Lost Pupils

I love when out of the corner of your eye, you can see that your phone just did something, but when you look back at it, whatever it is has disappeared. I’m amazed by how dependent on our phones we are…and yet I love being able to look stuff up at a moment’s notice, map to multiple places without having to print stuff out, find a restaurant nearby, or pull up my website for some info. Yet in my principal’s meeting, he wanted to know what I was doing on my phone (um, taking notes? or texting my BFF?)…in a meeting two principals ago, he got mad at us for taking notes on our devices and forced us back to paper. The current guy is young enough to be my kid! But yeah, I was taking notes. No really, I was.

I’ve already dealt with the girlchild’s last-day-at-school texts this morning (this box is a million pounds!), last night I finally got the boychild to answer, and then went back and forth with a teacher about how some kids are gonna need consequences and parent meetings. Maybe we were better off when we didn’t hear all that. Hard to say. Being alone most of the time means I like the connection…but it is a LOT of connecting.

So my phone is flashing away at me and I’m still oh so tired. I don’t know what it is about this week. I don’t think I’m sleeping a lot less, but the mornings surely hurt.

I went to my stitching meeting last night and now all I want to do is get on a plane and go to Spain. Or anywhere really. But Spain would be nice. Wish I taught geography so I could go for a teacher scholarship with National Geographic. If you can’t afford to travel, you have to find other ways? Well yeah. I guess.

I was pretty braindead when I got home. I was grading before I left, and then finishing up a comic book I had to return (um, graphic novel). I eventually made it up…standing even…and came in here to stitch down the quilt…

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Like I said, I didn’t think it would take long…

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And it didn’t…about an hour and a half. This thing is small and uncomplicated. Probably a good thing at this point of the school year. Twenty-three days.

The back.

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I check the back to see if I missed stitching anything down.

Then I realized as I was stitching it down that I was missing the black circles (the pupils) in the eyes. I had noticed they weren’t there when I was sorting pieces, and I meant to cut new ones, but forgot. Actually, I noticed even before that I was missing them…after I trimmed the Wonder Under and was ironing stuff to fabric. I thought I had already ironed them and just didn’t remember it…that I’d find them eventually.

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Lost pupils. And I remembered (and forgot again) while I was ironing. And I remembered again last night…but didn’t do it because I really do need to try to get to bed before midnight thirty on a school night. So hopefully tonight…after two openings (ha!), I will cut out some pupils (ironic. I’m cutting out fabric to represent a hole.) and iron them on and stitch them down, and THEN…only then will I be able to sandwich this puppy.

Some Freudian thing about the word pupils and my job as a teacher there. Yes. I know. I got it.

I’m not expecting any work getting done tomorrow. I have an opening at night down in Barrio Logan and I have a science thing all morning. Ugh. Survival of the fittest. I’m pretty sure I’ve proven my worth to society…maybe y’all could mellow out and let me sit on the deck and draw in the sun for a few hours (when would that be? You’d have to be home during daylight AND awake. Not happening. Silly Kathy. That’s what summer is for.).

That’s What Tired Does…

When you’re already tired, the best thing in the world to do is have to get up even earlier to go to a meeting. Seriously. You should try it. The alarm goes off and you think, WTF. I know I don’t get up now. And then you remember. Oh yeah you do. Because you have to go to that meeting. Damn responsibilities. I did go to bed a little earlier last night because I knew this was happening, but I didn’t want to.

Because I finished ironing this down…

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And here’s what’s so funny about that background. I just realized it was the wrong one…but I like it. I had pulled one of the many dark blues I have lying around, just for this purpose, way back when I started picking fabrics (OK, not really WAY back, but a few weeks ago). This one was in the reject pile. But I didn’t remember that last night after a 2-hour union meeting and another 2-hour art meeting (both necessary and useful, but exhausting after a long day of persuading kids to write about bird beak adaptations). I just reached for the one that was at my eye level. The other one is on the floor. With the fabrics I used in this quilt. A perfectly logical place really, but not in my line of sight. I just saw it this morning.

That said, I think this looks good…it’s hard to see the swirly batik in the photo, but it works well.

But that’s what tired does…picks a different background.

