When my grandparents passed away my uncle continued to live at their house which has been nice because everything has stayed in place. I don't have to rely on my memory of what my grandparent's home was like, it's there for me to see. The aesthetic of their home is gorgeous. They still have the stockings that belonged to my dad and his brothers.
And a fabulous santa collection. Dad pointed out all of his favorite ornaments that are very old and gorgeous. I love this home. I spent a while really exploring it and filling up with great memories.
I'm feeling much better today. Had a great visit with my friend and am ready to get back in the studio and plow through this bit of an art block I'm having. I have no time for art blocks.
Still trying to get back into the swing of things around here. Feeling a bit lazy, a bit post-holiday depressed, a bit more lazy, and sort of lonely in this town. So, I'm going to eventually make my way to the studio today and hopefully a visit tonight from a good friend that I miss so much.
Meanwhile, I wanted to pass along a great blog and etsy shop by Cabin + Cub. I love this blog and shop and you should too. Check it out!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Merry after Christmas! I hope you are all having a fun holiday break and for those of you back to work today, blahhhhhh. I feel like I'm officially back to work today. I need to get myself in the studio and work work work.
Something that will make my work a bit easier? I finally got a sewing machine! I'm so excited! Unfortunately it was too heavy to take on the plane with me so it's still at my parents' house but they should be shipping it today. Now I just have to figure out how to work it and I'll be golden. Maybe I'll start making little creatures for my shop? Ghost pillows?
Another exciting thing I got was the 2010 calendar by Jill Bliss and Saelee Oh. I'm such a fan of both these amazing artists and it's a gorgeous calendar. If you're still looking for a 2010 calendar I certainly recommend this one.
Thank you again to all of those who made my giveaway feel fun and successful. Hopefully I can have another one really soon. Perhaps with a sewn creation? Happy work week to you all!
"Now you can bet that Old Donner felt pretty bad about the way he had treated Rudolph, and he decided the only thing to do was to go out and look for his little buck. Mrs. Donner wanted to go along, naturally, but Donner said, "No. This is man's work."
Emily send me an address and I'll get this to you... and that other piece you've been waiting for? Bonus!
Happy Holidays everyone and thanks for playing! I'll have to do this again sometime.
Oh, and my favorite quote from A Christmas Story:
"Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!" -Ralphie
I'm completely stealing this post from my friend Emmi's facebook page. She posted this Levi's commercial with Will Greer doing a reading of Walt Whitman's poem Pioneers! Oh Pioneers! Emmi said these words fired her up and I feel the same way. I wish I could link to Emmi's name but she doesn't have a website. Her work is gorgeous.
Okay, without further ado, here is the full poem. Watch the video and get fired up!
Oh, and Merry Christmas Eve!
1 COME, my tan-faced children, Follow well in order, get your weapons ready; Have you your pistols? have you your sharp edged axes? Pioneers! O pioneers!
2 For we cannot tarry here, We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, We, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers!
3 O you youths, western youths, So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, Plain I see you, western youths, see you tramping with the foremost, Pioneers! O pioneers!
4 Have the elder races halted? Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied, over there beyond the seas? We take up the task eternal, and the burden, and the lesson, Pioneers! O pioneers!
5 All the past we leave behind; We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world, Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march, Pioneers! O pioneers!
6 We detachments steady throwing, Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep, Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the unknown ways, Pioneers! O pioneers!
7 We primeval forests felling, We the rivers stemming, vexing we, and piercing deep the mines within; We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving, Pioneers! O pioneers!
8 Colorado men are we, From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus, From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come, Pioneers! O pioneers!
9 From Nebraska, from Arkansas, Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental blood intervein’d; All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern, Pioneers! O pioneers!
10 O resistless, restless race! O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all! O I mourn and yet exult—I am rapt with love for all, Pioneers! O pioneers!
11 Raise the mighty mother mistress, Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress, (bend your heads all,) Raise the fang’d and warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon’d mistress, Pioneers! O pioneers!
12 See, my children, resolute children, By those swarms upon our rear, we must never yield or falter, Ages back in ghostly millions, frowning there behind us urging, Pioneers! O pioneers!
13 On and on, the compact ranks, With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill’d, Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping, Pioneers! O pioneers!
14 O to die advancing on! Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come? Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill’d, Pioneers! O pioneers!
15 All the pulses of the world, Falling in, they beat for us, with the western movement beat; Holding single or together, steady moving, to the front, all for us, Pioneers! O pioneers!
