Set Them…

OK. Five days. Anyone can do five days. Tomorrow will be the longest day, because apparently Tuesdays are now the longest days instead of Wednesdays. Not sure why. A 2024 school year thing? Who knows. I feel pretty good about the weekend; I got the things done that I planned to get done. I could have done more, but that is always the case. I feel prepared going into this week (well, mostly), unlike almost every other week since Winter Break. I’ve taught this before; I know what it looks like. It’s not all direct instruction. I get time to grade the two weeks of homework I haven’t gotten to yet. All good. Plus the quilt progress is ahead of where I thought I’d be, so that’s awesome.

I ironed on Friday night…

Got a good chunk of the second figure done. Saturday, I finished her…

And Sunday, I had picked a background fabric that was big enough, but when I unfolded it to iron everything down, there was a square chunk out of it in exactly the wrong place…it wasn’t going to be big enough (it was just big enough in the first place), so I picked a different one. And then ironed it down…

I’m glad I had another one that was big enough…although this isn’t a huge quilt really.

Then I started stitchdown…

I got a good solid start…did all of the torso on the more complicated figure. I should be able to finish tonight or come close to it, then pinbaste and sandwich tomorrow night and start quilting. This one is on a deadline. Hell, everything I’m working on right now is on a deadline. I need to prep the embroidery I’m taking with us on our trip too. No worries. Just got two Zoom meetings at night this week and packing to do, plus keep up with school stuff. Although I’m mostly caught up (breathe…knock on wood).

I also went to the ceramics studio on Friday. It was delightfully empty. A bunch of people are at a ceramics convention, but Fridays have been empty lately. I finished (for reals this time) the underglazing on the base…

It’s currently drying. It’ll get bisque fired soon. When I think it’s dry. I started the base on November 4. I wasn’t working on it all that time…I needed it to put the next level on to make sure they’d fit and work together. I should have underglazed it sooner, but I was distracted.

The back is not as exciting.

This is the second level in progress…

I think I started it in January. It’s solidified nicely, but is still pliable enough to attach more things. And attach more things I am doing. Probably for a while. Yes, there will be a head…haven’t figured that out yet.

Still horrified by the stupid shit my government is doing. Everything they do hurts almost everyone but rich white boys.

I’m amused that they’re butthurt about Tesla protests, but not about the racist/sexist protests of the Proud Boys and their ilk. Their protests where people died. I still see people claiming January 6 was Antifa. My lord, people. Read. Please. I’m just waiting for more of those pardoned assholes to commit more crimes. They’re ‘good people’, my ass. I had to shop once this month with Amazon (wedding registry…no way I could deal with it otherwise)…but I’ve been avoiding any brand with MAGA ties. I can’t say it’s easy. My local quilt store. Target. Staples. Honestly, I just don’t buy things that normally I would buy. I guess that’s another way of saving.

I spent 7 hours on Saturday doing my taxes. I wish I could say I’ll be better this year and document things as they happen, but I know I won’t. After doing all of it, I remember what the notes meant that I took last year. Maybe I’ll be proactive this year and set it up properly for next year. Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully.

I’m with you, spoon. Got your back.

The Man took this picture of his three cats all in the same place and not moving (a miracle that)…

Luna, Nova, and Bowie. He’s a big boy. Almost a year old now. Still cross-eyed.

OK. School. Punnett square project. It’s Eid, so a bunch of kids will be absent (end of Ramadan). Pro: they will be eating normally again. Con: I’ll have to get them all caught up tomorrow or Wednesday. Pain in the butt, but can’t stop teaching right now. Too close to the end of the year and testing. Then staff meeting, possibly another meeting, then hopefully clay. We’ll see. I need to start going to the gym again…so I’m trying to save Tuesday for that. Progress on the quilt…maybe finish stitchdown. That’s the goal anyway. Set them, meet them or break them…it doesn’t matter as long as you set them.