So I wanted to start sewing as well last night, but it was a quarter to midnight and you already saw my note about sleep, wonderful sleep. So I went to bed. Ironing took a whopping 5 hours and 42 minutes. I really should do more of these small pieces, just to remember what easy looks like. Says the woman whose next quilt is crazy complicated. As usual.

Oh well. This is my life. I was reminded last night that I have to do a weird project this summer involving a nightstand. I say weird because I can’t quite get my head around it. I’ll have to figure it out sometime in the summer. They haven’t set a deadline yet, and I’m hoping it’s not until September or October, but who knows? We did a catalog with our most recent show. It changes the deadlines. In fact, the show I was helping to plan for 2017 will have a feminist coloring book, so if you’re one of the people who’s been trying to tell me I should make a coloring book, well there will be one of my pieces in it…I’ll let you know when that’s available…hopefully by November.

Which means having to draw something to size. Ah well. Opportunity knocks and then you are buried in work. Seriously, my summer is chock full of have-to’s already and it hasn’t even started yet.

So I’m hoping to have enough energy to stitch this down tonight. I don’t think it will take more than a couple of hours at the absolute most. And then I can sandwich and pinbaste…quilting next week? I still need to finish the other drawing as well. I have another meeting tonight and two openings tomorrow night, so hopefully I’ll find some free time and energy in all that. Maybe.

I Should Be Able to Pull That Off

Again with the sleep! Oh well…it’s often my own fault. I did choose to go to bed late. Well, the art brain decided it for me, didn’t it? Don’t have much control over her some days. At least I slept well for the few hours I slept. Today is going to be a long day, though, and not having enough sleep is not usually a good thing in those cases. Lots of tea…should help.

I’m still grading every night…trying to get caught up. Actually finished one of the major projects last night, so I’m feeling pretty good about that. But there are still 7 things on my to-grade list. That’s not so good. Oh well. I do what I can.

I wanted to be done with the ironing last night. I’ve spent a little over 5 hours so far.

I was talking about this yesterday…ironing the stuff on top separately so I could see where the pieces went…

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Then transferring that as a whole to the main section. It works pretty well, although the flesh color here is light enough that I can see OK through it…not great, just OK.

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This is where I should’ve stopped if I’d really wanted a decent night’s sleep…I think that was just before midnight.

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But so close! I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go to bed with just that arm undone. So I kept going…

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Even though the last section was cactus with a million spikes…

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Yeah. I like it. And it’s not even on the dark background yet. Or stitched or quilted or anything. The outlining quilting will totally change her.

See now I’m at a point where it’s hard NOT to work on her every day. That’s a good thing. Although I already know I’m busy every night this week and Saturday I have a 4-hour training, so the odds of my getting anything significant done on her before Sunday is pretty low. Which sucks.

If I were smart (which sometimes I am), I’d get a binding on the other quilt I recently finished so I could hand sew it at one of the meetings I’m at. I took a quilt that needed finishing to a staff meeting once. Just to sew the binding on. I had a male principal (7 out of the 8 have been male) and he was livid, sure I wasn’t paying attention. I wonder how people in the education business don’t understand how people’s brains work. I pay better attention in afternoon meetings when I have handwork, because (1) it keeps me awake and (2) it entertains the part of my brain that is completely bored and wanting to act out. I had the same issue in my summer high-school government class, and he flipped out too because I was knitting. So I don’t sew things in school any more, even though I want to. I have a union meeting today and I often draw or grade while the meeting goes on. I still take notes and pay attention, but honestly, I’d be paying more attention if I were sewing.

No, I’m not teaching my students to sew. I think in their case, at least at their level, it wouldn’t help the attention span at all. Plus needles and scissors. I can’t even let them have rulers on a regular basis. Being more online has helped a bit with ruler dumbassery in the classroom…we just don’t use them as much. But I don’t stop the doodlers. I was a doodler. I still am.

Hopefully tonight I’ll get her ironed onto a background at least. That will be progress, and it’s not a huge step, so even though I’m probably not getting dinner until 9, and I’m about to fall back asleep now, I should be able to pull that off.

Should.