16 Life’s involv’d and varied pageants, All the forms and shows, all the workmen at their work, All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with their slaves, Pioneers! O pioneers!
17 All the hapless silent lovers, All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked, All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying, Pioneers! O pioneers!
18 I too with my soul and body, We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way, Through these shores, amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing, Pioneers! O pioneers!
19
Lo! the darting bowling orb! Lo! the brother orbs around! all the clustering suns and planets, All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams, Pioneers! O pioneers!
20 These are of us, they are with us, All for primal needed work, while the followers there in embryo wait behind, We to-day’s procession heading, we the route for travel clearing, Pioneers! O pioneers!
21 O you daughters of the west! O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers and you wives! Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move united, Pioneers! O pioneers!
22 Minstrels latent on the prairies! (Shrouded bards of other lands! you may sleep—you have done your work;) Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and tramp amid us, Pioneers! O pioneers!
23 Not for delectations sweet; Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious; Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame enjoyment, Pioneers! O pioneers!
24 Do the feasters gluttonous feast? Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock’d and bolted doors? Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground, Pioneers! O pioneers!
25 Has the night descended? Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discouraged, nodding on our way? Yet a passing hour I yield you, in your tracks to pause oblivious, Pioneers! O pioneers!
26 Till with sound of trumpet, Far, far off the day-break call—hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind; Swift! to the head of the army!—swift! spring to your places, Pioneers! O pioneers.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wow! I'm so overwhelmed by all the comments on my giveaway blog! Thank you all for checking out my blog and leaving a comment. It's been really fun reading people's favorite movie quotes. I'm trying to think of my own favorite. My two favorite movies are A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. Both movies have so many great lines. I think I'll tell my favorite quote on Christmas day when I pick a winner. I probably won't be able to pick someone until later in the day so feel free to keep posting until then. Thank you very much to paper n stitch for posting my giveaway on their blog. A big shout out to Brittni who runs the site and does so much for the blogging/handmade store community.
The picture I posted is of me taken today at a U of K basketball game in Lexington, KY. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a sporty person at all. I went to the game with my sister and her husband and kids. It was a lot of fun even though I had to ask a lot of questions (what makes you go into overtime? what happened? why are they cheering?) and I felt sorry for the other team who did not have a crowd of people there to support them like U of K did. This is why I don't like sports. I can never pick a team, I always root for the underdog. But I'm glad I got to spend the time with my family.
Coming soon, I've been going through a lot of my high school artwork. A lot of embarrassing things to show. I can show a few things but some I'm just too embarrassed about. I definitely went through a fairy phase. I'll take some photos and post them soon.
Hope you all are having happy holidays! If you don't celebrate the holidays then I hope you're enjoying a fun break!
Monday, December 21, 2009
I just want to take a minute to say how stunned I was to hear about Brittany Murphy. I know people get annoyed with celebrity culture and people paying too much attention to celebrities and I'm not trying to be annoying. Regardless of her celebrity status I think this was a very tragic death. I grew up watching Brittany on TV shows and movies so I guess in some ways she symbolizes growing up and the friends that come and go during that period. I think that sometimes celebrities just serve as the face of things going on in each person's lives. I think Brittany was very charming and it's so tragic that her life took such a bad turn. It's tragic when this happens to anyone. I know I will use this time to ultimately reflect on those I've lost in my life this holiday season and find some way to turn that into a positive. For those of you going through the same thing I wish you all the very best. And lots of fudge and happy holidays.
Thank you all so much who gave such great advice on my last post. It was very encouraging. Last night my dad and I had a conversation about life and other important things and we agreed the best thing you can do for a person is be encouraging. I can definitely say there are so many encouraging people in my life including all my amazing blog readers. Thank you all so much. I only hope I can extend the same amount of encouragement.
I do encourage you to check out my giveaway which is open until Christmas. Happy Holiday Week!
How do you get a job working for such an awesome place like Container Plus? Seriously, I want to know. This would be my dream job. I sometimes wish I got my degree in design. I love good design. Any designers out there reading this? Can you give me advice on how to get into this industry? I'll have my masters in printmaking in a few months. Then what? Please help me!
And then scroll on down to my next post and enter to win my giveaway!
