I’ve Run Out of Limbs

Oh hey. Do you know what it’s like to work in a profession that is nonstop? I’m a little tired of mine right now. The nonstoppedness of it for sure. The ‘here do this because you have plenty of time’ part of it. The ‘I don’t understand why you can’t do all the things we’re asking you to do’ part of it. The ‘we need to know when the kids go to the bathroom and return and that is more important than what you’re teaching’ part of it. And I don’t know if the nutkook who will be in charge has announced his education crony yet, but if any of his other uneducated, inexperienced choices are a sign, we’re gonna get worse than Betsy WTF ‘just give them a pencil’ Voss this time. It will not be four years of sanity. Not in my district anyway. I wish y’all luck wherever you are. I’m currently juggling too many things and need to juggle more but I’ve run out of limbs.

So art is even MORE important. I kamikazed from school to ceramics yesterday and built (most of) two legs and feet. Well, one foot.

It needs work. This looks a bit like my Thanksgiving turkey at the moment.

Hopefully it’ll look better soon. The right foot (on the left) does not exist. All of it needs work. I ran out of time because I also had pilates last night (but late), so I did that too. And graded stuff. And then traced…

The lead I’m using does not write as darkly on the new Wonder Under. It also doesn’t rub off as much. I’m not sure why. Strange. It’s the same pencil I always use. There’s more resistance and yet less. Not sure how to explain that. There’s less resistance from the fusible underneath, which sometimes was bumpy enough to move my pencil lead to one side; now there’s more resistance from the paper I’m tracing on. Yes, I am thinking way too hard about this. I made it into the 500s last night, which means I’m close to a third done. My goal is to be ironing to fabric over Thanksgiving break. So I probably have another 11 days of tracing if I continue at about 100 pieces in an hour, and an hour a night…so that’s a week from Saturday. And then I have to cut them all out, which is probably 6 hours or so and then family arrives so I’m on crack. I might be ironing by Thursday, actual turkey day. Uh huh. Well. Oh well then. Maybe I’ll do some this weekend? And grade and lesson plan. Ha! Fuck me.

So yeah. Today is a lot of direct teaching, I think. Tomorrow will be less so, then Friday back on it. We’re teaching lessons we’ve never taught before, which is always stressful. I haven’t finished Friday’s worksheet yet and I don’t have any for next week. Although we found the academic thing for next week, so that’s good. I really should make a video to explain the current assignment that kids aren’t finishing. Not sure when I will do that. 2 AM? Possibly. Just after I train kids to use the new signout system that didn’t work yesterday. Yaass.

OK, also so many union meetings today. Gonna go do the first one, teach, then do the second one. Maybe go see my brother, who is visiting my parents. Then cook dinner and grade and trace. In that order. I think. I might grade WHILE cooking dinner. Not necessarily the best choice, but…

Freedoms…

‘Tis Veterans Day. Thanks to those who protected our freedoms. Hopefully you’ll keep doing that, even against homegrown incursions. It’s ironic. But not funny. It’s a day off for teachers, also appreciated. I needed an extra day to decompress…aka read another book, do some gardening, get to the ceramics studio. Hopefully get healthy. I think the cough is wandering (very slowly) off and the sinus crap might not be far behind. Although still not well well, better.

Friday night, all I had in me was reading. So I did that. With Nova…

And then Simba…

I was cold, I felt like crap, I was tired. It worked. The Man was still on soft food, so I ate leftovers. And then I sewed a handheld tornado together.

Like you do. I spent a lot of time looking at memes and cat videos. Also like you do when you are trying to get over all the things. Friday…was a lot of things…I had to sub my prep (Math! Anathema) and then stay after school with my co-teacher because we hadn’t figured next week out, and I needed to get my head around it.

I copied stuff for Tuesday and then was too tired to go to ceramics…in the dark.

So I did that Saturday afternoon instead. In the morning, I lounged, I entered two art shows, I did some accounting-type shit.

It’s good I didn’t go earlier, because they had a class in the morning and it would have been crowded. I’m loving this new clay, B-mix…it holds up much better than half and half. I built up…

And it held! This was fun.

