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.
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.
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.
Hey. Wednesday. You never feel like far enough into the week to be a relief. Sorry. I know it’s not your fault. It’s the 5-day workweek thing. Lots of people think of you as hump day, and maybe that’s it…once I get over the hump that is you, it will feel like a slide (it’s never really a slide if you’re a teacher…unless it’s a slide like those cheese wheel races down huge hills where you’re just rolling head over heels trying to beat the wheel down the hill) into the weekend. This weekend is the Vision opening…so member opening Friday night, artist talks Saturday at 1 PM, then artist dinner at night. Lots of art things. Hopefully cool. We’ll see.
Not a lot of art happening…at least it looks that way. Monday night, I had to label and pack two quilts for a show up in Glendora that’s coming up. I won’t make it to that opening (it’s midday on a Wednesday? or something like that). I still need to pack up the Quilt National quilt…I was going to do that last night, but didn’t feel like it for the second day in a row. Ah well. I did do ceramics on Monday…picked up two fired pieces…
They look pretty good, yeah? Well there’s this…
It ran like crazy, stuck to the biscuit. It’s OK. I’m going to glue it back together and then put it outside. Maybe bury it in the ground even, just a bit. The boot turned out fine! All ceramics is a guess sometimes. I even wiped this up a good bit…but not enough. You learn some; you lose some.
Still doing this…
A peaceful couple of hours working on this…the orange ran like crazy, so I had to fix some stuff…not sure how to make the underglazes less runny once they are.
I’ll be here for another couple of hours before she’s done. And I bought more clay finally…gonna try a new one. I have ideas. I always have ideas.
Last night, I was supposed to go to the gym, but I ended up running late finishing stuff at school, then doing more work at home to try to catch up and maybe get ahead, and then I bathed the old lady cat. She’d gone to the vet because we thought she might have a UTI (accidentes), but it doesn’t look like she does. She hasn’t been cleaning herself well for a while, and I worry about stressing out old ladies with baths, but she needed it. She’s so much cleaner now. I even combed her a bit, which she likes…until she doesn’t. She’s still cranky as shit…and probably was the source of random poops all down the hallway last night (sigh)…but she’s still kicking. When I had finished making dinner (and next week’s lunches coincidentally), I just wanted to draw. I love drawing. I miss drawing more. I just can’t fit it in. Either I draw or I read and even that is a fight…always work is calling. And the house. So much stuff. Ugh.
So I drew.
There’s a rough pencil drawing of the body, just because it’s hard to get everything on there and semi-proportioned right…for some definition of right. Then I stare at it and decide what I want to add. I know what this piece is focused on (everything?), so I think about how that can be portrayed…you can’t see all the hands on her thigh from here. It’s still in pencil. Anyway, hopefully I’ll be communing with this most nights for the next week or so, trying to wiggle an image out of a tired brain. It’s where I love to be. And though there are other things that need to be worked on, for now, this is it.
Is 9 the average women’s shoe size? I do always feel like I am huge-footed. Maybe not? Seems wrong.
OK. School. I’m doing a lab that I’ve only done once and it was two years ago. I don’t remember HOW to do it. I’m sure it will be fine. Pretty sure I made a video. I have pilates after school. I’m tired already. I don’t have to cook tonight. I do probably have to grade things…or prep things. Last night, I recorded things, so there’s dogs barking, cats meowing, men coughing, and timers going off. Like normal. Then more drawing hopefully. Plus reading. I’ve been reading at lunch instead of hanging out with my team. They are stressing me out, I guess. Probably I need to check in up there. Plus I had to set up a lab yesterday during lunch. So that took time. Whatever. Drawing at the end.
OK. So my butt is wet. The cat did something on my chair. This is not a nice way to start Monday. Actually, I started with randomly low blood sugar. Always fun. The cat is old. I’m hoping it’s not…fuck…I’m pretty sure it’s pee. Sigh. She’s looking pretty irritated right now. Maybe because I’m accusing her of peeing herself. I guess I need to call the vet. Sigh. She’s old, it’s true, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for her to be gone. She has been getting worse…unfortunately.
