Winter Mope Advisory.

Just because.

This morning I warned my roommate of a "winter mope advisory." I have felt out-of-sorts today, a long sunny sunday at the end of January. I had too much sugar yesterday, and pizza two too many times this past week. I don't feel too creative right now, which makes me very down on myself.

But the day went on. We went for a walk up at Penland, which is so so so splendidly quiet this time of year. Everything there is crunchy and dry and pale, but the sky today was clear and vivid blue.

And there were snowdrops, and a few crocuses.

Snowdrop, 1.29.12

I understand that this has been a very mild winter thus far. This past week it was in the 50s during the day, which is bananas. Honestly I would rather have snow now than March. Come on, winter. Try harder.

I've been working on studio organization and getting rid of things I can't look at anymore.

Didn't I do that before I moved? Yes. But there is always more to move around and sort and let go.

Shaped etching plates...

I'm also getting ready to do some PRINTING in the next few weeks, as I will be a winter-renter in the Printmaking studio at Penland. I have some big etching plates, some little shaped etching plates, some pronto plates, and NOTHING BUT TIME.

If I can muster up some motivation, I think some good things may happen. Soon.

Didn't I go to California? Didn't I get a new camera? Oh yes. I am a bit overwhelmed by the 600+ photos I took on my first excursion with my camera. My brother and I did a lot, and had a fantastically full adventure. More about it in future blog bits. For now, just ...

My brother and the moon.

Learning.

I've been in Spruce Pine, North Carolina just over a month, and everything is going well.

I am suspicious of how well things are going. But that's just my distrustful nature.

I haven't been blogging because I have no idea where to begin. There are things I want to share from the month before I left Los Angeles. Heck, I never really reported on Unique LA or Austin Renegade, huh?

Or my super-cool former students and the conclusion to my time at CSUN.

Or my spontaneous adventure to Visalia and Sequoia with a van full of teenagers.

Right now I am at the sweet little Spruce Pine Library. the calico library-cat, Valentine, is curled up on my red backpack, purring quite loudly. Yeah, yeah: cute. But my heart belongs to my roommate, (the one who is not human) Henry, who doesn't pay rent, sleeps all day, stays up late, and doesn't clean up his messes.


Actually, Henry is one of the most mellow, easy-going cats I have ever known.

I have spent the past month unpacking, organizing, arranging, rearranging, cleaning, moving, and looking. I'm bored with it and wish it could be an automatic adjustment into feeling "at home."




I have also been digging in the yard which has been wonderful, satisfying work. I arrived a bit late in summer to get a garden going, but about a week ago I did start some pumpkins. They were growing quite happily until yesterday I discovered that some spiteful cutworms had put an end to them. Boo. So that's enough about gardening for the moment...

My "studio" is still the area of the house where I haven't unpacked everything, and I don't know where things belong....so I haven't been working. But soon. Oh, and I have a little table-top etching press staying with me now, as the fourth roommate. She's still settling in too. I'd post a picture, but my camera seems to be broken.

This past weekend was Penland's Annual Benefit Auction, the tenth that I have been involved in. And that deserves its own post.

Honestly?

I've mentioned how I'm reorganizing the universe. I recently came upon these huge pieces of matboard, under the couch, under the dust, and under a box of paper and old art. They are from my undergrad days, circa 2002. Cut up, covered in tea stains and cryptic notes, sketches and manifesto snippets. I am getting rid of them, but only after documenting the bits that are why I held on to them for so long.

November!

I was "Ambiguity" for Halloween, which meant I wore many many shades of grey. Sure, it was a last-minute costume, but I thought it was quite clever and understated.

I've been printing a lot. Still.

I spent some time on friday going through my art and sewing supplies, and plan on giving some stuff away to my students (if they want any of it). Will I be using oil paint or ceramics tools anytime soon? Not bloody likely.

I'm having a fit of restlessness, and organizing/letting go of stuff helps.

Hi Mom!

Hey look, everybody! Its cooled off enough for me to wear a wool hat! And look how long my hair is getting! I haven't had it cut in over a year, and I'm finally past that awkward in-between phase.



Maybe it was just the Sunday Morning Loveliness and the coffee, but this pile of books with Blue Bunny struck me as rather nice looking yesterday...

I've been doing a lot of things, but blogging regularly sure as hell isn't one of them. Yesterday I spent some time catching up on my friend Abbey's blog, Aesthetic Outburst, and as always I learned new things, discovered new artists/designers and felt all around motivated to try harder.

