Hey Friday. This week has been confusing. Doc appointment yesterday meant I only taught half the day, got up first and worked, then went to doc, then to school. It was tiring, but being at school all day would have been as well. Just a different tired. Worked a lot of hours despite the half day. Grades are due Tuesday and I’m trying to get caught up. Always. Always trying to get caught up. This weekend is crazy busy, though, and that’s without putting grading time in. Ugh. Last progress report of the year though. That’s finally happening! Woo hoo. Getting to the end will be sweet. I hope. Gotta survive the chaos before that.
Speaking of chaos, I finished numbering the big drawing. Took two nights…
and almost two hours…
Numbers in a circle are because I couldn’t fit the number in that particular part, so there’s a line going to it…
OR the piece continues…there’s usually an arrow to tell me that too, to look for the rest of the piece.
There’s 1644 pieces. Actually, there’s 1647 pieces…I have two ‘a’s’ and one ‘b’ because I missed something as I was numbering and I wanted those pieces to have numbers close to their neighbors.
In the past, I have double numbered pieces…somehow started counting 40 or 50 pieces below where I was and had 40 or 50 ‘a’s’. I’ve also skipped pieces before, up to 200 of them. So you never know what my brain will have done at 10 PM on a Thursday night. Could be logical. Could be not.
I do know that now it’s time to trace…and I’ll be here for a while. Maybe 20 hours? There’s some big pieces in there. They take longer to trace. But there’s also a ton of little pieces. Because I’m me and that’s how I roll.
There are 34 days of school left. Four of those are testing, one is graduation, there’s one field trip to Belmont Park, and I’ll be out for two days. It feels doable and yet the longest stretch of time possible to endure. And my surgery will almost definitely be the first week after school gets out. Sounds easy, quick recovery (knock on wood), good odds there will be no nasty surprises. The house is finally getting fixed from January’s flooding…the drywall looks great. So painting the hallway and doing carpet is on the summer to-do list, maybe painting the bedroom as well, but that might be a bit much for me. I’d like to relax, read books, and make art too. Plus visit the girlchild. That would be nice. Hoping to do that in late July. We’ll see.
Nova loves geckos more than they love her.
Actually, they seem to ignore her completely.
OK. Teaching planets and gravity today. Debating how to go about it. Thinking more independently than not. I think that’s the way to go for my mental health. I’ll do the notes with them, and then they can go do the slides on their own. Easier on all of us. I can get some grading done and they can go at their own pace. We did that yesterday and it was pretty chill. I’m up for more chill, especially with two labs next week. Which ended up two days in a row because of my eye doc appointment and some crazy photography shit we had to shove into the week at the last minute, plus there’s an assembly. Crazy week. It’ll be fine.
After school, I get some clay time (I earned it), plus tracing at home. Apparently cooking dinner. Then get through the weekend, getting as much done as efficiently as possible. Which is mostly how I roll. When I roll (read, hike, sleep should be part of this). Come back next week and do it again.
OK, my art brain finally kicked in a little stronger. Not sure why? But I appreciate. Monday after school, I went to the ceramics studio and made a base and the start of the next piece. I really wish I had my sewing machine so I could start the fabric bits of the ceramics that are done, and I wish I had the brain power to figure out how to glaze the bisqued piece (too many decisions), but for now, I just wanted to start something new. I had an idea and there was a bowl in the studio to help me out, so now I have this…
A possibly much sturdier base than the previous one. I hope.
Then I started this…
Needs work…
Also needs to stay under 17″ so it fits on the shelf. Also has paper towel wadding to hold the butt up (it started to sag). So we’ll see how that worked on Friday, when I have time to go back.
Meanwhile, parts of the drawing were slowing me down…the one side on the left, for reproductive rights, and the bottom, under the women’s feet. I did add body bags to the right.
Monday night, I added the crouching woman with the man pointing at her, then last night, the rest popped in.
Thinking of women dying because they’re denied basic healthcare related to pregnancy, thinking of unwanted children or children born into families that can’t afford them because they had no choice, thinking about men who spill their sperm and are never held to the same standard as pregnant women, never have to be responsible. Society places all of that blame on the female. So yeah. I guess I channeled some of that anger. Then the base wanted a magma chamber underneath it all. Seems fair.
Here’s the whole thing…
The drawing is 42″ x 70″. Not small. Good though. I’m happy with it. Good thing because I’ll be working on it for the next three months probably. Time to draw it? Well the original drawing of the women was about 90 minutes to 2 hours (I don’t keep track ALL the time), and then drawing full size, which I do keep track of, was 6 hours and 12 minutes. Not bad. Lots of staring at blank paper though. Looking forward to making it. I’ll number tonight…hopefully.
I love when these things pop open. They’re so weird looking.
Nature is whack.