I Am Neither

There’s a very vocal crow up early this morning. I don’t usually hear them in the morning at all. It’s close to dark and I can even see one of the crows (there must be more than one) on an electrical line out my window. The other one, the loud one, is in one of my trees…cawing away. It’s usually super quiet here in the morning…the occasional trash truck or neighbor slamming a car door, but the lower neighbor doesn’t seem to go to a job anymore (on his motorcycle, which was fun at 4 AM). Quiet is nice.

There are 8 days of school before Spring Break. I’m trying to get everything copied and planned for next week and the week we come back, so I don’t have to worry about it. Grades are due right after we come back (of course they are), so I’m also trying to make that an easy thing too. Normally I’d collect packets before we go on break, because kids lose them or parents throw them out, and I’m not doing that. I’m not even done grading the last packet (it takes a while…I stayed late after school the last two days to get two classes done; I’ll probably do the same tomorrow and Friday). I know I’ll have two academic things next week that I won’t be able to finish before break…ah well. They will survive. Because you should always get your oxygen first before getting oxygen for the people around you. I need to take care of myself to take care of the kids around me.

With that, I’m trying to get this ceramics piece done…I think it actually is done. I’m trying to deal with some persistent cracks, but I think the underglazing is done.

Don’t worry about the inside. A quilt is going in there. I darkened the peach up a bit. Or brightened it. I’m probably going to use some oxides on it later. I think this one will go in a glaze fire as well as a bisque. We’ll see. I’m going to have to get through the other two parts first before I figure that out. Anyway, I covered it up and I shouldn’t have…it needs to fully dry so I can stick it in the kiln. So Friday, I’ll start working on the upper torso again…see how the arms are literally holding up. No head yet. Not sure how I’m gonna do that. I started this base on November 4.

In quilting, I was really feeling behind, like I was never gonna finish, and then all of a sudden, staying up 20 minutes late, I was done trimming pieces…

That’s 7 hours and 55 minutes. Last night, I sorted them…

Luna watched…

Tonight I’ll start ironing them together. I need this thing fully ironed together by the end of the weekend. Then stitchdown early next week, and sandwich it before I go on Spring Break. When I come back, quilt and bind it. Start the next one. I know, I packed some deadlines…and hopefully I can pull both of them off. We’ll see. I also need to get my taxes done in the same time frame. That’s harder. I spent another hour last night going through charges on the credit card and Amazon invoices for art, copyediting, and school stuff. Collecting the info takes longer than putting it in. Pro: this year, I seem to be on the refund side instead of the payment side. Con: that’s because I didn’t sell as many quilts last year. Ah well. It happens. I feel like I’m barely making anything lately (I know, the last one was big and took a long time). Sigh. School. There are less than 50 days left of school. It’s still a lot, but that’s usually when I start counting. Honestly, I’m counting less these days…not because it’s easier…because I can’t look that far ahead without panicking.

We are going camping over break…although honestly, mostly we’re NOT camping…

And that story is way too true. A whole family of them.

Because of when we’re leaving, I can’t march in this…

And I would. In case you’re wondering. I haven’t been using Amazon (except to print last-year’s invoices and to buy one video I showed my students). I’ve been trying to shop independent stores. I’ve watched the dismantling of everything with a sense of dystopian horror. My retirement funds have crashed (ah well, that happens). The next four years of school will probably be problematic. My partner is depending on social security for his retirement and is currently dependent on federal and state funds for his healthcare. I can’t afford to take care of him AND me. I may not be able to retire in four years, or I may get fired before that. Eggs are still expensive. Avian flu is out there and we’re hearing nothing from the people who are supposed to inform us. The idiots are trying to start wars with some of the most peaceful countries out there while allying us with one of the most dictatorial countries. I’ve signed up with a few groups that protest, although I haven’t gotten to one yet (that whole day job thing). I’ve sent money to funds that will hopefully protect the people who need it most. I’ve watched some people spew some of the most idiotic stuff; I guess they don’t realize it will affect them in the long run. It’s not going well. It’s stressful to read about it and watch it, and it’s hard to know what to do. So I’m buying some postcards and writing some letters. I have an app that helps me call my representatives and let them know they need to be louder. I won’t be marching on the 5th because I’ll be driving, but I’m hoping to find a way to protest anyway.

