Sitting All Weekend…

Yup. That weekend was short. I need more time. I need a day off. I did work all weekend, whether I was grading or sitting at a craft show (or both…at the same time). Pro: I finished grading that hellacious assignment. I talked to a lot of people who liked my art. It was fun, although long. Con: I got nothing else done. At all. Well, we grocery shopped last night. I think I’m ready to teach today…mostly. I need sub plans for Friday’s literacy training. I didn’t actually DO any ceramics on Friday or Saturday like I normally do. If I hadn’t had the grading, I might have considered it…but I really needed to get that assignment done. So I can do the next one, really. Sigh. For Winter Break, I’m somehow managing to give myself a pile of packets and two academic assignments to grade. Stupid. Oh well. I should’ve finished these over Thanksgiving, but I was sick the whole week. So there we are. Speaking of sick, I did telehealth on Friday (fuck that sub doc for saying wait a week or two…I was definitely going downhill again…dizzy, fatigued, ugh.). And this doc gave me more meds, told me to call again if I wasn’t better by Monday. I am getting better…again! Sigh.

So Friday, I came home from work, packed up ceramics, and made a price list (insane really). Then drove over to the studio and set up. Came back and made dinner, then ironed. In exhaustion.

I was still trying to catch up with all the stuff that is on or part of the body that is NOT the flesh colors. There’s a series of hands on her leg with scenarios. So I worked on those.

Then Saturday, I was at the ceramics studio from 9-4. Yes, mine is the tie-dyed table.

Honestly, I didn’t have much stuff…I was more doing this as a test, maybe an experiment. I thought it would be more like showing my work than trying to sell it. I didn’t sell anything and I’m OK with that. This planter that might have been a mug…almost everyone picked it up.

It’s got over 10 hours in it. It’s handbuilt and then sgraffito. Probably could have used more glaze in the skin-colored area, but I don’t mind it. Anyway. I didn’t expect to sell anything and I didn’t. I did grade both days (Sunday I was only there from about 1-4). This was my view…

The whole weekend. It was fine. It was more entertaining than sitting at home. I might have been more efficient at home, because I was always talking to people, but it was nice to get the kudos.

Quite a few people came through…probably a hundred on Saturday. Not sure how many on Sunday. And we were the furthest location out on the map, so that’s not bad. Anyway, I don’t know that I would do it again, but I’m definitely going to try to put some of my more sculptural stuff in art shows.

I need more time to do all the things I want to do.

So I ironed Saturday night…

I ironed a cat. And some other stuff…finishing up all the stuff on the leg, I think. Can’t remember.

Then last night, I spent most of the time ironing flowers…

There are so many different fabrics in this thing now. I definitely finished the 700 and 800s…or close to finished the 700s…and some of the 900s were flesh, so they’re already done. The brain too. So I think I’m in the mid-930s. More than half, but a solid 650 pieces to go. The brain/visual stuff, not sure how I’m going to go on those. I see some very specific colors in real life. We’ll see what I decide. Soon. Maybe tonight? We’ll see. I’m already exhausted. Someone was barking at 4:30 AM. Not a fan.

That would have been nice. Really, the more I grade now, the less I have to do over break.

Their grammar as well. Ah well. Can’t expect people to read after high school, right?

Sigh. So here’s to holiday prep (I have not done nearly enough), spending all weekend doing something you hadn’t really planned on (as usual), and finishing stuff so it doesn’t hang over us for weeks (like this last project). Yup. That. Teaching magnets this week. I think I can handle that. Ironing at night…unless I’m doing other things. I think I thought I’d be done ironing this thing by the middle of last week? No, this week. That’s not happening. I’m aiming for the weekend. It’s all good. I appreciate the hole I can dive into at 9:30 every night, the hole of fabric-choosing. It’s a good hole. Apparently I’ve spent over 16 hours ironing so far. All those fussy little details…makes sense. Probably got another 7 to go. One a night? Yeah.

Excuse Me As I Run…

My photo app is currently updating. I think it’s stalled, much like my brain…hopefully it’s just slow internet and not holiday/school panic like my brain. Hard to say. Sleep has been difficult this week, and I’m really feeling it…plus the sinus infection, feeling that. Definitely worse again. I may call today and see if I can get a telehealth appointment instead of waiting another 3 days to a week, like the sub doc wanted me to. Sigh. Also coyotes, could you be quieter at night? My little dog can’t handle the singing. He has to join in. And then growl under his breath for the next 20 minutes because you offended his sensibilities…whatever those are.

So yeah, I signed up for the SD Pottery Tour and I wasn’t really sure what that meant and the pro is that I got my act in gear and finally drilled out the four holes I’d been avoiding for the last oh IDK 5 months? And figured out a way to hang the quilts in these two pieces. Not sure how I feel about them, but they’re done. And I figured out hours and prices (oh my, no one will ever be able to afford my ceramics…sorry…I take way too much time).

