Freedoms…

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

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

And then Simba…

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

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

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

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

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

And it held! This was fun.

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

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

Plus I sewed some clouds…

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

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

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

That Fuentes idiot and everyone who follows him…

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

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

I get that too.

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

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

I’m actually fairly reality-bound, unfortunately.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Monsters…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’m also grading things…

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

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

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

All Art

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

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

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

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

I don’t do fast art, I guess.

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

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

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

Way too big to be a mug.

I think this is almost ready to dry.

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

The drawing is progressing.

I worked on the tree…

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

I’m always staring at the blank spaces.

Close, but not there yet.

Maybe tonight? Probably not.

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

Working on this.

and this…

And this is way too true…

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

Drawing at the End…

Hey. Wednesday. You never feel like far enough into the week to be a relief. Sorry. I know it’s not your fault. It’s the 5-day workweek thing. Lots of people think of you as hump day, and maybe that’s it…once I get over the hump that is you, it will feel like a slide (it’s never really a slide if you’re a teacher…unless it’s a slide like those cheese wheel races down huge hills where you’re just rolling head over heels trying to beat the wheel down the hill) into the weekend. This weekend is the Vision opening…so member opening Friday night, artist talks Saturday at 1 PM, then artist dinner at night. Lots of art things. Hopefully cool. We’ll see.

Not a lot of art happening…at least it looks that way. Monday night, I had to label and pack two quilts for a show up in Glendora that’s coming up. I won’t make it to that opening (it’s midday on a Wednesday? or something like that). I still need to pack up the Quilt National quilt…I was going to do that last night, but didn’t feel like it for the second day in a row. Ah well. I did do ceramics on Monday…picked up two fired pieces…

They look pretty good, yeah? Well there’s this…

It ran like crazy, stuck to the biscuit. It’s OK. I’m going to glue it back together and then put it outside. Maybe bury it in the ground even, just a bit. The boot turned out fine! All ceramics is a guess sometimes. I even wiped this up a good bit…but not enough. You learn some; you lose some.

Still doing this…

A peaceful couple of hours working on this…the orange ran like crazy, so I had to fix some stuff…not sure how to make the underglazes less runny once they are.

I’ll be here for another couple of hours before she’s done. And I bought more clay finally…gonna try a new one. I have ideas. I always have ideas.

Last night, I was supposed to go to the gym, but I ended up running late finishing stuff at school, then doing more work at home to try to catch up and maybe get ahead, and then I bathed the old lady cat. She’d gone to the vet because we thought she might have a UTI (accidentes), but it doesn’t look like she does. She hasn’t been cleaning herself well for a while, and I worry about stressing out old ladies with baths, but she needed it. She’s so much cleaner now. I even combed her a bit, which she likes…until she doesn’t. She’s still cranky as shit…and probably was the source of random poops all down the hallway last night (sigh)…but she’s still kicking. When I had finished making dinner (and next week’s lunches coincidentally), I just wanted to draw. I love drawing. I miss drawing more. I just can’t fit it in. Either I draw or I read and even that is a fight…always work is calling. And the house. So much stuff. Ugh.

So I drew.

There’s a rough pencil drawing of the body, just because it’s hard to get everything on there and semi-proportioned right…for some definition of right. Then I stare at it and decide what I want to add. I know what this piece is focused on (everything?), so I think about how that can be portrayed…you can’t see all the hands on her thigh from here. It’s still in pencil. Anyway, hopefully I’ll be communing with this most nights for the next week or so, trying to wiggle an image out of a tired brain. It’s where I love to be. And though there are other things that need to be worked on, for now, this is it.

Is 9 the average women’s shoe size? I do always feel like I am huge-footed. Maybe not? Seems wrong.

OK. School. I’m doing a lab that I’ve only done once and it was two years ago. I don’t remember HOW to do it. I’m sure it will be fine. Pretty sure I made a video. I have pilates after school. I’m tired already. I don’t have to cook tonight. I do probably have to grade things…or prep things. Last night, I recorded things, so there’s dogs barking, cats meowing, men coughing, and timers going off. Like normal. Then more drawing hopefully. Plus reading. I’ve been reading at lunch instead of hanging out with my team. They are stressing me out, I guess. Probably I need to check in up there. Plus I had to set up a lab yesterday during lunch. So that took time. Whatever. Drawing at the end.

A Me Thing

Hello? I’m sorry…95 degrees today? 97 on Monday? It’s freakin’ October? Some people are wearing sweaters this week in other parts of the country. No thank you. Too hot. Not a fan. NEED a fan.