A few of you might not agree. Some of you are probably even related to me. Ah well. I guess I’ve read too many dystopian novels to see this working out well for any of us except the supremely rich and arrogant. And I am neither.

Same As Always…

I know it’s not uncommon for teachers to not be able to sleep well on a Sunday night. It’s just annoying. I know it’s a busy week, probably a stressful week, based on the last few, and I need all the sleep I can get, but no, brain…no, you won’t let me sleep. Up three times in the night, awake well before the alarm. Not appreciated. I had to be up early for a parent meeting today anyway, so I think that’s a total of three meetings before and after school today. A few more hours of sleep would have been nice.

I did manage to get some things done this weekend…we figured out that our tent was moldy as hell (I suspected that) from the last trip, I got some of the bulbs planted, I dropped that last big quilt off with my photographer finally, and I got some ceramics time in. I was supposed to go Friday, but I was still fighting that halfassed cold that seems to have wandered mostly off now (knock on wood), plus I forgot to bring my glaze box, and the whole point was to get the base glazed so I could get it in the kiln fire before anything else cracked or broke. So I went yesterday instead, on the way back from the photographer…

Almost done. I want another layer on the flesh…I want it a bit darker. Then I can work on the upper torso for a bit. I started this in November…it’s taking forever. I did do some other stuff in the middle though.

I also cut things out for three nights, although I didn’t get as far as I wanted…never do.

Let’s see if we can see the progress…this is after Friday night…top left is cut out, top right is trash leftover trimmed pieces, bottom is what’s left to cut.

Here’s Saturday night…

All those flesh pieces ready to be cut out now…and after Sunday night…

Definite progress. I’m still in the fleshy bits, but the grays of the other figure are showing up and the box is noticeably emptier. Still got two to three nights though, unless I get some extra time in. Unlikely, because I’m really trying to grade all the things now. I don’t want to grade over break. I’ll have to, but I’m trying to keep it minimal. Best I can. Even rewriting one academic thing to make it more obvious…easier on my end.

Hoping to get to the ironing together part before the weekend. We’ll see how that goes. I’m behind on my original plan. No shocker there. I do have two Zoom meetings this week; I’ll be cutting things out then. I also have a book I’m about 85% done with, and I’d really like to finish it too. I didn’t get to hike this weekend, but I did a bunch of yardwork. Still trying to clean out the outside entryway from the flooding last year. I have a broken sprinkler that I don’t know how to fix. There’s about 3000 weeds in the yard that need pulling. I did some of the entryway…it’s mostly filling up a bucket with dead leaves and/or dirt and walking it down the stairs about 4 thousand times, maybe more. The dirt gets to go in the wheelbarrow and get dumped in the front yard. The leaves go in the greenery trashcan. Fun times. Then I need some gravel and a new replanting plan. I started some of that. I also started my taxes, which is a lot of work and time and needs to be done before we leave on Spring Break. I’m looking forward to getting the fuck out of here though, because I didn’t do it last year and I paid for it later. It’s a mental break that’s necessary to get through the rest of the school year. Looking forward to it. Need a plan for somewhere cool to stop between here and Humboldt though…we have hotel rooms for the drive up. Just want somewhere to go see, walk around, that might be cool. I know there’s some flower fields north of LA that I want to try to find. We’ll see. Anything better than Dateland (on the way to Phoenix).

Here’s Nova the other night…cuddling with me as I cut shit out.

And here’s some owls…

At some point, one of the owls has an animal on top of the box and then almost drops it.

Pretty sure they get it into the box later. We don’t hear babies yet…but this is a pretty good sign that mom is sitting on at least one egg. Fascinating stuff.

OK. School. Parent meeting in the morning. Teaching DNA and chromosomes. Two staff meetings after. Book club tonight (yes, I read the book). Lots of cutting things out. Finish that damn book. Grade some stuff. Same as always.