Learned That the Hard Way…

I didn’t make a conscious choice to stay up late last night. I walked both dogs when I got home from school. I fed myself. I did some work, which hopefully will turn into a job. I graded a big pile of science journals, the ones I meant to get done on Sunday but that got co-opted by a door issue. It was after 11 PM. But I know how my brain works. I knew I was already in a mood, that stress and work and life in general were dragging me down. Those are the days I really need to make some art, to spend some time drawing or ironing or whatever it is. Am I tired this morning? Well yeah, I am, and I can’t find the stuff I need for work (I think it’s AT work is why), and I know today is a lab day, so I will be exhausted by the end of it, but I also know how much worse I would have felt today if I didn’t make art. And honestly, even though it was late when I finally DID go to bed, I couldn’t fall asleep. Too much whirling around in my head. Or I don’t even know. I was wide awake. Truly annoying. Flip flop. Sheeit. I need to sleep. I hate that feeling. We all do. It’s even worse when you keep thinking about how late it is and how little sleep you’ll get even if you fall asleep Right NOW. And then you don’t.

Eventually I did, but then something woke me early in the morning too. It’s a 5-hour-sleep day. If that. I guess that’s better than some.

I ironed for a little over an hour…starting with the face…

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Faces are always fussy because there’s stuff that overlaps in a weird way around the nose and the hair, and you have to fuss with placement. Especially the eyes. I always iron the eyes separate and then place them on the face so I can move them around, make sure they’re level and not too close together or far apart.

Learned that the hard way.

That’s when I should have gone to bed. Naah. I sorted through the 200s and laid them out on the table. Then I found all the flesh pieces, which meant rummaging through the 300s as well. Ironed all of them down, separate from the head. It’s easier to do it separately and then iron the two larger pieces together at the end.

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Then I started on all the stuff that will cover the flesh…only got through the trees on her torso, but they look pretty good. It’s hard to iron this layer because I can only barely see it through the fabric and the teflon sheet. I will probably iron the vines, flowers, and cactus separately and then put them on top. Same with the lungs and the heart.

So there’s about 175 pieces left to do, probably another couple of hours, because they’re a bit fussy. And then I need to iron it down to the background. I might get to that this week…it depends on the job I bid on, whether I get it or not. Honestly, I need the work, need the money to get through the summer and its numerous college payments, but I’d also welcome NOT getting the job, so I can work on this. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but I try to do the Have-To’s first before I take time to make art. And if I tell her the work will be done by whenever, then I actually need to finish, right? I still need to finish the big drawing too…especially realizing how close to the end of the school year I am.

I’d tell you to wish me luck, but I’m not sure what I need most…the work? Or the art?

The artist for the day is Jason Humphrey, who works in ink and watercolor. Check out the original artwork tab and I bet you can find the stuff I like, especially the pieces with multiple layers of paper and complicated drawings…truly wonderful for long-term staring.

OK, off to Work 1, waiting to hear from Work 2, wanting to do Work 4 (art), but also realizing I need to do Work 3 (oh holey moley, I forgot about that).

I Swear It…

Well. Happy late Mother’s Day to all of you. I was quite glad to survive mine with only one trip to Home Depot and some strewing of tools all over the entryway floor. But at least I can open and close the front door now. I got almost nothing done yesterday besides the door, but whatever. I’ve been incredibly efficient this morning in the last 7 minutes, so that bodes well for the rest of the day. Maybe. I just realized what time it is. Fuck.

It’s OK. I will survive. I felt incredibly overwhelmed yesterday, even Saturday (hit 5 stops in 2 hours…no biggie) and last night could’ve used an assist or five.

So yeah, there was this…

That is a hole to the outdoors…it didn’t start out that way. I’d brought half the groceries up and then went to grab the handle to go back outside, and it pulled apart. It had been loose before, but not heinously so. In fact, I’ve tightened it before. My dad will tell you it’s because I’m hard on doors, but honestly, WTF, you should be able to pull on a door handle and not have it fall to pieces. I suspect it’s because it needs to be attached at the bottom too, but dad said no, it was a pain and unnecessary (I’m gonna do that bit sometime soon…OK, maybe summer). My dad will tell you all breakage and damage is because I’m hard on stuff, and maybe that’s true. But I’ve never had a handle pull apart like that and I’ve opened a lot of doors over and over and over again. So I think that’s bullshit.