So artwise, I finished all the bugs. Except I need to repaint one for like the fourth time. I delivered 4 to Visions Museum on Saturday. The rest will hold for a bit (maybe?) and go on Etsy (maybe?). I took official photos of them; I’ll put them on the website later too. Here’s the last one though…
With the one that needs repainting in the background.
I finally started drawing the next big one…it’s been in my head for well over a month.
Not that you can see much, and the boobs might need redrawing based on this. I just get the general shapes with the pencil on something this big. I don’t usually use pencil on the smaller drawings. Here’s a pre-drawing for it…done in two restaurants before dinner came…
Not quite all there. But a vague idea of it. I drew this too, with no purpose…
On Friday, I did some underglazing…
This stuff takes forever…
But it’s relaxing…
Apparently two of my pieces came out of the glaze fire, but I couldn’t find them on Friday. Ugh. Maybe today.
I also finished the center panel of Homegrown…
So now I can piece all the houses around it and spend another year making the borders. It’s also relaxing, but in a different way.
My piece Stop the Murder Madness made it to Miami for the opening…
A fellow artist took a picture of it for me…
Her name is Eden Quispe and you should go look at her work because it’s amazing. And I appreciate her recommending this show to me in the first place and sending me photos as well.
I managed NOT to work most of the weekend (on school stuff), which I think is pretty healthy. We walked the dog on Saturday.
I also blew leaves off half the roof, terrified of being up there, trimmed a bunch of stuff, dumped plant matter in greenery trashcans, finally rehung the art in the hallway…
Drove to a sketch location and bought a recliner for my kid, who may or may not actually want it because he was in Pinnacles with no cell service. Long weekend. I finished a book! That was good. Wait, I actually finished two. So even better.
For some reason, all the animals were giving me judgy looks this weekend. Here’s Nova.
Bowie…
You already saw Kitten up at the top…and Simba…
Luna avoided me mostly, so I guess I didn’t wrong her too badly.
I’ll finish up with two new skull finds…
The one on the right is a new type…I don’t think I’ve seen it before? I’ll wait for nature to clean it up a bit. We get a lot of rats and mice…this is not the right shape for that. Wait and see.
OK, today is teaching speed and velocity…pretty easy stuff. Then a 2-hour staff meeting about literacy. I’ve been prewarned that the scientific content is factually incorrect (oh good), so I’m prepared to be irritated. Then to clay, to hopefully underglaze some more and find my two glazed pieces. Then back here to pack up three quilts for shipping. Fun times. And more drawing, hopefully…get those boobs under control. On the drawing. Those are the only ones I can control.
Some weekends, all I do is try to check things off the to-do list. I did mop the kitchen floor. It seriously needed it. I watered some things. I will need to keep doing that. It never stops. I tried to find someone to trim a bush, someone else to clean a pool (I’m close on that one), and a solution to the pool shed that is falling down. Not as successful on that. I need a ton more money to fix all the things. I graded two academic assignments…I’m glad that’s done. It wasn’t really how I wanted to spend Friday night, but I was dogsitting anyway and not in the mood to get up and be active, so I just sat there, bingewatched bad TV (some YA ghost thing), and graded most of them. I finished the rest last night. That’s a weight off my shoulders. That gives me some time this week. To what? I’m not sure. Get a bunch of little projects done. I might need to start drawing the next big one. Not sure what deadlines I have coming up. I entered a show. I probably will get rejected from one today, so it seemed fair. I entered with three pieces that have never been shown, and two of them are not new. I figured I should give them a chance, and if I didn’t get into the show, oh well. No biggie. Don’t have to figure out how to get to the opening! Or deliver the piece. Weird attitude for an artist who likes to have her work shown, sure.
Here’s what Friday night looked like…
Lots of nervous Annie with Bowie. When Annie gets nervous, she gets very close or in my lap. Bowie was not impressed.
I graded things that looked like this…
This one actually made no sense for the question. I did have some that made more sense in the drawing than in the explanation. Sigh. Had to reteach what evidence was because of this assignment. It’s fine. I even graded all the kids who transferred to the new section on the other team. Cuz it would be mean not to.