The book I started reading last night (that almost kept me from going to bed) had this great Author’s Note at the beginning…
I love that. I just need to know she’s gonna be OK.
Speaking of being OK, I have an eye doc appointment next week for the weird swirling black hole universe I see in the dark. They keep warning me about flashes of light and going to the ER (ah, retina detachment), but the last doc didn’t know what it was…he couldn’t see any evidence of what I was seeing (good? or?). So I got leveled up…to a 3-hour appointment. Woo hoo! Another morning off school. Ugh. Tomorrow is the boob surgeon. Next week, eye. Or is it eyes? I don’t really know. It seems to be the right eye, but I’m not sure it’s not my brain. So there’s that.
All fun times. Today? Teaching embryology (fun) and comparative body structures (also fun unless you have the kneejerk creationist class) who just refuse to see any of it. Whatever. I’m not in charge of you people. I’m doing my best to show you the things. And next week, with the doctor appointment and some picture thing the 8th graders have to do, I’m not sure where to put the lab I was gonna do. Ah well. Things will happen when they happen. It’ll be fine. Then pilates after school and book club (not sure which book, but pretty sure I read it). Then numbering that beast. I’m guessing 2000 pieces. And I’m OK with that. Meditation by numbers.
So I was productive this weekend; always feels better than when I’m not. I got all three of the big plants I bought planted, although the first one was such a challenge that I thought the next two would be horrendous too, but they were easy peasy. Nice that. Don’t give up! It might be easy the next time. Am I done planting and weeding and trimming? Never. I met this guy…I left his weed standing so he could continue to shelter sort of under it.
It’s OK. There’s lots of weeds out there. I left a bunch. My protea is gonna bloom nicely this spring…
I have two volunteer tomatoes…one is inside (it’ll have to move) and one is tiny…
They’re both compost tomatoes. Best kind. I let the mice eat them really, they’re so tiny. Must have been cherry tomatoes.
So artwise, I got this one out of the kiln and now have to decide on glaze…
She’s from February and is meant to have a tiny quilt hanging inside her.
Then I got this one together and onto a shelf.
Hopefully she holds up. I changed her a little, moved the mug. Now I get to start something new…although I should figure out glaze first on that other one. Two drying, one bisqued.
Then I worked on the big crone drawing…
Added a barn owl and some bombers…and a cat.
Then sketched out what’s next down below…
Hopefully I’ll draw that tonight. And I did more up top…
Oh, I forgot, I framed this for a FIG show that will open next Friday at Liberty Station at the Dance Place hallway gallery.
My co-artist used this for a digital piece she made that I haven’t seen finished yet, and then I made that smaller quilt from another digital collage she did. So we’ll have four pieces hanging together in the show.
We also went on a hike Saturday…lots of flowers…
And one big coyote that kept traveling toward us until it found its way up the hill.
So one of the thing that has needed to be fixed for about 6 months is my stained-glass side window in the entryway. The supports had come loose and it would wiggle and make noise if the door was closed too hard. It’s been there since before we moved in, so probably from the 80s. The previous owner made it. The wood around it has been an issue too, so with the repairs related to the January flooding, I had asked for the wood to be replaced. It took a while to find a glass expert…
But he had a plan for it…enclosing the art glass in layers of tempered glass to protect it and weatherproof it and stabilize it. Sounds good.
So they leveraged it out of there on plywood…and now we have this lovely view for 4-6 weeks.
It has a tiny gecko door in the bottom left. The cats are excited. The entryway is also very dark now.
Saturday night’s dinner drawing…
They forgot about us so I got more of the drawing done. It’s been hard to finish one lately (and this one isn’t finished); they bring the food out so fast.
OK. So drawing tonight, clay this afternoon, staff meeting with homework (ugh). Teaching today is an assessment of what we did for most of last week. We’ll see how that goes. The previous assessment was eh. So many kids didn’t turn it in that it made it easier to grade. I did that this weekend, all but one class. So hopefully I can get through that class today as they’re doing the next assessment. Getting closer to the end…one more short unit, then test review, egg drop, sex ed, and I’m out! OK. That’s a lot. This week is a lot. Getting there.
Ugh. Tea. More tea. I don’t know what’s up with my sleep these days. I can FALL asleep, which is nice, because that used to be an issue, but after about 2:30 AM, it’s a crapshoot as to whether I’ll STAY asleep. Or toss and turn. Lie there watching the light increase, feel everyone fussing around me, wonder when the alarm will actually ‘wake’ me up. Huh. Could do without it. I get to the end of the day and feel like a mack truck rammed me.
Some drawing has been happening. Not a ton, but some in the last two nights.
OK, maybe that is a lot. I drew a crone; she’s part of a tree, like a Mother Tree overhanging this group of women. She is holding onto war, not because she wants it, but to protect the women from it. I stared at pictures of really old, wrinkled people when drawing her.
