In The South

It is tradition on New Years Day to eat
1) Black Eyed Peas (for good luck throughout the year)
2) Collard Greens (for good money throughout the year)
Of course, in the South, it's also tradition to throw in pigs feet or bacon or some other bit of carcus.
When it comes to functions or events I don't usually make the vegetarian alternative of the same dish - I make something entirely different.
But on New Years you better believe I'm eating for luck and money!
So, tonight, two crockpots. A huge one for the meateaters, and a little one for the vegetarians. *grin*

And a raised glass all around, wherever you may be!

Yesterday

Yesterday I worked on a 24x24" that I ended up unhappy with.
I woke, this morning, and after rubbing my eyes stared at it in horror.
It's been a long time since I've been so incredibly unhappy with a work.
And the irony is I was so excited for this piece because the drawing (foundation of a good painting) was phenomonal.

I think it was due.
A bad work.
It's related to the 'bam' I mentioned earlier.
The four pieces I had done before this one I was really happy with.
So I think I just need to change/adjust something about the way I'm painting now.

But what, but what?
*rabbit nose*

*heads to lab*
*dones white coat*
*looks for goggles*

Michelangelo

I bought a book on Michelangelo.
A beautiful, beautiful book with beautiful, beautiful photos.

Oh!

I'm at the point with my work where I have to jump up a level. I was talking to my sister on the phone about it. About how you're working away and them - BAM. You've jumped up a level without realising. Well, I'm at that point now. I need a BAM. I need to jump up. I think God is sleeping with the games controller in his hand.

Come on, God!
*waves*
I'm down here!

Somebody poke him for me, will you?
I need to be....more.

The New Year

I am excited for it.
Tremendously.
I thought about going out and spending it with some friends, which would be nice.
But then I thought of a few beautiful rituals to do here at home, too.
Which would also be nice.
I do know we have a couple of bottles of wine in the fridge, a chocolate-chip sherry roll I made this morning in the freezer, art supplies all around, a warm lounge, dancing room and dancing music, good movies, and a comfy bed.
All the makings of magic.
Full hearts.
Wishes.
Dreams.
Ability.
Skill.
Laughter.
Brilliance.
Life.

Tonight - before midnight! - I have to update my sites. I'm not sure how long they will take. But I wanted to have them done before the new year.

And...OH!
So many things. A list to write of so many full, beautiful, promising New Years things.

2008.
I cannot wait.
And I have been waiting for you.

Evolution

I really like the way that I am evolving as an artist.
And I don't mean the way my work is looking, I mean my work ethic of late.
And the way that my spirit has changed accordingly alongside it.
I go to bed thinking about art, I dream of it, and when I wake my fingers start moving before my brain does.
It's a lovely feeling.
Finally.
After years.
To have the artist in my body start moving before the woman in me does.

Oh but you know....

I did take a photo of the aforementioned painting as it balanced on my lily-white, wobbly knees on the way to it's new home!
I used my phone which has an absolutely worthless camera on it.
But at least I have some sort of outline I can show y'all as soon as I can afford to send it from my phone to my email.

*nods*

*frustrated scream*

I did a painting today but I gave it to it's owner before I took a photo!
So I have no record of it.
It feels so odd.
I can't decide if it feels like I've worked hard all day and have nothing to show for it, or if it feels like I worked hard all day and something has blown away in the wind and I am free.

Such oddities.

I photograph EVERY painting.

I was too rushed to remember!
And too stupid.

But, on a plus side, I *was* smart enough to order pizza for dinner.
*runs off to eat it*

Racing Tim Burton

So Tim Burton is supposed to be doing his take on 'Alice In Wonderland' and it is supposed to come out in 2009. Can you think of a better person to do it? NO! Well. Yes! ME.

You see I was going to do an 'Alice In Wonderland' show myself but now if I wait on it and don't do it immediately everybody will think I'm just trying to jump on the media bandwagon and copy Burton (when it comes out)

Soooooo!
I think I will have to get that series done in 2008, BEFORE the movie comes out, so people can't claim that's where I drew my inspiration from.

The credit goes solely to Carroll!

So that's the plan, stan.
On top of a very VERY long list (fairy tales included) I had better get cracking.
Full steam ahead for the New Year.

Babies Don't Have Teeth.

No, seriously. They don't. They have to grow them in themselves, after they've been born and everything!
They also don't have moustaches.
I don't know why people rave about babies so much when they don't have moustaches.
I think even *I* could grow one in. And I have teeth.


MmmMMMmmm. Babies.

Cyget Committee

Hmmm.

Hmmm.
It is Sunday, December 23rd and there is a strange man asleep on my couch.
And there are two strangers asleep upstairs in the bedroom. They all look like pretty groovy people so I suppose I shall let them stay. Hopefully I'll find out who they are when they wake for breakfast, if I'm still hanging out.

To avoid noise elsewhere I have been in my studio all morning, tidying and sorting. I love this room. Now I get to paint a portrait that makes me smile. Much excited!

So I should shuffle on and get it done.
More soon.
xxxS.

Letter To Hermione

The Prettiest Girl In Texas.

Made Yummies.

Today.

Today I stood in dog poop.
I don't know why it makes me so happy.
My lovely friend Linda cleaned it off with a hose-pipe.
And I'm still giggling, this evening.

