Until I Don’t…

Oh hey. Hi. School dreams every night. Can’t fall asleep for a good two hours, even though it’s midnight. It’s not even that hot. The dog is in the bed, my body hurts, my brain won’t shut the fuck up. All good. It is August. So school is on my mind. Heavily.

Yesterday was the first day I didn’t have copyediting. I had to deliver some art, but it was trouble-free and relatively quick (come to our opening at the downtown San Diego library on August 11!). Today I had my eyes checked (all good). I try to keep the last few days before school starts relatively open, so I can introvert myself into a pillow fort coma before all hell breaks loose. The to-do list might kick my ass. So yesterday, I had about 3 1/2 hours of online training for school (sexual harassment, mandated reporter, pest management, blood-borne pathogens…was that it? Nah, forgot cybersecurity…ironically.). I still have 45 more minutes on active shooters (as opposed to inactive shooters?). I also panicked about the planning calendars for this coming year. My co-teacher sent an email out and I thought, oh shit, newbies are gonna look at these, and I hadn’t touched them since June, so I touched them. Fussed a little with 7th grade just for the first few months…I’m not teaching it this year, but there were a few things that needed fixing. Then took a look at 8th grade. Oh yeah. Fuck. So I fussed with January through June. I’d done some stuff with December already and then stalled on August through November. I had COVID last year for the first 8 days of school, which was a clusterfuck, and the calendar reflects that. I’m hoping the new 8th-grade teacher is ready and willing to plan. Most of the issues are in February and on, but the 2nd unit needs something. I think. I have more to do on Unit 1 today and tomorrow, but I now have a better handle on what I need to do. Maybe. Until I don’t.

So. School. Need to order some supplies. Need to do some stuff with documents. Need to be ready for next week…going back. Not ready. Nope. Nuh uh. Never am.

So I also traced yesterday and Monday…progress! Still fucking slow, y’all. But I’m getting there.

This is what it really looks like when I trace. I usually have about 2 yards of Wonder Under out, one for big pieces and one for filling in with all the little pieces that need to go somewhere. I hate to waste Wonder Under. I blame my grandmother, my raised-in-the-Depression grandma who saved everything. And my mom who was raised by her. Hence the pile of hard, cracked rubberbands I tossed out at work back in June. It’s a thing. I always have rubberbands somewhere that should be tossed. And I never toss a paperclip unless it breaks. Or it’s inexplicably sticky.

I’ve been going through my clothes, trying to be way more organized than I have been. Thrifting some, sending some to a recycler, organizing the rest. We’ve banned the cats from the closet because they cause so much damage. I have clothes with holes from Luna catching them on her kamikaze way down from the top shelf and everything is covered in fur. So I washed a lot and will hang them back up and leave the doors closed. She doesn’t like it. Oh well.

This tracing stuff is hard on the eyes…

This was me tracing through all the trainings…

See tiny computer? Yeah. Well. I’ve heard some of these videos so many times I can ace the test the first time through. I feel like if you pass the test, you shouldn’t have to sit through the videos. Whatever. How about just a brief update on what changed? Nah.

I’ve got 4 yards mostly done and I’ve started the 5th yard of Wonder Under…

I’m 15 hours into the tracing and on piece 1199. So more than halfway. About 830 to go. I’d like it done. But IDK if it will be before the weekend. I have most of the rest of today, but need to do school and yard and house stuff too, tomorrow is wide open (I think? Oh wait, no, have a concert to go to and we’re leaving incredibly early), and Friday is a clusterfuck. Same with Saturday. Ah well. We’ll see. So it will probably be 8 or 9 yards of Wonder Under and 22 hours of tracing. That’s my semi-educated guess.

As part of cleaning out clothes, I tossed a few of my old school shirts, put three in a pile to take to school (I never wear them…one is just the wrong shape for me, so uncomfortable, and the other is polyester, and we are not friends). But I found this white shirt that WOULD fit just fine, unlike the new one I got at the end of last year, but I don’t wear white. I just don’t. I don’t even own bras that won’t show through (they’re all black, what can I say), and I just don’t like white. Ugh. Stains. Makes me even pinker than I already am. SO. I put it in a pile to tie dye and yesterday I decided not to wait any longer and did it on the dryer.

This is the before picture with the one glove I found (yes, the other hand has two blue fingernails right now). I’m letting it percolate and will pull it later today. I’m hoping for awesomeness.

As part of the yard work, I was trimming in the backyard, and was tugging on some ivy taking over one of my trees. I heard a ‘whoosh’ and saw one of the barn owls move to the eucalyptus.

