Frankenstein Friday

There is a slight breeze, muted sky, low thick clouds all indicators pointing towards rain. The stage is set for a mid day nap. Mr. Frankenstein is taking full advantage of the moment..

onward....quietly...the Chug is sleeping.

Little Things

The other day I saw a flutter out of the corner of my eye, as I was trimming some debris from my garden. It was a Tufted Titmouse hanging upside down from a twig, I thought it was hiding from me. I pretended not to notice it. A little later I saw he was still there in the same position. As I got closer he fluttered even more. It was then that I realized he wasn't hiding but was stuck. The twig was actually a blackberry branch covered in thorns. It had a strong hold on his little bird legs. Quickly I grabbed my trusty garden clippers and trimmed the branch and held it still so he could get some traction. I held the 5" length of thorny stick between two fingers, the bird stopped for a moment, looked at me and then shook free, and flew away!

These little moments seem to happen just when you need a reminder of what is important. They seem to wash all the ugly away. Sometimes you need to look twice to see them, but they are there.

Onward!

*I picked this photo of Truman in the gourd veins, because she often gets so entangled, I have to trim a few veins to get her out...silly lizard!

bee

This is a fuzzy shot of a bee leaving the hole in the ground where he lives...I wanted to share it. It is part of living with bees, observing this daily routine. Watching them all leave the hole in the morning then returning at night. Like little black and yellow commuters...the work goes on...

Onward!

From the garden

Mr. eleven made a smokin hot salsa using tomatoes and hot peppers from our garden...yummy! They have tons of flavor and the color is amazing. I am going to miss all this fresh color as we move into the Fall. Today I celebrate it!

Onward...

The littlest Murph!

New toy alert! The Chug loves his new green guy. Here we see him looking for a place to hide it...it really stresses him out...but in a good way...Murp!

52 weeks 27 and 28 of 52

This Summer I have been calling my Summer of "Who Cares". It is a saying I picked up from SNL when they spoof, the ladies of the View, Joy Behar to be specific. Who cares!...it is a way to get past the BS and get to the root of things, for me. I could say, "I am over it"!..that is another popular saying these days. But I am, 'over' sayings too! I swear, it seems like half the folks out there are speaking strictly using phrases from a reality TV show phrases book..."I am not here to make friends" is a popular one....Arg! Seriously, this is a call to not sweat the silly stuff and focus on what is real.

It is now Fall according to my internal clock and that means getting down to business. Yesterday I laid out a game plan for the studio, what I would like to accomplish. Today I am working on a game plan for organizing my life so those things can happen. I am setting up an office in Truman's room, see that is me at my desk in her room (by the way she is healthy and happy and fat, the over head light makes her look too skinny).

Mr. Eleven and I joined Gold's Gym and are working on getting healthy. I am so proud of him, he has quit smoking and is 100% committed to meeting his health goals! Me too! I meet with a trainer later today. I am happy to be back in a gym, it has been a long time since I had a proper work out routine, (besides skating).

So here is the bottom line, I mess up a lot, but I keep trying and I work really hard, I get a lot wrong, but sometimes I get things right! That is what I am aiming for, getting it right more. So if I spell words wrong and write long run-on sentences, "Who Cares"!...If I say something inadvertently that pisses someone off, and they hold it against me, but won't tell me why...I say, Who Cares! I am not saying F'off, I am simply letting it go. My job is to do my best, to share what I learn and make strong art that communicates as clearly as possible. You can't do that when you are tide in knots. It feels good, try it some time, just say, 'Who cares", let go of any anger or frustration and move on!...

Onward Friends!

Over the Summer Months I used the time to work on The Story Telling Chair. It was a terrific project, for a great cause and it came just when I needed it. By focusing on learning a new set of skills I got to spend an entire Summer in Bee-Man Land. I did one painting over the summer and it is in a good home now.

I was starting to get worried because Target stopped carrying the globes I was using to painting on. They were about a third cheaper than I could find anyplace else and perfect for my needs. A week ago I found 2 globes in the, 'back to school' section at Target and nabbed them! I will have to start the long process of sanding and priming them.

In addition to the globes I have a few paintings that need to be framed. I will attempt this with my new found Wood working skills...if not skills, the confidence I now have to give it a try!

I have a Mobil project I am working on with my mom. I drew some shapes and she cut them out of clay and glazed them in her studio in MI and shipped them to me. I am working out how they will hang before we make a final set of shapes. I love the ceramic shapes and can see them working in various ways.

Whew!...so that is the game plan for Fall. Plus a few other things that are rattling around in my brain.

The photo of the Bee is because two weeks ago, I was mowing our lawn and got attacked and stung 3 times. Mr. Eleven says it couldn't have been bees because there wasn't any stingers left in my body. So we think it was one or a few Wasps. Here I am dreaming about Bee-Man Land and painting bees and I get attacked! It made me think of those jerks who live with bears or some other wild animal and think they are, 'friends' till the bear does what a bear does naturally! I still love my bees and wasps too, I respect them even more. I finally got my nerve up to Finnish the lawn yesterday. Thankfully I did it without getting stung. I wanted to link to a great little article my friend sent me on a guy who rates stings like a wine connoisseur, I can't seem to get it to link but the title is: Oh Sting, Where is Thy Death? Happy Days Blog, NYTimes.com

Lots to do! I look to the bees for inspiration, they are working now, just out side my window. I guess if this were a magical story I would make extra special amazing Bee Art from now on, because I was stung by bees and have them in my blood!..HA! Maybe I would turn into a Bee and see the world as a bee during full moons...Maybe I would end up living in Bee-Man Land forever, and make drawings of Man-man land...
One thing for sure is, it is time to work, work like the bees!
ONWARD!