We’ll see how much it held up when I go in today, yeah? It seemed pretty stable. I only have an inch or two before it’s taller than my shelf space though. Again. There is going to be a top half. But now I need to decide how I’m handling the rest of it. She needs legs. And for me to decide if the inside is going to be fabric. I think it is.

Saturday also included a dinner drawing (the Man ate solid food!)…

Plus I sewed some clouds…

My machine kept pausing to tell me there was too much fabric under the needle and I just kept telling it to forget about it, keep sewing, it’ll all be OK.

I also built a tiny house out of balsa wood. I need at least two more of these.

They are a rancid pain. I sewed cars on a cloud too…trying to decide if they need painting. I think they do. But they are already sewn on. Ah well.

That Fuentes idiot and everyone who follows him…

I’m loving hearing about the 4B movement in South Korea by the way. Reminds me of the play Lysistrata and the movie Chiraq, both inspiration for the We Got the Power exhibit I’m in that’s currently showing in Florida. The timing of all this.

I’m honestly confused by the majority of married white women. Is it really easier to give up your power? I don’t get it.

I get that too.

Sunday…went by too fast. All of a sudden, it was late in the afternoon. In an attempt to save (remove from house) a large gecko, I had moved a bunch of stuff off a bookcase…two days later, I actually found the gecko and rehomed him outside. But I had to clean off all these books and tins and find homes for them, and I found this.

There was no disk inside. I kept the tin because, remember when you could cover them and then put a magnetic thing inside and it would be a needleholder? Yeah that. That was what I’d saved it for. It’s OK…I’m sure my mom has 10 of them. I tossed it. I also got rid of some books. And threw out a file folder filled with recipes I’d cut from magazines that I will never ever look at again. It was good.

I’m actually fairly reality-bound, unfortunately.

The other good thing was that the Wonder Under I’d ordered a week ago showed up. It’s still not the same as the old stuff, but it’s not as heavy as the stuff I had in my stash. I was still worried about the heaviness of the paper and the plasticky feel of the fusible, so I decided to test it out on something small before I committed to using it on the quilt I’d already started tracing with the old stuff. I was so freaked out about the change…they’ve changed the formulation before, but not so drastically.

Good news…it actually seems easier to use. The fusible is less bumpy, so it’s easier to trace over. The heavier paper probably helps with that too.

And it peeled right off…usually I have to wait at least 24 hours to peel, but this was immediate and worked well.

Done. Only issue is that the bolts are half the size they used to be and I can’t find them locally, so I have to ship. I also have two full bolts of the thicker stuff…don’t know what I’ll do with those. I bought them quite a while ago. Not sure why they’re so different, but they have a slightly different code on them.

But it means I can start tracing again. Ahhhh. Such a relief. Video of Annie greeting me when I went to pick up Simba…

This dog is a freak. A loving freak, but a freak nonetheless.

OK. Today. More yardwork (watering mostly…it’s been very dry, warm too)…maybe some digging and removing plant matter if I have the energy. Totally going back to ceramics today. Also grading more stuff. I’m almost done with the Unit 2 packets and I need to input some grades at some point. I’m trying to get caught up so Thanksgiving Break is not all grades. I did some lesson planning last night and got stuff made for every day but Friday. Friday is started at least. I need to copy stuff tomorrow. I need to build a couple more balsawood houses and paint them and the cars. I need to figure out what I’m doing with the wings and test drill some ceramics so I can get some stuff attached. I need to read my book. I need to write a blogpost for one of my art groups. I sat down to do this one and it’s taken forever. Not sure why. And then I’m going to trace Wonder Under. Happily. Short week of school, brother will be in town, hopefully continuing to get over this sinus infection and bronchitis. Trying to come to terms with half the country. I’m not sure why voting for someone who only has rich people in his sights ever makes sense if you want things to be cheaper. But it’s what we have. No shortage of artmaking ideas for the next four years…I guess that’s the plus. Retirement plans? Aaugh. Try not to think too hard about that. I’d like to hike, but I’m not sure I have it in me. We’ll see.