Coloring…

Some days are nice and easy at school…and home; some aren’t. It’s the same for all of us, I’m sure. Monday was difficult because I needed them to turn stuff in; yesterday was easy peasy because we colored and listened to music (it was slightly more complicated than that, but not much). There are times when I wonder why we can’t just color and listen to music every day, but I know I’m supposed to be a teacher and not just an SEL monitor, so we go on to science and reading and writing. That’ll be today. But I can hear (and feel) their need to just sit there and zone out while filling stuff in. It’s hard. Harder because the other big local school district is going on Spring Break next week and we still have 2 1/2 weeks to go. There’s so much I need to get done before then too, both in school and at home. I just want to go to the studio and make things and not think about school too, but that’s not an option right now. That said, I did a lot of art yesterday, which makes up for how little I did on Monday.

Yes, I’m still ironing. Yes, I wanted to be done. Yes, I’m frustrated because I’m not…

I did the lungs and a heart. Might have done something else. Can’t really tell. Also, this is kinda like coloring, so that’s why I like it.

Then last night, I made it through the complicated butterfly etc…

So I finished all of the stuff on the flesh through the 400s except for one flower, so I have about 15 pieces in the 400s, another 10 in the 500s, and then most of the 600s. I think it’s probably less than 150 pieces, which is an hour or two. Hopefully tonight? Maybe. I’m at almost 10 hours for just under 700 pieces. It’s a complicated quilt, though, with lots of discrete details, so that takes longer. Anyway. I’m almost done. However you look at it.

I made it to ceramics last night and worked on underglazing the waves and the bones…took me over an hour just to do that.

I’m getting there. Probably another hour or two before it can go in the glaze fire. Then I can keep going on the second level. Hope they fit together. Which they might not. Fun times.

So I am finding time for art. Demanding it. School pays. The house is a mess. What’s new? It’s always like this in March.

The girlchild tried to FaceTime me when I was at the ceramics studio…there were other people there, so I didn’t pick up.

It’s OK; I called her back later. I have a friend who is always adamant that her kids don’t talk to her like that, but this actually made me laugh, especially because the video had no sound and she was bitching me out for not answering. If no one else had been in the studio, I would have, but it’s rude otherwise. Some people need to be told that.

I love that last line. From the book I’m reading.

OK. Today is genetic traits. Kids get to look at each other and figure out their traits. Fun times. They love it when it’s all about themselves. Pilates after school. Still rocking a low-level almost cold. Not sure what it going on with that, but I don’t have the time or energy for a full-blown cold, so it’s fine. Then I get to iron stuff after all that. Probably need to make dinner too. Ugh. OK. Fine.

How to Get There

Yo ho yo ho a pirate’s life…wait. No. I’m teaching gravity today…not going to Disneyland. Seems like a questionable life decision. Computer is still not restored. The internet is intermittent. So frustrating. I just need it to finish ffs. I’m tired of trying to do things on the phone or this ancient iPad. Ah well…at least I have that option.

Artwise…I finished trimming Wonder Under…

And last night, I sorted them…

Ready to iron to fabric. Unfortunately, my studio is not ready for that. I’d like to be ironing tonight, but realistically, I will probably be cleaning and putting fabric away after a long long day, so wish me luck on actually ironing. Definitely tomorrow night though.

Someone needs to change all the clocks in the house. I don’t know why I am in charge of clock changes. I have changed two…well three if you count my school clock. I’m sure the men would argue that I’m the only one who cares about the other two…possibly true.

I started underglazing (finally!) the base to the newest piece…someone bumped it (again) and broke two things off. Community shelves sometimes suck.

Super pale at the moment with 2 coats…got one more coat and then all the details. I’ll be here a while.

The current government just needs to die. I’m done with the stupidity. The illogical bullshit that puts Teslas on the White House lawn and claims we can’t speak our minds. At least some of us have minds…

Gonna end with that. Too much in my head right now between the Orange Dumbass pissing off Canada and the crazy demands of the day job…gonna demo some gravitational force today and get through a union meeting and go to Pilates and then clean the studio so I can make art. Sleep if I’m lucky (not last night). Dream of a better world and how to get there.