Since I recently won a giveaway I feel like I should return the giveaway karma in the world and offer my own giveaway. I'm offering this hand-cut piece that is made of screenprint and litho prints. It's about a foot tall. From now until Christmas the comments will be open. Please leave a comment telling me your favorite quote from a Christmas movie. I will use the random number generator on Christmas day to pick a winner!
Yesterday's crafting was a success! For those of you wondering about the yarn wreath it's really easy. I had been seeing wreaths like this all over the place lately including the cover of Readymade. I also found this tutorial on Urban Outfitters by Yokoo on how to make a pom pom wreath that is gorgeous!
For our wreaths we just used a bit of glue and lot of yarn. We wrapped the yard around a foam wreath until the foam was gone. Cassie, on the left, crocheted doilies and made pom poms to decorate hers. Mine is in the middle, I striped mine with green and blue and made a couple of pom poms as well. Courtney on the right made a string going from side to side and she plans on hanging letters from it. So crafty!
Here's one more close up of mine. I'm thinking of getting some wooden letters to glue to it. I'm going to give it as a Christmas gift and hopefully make some more before Christmas. This was the best afternoon I've had in a while. Very fun. Today I have to spend the day running all over trying to finish up in-town business because tomorrow I fly home for the holiday. So much to do!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
I recently discovered this band called Twin Sister and you can download one of their albums for free right here. A very sweet holiday gift. I like what I've heard of them so far.
My girlfriends are coming over today for a craft day. We are going to attempt to make yarn wreaths. I say attempt because I don't really know what I'm doing. I do, however, know how to make mimosas. That's an important thing to know when you're crafting.
I'll post results later... Wish me luck.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Last night I finally watched Spring Breakdown. I couldn't wait to see this movie ever since I first heard of it. With Parker Posey and Amy Poehler it has to be hilarious right? Sure I got a little worried when the release date kept getting pushed back and I got even more worried when it went straight to video. But I was hearing good things, cult classic I was hearing. So I couldn't wait. My boyfriend and I sat down to watch it last night and I did get a little worried about him seeing it because I have a much higher tolerance for movie pain. All my favorite movies are cheesy ones from the 80s so I can deal. But... It was terrible! So so bad. I felt like I "got it" as in I got what kind of humor they were going for and I wanted it to succeed. I hung in there through the whole thing just waiting for something to blow me away...It really never did. I told J we could stop it but he hung in there. Of course, he did go wash dishes in the middle of it but that counts as hanging in there. What did you think if you saw it? Please let me know. Maybe I can be talked into watching it again and giving it another chance. It had funny parts but I felt like the plot was so obvious and trite. Amy Poehler is always funny and Rachel Dratch did ok too but Parker Posey's character was just annoying. Please, share...
On a more positive note, I just recently had all my end of the year finals so my studio looks like this: I love having so much stuff on the walls. I can't wait until the gallery looks like this.
Monday, December 14, 2009
I have exciting news. I have my shop up at paper n stitch this month. If you're still looking for some holiday gifts I'm a fast shipper with plenty of beautiful party pieces. There are also many other great artists in the exhibit. Check it out.
Has everyone seen Fantastic Mr. Fox yet? If you haven't run run run to the movie theater. It's so beautiful it's worth it to see it on a large screen. I absolutely adored this movie. I think I smiled the whole time. Plus my boyfriend and I found a pretty cheap theater to see it in so that made me smile a lot, too. If you don't catch this in the theater put it at the top of your netflix queue. It's so charming and smart, just like a good Wes Anderson movie should be.
One last great bit of news. I won my first giveaway and it was by the ever amazing Jackie Bos. I've been loving her work for a while now so this was a fun giveaway to win. Anyone else winning good giveaways this season?
This is a terrible picture but look! I cooked! Okay, it's also an oldish photo but this is my absolute favorite thing to make. It's vegetarian chicken fajitas. I'm not a vegetarian but I've been using a lot of vegan and vegetarian recipes lately for healthy cooking.
Ok, just needed to brag for a second because I'm normally not the cooking type.
I've made it through this semester. It has been rough and it's been great. I learned a lot, I suppose that's what school is for. I grind my teeth more. I suppose that's also what school is for. I cry about the same as I used to cry. I cry a lot... I've cried a lot this week. Now one more semester to go. I'm sure the crying will go into over time as will the teeth grinding. And then... it's all over. I feel like it may ultimately be a little anti-climatic. I'm getting together plans for after I graduate. I'm applying for some things but if all else fails I have a pretty terrific person around here to keep me company should I continue to live here. Time will tell.