It was STARING at me, like lady, that tree you’re tugging on is my daytime nest. Knock it off. And it makes sense, because we hear one of them vocalizing from the backyard and then around the deck almost every night. So yeah. I still have a barn owl in my yard. All good. There’s also a cat on the roof. We haven’t seen it anywhere else. I haven’t seen it at all. The Man is standing on the deck at night, hears a noise, looks up, and there’s a cat head silhouetted against the night sky. Twice now. Weird, huh? I moved my yardwork to the bougainvillea next to the bedroom window, where there is probably a skunk living, and at least two bunnies that I’ve seen, so that’s safe, right? The reality is that this yard is overwhelming on a good day. I’ve made some progress this summer, but not enough. It’s never enough. Pile of gravel is still there, although I’ve made it a little further around the corner. Ah well. Can’t do it all.

With that in mind, I have a list for today, and once this is posted, I will have done two of the things on it. Plus the eye doctor and Kitten’s meds because she’s not eating. Which I didn’t put on the list because they were on the other list. Hmmm. Don’t have multiple lists. Bad plan. So I’m going to go pee the ex’s puppy…all my wounds from her have finally healed. Then come back and eat lunch maybe and do all the other things on the list. Well maybe not ALL of them. There’s always too many things. Might be a mistake. Plus trace for a good long while. That’s pretty important.

It All Looks the Same…

Pros: I’m almost done with copyediting this project. Correction. I am done, I just need to do some final shit so I can send it back. It was not the easy ride I wanted. It took ALL the time and still needs a proofreader, I think, but I know I did an awesome job. Well. I’m sure I missed some things because at some point, it was too much. But hey, I get to send it back. I don’t have to proofread it. Someone should. It’s also the last full week of vacation before school starts. I have a few things planned or that I have to do, but mostly, once I send the copyediting project back, it’s my week. So lots of gravel moving and tracing will hopefully happen. We’ll see, though. I also need to sort through clothing and get organized for school, so there’s that.

Cons: See comment above about school. Not ready. Never am. It’s warm and humid here, although it rained briefly this morning. I think my yardwork days are today and Thursday, looking at the weather. The whole-wheat flour keeps getting bugs. I’m annoyed by that. Not too bad for cons.

I’ve been tracing every day. I have not been particularly good about photographing it, because it all looks the same, honestly…

I have a little over 800 pieces traced…not even halfway, y’all. Such a joke that I thought I might be able to finish this weekend. The copyediting took a healthy chunk of my days.

Not helping, Luna. Not.

I’ve got almost 11 hours into the tracing so far. So another 15 to go? Maybe? I feel like the bigger pieces take longer to trace and I’m about to do all the justices and they have lots of little fingers and eyeballs. Those trace faster. But then their robes are bigger pieces. Huh. I guess we’ll see. Not expecting much. Not gonna be done quickly.

Saturday, I made us leave the house and walk three miles…but at the beach, at Silver Strand. It started out very peoply, but got better quickly.

In fact, it got very birdy instead.

We saw dolphins too…but no photos of those.

It was good. It was cooler than home, although still not particularly cool in temperature.

It’s hard to find hikes/walks in the summer that don’t just feel like work because of the heat. The Man is planning to hike the Trans-Catalina Trail in October, so he needs to get some hikes in. So do I, although the knee does not necessarily appreciate it. Oh well. Sorry knee.

I’ve been using this cup to drink chai each evening, mostly so I can giggle when I get to the bottom.

I’m very mature for my age. I actually don’t like the word ‘tit’ for my breasts, but it makes a nice bird.

Did this drawing at dinner Saturday night…definitely weird.

Finished stitching things down on this. Easy to do the stitchdown…

Then need to find the mental space for the embroidery. Don’t have that right now. Soon? Maybe.

OK, so I have the rest of the day to move gravel…it’s cooler and raining occasionally, but just a few big drops…nothing really big. And I need to decide how to handle the rest of this copyediting project. Gonna do that first. Then I have some books to read and art to make. And it’s my summer break, so I’m gonna do that. No school stuff today…maybe later this week, but not today.

Days Disappear

Well. I finished the drawing. And I numbered it. That in itself is a major achievement for the week. I’ve also been copyediting a teacher’s manual, which is different, but not. It’s work. I need the money to pay for the dog’s dental visit and the dryer fix, which both add up to much more than I will get paid for this, but that’s OK. It means I spend a few hours each day staring at this computer in this hot room and feeling like I’m getting nothing done. Which is fine. It’s too hot to do the other things anyway. I currently have two fans blowing almost directly on me, not on my eyeballs, because they get dry and weepy and tired if I do that. My goal is to finish the copyediting this week, around the other things I need to do, and then next week is mostly wide open, if I ignore all the appointments and meetings I tossed in there. Yeah. That. They have to happen sometime. I did get the referral to musculoskeletal for my knee…they messaged asking for days/times, and I ever so hopefully gave them all this time before school started, and then realistically gave them some guidelines for after school starting, and then said if it was more than a month out with those guidelines, to use these other guidelines. I have an appointment in October. They should have just said they were booking two months out. I’m glad I’m mobile and can get around…it just hurts. It’s workable.