Vitreous Not So Humerous

Well good news, I can still see, no surgery (knock on a big piece of wood), and the odds are that in 6 weeks, I won’t have to be low-key stressed about any weirdness in the right eye…besides that bizarre swirling thing that is still there. Yeah. As a visual artist, the thought of losing any eyesight is pretty terrifying. I guess I’d still have clay, but it wouldn’t be the same if you couldn’t see it. My vitreous humor (and perhaps a hefty chunk of my sense of humor) is floating around my eye with wild abandon, occasionally panicking me with “OMG what’s that“ moments, but otherwise, I’m OK. Exhausted but what’s new. My retina is holding strong. All good.

I had to take Monday off because I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get in to the doc or what might happen after. I spent a million hours grading this weekend, so I refused to grade after the doc appointments. I try to save the stuff I can do at school so I have some down time at home, so I finished the new quilt drawing, numbered it (just under 700 pieces), and started tracing.

It’s not huge, so I’m hoping I can hit the deadline. Knock on wood.

I’ve already found 7 pieces I didn’t number at all and one number I used twice. Good times.

So maybe not just under 700.

I traced for about 3 1/2 hours on Monday…such a delight.

Then another hour last night…

I’m just under halfway. Realistically I could be done tracing Friday night. Although I still need to input grades. And we don’t have next week planned for school. Minor issue. Not so minor.

I’m also reading two books and trying to decide if I can pull off another show. The proposal has to be done by the 15th, but I need to. Finish at least one of the books first to make the proposal. Some level of insanity going on here…or a reaction to the day job’s grab on my personal life. Hard to say. There’s also about 2 hours of quilting left on this (I try to do a little each night).

My self-imposed deadline is coming up and I’m not going to meet it.

I spent 100 minutes working on hands, knuckles, and fingernails. It was glorious.

I had to persuade the fingers to change shape and direction.

A rare moment of sisterly friendship. Although Nova is doing some side eye.

In case you were wondering how daylight savings might affect you.

Sometimes AI is really stupid. This can lead to sleepiness…

This is too true. Ok today is the end of lunar phases (well, not really) into eclipses, plus desperately trying to plan for next week without interruptions (ha!), then Pilates (gently) and book club. Whoa. Busy night. I finished the book Sunday? I think. I hope. Then tracing some more. Getting grades completed so I can just input Thursday and be done. That’s what I need.

Nonfunctional

So my computer is being nonfunctional. Aka it’s on but refusing to behave…I restarted it because every time I tried to use the mouse, it would do something whack instead of just scrolling like a normal mouse. There was a cat/keyboard interaction Monday night that might have been part of it. The boychild comes back here tonight, so maybe he can figure it out.

I feel a little nonfunctional as well. I mean all I do is work work work and try to fit art around all that. Got back to clay on Monday…

Her hand needs some work. Trying to keep everything from breaking and/or falling apart is a challenge at the moment. Never mind trying to figure out the head. I have too much going on this week so I probably won’t get back there until next Monday. Which sucks.

Quiltwise, I need to be working on my friend’s mom’s quilt but haven’t been able to clear enough time at night. Just playing catch-up from being gone two weekends. So I’ve been spending a little time (not enough) with drawing the next piece, which will have four panels. I think. I drew the first one before I went to QuiltCon, but inked it Sunday. Monday, I added the author (it came to me…).

Then I sketched the 2nd page…

And yesterday, I inked it.

And numbered the first two pages. Then stared at a blank piece of paper for a while, waiting for pages 3 and 4 to manifest. I can always start tracing these. Hard to have brain power some nights unfortunately. It all got used up for the day job.

Ok. Today is a chill day where the kids are working independently and I’m grading. Originally I was supposed to be at the District Office one day this week and that fell through, so I had a lesson plan ready for a sub. I’m going to take advantage of that today so maybe I won’t have to spend the entire weekend grading. Ha! It’s not looking good. Then Pilates…thank goodness. I missed the weekend class. Then home to grade and draw. Hopefully. And quilt maybe too. I think if I just get the quilt back under the sewing machine, it will be easier to do a little every day. Oh yeah, and fix the computer. Sigh.

