Long Shot…

OK, so struggling to make art, but I have managed to get into a new show, get rejected for the first time ever to a ceramics show (!)…also never gotten into one, but that’s OK, and mostly packed up another quilt to send to a show. Plus organized photos and sizes for a 2-person show in Virginia this spring, which needed to be done as well. Organization is hard. Art management is hard. Having to be at a school board meeting to persuade the damn people in charge of the money that we are the resource they should be supporting? Also hard. Followed by an early meeting this morning and tomorrow morning, also hard. Plus my knee was acting up yesterday; actually had to wear a knee brace all day…and we did a lab, so it was kinda necessary that I be mobile. I don’t know what’s up with my knee, but it can fuck off. I do lots of physical stuff to stabilize it, and then it just randomly decides…nope…today I’m not gonna. Ugh.

Anyway…I did do art-related stuff. Monday night, I sorted all the Wonder Under, so technically I’m ready to iron to fabrics…

Hopefully tonight? I need to finish packing this quilt up so I can get a shipping estimate, and then I need to clean up the fabrics from the previous quilt. That might take all my available time tonight, but I hope not.

I made it to ceramics after finishing grades on Monday afternoon. For once, they canceled a staff meeting so we could get actual required work done. I had spent a goodly chunk of the weekend getting grades done, so I finished what little was left and headed for the studio. My piece is waiting for the head to go in the glaze fire and my tree to go in the bisque fire. The rest of it is at home, waiting to be put together and fancified. Fabric and paint I think. So I wanted to try out some of the things I had listed as want-tos before…one of which was sgraffito frames. I may have thought myself into crazytown again though. Instead of just doing a plain square or rectangle, I got fancy. And complicated.

Twice.

We’ll see how it goes. It’s something new anyway. And smaller. By far.

And yes, I entered my first ceramics show ever and got rejected. I’m OK with that. It was a long shot. But you know, in the beginning of my quilt career, Quilt National was a long shot too…so we all get there.

This sweet weird thing, Why. Not., got into Art Quilt Elements.

I entered one of my big complicated pieces and then two smaller pieces that were not as complicated, both in construction and concept, and the big one did not get in. Which is fine. I made this piece in between two big complicated political pieces. And it is its own kind of complicated. It will be at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA, opening the same weekend I’ll be in Virginia at the closing ceremonies of my 2-person show. Same coast! For once. But too far to get to, I think.

Anyway. My art travels. Sometimes I get to travel too. Just not as often.

OK. Today. Sigh. I don’t think I got into pilates this afternoon, but I’m taking my stuff just in case. I have an annoying meeting this morning, then am getting kids through ideas about force and mass and motion all day. Then hopefully pilates and then book club. I know I read the book, but I don’t remember which one it was. As always. One day at a time. Then hopefully getting this space clean enough to start the fun task of picking fabrics. I really do enjoy that part. So that’s a good thing.

NOT Being a Teacher…

(groans) What is this early morning hell? How much tea can I get into me before I start to teach? I didn’t even finish posting things for class yesterday. Why? Because I tried to spend a chunk of my weekend NOT being a teacher. Mis. Take. Well, not. But sheesh, this job. Last week. Deep breaths. I think I can get through the next two weeks. I’m gonna hafta.

Friday night, the Man had a show at the Music Box. Before that, I had made it home and was slumped on the couch, trying to decide what dinner might look like. Glad to say the boychild is a good cook, because he fed me…

Also luckily, the singer in the band, his wife had a table and let me sit at it, which is good, because I was exhausted. And they were the openers, so they only played for an hour. Much nicer than the four-hour show that’s coming up this Saturday.

Saturday morning, I crazily got up kind of early and took an online class from Nicholas Ball, who was in Wales…

At some point, he said, OK hold up your fish, and I had been diligently taking notes, NOT sewing. So I only did two and one has its fins in totally the wrong place (oops) and some people made like ten and I feel like a fish loser, but I will survive. Then I drove to Oceanside to drop off my piece for this show…

I’ll be at the opening on March 30. Hoping it’ll be a cool show.