Hurdles and Crunches

Hey Friday. I’m glad you’re here. This week has been cool in terms of kids learning and doing stuff (except for the 5 who aren’t). It’s been a physical hurdle due to the crap in my lungs and sinuses. It’s been a time crunch that is continuing…I was woken up at 4:45 AM by either a cat or the dulcet snoring tones of my partner, and then my brain wouldn’t let go of the fact that only one day next week is planned and 48 things need to happen before Tuesday and I don’t know when they will be happening. Minor issue. Plus many people want things from me and I just want to finish my book (I did that last night…it was well worth it).

Also an earthquake/fire drill on a lab day, when they moved where we stand (I’ve stood with my class in the same place for 16 years…I understand half the move, but the other half was idiotic…and yes, I told them so. I am so unapologetic in my ancient years…oh hell, I haven’t even come close to ancient yet. Hold on to your hats.). It’s OK. It’s done. Today will be OK. I hope. Still need to get most of that period done with building because they couldn’t do it yesterday because we spent half the period doing other stuff.

What are we building? Roller coasters…a quicker, faster, easier version than what I’ve been doing for the last two years…which is awesome.

Insulation tubing. Way easier than the paper stuff.

So much better. I may hate grading the paper part of it, but I’m OK with trying it. So that was cool.

I’m still waiting on Wonder Under. I’ve been working on parts for the ceramic sculpture…

I made tubing for the tornado rope. It’s long and is taking For. Ev. Er. to pull through.

Here’s day 2, when I found the big tweezery things…

Still not done, but closer. And I need more fiberfill or stuffing or whatever. Maybe I’ll remember that after school today. We’ll see. I also want to do clay but can do that tomorrow as well.

First not-very-fair response to the election…

Not fair because where I live is actually in California and red. So there’s that. Certainly a lot of people are going to better understand tariffs in the next 4 years. I guess it will play out and we will yell a lot and hopefully the world will not end. Will it affect my retirement? Almost certainly. Unfortunately. Ah well. This might be more relevant.

And then there’s this…

I wish that were totally true, but I guess art and books are my forest.

OK. Survive today. Take all the meds. Hopefully get some planning in and some clay in. Still fending for myself on food because the Man had a tooth pulled and is still on a liquid diet. And cranky about it. I guess it would be rude of me to go get a burger tonight. Hmmm. I’m personally tired of leftovers. Looking forward to getting my Wonder Under tomorrow. Looking forward to a 3-day weekend. Another one. Yup. It’s all good. More sleep would be lovely, if that’s an option. It may not be. Snorers and cats and dogs…

The Monsters…

America. I had hope, you had hate. It’s not all of you. My social media shows me that. But too many of you do. Hate for my students, hate for my friends, hate for me. I dodge a lot of it by being a white woman, but an artist? A teacher in a Title I school full of immigrants and refugees and kids of color? Sigh. I’m…there’s got to be a better word than disappointed. I’m wearing all black today…ninja teacher, ninja artist, ninja liberal. My plan to retire in 2029 may be thrown by this. When the orange monster was in before, my med costs went up, my taxes went up, my expenses went up. They all relaxed during Biden. I’m not rich enough to get the benefits of a GOP ruler. Ah well. We fight the monsters, y’all. And the monsters are half of us.

My art is sort of stalled…or waylaid? Or on a different track. I started a new clay piece…loosely based on my The Way Out quilt. Same shape to start anyway…

Gotta figure out how to piece it together so it fits on my shelf again.

I also brought stuff home that looked cool that I forgot to photograph. Oops. And one thing is drying, getting ready to bisque. And I had a tiny bit of the old clay left and I made a pot shape. I always need more pots for plants. Anyway, it will start to look more like something eventually.

Then I started with the ceramic winged woman (who still doesn’t have wings). She’s all about climate change, which is going to get worse because of who y’all voted in, in case you were unclear about that. I made some shapes on paper and picked some fabrics and decided to try to build a tornado…like you do.

