She's leaving home.

I'm leavin' town today. It's coming up on 7:00am, and I've been up since about 4:45; I have tons to do (still!) before I head to the airport. It's grey and wet out. Perfect 7am cups-of-tea weather.

So, it may be a couple of days before I check in again. I posted a few new things in my store, and in the coming weeks I will continue making things and posting things. Making work while traveling is the best!

Til' next time!

Robot Party.

I just re-read J. D. Salinger's "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters":

"Oh, God, if I'm anything by a clinical name, I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."

You can tell it's going to be a great day when, at 7:30 am, you learn there's a "robot party" going on in a gated community.

I had a very successful day selling work at the Barnsdall Arts Market. It was a lovely cold-for-California day, and I was glad to spend it outside. The crowd was pretty consistant throughout the event, and there seemed to be more people attending this time around. I saw a few people I know, made a couple of gift purchases.... Really my only complaint is that I forgot a chair and spent the day on my feet.

Sold lots of felt brooches, shrinky-dinks, and works on paper. Explained what "shrinky-dinks" are ten-thousand times. (gladly!)

here are some of the brooches:


I somehow managed to come home with a new-old blue-and-white typewriter. I was speaking with a couple of people about typewriters, and my preference for the blue variety, and a fellow mentioned he had a blue one that he never uses. This evolved into a trade. If people regularly offered me typewriters in exchange for art, I would be in trouble.


Some of the letters stick, and it smells a tad smoky, but isn't it pretty?

Best Barnsdall Arts Market EVER!

GOCCO!

On Thursday and Friday I was in Downey, Ca...my hometown. I went to the Downey Assistance League's "Second Tyme Around" thrift store, and found this pretty-much-new PRINT GOCCO set for $3.00. When I saw it I literally exclaimed, "Holy Cow!"

All I want to do is dive in and start playing with it, but I have held restraint and continued tending to business, primarilly preparing for tommorrow's Barnsdall Art Market.

Here are some shrinky-dinks, fresh out of the oven:

Pencils Everywhere

Yesterday was the final meeting of my class, and the conclusion to a good semester. I need to enter grades before I make my getaway, but other than that, I'm done.

Oh, but I have plenty of other things to do before the getaway. Sunday is the Barnsdall Art Market at Barnsdall Park, and I am trying to finish lots of new things before then. Presently working on a batch of shrinky-dinks. Prismacolor colored pencils everywhere!

I'm squeezing in a trip to visit family before I leave town, which further complicates my to-do list. But I'm optimistic that "it'll all work out."

Such Love!

Late last night I noticed that the number of people who "heart" me on ETSY was nearing six hundred! I had hoped to catch a screen shot right at "600"...because that would be neat and tidy.

But by the time I checked today, the count was at 620! Hooray for all the love! Thanks, strangers!

My pal Aran sent me a message letting me know that I had a piece featured on the front page this morning, which explains the jump in views. Sorry I missed it!

Now to the business of the day, which includes grading, calculating, picture-taking, cleaning, and hopefully some art-making.

Lemons, Lists, & Blue Typewriters.

Brisk, blue days. Fruit on trees.

The past couple of days I have been trying to take care of all sorts of business. Travel plans, to-do piles, lists. Trying to organize the universe before I leave town.

I made a couple of purchases on ETSY today. I was excited to find rarrarpress on Etsy, and I purchased a couple more of her fantastic letterpress typewriter cards. I have two blue typewriters, (presently on the other side of the country) and suspect this to be the start of another crazy collection.

Affectionate Poking

I've been needle-felting. Last night and today has been all about poking obsessively at colorful little bits of wool. It's like creating muppets.

I make a lot of things that have yet to appear on my Etsy store. This includes felted things, shrinky-dinks, books, and other things that don't fit conveniently on my scanner. This month I intend on taking the time and mustering the enthusiasm to photograph some of these "non-scanner-friendly" pieces.

Observations.

I never thought I would start a blog.

Here's what happened today: I went to the post office, grabbed some coffee and a donut, and then impulsively drove up to the Griffith Observatory. The last time I visited was about a year ago, when I was out west at Christmastime. That was just after the reopening of the Observatory, and it was packed. Today it was delightfully empty, and I spent several hours appreciating the views and the quiet.

I enjoyed a cup of Earl Grey from "The Café at the End of the Universe", while watching crows perch on treetops as the sun went down, and the traffic helicopters came up. It was truly enchanting.

So why am I starting this blog? A number of reasons, but the reason I have started it now is this: normally when I have particularly significant encounters with birds or sky, I share the news of such adventures with my best friend/special fellow, Sam.

But he's in Morocco.

Mostly this blog will address my creative pursuits and interesting finds, with the occasional random show-and-tell.