Came back and persuaded the Man to go for a short birthday hike…

Three miles. But it was beautiful out. Spring has sprung.

And I love being able to make it outside like this.

Then boychild had the suggestion of San Diego Restaurant Week for dinner, so we picked a restaurant and navigated shitty parking…

That was in the bathroom. The food was good, different, which was nice. I drew a little, but the food came out too fast to finish.

Then we came back and I trimmed fabric pieces.

Sunday was full of all the normal get-ready-for-school-week things, but we ended the day going out to dinner with my parents…

And then I finished trimming everything.

On to the next step. I also shipped a quilt off to this show, opening March 24.

The Man is delivering another today for a local show. I have that announcement somewhere too. Sigh. I’m discombobulated. And buried. Two weeks until Spring Break…

I will have to speak to people unfortunately. Need to get the house fixed. And this will be the next two weeks…

Maybe not die…just internally die. I have books to read, though, and art to make. I should commit to making a fabric fish a night, and then I’d have 10. Except I can’t commit to that this week…3 out of the 5 worknights are going to be late and doubled up. Whoops. Oh well. No plans. Just wish teachers luck today. You know how tired YOU are? Imagine a bunch of 13-year-olds. Yup. It’s gonna be crap.

The Wondrousness That Is Quilting…

Weird week. Grades were due (check). Roller coaster projects were due (check). Roller coaster project packets were due (check). I have a literacy meeting this morning, but teaching in the afternoon. Sub plans were due (check). Then Friday is a holiday. Gonna appreciate the hell out of that by getting 3 shots and 2 MRIs. Meanwhile, my heel is hurting again after a 16+-year break from no pain. Fun times. Can’t get a cortisone shot at the moment…blood sugar is confused by my existence. So hmmm.

In awesome sauce news, My Body. My Choice. got into Art Quilt Elements, at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA, starting in March.

And I’m still quilting…in the fussy tiny bits that are the faces and hands of the justices. Monday night, I finished all the people under the umbrella, the umbrella itself, and one justice…

Then last night, I did three more justices…

And the roots under the Supreme Court building. I do end up quilting all their faces upside down, which isn’t really an issue. Seems weird as I’m photographing it though. I also cleaned out the bobbin enclosure. It wasn’t very dirty. I need to take the machine in once this quilt is done.

Monday, I tried to ship the sold quilt, but the UPS store that was supposed to be downtown and open late was no longer there. It was a big hole in the ground. When I called UPS (after walking a mile around downtown due to my stupid map app putting me half a mile away from a location that didn’t exist), they first sent me to another address, which also didn’t have a UPS, but at least wasn’t a hole in the ground, and then I called again (pretty pissed off by now, plus I saw more crack pipes in use on my wander around downtown than I have in a long time), and they were sure that hole in the ground had a UPS Customer Center in it. Nope. Very frustrating. Still frustrated. Emailed, told them to fix their website, make one store open later so real people could actually use it, etc. Ended up sending it with the Man to his work for pickup ($8 for that), because the UPS guy can’t come to my job, isn’t allowed on campus while I’m teaching, and UPS pickup can’t be an hour in the morning or afternoon, they apparently need a chunk of time. My last resort would have been driving around until I found a UPS truck, because the driver can sign for it. It’s insured, which is why I can only take it to a Customer Center. There’s one out here and it closes at 2 PM. UPS’ final answer was to get a friend or family member to take it. Great service, y’all. I hope she likes the quilt. I do. Yes, it’s OK to sell them, to send them off. I’m OK with that. The making is the most important part for me. As long as it’s documented in photos, I’m good.

I did grade all the roller coaster projects on Monday…well, I still need to do the math, but they’re done. And the kids evaluated them today, so I started cleaning up yesterday. They still need to take them apart, so that’s either tomorrow or Monday. We’ll see. They fall down really quickly.