Hence the knuckles, which I’m really excited about. This arm is not done. It needs things.
But I’m in love with the hand.
Not so in love with war. The effects of war…on families and children especially. I’ve taught too many kids from the Middle East to ignore the effects of war on kids. Just stop. There’s a lot of anger in the world right now, a lot of people trying to grab a bigger piece of pie instead of trying to make peace. I’m not a fan. So if you’re killing kids or kidnapping people or bombing hospitals or destroying people’s homes? I’m not for you. I may have empathy for things that happen to you or your people; I may want you to have a home, somewhere safe that is yours, but not if that’s how you’re handling it. And I realize sometimes you feel you need to protect yourself (Ukraine, I see you), but I’m not sure that’s legit if you are killing kids or aid workers or health workers in the process. That’s me, though. I’m one person. But this quilt has some war in it. Some aftereffects of war. It’s also going to have some reproductive rights in it, because that’s another kind of war. Another place where I don’t think what people are doing is legit, putting women’s lives at risk, even the aftereffects of forcing pregnancy on one gender and not the other. I wouldn’t choose to force it on anyone…again, I’m thinking about the kids…I want them to be wanted, to be loved. I’ve seen what happens when they’re not.
So all that is in my head as I draw. Clay this afternoon…gonna try to put her back together. We’ll see. I have about 78 things I need to do this weekend, so if I have to come back and do that later, I will, but the goal is today.
Those illustrations are too real. This week was a shitshow. It’s not over yet, but I am only teaching half of today, and it’s independent, shut up, I explained it yesterday, I need you to do things on your own, you’re going to high school in four months for goodness’ sake. I realized I’ve been ON, direct instruction, ALL week, and that is part of the tired. Also revising the curriculum from day to day. Yesterday, I stayed after school for 90 minutes just to get ready for being in a literacy meeting this morning. I had to make a video for the absent kids. I had to copy seating charts, write sub plans, I forgot to put the pens out (I’ll do that this morning), and because I had no projector for two days this week, everything was off. Plus we got voluntold for something next week that thoroughly fucks everything up, and today I get to tell the literacy coaches I’m not doing any more of that for the rest of the school year. I’ll do these meetings and try to plan for next year, but I’m not taking any more time from stuff my kids need for state testing. Sorry. Not sorry.
I don’t need to be violent. Just not tolerating your shit.
Simba misses the boychild. This is his bedtime side-eye. You? I have to sleep with YOU? He does like me. He even cuddles. But there’s not enough room for all of us (cat, dog, two people…luckily the other two cats are staying away at the moment).
OK. Literacy AM. They’re gonna want decisions about next year and I don’t have the working brain power for that right now. And I’ll let them know that. Then teach in the afternoon…should be pretty chill, but you know how that goes. Stand on a corner for afterschool duty. Then go play with clay. Come back, cook dinner, prep art to be delivered tomorrow. Read my book. SLEEP. Although it’s still the SAQA conference, so I’ll be up early. Ugh. No sleep for the weary. At least it will be a weekend.
Oh my. This week is coming after me with a vengeance. My counselor used to tell me that I lived for stress, that it propelled me, and I don’t think that’s true, but it is true that I can rise (and fall) to the occasion. By the way, if you’re worried that I’m not doing fabric things too…I am. I sewed a label on Monday night, and last night, I did some drawing on the next big quilt, which I might start before I finish the other two. Oh wait, I’ve already started if I’m drawing, huh? So yeah, let’s do the fabric-related stuff first. I taped the big drawing together on Friday or Saturday night…can’t remember. Then I’ve been letting ideas percolate in my brain. I’ve got this whole crone/Mother Tree thing reverberating as all the crap comes in from the states banning abortions and letting healthy women get sick before they deal with miscarriages etc. I’m so angry about that. Nah! Medicine is stupid, right?! I tell you, we deserve to die out at the moment with some of the stupidity that abounds. So somehow all that is gonna get into one drawing. OK. A challenge. I need a challenge that takes my brain off work right now. So last night, I cleared everything OFF the drawing, then penciled a crone and a tree in (which you can’t see), but also finished all their legs and feet (which I didn’t photograph), and started with missiles.
The thicker black line is from the original drawing…the thinner is what I was adding.