After analyzing the pieces (because when the other side dropped, pieces flew…pieces that had previously been attached and now were not) and calling the ex, who gave his analysis of “I don’t know how the fuck this goes back together” and “You seem to be missing at least one piece” (goes digging around the pots and plants that are around the front door, like I haven’t already done that shit), and having the debate of Go Buy Another One (they ain’t cheap) or Call a Locksmith (they ain’t cheap either), I drove off to Home Depot and found the same damn thing and installed it in about 14 seconds flat.

And yes, the door needs painting and I should probably pick up all that crap on the floor, but I was sort of emotionally a disaster at that point. So there. I left it. Walked the fuck away.

Mother’s Day. Sigh. My ass. Girlchild posted a photo on Instagram which is kinda how we roll…

My students will tell you that’s how I take all photos with them. Like I know it’s gonna be a bad photo, so let’s OWN that bitch.

After making lunches for the whole week (stupid recipes that lie and say it will take 30 minutes to make this…in whose world? The one where someone’s helping you by chopping it all up? And why does yours look so colorful? Mine is decidedly brown. With brown overtones.) and dinner and reading while eating, I said Fuck You to my job and wandered into the studio for some me time.

Might as well iron this thing.

So I did…

It’s very meditative, this ironing stuff.

And it’s kinda cool that I’m doing this now, because I drew this on the flight home from dropping off the girlchild at college, and she’s done on Thursday, though I won’t see her for another 10 days because she’s gonna visit her cousins first. So I guess this ushers her home.

I stopped thinking about parents and students and the girlchild stressing out over finals and other shit and crap and doors and a house that needs more maintenance than I can handle.

I ironed the stuff in her hair separately…

Then plopped it on. It was almost midnight at that point (there’s math in the clouds by the way…I totally love that).

So I made the intelligent decision to go to bed instead of continuing to iron…even though I wanted to. Hopefully that will make me a less irritable person today, although it’s hard to say. There are 28 days of school left, and I’m feeling every single one. I have a ton of money-making work to do tonight (art CAN be money-making, but usually not), so I don’t know how much time I’ll get for ironing. But there will be some. I swear it. On the crap that is still strewn all over my entryway floor, I swear it.

It’s Not an Empty Room…

Sleep, glorious sleep. Occasionally you get a night where your head hits the pillow and stays there, no flopping about, no weird noises in the middle of the night, blessedly snoozing through until a normal waking time, no alarm waking you out of a weird-ass dream that drops you into a waking world, unsure of reality. I got that last night. And part of it was the rain that came Thursday night and washed away that damn mockingbird. It wasn’t out last night either, so maybe it’s moved to warmer, dryer climes. I’m cool wit dat.

I’m posting late because I had two quilts to deliver this morning for a show that opens next weekend, Feminism Now, at Gallery D in Barrio Logan. I also picked up my copy of the catalog…they are only $20, cat-approved, and full of feminist art from the US and Sweden, which is where this show will travel in 2017.

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Midnight thinks it smells nice. You’ll have to show up to the opening to see the two pieces. I made the second one as a response to the first one, only 4 1/2 years later. And my life 4 1/2 years later is much different. New relationships, kids gone to college, making even more art than back then. I honestly think the art is my healing web, what connects all the broken pieces of me back together. I get lots of questions about how it feels to have both kids gone and then how does it feel to have both of them coming back…good, but temporary. I know it’s only 3 months, not even that for the girlchild, and this might be the last summer I see both of them. OR…like many of my friends, they’ll move back and never leave. But I doubt that. I actually had a conversation with my counselor about renting a room out to someone…what that might look like, and is it something I could even handle (as I’m sitting here in my office, getting ready to finally clean some floors a good month after they started needing it, and blasting music. Plus the house smells like bacon. And my parents’ dog peed in the hallway. That carpet just needs to go. That’s the second dog of theirs that’s peed there, and then there was Babygirl, who considered the space outside my door her pissed-off litter tray, because I wouldn’t let her in there at night.). But OTHERWISE, it sounds like an idea. I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but at some point, it might be necessary.