So finishing the drawing happened in bits and pieces at night, when it cooled down. I can’t draw in the heat and make sense of it. This was near the end…most of the last bit was penciled in when I went to bed on Sunday…

And then I finished it Monday night…

It’s about 48″ x 56″ I think. Not as big as I thought, but still big. And complicated. Kitten for scale…

I started numbering it Monday night and realized it would take forever…

So I finished last night, very late…didn’t even start until 10 something…

I thought it was 2023 pieces last night, thought that was weird because that’s this year, but it was actually 2029, which is funny, because that’s the year I’ve set for retiring from teaching. It may slip a year or two, but that’s the goal, that’s what’s keeping me going with all the clusterfucks, and yes, I’ll still have to work, copyediting or something else, but it won’t be in the classroom.

I had guessed 2000 pieces, so that was a good guess. I knew it was complicated. It took 15 hours and 38 minutes to draw it and 2 hours and 54 minutes to number it. Big time. Tonight I start tracing. It’s good going into the new school year with a big project. I appreciate the meditative time to work on it.

I did a little of this while watching TV over the last few nights.

Very basic applique. All I can handle. I say that, and I’m reading two books at a time. Not sure why. Some sort of ploy by my brain to read twice as much because I haven’t read any of that book today, even though I spent an hour reading the other one. I’m going along with it for now.

I have work in this show, opening August 11 at the downtown library in San Diego.

I’ve never had work in the library gallery, so that’s cool.

I don’t want to be tolerated. True that. I also like my tea really strong.

This guy has been licking his leg where they shaved all the hair off for his dental visit. So it is time for the floatie around his neck.

It’s hot and uncomfortable and he keeps looking at me like this, please take it off, but sir, you have licked a sore onto your leg and we will not be dealing with infected leg sores. It is not on the Bingo card for summer. So there.

OK. Today. Sorting through clothes, found a white school shirt that I will never wear because it is white, so I’m going to tie dye it…it’s a good size and fit, so that’s why I don’t just toss it or donate it or whatever. Copyediting…hopefully going to get all these silly Lesson boxes done that all have to be formatted the same but aren’t. I know I’m a copyeditor because I pay attention to this stuff; I’m just amazed at the people who don’t pay attention. I shouldn’t be. I need to pack up a quilt for delivery to a show…I probably need to pack up two quilts, but the other one isn’t due until next week, so maybe I’ll delay on that. I have yardwork…ALWAYS have yardwork. And tracing Wonder Under later. A book to go back to the physical library. Strange that these days…almost everything I read is digital unless I own it. And reading those two books…crucial part of the day. Oh wait, I have pilates too. That’s nice. I should remember to go to that. Days disappear if you aren’t watching. That’s not entirely a bad thing unless you’re like me and you like to check off the boxes of what you’ve done.

Fold All the Laundry I Didn’t Fold

Mmmm. No class today. Well. I say that and I signed up for a different kind of pilates class, just because I wanted to try it out and that shit’s harder to do during the school year. But I like pilates and it’s actually an exercise class, which is good for me. No more literacy class this week…I did learn some things, but more remembered that we need to do more to boost reading, and that takes time, and time is something we may not have a lot of, so there’s that. But with two+ teams doing it all together, hopefully we can make some progress with the kids. Here was my setup on the last day, with everything back in the purple bag, which will go to school, plus the stitching I did to help me focus.

I put away all the highlighters and pens and post-its. Now I officially don’t have to think about school until…the next crazy email comes from that one teacher who apparently has nothing to do over break, no books to read, no relaxing beaches to lie on (I don’t really do that anyway), no giant-ass drawings to finish. Oh wait, that one’s me. I’m hoping to finish the drawing today. In between pilates, laundry, cleaning, moving gravel (got a whole ‘nother pile of it that needs moving), keeping the pup from licking his shaved foot (he had a dental cleaning on Friday and is notoriously bad about licking a sore into shaved areas)…all the things. It’s supposed to be hot all week, so that will be (not) fun. Not sure what my plan is for that. The boychild is home but going to training all day and then leaves again on Friday for his regular shift. Exhausting. I guess I work all week, but not like that. Gotta take days off…he had yesterday off. At least he has the pup in bed at night, so I have some chance of a decent night’s sleep.