I have my last crit of the semester in an hour and a half. I'm a bit nervous. Cross your toes.
I updated the links on the sidebar. Take a look and discover some neat new websites and blogs. And don't forget to check out the new work in my shop.
I think that Lady Gaga is my current muse. Some people want to write her off as just another musical pop tart but I think she's really amazing and bizarre and weird. She's a pretty girl and could just be a pretty girl but she doesn't seem interested in that. Her fashionable tastes are weird but seem genuine. It's not like when Katy Perry sang a "scandalous" song about kissing a girl and then you realize she doesn't actually kiss a girl in the video. She's just being another girl who wants to attract guys by showing how wild she can be. Lady Gaga is likely not going to attract your average guy by wearing a gown that covers your face. I like that she doesn't care about that. I'm a little afraid that when it's all said and done with she could eventually be a total fake and fraud. I don't know why I feel so cynical but I guess it's just the whole too good to be true feeling. I like Lady Gaga's music but most importantly I like her attitude and style. I hope it's real because it seems real.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Not long ago I got to attend my friend Cassie's husband's thesis recital. For his show he made a video for one of his pieces. It was a great performance and I love the video. Here is the video by Nathan Edwards. Click on his name to hear more, learn more, and see more.
The other day in the studio I was working with balloons...
and making this. my fellow classmates got ahold of all my extra balloons and were doing this...
I love the printmakers.
In other news I had my final crit of the semester in printmaking last night and I'm super excited about all the ideas and feedback I got. I finally have a real vision for my thesis show and it's something I can't believe I haven't been doing all along. I think I just needed someone to tell me it was okay to do it. The past three years I've gotten so hung up on worrying what is art. I think sometimes my professors got frustrated with me because I was always second guessing myself. I'd make something but would always say: yes, but is it REAL art? I'm sure I've talked about that here before. I get too hung up worrying about the difference between art and Art. Finally I've accepted that there is no difference. Now I feel free! And ready to get back to the studio. But I woke up with a sore throat and headache. This bums me out because my body feels absolutely out of commission. I'll rest today and get back at it again tomorrow. I have a crit with my print faculty Friday and I'm looking forward to it. Wish me luck and cross your toes!
I ran across a picture online of Courtney and Drew and started reminiscing the 90s. Those years were my real coming of age years and though part of me is so grateful to be out of that time, part of me wishes to relive it over again. I miss when these two were such a hot mess.
I took these next two pics of Drew to my hairdresser constantly trying to get this hairstyle. It never ever worked. I was just awkward and always just missing the style train. Finally I realized just getting Drew Barrymore's haircut didn't mean I would look like her. And my hair has no curl so it's never going to happen. By the way I only recently realized that. Remember Sassy magazine? I was reading Sassy, Teen and Seventeen at the time but Sassy always seemed like the coolest. It covered all the bands that I loved and don't forget the movie Fear and the infamous roller coaster scene that left us all scandalized. Every night I stayed up late and watched Alternativenation with Kennedy. Crazy, republican Kennedy. I really fancied myself a girl with huge amounts of musical knowledge. I was such a diehard for the music during that time and the fabulous videos that went along with it. Like remember being so creeped out by the Black Hole Sun video by Soundgarden?
And I loved loved loved this video by Nada Surf. It was sooo cool.
And everyone remembers the Blind Melon bee, right?
Reality Bites was my all time favorite movie. I think I also worshipped Winona Ryder's hair in this movie. The mid-90s were a great time for hair. Anyway, I was only in my teens during this time and I wanted so bad to be the slacker twenty-something that this gen x period really catered to. I wonder who I would be if I really was a gen x-er. I feel like I can almost taste that time in my life and that longing I had to be older, different, cooler, have better hair... I feel like I can't exactly pinpoint a scene that makes up my generation. The gen x time was all about music, slacker intellectualism, flannel and combat boots and short haircuts. What generation am I? What is our claim to fame? Please don't say Spice Girls and leggings as pants and celebutard culture. You don't have to say it, I think it's a given.
Lets all create a new generation that feels meaningful even if twenty years from now we look back and say... "That haircut just never worked on me." "To Pizza..."
And a fabulous santa collection.
Dad pointed out all of his favorite ornaments that are very old and gorgeous.
I love this home. I spent a while really exploring it and filling up with great memories. 