Reigning it in.

With the exception of my fairy tales series, I haven't been happy with any of my large works of late.
I'm currently working on two small commission pieces and my mind is spinning in excitement. I'm digging the size. It's not just the painting...I can add more on. I can make little stages. I can have little drawstrings. I can have each work behind curtains.

I think I'm going to reign my painting size in. Experiment with small and the cool things I can do surrounding small works.

I can't wait until I can look at different materials to incorporate.
I will be window shopping for awhile, but I'm very excited to do so.

I have all of my 8x8's to work on after Christmas.
And now I have a kazillion spinning ideas for other smaller works.

I think - in terms of art - I am *really* looking forward to next year.

Deepak Chopra Makes Comics

How did I not know this until now?!
Seriously.
Deepak has teamed up with Virgin Comics to create new stories and legends involving eastern philosophies. Many of the Indian Gods and Goddesses are about to become superheroes and their tales will be available to any comic book reader or avid fan.
In a time where many countries are just...melting pots...I think this is long overdue.
Deepak's son is the main writer/illustrator I believe.
I watched a small doco last night and in it Deepak said he used to tell his son tales before he went to bed but always leave him at a a cliffhanger. He would say to his kid 'dream up the ending'. Sure enough, the next day, his son would finish the tale for him.

Golly Gee, I love everything about this venture!

Sick.

Pink. My hair is pink. I thought it was red but really it's pink in a terrible/beautiful disguise.
Sick. I'm sick as a dog. I have been for days. Not cool, not cool, not cool.
I am behind in my work.
Touch me, I'm so hot I'll burn you.
Luckily my dreams have been half asleep, half awake. They all make for good inspiration. My fingers are starting to itch.
Floaty. I listen to floaty music and pretend I am well. If the music is floaty then my mind is less crazy, the weak limbs more apt, the foggy okay. That is what floaty music does for you. It gives an even playing field.

Home Depot.
I have to go there.
I have to get stuff.
So sick, so ill.
I shan't breathe on anyone.
I shall be quick.
Maybe if I take my ipod - with floaty powers combined - I shall float over the isles and catch nobodies eye. It would make the purchase cheaper, as well. But then that's just between you and me. ;)

Bugger.

I was hoping that it was illness making sawing this wood hard.
I was hoping I was just weak.
That would be better than a blunt blade.
But no!
The blade is most very, very blunt.
I wonder how much a new one costs? I imagine not very much but 'not very much' I already know is too much for me.
Oh, curses!
Blunt, blunt curses!
I am pissed.
I crawled out of my deathbed to work in my studio today and apparently my studio doesn't want me.

I Wish.

I wish many things.
I wish I had worked harder on my art this year.
I wish I had more works to show for my time.
I wish I had better works to show for my time.

But right *now* I wish I were able to work on the series (three in the making) that I want without guilt.

Earlier this year I started a fairy tales series but it lays abandoned due to poverty (I can't very well keep working on big pieces for the future instead of working on small sale pieces for the now)

I have the circus people series I want to start (but now christmas obligations are standing in the way of launching that)

And mostly...mostly...I have an incredible broken unicorn series that I long to create which would not only reflect beautiful things to the viewers but would really help me explore some territory I long to explore.

But how can I start that when there are bills to pay and gifts to make?
I need to be working on so many other things.

I wish I didn't have to worry about selling works (the broken unicorn series I cannot imagine in any alabama living room) so that I could delve into what I want. I feel very limited in learning when I have to pull back like this.

Am I self obsessed and ranting right now?
Oh, yes, I am.
*sigh*

So I'm off.
To workout.
And to mull over the things I cannot touch in my head.
And then to work on the things I must I right now.

*salutes her fellow artists*
*exits*

The von Guericke & Leibniz Skeleton

The Most Beautiful.

To me the fractured mess of tangled bones and awestruck hope/confusion is the most lonely and beautiful unicorn I've come across.

***

As is usual with such brutes, its posterior parts were very low and its head raised. Its forehead bore a horn nearly five ells long, as thick as a man's thigh but gradually tapering. Because of the ignorance and carelessness of the diggers, the skeleton was broken and extracted in pieces. However, the horn, which was attached to the head, several ribs, and the backbone were brought to the abbess of the town.
The fact that the horn was attached to a fragment of bone was one of the strongest points in favor of the interpretation that this was indeed a unicorn skeleton.

To modern eyes, Leibniz's unicorn looks preposterous. There are obvious problems with the skeleton as assembled, beginning with the glaring lack of hind legs and the resulting extreme slope of the backbone, which juts at a 45 degree angle from the skull so that the tailbone rests directly on the ground. More subtly, the bones are put together wrong, with the spinal column backward so that the skull and neck vertebrae are attached to the tail end. Finally, the bones come from more than one kind of animal. The skeleton in the drawing has since been identified as a mix of rhinoceros and mammoth bones. The unicorn's horn is likely to be a young mammoth's tusk: These long teeth are straight and grow out of the jawbone, thus explaining the bone fragment at the base of the "unicorn horn."


***

I love it.

Kitchen Art

'Tis the season, afterall.

Vegan rolls and egg-free sugar cookies for all.

Sprinkles.