I bought that rope during the beginning of COVID to do something with. Last night, I cut the pieces out and cut an appropriate piece of rope…

I have tiny people, and there are tiny cars coming, plus balsa wood, because apparently I’m going to build a house? Or am I? Hard to say. Wonder Under isn’t arriving until Friday. Need to entertain my art brain.

I’m also grading things…

It’s slow. Nova thought this one smelled nice. It’s a nice kid. I’m slowly getting through these packets. I spent two hours at Urgent Care again yesterday for the cough that was getting worse. Acute bronchitis and a sinus infection. Fun times. More meds. Hopefully will kick it though, because I’m tired of coughing violently for no apparent reason. It’s kind of exhausting. Much like my country.

Those cloud things are going in those smokestacks on the top of her head. Then I’ll work on the wings. Slow and weird process for me, but I like it. It’s different. Different allows our brains to grow and develop. Some of you should try it.

OK. Teaching roller coaster parts and design still today. Fun to watch the kids work together (or not). One pro is the super-psycho didn’t win school board. The semi-psycho incumbent did. He at least understands laws and tries to follow them. Although there’s another psycho coming in. Sigh. I guess watch this space. My art will continue in the political realm…how can it not? My job will continue as long as I’m allowed…or until I can’t stand it and can actually afford to retire…all up in the air now. Things will still need fixing around here (two hosebibs today, finally), trimming, watering, painting, digging, etc. Cats will need petting and feeding, dogs will need the knots combed out of their fur and their bellies rubbed. Kids will need to learn how to be humans and productive members of society, even if they don’t figure it out in 8th grade. Some kids are awesome and will continue to be so, and I will rejoice in their existence and that of my friends who support all kinds. The monsters can fuck off.

Camping in the Rain…

We spent the weekend camping. The district gave us another random 3-day weekend. Pro: we missed the day after Halloween. Con: Grades were due, so if I hadn’t been super over-prepared and graded everything the weekend before this one, I would have needed to grade over a 3-day weekend. Sigh. Anyway. Random days. Always fun. It was nice to not have to try to leave right after school and get up there in the dark. We did a lot of sitting around (and then moving around because it was cold. We had a great campsite…

A little isolated, especially since about half the people that had reserved spaces didn’t show up.

Why? No running water. We got the email a week or so ago and figured we’d been there before…there are pit toilets…just no showers or faucets. So not ideal, but cheap.

Canyon live oak…huge acorns. Like walking on marbles.

We had a bet that someone would get hit by one this weekend…they were constantly falling and just missing us. Definitely hit the car and the tent, but missed us. At some point, scarab beetles were also falling from the sky…Saturday night when it started to rain (water most of the time, with an occasional beetle).

It was definitely chilly…around 34 degrees the first night. Put all the clothes on and start a fire…and then draw.

The next day, we hiked. We had (well, I had) grand plans, but the Man’s back was acting up. We did 4 1/2 miles (the longest…probably a combo of elevation, his back, and my continuing viral crap). We started in Doane Valley but didn’t hike there most of the time.

We saw a weir and were supposed to see waterfalls, but access was iffy. These clouds were coming in…we knew we were getting cloud cover, but all the rain had left the forecast.

Ah well…forecasts are iffy.

Cool tree dropped in the middle of the trail.

It started raining around 5:30 PM, so I cooked under an umbrella…there’s a photo of that somewhere.

This guy hung out most of the time…

We did actually manage a fire…it wasn’t raining super heavily in the early evening, so I used the umbrella and drew…

Some election anxiety. Here’s the drawing without the blurry smoke/fire stuff…

And the other one…

I love the time to draw. It was too cold to embroider. I read a lot. It rained all night. At one point, water was dripping onto my head in the sleeping bag, so we moved everything down. It was really wet in the morning, so we just packed up and came home. It wasn’t bad…it just made the last night a little uncomfortable. We went to bed early because of it. It’s fine.

I’m still feeling off…the virus has not left. The cough is there and bad when it’s there and often not bad. Wait it out? Not sure I want to be back on antibiotics so quickly. So I’m tired…after three days off work. No surprise. Next weekend is also 3 days off (Veteran’s Day)…maybe it will help me recover.

