A quiet Halloween

We don't have trick or treat traffic at our house, so I went over to W's tonight to hand out my sour gummy bears. I had been wearing this hat all week at work, so was in the Halloween spirit.

W's house looked great, especially this mummy and eyeball combo.

But... despite perfect decorations and good candy we only had a few door knockers! 

and it was a strange eve without ms. G present.

Halloween is the pagan new year. 

Halloween is warm and wild and dark and internal.

Halloween is the link between the living and the dead.

Halloween celebrates the night and the creative spirit.

and my sister invented it...

A wonderful new year to all my friends, young and old, gay and straight, human and other.

love, Janice

This is Fun!

Somehow this is cheering me to imagine your photo on the side of a building...

miss you G.

Life on the Internet

  

It was a bit of a hard day. I got turned around in the fog early in the morning and ended up on the new, way high up in the air overpass going the wrong direction. I crept along going about 20mph telling myself to just look at the center line. I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me and don't know if that was good or bad.  My panicky, fear of heights self was trying hard not to stop the car and crawl along the road. yikes! In the last 5 years I've gone from being a normal driver to some phobic, beanbag, avoiding any high place. 

I took B's advice from Tangled Sky Studio and visited the photofunia site. Way fun. I swear, I could spend my whole life on the internet, it can be like candy. That's where the above photo came from.

I'm going to visit K and L in a few days... and I cannot wait. I do not care what we do, I am just so anticipating seeing a different world than my own. I do hope it involves at least one doughnut though...

I have to get up really early again so, am going to retire and read and read. It's so nice to lie in a comfy bed with 2 dogs and a cat smushed into you and devour a good book.

yawn, love to all my friends and esp. G 

Silkscreen Day!

I spent the afternoon at the print lab totally enjoying myself. I now know I took this independent study class because I wasn't sure I could do all the silkscreen processes I have learned at home. But today I added the 3rd layer to this print, the black-line figures using photo emulsion. And it worked! I felt really good, all alone, no teacher and it worked...

the red dots on this print are just pieces of magazine cut out, experimenting with adding a little more color.

Thought I'd make a print of the line drawing to color...

Making some extras at each stage so I can combine things down the road. 

It really helped to have such a fun afternoon. Then I stopped by L and J's and had a delicious dinner and good company and came home to all the boys. I think I felt kinda weird about yesterday's post, like I was rocking a boat that shouldn't be rocked, or I was bad to want more than just a democratic victory. I read this great blog a lot, www.wertzateria.wordpress.com. Michael was talking about Prop. 8 in California (outlawing gay marriage), and people wrote in the yuckiest comments. Aside from that his blog is great, and if you like dogs check out his silkscreen dog blog. 

I have to get up way too early tomorrow to go to work. So, I'd best get to bed and keep my nose out of too much controversy. 

Especially sending love tonight to G. heart of my heart

Day off and Election Rant

Simon monitoring the neighborhood from the new 2nd story deck.

This is Monty running his zig-zag course through the oak trees at top speed.

I don't know what kind of shrubs these are, but their leaves turn blue-green and red all at the same time. I have never seen such an amazing color, it makes me stare at them a long time...

What a beautiful Fall day. leaf raking that was pure bliss. No photos of art in progress because the studio carpet is damp after being cleaned and I don't want to walk on it. Tomorrow though I'm off to the silkscreen lab, and will take photos of what happens. 

Today, I went to the Obama headquarters to sign up for phone banking. I really don't want to phone bank, but I really do want Obama to win the election. Really being multiplied by a zilllion. 

So, I arrive at Obama headquarters with a chunk of me not on board. Like, "of course I want him to win, but there is still something very, very WRONG". I can't reconcile the fact that lesbians and gays are missing a HUGE chunk of their civil rights and this fact is offered up as an omission sacrifice the Democrats have to make so that they win the elections. Of course this is true. Even if Obama was pro gay marriage, he certainly couldn't come out about that and win the election. 

So... when I get to Obama headquarters I try to talk about this  bit. There is a display with 25-30 position papers on various topics. I ask if there is one on gay rights. Three workers jump in and start looking through them, "there must be". There are no such papers. And then the nicest volunteer walks up to me and says, "I'm gay and I know exactly how you feel. I suggest you read the Obama interview in the Advocate. (the only interview he has granted the gay community). My only hope is that if we win this election at least we may have someone we can dialogue with". 

and... i went home and read the interview and felt a whole lot worse and a whole lot better. Worse because Obama's position on gay rights is wishy washy at best, and better because now I know that that little knot of anger I carry about President Obama is right on. 