Speaking of weather, the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene to the southeast…distinctly awful. I’ve seen too many art studios that flood waters kamikazed through, and that’s not even dealing with lost lives and homes. We have a friend who was supposed to be moving to Johnson City this fall, but they had delayed the decisionmaking. I’m not sure what you do. I mean, I remember when I was living abroad, people would always shake their heads at living in California, with “all the earthquakes”…that was before we were Wildfire Central. There’s certainly no escaping the crazy weather patterns caused by climate change at this point…there’s just mitigation, remediation, and plain old survival…if you’re lucky. I’m going to donate to somewhere…just haven’t decided where yet.

That same weather has delayed one of my quilts from arriving, which is not a huge deal compared to what actual people are dealing with…I see it made it to Jacksonville…if I’d known a hurricane was arriving…who am I kidding? I shipped it the first day I could, based on grades being due etc. It’ll get there when it gets there. The gallery probably has a bunch of pieces they’re waiting on. We’ll all survive the delay.

Meanwhile, my art here is all bugs, all the time. I have things in my head, but I need to get the bugs done by next weekend for delivery. And sanity. So I got two sewn down to the canvases on Monday night…

The third was fussy. The paint needed to be redone (they all actually needed it…sloppy painting the night before). This one, there was a flake of something shiny in exactly the wrong spot. I think it was the paint off the paintbrush handle. My paintbrushes are all ancient. So I picked that off…should have painted it Monday night, but ran out of time. Painted it last night, and then ironed the ladybug together…

I did two of each bug: one normal bug colors (for that bug) and one NOT normal…tending toward rainbows. I also trimmed the Wonder Under for the last bug. I had bugs in different stages of the project so people could see what it looked like in the demo. So now I have four ready for stitchdown, and hopefully the fifth tonight.

I also went to ceramics on Monday. I had this thing that was supposed to be another mug (ha!), but was way too big (I will never learn), so now it will be a planter. I had painted it with all the leftover underglazes and started carving it.

Or here’s the picture…there were so many people in the studio on Monday. It was too many people for me, really. I prefer a quiet Friday afternoon.

I need to make a decision about buying more clay. I did some touchup on the boot vase and reduced glaze on the paper bag vase…need to touch that one up a bit. I’m worried the glaze is going to run everywhere.

This is the opening between my kitchen and the living area. It’s usually not blocked by a baby gate, but we have an inquisitive kitten who has decided this is where he will climb into the kitchen 17 times a night. So baby gate.

Don’t judge the mess there. I can’t seem to get it under control. It’s totally a me thing. Not a priority. Why would it be when I have bugs to iron?

OK. Wednesday. The last two days, kids have been sleeping in class. Today is a lab. Hopefully that will help. I can’t be amazingly entertaining all the time. It’s exhausting. I couldn’t get into pilates this week (ugh scheduling), so I went to the gym last night (and finished my book! yay!). Tonight is book club. I read the book and three more in the series. It’s light, but enjoyable. Ghosts and dead people light. Not traumatizing. Then hopefully more bug things. I’d like to be done with bugs soon, finish the clay pieces, and then start the next big quilt. I like working on big quilts. I like reading big books. I like coming home to things that I’m already immersed in and can continue to be immersed in, instead of trying to start new things. Also a me thing.

Gotta Go

I’m already running late. I’m not sure how. I filled out an art agreement, made sure lunch was ready to go, did the normal shower, feed dog/cat routine. I’m dressed and ready for school, minus shoes and socks and meds. And more tea. Could NOT sleep last night. SHUT UP BRAIN. Part of it was the hour before bed when I was prepping a quilt to ship and realized I hadn’t sent all the info to the people who were supposed to get it (I sent it to one out of four…not a great percentage) and I’d missed a form (note to art groups…just send ONE email with all the things…not two or three), so I panicked and filled that out at 11 PM. Whoops. A day late. The Man is shipping it for me, so that’s nice. OK, he’s dropping it off. Still nice. I should have shipped yesterday. Whoops again. Sigh. School really fucks you over. There’s no time for anything else sometimes (like when grades are due and you’re massively behind) and you keep seeing things that need doing and thinking, keep walking, you don’t have time for that right now. So yeah. Still not in a rhythm. Had a weird thought yesterday…maybe there is no rhythm any more. Maybe this is it. Chaotic event followed by overwhelming tasks followed by another chaotic event. Trauma after trauma. It’s not a great lifestyle…workstyle. Work is not my life. Even though it feels that way. I worked the whole weekend. I don’t want to work this weekend. How will I avoid that? Yesterday, the kids were taking a test and normally, I’d walk around and eyeball them, but come back to my desk and grade things. I couldn’t find the mindset for that. My brain was just tired of it. So I didn’t. Might have been a mistake, because I’m totally not going to have time in class today or tomorrow for it. Ah well. That sucks.