Like I said, missiles. More to go. Now I have a plan. I only had about 25 minutes. After dinner and doing computer stuff to totally revise what I’m doing because my digital projector bulb at school went out Monday morning and they still haven’t found a replacement so I’ve been teaching without one and/or in the library, which is killing my hips for some reason…standing in there is just really bad on my body for some reason. I’m wearing different shoes today and trying to remember to sit down, but it’s a shitty setup in there, my kids all try to sit with their friends and then talk, which they won’t do in the assigned seats in the classroom. As much. Let’s be real. The worst part is the lack of communication from the district and our IT person. Literally no one answered the emails. It wasn’t until yesterday at 9:45 AM, almost 24 hours after the first email went out, that I knew we didn’t even HAVE a replacement bulb. Because why would we keep those around? Because teachers can’t teach without them? I did make a comment to my principal about feeling sick leave coming on if one didn’t show up for today (it won’t; hence my revising last night at 9 PM, fuckers). So. Yeah. My legs are already pissed at me. SCHOOL. Also don’t ask about literacy, the sub plan I don’t have for Friday because IDK what I’ll be doing or how far I’ll be or even what room my poor sub will be in while I’m doing literacy, so I guess I’m writing that Thursday night? Or next week’s stuff that I didn’t ask for. I’m not sleeping again. Grinding my teeth.
So in response? I’ve been claying more. I was so pleased on Monday…I finally got Her Weirdness done…
The holes in the arms are for hanging fabric wings of some sort. The tubes on top, fabric hair of some sort. If I ever sew again.
I’ll sew again. No worries. The back is not as exciting. And then, when I was trying to get her on a drying shelf, she tumbled. Sigh. She didn’t tumble far, but far enough. Ceramics is breakable and a pain and melts when it’s hot and is sometimes unpredictable and cracks and shit happens. I remember that. And it’s OK. It really is. She tumbled because I’m short. And now I know how tall the tallest lower shelf is and I will plan for that. Maybe. Really. I’m not good at following the rules anywhere.
So I started reassembling. Monday was really going to be putting the head on, triumphantly putting her on the drying shelf, and then finishing the planter that was going to be a mug but that was too big. Ha! That’s a no. So I went in yesterday too, just because I didn’t want to leave it until Friday and have parts drying all over the place. And first, I finished the damn planter to get SOMETHING on the drying shelf.
I know. Not fancy. Just a planter. I do have plans for some pretty utilitarian stuff.
And then I started in on her. There was one person in the studio when I started and he left pretty soon after, and then it was just me and that damn fly that wouldn’t leave me alone. I fixed both hands and the head, which had a crease in it, and then the cat, the poor cat, who is still missing some leg parts and her tail (that’s Friday). She looks angrier, which is acceptable…
That one eyelid. I thought about fixing it but I kind of like it. Yes, she separated in the middle, so I’ve been rehydrating that join on both sides, but everything else was so fragile, I didn’t want to try putting her together again yet. The left arm broke in half with part of the supporting wing, so I had fixed that on Monday, and did more repairs on it yesterday. It’s missing part of the bottom, so that’s a Friday fix. Can’t do it now, because it’s lower than the rest of that part. Can’t have it leaning on that. Then on the bottom, I fixed the snake head and tail, plus that weird lip the cat stands on. Those need to solidify before the next step.
I had this whole moment of ‘this is why clay is annoying; it breaks and shit happens’ and then I remember fabric has its own issues of dyes bleeding and machines refusing to stitch and looping thread nests, and I’m like, all these are solvable problems. I have the expertise and the knowledge. I can fix things. So I did. I can’t say that I didn’t cry a little bit on the way home, but that’s more a Holy Shit Can the School Year Just Fucking End thing than desperation because of clay breaking or no sewing machine or no projector bulb or Please Pile More Shit on Me school crap.
Big deep breath. Today is a mess. Tomorrow is a semi-mess. I will do fabric-related things both days while trying to plan school crap. I have so many things that need to get done that are not happening. Friday I will put Her Weirdness back together and get her on a shelf. Then I get to start something new in clay. Which sounds nice. Maybe something less than 17″ tall so it will fit on a shelf. Good plan. Today is all the things. In the library. (with a knife? or a bulb?) Then union meeting, late pilates, dinner, work(?), then draw. Sounds nice when you get to the end.
This is too real…
They forgot 7. Draw random scribbles that don’t look like anything and then gaslight your teacher by proclaiming, ‘But that’s what I saw!’. Yeah.
I’m concerned about the baby owls. We definitely had two. We could see them in the hole of the box in the videos. Then there was a lot of screeching Monday night. Last night, I never heard a baby. There is video of mom or dad(?) dropping food off. Maybe mom is laying another egg and babies are quiet because she’s in there? Hopeful. Don’t remember any quiet nights in the last two years though. Hoping everything is OK. Last year, there was one, then it went quiet, and then it was about three weeks before we heard another one. And we found one skeleton in the box. So yeah. Hope on.
Good morning. Or morning, as I prefer. I mean, maybe if I looked out my window and saw endless forest vistas and no humans, maybe that would count as a good morning, especially if I could roll over and go back to sleep, but that’s not really a common occurrence for me. Unfortunately. There are 43 days of school left. I did not accomplish much of anything this weekend except spending time with visiting family, which is a good thing…so there’s that. But I have no lunches prepared for school for this week (yet), I forgot to defrost my breakfasts so I’m eating cereal (at least I have that), I graded one assignment and posted one assignment, no two (it’s fine; I can do it during class), and I planned nothing for next week. That worries me a bit, but I’ll just have to work more during the week to get there. I also lost my mat cutter somewhere in the house, and I need to cut two mats. I don’t want to buy another new one. I know how to cut mats without it, but it’s a pain. So there’s that.