Coretta Scott King was a great champion of freedom and civil rights for everyone, gays included. Before she died she was quoted: "I believe that freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convinience". 

Obama must win this election. And as an old girlfriend used to say to me: "many things can be true at the same time". 

Technology is a Challenge

I have been struggling with the computers all night. Unable to connect with the Internet. I am proud of myself because I think I figured out the problem, or at least the part that isn't working. It's the router. So, I'm upstairs on G's computer plugged into the Clearwire gizmo. How's that for technical? 

It was a long 3 days teaching. Phew, I'm bushed. I dozed in the chair and sort of watched TV for a couple hours which I never do. Didn't miss much. It was an evening of "doesn't work". My netflix movie wouldn't load and i figured that out too! It had a big crack in the disc!

No photo tonight, just a bit of a boring blog. A day off tomorrow! painting! hooray. I'll post some pictures of what I'm making.

yawn, goodnight everyone....

Someone(s) are missing you!

Simon misses G. who is off visiting her family. At night he sleeps on a pile of G's pjs, but manages to worm over on top of me in the night. I can't sleep well with a fuzzy little doggy butt in my face. G usually is the recipient of this attention. Poor dogs, alone all day while I work. They are used to pretty much constant attention and pets and treats. My more matter of fact friends remind me that dogs really do sleep all day when we are gone.

I miss you too G.

It's the Season...

Making some little Halloween drawings

The inspiration for all Halloween fun is my sister (the older one in this photo).  She is the queen of Halloween inspired events. Wish I had a great Halloween photo of us to post. It's Easter here, with itchy dresses and those gloves! And shoes that slid all over. Quite the difference from the holiday where I ran through the suburbs gathering a big sack of candy while the Santa Ana winds blew a strange warm air that energized children. It looks a bit like there is a ghost hovering above my sister's head. It's just me taking the photo in reflecting glass. I miss you at Halloween Sonny!

Finished, for the zillionth time

I really am done with these two paintings. What I think of the content really doesn't matter to me as much as "they work". They work like a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces in the right place. 

I am always grateful for the amazing eye of my friend L. who asks wonderful questions like: "what do you want the viewer to pay attention to?" and "how could you do that"?

I'm not overly fond of the wacky demon woman painting, but I respect it, if that makes any sense. And I like the skeleton painting a lot.

Today is the first day in a long time that it feels like I don't "have to or should" do a particular thing. I have been  so overly busy and I think tired too. That being said we had the most fun at G's pumpkin pie birthday party last night. All kinds of friends and neighbors polished off most of SIX pumpkin pies G made. They were yummy, and they sort of were a vegetable! I had the house all decorated with Halloween lights and candles, and everyone sat around and told stories. Happy 62nd birthday to my girlfriend! 

I'm going back to my painting... I love to paint.... 

New toy

G got me one of these small, really lightweight video camcorders because I love making little videos on my camera. So far it's pretty fun. It plugs right into the computer and all the software is inside. It is beyond simple to use which suits me. So... Ms. K as soon as I figure out how to put them on the blog... 

Ok, back on board!

ok, it worked. Here is a photo of G searching for puzzles at the local goodwill. Puzzles drive me nuts, but it's a favorite relaxation of hers, especially at the beach. 

After work today we went for a nice shop at my favorite thrift store. Three new blouses are now ready to wear to work. I'm not much of a clothes horse. If it's comfortable and tidy that's enough for me. Add flannel and baggy and I'm really happy.

oh well, more coherent post tomorrow. 

Blogger won't work

I have not been able to upload pictures to blogger for the last two days... did everything on the help menu, but still not working.  Maybe it's because I don't have anything to thrilling to post... My first layer of ink made the Stonehenge paper all warpy, so they are soaking under weights in hopes of flattening them. Anyone ever have this problem? Well, in lieu of all these technical difficulties I'll just try the whole thing again tomorrow. Sorry, K, I had a nice roasted veggie omelet photo to exhibit...