Meanwhile, I haven’t been tracing because I finished off a bolt of Wonder Under and went to open the new one I’ve had in my stash for a while, and it’s different. The paper is much much thicker and the fusible web is very thick too, very plasticky. I didn’t have time until yesterday to go to Joann’s and they didn’t have any, so I ordered some online, but there’s a lot of reviews that say this thicker one is the new version? I’m not sure, because when I look at the label, it has “W1” on it and it came from Walmart, which has some weird versions of things. The one I ordered is a smaller bolt…apparently that’s how we make money now. Make everything smaller and charge more for it. We’ll see when it comes…whenever it comes. Trying not to add Wonder Under anxiety to election anxiety. Or to-do list anxiety.

I did fix my pants. The pockets had holes where they were attached to the pants (typical stress point), so I patched on the back, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t holding well, so I stitched them as well. It’s my brain that wants to make them eyeholes on my ass.

OK. School. I know what I’m teaching today…not sure about the next THREE days, but today is set. Not sure if I’ll have to head back to Urgent Care…holding off until I see more evidence that this thing is not on its way out. Hopefully clay this afternoon…starting something new. And if I can’t trace tonight, maybe it’ll force me to make the wings for that ceramic piece, right? One can hope.

Hoping the Meds Kick In

Graded all day Saturday. Drove all day Sunday. Did some art. Still recovering from virus and infection. Body not thrilled with any of it.

I finished the drawing Friday night…

And started numbering…

Did not finish.

Kept going on Saturday night.

Managed to finish. Notionally 1606 pieces.

Odds are I missed some.

Started tracing last night…

Didn’t get far. Big ground pieces are a pain to trace. This will be the view for a while.

This was the grading view at some point…

Followed by some of this…

The Man had a show on Saturday night…Barbie-themed.

Nice outfit.

This is Bowie trying to get comfortable.

He’s not very good at it.

This is where I’m at right now.

Can’t go back to bed though. Hoping all the meds kick in and I survive the day.

No Art

Fun few days. Got sick, some virus. Fucked with my blood sugar. This is the fun part of being a teacher. I woke up, realized blood sugar was crashing bad, laid back on the bed and ate 10 skittles and contemplated my life choices. I can call in sick (because I feel like crap), but I need sub plans for that, and I don’t have the mental capacity for that, let alone the ability to even get down the hallway to the computer. And we’re supposed to be doing stations and one is a lab. AND I’m giving a makeup test at lunch and if I don’t do it Thursday, it won’t get done before I have time to finish my grades. So. I waited 15 minutes and stood up. It wasn’t great, but I could shower. I tried eating breakfast, not so successfully. Let’s add the third thing…Kitten bit me HARD on Wednesday morning. She gets cranky. I was trying to type on the keyboard and pet her and she didn’t like it. I washed it out, but by the end of Wednesday, it was swollen and red, so I soaked it and doused it in Neosporin and hoped. By Thursday morning, it was worse. The red was spreading. My blood sugar was crap. I needed to have a fasting test at 4:45, so I had to stop eating at 10:45 but I was not into eating things (virus? infection? both?), so I drank the juice they gave me for the diabetic kid in my classroom and then went and got more (it’s amazing how fast three nurses will respond when you mention the diabetic teacher is in need of something). Strangely, by the end of the day, I was feeling better. My blood sugar had evened out. The hand still hurt…

Before you freak out, I put my name in at urgent care, went and ran my test, and came back to urgent care. Three hours later (no joke), I had two shots, one on each hip, and a pill container of antibiotics. It’s much better this morning. I’m better, although the weird ticklish cough from the virus is still here. Blood sugar was normal this morning. Redness has receded, although it’s not gone. And yes, I’m still teaching today. Yesterday, I sat all day. I barely got up. I’m not sure I’ll have much more in me today. Pro? I got through most of the regrades I needed to do tomorrow, so there’s just two assignments I need to grade…wait, no, three. They’re all easy. It’ll be fine.

The point of all this is that I have done nothing artistic for two whole days and I hate that. But I went to bed early both nights. Which is obviously what I needed. I might need it tonight too.

This cat was in my yard.