So WTF did I do? The Man’s band (Radio Thieves) had a show on Friday night…they opened, so I was home by 11 (good thing really…I was exhausted)…
I did not go to bed right away, though, because that would make too much sense. I taped more of the drawing together and added paper to the top and bottom for more drawing.
Went to bed way too late, then got up way too early (for my weekend brain) for the online SAQA conference. I did the morning coffee meetups, then took a shower, drove to the ceramics studio, and listened to all the webinars…well, in between people trying to talk to me. I did put a neck on the head and forgot to photograph it (I’m really bad at remembering to photograph things there)…then added grass to the bottom of the planter.
This was going to be a mug until I realized how big it would be.
All my home mugs have cracks in them right now. I’m waiting for them to leak. So far, so good. But I wanted to make a mug of my own. And since I don’t throw on the wheel, handbuilt is how it’s gonna be. I’ll get there. But this is a planter.
After ceramics, I putzed around the house a bit, trying to get my brain to function, then headed over to my parents’ because my brother, my SIL, and one of my nephews were in town to visit colleges, and we were gonna hang out. Which is what we did…both Saturday night, and then Sunday night, with a hike on Sunday afternoon as well. Lots of family fun and arguments about nipples. Don’t even ask.
Saturday night, after we came back, I finished the binding and sleeves on this…
It just needs a label and hanging slats and it’s ready for delivery on Saturday…but I need to frame the drawing; hence the need to cut the mat, so that’s a thing to figure out this week.
Here’s one hike picture…
And one nephew picture, with Simba…
Last night, we got home later and there was no art happening. There wasn’t much of anything happening except folding my laundry. So there’s a hefty to-do list this week, but it was worth it. Not sure how Kitten feels about it.
Yeah. I feel that way this morning too. Fill up the teacup a little more.
This sucks. I’m glad I was able to see some of her work in person in Los Angeles last year.
Her work was some of the first quilt work I saw that wasn’t traditionally pieced and seemed to tell a story. She was an amazing storyteller. The world will miss her insights.
Leaving you with this…
Am I the only one who wants to know what’s under that black rectangle? There are a lot of pictures of emotional support sharks on the internet. Who knew?
OK. School…kids are finishing up an assignment from last week that does not require a lot of my input, except for all the kids who were absent half of last week for Eid and other excuses, so yeah, that’s fun. I can hopefully plan some space stuff for next week (if the other teacher answers me) and post things for the rest of this week, plus write sub plans to be out half a day for literacy on Friday. Fun times. Then a staff meeting about state testing and hopefully ceramics studio time, plus yardwork, making lunches for the rest of the week (it would be nice to have something besides random food I found in the freezer), starting to iron that one quilt together or drawing the next big one. The sewing machine is awaiting parts with no estimate of when they will arrive. Frustrating, but I will survive. No, I don’t want to borrow other people’s machines. I hate trying to sew on other people’s machines. I will just do other things until I get mine back. Thank you. I’m so tired, y’all…I guess this is how we do the next 43 school days.
Hey. Am I glad it’s Friday? Fuck yeah. This week has been a mother. Not the good kind who takes care of you. The other kind. One more day of school…well, 44 more days of school. Had a third of my kids out yesterday, more like half on Wednesday. And yet we teach on! We’re so close to state testing that we can’t just stop. Since the start and stop of Ramadan are dependent on the sightings of crescent moons, some kids didn’t know when it would start (they should watch the news!). And some came back yesterday…but some said they wouldn’t be back until Monday. And then the other kids seem to be out in sympathy with them? Or? Whatever. Most of this week’s school stress has been adult-related or program-related or organizational-related. This whole year has basically been that. The kids are not horrible…they’re not great sometimes. There’s a lot of apathy that drives us nuts, but there’s no constant bad behaviors that make the days horrible, like last year. So that’s good. It’s just a lot of other stuff: do this, do that, now do this. Ugh. I don’t have time to do all the things.
Anyway, today they are working on a natural selection comic, which is pretty chill, so I can like grade homework or plan space…I should plan space. I’m teaching that a week away. I need to figure that shit out.
So exhaustion. Too many late-night wake-ups, not going to bed early enough. This morning’s blood sugar was high…because I was dreaming? I don’t quite remember what I was dreaming, but it was stressful. Environmentally stressful.
