In and around the place

snowball fight!

2009-11-20T21:58:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

'tis the season

2009-11-19T10:44:00.001-08:00

from back in the day!

2009-10-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

these photos were taken in 2002 when Jacque and I laid our hands on a digital camera (neither of us were so sophisticated or rich enough at that time to have one of our own...we were so jacked up to finally use a camera). We started messing around, in front of a huge painting of Jacque's, which turned out to be the perfect backdrop.

gel transfers

2008-01-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Starting out with a couple of small 'canvases' and some photocopies I want to transfer on to the canvases. The canvases are pieces of cardboard I've painted with acrylics, and then with a coat of Golden Medium (acrylic polymer, used to extend acrylics, or seal them with a matte or glossy finish, or a variety of other cool effects, depending on the stiffness or viscosity of the particular weight of medium you choose to buy).

The coat of Medium on top of the acrylic is a good surface for the toner in the photocopies to adhere to. This coat is completely DRY.

Cutting out what I want to transfer. The less paper around the image, the better. You're gonna rub it off later anyway, save yourself some time and work (and numb fingers).

Placing the image face-down on the canvas, after coating it with a layer of medium (I like to use my fingers, to get a feel for it). Do NOT let the medium dry now, slap that image on to the canvas! Then I use a brayer to squeeze out air bubbles, and excess gel medium. Wipe it all away around the edges.

Here's the next image I chose, which is a photocopy of a block print I carved, and printed with water soluble ink. You gotta make photocopies or printer-prints (like from a computer) in order to do the gel transfer method.

Layering the gel medium on (this is what transfers the image)

After it's dry, rub away the paper. Use a little bit of water at a time. And be patient It's a rather lengthy process. And make sure that it's dry before you start wetting it, or the image won't transfer completely.

I always brush another coat of gel medium after all the paper is rubbed off, and the image remains. Makes it look better (usually); otherwise, it's pretty dull. This will bring out the luster.

I like this shot:

Here's the other, all done:

Here's the one I painted tonight. I drew earlier today before work (on the right), then at work I photocopied my pencil drawing (the one on the left!):

Here's the original photograph

I left two blank spaces on the canvas after I decided what sort of background I wanted. I painted again with acrylics. The picture below is after I've painted a coat of gel medium over it. I decided to do that on the whole canvas so that I could go back over areas of it with a ZIG pen (see below):

Now I've pasted the photocopied images on to the canvas, with the gel medium, and squeegee-ing the air bubbles out:

Here's the finished piece:

I like this part of it too, so a close-up:

One more of the guys:

Now you try!!!

:-D

solstice

2007-12-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

......that it is. And here we are in the darkest hours. This is where I spend most of my off-time - unless it's summer, then I'm out in the garden more. I was just looking at the summer pictures of this place after AntH asked about posting some pics over on flickr of my art space. Here are some from tonight then. I realized this is the longest my hair has been for years and years so I snapped some photos.....not that you can see much anyway but tonight is a good night not so camera-shy.....

What is that stuff on the floor? That's not a habitual thing. Too much.

If it's cluttered - too much - I can't settle in and do art. This is a good week's worth accumulation all over the tables. Stencils on the left and the latest printmaking party too; Barandash on the computer.

2007-12-14T22:24:00.001-08:00

warrior Jason

2007-12-03T21:59:00.001-08:00

proof positive

2007-11-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

......that my iMac is not invincible. Was in the shop early October and they couldn't replicate this little problem. Now it happens several times in the first 20 minutes that I boot up. Even if I've not opened any applications or browsers. Can we say new hard drive? Logic board? what? what?!

one fine day, redux

2007-11-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

(well in case the above never comes to life, here's one from good ol' photobucket)

This bridge is one of several in this town that spans the Willamette River.

Yes, in broad daylight with traffic whizzing past.

sun shiney bonus day yeah!!!!!

2007-10-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

This was yesterday:

And this is today:

Music is courtesy Shpongle.
Barf-bag courtesy me, they're over there in the corner, I hope you grabbed one before you started watching.

compostit!

2007-10-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

nothin' dead about this pile

the dreaded spinning beach ball

2007-10-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Gah.

this is the bedside table that Jacque built

2007-09-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

It was over five years in the making, but it was so worth the wait! (hey, the girl has to make a living!) She built this to spec back when I had a very tall bed. I moved recently and we were bummed that the table wouldn't serve its original intention - but the new place here has a built-in bed, and between that, the mattress, and piled on blankets......it fits PERFECTLY. Amazin'.

Jacque used mostly chinquapin wood.

Is it not gorgeous?

She struggled for a long time with the legs, since the table needed to be so tall - and wide, at the time, since a cabinet was going underneath. She did good.

who goes there

2007-08-30T23:05:00.001-07:00

friend? foe? something was trilling and rustling around in the dark a few moments ago...I've no idea what. I'm glad I'm on the second floor in my bedroom/studio.

Things can turn nasty real quick out in the wild.

Rosewood

2007-07-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

Front of the house - Kit and John live here; I'm in the back. Come on round! (some shots are from a sunny day and some are from today, this evening, it's clouded up but ahhhhhh still warm, I love love loooove summertime)

Now we're headed toward the rear of the house - I'm facing south, away from the street, and out on to the garden and yard (sweeeeet).

Here's my front door!
Welcome!

This is walking in the front door:

Looking north - to the left of the TV is a pretty deep storage space that parallels the bottom staircase. I love the accordion door.