No one seems inclined to dust or vacuum or mop…even me, it seems. Oh! I also need to copyedit. I put my editing service back into vacation mode, declined all the other offers I’d gotten, so I’m down to the one. That’s the one I can handle. I have two weeks to do it, and it’s not very big, but I should actually start. Yeah. This afternoon. I will.

So the drawing. The drawing has progressed. My Art Brain has been engaged, now that it doesn’t have to think about Latin roots and spelling rules. And pretend teaching those. So Friday night, I drew the swamp. It was in my notes…and I’m realizing, I need to write a post that just documents all the stuff I took notes about and was thinking while I was drawing, because it may not be so so obvious from just looking at it. But here’s the swamp…

I hid a Swamp Thing in it.

Then what did I do next? Oh yeah, started working on the pedestals under the swamp justices.

Finished those last night…

So Gorsuch is all corporation instead of individual, so he is standing on individual people, who are sort of compressed by him. Alito has had some issues with a fishing trip and possibly some other money-related things, so he has the fish and the money. Roberts is a mess, with money clouding any decision he makes. He also seems to make decisions completely against his own race…he seems race-blind to me, or maybe if he does that, that’s how he gets the money. So I added a few chained slaves to his pedestal, because I’m not sure he remembers…I would like the Court to have more people of color, all colors, to make the decisions more diverse, more pro those groups who need support. I don’t think he does that. Kavanaugh likes beer. He also has some sexual issues of harassment in the past that popped up (ha!) before his confirmation, but it’s OK, because boys will be boys, right? Sigh. Let’s not use that as an excuse for bad behavior. Please. Amy. Oh Amy. Coney Barrett has People of Praise behind her. She claims she speaks for all people, that her religion doesn’t shape her decisions, but like the other swamp judges, I don’t find her trustworthy. Religion is fine unless it’s making decisions for a bunch of people who don’t subscribe to that religion…and reproductive freedom is something all five of these judges have voted against. Four of them have penises, so they have no right dealing with a uterus…and the other one thinks LGTBQ marriages are a sin. So should she be in the Court? Nah. I don’t think so…not representing the people and not interpreting the law appropriately for ALL the people.

So why is Roberts on the other side? Well, it was getting crowded on that side and occasionally he votes like a sane person. OCCASIONALLY. He’s also skating on a slippery slope. He has the key to the Court (being the Big Guy, the one in charge). I still think he’s pretty swampy, but…so I’m probably going to have to copy some of this into a Court post. I’ll do that. And go back and explain some of the other decisions I made. You may not agree. I’m OK with that. Unless you think we shouldn’t have rights, like all of us, then I’m not OK with it. Feel free to limit your own rights. Then get out of my face.

I’m still working on the left side. Literally and figuratively. But I need to go to class, so I’ll be back. You won’t even notice.

So the other thing we did on Saturday, which was a little nuts, was drive up to Los Angeles. I had an opening in Torrance (which wouldn’t have been as bad), but there was a show in LA that I wanted to see that closes in a couple of weeks, Faith Ringgold: A Survey, at the Jeffrey Deitch gallery in LA.

I know I have Faith’s Tar Beach book somewhere in the house. I loved her people flying in the sky at night. In looking at her website, I might need to buy more books.

I also love her mix of paintings with quilts. Although here is one of her prints, also very cool.

The handwritten words on this one…

Very powerful seeing her work in person.

Strangely, the same gallery had some work by one of my university painting instructors, Judy Baca. She has created some fairly awesome murals in Los Angeles over the years.

Honestly, although her art and achievements are impressive, she was (for me) not the most present professor. The rumor was that she was working on a mural in Los Angeles the semester I had her, so the teacher’s aide ran (ha! he did nothing) the class, and then she would show up maybe once a month and berate many of us. I have some serious painting PTSD from her class. Maybe not all artists should teach art? I don’t know…your mileage may vary. Maybe it was a bad year for her. I just didn’t really paint after that class. I still don’t think I CAN paint. That said, a lot of the art classes at UCIrvine were just show up, get an assignment, and go make something that meets it. There was very little technical instruction. We were often just left to our own devices…so there’s pros and cons to that. I do appreciate the time to mess around and fuck with stuff, but sometimes, a little more technical know-how might have been useful (exploded my ceramics final in the kiln, which I don’t actually think was MY fault, but I made do…glued all the parts to a plywood board…most were whole and the ones that weren’t, I glued the pieces and then the shards and quickly rewrote my statement). Sometimes I think I’d really like to go back to art school now just with a stronger, more confident state of mind, but then my adult brain slaps my face and says NO NO NO, we are NOT getting another degree. But maybe more art classes would be fun.