They were pretty creative. I did cut this down from 5 weeks last year to 2 weeks, maybe 2 1/2 if I count the extra stuff we did at the beginning of the unit. No drawing, 3 days off the building, gave them labels (half of them still didn’t do them). No history of roller coasters. It’s not necessary and I wanted more time for electromagnets this year, plus more time for genetics, natural selection, and geologic time scale, which I barely had time for last year. So magnets, electricity (briefly), and light are next. I ordered cow eyeballs for dissection. Looking forward to that in January. Then we’ll do genetics, which is familiar ground at least. Although I need new stuff. The new teacher has provided a bunch of assignments, but no real logical story to how they all fit together, and then doesn’t answer emails or show up for meetings. I’m kind of done. I think this is about when I was done last year, although I still had hope for the teacher coming back from paternity leave. He gave me 6 weeks of help in February and March last year and then mostly ghosted me for the rest of the year. It’s just fucked up. Sigh. I spent an hour last night just editing a set of slides and a worksheet, plus I did happily find a book that has a ton of homework related to this unit. Bought that. Seriously, anything that helps. I’m tired of the workload. I’m either grading or planning. When I’m doing one, I’m behind in the other. Maybe next year will be better (she says until she retires).

OK. I miss my prep today. Better be fucking worth it. Need to plan literacy with my team after listening to the ‘coaches’ tell us a bunch of bullshit. Then teach…but it’s cover pages, which is chill. I might not have time to do my own cover page (again…didn’t finish the last one either) because I need to prep the labs for Monday. Hopefully my TA will be here today (she was absent yesterday). Then union meeting after school (ugh). Dark when I get home. I miss drawing. I miss embroidery time. I need to clean the damn house and take care of the yard. I am forcing time for reading my book every day. I’m allowed. The Man had tooth surgery Monday, so he is on soft foods for a few days…I probably will just eat leftovers tonight, work some more, then back to the wondrousness that is quilting. Blessed be.

Citrusy Sauce

One of the ways I keep track of the days of the week during school is by the day I blog. And I’m off this week. Missed it on Monday, so did it Tuesday. Yesterday morning had two morning meetings, missed it again, so here I am on a Thursday. It’s not the end of the world, but it does make it harder for me to figure out what day it is. I usually announce to my Advisory students what day it is, and it’s more for me than them, and sometimes I’m wrong, and they think that’s weird, but then a bunch of them have no idea that today is JUNE. It’s June. Finally.

You know there’s two kinds of people in education: the kind that count the days left of the year and count the day they haven’t survived yet (me) and the kind who erases that day from their count because it IS that day. I don’t understand the latter. At all. I have 11 days of school left. One of my principals yesterday told me it was 10 days, and I’m like, the FUCK it is. I feel like those in the classroom know WAY BETTER than admin how many days are left. Grades are due in 9 days, I need to do award certificates, someone else is dealing with breakfast food (I do certificates so I don’t have to do food), I need to figure out what I’m wearing to graduation. Although the way the weather is going, it may be less of a worry than originally. Normally it’s hot and sunny, but it’s been May Gray all last month, maybe 5 days of sun all month, and this morning is just as gray. I’m still wearing socks to school. I know that sounds weird, but usually I’m in sandals by now. My heater is still coming on in the morning. It’s set for 65. Weird.

In awesome news, My Body. My Choice. got into another show, No Boundaries at the Virginia Quilt Museum. It will be on exhibit July 11-October 7.

I love it when work gets to be all over the place. West Coast, then East Coast. Good stuff.

I recently decided not to enter a show because (a) I didn’t really have a lot to enter and (b) the museum show that went with it is a museum that has previously pulled my work due to nudity. I decided it wasn’t worth the stretch to find pieces that might be OK to enter. I would have, I think, if I’d had more work. That’s what I need: more work. The newest quilt (still unnamed) goes to the photographer today. I spent an hour last night ironing it, cleaning it up, and packing it up for delivery. It took 146 hours to make. I started January 1 and finished May 28, but also did another smaller quilt in the middle…which better get into that show. Well. Honestly. It may well not. Oh well. I tried.

