contents::in the bag::AtoZ

the rest of the week looks like a long list of to do's and some probably won't get around to's. regardless, here it is, in one, in the bag kind of way.
a. write "moving" letter - study the craft of complaint
b. clothesline board debriefing meeting
c. scrounge up boxes
d. organize
e. pack & launder
f. work on new 8"x10" art
g. paint magazine rack
h. sand desk to look worn
i. eat @ mellow mushroom with sisters in laws
j. new post old art at 50% off sale on etsy (will keep you updated)
k. scrub tub
l. exercise
m. read the red tent more
n. take "giveaways" to salvation army
o. make some mashed potatoes
p. see new little niece, may
q. corner the market
r. collect a few fall leaves
s. spray paint plant stand
t. research new bike
u. my turn to buy non-dairy creamer for work
v. take more pictures
w. look more carefully and notice
x. believe+joy=miracle
y. take my vitamins
z. no naps, bed time earlier

all in all not a bad week planned, uh?

Creative Paper Quilts::Horray!!!

creative paper quilts coming very very soon to the bookstores near you!
i received the best news a girl can get today, from the sweet and amazing (author & artist) terri stegmiller. she posted her advanced copy of the book on her blog. i almost could not believe my eyes. i feel like i have been talking and writing about this for forever.

it is incredibly exciting to see my little paper quilts on the pages of a diy book, finally! it's an absolute thrill and a joy for me to have the opportunity to actually talk about it and share the process. i loved creating these one of kind "paper quilts" and have had this dream of seeing my art work in print. there is a undefinable feeling when you first see all of your art work hanging on a gallery wall but it is all together quite a different feeling when you see you work reproduced a thousand times for mass consumption. a lovely feeling, in the right context. i have not touched my paper quilts, worked on a paper quilt since finishing the book project. i may feel it's time to pick up the collage again and try my hand at some monochromatic paper - stuff - experimentation, something, who knows? i have the majority of my paper quilts up for sale in my etsy shop and will see about putting up the specific quilts from the book up for sale as well. i really have no idea.

in treehouse apt news; i'm meeting with my current property management tomorrow to discuss my move from the grand. i plan to be as kind and as firm as possible and hope to come away with peace about the next two months. i am head over heels blown away by how things have just fallen into place the last couple of days. i cannot wait to be settled in my new "flat" at the new southside flats - i've got my work cut out for me. prepping for Holiday St. Elmo fest/show, moving outta here, i'd like to contribute a piece of work to the AVA all member salon show, there's the october 31st createhere "scary stuff" bit and then MAINX24 on December 6. it's the best of times, really and to beat all chattanooga got some good rain yesterday and my drive to kimball today was beautiful, what with the trees beginning to change color. i'll leave it at that. good night.

despite it all

today felt like a blur. and despite it all i came away feeling completely unscathed. and more than a little excited, thrilled to be sure. what might have been an unbearable struggle has now become something of a small miracle. i am especially thankful for the cooler weather, otherwise tromping around this morning would have been a sweaty mess. and i am clearly looking forward to a new perspective, and cannot wait to wake up to a new scene. a brand new view. i'm taking the west side. there is a whole lot more work and a whole lot more strategy to go over but i think i can say, a tad sheepishly, that i feel like everything that can be, is under control. that is the leak has stopped. the water is back on. and life as i have known it for the past six years will continue on but only for another very short little while, hence the sneak peak of the new treehouse apartment. if you read often and know me at all, keep me in your thoughts and say a little prayer for me, that i remain a heap o' joy throughout this great big change to come. the nervousness is nipping at me just a little. i'll do my very best to keep you posted as this thing, my life, and the changes become more in focus. good night. all.

::haunted window trees:: & apt life

just finished ::haunted window trees:: this evening. hope it's "scary" enough for the "scary stuff" show coming up october 29 at createhere. it's a change for me, to start with a dark black palette of tissue paper. by adding the creamy white paint, and red and gold splattered paint i hoped it would look like blood and bones. and that's about as creepy and dark as i think i can get. don't know but think it's a fairly successful addition to the overall series of trees. maybe it's the turn or corner in my perspective i needed. not necessarily darker themes but darker palettes.


i'm also facing a ever growing hole in my ceiling. today i came home to the exposed pipes and wires and more dripping water. don't worry though, i've gotten my safety gear together, going to bed with my life preserver on and whatnot. just taking everything day by day here. i did however get to my closet tonight and gathered three bags of give me away clothing. i'm happy about that and can now half-check the task off my every growing list of things to do.
as getting it to a drop off salvation army box is yet another story or might i say, yet another two weeks away, as i seem to do everything i want to do about two weeks behind my internal schedule. it's all very good here in the treehouse. i have got so much to be thankful for, like the mountains, that is signal point and the cool rocks and the one thing i love most, light. simple light. it'd just be nice to know in advance if i have enough in me to make it through this heavy construction project. i think today i felt i did but each day is a little different. knowing the future isn't all that important. i'm not worried. i have no plan to surrender my white flag. hope to keep you updated as i begin to create work for upcoming november show. woohoo! good night now.

stay.at.home.week::friday

i cherish every friday. fridays at work are often more relaxed and filled with interesting conversation and catch up news from the week. i have noticed in myself something, getting better, probably a growing happiness. its rare for me to feel a little bit of joy and not know exactly where it's coming from. i know that the sweet alternative to chocolate or gummie bears are my favorite spice cookies. i made my second batch in a month, spicy little rounds of soft cookie, umm. when the dough is spread thin and cut into shapes the cookies become crunchy and fit for the christmas time type of cookie but during these months of lowering temps, the softer side of this cookie reminds me more of halloween and thanksgiving. i tend to make myself sick on them. i barely have any regrets about it though. after all i am back to a little more exercise these days.

i am currently conducting a serious stand off with my laundry. and continue to think that breakfast tomorrow with my dad is going to be so nice. i guess after this week is over i'll get back to making stuff. i was kind of waiting to see how life and the trees i have created so far, were going to pull me. i am thinking i've got a few more trees in me and i've not yet tapped the wealth of growth and variation by making more trees. whats more i haven't even begun to do trees at night, a whole other story and forest approach.

the inspiration continued this week when i received my copy of 3191 in the mail. i think i found a little bit of myself in the book and what a surprise. i dunno if it's stupid of me or not, i barely care but, on toward the back of this delightful celebration of a book, i believe i found amidst the comments, a comment i made in april 07 in response to one of the photo comps. i recall writing and thinking about how the word "enjoy" just did not feel as good as the word "in" joy as a way to describe how i felt about this specific diptych. i guess in some senses that is how i have begun to feel about looking at my own life. to enjoy feels a little less. what enjoy has to offer is more like a command and to say i am enjoying something feels a lot like having to try really hard. but "in" joy i feel like i have more get up and go about the whole of life. you have to be in it to "in" joy it. and too, i feel like it is "in" joy that i ought to be more thankful and to be less apathetic about jumping into life, whatever that may be from day to day. my week did not feel so mundane but i know that i've felt the enormity of monotonous tasks and the weight of having to be and do something. i have also begun to consider the fact that having joy and "in"joying is a serious choice and it must be made everyday. no joke about it. with that i'm off to either sit and watch televison or do laundry, or maybe both.