Also in the Deitch gallery was Karon Davis: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, which was very powerful. I didn’t photograph the whole thing, because I couldn’t figure out an angle that showed how large and dominating the judge and flag were in the face of this figure of Bobby Seale during the Chicago 8 trial.

Whitewashed. Beautifully painful work.

I had been scrolling through Instagram the day before we left (like you do when you are supposed to be listening to someone talk about teaching vocabulary) and saw an artist whose work I love post that her stuff was in a show in LA…hey, I’m going to LA…I could stop by if it’s close. It was close to the other gallery, and on the way back to the museum in Torrance, so we headed for a small gallery, the Seis Gallery. The show was called The Horror…

And included two pieces by Svetlana Shigroff. This is Sim-Ya…

And this is Refusal of Man…

I took a tufting class from her before COVID, and it was fun, but crazy lots of work. I say that knowing full well my stuff is also a crazy lot of work…it’s just what do we want to do more of. Anyway, it was cool to have a chance to see more of her stuff in person.

Straight up, traffic going to LA was horrible. It was a long day. We saw good art, but were exhausted by the end of it.

I have another LA opening coming up in September. Makes you think about driving to these things. We spent over 10 hours going up, going to three shows, eating dinner, and coming back. And we were exhausted the next day too.

So the Torrance Art Museum had two shows, one of which I was in (hence the original reason for all this). Art and Med, curated by Ted Meyer…

Here’s a video of the whole thing…

I did take a few photos, but was mostly (as always) overwhelmed. Plus I forgot how to smile, so a lot of the photos of me look psychotic. A good look for the summer. But here’s my piece, Here Comes Life…

And here’s Bhavna Mehta’s beautiful piece, I Found a River in My Body #3…

With a detail of her embroidery…

The other show in the museum is Body Politics…

Which also had some beautiful work…Liz Young’s Skinning Spilling Soiling Swelling Stuffing Balls.

I did Google this one because I wanted to know more about the thoughts behind the piece. I really liked that the Art and Med show had explanations with the art, and I can see the point of having the art stand alone, but…I don’t know. There must be a fine line there.

This was Bather (after Ingres) by Katherine Sherwood.

Sherwood makes a lot of work highlighting disabilities, having had a cerebral hemorrhage and having to relearn the process of making art with her other hand. Her work was wonderful, incorporating brain scans into the paintings.

I’ll try to post more art from these two shows later this week. I know this post is already LOOOONG…all in all, though, a good art day. Though tiring. Says Nova.

Also here is my brain at the moment.

Or always. Not sure.

Friday night, we also found this in the yard.

It has flashing red lights, presumably so it can be found easily, but it made me think it might be a drone, so I left it there. Like I’m not bringing that crazy shit in the house. The Man stomped out there and then left it on the deck after talking to it, also thinking it might be a drone. But it doesn’t seem to have a motor. Just flashing lights, which can be turned off. You might think, just throw it back into the yard it came from. Well, we have kids on all three sides, so it could be any of those houses. So IDK what to do with it. I might text the houses above and below me, and if they don’t claim it, toss it over the back fence. Seems like a lot of work.

Oh yeah, forgot this psycho. Annie. Sweet pup. Has scratched the hell out of my arms. Still love her.

OK. Laundry is going (fixed dryer yay!). I need to eat lunch. I need to fold all the laundry I didn’t fold. I need a long-term solution to my clothing during the school year…not sure what that looks like, but the piles I currently have are not working. I need to finish that drawing and do some copyediting. It’s supposed to be hot all week, so honestly, the drawing part of the house is hot as hell for a goodly chunk of the day, although better after noon. The office part is cooler in the morning, as long as there’s a breeze. And honestly, I’m still on break. So there should be some reading and maybe a nap. I took a timed nap yesterday and Friday and I am pro. It’s still July. I’m still on summer time.

Slow Draw

Six minutes. No way am I getting this written in six minutes. OK. Loaded pictures. Write when I can. Last day of training today…will be glad to be done, but I’m going right into copyediting. My choice, I know. Gotta pay for the dryer fix, which I think finally happened last night…hopefully.

Still drawing. Over 10 hours into just the drawing…

There are some things happening below.. I just haven’t drawn (and in some cases, thought of) it yet. It’s a slow draw.

Kitten is entirely unhelpful. Luckily it’s warm enough that she won’t stick around. I’m also watching a class online.

Finally got the last justice drawn and the bottom of the main legs, then started with the pedestals.