Keep making things. That’s my plan. So I had enlarged a drawing I did before. I had some ideas for a crone quilt, but these women are too young, but that’s OK. I think I can make it work like I want. I don’t like the middle head, so I’ll need to fix that. Anyway, Wednesday night, after pilates and working on school stuff, I started taping this thing together…
I did not finish. There’s a hole in the middle. There’s more legs. It’s going to be big. I’m OK with that.
I also started the handstitching on the binding last night…
I should be able to finish this over the weekend. The Man has a show tonight and my brother and part of his family are in town, but since I need to deliver this next weekend, it needs to be done. Also I need to find some decent matboard in my stash to frame the drawing that will hang with it. Ugh. Time.
Absolutely no clay has been touched since Monday. I was hoping for today, but I have to take two animals to the vet after school for regular tests/etc so they will continue to give us meds.
Luna looks like she’s about to attack Simba, and Simba looks like he knows it. The boychild is working part of the week, so Simba gets to sleep with us. He’s been pretty good.
I did have my stitching meeting last night, so I got this mostly done, except for the flowers…
Check out the book Kitten’s reading.
It’s a very visual way to figure out what things in nature are. I read through a bunch of it Wednesday night when I couldn’t deal with life. It’s always amazing how little we know. Fascinating stuff though.
OK. Watch them draw today, encourage them to be done drawing. Finish planning. Do the other things that need doing. Take animals to the vet, figure out dinner, then go watch the Man’s show, which thank goodness, is early. Then sleep, beautiful sleep. Or maybe stitch for a bit first. Then get a million things done this weekend. No problem.
Happy Eid! If you celebrate it. I have a chunk of kids who will be out for the next three days. Unfortunately, I can’t quit teaching for those days, so I’ll need to record some videos at some point to explain what they’re missing. Because it’s a lot of my high-level students. I’m not sure WHEN I’m going to record those videos because my to-do list for school hit epic proportions yesterday. EPIC. Ugh. I drove home in a daze, on the verge of tears just because I didn’t know what to do or ask next, so many threads to an uncontrollable ball. So I came home, had a snack, read my book for a bit, and called my mom to ask if I could come borrow her sewing machine. I hate sewing on unfamiliar machines…it takes longer to learn it than I want to spend…especially when I know this step shouldn’t take long. Mom’s isn’t the same as mine exactly…it’s the fancier version, two releases past mine, so it’s close enough. I quilted…
Lots of tiny things. I finished quilting in a little over an hour…
Then I trimmed it and put the binding on. I usually zigzag the edges after putting the binding on, but it would have meant replacing the plate, and I couldn’t find the zigzag plate, and I was tired and it was 8 PM and I hadn’t eaten and the day was a shitshow (well, not teaching…it was fine, successful even, but the adult crap just sucks), so I didn’t zigzag (don’t tell…I’m sure it’s fine and that’s some Type A shit I do sometimes when I sew and the quilt will be fine). I went home, started dinner, honestly I should have just reheated leftovers, but I didn’t eat that artichoke last week, and they go bad, and I love artichokes so I cooked it. Nova guarded the quilt…
I pinned it before I went to bed and will sew it starting tonight…
Progress! It has to be delivered next weekend, so it needed to get done.
Monday was the eclipse. I stole two pairs of glasses from the boychild because I forgot to buy them at the store, and pulled two of my classes out to see…
Some of the kids were like, oh, ho hum, and some of them were like WHOA. So that was good. I told them I’d meet them here for the next one in 2044. That seemed to jolt them a bit.
After the 2-hour staff meeting on Monday, where we had to be able to concentrate and read and take a test (not MY brain in the afternoon), I went to the ceramics studio for 90 minutes and made a head.
The chin is an issue, and I haven’t dealt with the top and the lips need some help, but this clay isn’t groggy enough for me to do much. I need to let it solidify a bit. There’s paper towels inside and I built a little cradle so it could harden up in a round shape. We’ll see how that goes, because I can’t go back until probably Saturday. Ugh. It’s too tall for my shelf now, so once I put the head on, it needs to be ready to go to the drying shelf. Which is crowded at the moment. It’s fine.
Monday, I also finished cutting these out.
I sorted them too…
So that one’s ready to iron together. Then I need a machine. I’m not used to having so many in-process things at once. My brain is not happy. I also need to start a new big one and I’m waiting to hear about possibly needing to make another one…I think some people don’t realize how long it takes to make my stuff. Especially when I’m teaching. And having surgery. And work on my house. And and and. Well, making clay too.
Anyway. Today. Gotta get things done. I’ll be binding tonight. I already know that. So that’s progress and it will feel good when it’s done. I like to check boxes. It makes me feel less like a chicken running around with their head cut off. Which is very much the now feeling.
OK. School. 48 days of it. With an eclipse today and Eid tomorrow. I think half our kids will be out for the first 2-3 days for one of those or some weird combination. We only get 55% of the sun covered today, so I’ll pull out the class that starts right after the peak…I’m not sure about the class before, because my prep period is the first 40 minutes or so…I don’t know that my 2nd period will be able to see anything. We’ll see. Also they are ‘fun’, so I’m not sure I want to deal with them outside.