The Man had a long wedding on Friday that his band played for…the last wedding they’re doing is this Saturday. These things are kicking their butts…so much prep and then so much waiting around. I don’t go to the weddings…no desire to sit through that. Saturday’s is at the beach, though, so I might wander down there and sit on a chair with my stitching or a book. Or just go for a walk. I don’t know. Bring the dog? Not sure dogs are allowed down there. ANYWAY. It has sucked for us…he’s exhausted on the day after, so I took the dog for a walk without him…both the dog and I needed it. Honestly, I think he needs it too…more exercise would be good for all of us.
Simba was definitely out of shape. But we did 2 miles.
Artwise, I tried to find a better finish for the bug quilts, something that took less time so the price would come down, but that would still look nice. So I got some 8×8 canvases and painted them…
And then attached the quilts to that…which is always a pain in the butt because the wood framing is inevitably in the way…
But it worked! I need to finish three more before the 12th? I think? Easy peasy. And I think I can finish the other two pieces for the clay the same way (minus the canvas)…but I need a diamond tip drill bit too. Home Depot trip. If I remember.
I drew at dinner Saturday night…
A bit better than all the car drawings I saw the night before.
Yesterday, the Man’s dad had a surprise birthday party at the Jazz Lounge over by San Diego State. It was a nice couple of hours…mostly listening to music.
Jazz isn’t my favorite, but this was mostly old classics, so I knew most of them.
I came home and worked, because it has to happen sometime. Today, at our staff meeting, we get to ‘debrief’ the poverty simulation from last week. Not sure what to say about that. Did I gain new understanding? Um. Not really. Empathy? Already had it. I guess it’ll be interesting to hear what they think we should have learned. And then we get to make phone calls for an awards ceremony. I totally love the awards part, but wish there were staff who could make the phone calls…there are so many translation issues when we call parents. I’m sure it will be fine, and it’s for a good thing for once.
That’s always me. Gotta prep a lab today for Wednesday. Gotta plan next week…and next week…and next week.
This is too real.
OK. School today…watching a movie…Bill Nye. It’s where I’m at. Vocab and preteach Newton’s second law tomorrow, then lab Wednesday. We have Friday off…random 3-day weekend. I’m using it to get my labs done, two vaccines (because you can’t get in to a nurse for a vaccine before or after work…it’s 8:30-3:30 only…like WTF?), and a blood test or two…fasting…so that’ll be fun. And a smog check! What a day. Maybe ceramics if I’m lucky. Gotta do some stuff at home too. Always. That shit…I never get caught up with that. My goal is to get the hallway done before the boychild comes home. I have 3 more weeks. I might get there. Nice to have a deadline I guess.
Hokay. Wednesday. I’m a little tired, I must say. Not sure why. Rejiggering my lesson plan for today, I think. Some catchup, some kids finishing stuff up, instead of starting the next thing. I may do a piece of the next thing, but I have two classes that need to finish yesterday’s thing still. It’s OK. It’s fast. But I hate having classes on different things. It’s just easier when they’re all in the same range of stuff. It’s Back-to-School Night tonight…set for 5 PM, which makes more sense for parents, but it means I have 90 minutes after school where I’m just there. I have grading to do and will do it, so I don’t have to bring it home (the first batch of progress reports are due next week, which seems really early). I have a lot of work to get through. I really just want to finish my book though. And finish another one by Monday for book club. I had to finally buy that one, because it was still 5 weeks out at the library.
Artmaking is going slowly. I am not giving myself enough time because of grading, unfortunately. It sucks. I hate it. I guess I lose Sunday afternoons? I don’t know any other way to do this. I feel like I lose half the Saturdays too. UGH. So I traced the two little pieces onto Wonder Under, which took almost no time at all…
And last night, I cut them out…
Superfast. Hopefully I’ll have the energy tonight to iron them to fabric. I’m not holding out much hope, but some.
Monday, I worked on glazing the mug still…
Anybody who’s thinking, oh, Nida will make a bunch of these and sell them…HA! My god, they take so long. Which is fine. I’ve always been more about the process than having a product to sell…obviously.
This already has 10 hours into it.
Consider time, materials, firing fees…
Completely unaffordable. Sorry y’all. This is not going to be a second (third? fourth?) income generator for me. And I’m OK with that.
Enjoy the video in the round.
That long thin quilt is going to this show…
In Miami, Florida. As soon as it’s back from the photographer. It still needs a name, but I think I had one somewhere. I just need to figure out where.
