caleb.collage.&.one by one

my hours at the rx are being cut back to about twelve per week and so hopefully i'll have a whole lot more to cross off my list. i had to work this weekend and didnt' find as much time to get things finished. i did however finally finish bitter water {pretending/posturing tree}. i had only a few more touches to make. i added some small stamped lettering and a few more touches of white as well as a full coverage of modpodge. i wasn't feeling the "hot" aspect of the painting and so there isn't going to be much more red or orange. maybe next time around. i started tracing out the shapes for my next tree. i have the canvas ready to go, now it's just getting the shapes going. i started a project with the buttons i received from nina last week. not exactly a button wreath. more like a button "ball". doesn't sound cool does it? i also did the doodle, a little drawing of my soon to be nephew caleb. my love for him is growing every day. i cannot wait to see him and meet him. i know that by his first halloween he won't be standing or even walking but i was drawing more from a stream of conscience. nothing as specific. i also went to see 'we are marshall' over the weekend with my dad. umm. i'll have to get back with some sort of review. i enjoy "man-ish" sortof films, football is fun to watch and play, this is a sad very true depiction of this story, and that's it for now.

WIP:pretending/posturing tree:bitter water

i am terribly sorry about the long, overly descriptive title of this post. i have no idea why i feel it necessary to include every bit of this painting's title, quite ridiculous, isn't it. considering i usually have a very difficult time with titles, this one came about, a very big no brainer. i'm really excited about the progress i have made. knowing the work on this tree is coming quickly to an end. the last few details are on the table and i probably just need one or two more free nights to complete it. i took a huge break over the holidays, all the way back to thanksgiving, because my family was coming over and i had several holiday projects underway that this painting seriously took a back seat. no more!!!

i am starting off the year exactly the way i looked forward to. last night i finished the second {very small & quick} read of the year. david sedaris' "holiday on ice." so unlike the last book i read, this one is very different, quite opposite and jaw-cringing. despite. afterall, i am fond of taking turns in my reading. i tend to read a couple of books by the same author in a row, then move on. i read "me talk pretty one day" by sedaris, last year and enjoyed it, as embellished truth, not complete fiction. these books have very raw tendencies that tend to make you want to cringe. sometimes so sarcastic, so painful that i had to question whether i should ever read something of sedaris' again. although i'm sure i will because i'm totally interested in barrel fever and naked. but the reviews speak to his irreverent verbage and off the wall collection of thoughts-stories. his six christmas stories remind me of how angry i was in highschool, how desperate i was to be free and rid myself of the norm. i am not sure if this book has any redemptive qualities, it is thought provoking and if you're like me; you'll enjoy the writing style and word choice, sentence structure is so nice. as i read i often tend to attempt to copy the writing style of the author. awh what a dork. that is my review.

bside: the little red mailorder envelope arrived yesterday{big thank you to amy!!!}. slide beneath my apartment door awaiting my anticipation and glee!!! i am going to try an tackle several things in january.

a. instead of a button wreath; i've got a styrofoam ball and i think it might be nice to make a large button ball to hang in a hallway arch...

b. i'm going to finish pretending/posturing tree:bitter water^

c. complete this WIP

d. enter this exhibit and benefit, but first find out what the deadline is. i know i'll enter my fish and robot

e. send nina a package of cool vintage things

f. begin to collect and eventually send a valentine package

g. work on the cross stich and other projects in mailorder #5

meanwhile will continue to walk everyday, eat right and cut back on the s.m.o.k.e. my january 2007 looks full but i'm willing to try for it. why not?

outages

there have been scheduled outages all day today and so i've been taking advantage of the time and actually working. you may think i'm a squirm for blogging while on work time but i've done it since the beginning and no one here has a problem with it. is it ethical? well. if everyone is doing it than the rules are changing right? and if i'm getting my work done, i mean really getting it done, not lying here. or fudging the facts than who is it hurting?

this past weekend was insane at the creative discovery museum and sunday i spent the day with my aunt at gateway. we walked through the entire place, taking three hours to catch up with the merch. i did find a few little things which i will try and share in the next couple of days. i also received a sweet swap package from nina with all kinds of fun goodies, can't wait to show you all!

show & tell:vote

**very special goebel birds**

the most important thing that i have to mention...in a very sheepish sort of way, is that it is again time for bloggies 2007.

every year i love seeing who has {won} in the varied catagories. it is an exciting way to find new writers, new artists, humor, and the daily life of someone else like me across the globe.
i have been blogging for quite a long long time and have very few readers, that i know of. with some definite pride i think i've got a very nice thing going on here. i feel comfortable in this niche'. i have often thought about writing less and posting more photos. i've wondered about the art i post or the lack thereof. i have wondered about how our society seems to create cliques even on the great www. i feel i fit in some sort of clique here, even though i am not sure how or when or why. at times it has boggled my mind at how people have come across phantomcrimes. and certainly sitemeter has changed my views on blogging. i have found that people search for the most outrageous and sometimes rather hilarious things, and so haphazardly find phantomcrimes.

someone actually was searching for "artist sh*t paint", which led them here. someone else must've been actually feeling the terrible weather we were having yesterday, their depressing search "glummy Sunday music", led them here. oh brother, i really do love this, this process we have going on, throwing out our thoughts, like target shooting almost. looking back i have found blogging to be one of the most rewarding things, aside from actually painting and making art, i've ever pursued. fellow bloggers feel the same exact way, i read about the community and unity almost everyday! i have met and followed several for so long it is second nature. i continue blogging for the sake of family and friends but also to share with the anonymous, and give something, even it is really little, back. i have done so many different swaps i remember my very first with hilary from weewonderfuls. it was so thrilling to get mae in the mail!!!

well i say all this to get you all to vote if you'd like for phantomcrimes or maybe you'd rather vote for one of my dear blogging friends>see my teansy blog role to the right. it isn't really about winning for me, it's about knowing and being involved in this great community.

and look at the crap i posted last year...unga bunga!!! how embarassing:)

weigh of the evening

i felt like crawling into a cup of hot coffee last night when i returned home from the pharmacy, but instead found the stale nestle cocoa in my cramped cabinet. an incredible pile of wrinkled but dry clothes lay in the middle of the apartment living space...