East Coast gets an earthquake…we had a 7.something a week or so ago that I didn’t even feel. Californians. Seriously.
I did buy some weird plants last week…so we’re fucked.
Anyway, should be an interesting day…mostly an exhausted day…ending with a 2-hour staff meeting about literacy. Ugh. What are the odds that the woman in charge of literacy will have any interesting things to say today? I’m so not in the mood. Don’t know if you can tell. Pro? I slept last night. I don’t usually sleep well the Sunday before we go back.
OK, let’s do the art stuff. I cut stuff out Friday night but forgot to take a picture. Actually, I thought I had taken a picture, but it was not on my phone, so did it ever really happen? Here’s Saturday night’s progress.
And last night…I’m almost done.
I’m hoping to get my sewing machine back today or tomorrow so I can quilt that piece that has to be delivered in less than two weeks. If not, I’m probably going to Mom’s. I should probably tell Mom that.
I also finally remembered to take clay pictures. This was at the beginning of yesterday’s session…
The sponge was supporting the arm after I attached it. The wings are for support only. I have holes in the arms to support fabric wings I’d like to make. I wasn’t sure how big to make the supports in the beginning, so I erred on the side of way too small, so yesterday, I added more…
They’ll be hidden from the front by the fabric versions, which I obviously haven’t made yet. Let’s see if this thing survives the kiln first. And we’re weeks away from that happening.
Here’s the chest…
And the back…
I started a head/face, but I’m not sure about it.
It definitely needs a lot of work. And more head stuff. This clay is pretty soft and so I left it to harden up a bit. I’m hoping to go back today to work on it some more.
I also had started to make a mug and realized very quickly that it was way too big to be a mug, so now it’s a planter. I feel like that’s how clay works sometimes. That sculpture also started as a mug. So there we are.
It’s currently upside down so the lip on the top will dry mostly flat. Otherwise it starts sagging.
Those are clouds. The next clay I buy will have more grog in it. I already know that. Although I like how smooth this is. So there’s always trade-offs. The real trade-off at the moment is how much time I can do ceramics each week and still have time for everything else. Augh.
I found this while doing yardwork the other day…
Happy owl pellet.
We had Annie for 24 hours…
Yes, that’s a quilt she’s cuddling with.
A sighting of one of my sold quilts on social media…
Always cool.
And a Saturday evening hike…
Lots of water, lots of flowers…
An alligator lizard…
And some dumbass version of an alligator…
Why do we have to spray paint nature y’all?
Baby bunny not quite smart enough to realize we can still see it.
Does not bode well for its survival.
Well, we’re back. Mostly to crazy rat-race tendencies. Not enough time to do anything. Ugh. Gonna go take my meds, pack up my lunch, find a sweatshirt, make more tea, and gird my loins for the sleeping and whining and phones out and hopefully a cool eclipse experience and a chill staff meeting (ha…that last one). Then time with clay and fabric, and maybe sewing. Hopefully. Yeah.
Oh hey. Apparently I missed Wednesday. What did I do Wednesday? Talked to someone who is going to stabilize the stained glass near my front door (it’s big, it’s old, it needs help). Went to the ceramics studio and forgot to take pictures. Remembered why I like going places late at night so no one will talk to me. Why do older men always wanna tell you how to do things. And then they say, “I don’t want to tell you how to do it” as they go on and tell you how to do it. Sometimes that’s helpful, but dude, see the airpod in my ear? Only one, because I’m female and we don’t feel safe with both in? Well maybe I’m bringing both next time. Graded some stuff. Went to pilates. It was a pretty chill day, honestly; so chill, I forgot to write. I don’t do well without routines. Well, let’s put it this way, I use routines to get shit done. And sometimes I ignore all that and get nothing done. I did finish my book actually, so that’s a thing.
OK. So I’m officially panicking about school again, because yesterday did not feel productive except in the plant-buying department, and now I have to plant them, so that’s on today and tomorrow’s list. The buying has been on the list for over a year, so I’m doing well. And I didn’t get two I needed. Also doing well. But I finally got down to Native West Nursery, which is all California natives…think the stuff you see when you go hiking. So I picked up some native ceanothus and some other fun stuff that should appreciate my slope. And maybe then I can stare at the chain-link fence less and butterflies more. That’s my plan anyway.
The Little Barn is the retail section; it has native seeds too, but I was afraid of the checkout bill if I looked there too. So I didn’t look. So I can go back. Limited hours though.