And standing on the other side of the room, looking back at where we were just standing:
(I'm near the stairs now)

Swinging in to the kitchen, still on the first floor -

I love this hutch against the wall. Plenty of storage in the kitchen, it is sooooo great:

Standing in the kitchen, looking out into the living room:

From the second or third stair:

And now looking up the staircase, where Ganesh waves a fine how do ya do (Ganesh for new journeys):

After just doubling back on the landing, going up to the second floor where my bedroom and bathroom are:

I bought this sweet little wardrobe at River Road Second Hand Furniture - it's right down the street, and it fits PERFECTLY inside this little cubby between the big big closet (north side of the room) and the bathroom! All the drawers slide very nicely too, unlike the other dresser I had (thanks Mom...she gave it to me when I was 20 years old but I had to say goodbye but it's living with good folks)

Panning clockwise around the room -- here's my art space. Kit offered me two old doors, and Jacque said she'd help me set them up. So last week we went to BRING recycling, and I bought two cabinets to set the doors on, plus a filing cabinet I already owned (and a book that fit perfectly underneath to bring all the doors level):

Standing over by my bed,

The reason the bed is on a platform is because Kit and John needed to make headroom for folks going up and down the stairs! They made the platform a perfect twin-bed size, and you can see that they also installed some thick marbled glass blocks so that in the daytime, the stairwell receives light from above, and at night if the stairwell light is turned on, it illuminates this side of the bedroom very softly. Smart people. Lotta love here.

On the left (south) is the deck, let's go on out, shall we? Mind your head, the laundry's drying out here:

(those are hops growing up and in bewteen the deck railing things - loooooovely!!!)

The garden!!!!!

The sister sequoia (you saw one on the way in from the street, to the west). Sure is a beauty. And, my first night here, the moon was full behind it giving it a lot of glow.

Here are some evening pictures:

I'm in the picture below, at age nine, making my mother a bent wire 'pin' (from a large paperclip) that says Mom

From the garden, nightfall:

Thanks for dropping by! Hey, I just made some zucchini carrot raisin muffins. Want one?

a quick tour!

2007-07-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Okay! Here is a short little video tour of my new place. Pictures will follow soon but maybe not soon enough. I really didn't feel as out of breath as I sound, either. It's just "I'm excited!" breathing :-)

*edit*

I know! I need to get to bed! But first......another quickie. Just started raining, for the first time since I landed here. There was lightening earlier, with no sound effects, but right after I shot this video there was a pretty loud crack and boom. Bang, baby!

ye olde computer desk

2007-07-04T11:40:00.001-07:00

farewell.....almost

2007-06-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

In the morning when it's sunny, this place is almost livable!

I know, people have suffered worse. I just do NOT feel lively, inspired, or basically happy in this space. I'm ecstatic that I've found another and will be moving in a few days. There is something just basically wrong with needing to turn on all the lights in the house when there is sun outside, just so you can see yourself pick your nose, you know?

doe a deer

2007-06-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

refraction

2007-06-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last week sometime, between rain showers, the sun peeked out. I happened to be near the back door, which I keep open now that it's warming up...and I saw sunlight through drops of water hanging from the underside of the porch railing. Pretty amazing.

vid clips

2007-06-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Man, the video quality declines when uploaded to YouTube! what is the deal?

Sahalie Falls

Further up the McKenzie

Sahalie Falls on a Sunday

2007-06-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is at the top of Sahalie

And this is looking down at the other spectators who are, no doubt, becoming very damp and chilly. Gorgeous isn't it?? The people are the little specs of bluishness near the lefthand side. It's not really a super long ways away.

Marsha and Me, Jacque's behind the camera

Josie gets to go!!

Looking downriver from upriver

local fauna...pretty pretty so green, huh!!

dang it! I started uploading in Small pics which does no justice to the grandeur of this ginormous tree we sat under

Ever the watchful......we weren't even eating but Josie hopes for a wayward crumb.

Cool wood, all natural!

More local flora.....what the heck ARE they?? They're pretty small, I'm sure they're fungii

local critters

2007-05-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

Day before yesterday, I saw my first coon around here:

And yesterday I heard a sound I hadn't before, and couldn't tell whether it was a flying or four-legged beast. It's a grey squirrel!

tuesday evening

2007-05-15T20:02:00.001-07:00

Tong and Trudy

2007-05-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here's Tong, part of my welcoming committee for the new digs (they're gonna sentry at the windowsill and wave, gawk, jeer and salute the people as they walk by):

And here is Trudy:

Make bread when the sun doesn't shine

2007-04-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Okay. I've learned the bare-bones basics for my new Canon Powershot. The video features works GREAT but makes really big files. This is 26mb for only 12 seconds of footage. Gah!

I made bread this afternoon, and the bread maker kept failing. My other one died right before I moved, and I only used it for about a year! This one is a month old. What the hell. So back to the store I go with it. Boo hiss.

On the bright side, I figured out how to jiggle it just right to get it going again, but I had to babysit it the whole afternoon.

Virtual Tour of the New Digs

2007-04-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a slice of the bathroom. Since there are no windows, I've rigged up a yellow light to give this end of the apartment a glow instead of a black pit. More pics later. At the end of this hallway is a door, which leads out to the back patio (more pics later). Across the hall from the bathroom is my bedroom (uh...more pics later).

Here's one end of the kitchen. I'm standing at the sink. To my right is a doorway, and then further on down to the right of the table and chairs is the other doorway. I like it, creates a nice circular flow. I've never had a kitchen with two doorways before! On the other side of the wall with the tapestry is the entryway, where there is a good sized closet and a large area with linoleum. Perfect for muddy feetsies. (more pics to come!)

The tapestry is one that I found when all of a sudden Ganesh was popping up everywhere in my life. Ganesh is an Indian god - one of the things he's a patron saint of (so to speak) is new journeys and...opening doorways. His head is an elephant.

Now I'm standing at the other end of the kitchen, at the table and chairs. I put more christmas lights up top there, where the cabinets are. There is a large space between the cabinets and the ceiling, and it's very dark so I wanted to spruce it up and, ya know, make it glow.

Now I've moved nearer to the fridge and looking out through one of the doorways. Then there is the hallway, and you can see through into my bedroom. That's a canopy (tapestry) hanging from the ceiling, over my bed...hard to make out in this context unless you're actually IN my apartment. The cabinets are for art stuff, they fit perfectly along the bit of wall between the two kitchen doorways.