I usually draw fast enough that people don’t have time to tell me what they think I should be doing…not so much with this one. So lots of people telling me things and I know I don’t react well to that. When my daughter tells me she doesn’t like to be told what to do…and I know where she gets it from.

I have an opening tomorrow evening in the LA area. We’ll be driving up and going to one or two other exhibits and then the opening.

My piece in the show is about childbirth.

Looking forward to the opening.

I’ve continued to stitch while in the training. I really don’t focus or concentrate without that. Maybe I should teach my kids to stitch. I suspect that would cause more issues than it solves. Interesting idea though. Computer, stitching stuff, class stuff.

Same desk, yesterday, zoomed out so you can see the drawer being used as a desk on the left, plus stitching stuff on the right. It’s been crowded but it works. The light table is behind me with more class books and stitching stuff on it.

After class, I’ve been trying to finish spreading gravel back here. I was doing this early last year but then the septic fix happened and they dumped a bunch of dirt over some of it. Yes, it’s taken me forever to get to this. I also have gravel for a path that the boychild was going to help with…or not. It’s hot, sweaty work so I can’t do it for long in summer, but I’d like to get the rock piles out of the front yard.

When I’m done in the corner, Nova takes over.

She’s got that highlighter fully under control.

This is so true, especially during this training. I don’t get enough steps in during summer. Hot doesn’t help.

I had my last physical therapy appointment yesterday…he’s recommending I see a musculoskeletal specialist and get an MRI. Finally…it’s been since mid-November. Simba is getting his teeth cleaned, so it’s not going to be a fun day for him. I’ll be moving more gravel, stitching more stuff down, and drawing more. I need to test the dryer and get the pool to stop making that noise. I also need to start copyediting, write a bid for another job, and decline a third one. And then start prepping science calendars for the upcoming school year. It’s ok…I’ve got 19 days of summer left. It never feels like enough, and I certainly don’t feel like I’ve gotten enough done… but that happens every year and I just need to accept it. Until then, there are a lot of books to read and a lot of art to make.

Fight a Raccoon…

Hey guys, I just won a power tool set! As long as I send all my bank information to this janky email address! On it!

Summary of week so far: It’s hot, but it could be hotter. This drawing is slow, but it could be slower. This training has some things that are potentially helpful, but also a lot of it needs to happen in English class or Advisory. The science part can be beefed up to support the program. But it’s nothing new…we just haven’t focused explicitly on it before. We’ve tried many ways of teaching vocabulary, but we’ve never been particularly successful. Probably because our kids are such low readers…so we need to do something about that. Training though? In the summer? Always hard. We’re not even halfway through. Pros: Dad was sick and is better now, and boychild is back from wherever for about 36 hours, so Simba can get his boyfix. And I don’t have to sleep with Simba for two nights. A plus.

I’m not finishing this post before class starts. I’ll be back. You won’t even notice…well except that the post is late, for me.

Or if I totally forget that I haven’t finished this…which is what happened.

So I’ve been drawing all week. An hour here or there, mostly at night after dinner, when it’s cooler. I’m in class from 7-2:30 and then it’s hot and I’m tired, plus I’ve had an hour of reading to do each day after that. But it’s coming along. Although I didn’t start inking until Monday night…

I lied. I started Sunday night, and then as I was falling asleep, figured Ruth Bader Ginsburg needed wings, so I added the post-it for that. Some people are suggesting a halo…I’ll think about it. Not sure how I feel about haloes. There are issues with angels, angelic behavior meaning one thing vs when you look at actual stories of angels in literature…a troubling thing to think about.

Monday night, I added the wings and two of the justices…

It was slow. I also did some more pencil work, trying to figure out what might happen where. I’m adding things as I ink, so there’s some staring into space happening.

I did better last night…

I went to the gym in the afternoon, exercised, read a lot, got my head in a better place, and the things came easier. How to picture this or that. There’s a lot of this drawing that doesn’t exist in my head yet. Tonight will probably be the justices on the other side. We’ll see. There’s some confusion over there too. This is 8 hours of drawing so far. Not done yet.

Monday, I drew a little during class and then found that stitching stuff down lent itself to being able to listen and think and even take notes but not fall asleep.

Here’s the drawing…

Nova took over the space at night on Gecko Watch…

(There is no gecko in that picture)

Right now, I’m trying to type this with Kitten’s butt in the way. Annoying furry beasts.

Mr. Sad before the boy came home and cuddled him.

And then Kitten decided she needed to bring me red fabric…

She makes this strange yowling sound when she brings me fabric. I do then have to put it all away later.

I’m reading two books at a time. Because I can. This one is Margaret Atwood’s collection of short stories, Babes in the Wood. I liked how Orwell referred to us living folks.

