battlelines drawn

sometimes i could stay securely at home and never go out at all. i don't go out a ton because there's not a ton to do. i'd rather stay at home and make art. or watch television. the downtown area of chattanooga has been taken over by teenagers having been dropped off by their parentals. there may still be a few sacred spaces to go and have peace and quiet, but that's it. i've been thinking that sense i have been getting all of these slides together i should probably have a better, safer place to keep them all. i had a portfolio that i got at target sometime ago, but it was burnt in the housefire. i kept it, thinking that it was still too new to throw away, but now it's been three years and it's time to say goodbye. i asked my mom for a portfolio for my birthday, which she thought was a good idea. so i have found one i think is kinda cool, but it's not exactly what i'm looking for. see it here. do you guys have any ideas or places i could look. jen kring had one i think that i liked, but i can't quite remember. i kind of want one that is brown instead of black, but it has to have a three ring binder in it, so that i can put my slides in it.

also, kate wrote me today and asked if i would put together some cards. so i'm going to start a little series. i will have them ready before christmas, but they won't be christmas cards. they'll be more like stationary or cards you'll want to write a nice little letter in. i've made lots of cards before and every year kate asks me if i'll do a few for gifts. so i'll start working on them this weekend.


jason has put this on his website, but this photo is a good example of the kind of cards i make. they're usually my collages that are shrunk down, so they end up being really nice. if any of you out there are interested i'll make some and we can trade or for about eight cards and envelopes i'll sell them for ten dollars. if i've got to ship them it'll end up being a little more. but just let me know we can work something out.

i suppose i've drawn the battlelines with my art. jas really feels i should have my own website devoted to just my art and not this blog. i want the same thing, but i'd rather have my own domain instead of relying on a blog sort of thing. jas wants me to make a disk of my slides and then send it his way so that he can create a site for me. i'll have to contact wolf camera or something to see about that. again if you have any ideas let me. i don't want the site to be like a blog at all though. we'll see, i think i'm just fearful or unmotivated or not sure. i'm thankful for jason's interest in my work. he thinks that when i move to honolulu that i'll have no problem with selling or showing my art. i'd like to do it in a climate sort of like what angry woebot is doing. i also want music on my site too. it'll be a blowout for sure.

deadline departure

this is my version of international desk day, even though it's not the day. i've been wanting to contribute to the mass perspective. my nine to five is here at this desk. although it looks like my refrigerator at home. i'm drawn towards squares of color and i've got many of the 45's photosnflyers stapled underneath my window ledge. fortunately i've got plenty of space, which i'm thankful for. i don't have a desk at home where i make my art. i usually use my kitchen table. maybe someday i'll have it together enough for another international desk day photo.

yesterday i went and picked my slides up from framewrights after work. everything looks good. i was even happy about how the display tent photos came out. my only concern is that the slides of the tent are tinted blue. bob wright asked me about that...my thought was that we took the photos outside on the back deck of kate's house. their home is blue/gray and the day was getting on into the evening. i don't think it will matter. at least i hope not. i think the tent looks good and you can see that it's professional and clean. or something.

so i just got the slides sent off, the deadline is tomorrow, so i think i'm good on time. i'm still nervous though. everyone has really been helpful and encouraging to me. they think that i'll be asked to participate in the festival for sure. it's amazing to me that i'm even at this point. i have pushed away from the artscene so much in the past. now it's crunch time. i started to really think about how i could easily be driven by fear. i also started to think about moving to honolulu and how my making art will be affected. if i don't participate or at least try now, what really makes me think i can do it anywhere else. i'm going to have to make quite a bit more art though. i'd like to make ten to fifteen new pieces before the may festival dates. i don't want to show/hang anything that isn't for sell. i also want to make a bunch of cards and smaller collages to sell. jas said that he'd come out from honolulu to help me that weekend. now i have a lot to look forward to.

i'm starving now. so i suppose the departure is near. i'll be sending out wee's fabric tomorrow i suppose. the stress of sending out slides has been all i can think about today.

one night after another

last night i couldn't sleep at all. i had a long sleepless night which felt like eternity. so when i woke up this morning i was in a very sour mood. i wish a mornings like this morning i could just stay at home and drink coffee all day until i get the headache jitterings. we went to panera last night and the coffee must've been strong. usually coffee doesn't prevent me from sleeping, especially if i've not had a nap. when i came home i spent the rest of the night watching the six wives of henry the eighth. then i went to bed to read, the mammoth hunters. i'm almost finished. next in line is ghost soldiers. i finally turned out the lights at twelve thirty and dozed for a minute but awoke at one a.m. i decided to call the 45. he was up and getting ready to go out to play at the buddha bar. when we got off the phone i still couldn't get to sleep. completely dreadful.

i have so many things on my mind. i'm trying to imagine myself in the 4bridges festival. i'm trying to imagine the slides being just the right slides for the jury to see. i'm imagining the cards that i can't wait to make. i'm working on a couple packages to send out this week. around my apartment i have little piles of projects and packing materials. i've got to remember to pick up my slides today. i must get a box to send fabric to wee. i'm looking forward to this friday evening. i'll be attending the incredibles with a coworker. then i'm heading to lamar's to see jairus, the quiet ones, and el toro de blanco. saturday i really need to devote to the mural. now that i have a working d.c. i'll take pics for all to see. you'll beable to see how dorky my people's faces are, but that's okay. it's hard to paint with water based paint that smears all around. yuck. today i wanted to make a booklist of books i'd like to own or read in the near future. i'm thinking i'll make a cd list too, but it might not be for p.d. if you catch my drift or jist. oh brother.

Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer

How to Be Alone: Essays by Jonathan Franzen

Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century Hunter S. Thompson

The Adventures of Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey by Tony Millionaire


and now there's this:

in one bitter love
a kiss may fall plateau
upon a barren gravel path.
a kiss occurred to me a path
complete until cold lips pressed
too close caused my body to tremble.
i proclaimed a nervous clam
more pure love
than once the dead of winter froze
between us.
until amidst the freeze
one bitter love's plateau began
to crumble
a sure, extraordinary foot
lay now at nature's truce,
rain had surely fallen. thus
a mountain.
in one bitter love
a kiss may thaw at best and
soak my heart.

regency house party

i have always loved my pbs in the evenings. recently i started watching the best of reality television. pbs always has their versions and this season is as good as the past. i have begun to watch regency house party. it doesn't compare to the likes of big brother or the apprentice. if you have the oppurtunity, it is a must see. have any of you seen the show?

one other thing on a little bit different note. did you hear about the reopening of the moma? the new admission cost will be twenty dollars. that's just outrageous. isn't art for the masses? or is just for the elite? i don't know that i ever want my art in a museum. i wouldn't mind have a gallery exhibit in the future, but it's one step at a time. you know the smithsonian is free. that's just amazing.

well that's all i've got to say for now.

monamieta

i barely remember where i left off last week. i think i was beginning to feel badly because i was spending quite a bit of time with the www and not working as consistently. i mentioned that last week i took the majority of my work to framewrights to have slides made and framing done. i was so excited about taking a large body of work to be framed. this whole time i've had my painting framed in plexi-glass and paper binders. it's worked well for me, but the time has come to step up. i can't wait to see the portrait of josiah framed, as well as the hawaiian inspired piece. i took the portrait of aaron and the bird for slides. i especially want to have prints made or the pieces printed for cards. the slides, along with my application are due on november 19th, so i'll let you know as things develop.

on friday i spent the evening at home alone. i was invited to a party but i had felt badly all day on friday, so i decided to go to the main street conoco and by a forty of beer. just a little bit o' beer is nice every once in a while. on saturday, i was so lazy, except i made a ton of paper flowers. i've been experimenting and i finally think i've come up with a plan for making garland with the paper flowers and pipe cleaner. kate made some really cute garland out of paper that i think she should try and take a picture of and post on new eyes. i made so many flowers i was quite sure of what to do with them all and they're sort of christmas-y. on saturday evening my sister in law m.c. had a party for my brother ethan. it is actually his birthday today and monamieta's (my mom) birthday tomorrow. they live on the creek and so ethan built a huge bonfire and we just sat around until about midnight or so. it was a nice time. i mostly talked with katie huffine and l.c. i was planning on going to church on sunday morning but it was a no go. instead i made a ton more flowers. i think i must of made about thirty or forty. yikes. i decided i'd take them to tina at blueskies. when i got to blueskies they were already closed, but ginger and tina were counting down the register. so they let me in. i gave the flowers to tina and she asked me if she could sell them. i said "NO!" she asked why and i told her i was actually working on something a little bit more special for the holidays, but that i brought them so that she could decorate her custom gift wrapping. she asked me how long it took me to make the flowers, probably 5-10 minutes each flower, they she said that she could do whatever she wanted with them because i'd given them to her. she is quite generous and i didn't want her to think i was being pushy with my product or whatever you want to call.

i also have gathered some wonderful bits of fabric together for wee. i can't wait until she sees the stuff i'm sending. i used to do nervous exchanges, but it seemed as though must of the people on nervousness are younger and a little less creative. so i was always putting a lot of time and effort into the exchange and inturn only getting a little bit of blah. now i just want to give something back to wee for all of the great work. i know she already has some wonderful fabric, so i'm not so sure the stuff i'm sending her will stand out any but, who knows. i'm just thrilled to help.

the other exciting thing is that i've finally got a camera for blog photos. the only catch is that the card only holds 15 photographs. i'll have to go to the parentals each time i want the photos on my flickr account or the disk. but the above photo is a very crappy example of the flowers i make. actually we scanned the flower on my dad's scanner. i like the rough pixelation thought. this was an addition to one of my mom's birthday presents.

on sunday evening all of the fam collier went to the parentals house. we celebrated ethan's and mom's 50th. very fun to see all of the family gather together. i gave my mom some very nice martha steward placemats from kmart. i noticed that martha's prices are down. has anyone else noticed. i saw that wee bought some of the same wrapping paper i did, but it also seemed like kmart didn't want to buy too much martha stock to put on the xmas shelves. possibly because they're afraid the sales will be low. oh i'd encourage you to go out and buy her cute little things. it is amazing to me that her corporation has such a ear to the decorative/crafty/homemaker pulse. i also had uncle david look up vintage christmas candles on ebay. you wouldn't believe it. he got about forty or fifty candles. my aunt and i split them. martha just had a feature in her xmas magazine. i just thought i would be interesting to see how available the candles are. there are so many and they are generally really cheap. i might give a few as gifts for the holidays. but i doubt it, i'm sure alot of people don't have the same taste i do for the age-yness of the faded wax.

well it's another week.