Here I'm panning left across the kitchen, to the other doorway. Still crouched by the table, near the fridge. Looking out into the living room, where the studio area is set up. The front window is there, to the left.

The little hanging woven tapestry you see here is something that I made for my mother when I was in second grade. She gave it back to me right before she died. I'm so glad she kept it. I remember being really excited to give it to her, and very proud of myself: instead of making the tapestry of only straight across weaves, I poked into it and weaved inside of the solid colors, making warpy wefty designs. I still wuv it.

Here's a bit more view of the window/studio area in the living room.

Now I've stepped out into the living room, looking out towards the front window. I'm standing by the TV, near the other kitchen doorway (the one closer to the back of the apartment). The corner where the art table is was very dark until I strung up some...you guessed it...glowey christmas lights, and then hung up a length of cloth diagonally in the corner (the table is set diagonally also). I like for that corner to be lit when the art table lights aren't blasting their full-spectum-ness all over the place. I also replaced the standard-issue clinical white apartment curtains with two panels of rich earth/clay colored curtains. MUCH better.

Another view from the kitchen door, pulling back a bit and panning to the right a bit, where the couch is. I hung mirrors on the wall too, which are fabulously cheap ones that happen to go quite well with all the colors (which I realize recall something like a bordello.....).

Panning left some more. That's a good low-light shot of Jacque's monoprint! And, it's echoed in the mirror too :)

Now here, I'm standing over in the corner where the couch and Jacque's monoprint is. Looking back towards the kitchen area. This side of the wall is where I hung up a single panel curtain that was on extra sale at Target. One panel. I thought it would come in handy, for five bucks, and it did.

Maybe when I get off my tookus and play with my new camera, I'll find that it takes much better low-light videos, and I'll take you all on tour with me that way.

A Monster A Day.....

2007-04-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

.....helps keep the fighting at bay!

My friend Jacque has been doing art with her sweetie's kids in the morning, to stave off the inevitable squabbles. Well, and to have some fun too :) After seeing Stefan Bucher's ink-blot monsters, they've all been so keen to try it out too. Check these out! They're pretty awesome!

Here is Ryan's (who will be 7 in June):

Rrrawr!! Excellent, Ryan!!

And here is Megan's, who turned 10 last December:

Hee hee! Love it, Megan!!

The three that follow are Jacque's. Yah scwheeeeet, J!

gobble gobble

2007-03-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

I moved recently - three little words, so much insanity - and this is who wandered in front of my window yesterday morning:

Jacque's Welcome Gargoyle

2007-01-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

Is this not the most amazingly sweet cool gargoyle sculpture EVER?? My friend Jacque made it - from Sculpey®. And she painted it. The pics don't really do it the justice it deserves. I am so in love!!

She was sick same time as me, and this is what she did to keep her mind off the snot and misery.

For Manekineko

2007-01-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

A 360 view for Manekineko over at the Small Art Project:

for Ryan

2006-12-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

and here we've got your favorite dragon, for the six-year-old dragon-lover:

For Megan

2006-12-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

He is blowing his nose! For Megan, Happy Solstice!

For Marsha

2006-12-25T14:19:00.001-08:00

This is Marsha's little weirdo, also with pokey-outey things for sunrays in the spirit of Solstice:

For Jacque

2006-12-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd archive each of the little darlngs here. Made these for my friends, for holydaze gifting. This on is for Jacque, made to look like a crazy sunlike thing, for Solstice:

fashion spread

2006-12-18T19:07:00.001-08:00

Here is Norman in 3D! He's for Kendra (who luuurves elephants), I made him from Sculpey. I gave K an ATC of an elephant only in pink and I named him Norman and she liked him way more than I thought she would, she's so sweet. She's very vocal about her appreciations, too, which is so cool. We're both big laughers.

a belated Thanksgiving Special

2006-12-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

What with all the broken bones around here and ensuing mayhem, non-creativity, falderol et al.....I didn't even post pics of Thanksgiving! Well here they are:

Jacque carving Le Bird.

Me, oblivious to the clowning around going on behind me. Becky and Ariana up to their usual hijinx. Corbin (Ariana's son) sits at the other end of the table. Cool kid.

Here we are again, this time Megan (Marsha's daugher) gets in on the fun this time.

Across the table Rickie awaits stuffing, Jacque grins salaciously, and Ryan (Marsha's son) with his usual big smile.

Now Marsha gets in on the picture and I take a turn snapping.

Here's Megan with her Opera Singer. Fabulous! We were playing Cranium (a mix of pictionary, charades, trivia and other stuf...including sculpting). And trying to digest enough so as to have a go at all the pie waiting for us.

fun with Kali

2006-12-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

and here we are having fun at Kali's expense. Kendra loves Kali oh yes she does.

....did I mention that Kendra and Kali get along just famously?

kali go kali

2006-12-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

Kinda hard to capture this one on film, for some reason...or, to get a good shot. But, you get the idea. Made this out of Sculpey, then painted and glazed it, for my friend Jacque. She just turned 45! Happy Birthday to yououuuuuuuu. A fun time was had by all. I've been giving her weird/cute/bizarre sculpey friends for a few years now.

laughing my arse off

2006-12-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

....this after watching Transforce over at iLaugh.com

Ginger Snacks

2006-11-27T00:10:00.001-08:00

this just in!!

The Very Hungry Booger Eater

2006-11-27T00:10:00.000-08:00

From last weekend:

ANGEL UNINVISIBLED

2006-11-20T01:01:00.000-08:00

my maiden voyage into the world of stop-motion animation - made it by taking pics on the digicam, then mashing it all together in iDVD.

FUN!!!!

on the way to Clark's

2006-09-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

I was driving (yes! I actually do own a car!) over to Clark's for a summer evening footbag session, and caught the light through this tree flaming. Only it was moreso in person. It's one of those trees that turns all mulberry plum purple colors. This is how it looks in September at about 6:30.