I love how FREE is huge and red.

I’m at Get Centered Clay in La Mesa…with a bunch of people who have a lot more to sell than I do, probably at much more reasonable prices. The reality is, the stuff I choose to do is incredibly time-consuming (I know this shocks you), and that’s just the way it is. I’m not expecting to sell anything at all, but I will be there on Saturday, grading in the background (because that’s what I needed to do on Saturday anyway), and Sunday, I’ll be there at some point in the afternoon, because my Sundays are nuts.

So drilling glaze that dripped into holes takes much longer than you’d think it would.

In case that’s something you needed to know. Sewed baby quilts to wire, used wire to hang from holes inside clay pieces.

Need better pictures with natural light, but that’s 11 PM for ya. Not totally sold on this one, but it’s all a living experiment, right?

Learning from the mess you make. I have some pots and a bowl and IDK if I’m taking the $500 mug, because that’s nuts, and one sculpture that’s kind of crazy. Plus figuring out how to provide prices and a tablecloth and how to set it all up, because it’s on a table and not hanging on a wall. And I don’t do sales like this for my quilts ever, because they’re weird, so yeah. Out of my wheelhouse…and down the block really.

Yup. This was not on my list for the next three days. But I’m doing it! So there.

Meanwhile, I did iron on Wednesday night. I decided all the innards would be rainbow colored.

Yes, that’s officially where I’m at right now. I didn’t get to the uterus. It will predictably be pink and purple.

Hopefully I will be ironing tonight because I will have figured out all the other shit and will have set up for the show. I will not be getting enough sleep this weekend to make up for what I missed this week. Just a heads up.

Yup. The dumpster is on fire and I’m sitting in it. Also don’t ask me about Christmas gifts or decorating for the holidays. The White Elephant thing for school made me hyperventilate. And it’s optional.

I finished reading Babel. Loved it. Here’s this from the Epilogue…

Holding that going into 2025. Hearing about what men are saying to women about when the big dumb orange lump is inducted in January. Speak up, y’all. When hinky shit is happening in front of you, speak the fuck up.

OK, magnets today, should be good, although yesterday was a braindead cluster in 3/5 classes, so that doesn’t help. Still down two teachers on my team. Down half a brain at least. Trying to mentally do too many things. Oh yeah! It’s my 10-year anniversary of meeting the Man. I’m sure he’s thrilled I’ll be spending this evening at ceramics, although we didn’t have anything planned and I think I’m cooking, so there’s that. Excuse me as I run screaming into the rising sun.

Some Possibility for Yelling…

Ugh. So the last three nights of not sleeping well are starting to hit now. It’s not something I choose to happen…it’s just either my brain overthinking shit or the Man and the cats and the dog taking up space in many ways. I’m sure I’ll hit exhaustion level again soon and be able to sleep through cats leaping over me at 3 AM and dogs rearranging themselves perpendicularly to me in the middle of the night so there’s nowhere for my legs to go. Not quite there yet. The morning meetings don’t help; having to lose that last 30 minutes…that’s hard. Ah well…no more of those until next Thursday…knock on wood. Definitely feeling it this morning though. Yesterday, I could still bully through. Today? Ugh. No. Would like to go back to bed. Still fighting the sinus stuff…my doc is out this week, so the sub doc (who may or may not have reviewed my file…wanna take bets?) said to use Flonase and Sudafed. Um. Yeah. For like weeks now. It’s fine. It’s better…just exacerbated by talking all day. Just like my knees are aching from walking all day. We’ll all adjust.

Cool art news…My Body. My Choice. got into Form not Function. Over 350 submissions and only 20 got in. Glad it was her.

She has traveled well. Maybe she continue. She’ll be at the Floyd County Carnegie Library Cultural Arts Center in New Albany, Indiana, from January 16-April 12. May that go well.

The ironing stage of this quilt has been slow. I mean, I’m doing an hour every night, but I’m not very fast about what gets done in that hour. This was poison oak and brain parts, I think. Oh, and a string of Christmas lights…

Last night was the esophagus, arteries, the heart minus the flower bouquet inside it…

And the cloud parts on the leg, but not all the stuff inside them. I still have stuff in the 300, 400, 700, and 900 boxes that hasn’t been ironed. Plus all the innards where the belly is cut open. I have one intestinal fabric chosen, but the rest is still an unknown. You can see the colors are piling up…the cardiovascular reds. That green/yellow mix is what I picked for the esophagus…I’ll try to repeat some of that down in the digestive system. Reality is not really where I roll. So I’m not halfway done…still. Getting there? Slowly. Tonight will be a challenge…there’s a lot going on. There’s a pottery tour this weekend and I’m hoping to put a couple of ceramic pieces in. We’ll see if that happens.