I didn’t make art yesterday. I came home from gaming and finished this…

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Great book. Hysterically funny and yet right there on top of mental illness and other crap that fucks with you. Sending it to the girlchild. She’ll giggle on the plane to her cousins.

“You don’t have to go to some special private school to be an artist. Just look at the intricate beauty of cobwebs. Spiders make them with their butts.” Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy (she says her dad said it though…)

Honestly, all I want to do today is sit on the couch and read. But I have to work my butt off…not to make cobwebs unfortunately. I’m behind in grading again. I’m not sure how, but it has hit a level that makes me start to panic. I keep a list of assignments in a task manager, because it helps me organize and remember to grade the online crap, but also because I really enjoy checking it off and watching it disappear when I finish it. Weird, I know. But whatever. I have another book I started reading this morning. I just want to curl up with it dammit.

Sigh. And then while I was driving to deliver those quilts…

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(here’s my packing up…dehairing and cutting dowels etc.) I realized what needed to go in the space of the torso in the large drawing I’m doing…and it’s not a cute animal or a nice plant. San Diego has an increasing homeless issue here, and the problem is not just the growing number of people who are living on the streets in tents (if they’re slightly luckier) or boxes or not even that, but also our responses to them, as a local agency fills a space under a bridge where homeless folks used to shelter with sharp pointy rocks so they can’t, or a government agency does sweeps to clear areas of homeless encampments, so they have to go somewhere, people. We can’t ignore it and push it out and try to make it invisible. We need to feed them and house them and employ them and clothe them and medicate them (when possible). We need to CARE for them.

And I don’t know how best to do that, because I don’t have thousands of dollars or resources or anything but a sense that we suck. Because we often do. Anyway, that’s what’s getting drawn in there, somehow. Haven’t quite figured out the how and specifically what. I just know what it should be. A homeless woman framed in an Earth Mother who does provide shelter…safe and clean and dry and warm. And then I go back to having extra space here, but knowing I can’t afford to feed and clothe, let alone care for any more people than I already am. But maybe that will change. Who knows. I’m just thinking, not doing yet. Realistically, what would that look like? I don’t come home from work with extra energy for taking care of more people. Yeah.

So I’m gonna go work for a while, and then maybe I’ll read. Because I should be allowed to do that for a bit…and not just work for hours each day, right? Or maybe I should just fill one of those rooms with foster puppies and kittens. Then go lie in there for an hour a day, letting them romp all over me. That would be good. Anyway, it’s not an empty room yet. So thinking…and drawing…

Sorted

First of all, some crazy fairy has left all the black pens in the world in my office. In front of my keyboard. Right where my arms should go. I know that’s not really what’s happened, that every time I walked in here to do something worklike, I brought a black pen with me and left it here, and soon all of them will be here and then I will come in here to find them, and they will migrate back out into the rest of the house…but for now, they gather here, some sort of black pen reunion. There’s another batch of them in my purse…maybe I should reunite them. Got a pen? Yeah, I’ve got 12. All different.

There are 29 days of school left. This is somewhat relieving and yet also panicky, because of how much has to be done. That’s why I came home yesterday and graded another assignment…after a science meeting where we discussed my minor freakout about what I’ll be teaching next year. It’ll be FINE. I just need to figure out what an atom is. (shh) I was standing in Staples, trying desperately to remember why I was even in there (lab materials, but oooh! Pens!), and the principal called me (why did I give him my number?) and I tried to answer his questions best I could, wondering how on EARTH all these teachers are gonna learn all the stuff they need to well enough to teach it. My co-teacher handed me a pile of books, but my brain is completely shut down right now in terms of trying to learn anything. Talk to me in July. In July, I’ll be able to handle reading about materials and chemical reactions and protons and electrons and Strontium. Maybe. Not now. Now is a day at a time. Darwin today. Beaks next week. Survival next week (really, not just mine, but teaching about it). The fastest Natural Selection unit ever. In fact, only the strong will survive (topic for today), after inputting the last assignment in the gradebook. Progress reports go home today. Please please, argue with me that a D is a good grade and I shouldn’t add any comments to your report about how your work is always half done and late.

I didn’t start until late, as always. And honestly, I didn’t get much done.

I sorted the pieces for the new quilt.