That was yesterday…all the errands I never get to. I went to Freeform Clay in National City, because they’re not even open on the weekend, and I needed glazes. Buying them online just seems weird. So I did it in person. Hopefully I did a good job. So many decisions. I don’t have room on my shelf at the studio for them, so I will have to do what I see other people doing: carrying in boxes of stuff. It’s not like I’ll be glazing every time I go in. I did take one picture on Monday or Tuesday, whenever I went in before…
But now one arm is attached, the other hand has an arm, there’s another bug on the torso. So many changes. I was going to go in yesterday evening, but I was tired from all the driving around San Diego County, and then school whacked me upside the head. Fucking A. That will be the next 10 weeks. Begging for time for art. Anyway, hopefully today, I’ll get the other arm on and decide about head and heart. Probably need shoulders first. I can only build for about an hour before I have to let it harden up. I made a pot on Wednesday too, because I wanted to try it. This sculptural piece actually started as a mug that went wrong. I do want to make a mug, and that was the plan, but that new one would have been way too big…like think about pouring the whole teapot in and having to boil more. So it became a pot. For plants. I need to decorate it. I can still make a mug, although I’m running out of shelf space. Finish the pot, keep going on the sculpture, then make a mug. I can do all the things. I figure an average sculpture for me will take all month to build if I’m back at school. Two days a week. It’s OK. I’m going to be OK with it. I knew the next 2 1/2 months would be hard.
In art quilt news, I’m still missing a sewing machine. I called yesterday; they said ‘soon’. I’m like, ‘how soon’? No answer there. It’s fine. If it gets to next weekend and I don’t have it, I’ll go over to mom’s and use hers for the thing that needs to be done by the following weekend. With binding. It’s small. I’ll be fine. Although I should think about binding fabric today or tomorrow. Next weekend just got more busy with family coming to town. This weekend…I was going to go to my guild meeting, but the FEMA inspector is coming by. Hopefully with a check. OK, that’s not how it works, but I’m hopeful. Anything to make up the shortfall to pay for the carpet would be nice. I also need to finish my taxes so I know how much I owe. I’ve been slogging through the data on that. I’m getting there. Slowly.
But I am working on the third unfinished quilt for this Spring…I started ironing onto fabric Monday night…
Then Tuesday was a clusterfuck of doctor’s appointments (meeting with surgeon in late April, thing in eye is not discernable by anyone but my brain) and an opening of Trauma at the Hyde Gallery at Grossmont College…this is my piece Doctor’s Orders…
And me with my eyes dilated, trying not to squint too badly. Woo! Not a way to see an art exhibit, by the way. The show is up through April 18. It’s a college, so the hours are during the week.
Back home to iron more things…all the flesh. Side-eye provided by Kitten…
Stayed up late to do that. Like you do.
This is all that’s left after that, all the non-flesh, non-background things. It doesn’t look like much, but it took two nights to get through it…
Heart, cat, trees, etc. There’s everything used by Tuesday bedtime.
Then Wednesday…
More color!
Then last night, I finished it off…
A closeup of the pile that now needs trimming…
It took 6 1/2 hours to pick the fabrics…
Only 71 fabrics…and a cat head. In case you think there’s ever a time Kitten is not in the room with me. She’s here. Old and decrepit, sometimes smelly, skinny, needs pets. But here.
So tonight, I’ll start trimming.
I trimmed three trashcans worth of yard stuff Monday and Wednesday…found this…
Totally molded on those branches. I always feel bad removing them, but that plant needed major trimming. NEEDS. I didn’t finish. Maybe not today, because rain. Plus planting supersedes trimming. Also found this…
Looks like some predator bird lost hold of dinner. Sorry. I popped it off the branch and into the undergrowth for some small thing to eat. Ew gross though. Aged alligator lizard.
Some other notes. The Man. Asleep. But the sisters are being nice to each other!
Nova usually gets kicked off the bed by Luna, because Luna is a jealous asshole. But this went on nearly all day.
I trimmed the ferns and found a bunch of freesias underneath, and now they’re blooming, which is lovely.
I love freesias.
And this is my school self, lurking in the back of my head.
I know going back is going to be hard. But at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking of light, there’s a thunderstorm that just popped up over us. Super dark and rumbly. Probably not a good time to go out and plant. It’s OK. I need to write warmups and posts for next week. And finish my taxes. And plant 11 things. And go do some ceramics. JAYSUS. That was thunder of the crashing type. Not so rumbly. OK. Maybe gonna unplug the computer. Make another cup of tea? Not a driving day today then. School? Ugh. I’ve worked almost every day on school stuff over break. Never done. We were supposed to go on more hikes and maybe a trip to a winery. None of that happened. Oh well. It is what it is. Survival mode again. Still need to go in and copy one thing for Monday. Not gonna wait until Monday and fight the copy hordes.
Here’s owl video…I’ve been hearing a baby at night…
And then it started hailing here…
Always fun.
Fun start to the day. Certainly makes you mentally redo your to-do list. Maybe that’s a good thing?
Kathy Nida 