I’m still slogging (happily) away on this one…

The clay (and I) were being slow and sluggish last night. I basically did the ribs and another fish on the foot on the right. I need to do the other leg, add a few more details, and then figure out the top half. Or third. I might have to do this in three pieces…not sure the head will fit otherwise. I can’t get up to the highest drying shelves (not tall enough), so I’m trying to figure out how to make it in pieces again. Like the last two, but bigger. And odds are, I’ll use underglazes on this as well, so that will be time. I can move it to the drying rack for that though. I only have a smallish space for storing stuff. The racks are really full right now (pre-holiday rush?).

We’re doing electricity in school right now. I was trying to demonstrate static electricity with the balloon sticking to the wall…it only worked 2/5 times though.

Frustrating…last year, it worked every class. My exhausted self…this one bright kid…what are we supposed to write if it didn’t work? Well here’s why it didn’t…something is not neutral or not enough electrons transferred to make it work. It’s all invisible, so I have to figure out why it didn’t work when it should have. The wonder of science. Maybe he’s not cut out to be a scientist? The current academic thing I’m grading…I can get through 11 assignments in an hour. I have 128 kids. The easiest ones to grade are the kids who didn’t do any of the academic parts (but almost all of them did something because they started in groups) or the kids who totally got it (2 so far). It’s interesting that the things we teachers think should be easy, the kids flail on. Makes us feel like bad teachers sometimes. Although we know WHY they fail…and it’s usually a combo of laziness (just wanting to copy things) or a lack of problem-solving or reading instructions. The average reading level at our school is 2nd grade. So everything has to be so obvious. So far no one is failing, but there are a lot of beginning-level answers. I’d rewrite it for next year, but I won’t be teaching 8th grade next year. I won’t be back to 8th grade until I do the combo year again in 2027. Hopefully the other teacher will have made it awesome by then!

To continue on Monday’s commentary about the 10 commandments. That wall is there for a reason…

Sigh. No news from my district about teaching sex ed this year. Who the fuck knows what that will look like. I expected to hear from the committee people about how we were going to meet again, yadda yadda. Nothing. Radio silence.

This amuses me.

Too real. Also I need to get my act together on the gift stuff. Ha! Not sure when.

I love this…

It’s my angry self…the part that just wants to finish my book this morning. Not happening. Gonna go sit in a meeting instead. Not cutting heads off with swords…yet.

OK. Meeting. Then teach…static electricity labs today. Some possibility for yelling there. Depends on the ability to listen to instructions. Confetti and salt are involved. Plus balloons. Then pilates. Home briefly, to ceramics meeting, home again for dinner. I would say grading? But I don’t think there will be brain power for that after all that. So let’s just say ironing will happen? Hopefully. Get those damn intestines done.

Fabric Is Calling

So where am I at in the Thanksgiving Break/recovery from school and a sinus infection? Ugh. On new meds…they’re working, but slowly. I occasionally breathe normally. But still sound like (what did my PT say?) Zooey Deschanel. I do not think this is true. I think I sound like someone whose head has been filled with snot for 5 weeks. Not pretty. I’m still sleeping a lot, napping, resting. I did pilates this morning for the first time in 10 days. I did OK. I napped this afternoon though in response. That seems fair. It does seem like a hike is not happening tomorrow morning, as is my Thanksgiving preference. Hmmm. We’ll see. I might feel more energetic tomorrow morning. Right now? Not so much. I have finished four books (to clarify, I had already started and was ensconced in three of them, so don’t freak out). Wait. Shit. I finished five books. OK. So there’s that. I finished cutting out Wonder Under, which wasn’t that hard, because it all happens sitting in front of a television…

It took 10 hours and 4 minutes to do that. Not bad. I started Friday and finished Monday night. No, I wasn’t feeling well for most of it. Good choice to be able to do that. Last night, I sorted all 1606 pieces (there’s more because I missed numbering some, but I didn’t count those…they’re all ‘a’s of other numbers))…

Sorting took an hour and 15 minutes. Now the next step is ironing to fabric, which requires me (a) to clean my office, which is a fucking disaster of partially done ceramics pieces and fabric that needs to be put away), and (b) to be able to stand for extended periods of time. Questionable today. We’ll see. I might have a run of energy later. Right now I’m in nap aftermath and it feels tiring. Tired. Headachy. There’s meds for that. I should take some. I am So Tired of taking meds.

I also started grading (finally!) last night. Not a lot. Just a little. Nothing hard. Ugh. I don’t want to not get the hard stuff done now, when there’s a lot of silence and time to space out…I don’t want to have to do it in December, when things are loud and rushed and overwhelming and stressful. I realize I might not have a choice.