ANYWAY. How’s the art going, Kathy? Chaos. Good chaos? Maybe. I got into Quilt National! I’m going to try to go to the opening weekend this year. I didn’t go in 21 because COVID was still pretty rampant. In 23, we had no subs, and it’s a really shitty weekend to try to go anywhere for a lot of reasons. I think I’d like to go in 25. So I got into Visions and QN in the same year…nice. I feel good about that.

I finished quilting the second little quilt…

Need to figure out how I’m going to finish and hang these in the ceramic pieces. I need a drill bit.

Then I got an email about possibly selling stuff at Visions…and I had those bugs from the OMA Street Scene thing that I never finished…so I did some legs last night…

I like them.

Gotta figure out how to finish them quicker, and then I can figure out if VMOTA will even want them. I also glazed this yesterday…

The final is not going to be that red. Which is weird. But then I came home and read about this glaze and it runs a lot, so I’m going to go lighten the layers at the bottom and above the flowers to see if I can keep it from running in those areas. No, I don’t know what I’m doing. Why do you ask?

So I’m working on a bunch of little things that never looks as impressive as working on the big things, but I wanted to make space for those things to happen. The big one is in my head, percolating, waiting for me to finish all the littles. School! Holy crap, I gotta go.

The Power

Hokay. Wednesday. I’m a little tired, I must say. Not sure why. Rejiggering my lesson plan for today, I think. Some catchup, some kids finishing stuff up, instead of starting the next thing. I may do a piece of the next thing, but I have two classes that need to finish yesterday’s thing still. It’s OK. It’s fast. But I hate having classes on different things. It’s just easier when they’re all in the same range of stuff. It’s Back-to-School Night tonight…set for 5 PM, which makes more sense for parents, but it means I have 90 minutes after school where I’m just there. I have grading to do and will do it, so I don’t have to bring it home (the first batch of progress reports are due next week, which seems really early). I have a lot of work to get through. I really just want to finish my book though. And finish another one by Monday for book club. I had to finally buy that one, because it was still 5 weeks out at the library.

Artmaking is going slowly. I am not giving myself enough time because of grading, unfortunately. It sucks. I hate it. I guess I lose Sunday afternoons? I don’t know any other way to do this. I feel like I lose half the Saturdays too. UGH. So I traced the two little pieces onto Wonder Under, which took almost no time at all…

And last night, I cut them out…

Superfast. Hopefully I’ll have the energy tonight to iron them to fabric. I’m not holding out much hope, but some.

Monday, I worked on glazing the mug still…

Anybody who’s thinking, oh, Nida will make a bunch of these and sell them…HA! My god, they take so long. Which is fine. I’ve always been more about the process than having a product to sell…obviously.

This already has 10 hours into it.

Consider time, materials, firing fees…

Completely unaffordable. Sorry y’all. This is not going to be a second (third? fourth?) income generator for me. And I’m OK with that.

Enjoy the video in the round.

That long thin quilt is going to this show…

In Miami, Florida. As soon as it’s back from the photographer. It still needs a name, but I think I had one somewhere. I just need to figure out where.

OK. School. Ugh. Redo plan for the day. Get the kids working independently for at least half of class time. Grade things. Prep for next week. Try to figure out how to efficiently grade the thing the other teacher fucked up. Sigh. Spend more of my prep time not prepping. Yesterday started badly with a last-minute switch of two resource kids who need support into a class with no support, literally 2 minutes before they were supposed to show up to my class. They needed seats, they needed to be added to my Google Classroom, they needed to be told not to delete themselves out of the other classroom until I graded things. FUCK. And no support? So that put me over 20% resource kids in that class, so after my complaints and reminders of how shit should work, I have support in there today. But the long string of emails leading up to that last one? I could have been included. So I would’ve known. But no. Not important. So my mindset during prep was to put on loud music with lots of swear words and grade all the makeup work so it was off my plate. Pro? That last bit.

Anyway. Today will be better. I command it. And I don’t have to try to cook after pilates, like last night, cooking after 7:30 PM. Tonight the Man cooks and I collapse. With my book, hopefully.

