.amber.bisque.buff.gold.lemon.saffron.

are you a good speller? are you a walking, talking thesaurus? if you are i would like you right now, i'm just sure of it. confessionally speaking, my color vocabulary has been sinking lowly style for a week. so i am pulling out all of the stops, grasping at straws, falling for all of the thesauritic possibilities. and i'm actually coming up with little bits here and there. i am learning that there are many shades of yellow and that monochromatic can also mean the my paper quilt collage can appear to have only one color. i'm not sure if that makes sense or not but as you can see my scrapes show little evidence of good yellow.

i wish that i had a constant supplier of all things good color paper, i'm wishywashy about design. i am not ungrateful though and am willing to compensate, by any means. i'd like to be sponsered, sponsered by a paper making company, a printing company, a shoe company would be nice too considering i've got baby feet. i could be the perfect spokesgirl for your little company. right?

i only have this snippet to show, not a whole lot to show for all the effort. um, tonight i'm off to the meeting place. i cannot wait. i should have the yellow wrapped up by the end of the week. anyone have a suggestion for my next color, green? since it is march and all and st. patrick's day is right o' round the corner.

interest.summer.activity


don't you just love fresh guacamole? i used to make it all of the time and truthfully i got burnt out. summer seems to be around the corner though. at least it is in the air today and maybe the good old guac could make a come back. it is this afternoon at least, my lunch served up amigo style. i was watching a slice of television before bed and the truelove, and caught up with a couple of ideas. i have long abandoned no waste wednesday but thought i would sorta bring it back today. inspired or not. really cool summer activity for your small children. start setting aside a couple dollars each week, save up a little to send your little tikes out into the world of camp!!!

1. Circus Camp: this looks really awesome you guys!!! if i had a kid or two i'd have to send them to barking legs theatre for a week in july just so that they'd have this opportunity and the ability to thrive outside of the daily routine. by the end of the week your child has been lifted into a new world where art and music and performance becomes their life. by the end they've got a circus to perform and you get to watch!!! your little guy only has to be four years old and it's for a short time each day, 8:30am-12:30pm {snacktime included}. the day is split into four sections: visual art {planning, designing, creating the set for the circus}; music {writing music and song, developing the instruments, and playing instruments for the circus}, performance {learn about stage presense, acting, behavior, how, where, when to come onto stage, write circus script}, and finally movement {learn how to dance, act like, be the animals in the circus}.

doesn't it sound so...well go check it out and starting saving the moolah!!!

2. Chattanooga Zoo Camp: unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of info on the website yet for this yearly upcoming event. they promise to update soon. i think if your kid is into animals and says that he/she wants to be an animal or a vet than this would be a place for them to go and see, play, and do. i remember when i was a senior in highschool i volunteered at the zoo as a "friend of the zoo." for an entire semester i went and cut up all kinds of food and proceeded to feed all of the animals, even the tigers. the zoo then, wasn't what it is today and i'd definitely go to the zoo and see if it is an environment you'd want your kid to be in but this sounds pretty neat! let me know if you have got more info or if your kid has ever been...i'm interesed.

3. Chattanooga Nature Center Camp(s): the CNC has a whole lot to offer all year round, but especially in the summer for your kids!!! i personally was involved with the CNC camps many years ago when they were first getting started and the camps were so much fun, kids and parents loved it alike. it is a little different these days, more organized, more age specific and of course the nature center continues to strive in growing little people's minds. when my brother was a young kid he was able to volunteer as a junior camp counselor, he was actually their very first counselor in training. and was the little boy so eager to be outside and in the nature that they actually began a CIT program. this is really perfect for your older children's needs. how cool, how adventurous is that?

anyway. it's not a crafty post today but hopefully one that will help and give you some summer activity ideas. i'd also like to suggest that if you are short on the fundage you should offer to volunteer at one of these camps for a discount rate or maybe you and all your mommie friends should start a summer camp of your own. a co-op camp or something. learn to teach your children about the grassroot efforts and opportunities in our little community.

