Messing around

Oh layouts! Why can't I be wizard at html?
Driving me crazy with this formatting.


This just reiterates two things:

1. I need a photoblog.

2. It must be getting closer to spring, because I'm jumpy.

Post # 111 Best SNL Skit

Need a little abstract in my life

Maybe the abstract photo of my abstract art is more interesting than the actual piece. Oh well.

I was in a painting mood, and my abstract skills have never really been pushed. So, I decided to sacrifice some 11xsomething canvases that have been hiding under the haunted piano in my room. ( Can you think of a better place to stash 8 blank canvases.)

I wish I would have video taped my painting session. Not for any glorified self broadcasting, but for my own reflection. I was amazed at how my first canvas (not pictured on this post) was a complete flop, and how consciously or sub-consciously I tried to fix it.

The next two canvases I worked on simultaneously. Which, not only was gratifying to my slight ADHD tendencies, (Ahhh, constantly changing channels!) but let me abandon one just in time so I wouldn't ruin it completely, so I could focus on the other.

Gypsy guitars and heavy Spanish rhythms stripped away any inhabitions.

 

It went a little like this in my head :

OHH! Okay, aalllllll red. Then scrape some of it away. Layers, I need layers. Okay, maybe it'll become a forest. NO! Don't turn it into anything yet. Just let it do it's thing. Okay, I need drips. What will purple do? What will white do? Yikes! Ummm, okay, now that I've done that, how are you going to make sure it's balanced? AMEBA! YES! Abstract work needs amoebas. Oh crap. Okay, Well, keep going with that shape. Smooth it out. Move it around. Hey good song!

Move onto the next, let the other one dry. Keep moving, keep adding. Keep mixing. Imagine what it would look like next to that drip. Does it need yellow? Does it need green? Does it need white? What?

And then I got lost in the sound and the paint and stopped actively asking questions and just did it.

Good exercise.

It happens this time every year...

My hands get itching for some clay and a wheel. I miss that constant spinning and the conversation you speak with your hands over the smooth clay body, and the fight and tug to get everything centered.

There is something so utterly satisfying about supping from a dish that you made. You and the clay and the water and the kiln. Although, you secretly know you had less of an influence on what came out of that dragon furnace --because the clay did what it wanted in the end. 

My ultimate dream would be to build a wood kiln somewhere out in the forrest, and have an art yurt completely dedicated to throwing pots. Throwing in the round, just seems so right somehow. 

Winter, I think, lends itself to making things. Crouching over some magnum opus. Leaning on the wheel  digging up half frozen silt from the bottom of the barrels and recycling it back into a good stuff. Caking your hands in slip!

I miss my ceramics classes. I especially miss when it was our turn to do a 24hr wood kiln at my professors' studio. Timing the logs to make sure of the constant temps, and throwing the salt in at the right time. Building ice caves to sleep in when you were off duty. Smelling like smoke and dirt. Then the unveiling of the kiln. MAGIC! You never know exactly you're going to get. You can predict how the fire will react to a pot depending on how close it was to the actual flame, and how the soot may cover an area, and where the salt landed. 

But the opening of the kiln, and the toasty heat from the bricks and the pots almost resonating with warmth creates a wondrous feeling to the 'makers'. Some "Awwws" of collective disappointment when a broken pot is found. Still there are more happy gasps and cheers when a fellow's experiment turned out.

It was my ceramics classes that taught me the interesting paradox to art making.

On the one hand to not be so attached, and so invested in a piece that I ruin it with my own flawed hopes for it.  "It's just clay. Smash this one, you can make another. " 

It also taught me to be selective with what I offered to the fire ; only the best. "Is it kiln ready? Is it kiln worthy?"

Perhaps it's this flu I've been fighting since Wednesday that makes me reflect in a dreamy state of illness, but I feel like this is the perfect metaphor for my spiritual journey.

On the one hand, I want to make sure that I don't take everyday and every mistake I make too seriously or else I would completely loose my mind in the flaws and the daunting task of reaching and working toward perfection and enlightenment. 

And also, of course, to make sure my time, my thoughts, my actions, my offerings are ready and worthy of what I'm working toward. 