Never Enough Sleep for It…

It’s pajama day today. On a Monday. That might be a first…usually it’s later in the week. It kinda makes me feel like I’m not going to work…is that a pro or a con? It’s good to go to work in pajamas because it doesn’t feel like work? Oh, it will feel like it when I get there. I think I mostly prepped on Friday; I just didn’t put the inertia stuff on their desks yet. No biggie. Anyway. I’m in pajamas. I’m going to the ceramics studio later; debating whether to bring real pants. Or just go in pajamas. They probably won’t care. Tomorrow is wear your favorite band shirt. What a coincidence? I just went and saw one of my favorite bands, Radio Thieves (the Man plays keyboards and sings) on Saturday night downtown. The Music Box did a street fair thing.

Nice location…too many people with captain’s hats (Yachtley Crew was the main band)…

Radio Thieves was awesome…

Although I still don’t understand the cowboy wear because they played no country.

Whatever. They always wear weird shit. Except pajamas. Never seen them in pajamas.

Ceramics-wise, I went Friday night. Two of my things were out of the bisque fire. One was the top of this so I could finally put them together…

Turned out pretty cool.

Don’t think I’m going to glaze fire? Not sure. It will get super dark if I do and it doesn’t need to be foodsafe, so why deal with that? I do think I will epoxy them together though. They fit but there’s a wobble.

Then the base for the other piece came out…

Looked good. I put an iron wash over it and then glazed the two oil spills with a glaze I picked up on sale called um I think it’s called oil spill! So it should be perfect.

We’ll see how it goes. I put a clear satin on the fishies (not the bones) and the windows of the car. Then the winged woman gets epoxied on that and the fabric added.

Speaking of added fabric, I finally had enough mental space to draw two fabric things for clay things I made back in February/March. I had papers measured to size to help me draw…like since July? I drew in pencil first…

And then in ink…this one will hang in a woman-shaped frame I slab built when I was in the handbuilding class…

And this one was a coil-built thing that I put two holes in for hanging a little quilt…

The holes might have filled in with glaze. I might need to drill them. Not sure how to do that. Will ask at the studio today. I also worked on my mug but totally forgot to take any pictures. Of course. Maybe today.

I graded a lot this weekend. I’m really trying to make time for the art, finish fixing up the house from the summer whirlwind (I pulled off most of the blue tape from the moldings and installed two switchplates, one old, one new because the other one was disgusting.). I need to hang the art up and get everything in the living room put away. I also need to do some textured paint in one area. I have the stuff…just haven’t had the time. AND I watered things. I haven’t had enough time for that either and plants are suffering. UGH. This week is a clusterfuck. So I don’t expect getting control of it this week.

Teachers need a 4th day to deal with school. Because there isn’t enough time at school to deal with it. Here’s Bowie helping me grade.

I finished the homework from the week before, all the warmups, and two classes of the Unit 1 packets. I have three more of those, last week’s homework, and an academic assignment. Fun times.

Speaking of school, we borrowed tennis balls from PE and they (1) smelled exactly like you’d think they’d smell and (2) came packaged like a scrotum, tied up like this with two balls in each bag.

I can’t decide if PE was just messing with us or there’s some reason to pack them this way.

Finishing with this…

I’m not a fan of war. I’m not a fan of supporting war, although the Ukraine/Russia thing seems a worthy cause. World War II was a worthy cause. Just wish there were no more kids dying anywhere from anything, but that’s too much to hope for in a country where guns are more important than schools.

Anyway. Monday musings. I’ll be making those two little quilts and finishing two big ones that are not art quilts but need doing. Hopefully I’ll also start that next big quilt in the next week or so. We’ll see how that goes. I’m giving myself grace (I hate that phrase) this week…back-to-school night, physical therapy on the neck, late pilates because of that back-to-school night. Lots going on. Never enough sleep for it.

It Just Looks Easy

Hey. Short school week. But let’s shove a bunch of meetings and trainings in there and do labs every day and put kids outside for one station when it’s 95+ degrees outside. Fun times. Still don’t have a routine here. I’ll get there. By the end of September…that’s how long it usually takes.

Artwise, I ironed more on Monday…

About 100 pieces…and then I finished last night…

Stayed up a little late. Tonight I can iron it to the background, which is not dark, for once. I made a video of the first stage…

It may or may not be easier to see. Long and skinny is never easy to photograph. All the pieces in this show are supposed to be the same size though. Anyway…I’ll iron it down tonight and start stitchdown. Hopefully.