It was nice to only have to deal with 4 boxes instead of 12 or so.

It took me a whopping 20 minutes…and that was it. I was done. I wanted to try drawing, but it was not to be. Too tired to think about how things fit in spaces and how I might draw them. Too tired to go quilt. Too tired to pick a binding for the orange quilt. Just too damn tired.

Your artist for the day is Paula Collins, a ceramics artist from Fallbrook. You can see her work here. The ceramic pieces range from pretty small to quite large, but they all have a quirky finish to them. I quite like the birdhouses and the larger busts. The facial expressions are great. This is where I wish I had never-ending cash so I could buy art I like, but alas, I will just have to stare from afar.

As far as tonight goes, I’m not anticipating getting much, if anything done. I do need to cut some dowels and slats and dehair a larger quilt for delivery tomorrow, so that will have to happen, unless I want to get up early tomorrow. And I don’t! Who knows…maybe I’ll come back from gaming tonight and have wide-awake energy and get a bunch of drawing done (probability calculations not good). You never know though. How I feel now is not how I’ll feel later. Hopefully!

An Everyday Habit

‘Twas a long day, full of testing children and 78 trips to the bathroom, none of them mine. Full of kids who went to bed at 2 AM and wondered why they were tired. Kids that were done after an hour and had to entertain themselves silently for two more. Teachers who hadn’t eaten or peed for longer than normal. Then once we let the kids go, we had to settle down to a large chunk of time to collaborate…despite our brains being equally fuzzy from long hours of trying to keep kids focused AND quiet. It mostly worked. That was Day 1. Day 2 is today.

I had stuff to do after school, plus got stuck in traffic. Stupid drivers during rush hour, cutting people off, not signaling, being assholes. It’s not good for me to be in that. I finally made it home around 6, tired, cranky, with a pile of work to do. So I did it. And then realized it was late. This is where living alone sucks…you’re too tired to cook, money is tight so you aren’t going out, but you need to eat. Leftovers are gone because you ate them for lunch. So I cooked. But it was late. Really I should have worked some more, but I was tired of it. I get like that. This job has so many hours of my life. I feel like after 9, that should be mine. We work to earn money to survive, yes, but at some point, it should also be so that we can spend time doing the things we love…hiking, art, reading. I want more of that this week.

So I didn’t keep working. I didn’t start grading the next assignment. I didn’t read yet another Teacher Appreciation Week email and wonder…hell…who is appreciating my being a teacher right now? Probably not the kid I harassed into sitting up and not falling asleep on the desk yesterday (thanks, parents, for letting him stay up late). It’s OK. I don’t teach for that. Our parents don’t send flowers or notes. They don’t cover our doors with big grateful signs. They don’t do anything, honestly. It’s enough that they are surviving.

I finished cutting out all the pieces for the new quilt last night…

It’s not a huge quilt. The pile of trimmed scraps looks bigger than the pile of trimmed pieces. I spent 3 relaxing hours doing this last night. I needed that. I stayed up a bit too late to do it, but at that point, I just wanted it to be done. That’s a motivator in itself, that desire to move on to the next step, to not leave a few pieces sitting in the box until tomorrow. To FINISH. I feel like I need to achieve something tangible each day, something that will take me to bed and murmur sweet nothings of achievement. Then the next morning, when I sit down to write this post, I can feel like I did something worthwhile…for me, anyway. I’m sure some people would say I should spend more time cleaning (and certainly, if boychild could see his room right now, I’d probably be in a bit of trouble…but I have 20 days until he gets home) or maintaining the house or yard, and sure, I could. But I wouldn’t be happy that night, curled up in bed, and the next morning, I’d have that empty feeling I get in my chest when I don’t make any art.

This really is an everyday habit.

Here’s today’s Artwalk artist: Victoria Alexander Marquez, also mostly a paper artist. Her work is delicate and beautiful, especially the larger landscape pieces.