Wet Dog

ok... the blog is getting boring. Wet dog? this is all you have to post Janice La Verne? That Simon the bichon had a bath this am? 

It really wasn't a boring day. Our friends from Long Beach, California are here and we buzzed around town shopping and shopping and eating out and chatting up a storm. 

and that's all the news. 

yawn, some posts are just kinda blah. 

The Green Witch

The first time I saw The Wizard of Oz I had nightmares for years. The image of Dorothy's house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East, and her feet shriveling up out of the ruby slippers... well it fueled my night terrors for years.

So, interestingly enough I have been pretty immersed in the novel "Wicked". This fictional, true story of the green witch is a political parallel of our country and politics today. It's a bit of a difficult read to get into, but once I was 50 pages in, I was hooked. 

Sometimes I am amazed at how artists play off of each other... first Frank Baum, then Margaret Hamilton plays a mythic character in the movies who terrified millions of children and then someone puts a whole new slant on Oz. It trickles down to me. I tend to get really obsessed with things I like and then all of a sudden I have new ideas. If any of this makes any sense at all to you... 

Transformation of idea and states is so interesting to me. At 8 years of age Margaret Hamilton scared me speechless ( I used to hide behind the couch during the scary parts) and now, me in the middle of this novel is loving the green witch. Seems right on in the Halloween month of October. 

I like Fall

Everyone's lists are a good influence for me. Did I say rain means wiping 4 paws of 4 animals several times a day or else our house would be a mud pit! They are all really good about it though and wait their turn on the deck, always in the same order... Monty first, followed by Oscar the cat, then Simon the bichon and last Curzon who can't decide until the last moment if coming in is a good idea.

Today I leaped into a vacant printmaking lab for a few hours and started a silkscreen print. I'm kinda excited to see what happens. I bought paper for my next project in 4 pastel shades, looks like Easter. Now I have to photograph my family of toys. And I finally finished for about the 4th time my really ugly painting. L was right, it was the color. And even though it is still ugly, it works. I love making paintings "work". I watch others put together jigsaw puzzles and this is the same challenge. Find the missing piece. 

Back to work tomorrow. Friends coming later in the week. More rain and sun. 

The Winter List

The rainy season has begun.

A few years ago K told me about her winter list. A list about embracing the season rather than meeting it with dread, even knowing light deprivation and depression could be right around the corner. I remember feeling kinda shocked the first time we talked about it, it was as if all my prior suffering gave me a right to view the cold, dark, season as the enemy and never notice what is wonderful about it. Native Northwest folks don't seem to agonize in the winter. They just put on their rain gear and take it in stride. (or so it seems to me) So, here is my list of cold weather likes and if you want to read K's go to her blog on my links: smarter than da vinci. 

1. Halloween. I love Halloween and I love decorating for Halloween. Costumes and kids and winter squash, and most important my connection to my sister comes with Halloween.

2. The way color looks like against grey. A bit of red against the all grey days, beautiful.

3. Snow, even though we only get a little. What LA gal does not rejoice at real snow!

4. Polar Fleece vests and pjs. I like winter clothing too, baggy and comfy. 

5. Strings of little lights indoors, little white lights, colored lights.

6. Having a Christmas tree all decorated and sitting around looking at it.

7. Hot tea, every type.

8. Cafix (don't know this one? It's like Postum, a grain beverage, yummy with a bit of honey and milk. Feels like  coffee, but in no way tastes like it)

9. Raking leaves, I really like raking leaves.

10. Being cozy in the house with G. Listening to the sounds rain makes. 

Tomorrow is Sunday and I'm going to play in the silkscreen studio for the first time this term. I have no idea what i'll do tomorrow, just get set up mostly...

 

A reason to lighten up...

I am really trying to lighten up, in more ways than one. First it's the promise that my doctor made that if I lose 40 pounds I'll feel like I have new knees.  This would be good. I'm really trying with the veggies and protein. G is much better at this diet than I am. She's keeping me going. K is right veggies kinda grow on you.

I have this great saying posted on my desk at work. It's all about trying to live without drama and just be in the moment. L says stress creates arthritis. So, in a way this is also good for my knees. 

Painting is really good for my mental health. I'm just not ok if I don't have some creative enterprise going on daily. 

I might get healthy yet!