Fan the Seed…

I’m waiting for my photo editing app to restart, so I’m writing without pictures. I’m a visual person and pictures help me write. Ironically, I don’t need pictures to read because my brain makes them while I read. Probably explains a lot about how I make art. I’m in that complicated stage where I’ve been working on the same quilt for MONTHS and I’m almost done and the next one needs to just pop up so I can keep working without going insane. Drawing needs to happen. Drawing is hard. Not really, but having the mindspace for it at the end of a workday is hard. And right now, finding mindspace for anything is hard. Between an idiotic government, school crap, and grading, I’m just not there. But there’s a seed, a hint of an idea for the next piece, which will be constructed differently, so hopefully I can fan that seed into a fire. Wait, that’s not how it works. Or is it?

I spent the weekend in San Francisco with the girlchild, which meant plenty of art and good food and walking. My knees are reminding me of that part. My shoulders/back are kind whack from carrying an over-the-shoulder purse instead of a backpack. Easier in some ways, more complicated in others. I finished one book and started another. I stitched nothing and drew nothing (short flights…it’s hardly worth pulling things out of your bag, because then you’re descending). I graded a little, just enough to keep one nostril above the flood.

The night before I left, I was sewing binding. Sunday night, when I got back, I was sewing binding. Last night, I finally finished binding and got one sleeve and a bit done.

Tonight I finish.

OK, so the trip. Started with my taking pictures of Craig Calderwood murals in the baggage claim area…

There’s some fun airport art out there.

Then the next morning, walking to meet the girlchild for breakfast (my alarm didn’t go off)…

I took a bunch of pictures of murals…maybe some I took last time.

I stayed in the same place. It was quiet last time.

It was pretty quiet this time. Girlchild had a ceramics class in the morning and I was going to tag along and get a day pass and just make a thing while she advanced wheeled.

She made two things…my camera had clay on it by then.

Hence blurriness. But one marbled with two colors. While I made a coil pot.

So that was 2.5 hours, and then I thought class was done, but I looked over and they were all throwing a second pot, so I made something crazy.

Hopefully that neck will hold up. And the wings. We’ll see. I left them both for her to fire and glaze. Like a good mom. We were there a good 90 minutes later than we thought, so our second plan for the day (third?) was out due to closing times, so we met up with a high school friend of mine and a bunch of her family who all know the girlchild.

This was the walk back to change clothes though…

All one mural…

I didn’t even get it all…

Then we walked to the girlchild’s apartment for HER to change…

Lots of walking. It was the Chinese New Year parade, so traffic (even buses) was insane, but we grabbed takeout, walked up a huge hill, and ate in a park.

It was nice to see everyone, though I’d just seen my friend on Sunday (long story).

The next morning, I saw a rainbow across the Mission…

Mostly because it kept raining.

Then we went to the ICA (which is free) for some art.

Some beautiful work about mold and decay by Kathleen Ryan.

Fascinating how real it looks.

Another weirdness in the museum…

Maryam Yousif’s Riverbend pieces…

Ceramic and wood.

Rodney MacMillian’s Untitled (Orange Hills)…

Reminds me of screenprints I made in the 80s…spill and dribble the ink.

Shinique Smith’s Dusk…

There was definitely a lot of fabric going on at ICA…

Anthony Akinbola’s Neopolitan, made of durags.

Fun stuff. Tried to ignore politics, but it’s impossible.

So much stupid.

Oh yeah, I am. I’ll be sitting the SAQA booth on Saturday from 12-2 if you want to stop by. Taking a class, sitting in some lectures, checking out the art. Not sure how all the travel of the season ended up in consecutive weekends (gonna kick my butt), but whatever.

Nice kitty. My kitty bit someone because I wasn’t here to feed her. Hmmm. OK. School. Apparently I gotta go there and do things. Then ceramics. Then grading, the neverending grading. Ugh.