In ceramics, I worked on the mug…here’s the video so far…

And because sometimes the video is stupid…here’s some photos…

I underglazed the background…

Trying to carve on a bumpy, curved surface is a challenge…

I watch people doing it in videos and it looks so easy.

Practice, I know. I also think their pieces are more leather hard.

So I’m just messing around because I’ve never really done this before. So no, I don’t know what I’m doing. But I’m doing it. That might be the key. People always ask me “how did you get so good at…” and the answer is always practice. Keep doing it. Until it looks easy…which is usually like 20 years later. And even then, it’s still not necessarily easy…it just LOOKS easy. I’ll be good at ceramics in my late 70s. Maybe.

I underglazed this too, but I think it needs more coats on the outside.

But I ran out of time.

I’m going to carve it too. Somehow. My plans erupt when I sit down at the end of the day with the clay. Luckily Monday, I had off, so it was the middle of the afternoon…but my brain doesn’t always have a plan until I start working on the piece. Which is fine. These aren’t high art. They’re fucking around.

I just finished reading a difficult book, Know My Name, by Chanel Miller. It wasn’t difficult because of the writing…it’s very well written. It’s the topic. Miller is the woman Brock Turner sexually assaulted…the entitled Stanford swimmer…and the judge let go on a less-than minimal sentence. A friend asked, why are you reading it if it’s hard? Because her story deserves to be read. I knew so much about him and how it ruined his life (um…read the last bit here)…

She talks about Stanford’s lack of appropriate response, the court’s lack of care for the victim, society’s blame of victims, and how it all affects the victim. It’s her personal story of getting through the aftermath, as much as anyone ever gets through it. It also has her victim statement, which is difficult to read, but the book ends like this…

She deserves to be heard. Some nonfiction is a chore to read…and this was not. It was difficult because of the topic, and at times, I would close the book and go water some plants instead, but I’m glad I read it. We shouldn’t be hiding the victim’s experience…it should be known, respected, and heard.

Anyway, on that light note, I have a meeting in 39 minutes, I need to move my lab stations before that, I have labs all day…need to have a discussion about appropriate and kind behavior in lab groups apparently…then pilates (I was waitlisted, but got in!) and book club! for a book I just finished yesterday. Didn’t like that one as much. Oh well. It’s a long day. And it’s supposed to be close to 100 degrees…not liking that bit, but it is Southern California summer…it had to get hot sometime.

One Way or Another

Still trying to find a balance. It’s way too easy to fall into the habits of previous years, where work follows you home. I did work last night…and the night before…and the day before that. I’m not getting enough done at school; we’re setting up labs during prep and trying to figure out what we’re teaching next. There’s adjustments…plus not everyone has computers, so we still need stuff on paper, and then our building’s copier is broken (again), so we have to compete for a copier. And I’m trying to grade one academic thing because I know there’s another one coming today. It’s not hard; it’s all just time-consuming. Plus we had to meet yesterday to explain (justify?) the way we grade in science. And the teacher making the complaint didn’t even show up to the meeting. Love that. Well it’s done. And realistically, we never really hit a balance until the end of September. It’s not even the end of August. Yikes!

Art is slow too. Just getting the time and energy at the end of the day is hard. I’m almost done with this one…Monday night…ironed the main figure…

Last night, ironed a bunch of bits and pieces…

The two side heads, the eyeballs, etc. This is all I have left to do…

Some buildings, a bird, some hair, lips. I’ll be done tonight finally. Then cutting them out.

I did make it to clay yesterday…checked the boot…

I could underglaze it Friday…if I remember to bring the underglazes. I didn’t yesterday. The bag is also drying…but it will have glaze after bisque. Need to buy that glaze.

I worked on the mug…

Apparently I’m trying to make it as lumpy/bumpy and bulky as possible.

Seems that way…

It keeps me occupied at least.

Today. At least I don’t have to be at school early. Although it is unknown if the other teacher expects us to have prepped all her labs for today (I didn’t finish yesterday…we don’t start until tomorrow). I need to go fight for the copier because of the kids with no computers. I have one loaner and an iPad that I can’t figure out how to make it connect to the kids’ accounts. And more than one kid without a computer in more than one class. I have pilates after school. And I’m cooking dinner. So there are three more classes of that academic thing that need grading, and I’m not going to get to it at school today probably. Which is unfortunate. Not gonna think about that right now. Right now, I’m going to finish this cup of tea, wash my dishes, make more tea, take my meds, and head for school. The rest will figure itself out, one way or another.