Optical Nerve

2006-09-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! Here's a snippet of our zine in progress!

Soundtrack courtesy of The Books' Lemon of Pink (dunno if you can actually hear it). And the video quality is rather poor and probably dark for you, sorry 'bout that, it's my camera's video and limited ways to film. A couple of pictures follow for those of you who may not be able to see the video! We're such a rockin' group - thank you all SO MUCH for all the art and community, it's really...swell :^)

****while I was waiting for the video to upload I watched a most excellent film, you must check it out and let me know what you think, I laughed me arse off and I told 'em so too**

GO HERE!

yonder treetop!

2006-09-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

mmm...sunny when I woke up this morning (and well ahead of the alarm clock, I'll have you know..which is good...I don't like being jangled awake by false means...does anyone?). Had cut out a figure awhile ago for a stencil, thought of this papery personage among the foliage..snap!

Jane, whaddya say?

2006-08-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Couple weekends ago, we had ourselves a little Pride. I thought it would be way more crowded, but I stopped in to see my girls and snap a photo of Jane here, who is something of a local celebrity. My friend Jacque sculpted her, and she (Jane, not Jacque) used to be red and resided in the local female-friendly bookstore, Mother Kali's. Mother Kali's up and moved locales and all of their ceilings are too low to house Jane, so out she came for Pride, retrofitted in gold regale.

She is definitely undeniable.

cuz i-i-it's my partay

2006-08-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

because i'm weird

because i can

because why the hell not

because soundgarden's mailman is inspirational

because it means more to me than you but i'm not doing it for you

loafing around

2006-08-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

I was on a breadmaking binge yesterday. Above, I think the best loaf I've helped turn out yet. Whole wheat/rye with nuts and seeds. Good balance of flavors, nicely risen, super deelish....

And here's the mile-high blackberry breadstuff, with brown sugar on top. The berries, they're right outside my front door! In droves and groves! You gotta love the Northwest...

The zucchini bread is in the freezer, the other loaf left with friends last night at Art Night. Also brought along the blackberry and Marsha brought some blackberry crisp...damn that was good. Ice cream too. Perfect summer fare!

Also stir-fried up some zucchini. The senior citizen center around the corner hosts a garden leftover table. Folks bring in whatever they can't use and people like myself who don't hoe a garden are most appreciatively munching on fresh produce. Sweeeeeeet!

dance Kiki dance

2006-07-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

Okay so now I'm making these art dolls. Call 'em whatcha want, I think of them as muppetry with a twist and shout. This is how I make art dolls, anyway. A bit of Sculpey, make some jump rings and string some beads together...voila!

Soundtrack courtesy of Katamari Damashi, a video game in which you roll a big sticky ball (katamari) around and gather up things...eventually you're rolling up cities and such. Apparently. I haven't played. But I love the soundtrack and the website! Kiki likes to dance to it, too. She's going to Canada soon, I will miss her.

Killer

2006-07-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Last week I stopped in at Shawn Mediaclasts's Museum of Unfine Art. Never saw his dog Killer before. He couldn't decide whether to scratch his nose or his bum so he did both.......good idea.

sing sing

2006-07-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

The girls are singing again!

a trip through the supermarket

2006-07-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ummm....I totally misread this sign at first, omitting a few crucial letters.

And then rounded the corner and saw this for sale:

Umm...shag? Free balls? Reload? Oh jeez.

Turned around and headed for the checkout stand and this caught my eye:

Yeah! THIS is what I need! Growing pains, causeless crying...uh huh that's me the last coupla days. Lack of focus...extreme sensitivity...hey what is this, a miracle drug? Is it really legal?? Actually, I think a homeopathic doctor once gave me pulsatilla...I cried for three days afterwards, if I remember correctly. The ingredients for the most part really are 'all natural'. I used to work at an herb extract facility so I'm kinda familiar with those names although...couldn't really tell you what they are. Why don't they just list the common names for crying out loud! Waaahhhh! THAT damaged my calm!

summertime take one today

2006-07-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

This is what folks get up to in the summer months around these parts. This is the Willamette River. It's slower and lower now, of course...and I'm standing on a footbridge (one of several that span the waters at intervals). I stopped for a moment during the bike ride I luxuriated in this morning. I love seeing the rocks poking up all over and stacked one atop another.

This is looking upriver, to the east.

I think this may be a magnolia tree. The blossoms are HUGE, bigger than softballs by far - though the size isn't represented very well here.

I arrived at the supermarket and these were at the flower stand!

It's a beautiful day here...........I love summer.

outpost

2006-06-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

Well it's been an absolutely gorgeous and fun-filled day around here. There's been an invitation in our Yahoo LMAO group to post pictures of our mailboxes. Since I live in an apartment and our boxes are battleship grey rows and I've never done anything to spruce it up, I figured now was a perfect time to do just that! (it helps to click on the pics, to enlarge a bit)

I thought the boxes were made of metal I could stick a magnet to - I even tried it with some weak magnet strips and I thought it was working, but no, alas and alack. So I duct taped the 'children of free will' plaque on, put all my names and aliases in the slot (I had left it empty for YEARS...another story, I had good reason to be as anonymous as possible but I'm feeling quite safe these days), and added Gordon as sentinal. Below you see Gordon and his little pal lounging around before I put him out to work. I made him a year? two? ago. (click to enlarge pics)

I am willing to lose this artwork - it is in a public space, not too heavily trafficked, but I do live on a busy street and who knows what-all goes on in the wee hours around here. Someone could make off with some or all of it. I had a blast doing it up though....the plackard was an evolvement (natch):

For some reason I decided to photocopy some of my drawings on saturday before I left work. For some reason today I started thinking about gel transfers. So I played alllll afternoon with just that!!

You can see how it's done on these webpagesby a very crafty and helpful bloke. I must figure out how to contact him and thank him. I tried transfers several weeks ago with minimal luck. I kept at it today and am thrilled with the results.

The plackard is a piece of wood, about 4 x 5". My friend Jacque works in a woodshop called Trebuchet. They do all sorts of things...Jacque is an awesome artist...and she brings me all manner of useful scraps from her shop. So today I thought about using the wood as a backing for the transfers. The Children Of Free Will (magnets I picked up from a job site - when I painted houses - the tenants didn't want their collection of fridge magnets) is first painted with tempura (wait a second..isn't that japanese food?)...tempera paints. Oh hang on. Yeah, tempera. Then I used acrylic gel medium over that, and then did the transfer and then smeared on more gel medium for a glossy finish. The transfer is a drawing I did for an ATC swap and had, for some reason, made photocopies of on saturday before sending the ATCs off in the mail. I had no idea I was going to do transfers any time in the near future!

I see many transfers in my future.

bus stop crow

2006-06-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

Last friday on the way to the bus stop to catch the number 13 to work, I was followed by this crow. I had, almost as an afterthought, tucked my camera inside my backpack as I rushed out the door. Glad I did. I managed to catch a bit of the action. Ang, this one's for you too.

The crows have been exceptionally vociferous the last few days. I was awakened this morning by a murder of 'em. How many make a murder? Sounded like a whole mob the way they were yakking it up. I actually went back to sleep.

thursday on the way home

2006-06-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

This is stenciled on the bridge that spans the Willamette River. I'm glad I got a shot of it before they wipe it clean.

This is a nutrea on the other side of the river....I'd never seen (or heard of) them until moving here. They are scary cute.

This is some of the Willamette...yes, there really is a river, I know I keep talking about it and here are some views from the pedestrian and bike bridge: up here, it's Another World, don'tcha know.

(click for larger pics!)

(I think you can see a great blue heron in the lower right!)

GORGEOUS, isn't it?? I love living here.

Ang's Crow

2006-06-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

You must turn up the volume very a lot. Then you can hear the crow call. The crow card leaning against the wall is authored by Ang, and her story is hers to tell, but this short is for her.

Even with the volume full blast I can barely hear the crow, but it's there, they were talking a lot earlier...earlier being around 9:15. The video quality drops too, looks much better on my desktop. It may be better if you go to YouTube and view it (to do that, just click in the video window, middle, instead of the play button at the lower left).

si si si!

2006-06-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at the drawing table, carving some stamps for printing and since it's now warmer outside, the sliding glass doors in the kitchen (aka 'studio') are open. There are two little spanish girls who live next door, and across the courtyard is another little one. They are calling back and forth (we are all on the top floors, I suspect they're out on their balconeys though I can't really see for all the glorious foliage). You probably need to turn your volume up quite a bit to hear the girls chirping. I love it.

the loo

2006-06-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

yah okay like I said over on Thousand Faces...it's kinda strange, but the bathroom is exceptionally commodious and also it's bright in these sunny months (understand, it rains here...a lot...sunshine is something to be documented!). I don't think the quality of light is adequately captured here, but at least next winter when the rains come again and the sky drops down, I can look back and say It Really Did Happen.

This guy - I bought at the smoke shop back in the day. Years ago. I love him. I call him the benevolent bovine, although...I think he's more of a deer type fellow. He hangs above the toilet.

magnetic

2006-06-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

I started to make some magnets for a swap over at Swap Bot. I was only marginally interested in doing it...thinking about making some Sculpey faces but...eh...I dunno...then the magnets did their cool repelling each other thing and I got on a tangent with more goofy weirdness:

And some more:

And yet another...last one (for now), promise. I carved the face for another project, 'twas fun (have I mentioned that I luuuurve my new Speedball carving set?! makes life SO much easier):

.

with a little help from my friends

2006-06-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

I just love that I live in a place with warm running water. I've never really lived without it. I just love it though. Went for a real nice bike ride along the Willamette (River) this afternoon, it was so nice to come home and be able to get all nice and clean...and with the help of Josie, too! She helps dry you off after showers. She likes to drink bath water, too. Jacque (Josie lives with Jacque) says that Josie likes 'Human Soup'.

beached

2006-05-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

This is something I just threw together! I have always loved animation. When I was a kid I drew flipbooks on those 3x5 index cards. If I can find them, if I still have them, I'll film those too. I just finished watching some video clips over at Chris Sickel's Red Nose Studio. He's amazing! Saw his work on the cover of...Prospect magazine a few weeks ago, I'm pretty sure. And I carved a fish skeleton yesterday with my new Speedball carving tool set (schweeeeet!) and thought, huh. Why don't I make my own flipbook animation? (still have not learned Flash or how to mash up photos in Photoshop to make a GIF or an animation short. yet.)

So here is the result, it's a bit fuzzy, maybe I'll do it again. It's supposed to be flopping around, like all dead-skeletons-of-fish do.....Soundtrack courtesy Chemical Brothers, album Surrender, track Orange Crush:

(click on the lower left play button to stay in this browser window, or you can double click on the play screen and go straight to YouTube)

take two -- three??

2006-05-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

more deco mania, but this time, I figured out the focus thing a bit better. And, the stuff I used to cover the little deco with is actually construction paper, not cardstock like I said. The cardstock paper is what I used in the middle. Again, I figure people can use their own paper and affix their pictures to the pages, which is what I usually do....

What I am trying to clarify below is that the material I used to make the actual deco is cardboard, corrugated cardboard. It's a bit more stiff than your standard cardboard box corrugated cardboard, though. I filched it from the garbage bin at work, there are lots of them hanging around so they must come in something library-ish that gets delivered to us.

And finally, at least for now, if you have trouble viewing videos here, you can double click on the video window and it should take you directly to YouTube's page where the video is hosted.

Alternatively, you can click HERE to go to my YouTube page and view all of the videos from there.

I need a shower.

studio outtakes

2006-05-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a nice bike ride - and I was only out in the rain for the last, oh, eight minutes of it! Sweet! Got home and opened the mail while I stretched. The kitchen cabinets are a good place to stretch my calves - I guess that's a hard thing to picture. But I was looking around at the art and stuff I left lying around before my bike ride (admittedly, a hasty departure because the rain had stopped) and thought it'd be a good thing to record. Over at LMAO we have an album for pictures of our studios...well this is the other half of mine. I just make do with whatever space is available and this morning it was the south side of the kitchen, where I am doing things with crayons.

First I tried drawing on various sorts of paper, and then putting another piece of paper on top, and then ironing it. Not very spectacular results. Very disappointing. Then I tried laying wax paper over the drawings...still nothing, really. Then I tried a piece of lined paper, folded in half with the drawing in - that's better! Getting that parchment/stained glass effect now! Then I just put a piece of paper right on the darn iron and started drawing stuff - presto!

and THEN I just warmed up my cast iron skillet and put a piece of paper inside and drew on that! Brilliant!

Who needs a plate warmer?

Here's a closer-up photo of the melty crayon drawing.

deco 101

2006-05-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

For the fine folks over at LMAO. Well and for anyone else of course...

I guess I should have used the macro lens for close-ups, it's a bit fuzzy...maybe even moreso now that I've done the up and download thing. For some reason, it always looks better right on my destop.

For this deco I am using some cardboard for the covers, I fished it out of the garbage bin at work. I covered it using black construction paper, with blue on the inside. The front cover features a hand-carved stamp image that I actually did prints of, after doing a large monoprint with all those other colors and cutting it up for multiple printed images. The inside pages are made from cardstock I bought at a local store for five bucks a ream. It's okay to work on with crayon or colored pencil, but I have seen so many people (and usually do this myself) just create their own image on a separate piece of paper and then affix it to an existing page, I'm not too worried about the quality of paper in this particular deco. The pages are sewn inside, with a regular sewing needle and some nylon thread. Et voila!

Now this deco is made with laminate - the kind of stuff used for countertops. My friend Jacque works in a woodshop and she cut up a bunch of it for me. I am all about scrounging and re-using materials and leftovers whenever at all possible. All I am doing here (it's a work in progress as you see) is gluing mulberry paper to the laminate. Just to see what happens. I am using ModPodge to do it. It's pretty sturdy, especially when that glue dries clear and flexible. I'll sew the pages in the same way I did the small deco (above - it is ATC-sized). This deco measures...5"x5" or 13cm each way.

I am real new to all this and use inexpensive, easily obtained materials. There's a great site on how to make your own journal this-a-way.

Have fun!!

hush

2006-05-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Late last night, and I don't know where the inspiration came from. Out of the blue, as they say. It's not fancy but what it lacks in technical wow makes up in atmosphere, at least for me. It was raining last night too, I really wanted to capture that sound, but the mic on the camera wasn't that strong, even though the bathroom window was wide open. Yes, folks, this is my bathroom. You can just about see the card I received, propped against the wall. It's a crow and I received it from Ang over on Nervousness, in a postcard swap. It's beautiful and the colors in my bathroom all play with each other, now with this beautiful card to add to the mix.

I wish so much that I could film the view from inside the bathroom, looking at the frosted window at night. When the neighbor across the courtyard turns the porchlight on, shadows of bamboo are thrown up 'like patterns of nerves against a screen' - to loosely paraphrase ts eliot in Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock. That's what I always think of when I see it, a saintly dance, it's breathtaking. Everything is dark except for that illuminated spot through the window, which is further refracted into patterns because of the window-glass.

on the way home

2006-05-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

As promised....

**edited Tuesday May 23 - I've learned that a friend's mother passed away yesterday...a fare thee well to her and warm thoughts to you my friend....I realized that yesterday while I was going to the river to take pictures and videos for you that you were most likely sharing your final moments with you mother, unbeknownst to me. Serendipity knows no bounds and connects us all!!**

post storm

2006-05-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

A ride down the bike path we've been down a few days ago...this time, after the hailstorm and mighty wind going on yesterday (also digitally documented for progeny).

Also my homage to Kurosawa, filming into the sun.

Second half of this side of the bike path, where I hop off to go running at a giant (friendly) weed. The thing is ginormous, and every year along this stretch, they reach upwards on thick stalks. Amazingly, most of them survived the hail battering.

Here is a busy bee.

And here is the other side of the bridge, and more tree litter. Usually the path is quite clean, free of debris. But, as you see here, the wind and hail had its way of it yesterday.

Here's a couple photos too, including some more Seussian scepter flower things I saw on the ride home:

oh, okay. Blogger's not uploading pictures right now, so there's a nice little cliffhanger for you...tune in again soon...and thanks for watching!

stormy weather

2006-05-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Long about a quarter to seven this evening, the sky got even darker (after puffy white clouds in a blue sky a couple hours earlier) and a right proper storm moved in!

Usually our rains are steady, sometimes windy, but not very often to we get this sort of thing:

And a view from the front:

Just Ducky

2006-05-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

I'm trying a new video server, YouTube. The other night I was walking homewards through the park and the new duckies deserved a few frames, I thought. They were paddling around very efficiently, snapping up gnats and mosquitos in their bills. Sweeeet!

down the lane

2006-05-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Visited my pal Clark this afternoon, rode my bike into town and then on the way back I hauled out my digicam for a little ride-along home movie. Such as it is. I love the bike paths around here and there are a LOT of them, paralleling the Willamette River on both sides for miles and miles. It's a real bike-friendly town. Well, Eugene is...here is Springfield, there aren't as many bike lanes, but there are still.

RAGA

2006-05-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

Another installment...I wanted a prism for this, I didn't want to untie the triangular one hanging from the front room window (that was my mother's, and she gave it to me before she died...oh wow, Happy Mother's Day). I said aloud, "I need a prism!" and then my eyes rested on a bauble that was given to me by a boy I once knew. A glass globe with a dragon etched around its circumfrence, standing on a cube. A prism. I set the whole thing spinning for this.