Packs a Punch

Oh my. This week keeps changing but it packs a punch. It’s fine. I’m rolling with it, but could use more sleep (my own fault…well, not all of it). I’m currently negotiating with a teenaged boy cat who’s trying to bug my frail old lady and a middle-aged crankyass dog. And I haven’t had my tea yet (just two mouthfuls), so I don’t have enough of a caffeine buffer to deal. I often feel that way when I get to school…except up the ante to 136 middle-schoolers and all the adults (honestly, sometimes the adults are the hardest part). Yeah well. This week, it’s hard to know who is easier to work with…it’s up in the air. The dog/cat/cat interactions are probably my best bet.

I’m still watching all the censorship of art quilt stuff roll around out there in internet world, interspersed with the nuts crap that is our ‘government’. Deep breaths. I’m glad the two art quilts that were removed were both purchased. That’s more validation than anything. (hint: International Quilt Museum…my banned quilt is still available…I Was Not Wearing a Life Jacket…it still doesn’t have a penis in it. I have pieces that do, if that’s what you’re into. Just call me. Actually. Email me.)

I’d forgotten about the oil spill…and the flying saucer underground. This was a weird dream I had, wrought in fabric, penis free. It had a buyer at one point, but that fell through. Ah well. And I think it was before the debacle.

I’m still quilting here.

Part of why I’m so tired this morning is because I stayed up too late quilting last night and had to be up early today.

Why did I stay up too late? I was in the zone and not watching the clock. When I looked up, it was almost 11 PM. Whoops. OK. So I think I’ll get the outlining done tonight? Maybe? Then start the background. I think I can get all that done by the weekend and then start the binding. A week past the deadline. Oh well. I do know what I’m doing next, although the drawing doesn’t exist. It’s been in my head for a good long time. It’s also for a deadline. Then I need to make more stuff…some smaller pieces until the summer. I’m thinking of an artist residency for the summer, but I’d need to find one and be able to afford it. So then I’d also need time to find one and apply to it. OK. So realistically? Yeah. Not this week. I’ll try.

So I killed another one of these…

I bought 3 (4?) in 2022. So not bad, one a year. I had one left. Ordered 3 more to arrive today, I think. They break where the thingie is banging up and down on them. I’d break there too if I were them. Badly designed…but cheap.

I made it to clay on Monday…finally. Glazed the boychild’s thing. Hopefully it doesn’t stick to things. Then worked on the arms…broke off a leg trying to move the base (it’s heavy). Good times.

I’ve tried to fix cracks in the shelf between the top and bottom about 17 times. Doesn’t work. Sigh. It’s looking good though. Not sure how the head is gonna go. I suspect I need to fire the bottom before I lose it completely. It’s not dry though. Close. Close enough to be breaking. Ugh. Finish the arms…then figure out the head. Decide if I’m carving the back. I want to. But it’s too dry I think at the moment. I can fix that. But I need to spend a few hours there to do that. Maybe Monday? I have the day off. That would be good…(don’t think about work…don’t think about work).

I’m waiting y’all. Sword rushing at Musk? I’m in. Take out the minions. A few RePUGlicans while you’re at it. That big orange guy? A spell…don’t kill him…cast a spell and make him put it all back. Sigh. Such a joke.

OK. Today. Meeting this morning. Need to leave in 15 minutes. Teach skin cancer. Exciting stuff. Then grade some shit. Unless my coteacher can stay and work on the space unit. We did yesterday. It was good, but it’s frustrating to have to plan around another shit that is annoying that some other adults at school decided we have to do (there’s a lot of that going around). I also have one day I’m gone for myself and one day I have to be at the district office (ugh, not my choice), so I’m planning around those things (plan stuff my kids can do with a sub, right?). Then I have the oh-so-exciting annual mammogram at like 7:20 pm. They keep moving it later. Annoyingly later. I’m a little anxious about that…after last year’s ‘oh hey, we found something’ and all the shit that happened and then gladly ended with no bad cancer shit? It’s a little nerve-wracking having another one. Plus things still hurt. So I’m gonna pop some pain pills ahead of time. Deep breaths for that too. Then quilting! Losing myself in the up and down of the needle tracing all the crazy shit I ironed down. Good end, as long as I go to bed on time. Wish me luck with that. Art Brain is a crazy bitch. She doesn’t care what I have to be able to do the next day.