I need that to be a quilt title at some point.

And this might be me at the moment, minus the getting drunk.

I can fight a raccoon any time.

I’m tired. I have 2 1/2 more hours of training today. I have a copyediting job, but they haven’t given me the files yet. I have another hourlong chapter to read. I might need a nap. Who knows. Oh yeah, pilates. And drawing. Still. Lots of drawing.

Backup Tea…

There were all these things I was waiting for info about on Friday and absolutely NONE of them were solved on Friday (of course), but they all came in by this morning. Ugh. I know I sign up for some of this, but then I second-guess myself, and now I will be dealing with it. Also, this is like school schedule, except a little tighter. I like a leisurely morning of shower, feed all the animals, eat and wake up, drink the tea, then drive to work and function. Well this week, it’s that, minus the drive to work. And I don’t really want to wake up an hour earlier to give my brain time, because that feels even more awful, so I’m going to do professional development on very little sleep and probably a lot of tea. Although it’s unknown if I am allowed to get up from my chair and MAKE tea or, possibly more importantly, pee, so I may not have more tea, unless it magically appears. That would be a useful superpower, y’all.

So I have 11, no 10 minutes, to finish this, my breakfast, taking my meds, making a backup cup of tea? Is that a thing? It could be a thing.

I’ve been drawing…it was going slowly and then Art Brain kinda kicked in yesterday. On Saturday night, I had a bunch of penciled-in stuff…

Basically, I did a bunch of Supreme Court Justice research the night before and then started drawing their faces. Didn’t finish. Faces are hard.

And what to do UNDER their faces is also hard. But at some point on Sunday, things started to solidify…

Sometimes drawing is easy. Sometimes it’s a slog. It’s been a lot of slog. You can see on the right side that there is still some thinking happening. There’s pedestals with just words and nothing else. It’s OK…the brain is processing.

Ugh. I don’t think I can finish this before I need to be in my Zoom class. I get a 15-minute break at some point…hopefully I can pee outside of those breaks? Things teachers constantly have to think about. Sigh. Although my mailperson the other day needed to pee really really bad as she was getting postage due from me. So there’s that. OK, back in a while, not that you’ll notice.

Yeah. Ugh. Not awake. Listened to a lot of talking. It’s hot in that part of the house, where the internet is consistent. In here is not so bad. Ten degrees cooler. This was my workspace yesterday.

Today there is a computer there.

Nova likes UNDER.

My new workspace bookshelf for stacking shit. My whole house is a repository for stacking shit.

Reading Margaret Atwood short stories…this is about pre-cellphone times.

“Space-time is denser.” True that. OK, so gotta go back to the computer for another two hours before I’m allowed a longer break. Fun stuff. Still need to find a rubberband. They didn’t tell me I’d need a rubberband.

Whenever That Is…

Um I still don’t know what day it is. Problematic sometimes. I’m pretty sure I have a class all next week and will need to keep track. Challenge for Sunday night, whenever that is.

It’s been hot here, if that helps explain it. Not even as hot as it often gets, more often in September than July, but hot enough to sap energy and brainpower. I’ve finished one quilt and started another. Although I may toss another one in the middle…still thinking about an October deadline. Because the one I’m drawing will be relevant no matter what. Unfortunately.

So I did go buy binding, but my dryer still isn’t fixed…so this is currently set up in the driveway for laundry…

Luckily that warm weather means things dry pretty much instantly. And no, I didn’t just buy the binding fabric. I don’t know how to do that.

Wednesday night, I got the binding sewn on and started the hand sewing, which I find very meditative.

I spent most of Thursday stabbing my middle finger with a tiny needle. But also got the binding done and used that laundry drying rack for a photo…

This weekend, hopefully it will be off to the photographer.

I had already done some preparatory drawings for the next quilt. I copied it at 250 and 300%, then taped it together. I knew I didn’t want to use it as is, but as a draft, so I cut paper for the actual drawing and laid that over the drawing. My computer is tuned to the SAQA Art in Place conference going on this weekend. Some great info about artist residencies and how artists work. I’ve enjoyed the videos, although it was hard to concentrate on drawing while listening to this.

I did some tracing and some drawing last night…still thinking and processing how I want to picture things.

So it might change again. A lot. Who knows.

The Torrance Art Museum posted this picture of the upcoming show Art & Med, opening July 22 from 6-9 PM.

I’ll be at the opening. My piece is on the right side.

Cat antics…Luna doesn’t like the heat.

And Nova is a little whack.

Bee update…they did finally leave.

I waited a day and then scraped the honeycomb off and then cleaned it with hot water and soap to hopefully remove the pheromones that attract them.