I have this video of my two pieces in Glendora at Citrus College…

Thanks to Lydia for taking the video. Not sure I’ll be able to get up there when the college is open.

I managed to make it to ceramics on Tuesday morning, finally…9 days of not doing that. I picked this sweet pot up…

I also worked for a couple of hours on this thing…which is a beast.

It’s big and heavy and this is only the bottom half. Or third.

It’s time-consuming. And delightful because of that. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go back…holiday season is complicated. Maybe Saturday? We’ll see.

Also I have another piece in a museum in Florida…

It’s on the far right behind the coat. This is Ft. Pierce, Florida. The other piece I have in Florida is there through December 20, I believe, in Miami. All good. More work than I’ve ever had in Florida at any one time, I think.

Requisite photo of girlchild and Simba…

He is very good at laps.

That’s my lap. Good dog.

I’m currently having a messaging argument with my cable company who offered a higher price service that would still be intermittent instead of giving me a solution to the problem. Give me a discount assholes. Tell me what the problem is and when it will be solved. Don’t offer me hotspots…I’m on a damn desktop. WTF. What if I were fucking disabled? What would you do then? Not everyone can take their device in the car to another location. Stupid companies. This is not getting better in the next four years. It’s not.

OK. It’s not worth the irritation. Make tea. Consider your views on climate change.

I love Greta. I don’t love Amy. I really don’t want to make another Supreme Court quilt y’all.

OK. Well. Make tea, try to clean office/studio enough so that I can start picking fabrics. Wait. I don’t have a background big enough. Or do I? I might. I’ll have to clean to find it. Maybe I should go read my 6th book instead. Or take another nap? Not sure. I should definitely post this before the internet disappears again. Tomorrow is the Man’s Fam’s Thanksgiving, where I just show up and try to be coherent (questionable right now). I do need to get my turkey into the brine soon. Our Thanksgiving will be Friday. I’m in charge of the turkey and the green beans. And not much else. Ugh. Take headache meds. Drink the tea. Fabric is calling.

I’ve Run Out of Limbs

Oh hey. Do you know what it’s like to work in a profession that is nonstop? I’m a little tired of mine right now. The nonstoppedness of it for sure. The ‘here do this because you have plenty of time’ part of it. The ‘I don’t understand why you can’t do all the things we’re asking you to do’ part of it. The ‘we need to know when the kids go to the bathroom and return and that is more important than what you’re teaching’ part of it. And I don’t know if the nutkook who will be in charge has announced his education crony yet, but if any of his other uneducated, inexperienced choices are a sign, we’re gonna get worse than Betsy WTF ‘just give them a pencil’ Voss this time. It will not be four years of sanity. Not in my district anyway. I wish y’all luck wherever you are. I’m currently juggling too many things and need to juggle more but I’ve run out of limbs.

So art is even MORE important. I kamikazed from school to ceramics yesterday and built (most of) two legs and feet. Well, one foot.

It needs work. This looks a bit like my Thanksgiving turkey at the moment.

Hopefully it’ll look better soon. The right foot (on the left) does not exist. All of it needs work. I ran out of time because I also had pilates last night (but late), so I did that too. And graded stuff. And then traced…

The lead I’m using does not write as darkly on the new Wonder Under. It also doesn’t rub off as much. I’m not sure why. Strange. It’s the same pencil I always use. There’s more resistance and yet less. Not sure how to explain that. There’s less resistance from the fusible underneath, which sometimes was bumpy enough to move my pencil lead to one side; now there’s more resistance from the paper I’m tracing on. Yes, I am thinking way too hard about this. I made it into the 500s last night, which means I’m close to a third done. My goal is to be ironing to fabric over Thanksgiving break. So I probably have another 11 days of tracing if I continue at about 100 pieces in an hour, and an hour a night…so that’s a week from Saturday. And then I have to cut them all out, which is probably 6 hours or so and then family arrives so I’m on crack. I might be ironing by Thursday, actual turkey day. Uh huh. Well. Oh well then. Maybe I’ll do some this weekend? And grade and lesson plan. Ha! Fuck me.

So yeah. Today is a lot of direct teaching, I think. Tomorrow will be less so, then Friday back on it. We’re teaching lessons we’ve never taught before, which is always stressful. I haven’t finished Friday’s worksheet yet and I don’t have any for next week. Although we found the academic thing for next week, so that’s good. I really should make a video to explain the current assignment that kids aren’t finishing. Not sure when I will do that. 2 AM? Possibly. Just after I train kids to use the new signout system that didn’t work yesterday. Yaass.

OK, also so many union meetings today. Gonna go do the first one, teach, then do the second one. Maybe go see my brother, who is visiting my parents. Then cook dinner and grade and trace. In that order. I think. I might grade WHILE cooking dinner. Not necessarily the best choice, but…

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.

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.