Let's see. So on Saturday I got up awfully early and went out to Northridge to be a presenter for "smART day", a day of workshops and lectures for art educators. I did the fastest mini-bookbinding workshop ever. It was kind of cool. Here's my TA & friend Katrina stabbing some paper.



Sunday I had a good morning of farmers marketing and coffee, and then tended to the ongoing cleaning/organizing/artmaking situation. It goes like this: "I should get to work on making stuff. But boy, this place is already so disorganized...maybe I should clean first." Then I sit on my floor organizing my safety pins by size for an hour....Then I take a nap.

It's something like that. I'm exaggerating a bit, (although there have been naps this weekend, make no mistake.) Anyone else get in these weird productive/unproductive cycles?

I have made progress on a project that isn't so much art-making, but rather documentation/organization. I mean, besides sorting the safety pins.

I'm always drawing. Doodling. On all sorts of bits of paper, envelopes, margins of my calender, post-it notes, and the agendas from faculty meetings. I've been tearing out and saving the good bits for some time.

Because I need more irregular bits of paper in my life, right?

I have started pasting these drawings onto blank 3x5" index cards. Then I put them in this beauty:



My ol' grad school pal Jeremy Entwistle rescued this library card catalog from university surplus, but he could not take it with him when we graduated. I love it. In addition to storing supplies and materials, (like more irregular bits of paper) I hope someday it will be full of little drawings. What I would really love to find (and I have looked) is some discarded library cards to use as a base for drawings/collages. When I was at Murray State University they were using old catalog cards as scratch paper at the library. I wish I'd swiped a few...thousand.

If anyone knows where I could get some catalog cards, please let me know!

The Happy Ones.

So, I've been on spring break from CSUN this week, which has been a pretty successfully balanced time of rest and productivity. Okay, maybe a little more rest than productivity...

I've also had lots of good news this week.

The "calculations and waiting" in my last post refer directly to my apartment-hunt. I've lived in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles for almost two years (well, come august), and I've been in my current apartment for over a year. I like where I am, and after a brief investigation into moving more drastically out of my neighborhood, I decided I'd rather stay put for now. I know these streets, I like walking to places around here, I like driving up to the observatory as needed, and I like having a familiarity with the check-out folks at my market.

But dang it, I need more space! My little studio apartment has been good to me, but in recent months I have felt more and more crazy because of the stiflingly small space. And street-parking. So I've been looking at apartments for a while now, and it really helped me clarify what I want in a place to live.

Geeze, this is wordy.

To sum up, I am moving May first into a place that I am very, very excited about. Besides having room for a couch AND a bed, it also has a petite dining room, hard-wood floors, a GARAGE, a telephone niche, and all sorts of 1930's detail that makes Michelle a bit giddy. It's the one-bedroom apartment that feels like a home, and it's the same price as one I looked at that was in a dark building with EIGHTY units. Bizarre.

Okay, so that's the big news. Let me tell you about my summer plans.

In July I'm planning on making a short trip up to Seattle, (never been there) to stay with my friend (from WVU) Myra. I'll be teaching a two-day bookbinding workshop at the Kirkland Arts Center, where Myra is the educational director.

In late July/early August, I will be at Penland (as I mentioned last post) for Arthur Hash's metals workshop. So excited to play with metal again. It's been a while!

Afterwards, I'll be hanging around P-land for a few more days to do my thing at the fancy-pants auction, and I hope I can persuade these girls to join me:



After THAT, I'll be making my way to Atlanta, Georgia (not sure I've ever been there, either...) for a residency at the Art House. I'll be making things and having a show. I'm excited.

I'm planning on posting more work for sale in my shop today. Not all of it is brand new....as I begin organizing/packing for the move, I've been finding pieces that I've forgotten about, (most have been in shows and have been resting in frames in a closet) and I'd like to find good homes for them. I do not make art to hoard it all in boxes and closets.

Glad.

Pollyanna and bits of thread.

I have added links to a few good Blogs. (over there...on the right side.) More will follow, but not too many more. I must keep things tidy.

I have also been doing major house-cleaning on my computer. I was suffering from a very crowded desktop. Last night I also backed-up my hard-drive for the first time ever. Heh-heh....I live dangerously...

Also updating my CV, and doing laundry. Everything's coming up roses. In closing, here is a picture of a bird observing the Observatory: