Zen Not Zone

Little cyanotype on handkerchief material

2010-05-24T19:42:00.001-07:00

My goodness... what a little slacker!

2010-05-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

So, it has been....over 5 months? For shame. At any rate, much has happened, and continues to do so. In a few weeks I will turn a magic number. Wish it were 3.

In honor of turning the magic number, I am turning over a new leaf, branch, tree. Streamlining, simplifying, more art-making, no voyeuring, no time-wasting. Way less cyber socializing, way more voice-to-voice and face-to-face. I sense a limited amount of time left and I must seize all remaining days.

As I type, a little piece of white cloth with cyanoype chemistry is positioned under a digital negative. It is under a piece of glass, cooking, in my backyard. Yesterday after noon I made one, developed it and it is beautiful. On to something new, something more, something closer to the art inside my mind. Anything and everything is now possible.

She is allowing her dresser to dress her.

2010-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Greetings In The Year Of Our Lord Twenty-Ten Anno Domini.

2010 sounds so futuristic, does it not? Makes me remember that Kubrick film 2010. While not groundbreaking and astounding like its older brother 2001, it does glide along with odd, deafening silence. I wonder if Kubrick really did envision the future as pin-drop quiet.

It has been months since I have posted for the blog. Much has happened. I am treading emotional water, but am fine physically. I have been working out several times per week. It may just be saving my sanity skin.

The art pic I have posted is entitled "Understudy". The little flying squirrel comes courtesy of my sweet friend and wonderful artist Anna Podris. The flowers I pilfered from the post-gala centerpieces.

Small story: The actress is so nervous. She is preparing to go onstage in place of the star who has been taken ill suddenly. Her dresser is adjusting her flower boa. Break a china leg, strange little doll.

So my old tablespoon had to go all Uri Geller on me...

2009-08-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

...but that's quite alright, as I just pushed it back into shape again. Had not used it for a while- or shall I say it had not been used for a while...as I have been up in the mountains and not here baking edible objects.

Just heard the buzzer go off, prompting me to run into the kitchen and remove from the oven 2 of the ginormous-est, most bitchingly delectable shaved-chocolate-bar, coconut and pecan banana breads that you have ever sunk your sweet beak into.

I have only had 2 apples and a small handful of raw almonds for food today, so am looking forward to a slice or so.

Haven't really made much art since returning from Penland, so much other stuff to catch up on...like mom's house, our house, Graham's b-day, getting ready for G to begin high school, etcetera, etcetera...

I am planning on printing some large- maybe 20" x 20"- black and white darkroom prints as some point soon...then to hand-tint them...for an invitational exhibit in Cabarrus County this coming January. I am giving a lecture to go with the exhibit.

The digital prints are coming along- most have been printed 24" x 24" and are soon to be mounted onto the painted hollow wooden boxes by a real champ of a friend, Martin Chadwick. Find his work at http://www.chadwicksworld.com He is a brilliant drawer and painter.

So, the new show is happening in a couple of months- specifically the month of October- at Flanders 311. I still need to come up with a title and a statement and all that stuff that goes with putting on a show.

Still super-loving the new studio and studio-mate at Artspace. Sure was worth paying my dues...we have so much room in the new space that it is practically obscene...!!

Anyways- going to make another digi photo tomorrow morning as I have been blessed with yet another inspiration. Gonna use the luna moth this time :-)

bird weddings only a fond and distant memory...

2009-08-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Re-entry into 2109 is so strange! Felt as if I had been at Penland for months... that's how intense and absorbing the experience is there. Met and made friends with so many wonderful people. Got super close to the surreal nature there, both flora and fauna...and felt quite pampered food-wise. :-)

So- back to the land of laundry, house cleaning and grocery shopping! I really don't mind tho, as this is my part of the family bargain..these tasks i do quite willingly.

Can't think when i will have spare time to get back into van-dyking again perhaps by September. Can't let these new skillz get rusty....!

only the bugs have time for naps up here....

2009-08-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

so what day is it?? saturday...and of course it is nice and sunny and i am not exposing prints... *sigh*. but i have been mucho productive in the past couple of days- making salt prints and van dyke prints and toning cyanotypes. yesterday i began painting on the cyanotypes and van dykes with peerless brand watercolors. really stunning results. therefore i am happy. my "show and tell" will consist of these...i really feel like i learned and like i accomplished plenty while here.

yesterday i was a bit down in the dumps (but a bad day at penland is still better than a good day anywhere else) when a kind young woman named Tilly and I began a conversation at Dorm 54 where we are both staying. I had my laptop with me and showed her some of the little creature photos i have been making and she gave me a luna moth she had found! super-sweet and serendipitous, as i had been wishing to find a luna moth here...will make a photo with it when i get home tho..

this morning i took some digital pictures with the little bird figures and 1: a little baby bird skeleton to make an "anatomy lesson" pic, and 2: the big duck and the little booklet violin to remake the "music lesson" pic. the mushrooms that the critters sit on are intensely huge- about 13" diameter - 2 of them side by side. nature rocks.

lindsay is taking a break from working and house-clearing-out to actually come and see me today!! big yay!! we will have a wonderful 24 hours together then he must return to Raleigh as we are leaving Graham and Byron "home alone"... :-)

channeling the ghost of henry fox talbot...

2009-07-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

man! but this place is *so* intense... such good stuff coming out though. we coated our salt, salt & gelatin, and egg albumen papers with silver nitrate this morning. this is exactly how sir henry fox talbot, of lacock abbey in wiltshire, and of inventing the photo negative fame, did it back in 1840!! *wow*!!! :-) for me, who mines the past to look toward the future, learning this was wonderful indeed...

after drying, we exposed them- making photograms...i used queen anne's lace and some curly stem thingies and some delicate lil vine leaves. all but the albumen turned out well. that's fine with me as i do not desire to use eggs as an ingredient in my photo medium anyway (!)

our afternoon was spent observing the glass class pouring into casting molds, and with more exposing and printing. i reached super saturation point at about 5pm. i just had to walk out of the studio and go take a shower and sleep for a couple of hours. brain is back to the norm as of now...

coated some pescia pale blue paper with van dyke brown tonight - will let it dry all night in the darkroom then let it cure for a day or so. i'm hoping i can make some nice prints, which perhaps i can later hand-tint with w/c or marshall's.

tomorrow we tone the cyanotypes we made last week, and make more new ones...

stay tuned...and art time, same art channel :-)

Gotta go back....wayyyyyy back...

2009-07-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

...to last Saturday morning. Got up early - went to 7 am yoga, then cleaned up and started on more digital negs and van dyke printing. Exposed and printed negs til about 2pm, when my roomie Emily and I drove thru Bakersville, almost ran out of gas, but made it coasting on fumes up to Carver's Gap at Roan Mountain. We hiked a short 1 mile uphill thru the gorgeous spruce forest filled with fairytale mushrooms and weird plants. Then the sky flooded our eyes as we emerged from the forest and we could see 360 degrees the land and sky around -we were on top of the world.

Went back to the studio to work thru the evening - about 9:30 I headed in the pitch black darkness to Dorm 54 to change clothes for the big party- but...on the way I fell!! off the road shoulder, onto my left hand. I spit and cursed the rest of the way to my room, feeling my hand and worrying that I had sprained my wrist. Luckily, only my palm was affected, and then it was only bruised. Still, it hurt...(and I am left handed...tho it has not held me back doing any studio work).

Can't do any more cat-cow, plank, and downward facing dog in yoga class, tho... :-(

Sunday began with a lie-in, then off to early breakfast at 9 am. I ended up skipping the brunch as the food baby is back (eg, my tum-tum has grown a bit), so am desperately attempting to cut back the calories...for example- taking only 2 pieces of legendary Penland bacon instead of the usual 4. Emily had chided me for my 4 piece bacon serving, but then I noticed she took 3 cookies at supper, so I felt justified in a friendly lil counter-chide :-)

Th rest of Sunday was all about exposing and printing van dyke brown negatives. I have made about 30 prints since beginning the course- plan to make at least that many more.

Today (Monday) we coated out paper with 3 versions of salt print bases- salt water, salt and gelatin solution, and albumen (egg whites and salt)- the vegans in our class only coated with salt water.

I coated some paper for van dyke to print tonight, then 6 of us, including both teachers, headed to the South Toe River swimming hole. Fun indeed. Photos will be posted on facebook presently (presently for me means whenever i get around to it..hopefully before I actually get back to Raleigh).

Exposed and printed more van dyke prints tonight (exposure via UV light box) and now heading for Dorm 54 to relax and read this book on Friendly Witchcraft I found in my mom's house. Nighty-night :-)

beautiful indian pipe productive day

2009-07-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Another crazy-busy day...up early to go to yoga, then saw my roommate Mary who showed me an Indian Pipe fungus-flower she had found down the path...so I grabbed my digital camera and ran down with the rabbit, little doll and little dog, right before class and shot some pix- and you are looking at one of the results. I had to dig a little hole in front of the figures to get the camera low enough to get a good vantage point.

Exposed and printed van dyke prints all day long- unfortch all of our prints got bleached when the water pumps got flushed thru with chlorine - sad. Oh well. We will print more tomorrow.

There was an exhibit opening at the Horner Gallery tonight. Later on a wide-open party here at the photo studio - it's still going on as I type. I am partying with them vicariously :-) Hitting the hay in a little while. X

I'm in love!!...

2009-07-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

...with a process I learned today known as "van dyke". It is a 19th century contact printing process that imparts a beautiful dark brown color onto watercolor paper.

Today was another busy busy day- made some digital negatives, exposed and developed maybe half a dozen van dyke prints using both analog and digital negatives- that doesn't sound like much...hmmm...also shot a self-portrait using the 8 x 10 pinhole camera, sitting in an antique chair in front of a bunch of honeysuckle and weeds in the Penland parking lot clutching onto one of my grandmother's victorian dresses in the drizzling rain. Developed the film after dinner tonight...getting a better handle on the composition, finally.

Gonna have an earlier night tonight. Busy day ahead tomorrow :-)

Rollin' up my personal sidewalk later and later...

2009-07-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

...cause it's 10:32 and I'm still in the studio printing cyanotypes! I really promise I'm gonna post some. Just too lazy to take a pic and transfer...right now. It really will happen presently.

Another rainy morning this morning- so no early morning walk- but did go with Emily to kick-ass yoga. Teacher Holbrook is a NC native fire-ball and teaches in NYC, so I am discovering new tendons and muscles in my torso and limbs that I had no idea existed within me :-)

We all exposedand and printed more cyanotypes and digital negatives all day long, and late in the afternoon I developed my third 8 x 10 pinhole negative. Its composition is much more like what I am looking for. Will try one tomorrow with the doll and the pulpit chair.

Will have more to talk about tomorrow. Gotta go develop the last cyanotype of the night...and hit the mountain hay.

Learning so much that I am too tired to blog...

2009-07-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

...but here I am...to give y'all the nightly report. Penland continues to be glorious, amazing, fun, crazy, innovative, genius and alot of other words that describe a time that I cannot believe I am experiencing once again.

Woke up at 6 to pouring rain, which I believe had been pouring all night long. Was gonna shoot another pinhole shot but could not b/c of the weather. Rolled over then heard my lovely roommate Emily stirring just before 7 so I jumped up and got quickly ready for morning yoga. Intense and worthy. Rain stopped then- but grass too wet to shoot with antique props...

Our class did another whole day of cyanotypes. We also got an easy lesson in making digital negatives. Eureka! I was so pleased to learn this that I gave our teacher a little hug, which she did not exactly appreciate :-) Sometimes I forget that some folks don't like spontaneous bursts of affection from me...

I exposed the first pinhole neg that had I shot and developed yesterday- the resulting cyanotype turned out pretty well- and I made another pinhole neg this afternoon and processed the film sheet. Once again the composition was off, and too far away, but the exposure was good. So I made another shot tonight after dinner, really positioning the pinhole camera closer on the dirty doll and props...will develop film tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

Time for beddy-bye now :-) sweet dreams to you XX

Penland!! land of bountiful critters...

2009-07-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

...mammal, insect and human. Woke up at 6:15 this morning and walked for 45 minutes in the quiet of the light and mist. Saw 2 deer, 2 bunnies and one chipmunk along my way.

There was a kick-ass yoga class at 7 that really woke us all up, then breakfast...including the legendary Penland bacon (sorry, friends that don't eat bacon, but this Penland bacon is damn good) :-)

After breakfast I toted my new 8 x 10 pinhole camera, tripod, the dirty doll and an antique copy of the Aubrey Beardsley illustrated, Oscar Wilde penned Salome.

Found a suitable location and set up the shot, then the sun moved (as it will do) and I had to find another shot locale. Made my exposure, carted all the stuff out of the forest and up the hill to the photo studio, and class began.

We all made at least half a dozen cyanotypes before and after lunch. I cannot believe it is only the first full day of class. So much learning and discovery gets packed into every day.

After class and before dinner I developed the 8 x 10 sheet of film in a solid dark-black darkroom...and it came out! Not exactly the composition I was hoping for, but a good exposure and a scratch-free negative. At least I now know more about how to position the pinhole camera to get a desired composition...

Getting to know my classmates has been a real joy. We have 10 in our class - 6 just out of college and the rest of us have more "planet experience" :-) Only 2 guys-the rest women.

I am going try to shoot another pinhole neg tomorrow early...then process it after breakfast. Then more cyanotypes and learning about making digital negatives...

Happy happy joy joy :-D

The Mountain of Dreams...again

2009-07-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

So! here I am...humbled to be back at the art-making paradise known as Penland School of Crafts up high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have met my teacher Alyssa and her assistant Michael, and am excited about the next couple of weeks...

Am back in Dorm 54 again - a comfy quad space. Happy happy joy joy! Friendly roommates as well... :-) Emily, Mary, Mary and me.

After dinner I went for a walk in the woods to scout shooting locales for tomorrow.

Anyone female who comes up to visit me while I am here runs the exciting risk of starring in one of my 8 x 10 pinhole photos :-) I have brought all sorts of props- an antique gothic pulpit chair, a few strange antique hats, turn-of-the-century (early 1900's) dresses, antique slips and lacy shawls and the usual dolls (dirty and clean)...among other stuff.

At this stage I am thinking of a sort of Julia Margaret Cameron romantic soft-focus feel mixed with pioneer photography-age occult spirit type photos (multiple exposure-type stuff). We'll see what happens...I plan to post images as I produce.

Our first class session begins in 15 minutes. It's almost scary to consider the glorious and practically infinite possibilities that await, made from thoughts, feelings, film and light- the direct conduit straight from the infinite creator. XX

Rock stars invade Glenwood Avenue residence!!

2009-07-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yes!! Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby graced us with their presence and fabulous musical and vocal stylings this past Sunday evening!

Visit my facebook page for a couple of videos of their show: www.facebook.com/alisonoverton

I'll be posting some photos on FB soon as well.

They came all the way from southern France, played two sets in our living room and really rocked the joint. Even Byron the lil dachshund enjoyed it and provided a bit of aural percussion via his happy yippie barking. :-)

Find Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby on the web at... here are the urls:

www.wrecklesseric.com

www.amyrigby.com

They spent the night at our house after the show and slept in Graham's antique brass bed. Amy said she really slept well. That made me happy.

I fixed breakfast for them- pancakes and turkey bacon and scrambled eggs, but Eric did not have any eggs b/c Amy said "he is not an egg man" (goo goo g'joob)...:-)

During breakfast I asked Eric to do his impression of Prince Charles eating a biscuit (cookie). Sure wish i had gotten that on video. Hilarious:-D

What a wonderful couple of extremely talented humans. May they grace us with their presence again in the near future.

Falling off that ol' blog wagon....

2009-07-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

...it's not that I don't have topics, it's just I don't have time. So, here's a pic til I get back into the groove.

Going to Penland next Sunday for over 2 weeks. WOOT!!! (as D-fiz would say) :-)

Will blog from there...XX

A: I live at 616 Revelation Boulevard. Q: Could you repeat that, please?

2009-06-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

So, even tho I am now at Topsail Beach, sitting here in a lovely lil coffee shop, having paid 5 bucks for the privelege of using their wifi, I am not going to blog about the beach. Because...well...we all know about the beach. Suffice it to say, i am having a delightful time.

What is really on my mind right at this minute is street names.

A couple of days ago, Lins and i drove out to Franklin County to pick up some wooden box frames I am having made. The maker of the frames is a carpenter friend of Lindsay's who basically has this awesome paradisical ranch out in the middle of no-where. He has horses, lil fawns (!), a bitchin dune buggy, and all manner of other ranch stuff that only ranch people want to own.

The ranch itself is cool enough to talk about, but what sticks in my mind about the whole experience are the weird street names I saw printed on green signs on the way out there - getting more and more surreal the further we ventured out from Raleigh.

So here are a few from a list i made:

"Gro-Peg Lane"

"German Shepherd Trail"

"Nether Ridge Road"

"Manly Farm Road"

"Bad News Drive"

"Fix-It Shop Road" (!!)

and my very favorite (tho it was hard to choose a winner!):

"Laid Back Lane"

Now, can you even imagine having one of those street names as one's address? I gotta say, that even if I could find (and more importantly, afford!) my ultimate fantasy castle...if it were to be located on, say, German Shepherd Trail...well, I just wouldn't be able to go through with it.

"Please ship the package to 1420 Bad News Drive."

I guess mail-order operators hear it all tho.

And, just think that if this many crazy street names are found within one lil enclave of Franklin County off of Mitchell Mill Road, then there must be some real humdingers elsewhere...

What else? Well, I have been getting a bit of a tan. And in about 10 days I'll be Golum-free!! (Those in the know understand that to which i refer.)Happiness is...:-)

business opportunity for these tough economic times...

2009-06-15T17:31:00.001-07:00

Anyone wanna start up a tattoo removal biz with me? I am so not kidding.

There are scads of folks out there who are gonna want their no-longer-wanted tattoos removed. So many. I want to be the one to make their plain skin fantasy into reality....for a price.

One can take a 6 week (!) course somewhere in Texas (I believe), then have the legal right to wield a laser light-saber on some unfortunate soul's undesired ink and pop-blast away! Imagine getting paid lots of $$$ to inflict expensive pain...it just doesn't quite compute, does it? :-)

A friend and I had originally come up with this idea, while trying to figure out how to make some easy money, some 10 years ago when said friend Lisa Waldmann and I traveled to England and Scotland on a photographing trip. Even then we knew it would be a prudent business venture.

We had a name for our shop and everything - "Overton Waldmann Tattoo Removal and Piercing Plugging Inc". Our logotype would be a giant "OW"...just think she and I could be literally rolling in the mouldy ol' dough right this very second.

Would love to open my shop right next door to a bustling tattoo parlor. Ponder this: tragic mistakes could be almost instantly rectified.

Alas, I am destined to continue my life's work of chipping away at a ginormous block of marble with a plastic spoon...also known as "making art". Perhaps after I am dead and dust my work will command large sums of cash and my son can live comfortably.

Hope I don't sound depressed about lack of money (or anything else) because surely I am not.

In fact, as of this morning, I feel as if I have ingested an entire blister pack of happy pills. Someone must have been praying for my peace of mind.

Not sure what is going on but I hope like hell it sticks around for a while. Perhaps this happiness is habit-forming and I can draw it back to me at will whenever I feel emotionally frail...

What else happened today? Oh yeah, I made a carrot cake. It was tasty. XX

Pondering the big picture...

2009-06-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

So....today was my birthday. All in all, it was a pretty low-key, happy day, for which I am thankful. Very little chaos. Always a plus. Had a lovely dinner with my dj friend Xiane, who pampered me and made me feel quite loved. So many friends remembered me with calls, cards and emails- good wishes. Love them all...treasure my sweet friends.

On my birthdays, I like to think about what has happened during the past 365 days, events that have occurred which i had no earthly idea would come to pass, or even could imagine in the first place.

This past year...I have met some really fine new friends, almost all of them either artists or radio-station-related. I would name names, but i don't want to inadvertantly leave anyone out. May I add that each is unique and very special to me.

Shocking news to those who have known me a long time would be that I have begun a fitness regime, and am so happy losing some weight, toning up and generally feeling healthier. Can't believe I am enjoying sweating..!

Last summer we traveled across country in our Odyssey, visiting friends in New mexico and California. I love California and want to go back very soon... hopefully in August.

And, I unexpectedly and briefly reconnected with an old friend from my high-school years who, without being aware of it, acted as a cosmic catalyst in order to jump-start me in certain areas of my life which had been lying dormant for 2-1/2 decades. My latest art now reflects some of this new and exciting energy, in that the art is more of a personal nature. It is screaming and colorful and bold, and a radical change from my older work...and it is digital!

Last September, I met one of my musical heroes, Eric Goulden (aka Wreckless Eric), who turned out to be one of the nicest and sweetest folks anyone could hope to meet. His gorgeous wife, Amy Rigby, is also a fantastic musician and beautiful human being. They will be playing a concert at my house very soon!! Happy, happy...!

I got some kudos in the art field as well. Photos in juried shows in LA, NYC, Colorado, Chicago, Texas, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts...and solo shows in Richmond, Louisburg, Rocky Mount, and Raleigh. Won a full-ride scholarship to Penland this coming July! So cannot wait for those 2-1/2 weeks. Went to Penland last year and had the time of my life. So nurturing, so reaffirming.

My sweet son sprang up about 5 or so inches, and now towers over me. Even at almost age 14 he still hugs me every day and tells me I'm a great mom and that he loves me. I tell you that means everything to me. I am truely blessed. Many thanks to the infinite creator for my life, family, friends and talent.

Here's to turning 49. May it be a productive, joyful, and insightful year.

So I am thinking today will be a good day...

2009-06-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

This morning Graham and I are lounging in front of the TV watching an episode of Twilight Zone that we have not seen before. It's the one about the ghost ship ocean liner "The Lady Anne". We're trying to figure out the plot before it happens. One of the old lady actresses in it also played one of the big head alien Talosians from the original Star Trek (!) The plot has so many twists and turns...doesn't insult one's intelligence :-) It's only corny at the end when Rod Serling gives his lil wrap-up conclusion. I love it when you see him at the beginning of each episode on the set or wherever. He always has a lit cigarette as his companion...also all the doctors and pilots in Twilight Zone episodes down martini after martini and constantly smoke...

Before this we watched Dirty Harry. Scorpio- what a bonafide psycho-creep. Makes me wanna visit San Fran. Graham said he'll go with me in August, maybe for his birthday. We'll rent a car and travel down to hang with our friend Todd who lives in San Luis Obispo...I feel the need to run away from Raleigh for a while.

We are gonna hike a trail at Umstead today. Gonna really hoof it. Might have to carry lil Byron for some of it. Not sure if his lil mini-dachshund legs can make it the whole way...:-)

I have to say that as I turn 49 and am feeling quite freaked about time marching on...that I resolve to never sleep-walk through another day of my life.

And I am so thankful to have a son like Graham. We share a twisted and wicked sense of humor. Little Britain, South Park, Family Guy, Ali G, Borat...we love it all. We cannot wait for the Bruno movie. So disappointed that the Enimem thing was set-up, tho.

And Graham gets it that wrestling's fake, esp ladies' wrestling. Thank God.

Took some more pics yesterday- of the dirty doll. She is my muse. I will be posting them presently. One is called "Talent". The other is called "Hormone". Subversive & strange. :-D

ps Update: took another one after sunset that I will call "Oracle". Gonna have a reflective tomorrow.

Peace be with you XX

why i love the summer...

2009-06-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

...well, actually, "i love *all* the seasons" (this cosmic confession was liltingly imparted to my friend Jimmy and me by our wacky hippy waitress whilst we were eating our Mideastern Mystery sandwiches at the old Serendipity restaurant in the downtown old part of Cary probably 20 years ago...), but in fact i do love almost everything about summer except the mozzies and the humidity.

I love: long, long sunlight filled days. One has big windows of "golden hour" time in which to make photographs.

I love: wild, freaky, neon, out-bloody-rageous flowers and plants. Summer plants are flirts and show-offs. I steal flowers and weird leaves on my morning walks. Sometimes i even get around to using them as props in my photos...

I love: lightning bugs, weird moths, confrontational bees, esp the carpenter bees- they fly very laboriously, almost as if they can't quite stay aloft. Not that i want any of them to touch me...

I love: wearing summer dresses and tops and skirts...and shorts and sandals.

I love: getting a pedicure every now and then...just got my toes done turquoise. I think it gives the nail technicians an emotional lift to paint on a nail varnish color other than pink.

I love: the idea that a few shorts weeks from now I will be at Penland School of Crafts making art and feeling very nurtured...nirvana on a mountainside.

I love: farmers markets, growing our own tomatoes and peppers. Wish we had more sun. Then we could have more garden.

I love: lying back on the old sofa on our big front porch and listening to the birds, the traffic, dogs barking, and people walking up and down the street. While working a x-word puzzle...now that's the life.

I love: cookouts with friends. Esp ones that are spur-of-the-moment.

I love: getting to go to the beach for a few days, boogie-boarding with my son, helping my husband construct one of his crazy-perfect sand pyramids, watching helplessly as our lil dachshund consumes lots of sand and then poops it out later.

Guess that is enough for now...XX

once upon a time on a drab street in raleigh a little blog was born...

2009-06-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

greet-one:

so i am turning the big 4 dash 9 in a couple of days and well....guess it's about time i should be growing up and starting my own lil blog...re artmaking, art opinions, music playing and music opinions, and other weird stuff that will most likely interest only me.

my innocent aim re this blog-thing is for any and all interested parties to see what's going on as soon as it comes out hot from the oven. i love technology. so pls watch this space for periodic updates. i am rather ocd so hopefully many posts will manifest themselves.

this image is entitled "what's behind veil number two" and is part of the emerging, burgeoning, gestating portfolio i am creating. feel free to make all sorts of constructive criticism, not that i will take any notice :-D

love to all my happy like-minded peeps...XX