to the gym at all and almost didn’t know what to do with myself. I honestly wanted to just go to bed at 7. Instead I got up and went for a quick bike ride over to my parents and that woke me up.
Here are some pendants I have been making lately. I originally got the idea to do miniature wood burnt drawings for necklaces and found just the perfect sized wood at Michaels. Then the idea to add other things, such as the feathers and charms, came to me that same night in those moments right before falling asleep. I always have the best ideas just then and used to sleep with my sketchbook so that I could get up real quick and write them down before falling asleep. I’ve gotten out of the habit of that and just know I’ve lost countless brilliant ideas since then. I tell myself not to forget it as I am falling asleep but unless I write it down, it is gone forever. Anyway, the left one is up for sale at my etsy shop and the right one has been painted and it is the one I’ve been wearing all week.
I took Friday off from work and had such a great day. I was so productive and it felt great. By noon I had already done laundry, mowed my parents lawn, done dishes (that had been sitting in the sink for an embarrassing amount of time), organized my collage and scrap papers, went grocery shopping, went to the bank, and paid bills. Friday night my friend Jenny called and we ended up going out to a bunch of places.
During the evening we ended up going to a couple bars. As we walked into the last one, I said “I hope I don’t run into anyone I know”, and Jenny agreed fully. It’s a common occurrence when you live in the same town you grew up in. You are talking with friends and then bam, you get a tap on your shoulder and it’s some person that you went to high school with. Sure enough, both Jenny and I have high school encounters and we didn’t even go to the same high school and we weren’t even in our respective hometowns either. I don’t want to sound like a snob, truthfully I am painfully shy, so when people tap on my shoulder and expect some big reunion they are highly mistaken. I am sure most people walk away feeling just as awkward as I do that they approached to begin with.
The night ended for me at a bonfire at some rich guys house. I have no idea whose house it was, a friend of a friend kinda thing. They had about eight garage doors and the house looked more like an apartment complex rather than a house. It felt very much like that scene in Garden State where they are sitting around the fireplace in the rich friend’s mansion, only we were outside the mansion at the bonfire. The picture above is a photo I took of my friend Jenny at the fire, and her friend Nicole behind her.
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Each Sunday a new list of words is posted for free association from Subliminal lunanina. The idea is you post Subliminal Luninas words to your blog and then next to each word post the word that comes to mind when you hear the first word. My words are in italics.
- Situation :: cajun man (situaTION)
- Theme song :: Brady Bunch
- Kelly :: Jenny’s sister
- Club :: D.B.s as in douche bags, as in jerks
- Swerve :: crash
- Couch :: porch swing
- Bigfoot :: sasquatch
- Arbitrary :: nothing
- Inventor :: Me
- Blazer :: sister
We are having an amazing turnaround in weather here in northern illinois. It went from absolute horrible heat, to near hurricane weather and now it has settled down for a couple days in the 70s. The 70s people!
Yesterday I went out to lunch with one of my Tops of the Pops friends Erin, and she surprised me with this (above) awesome bracelet that she made. I just wanted to give a shout out to her, she now has an Etsy shop, wooo hooo!
Yesterday I was doing some research on wigs for cancer patients, regarding my friend who is losing hers. Naturally Locks of Love came up frequently and so I started looking at the info and was sickened to find out that LOL rarely gives wigs to children with cancer. Most (90% from what I read, according to this 2002 data) wigs and hair pieces that are given through LOL of are given to children with Alopecia or trichotillomania, that hair pulling disorder. AND according to LOL, which has been around since at least 1997, as of today, they have only donated 2,000 wigs and hair pieces to children. What happens to ALL the bajillions of pounds of hair they receive daily, weekly, monthly, if it is not being used to make wigs for children? Well… they sell it. That sucks. I know SO MANY PEOPLE who have donated hair through LOL and they were always so excited that their hair was going to be used to make wigs for kids with cancer and it isn’t the truth. I hoped that after reading that innitial article from 2002 to find that since then things have changed, but after going to the Locks of Love website I found it to be true. The organization was started by a woman who’s daughter suffered from alopecia and it even says on their site that hair is used to make hair pieces for children with LONG TERM HAIR LOSS. I just think it is so unfortunate that this organization has been promoted for something that it is not. I think that it is great that there is an organization that donates wigs to children with permanent hair loss, but it is unfortunate that somehow the idea has been spread around that it donates hair to kids with cancer.
My friend Jenny is back from her 6 month volunteer trip to Africa and she had a bonfire at her Folks’s house. This is a picture I took of matt playing with sparklers. You can kind of see him in the center.
I’ve been working on lots of framed yoyo sets and trying to stay cool.