^above: the poison tree my most "interesting" photo, according to flickr. what is the most interesting photo you think you've ever taken? i mean really, it has got to be more interesting than my poison tree.

i have so much to post today: a specific discussion i had with my mom last night, one of those great thought provoking conversations, that i'll have to post about tomorrow or something. have a good day and stay interested in what you and your family are doing!!!

remember happy?

i am freezing cold. i went outside to my car, heard a review of the debut album from the trucks. i have never heard of the trucks before. another girlie punk band. i like how i became the bomb. i like the website. i don't know much from the shins but saw them on saturday night live. i thought the shins were supposed to be punk, how did i come up with that persception. i wonder if i could be a music critic?


i did not get around to working on the yellow paper quilt collage this weekend. i did however make a list on saturday morning and accomplished everything on that list. all except baking my junglegym chocolate chip cookies. i will save that chore for tuesday or wednesday night. laundry piles up as if i had a family of five. piles of magazines need to be organized. and my bills needed to be paid. afterall it is the beginning of march. funny.


i had a conversation on the telephone with my mom last week. at one point i told her that i was alright, really alright and that i needed to remember to remind myself that i am actually very happy. my mom laughed at me. and she's told me since that i needed to post along the lines of our conversation. i do not know if posting all of this is all that important. nevertheless, i am very quick to forget what it is i am happy about. joy is stolen from me, as if i'm mugged around every corner. i am to blame though. solely responsible. because i walk around with my ears tuned to hear the impossible, the critic, and the struggle. it is a focus not really worth living for, to chalk it up. a focus revolving around my relationships and my art and jobs are really worth living for. the small minute victories there between the lines i live.


i'd like to think and discuss more of the possibilities. my mom and i would like to collaborate and write:illustrate a children's book. my mother is going to be a grandmother for the first time in her life in a few short months. i will be an aunt and so there are these new little people that are going to enter our lives and we are a family of readers, writers, artists, builders, and healers. what will our legacy be?

i see myself becoming more involved with the art community in chattanooga. i do not know how it will happen or when but there are more and more possibilities opening up everyday.
***i am happy because i grew up safely. without domestic violence, alcohol or drug abuse. i am happy that i wasn't neglected or orphaned. i am happy because i never broke a bone or had to get stitches. i am happy that i have my own car, my own apartment, my new cellphone. all of the stupid little things like my bird collection and button collection, and tiny things collection make me happy. and music from out of the woodwork makes me happy. i even like wearing my grey coat inside because it makes me warm and happy. what makes you really happy?

*there you have it*

okay so it has taken me a little longer than i told you that it would, to complete the Blue Paper Quilt Collage. to begin with i had some trouble coming up with the right drawings, then the paintmarkers were being fairly stubborn. this go around i pencil drew the sunshine and welcome tree first, then went over it with blue ink, added the paintmarker color, went over the blue ink a second time, then the paintmarker again. fine lines are really vital, my goal is for the collage to look as though it has been printed or manipulated on the computer. i am not about to critique, i'll leave that to you.

i am just as happy with my second in the second series, as i am in the pink&red. last night after work i even got around to preparing my next canvas board for the yellow&"hint o' green" paper quilt collage. this process is going really really smoothly. i cannot wait to pursue colors beyond just the primary. yellow will be a challenge, just because i don't know how much yellow paper i've got collected. all and all i haven't had to purchase anything, it has all been about recycle, reuse, renew!!! hahaw!

i feel like such a dork. i wanted to mention that i will not be putting any of my new work up for sale quite yet. i am saving one piece for someone who has already expressed interest. and the rest i am storing up for a possible future exhibit. at the time of the exhibit-when it happens i will do my best to give everyone a fair opportunity to purchase. that is if there happens to be a high demand.

as already mentioned; and to add to my dorkiness; i have been officially invited to the month of may, to participant in the lovely Paper Quilt Project. i cannot express how happy i am. how utterly humble i feel. by just looking at the other artists that i have the honor to share the month with i'm overwhelmed. i suppose to some it may not be that big of a deal but i do have the deep desire to be recognized for my talent and gift. most of all i want to share, give and express my thankfulness and joy through my art, through creating. the paper quilt project was a small goal, a small dream, hidden away in the recesses of my brain, a chance that i wanted to try and achieve. it may not mean that all of a sudden my art "takes off", but it gives me a feeling of great accomplishment. if nothing else i will have given my very best. a small glimmering light. peace in this cat heart.