The letting go of what you've made from the clay you've been given. That thing that you struggled and triumphed and yelled and laughed and smashed and started over and over again. You give it up, and hope it can withstand the test of the fire, and it is made more beautiful and interesting than you could have made by yourself. 

 "Take away the dross from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer." Proverbs 25:4

 "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good work."2 Timothy 2:21

I don't think I've mentioned this yet...

I have a godchild!

I took this picture of Aiden back in September. Sweet baby!

Christmas is CARNAGE!

You've been waiting, I can tell for a great post from me. Well, I'm sorry to say all I've got is a sorry expose on the slaughter of innocent foodstuffs during the festive holiday season.

The graphic picture above is the leftover skins of ravaged oranges, tortured into submission to make the pulpiest orange juice you ever gaged on! It was really quite tasty, I'll admit, once you got used to using your teeth as a strainer.

Green eggs and ham--A holiday tradition.

Jars of applesauce were thrown into recipes, and lactaid was flowing freely. It was a crazy, CRAZY time.

Maren's breakfast, mmmmm!

Then, drunk from the holiday excitement, there was a lapse in judgement and jello jigglers were formed, and then poorly scooped out.

The result, this holiday color train wreck.

Katelyn (my cool besty) came over to try to make sense of it all. We haven't seen each other in such a long time.  So we thought we'd make a bouche de noel, like the ones we made in the past, for competitions.  Unfortunately, our decorating skills have not progressed over the years.

The result was an oblong bloody bouche! Strawberry whipped cream, and cake as light as air! Mmm!

Now that I'm back out west, where the air is nice and polluted, (darn inversion!) I'm trying by best to work off this holiday weight inside. Can't wait to be able to hike around in clean mountain air, come April/May.

Hope your Christmases were bright and beautiful.

I'm going to post...

I am.

"First we forgot where we planted those bulbs last year...

And then we forgot that we planted 'em.
Then we forgot what plants are all together,
and I blamed you for my freezing and forgetting. "

Do you know that Dar Williams song? February.

I wanted to be sure before Thanksgiving, and before the snow fell I planted bulbs. So I went to the store and spent an hour dreaming of what it (our porch) would look like this coming spring...and got that song stuck in my head.

"You stopped and pointed and you said, 'That's a crocus.'  And I said, 'What's a crocus?' And you said, 'It's a flower.'

I tried to remember, but I said, 'What's a flower?'

You said, 'I still love you.' "

* I love their little papery whiskers.

Mmmm, dirt!

Also, I had Blackberries for lunch, a while back. And they were so beautiful that I had to take a picture of them. They reminded me of when we lived in Washington, and Soren and I would walk around the lake. It seemed that most of the forest was just blackberry canes. We'd sneak our tiny arms through the brambles in a crazy thorn maze---and we'd get cut and scraped but it was all worth it when that black beautiful juicy berry (the size of your thumb!) would explode in your mouth.

Purple tongues are a sign of true happiness.

Barker Family Shots

Look at this good looking group!

I love Dave and Karen. They were so kind to invite me up for Thanksgiving, and man, we got blessed with the best weather for pictures!

I finally got to meet the mysterious Mark!

Ammon and Jes and little Emma---who STOLE THE SHOW!

She's hilarious.

Here's beautiful Jes.

Dallin and Becki pretty much top my list of 10 favorite people.

And then...there's Kira, who is luminous! LOVE THIS GIRL!

How do you solve a problem like...

MARIA?!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Preview...

More Katie

I would totally believe that little birds did her hair...

I live with freaking princesses.

Is that really an exercise ball behind that bride?

Why, yes. Yes it is. That is just....High Fashion "rite thurr".

Going dress shopping with Katie tomorrow. She's gonna be a BEAUTIFUL bride!

Sniff, sniff...is that smoke!?

Dear Void,

If I happen to die in my bed tonight due to smoke inhalation or some poison gas, please know that I have been all over this house and have determined that it's not coming from us.

It's a chilly night, and cold, damp air outside is heavy with a bad smokey, marijuana smell.

Paranoid sleep is the only option.

Love me,

Kaje

Shots of the day

Me....and my shadow.

I love how Amara says she'll sing me a "Merm-laid song". I love how she squeals, "Keesten's hew!" in the morning. I love having a mini me!