Boychild is at a fire up in Riverside again.

So it’s still hot this week coming up. I’m hoping to get the drawing to the ink stage, at least, or getting there. It’s big. I don’t like NOT working on something, so yes, I’m not taking a break. It’s summer so the other options are yardwork and housework. Eh. Screw that. Make art.

Sculpture and Beer

Sitting in an airport again. Listening to boarding assignments and the high-pitched squeals of an obviously tortured child. Got food and caffeine in me (never enough of the latter). We had a good trip…wish it would have cooled down more so we could’ve hiked at least one more day, but so be it. We never made it to either of the National Parks, so we’ll have to come back anyway. We were constrained by how long the dogs’ bladders would last…speaking of the two dogs, Gracie and Betty are bed hogs.

These two drawings are still only preliminaries for some idea developing in my head. This smaller one was done in two different breweries we walked to…

The bigger one was done in the evenings…

The basement was cold; hence the Christmas socks.

A view from the second walk…warm but mostly shady.

We also did some wandering in the Fremont area…

Can’t miss the troll…and Lenin…

His left hand appears to be dripping blood.

We also went to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which did engage the Man, but I enjoyed it.

I remember Richard Serra’s Wake from the last time I was here.

And Alexander Calder’s Eagle, which I think looks like a dog.

Love & Loss by Roy McMakin…or at least the ‘&’ part.

The Man looking reflective.

Probably wondering when we can stop looking at sculpture.

Part of Mark di Suvero’s Schubert Sonata…

Part of Seattle Cloud Cover by Teresita Fernandez.

And Echo by Jaume Plensa. It’s ok, I rewarded the Man with a brewery visit.

So we’re glad to be going home…I’ve been gone 11 days, so I will have a very needy cat and probably some dead plants, based on the boychild’s texts of doom. Hopefully the bee swarm is gone. Next week looks busy, but I’m definitely finishing that quilt that’s been waiting for me. That gets priority. That and the dryer. Thanks Seattle for the break. May the next trip be sooner than 8 years from now (that’s how long it’s been since I was here last). May it also be cooler.

Tourist Day

It’s been a long time since I’ve been gone this many days. It feels weird. Am I more productive? Making more drawings? Stitching more? Nah. I’m reading a lot, zoning out some. The drawings are unfocused. I’m tired, but that might be because its light at 4:30 in the morning. I’d sleep better if the room were dark, I think. Reality check: I never really sleep well.

But it is nice to hang out with the dogs. It was nice to see the niece. She has continually improved with age.

Yesterday was the 4th, Independence Day, problematic across the board, both as a nation (god DAMN we’ve fucked up a lot of things in the last year) and personally (we flailed on fireworks watching, and ended up standing on the trampoline, the deck, and in my brother’s upstairs bedroom to see bits and pieces. It’s OK.). We cooked some food, played a game, I drew some…working through something I started a few days ago but much bigger now.

Obviously not done. I did some embroidery yesterday too, not a lot. Sitting outside…it’s hot and humid, but OK in the shade.

Today was our tourist day…we went to MoPOP, which was cool. Jimi Hendrix drawing…

Also by his girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham…in 1967…the year I was born. The year Kurt Cobain was born (Nirvana exhibit).

Good holiday photo there.

Creepy scene in The Walking Dead with all these zombie heads in tanks.

Lots of cool exhibits in MoPOP. From there, we went to the Chihuly Museum.

Glass is fascinating. The reflections in the glass, the reflections of the glass, light bouncing off the glass. Amazing.

I have a friend who works in glass and sometimes does one-on-one classes. I’ve thought about it, but the heat and sharp glass stuff freaks me out. Maybe someday.

Dorky selfies all over Washington.

We’re back at the house, the dogs are peed, and we’re relaxing. We have dinner plans tonight with a friend of mine from San Diego who moved to Portland and whose son lives here in Seattle. Talk about reaching out! Tomorrow, we may walk the dogs on a longer walk (although it’s still gonna be hot), who knows? And then Friday, we come home. I need to do a copyediting bid. I turned one down that was a little out of my wheelhouse…but this one would work. I’m always thinking about money; it never feels like there’s enough. And summer has no paycheck, so that’s part of it. I’ll get paid for my week of professional development, but probably won’t see that until August or September. The mortgage still needs to be paid in August. With magic money.

But for now, I can just write a bid, stop thinking about the bee swarm in the composter at home, don’t worry about getting that quilt done or what the next quilt will be, don’t think about how the dryer needs fixing or the computer that isn’t behaving and probably needs to be replaced (desktop or laptop?). Too much. Stare at the greenery and read some more… Take dogs for a walk. Draw.