I’ve seen it before. Few people let cats out because of the coyotes. Strangely, my little dog (who I was taking out to pee) did not see the cat. His eyesight is definitely declining.

This is true.

I also have three tiny scars from the kitten last night…so it’s not just my cranky old lady doing the damage.

OK, today is the last day of stations. I’m going to hopefully grade the one digital assignment that’s left and start grading homework, while staying seated as much as possible. I’m not going to ceramics today. Tomorrow, I’ll finish grades, pack a quilt to ship…wait, I need to sew some things for the Man’s show as well. I was going to do one last night, but my body was insistent that sleep was more important. Sunday, I’m driving two women to an art meeting in Huntington Beach. Ugh. That’s gonna suck. But whatever. I am hoping to draw tonight…hoping to have the physical energy to stand and the mental energy to think of what needs to fill the space. Because days with no art kinda suck.

All Art

IDK why I thought I’d have more time today to post about Visions…ah well, maybe Friday? I have 12 minutes now before I need to leave. Let’s keep it short and sweet…all art.

I have two things that came out of the kiln…this, where I was trying out a different way to glaze/carve…

And this, where I was trying to make a usable mug…

Where if I tried to make it to sell it, it would cost about $300 because of the amount of time I put into it.

I don’t do fast art, I guess.

Both of these need a glaze on top and the mug needs some inside so I can actually use it.

It’s smaller than I like, I think. Not sure.

I have a really hard time visualizing mug sizes. As shown here…

Way too big to be a mug.

I think this is almost ready to dry.

I bought more clay. So I can make more things.

The drawing is progressing.

I worked on the tree…

The ground is really all that’s left, unless I want to put more things in the sky.

I’m always staring at the blank spaces.

Close, but not there yet.

Maybe tonight? Probably not.

I’m fighting a cold; don’t feel well. Luckily get to spend all day today in a training. (lucky?)

Working on this.

and this…

And this is way too true…

OK. Me and cold meds going to school. Feeling yuck. Canceled stuff after school today preemptively. Have a lab I’m doing the next two days, so I can’t be out. Fun times.

Tiny Pieces…

My voice is still shot. I think it’s allergies…super dry here and I keep doing that dry tickle cough. Which sucks because I have to talk a lot at school today. Also I talked a lot this weekend. Some weekends I don’t talk hardly at all…this was not one of them.

Quilt Visions opened this weekend. I don’t have much time to write right now, but in general, it was fun, it was good, it was inspiring. Makes you wanna come home and make more art, yeah? I might need to put some of the pictures in the next post, just because I always try to link the artist’s website if I post their work, and I don’t have much time for that today.

Anyway, here’s me with mine at the opening…

And the artist talk on Saturday…thanks to whomever I stole this from.

And here’s all the artists…

Like I said, I’ll post some art with links probably Wednesday. But you can see the whole show here. Not that it makes up for seeing it in person, but I get it. Who would want to visit San Diego? Crazy. That guy in the pink shirt in the background of the photo? He’s the musician.

OK, got 4 minutes left. I drew a lot this weekend too…

Finished an arm, added to the head area, did the speech cloud.

Then added the visual disturbances and some barbed wire. Like you do. Someone said ‘omg the tiny pieces!’. Well fuck yeah! That’s why I’m here.

Anyway, I still need to deal with the tree (started drawing it yesterday) and the ground and the sky. But less of the tiny pieces and more of the bigger sweeping pieces. I think. What do I know? Monday night artist might feel differently. I do want this thing to span the next three months, so I think I’ve got that down.

Yes to that.

The brain scan (my actual brain) I used for the top part of the head.

And reading with Bowie.

He’s not very good at it.

More Visions stuff Wednesday. Right now I need to find my lunch, take meds (headache), and get to school to teach…something. I’m sure it’ll be obvious when I get there. Friday self is good at prepping for Monday morning self. She knows. Then ceramics after school and more drawing. Good times.

