Flying by Myself

I would not say things are going terrible well. I just lost the contents of this posting. My car is in the garage for two days and I have a cold. But I can't quit now.






















Update on another life lesson: I built up the back muscles on my sculpture even more so that it looked really good. Not just a head but the beginning of a figure. Guess what? Too wet and too much weight without any armature to support it. See those cracks? The entire back slid right off. But that was not enough. I did it again. Hours of work. Next morning same results. I must conclude it is gravity and not bad luck. Reality has some rules. Darn it. I have now added to the armature for support but the whole thing was too heavy and in truth the back detracted from the face and the face was the point.

The pressure to finish has been relieved . I won't be casting until spring.


And finally I am finishing the drawings I began last Summem. The Art Alliance "GoFigure" show is coming up. This is for next year.

The Assignment Rules

I was not happy with my attempts to do the assignment this week. I had a million excuses but they were just that. Resistance too. So here is another try. Better I think. I persevere.

My Serious Self Portrait: This is my working and concentrating face.


































Den: reading and watching, thinking and working room















Work area: Everything ends up here, sooner or later!



















This is my "good" side twice with glowing edges.

Suming Up This Weeks Assignment

I confess. I was not able to follow this assignment in good time. You do learn a lot about your self in the blogging process. I have learned that my interests are diverse(+) or all over the map(-). Maybe I will never find my voice. But I intent to keep on blogging whether anyone listens or not. Something will come of it.





Who I want to be when I grow up

Self-portrait from the Neck Down

My Space ,Happy Place

Continuing the bedroom theme,here is a whole lot of pink!


















And the point of it all!

Views of Myself

Well, Saturday night I lost my camera, bummer. Sunday I searched all the usual places, my purse, the car, the hall where I was Saturday night. Nothing.

By Sunday afternoon I was really unhappy. I have really been enjoying this blogging course that I have been using to get me get me started. But feeling bad makes it difficult. I can really appreciate people that do this every day. So this is my last chance at this assignment. I will try.

By the way the camera appeared under the bookcase Monday morning.

The following photos are a project that I've been thinking about for a long time. Ordinarily people don't spend a lot of time looking at themselves. I have arthritis, so I use the bath as my personal hot tub. I look at my feet and play. I don't quite understand where the the light comes from.



















I love upside down.


















And sideways. I like to fool around.

Doing the Still Life Project

This project was inspired by the exhibit at the Metropoliton Museum of the still lifes of Giorgio Morandi. He spent his whole life in Bologna and he did a still life every single day of his adult life.

The goal here was more modest: only ninety days, the length of the exhibition in New York. We can do this.

It was an amazing experience in obsessive-compulsive behavior.You were not required to do one a day, just 90 in 90 days. I did 17 in the last three days. There were no restraints as to size, subject or materials. I limited mine to the size of the scanner bed. It was simpler to not select glass or reflective material. Too time consuming.

And quality was not an issue. That is very freeing. Still it is emotion that comes from somewhere or nowhere that grabs you. Some days the drawing came easy, just flowing on to the page. Other times, not so much. Drawing can be so mysterious. Looking at some of them I can't understand how I did that, other times I think why did I do that. I remember sitting there thinking, "How do I do this? I know I did this yesterday, but I don't remember how that happened." Eventually something happened and I drew again.



Here is a sampling of the results.






Piggy and the Pumpkin (first one)

















Lunch at the Tacobell (drawing in public)










The Bull and the Barbell (most complicated)














At the Meeting 2 (smallest)



















Number One Horse (I still plan to do number two)





















Lady Jar

















"The Shaman" (weirdest subject matter)














Black Polish Chicken (smallest object)






















Thor and the Sun

The sculpture that is running my life

I took a portrait sculpture class last summer but I was only able to attend 3 classes. Now I am struggling because a don't know what I want the end results to be. I was trying to finish by last Sat. to make the casting party. I didn't. So I'll keep working on it this week. the left side os the face is closer to being finished. And I must do the ears over. Not a happy camper here.











NOTE: When I went into work on the sculpture today the back of the shoulders had just fallen off. I did not ring enough water out of the towel I used to keep it damp and they were soaked. So I spent three hours restoring the shoulders.I think they are better for it. It lest it wasn't the face.

Reading Material

I am a wordaholic. I come from a family of readers. Even the babies have books, soft padded books, plastic in the bathtub books. We read to the kids and the kids read to us. I don't remember not being able to read. We always have emergency books on our persons and in the car. Who knows when one might have a flat tire and nothing to do. You might have nothing to read but your car manual. I've done that! Here are the five locations for books in my bedroom.



1.On the top of the bed













2. In the headboard bookcase




















3. The shoe rack









4.The actual bookcase

























5. Current reading material














This is what I am reading now. Half the book is the autobiography of a Korean princess about 150 years ago. The rest is about the impact of this story on a contemporary woman. What are you reading?

More of My Environment

What I do in my everyday life rotates around two main interests. Art and Tai Chi. Starting in mid October of 2008 and ending in January of this year I participated in the Still Life Project. That involed ninety still lifes in ninety days. I managed ninety-one. This project still engages my eye. Natural unarranged grouping abound. Here are a few from my bedroom.




I seem to have a lot of gods in my bedroom. Here are the Tiki lights. And they come in all colors. They are made for out of doors but in winter you've got to keep summer inside.





Here is Ganesha, Lord of Beginnings and of Obstacles. He is also patron of arts and sciences, and the god of intellect and wisdom. And who is that popular guy on the watch?


















This post was supposed to be pure still life, but it has developed a theme of its own so here is one more religious object.




















This lovely lady is one of the eight guardians of Tibetan Buddhism.

My early morning treat


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The Begining of My Day

Morning winter light begins to come.

I must reset that clock.


















Lights on!













Every day's a new beginning. It is always a surprise what feelings will be there to greet me. Today I feel happy and secure. And it is because of this photo project. It is causing me to appreciate all that I have.

First things first.

















My trusty alarm clock-cellphone comes on playing,"You're my little brown eyed girl" a ring tone given to me by my beloved niece. She is the brown eyed girl in question. I immediately feel warm and connected. I wonder what she is doing. Today is her little girl's birthday. The little one is pretty beloved too.

























I press the snooze alarm and place it on the table. It is Sunday morning and my favorite. Its my time hang out in the bed, also know as the library, and today there is photography as well.








Here is my faithful companion and a part of my library. Haiji is always ready to model for still life and a heck of a good listener.
















I browse the books and magazines laying on the bed and wasting time wondering if I will bath now or later.






Some of the beauty that surrounds and comforts me.

The buddha meditates.























Natural accumulation of accessories

























Now it is too late to take a bath!
Up and at 'em. Get that footware on. Bye bye.