But the next newest quilt has been percolating in my head since last October, and although it has existed in many different versions, I know I have limited time to get it done, so I tried to keep it simple. Unlike the last one, where I went all out into Complicated Detail City.

I finished the drawing on Tuesday night…

I don’t actually even know if this is the right way up. It could go many ways. I turned the paper as I was drawing.

And then last night, I numbered it…

I’m usually pretty clueless about how many pieces there will be until I do this. I knew I held back on detail (except for the satellite and the Mars rover…just couldn’t be simple) so I’d have a chance at meeting the deadline. That whole thing where I’m gone for 10 days in the middle is going to complicate stuff. But it only has 545 pieces; I think the one I did in the middle of the last one was about that many pieces, and I was able to finish it in a month. Granted, part of that month was Spring Break, but part of this month will be Summer Break, so I should be able to pull it off. Also, I’m pretty much (almost) done with lesson planning, although I spent an hour last night editing some sex-ed video shorter, and I still need a graphic organizer for that, and an academic question for 8th grade. Unless I blow that off. So I think this quilt is doable. Tonight I’ll start tracing on Wonder Under, finish that by Sunday? Get it all cut out by the following Friday, start ironing to fabric next weekend, be done with that by the following weekend, then trim it all and start ironing it together before I go to Seattle. I can do this.

Already thinking about what will be on the next quilt: womens’ rights, banned books, and owls. What? Owls? Hey the owls fledged! This is 5 weeks earlier than last year. I thought that third owl was an interloper…turns out, there are three babies and they are partying it up in the evenings…I caught all three (blurry, you should try to take photos with a phone in the dark) in the tree across the yard the other night (the third one is further up, around the corner).

And then the following morning, they were up early and messing around…

This is around 5 AM.

I think I was also up at the time, but just to pee and go back to bed.

They are adorable. And loud. Honestly. They are. This group has been practice screeching. Freaks the dog out no end. Probably my neighbors too. Sorry. Not sorry. Taking care of the rat population y’all. I say that, and I had made some juice out of my tangerines and there was a lot of pulp. The rats have been eating out of my tangerines hanging on the tree, and I’m like, I’m not wasting this, so I put it out in a bowl and they ate it all, so now the owls can have rats with a citrusy sauce. Dark, I know. Cycle of life and all.

Someone took pictures of my quilts for me…one of Desert Mother at Quilt National (I don’t have the book yet, but I know the one is the background is Sky Trippers by Dinah Sargeant, and the other one is called Fig, by Maren Johnston).

It’s the first picture I’ve seen of my piece at QN.

They also took a picture at Art Quilt Elements, where Coronawood is hanging.

I don’t have info on the other pieces. I also need to update my Gallery page on this website. So I will. When I have time. Dunno when that will be.

OK. Meeting this morning. Not sure why. Some mom request. Then teaching reproduction vocab (not really teaching…just making them do the things) and finally building bridges. Hopefully. Then deliver quilt for photography, cook dinner, read my book, grade some things? Maybe not. And trace Wonder Under. Hopefully get more sleep than I did last night. I don’t know what was going on, but I don’t think I got more than 3 or 4 hours. Too much awake, uncomfortable, noise, couldn’t switch off. Which sucks. But it’s Thursday, so close to the weekend. Always good.

Needy Dogs and Late-Night Drawings

I didn’t write yesterday because I had to be at school really early. And the night before, I went to bed about 2 hours early because I was so exhausted, and I got nothing done, and I was sitting there staring at the computer and thinking, DAMN. I got nothing to write about. So I didn’t. It happens.

Yesterday was eyeball dissection day at school…only one injury (only had 3 in 14 years). But it was a long day that was followed by chiropractor and picking up the girlchild’s dog from the vet because this was up her nose…

And then she was all drugged out and wobbly. This is what Calli looks like high.

And I had to watch her constantly, because she likes to swim in the pool and I was fairly sure she’d drown if she went in. Besides, when I got home, there was a dead male possum in the pool already (I hate when that happens). Huge beast. So I dealt with the body and then she whined at me all night and spent a lot of time staring at me like this…

So I would pet her and hug her but mostly I got this reproachful look, like I had done something very very wrong. Let’s clarify. I did not take you to the vet. I’m the one who RESCUED you from the vet. Nope. Still mad at me.

She’s fine this morning.

I drew after that. Well, after dinner and grading, which took forever because of the needy dog, so really late.

I started by adding paper above the head so I could draw the sun out…

Which I did, but didn’t photograph. Of course.

I had penciled in an arm, hand, and a snake, but was debating what else should be in there. Apparently I figured that out…

See, sometimes I use pencil.

Then I filled a boob with a cat. Like you do. There’s a lung in there as well, although pretty damn simple, and a flower nipple. Of course.

I stared a lot at the space between the snake and the boob, and googled a lot of different things, but still didn’t make a decision.

Must let the brain ruminate some more…

So I adjusted the arm to the appropriate angle and did some snakey details. You can sort of see the sun in this one.

This thing is gonna be huge. But I’m trying to keep the tiny little pieces to a minimum. We’ll see how that goes. (Laughs maniacally to herself)

So those things, the sun, the arm, the snake, the cat boob, took about 2 hours. There’s a lot of staring time in there honestly. I tried to visualize what could fit there. I made a tentative list of things I think should be somewhere on her…a bat, an octopus, a giraffe. Something else. Bees. I’ve done a bee before. Anyway. This isn’t for a show. It isn’t for anything. I just wanted to do an Earth Mother that didn’t have the no-nudity constraints from last year. I like the idea of filling the body with living organisms. So I am.

In art news, Lisa Kijak (who makes very cool quilts of neon signs) was nice enough to send me photos of my piece in the Art Quilt Elements exhibit that is at the Wayne Art Center right now. In all the photos I saw posted, I only saw mine in one. I like to see what’s around it, so I really appreciate her doing that…

They look pretty happy there in the corner…

Hope they’re having a nice time.

I would like to thank the Goddess of Science Teachers and Divorced Moms for helping me to survive until Friday. Any assistance on today would be mightily appreciated, because I’m gonna make those kids read and figure stuff out and write again. Because I’m mean that way. I was supposed to write a study guide last night, but that didn’t even come close to happening. So there we are. I have homework for tonight. Or maybe I can do it during prep, if everyone leaves me alone. We’ll see.

More drawing tonight? I hope.

Get Up. Get Out. Get Doing.

There’s a few days it’s nice to avoid when you’re a teacher: St. Patrick’s Day if you forgot to wear green, April Fool’s just in general practice, and 4/20 if you teach middle or high school (I hold out hope that elementary school doesn’t have that issue). So I am rejoicing that April Fool’s is a holiday for me this year. So I don’t have to deal with all the lame April Fool’s jokes that 12-year-old brains come up with.

I’m not so happy that it’s the last day of break, but I will survive. It happens every year. It’s a long stretch until summer though. Fifty three school days. Fuck. I know it’s really not, but Spring Break was early this year, so it FEELS long. And I haven’t even started the feeling part yet. Part of it is the 3+ hours I spent yesterday grading ONE CLASS of a project. Sheesh. On the one hand, most of that period turned theirs in. On the other hand, I’m banging my head on my desk over some of the stuff I saw.

Two more periods to go. Gawd. I might die.

I got nothing useful done yesterday, except 4 hours with a newish baby and coworkers, which was definitely worth it. And dinner out. And grading. No fucking art. Man I feel it today. I need some outdoor time. I need art time. Like right now. And a plan for the next two and a half months. So I don’t go nutsy cuckoo. Make ALL THE ART.

But first I’m cleaning out photos. In my pajamas. Because it’s all I can handle at the moment. I went on a hike with the dog on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day, not too warm, but blue skies and fluffy clouds.

