underneath II

okay i can say ::underneath ii:: is now complete and ready to be handed off to ms. heidi v. she can rename it of course, if she so wishes. it's my identification ways i suppose, to help me distinguish between each piece, not so much a title as a catalog of interesting words.

i feel like, humbly, that this was quite a successful piece, completion and execution. it's larger by a bit than the original number one underneath that sold previously at the last our clothesline art show. it wasn't until after the show, that heidi announced she'd wanted to make it hers and afterall could not. i told her "heck, i'll make you one!" "no problem!" and it really wasn't. but, i'm now eager to move on, to jet off and depart from the wood grain contact paper for a minute, i may come back, one day. it's the cutting out of the trees, thats so crazy labor intensive, not exactly sweat shop style but i can say my right hand might suffer, or does, and my neck. i haven't used an easel in a couple of years. my studio consists of my old locker trunk. i'm fine with that too.

eight weeks in counting, to another clothesline and boy am i gonna have to push the needle to a hundred and ten miles per hour. i have no real concrete idea in which direction to go this go around. the trees seem played out and yet, it's all i want to make, treescapes, my forest growing.

from where i sit i'm gonna procrastinate just a little bit and then it's off and running.

to water

there are summer days and then there are summer days. days in the middle of my parents backyard, looking up and around and finding myself infatuated with one single tree. a tree covered up in color, like nobodies business. the spectrum, mind boggling, i swear i took a thousand photos and came out with a dizzy head. after spinning in every direction, all i came up with was one wish, to be able to climb up into the tree and take a thousand more photos.

i wonder, if my neighbors next door, ever think of me. the very same neighbors who at eleven sharp, on the dot every evening, decide it's their time to practice for the slight chance american idol might be hitting up chattanooga for it's next hot voice. they'd never believe my tree and i wonder if we'd have anything in common. i cannot even tell if who i'm listening to, through one wall, is a male or a female. whichever, their laugh is hysterically scary. i can hear every bit of their conversation, between a twisted version of celine dion's titanic song, you know the one. it puzzles me how they repeat the same thing every single night and i seriously have to think if they have ever thought that someone might be listening, and would they care. would they be as inspired by my new favorite berry-full tree?

mysteries are just that. i let my mind wander and all it needs is even less sleep or water to keep the questioning seedlings from growing in my over active imagination. i've used my book as a means to keep a beat on my side of the wall to the music they play on their side. it's funny i do not think they even hear my book. it makes me feel better though. except it reminds me of how passive aggressive it all feels. i oughta swamp 'em with some of my bountiful csa. water their imaginations for awhile, see if they like mysterious vegetables hanging from their dorm roomish door knob.

i will be finished with a commission piece tomorrow afternoon and then i'll begin anew. my aunt has been married for thirty years and i'm going over to that great place to help her and my uncle to celebrate. i think about all the clothes i have piled up and how i should fix my dresser drawer, it seems like my last priority.

::dirt fortune::

i just completed ::dirt fortune:: for the upcoming arts & education council's art.a.ma.jig silent art auction. keeping it under wraps is practically impossible so i am giving my version of a sneak peek preview, for now. after the event i may show it off a little bit more. i was unable to snap a suitable image, i'll try again before i speed it off to get framed, or something. keeping with the tree theme you can well imagine my take on the events "fortune" theme. the event itself is not competitive, it's simply to raise money for the cause, a good cause at that. i am one hundred percent excited about the opportunity and feel honored to represent.
it is nerve racking, i'll give you that but, i feel good about what i've created. with ::dirt fortune:: i feel like my illustration skills came out and i found the same fulfillment in painting tiny as i do when i'm cutting paper tiny. i love the tiny rocks and pebbles that line the bottom edge, they're my favorite part and they express that dirt ought to be something we cherish, from dirt we came, right? and from dirt, a tree of gold, in my mind can grow.

so we'll see how it fits in with the rest of the "fortune" pieces. i won't think about it anymore.

this weekend was incredible. for making art and spending long parts of the day with my family. i cannot imagine being alone or ever feeling lonely. my life is much too full, what with a family tree that just keeps on growing. my nephews bring a joy i can't quite express, all three of them are these tiny growing branches that allow for this light to spread to us beneath on lower branches. my aunt lives in an old log cabin predating the civil war, surrounded by the mountains, its a blessed place, a haven and refuge. all around us on the fourth, neighbors shot off fireworks, filling the skies with grand light displays, aside the booms and bangs felt like we might as well have been in the middle of some minor artillery battle at dusk. i wanna spend every weekend there.

the week ahead looks hectic. i've got a few pieces to create for the clothesline jury next weekend. i have never made three new works in 5 days before. i think i'll shoot for 8"x10" this go around. i took a whole bunch of photos of my mother's garden. we decided to submit them to a local televisions garden of the week contest. i've posted a few on flickr. if she wins i'll laugh. really laugh.