I Labeled Stuff

My internet is strolling through the park this morning with a dog on a leash who wants to smell every leaf. It will be a miracle if I get this posted before I have to leave. I have no interesting pictures of progress from last night…it’s not that I didn’t do anything. It’s just that all I did was iron two quilts flat and then put labels on them and sew them down. It was very exciting (not) and took more time than I thought it should. Plus I didn’t get much sleep the night before (damn bird, silly dogs, crazy cat), so I actually went to bed before midnight…barely. I don’t get much done when I’m asleep, unfortunately…at least nothing tangible. But the labels needed doing, and now I’m ready to deliver the two quilts on Saturday…well, once I dehair them and cut a dowel or two. Nothing is quick and easy.

But I labeled stuff.

I had to grade stuff first…same with every day, I guess. I just blow it off some nights. Or it’s just too exhausting to look at it again. I’m always behind. Until the last day of school. Even then sometimes. I’m realizing I don’t have a good handle on some of the stuff I have to teach next year. I’m a life-science teacher…have been for years. I didn’t take much science in college, but I worked in scientific publishing and I read a lot, so I made it through the teacher tests. But I had a teacher in high school who seemed to do everything in his power to make sure I didn’t understand anything, so some things are just mush in my head. I feel like I need to read a good college textbook, but they’re hella boring. Maybe two…maybe chemistry and physics. For old people. With pictures. Seriously, I’m a visual learner. All about molecules and nuclear fission. Maybe a short stint on atoms. OK. Maybe a longer stint on atoms. Something to think about for summer I guess.

So no artmaking for real last night…but hopefully tonight. I was even going to put up some of the Artwalk artists here today, but I can’t get them to pop up, so either my internet needs to fix itself while I’m gone, or I’ll need to restart some routers and crap when I get home. Wish that stuff really could fix itself. Or at least tell me what it needs.

I do have a piece that will be in Sandy, Utah, this weekend at the Sew Original Quilt & Creative Expo show. This is Part-Time Oasis, part of the Oasis show put on by SAQA and traveling around…

I made it last summer and it’s been wandering around, getting lost at one point.

Ah, the internet returneth, prodigal son and all.

One of the Artwalk artists was Sue Britt…from a distance, when I was walking up to her booth, I was sure I was looking at quilts, at fabric, but her work is paper…and sculptural.

Here’s a video of her inspiration about one of her pieces and her work.

It’s short, but you can see how she makes her work. She’s local and has a studio at Spanish Village in Balboa Park.

I don’t have time for any more, but I’ll get back to them. And for me? The goal is art tonight. Stuff I can photograph and write about, instead of boring old labels.

Thank You for Continuing to Hold

Apparently I never finished this in the morning. So here it is now…I guess you really had to hold, if you’re used to reading me in the morning…

So I finished hand sewing that 17 miles of sleeve on last night. Tonight I’ll put labels on the two quilts. I didn’t grade anything, because I’m lame. I did walk two dogs (OK, I got help about halfway through, but odds are I would have survived it). While I was sewing, I had an idea for filling more of the torso, so I headed over to the drawing. I’m really close to done, so my brain is sort of in overtime. I’m writing this right now while I’m on hold with financial aid because, and this is really stupid but true, TurboTax rounds W2 numbers so the line on the 1040 is not exactly the same, and Cornell’s financial aid cannot handle that, so I have to call and explain it to them so they’ll stop sending emails that they don’t match. Because they don’t. By 49 cents. I’m willing to concede that 49 cents, but Cornell is not. So I’m on hold with the same shitty music as last year. Getting a crick in my neck…wait, put it on speaker phone.

Thank you for continuing to hold.

So I thought of an owl and fit it into the space below the ribcage…

It’s not particularly big. Then I added violets around the owl and raccoon, daisies in the rib space above the owl, and some bits and pieces around the rest of it to balance everything out…some landscaping behind the giraffe, another grape leaf, another tree.

Julie’s asking for a piece count, but I already know this one will be a bitch. I’m not expecting it to be easy or fast, so I’m OK with that. So all I have left is the torso above the hand. I have a few more ideas of what to draw up there, but nothing’s beating me around the head and shoulders. I guess I have to sit and wait for that. No rush…I’m still trying to finish up the other quilt/art stuff for now. At some point, I’ll think it’s a rush, but not yet. As the end of school rushes towards me. Aaargh.

Nothing else cool is going on but this stuff…and I’m finally off hold and talking to a human. HOO MAHN.