Soundtrack courtesy Asana, track Devabandha

colloidoscopic

2006-05-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

fun...rough, but fun.

Now it's actually Sunday, next day, and I'm editing the post because I did another take, this time 30fps instead of 15, trying to work out some of the grain...but then the microphone was popping. Low-hi-tech, I tellya. Gotta love it though.

*soundtrack courtesy Systemwide off of their album Sirius, track 2 Nommos

Birthday from Pluto

2006-05-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

A great big Bjork-inspired (and admittedly, cheap beer-drinkers...of which there are a surprising many throwing away perfectly good cash it in for five cents bottles)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to my friend Annie in New York, who I met through ATCards. She's an amazing artist, you can see her beauties over this-a-way.

Hope you have a fabbity fab day Annie!

*soundtrack courtesy Bjork, album Homogenic, track Pluto

two for the road

2006-05-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

I love when it's sunny because then the water's reflection under the bridge is visible, and it's one of my very favorite things. This is along the canal, and the bike path parallels it and goes under this bridge. We have a lot of bike paths and bridges here. It's awesome.

More reflections - this from an ornamental hanging up thing in the neighbor's back porch. In the afternoon, again in the sunny months which are now beginning in earnest, the light reflects off the disc-shapes and onto the wall of the laundry room. I guess the neighborhood communal cats have got bored with it, but if I was a cat, I'd be chasing those little lights all day and be one happy feline oh yeah.

le chat vert - found!

2006-04-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is for the folks over at Point Jaune who are perpetually soliciting our keen eyes and ears for any information or spottings of The Green Cat. Who today happens to be singing along to Bjork when she was in Sugarcubes, singing 'Cat' in Icelandic:

oh, okay, I've gone round the bend now.

more mundanities

2006-04-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

I did a re-take this morning, I like it better in some ways. The sound seems clearer too.

Bjork's lyrics for Aurora:

Treading
The glacier head
Looking hard for
Moments of shine
From twilight
To twilight
Ahhhhh...
Utter mundane
Aurora
Goddess sparkle
Shoot me
Beyond this suffer
The need
Is great
Aurora

utter mundane

2006-04-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

A little bit of mundane beauty, at least in my eyes. I think I'll work on this one a bit though - looks much clearer on my desktop, not so much after being uploaded to the server.

*track is Bjork's Aurora from Vespertine - and for some reason, my volume on the external speakers needs turning up quite a bit to hear anything, despite me volumizing the stereo here at home...

twisted nerve

2006-04-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

You're going along happily merrily and then the unexpected happens.

*title is track from Kill Bill movie score, can't remember, part 1 or 2...?

peephole

2006-04-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

I woke up kinda early day, especially for my day off....7:20 to be precise...and probably because it was blazing sunny out! What a nice treat. Padded out into the kitchen and on my way saw this...because of the sun and the trajectory and the angle and what-not, my new(ish) peephole prismed the sunbeam on to the wall. Sweet!

risen again

2006-04-16T23:11:00.001-07:00

After about five or six hours' worth of online chatting with a professional AppleCare representative, troubleshooting with no success, and haunting a vast number of boards for Flash Players playing with no sound on the internet, I finally came across a tiny little post on someone's journal. Start Garageband, run it, close it, voila.

It worked.

My god.

Will miracles never cease?? And on Easter Sunday, too!

*soundtrack courtesy Soundgarden/Fell on black days & Cure's Let's Get Happy song

risible

2006-04-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

...well, to me it is. You like English Beat? 'mirror in the bathroom...take you to a restaurant that's got glass tables you can watch yourself while you are eating...' Forgot that last bit but chose the music anyway...

It really does take a long time to eat a mouthfull of sunflower seeds. They are very good for you.

Speaking of sunflowers...I think it's time for another episode of Samurai Champloo. (for those of you who do not follow the adventures of Mugen, Jin, and Fuu: Fuu is a young woman in search of a samurai who smells of sunflowers....sunflower seed breath probably does not count)

great! I downloaded and update for my OS and now I can't hear the sound. Can any of you?

with a little courage

2006-04-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of my mother's death. Well truly, her actual burial. I think it's perversely funny that she was buried on April 1st. A tribute I penned in last night, to the tune of Dot Allison's Tomorrow Never Comes. I forgot that the opening lines are,

You're sailing away, to another shore
My heartache today, I can't tell you anymore

And I thought I saw your shadow in the street today
But that was yesterday, oh that was yesterday

With a little courage, in time
You might forgive me
With a little loving, in time
You might forgive me

We kinda fell on bad days before she passed and never really recovered from that. Neither one of us really knew how to do it, or had the courage or wherewithal. pax.

teardrop collie

2006-03-29T11:40:00.000-08:00

Got another idea, partly inspired by this bloke. I linked to his spot via Illustration Friday.

The song in the background is Love and Rockets' Teardrop Collie and he says, "I'll wipe these tears from your eyes/I'll wipe these tears/make you feel all right; and you can watch the world go by....so you woke up one morning/found everything changed;so you woke up one morning/found you had to re-arrange your life...you know you can make it...."

pop!

2006-03-29T10:37:00.000-08:00

a bit of silliness last night, finally got the thing to upload so's I could download - done at 30fps

and a bit more this morning, since the uploading service I use seems to be going along at a good clip now - filmed at only 15fps and I sure can see the difference. That background? It's Jacque's brilliance, yet again. It's a monoprint - isn't it fabulous??

Methinks I am going to save up for a digicam. After the scanner. And the printer. Amazing what fun I can have though, with minimal equipment...I guess I could say that what I lack in technology I make up for in technique, however jejune that may be...

as the crow flies/a vol d'oiseau

2006-03-28T23:07:00.000-08:00

I went for a walk earlier today. It was sunny and warm. I was thinking that I'd be happy if it never got any hotter than it did this afternoon. I began walking to the post office with a long-sleeve and jacket over my tank but by the time I crested the rise at the butte (the lower one, mind you, my knee is still awry and does not like Der Matterhorn) I needed to shed layers. By the time I started down the other side, the clouds were moving in. Went through Island Park and a couple of crows were taking turns saying things. Loudly, gritty, like crows do. So I'm inviting that crow to say something...and then I remark upon how lovely our park is, isn't it great and I luuurve it.