OK. School. Ugh. Redo plan for the day. Get the kids working independently for at least half of class time. Grade things. Prep for next week. Try to figure out how to efficiently grade the thing the other teacher fucked up. Sigh. Spend more of my prep time not prepping. Yesterday started badly with a last-minute switch of two resource kids who need support into a class with no support, literally 2 minutes before they were supposed to show up to my class. They needed seats, they needed to be added to my Google Classroom, they needed to be told not to delete themselves out of the other classroom until I graded things. FUCK. And no support? So that put me over 20% resource kids in that class, so after my complaints and reminders of how shit should work, I have support in there today. But the long string of emails leading up to that last one? I could have been included. So I would’ve known. But no. Not important. So my mindset during prep was to put on loud music with lots of swear words and grade all the makeup work so it was off my plate. Pro? That last bit.
Anyway. Today will be better. I command it. And I don’t have to try to cook after pilates, like last night, cooking after 7:30 PM. Tonight the Man cooks and I collapse. With my book, hopefully.
It’s pajama day today. On a Monday. That might be a first…usually it’s later in the week. It kinda makes me feel like I’m not going to work…is that a pro or a con? It’s good to go to work in pajamas because it doesn’t feel like work? Oh, it will feel like it when I get there. I think I mostly prepped on Friday; I just didn’t put the inertia stuff on their desks yet. No biggie. Anyway. I’m in pajamas. I’m going to the ceramics studio later; debating whether to bring real pants. Or just go in pajamas. They probably won’t care. Tomorrow is wear your favorite band shirt. What a coincidence? I just went and saw one of my favorite bands, Radio Thieves (the Man plays keyboards and sings) on Saturday night downtown. The Music Box did a street fair thing.
Nice location…too many people with captain’s hats (Yachtley Crew was the main band)…
Radio Thieves was awesome…
Although I still don’t understand the cowboy wear because they played no country.
Whatever. They always wear weird shit. Except pajamas. Never seen them in pajamas.
Ceramics-wise, I went Friday night. Two of my things were out of the bisque fire. One was the top of this so I could finally put them together…
Turned out pretty cool.
Don’t think I’m going to glaze fire? Not sure. It will get super dark if I do and it doesn’t need to be foodsafe, so why deal with that? I do think I will epoxy them together though. They fit but there’s a wobble.
Then the base for the other piece came out…
Looked good. I put an iron wash over it and then glazed the two oil spills with a glaze I picked up on sale called um I think it’s called oil spill! So it should be perfect.
We’ll see how it goes. I put a clear satin on the fishies (not the bones) and the windows of the car. Then the winged woman gets epoxied on that and the fabric added.
Speaking of added fabric, I finally had enough mental space to draw two fabric things for clay things I made back in February/March. I had papers measured to size to help me draw…like since July? I drew in pencil first…
And then in ink…this one will hang in a woman-shaped frame I slab built when I was in the handbuilding class…
And this one was a coil-built thing that I put two holes in for hanging a little quilt…
The holes might have filled in with glaze. I might need to drill them. Not sure how to do that. Will ask at the studio today. I also worked on my mug but totally forgot to take any pictures. Of course. Maybe today.
I graded a lot this weekend. I’m really trying to make time for the art, finish fixing up the house from the summer whirlwind (I pulled off most of the blue tape from the moldings and installed two switchplates, one old, one new because the other one was disgusting.). I need to hang the art up and get everything in the living room put away. I also need to do some textured paint in one area. I have the stuff…just haven’t had the time. AND I watered things. I haven’t had enough time for that either and plants are suffering. UGH. This week is a clusterfuck. So I don’t expect getting control of it this week.
Teachers need a 4th day to deal with school. Because there isn’t enough time at school to deal with it. Here’s Bowie helping me grade.
I finished the homework from the week before, all the warmups, and two classes of the Unit 1 packets. I have three more of those, last week’s homework, and an academic assignment. Fun times.
Speaking of school, we borrowed tennis balls from PE and they (1) smelled exactly like you’d think they’d smell and (2) came packaged like a scrotum, tied up like this with two balls in each bag.
I can’t decide if PE was just messing with us or there’s some reason to pack them this way.
Finishing with this…
I’m not a fan of war. I’m not a fan of supporting war, although the Ukraine/Russia thing seems a worthy cause. World War II was a worthy cause. Just wish there were no more kids dying anywhere from anything, but that’s too much to hope for in a country where guns are more important than schools.
Anyway. Monday musings. I’ll be making those two little quilts and finishing two big ones that are not art quilts but need doing. Hopefully I’ll also start that next big quilt in the next week or so. We’ll see how that goes. I’m giving myself grace (I hate that phrase) this week…back-to-school night, physical therapy on the neck, late pilates because of that back-to-school night. Lots going on. Never enough sleep for it.
I love a good day off. A three-day weekend. We’re only three weeks in, but it’s appreciated. And my crazy school board has added two more three-day weekends to the fall. Why? I don’t really know. The board claims parents requested it for travel with their kids…and yet, I have four independent study contracts in the works for September, three for parents who are traveling with their kids…possible a fifth one coming up. I think it’ll be a pain when we get to June and have to add those extra weekend days on, but I don’t think anyone asked the teachers. We also know that the week after a 3-day weekend, it takes twice as long to get kids back on task, and by the time we do, the week is almost over. But I…I still appreciate the extra day. It gives me time to not stress about school. Today I’m going to make some scones for breakfasts for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to go to the ceramics studio (I would have done that anyway on a Monday), I’m going to read my book, and I’m going to rip the tape off all of the painted hallway. Oh yeah, I also need more paint from Home Depot. Ah well. I knew that might happen. I did finish painting the hallway…mostly. There’s some texture stuff I still need to do in the new drywall area, but otherwise, we’re good. I should touch up the ceiling, and I definitely need to sand and paint all the doors, but that’s not happening right now. Right now, I’m putting the art back up. One step closer to putting away all the crap that got spread out by the summer carpet extravaganza. I rolled two coats yesterday and used up every drop of paint. It’s good.
I sort of realized I needed to have this little piece shipped to arrive by October 1, so I spent some time with it this weekend. Friday night, I was still cutting things out. It felt like a lot.
Saturday night, I finished it, so it must not have really been a lot…and then I sorted it all, because I knew it would only take like 20 minutes or so, but half the time, I was trying to keep Bowie (the kitten) from knocking all of them over…no picture, because of that. Cut…
and sorted…
Remember this piece is small…less than 400 pieces. All small pieces too…then last night, I started ironing them down.
Got it more than halfway done. That’s over 2 1/2 hours of ironing. Little pieces are not always easier to iron than big ones. My goal is to finish tonight? Maybe? Stitchdown this week…I don’t have a ton of nighttime stuff this week. Get the damn thing quilted by the following weekend? Then decide what I’m doing next. I have lots of thoughts.
Friday after school, I went to the ceramics studio for a couple of hours. I forgot my glazes, so I couldn’t work on the mug…but I am trying to use up the last bits of the 25-pound bag I bought and the part of a bag that was a freebie. So I made a random bowl that I will sgraffito, and I again tried to slab build a mug. And again, it was way too big. IDK why I keep doing this. I did want to try to round the bottom with darts, and that worked pretty well.
But I’m thinking it’s going to be another plant pot. Which is fine. Everything else is drying…seriously, I have four things drying? I’m going in today and will remember the underglazes. Hopefully. I still have a little bit left of the clay on the right…I was saving some for a handle…for the teacup. Tea tureen? It’s huge. It doesn’t need handles. It might need a lid. No. Maybe I will make a little picture frame. I don’t know. Sometimes with clay, I have a plan. Right now, I’m trying to finish the plans I have and make a decision about what clay to buy next, but I don’t actually have room for any clay in my cubby until everything is on the drying rack. So there’s that. I’ll be carving for a bit, I think.
I finished a drawing at dinner on Saturday…I’d barely started it the previous Saturday when they brought the food, uber fast.
This place was slower. Good? Bad? It was busier. Eh.
We have a new friend to make Simba bark like a maniac.
There is no shortage of wildlife in the yard. Which is a good thing. Speaking of wildlife…
Cats in weird positions for the win.
OK. It’s nice to summarize when I don’t have to go to work. I need to shower, make scones (maybe not in that order), prep the crockpot (not sure there’s room for that in the fridge…could be problematic), do a little bit of school stuff so I’m ready for tomorrow, fold my laundry, go to ceramics and play around, iron some more, check art entries, pull some tape, hang some art. See, it’s a day off and I’m still busy! But some of it is stuff I really want to do and most of the rest is stuff I’d have to do around work if I were going today…which is why I’m writing this at 10 AM and not 7. It’s all good. Also go for a hike today. That’s important. OK. Gotta go start the process. I think I really am more about being able to check things off a list than sitting by a pool all day. I will sit and read, don’t get me wrong, but relaxing for me is the making art part…so if I get to do that for a few hours during the day, it’s all good.
OK, we’re back to feeling like nothing got done over the weekend. I remember this feeling. It’s frustrating. I crossed off some things, but more magically appeared. Or I made more just by existing. This morning, in the shower, I remembered things for school that I should have done Friday. Oops. Oh well. It’s either happening this morning once I get there or it’s possibly not happening.
I did do some art this weekend. That’s the plus, I guess, is that I push and shove to make time for that. I ironed all three nights, although not more than an hour each night, really. Friday night (with exhaustion)…
I had labeled the original pencil drawing with the flag colors and country names, and then photographed it, because I erased all of it to do the final drawing. I printed those photos Friday night to help me remember what I’d drawn in June.
Here’s ironing all the flesh of the minor characters…the warring factions.
Russia and the Ukraine, the US (embarrassed), Palestine, Israel, and Hamas. I’d like my country to stop providing weapons to wars…it’s complicated, though, because the Ukraine needed it to protect their country from Russia taking over. It made sense to help them. But Israel? Not so much. But not Hamas either. That whole conflagration…we should just be providing medicine and food and persuasion to knock it off and be peaceful. Not helping Israel kick Palestinians out of their homes…and killing innocent people. It’s a fine line, maybe. Anyway. This piece is about war…and how to stop it. Read Lysistrata.
What I finished Saturday night…
More than an hour. It was nice. Last night? Not even an hour…but a lot of little things got ironed down…
And I picked the fabrics for the central main figure…I just didn’t iron them down. I’ve done all the 0-100s and the 300s and some of the rest. I don’t think I have a lot left. On a small piece like this, it’s easy to bounce around and do all the missiles and bombs, then all the fires, etc. I suspect I’ll be done tonight or tomorrow night.
I wanted to do ceramics Friday after school, but I staying 90 minutes to set up for today and also to do seating charts. And then I was way too tired, so I went to the studio on Saturday instead.
I cleaned up the girlchild’s boot vase and forgot to take a picture of it again. It’s basically drying slowly. I then cleaned up the not-paper bag…
It had a cracking issue in the base, so I fixed that, but it’s also probably ready to dry. Then I worked on my mug…
I’m going to do a combination of relief and sgraffito, I think. We’ll see.
Normally I’d go in today to work in there, but there’s a 2-hour staff meeting and then book club at 7, so I don’t have time. No worries; I’ll go tomorrow. Maybe I’ll remember the glazes too.
I also got this one out of the bisque fire…
The top part is still drying. Color is pretty true to vision at the moment.
I haven’t decided how I’m going to handle this…whether I’m going to leave it bisque? I think so.
This one got glaze fired…some interesting things happened with the skin color.
Needed another coat? I don’t dislike it, but it wasn’t expected.
The back seems to have been glazed, even though I didn’t glaze it. It stuck a little to the ceramic cookie. Doesn’t really matter…this is meant to go on a garden stake. Interesting to try anyway.
We hiked 3 miles Saturday. It was cooler and nice.
We really have flailed on hiking this summer. Too much to do, too hot. Working on remedying that. Although the Man has so many music shows, it might just be me doing this.
This one…still up way too early in the morning, claws out.
Ugh. Sweet but psychotic. OK, I need to go to school, make more ice, figure the rest of Friday out, copy stuff, figure the rest of grading out, grade a thing, input grades, sit through that 2-hour meeting. I’m teaching energy today, ironically on a Monday when I don’t really have any. It’s OK…it’s not that kind of energy. And maybe the tea will kick in. Got some work done yesterday…finally caved and spent a few hours so this week won’t totally suck. Really trying to limit it though. Walked away with more to do. There’s always more to do though.
Kathy Nida 