Bright Blue Skies

OK. Monday. I see you. You have bright blue skies, you’re not totally freezing (I know, it’s Southern California; we’re never that cold, right?). Today is a day of direct instruction (all on, all day), a 2-hour staff meeting mostly about stuff I already do in my classroom (woo), then hopefully some clay and some sewing. Oh yeah, probably have to grade shit. I spent about 4 or 5 hours yesterday doing that. I should do more. Ha. Always.

Well, in awesome news, SAQA pulled the entire exhibit out of the AQS shows. AND both pieces sold, one to a private collector and one to the International Quilt Museum. I’m glad SAQA finally stood up to the bullies. I wish they’d done it sooner. Hey, IQM, I’ve got work you can acquire! Ha. Hopefully this is a sign for the next four years, of groups and people standing up to the power hungry, the critical, the categorizers, those who can’t let everyone exist without pigeonholing and censoring them. Because there’s a lot of that going on. Sigh. I’m glad the artists got the support they should have.

I went up to Palos Verdes on Saturday with Polly Jacobs Giacchina to a show we’re both in, 9×9 Contemporary Quilts and Containers, curated by Carrie Burckle and Jo Lauria, at the Palos Verdes Art Center. We were blessed by the traffic goddess, so very little of that either direction. We were able to see the show before all the people got there, so we took photos. Both of us got onto the banners, which is awesome.

Apparently just because our art was the right size for them, which made me laugh.

I have 4 pieces in the show…

All right outside the bathroom and at the top of the stairwell. Good viewpoints all.

There were a lot of people at the opening, which was cool. I talked to most of the quilt artists (I only knew some of them), and a bunch of other people who liked my work, which is always a cool thing.

Polly with some of her art…

She sold one…before the show even officially opened! Cool that. It was a long drive, but ultimately good to see the show and get all the kudos. It’s up through the middle of April, if you find yourself in the area. I grew up in LA, and I don’t think I’d ever been to Palos Verdes before. So there’s that.

Quiltwise, I didn’t get much done this weekend. On Friday night, I packed up a quilt and drawing for delivery on Saturday for a show in LA opening in March. I delivered that and bought binding fabric for this quilt, because the store with more choices is only open on Saturdays during non-working hours (they close at 3, y’all). I’ve given up on getting it done and photographed by Friday, so there’s that deadline gone. Oh well. I took a picture of where I was in the outlining when I pulled it off the machine to match binding…

And then I finally got back to the quilting last night. I bought thread too, because I was going to run out. Luckily they had it locally, but I had also bought it online and it arrived Saturday. All good. Plenty of thread now.

Guess I need to check the thread stash at the reopened store near me. I never go there…they never had much I needed before. Maybe they do now?

Sleepy Bowie…

Better than rampaging Bowie.

Oh yeah, ceramics. All but one tiny animal is out of the glaze fire…

My daughter’s trinket dish did not fare well…it is stuck to that cookie. I might be able to get it off. The other tiny animal got clear glaze put on and put back on the glazed shelf for the next firing. The other bowl thing got glazed, but it’s really thick, so I wanted to let it sit a bit and make sure it’s dry. Hopefully I’m going in today to do some actually hands-on clay, so I’ll put it on the glazed shelf too. Then back to the big sculpture! That I started in November and am still working on. Forever.

OK. To school. My coteacher was out Friday and will be out this morning. I have to find the rest of the flashlights during prep and put her lab stations together. Assuming I can find enough flashlights for that. I’m teaching the EM spectrum, mostly how the different wavelengths affect materials, eventually DNA. Which the stupid curriculum does not CALL DNA…it calls it ‘genetic material.’ Sigh. Like make it even harder for kids to figure out. So annoying. Then vocab literacy stuff after school. Then hands-on clay. Then quilting. Oh yeah, I’ll grade. I said that in the first paragraph. I never stop doing that until like June 17. It’s annoying. Oh well. Someday I won’t have to grade anything at all and the world might stop because of it.