For some reason the other videos I reeled this evening aren't uploading. It's a damn shame, too, because...well you'll see eventually, I hope.

open wide!!

2006-03-26T16:17:00.000-08:00

Jax: "Did you know there are big bumps in the back of your throat? On your tongue?!"

Me: "oh, yeah! it's crazy back there!"

Jax: "Let me look."

Me: "Aaaahhhhhh..."

Jax: "Uh...eeek!...euw!...I don't know if I'll ever kiss anyone again!"

***the video uses Macromedia Flash Player - if you're not hearing sound, I don't know what to tell you but it's a helluva lot funnier if you can hear it***

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2006-03-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

On friday, Jason came over and found out why my 'puter was running sooooo sloooooow. Something to do with a DNS server. He got new firmware installed and VOILA vroom vroom. Here's the guru himself:

I'm such a goofball. Anyway...THANKS JASON!!!!

And I must properly introduce you to Sheena, the new stove. What?!

the three faces of eve

2006-03-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

Bon soir mes amis!

Not only does the moon inspire us to wax rhapsodic, but she waxes most luminously as well. A view from the front porch tonight, round about 8:00:

quick tour

2006-03-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

Went back to work last week, and there'd been considerable activity! A new show's been displayed - quilts! Wish we could have this kind of color around more often. The view is from inside the paging window, where I spend a lot of time processing magazines and newspapers.

stop motion

2006-03-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who cannot for whatever reason view the video, I offer up some pictures of Josie doing much of what my digital camera had the great good fortune to capture.

can we say....heaven? nay, nirvana??

Such contentedness.

happy girl

2006-03-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

Josie spent the night! We went for a few walks, she conked out on the couch at one point...which she isn't supposed to do, but I couldn't berate her too severely, because she does it at home and well, I guess she really feels at home here. I like that. We were both a little drag-in-the-rear-end-ish this morning after walkabout, down to the river and back. But when Jacque came to get her, Josie perked right up! Here you see her with her 'bear' (even though it's a monkey...don't tell Josie that), which she gets when she's really happy and content.

turnaround

2006-03-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning this is what I woke up to, wah!!:

I was up really early - eery for there to be reflective light bouncing off snow, but in a good way.

Now this is what it's looking like thismorning:

Josie is spending the night tonight! Yay! Jacque will be going to Portland so Josie is 'holding down the fort' with me. You know what that means....potential Josie footage!

between storms

2006-03-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning and surprise! there was snow! It melted quickly of course, but twice in one year? Wow. The clouds cleared and I went hiking over the butte to snap pictures and this is what I saw:

The above scene is what I see when I'm on the return trip, going back up the south side. Hmmm...it looks deceptively flat, when in fact, I am very definitely going uphill.

This is quince...blimey, but ain't it all just so beautiful?!

And then this afternoon, we had wind and slushy flakes falling again. We may not get thunderstorms but we do have our little dramas nonetheless.

great herons

2006-03-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

Jacque, Josie and I went for a walk on sunday afternoon. There is a tree that houses bird's nests...specifically, heron's nests. Each year they come cruising back in and fortify their twiggy townhouses. Now, every year that I pass this spot on the bike path, people are standing around goggling, quite often in the middle of the path. Quite frequently I get a little (or a lot, depending) irritated. It's not a parking lot, people. Some people use the bench that's set back just a little ways, that's nice. Well now I understand why it is easy to forget that you are in a trafficked area...the herons are so majestic, the whole scene is so grand, to lose yourself is no difficult task.

Oh, and in case you're wondering where the requisite Josie-Videos are...I just haven't had time to upload them yet. Worry not, they're on the way.

Post Op

2006-03-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Yes, I may feel like utter crap after minor surgery on thursday morning, but I can still amuse myself (and maybe you), can't I? I think anesthesia withdrawal is the absolute worst.

Daily Dose

2006-03-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

It's the daily dose of Josie! Trying to get some light on the subject...a bit better but still...

walkabout

2006-03-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics I snapped whilst out and about the other day. I live at the base of a small butte, so just about daily I walk to the top, down the lee side, sometimes I go through the park down by the river, and then I walk up and back down the butte again. It's a great view at the top and I love the neighborhood.

I've walked up that butte hundreds of times and never saw this until tuesday. It may be newly placed, or I may have used my eyes in a new way. I love it though.

A splash of color...everything starts bursting at the end of February!

Top of the butte, overlooking the valley to the west. You can see Eugene from here, it's only about three miles away. The hump on the right-ish side is Skinner's Butte, it's right by the river. If you look left just an inch or so, you'd be gazing just about right at the library where I work.

Looking southwards from atop. The big bump partly shrouded in mist is Spencer's Butte. That is a nice little hike.

Daffies!!

Legs. Mine. They work!

I think it's beautiful, and again, I'd never really seen it, or in this way until now. It'll probably make its way into some art - there is an upcoming Asian themed ATC swap. Perfect.

Now I KNOW I've never seen these rabbits here before! What a day I had! Hey, it was my birthday...what a great birthday.

Coming into the park now, over a small bridge.

Cute lil' quackers.

Great big honkers! (they mobbed me, even for stale freezer burned corn tortillas!)

On the way back home. I love the carpet of lavender colors that spring up around here.

...and in this corner

2006-03-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

...it's rink time with Josie and Jax!!!!

okay, admittedly...it's amateur night as well. Learning the ropes with the digicam...lights! camera! Action!

(we need lights!!)

This was last night's funfest. We all had a sleepover so that Jax could take me to the hospital this morning (all is well, minor stuff...just kinda drowsy now, and at this point, folding sheets would really wipe me out more than usual!).