Positive Emotions

Yes Friday. Yes. My voice is giving out (oh wait, I have to talk at two artist events this weekend), I’m tired (this is nothing new…by Friday, I sleep through the Man coming to bed late and the multiple urges to pee and just SLEEP through the night. But because of exhaustion.). The boychild comes back today from 6 weeks of training. Simba will be so excited. I’ll probably miss seeing that, because I’ll be gone most of the day, but it makes me smile to think about it. Also because the barky dog will be off my bed for three whole nights before he leaves again. Not for 6 weeks this time…just like 10 days. My voice might get a rest today; we’ll see. Yesterday was a lot of notes and finishing a lab and a couple of kids who like to blame adults for their actions. Fun times. Some things about middle school never change. There’s always kids who drop papers on the floor and just leave them there, and those who yell out in class while you’re in the middle of instructions, and those who fall asleep multiple times a day in class. And I often wonder how they turn out in the end. The two boys I had to deal with are on the immature side of middle school, which still happens in 8th grade, unfortunately. Next year, I go back to 7th grade and it will be all over the place again. Might be a relief to be back in 7th. We’ll see. It’ll be different anyway. All the stuff I’ve spent time learning and preparing will have to go into mental storage for two years while I just teach 7th grade. Weird.

The drawing is going well. It feels good to draw. Something big. It’s been a while. OK, a few months. And someone just proposed a new show for one of my groups where I’d have to have a piece made by January…a relatively small one, but still, WTF, y’all need to plan ahead. Sigh.

ANYWAY, back to the positive emotions from drawing…

Wednesday night, I did the vine and the hands…and maybe the snake? Can’t remember. Last night, I drew for 2 hours because I had a Zoom call with friends…so I worked on the torso a bit…

I’d like to say that Bowie was helpful, but you know he wasn’t really. He wasn’t as bad as Luna used to be…she’d try to dive under the paper while I was drawing. Kitten would just lie on top of the whole thing and whack you if you tried to move her.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but I drew the brain scan (one of two) they did to try to find the source of my visual disturbance, which has been there since March. Annoying. I guess I’m more used to it than I was, but it still freaks me out when I’m trying to sleep. So it’ll be in this drawing too. Along with LGTBQIA rights, banned books, medical and reproductive rights, missiles piling down upon us, and who knows what else. Angel cat. Everyone should have an angel cat.

Tonight is the member opening at Visions. It’ll be crowded and overwhelming, which will be awesome after a long day at school…actually seeing the show and the artists is usually pretty cool. Tomorrow are the artist talks at 1 PM…those are my favorite. I get to hear what other people have to say about their work. Last year, I showed up late and didn’t realize I would have to talk about my work. Luckily I’m a teacher and that’s all we do…talk without a plan half the time. Luckily the stuff lives in my head for free. My piece, Nowhere Else to Go, is about climate change and climate migration…

This picture is missing all the little people running for their lives in the lower section.

A tornado in this one.

Not a hurricane. Plus fires. I live in California…wildfire country. Although lot of other places are becoming wildfire country that weren’t previously.

Lots of people displaced by our need for oil and drilling and coal and big SUVs.

We need to work on being proactive and not just reactive. Two hurricanes in the last month, so much destruction. I don’t have solutions…I just know what we’re doing, denying climate change, not trusting scientists, not thinking critically about how we live in the world and what it does the futures for our kids and their kids…that shit isn’t working.

Welcome to my TedTalk. Also donate money somewhere. I chose CERF+ to help the artists who have needs because of the hurricane damage.

OK. School. Assessment today. On friction. Hopefully they are focused and on task. Ha! It’s Friday. When is the full moon? It was last night (laughs hysterically). Figures. That explains a lot from this week. After school, coming home…no ceramics this weekend, I think. Ah well. The greater good of art, right? Although two things were supposed to come out of the kiln. I always assumed they blew up if I don’t see video on Instagram right away. Lots of Visions activities this weekend. Probably a little school stuff, although I’m sort of caught up…but Trimester 1 grades are due soon, so there’s that. My dad’s birthday is Sunday…he’ll be 84…so there’s that happening too. Busy. But with good stuff. Hopefully I’ll get to read my book a little bit? The things that sustain me…and draw! Eventually. That too.