Not a soul on the trail but us…

Flowers are still blooming.

I spent a lot of time grading on the couch in the last few days. Kitten kept me company.

She’s really quite adorable when she’s asleep. She can be a bit of a psycho when she’s awake.

So probably 3 weeks ago, maybe 4, I went to an all-women show at La Bodega Gallery and never had time to post pictures. I have to say that the quality was better in this show, but still a lot of same? I had a few that caught my eye.

As you can see, the majority of them were the same size, hung super tightly together. So it was a little hard to give each piece the time and space it needed.

Lots of them were portrait-type images…

Some weirder than others.

All different styles…

And then the relief of a non-portrait…

I need this explained.

One-eyed cats…like tadpoles.

And just a line.

I like the complexity of this one…plus sperm.

And some collage…

This was just cool.

But so touchable…

I’m not the only one who always sees the bones through the skin…

And this was great…I think I read all those books as a kid.

I like the owl. I’m not sure about the big-eyed, half-naked waif.

The hair lines…

One of my favorite artists…keeping it simple.

I’ve had headaches like that…

Just plain fun…

This…this is a book.

I don’t like the idea of destroying books, but making art out of them seems OK.

I just liked this…

And this…minus the shell pieces…

This woman was doing an all-over body painting. She’d done the female before we got there and was working on the male…

I was a little curious if he also had a g-string hidden under there, because otherwise it might get weird. Not bad, just weird (lots of little kids…whatever). I did not stick around to see what would happen next…too many people. Can’t think straight at some of these openings.

I have another batch of photos somewhere…I’m trying to clear stuff out…grading, my brain, the house…before break is over. I know how much the next two months are gonna kick my butt. I need some things to be clean or done before I sink back into the job quicksand. Yeah. I need a raft or something…something semi-solid I can stand on above the sucking so I can walk on.

Oh yeah. I forgot. Art Quilt Elements officially opens in Pennsylvania tomorrow. I’ve been seeing all these posts from the SAQA conference going on in Philadelphia and it makes me feel even more distant from what I want to be doing right now…it’s been such an antisocial, hermit-like break, which I realize is my fault as well, although everyone I know works pretty much, but that’s just kinda how I roll. Going to conferences and quilt shows out of state are just not part of my life. I’m in financial survival mode. And at some point, everything becomes overwhelming. BUT…you can see all the pieces in AQE in this slideshow: AQE Slideshow

My piece…it’s in there with all the abstracts. Some aren’t abstract, but it’s heavily weighted, isn’t it? I guess my quilt gets to hear all the interesting conversations while I’m here. That’s not so bad. And I get to keep making more…funny how that one is such a positive note on gender equality, what we WANT and they’re smiling and holding hands and it all seems so doable. Ahh. Well. It’s what I want, eh?

OK. Get up. Get out. Get doing.

Upcoming Shows

Yeah. I blew off writing yesterday. Head in a place. May write later. Well, technically writing now, but just about upcoming shows.

Primal Scream will be in a local show, The Power of Feminine Energy, at the Centro Cultural de la Raza (in Balboa Park, one of the round buildings on Park), San Diego, CA, March 19-April 3, 2016.

The opening is March 19 from 6-10 PM and will have 50 women artists and over 100 pieces of work.

Then if you happen to be in Pennsylvania (there are some good fiber reasons to be there), I have a piece in Art Quilt Elements, Work in Progress.

In Deep will be at Artist as Quiltmaker XVII, FAVA’s 17^th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Quilts, Firelands Association for the Visual Arts in Oberlin, Ohio, from May 15-July 31.

Then I just found out Friday that Mammogram will be at the Oceanside Museum of Art in our next California Fibers’ exhibit, Eclectic Threads.

The opening is June 25 from 5-8 PM. There will be at least one other exhibit there at the time, Love Letters in Metal: Jewelry by Svetozar and Ruth Radakovich. Lots of work out there. I keep reminding myself of that when my brain goes for a swim in depresso-soup.