What do you do on a Sunday afternoon?

Well, it finally worked out. One day I stopped in at the butcher shop, bought some pigs feet, told Carol about it, she got some suturing material, and we made a date to do some sewing of a different kind. Months ago Carol had heard about one of my long time goals to learn to give stitches. It hadn't actually occurred to me to ask Carol to teach me how to give stitches but what better teacher than a surgeon? The invitation for the stitches lesson had been offered over dinner. Joe and Dreya wanted to get in on the learning experience. Dreya wasn't able to make it but Joe showed up and Carol sat down with us and finally satisfied my desire to learn how to give stitches. She went through knot tying, various suturing thread and when to use them, tools, everything. It was a very in depth and thorough lesson, totally fascinating. We tied knots, sliced little piggy feet and did all sorts of Frankenstein-ish things. It was fantastic. Thank you so much Dr. Shores. Another goal checked off my list even though knowing what it involves I don't actually want to need to give stitches. If the opportunity ever arises I'll be calling Carol. She's one of those people that drops everything to help someone, and she has the qualifications to back it up. It was so amazing of her to acquire our supplies and really put together a coherent lesson. She says they have a suturing workshop for the residents every year.

Joe and handiwork

Big news. Two weeks ago we got two whole inches of snow. It was fantastic. The way Southerners react to even the word snow is incredible. People were canceling their doctor's appointments when they heard the forecast. Only 20 people showed up for the clinic that day, we closed the clinic down 2 hours early and opened it 2 hrs late the next day. I walked the two miles to work to fully appreciate oncoming snow and it was a beautiful sunny day when I got out of work at 2:00. Jason picked me up from work and we helped his friend move, then his friends went and lost their keys in the snow. The snow! Of all the days to unknowingly drop your keys you do it with snow on the ground. I was just happy to have it feel like winter finally, and it stayed around long enough for me to get pictures.

I finally took some pictures of my place, so all those that can't stop by for a visit can get an idea. First up is the art area. All crafts and projects go here. The hall to the left passes the washer, fridge, and goes into the kitchen. The hall on the right passes the door that opens to the dryer on the right, the closet under the stairs, the bathroom on the left, the stairs to the right, kitchen to the left and finally the front door. I'm standing at our sliding door to take this picture. The desk on the left we picked up along side the road.

Our living room, see our white free book shelf we found along side the road? Dreya has 30 some plants. I don't know if you can see it but Dreya hung up antique glass ornaments that I got at a junk sale.

Tiny kitchen!

My boss gave me the wok that's hanging up. For those that are familiar with my religious practices, the snow covered sticks one of the earlier photos is the remains of the booth I built this fall. It was cozy when it had all the leaves.

I'm now officially full time employed at the hospital. My free health benefits start February. I got new hand-me-downs from Dreya's sister. Dreya was gone for a week to her sister's wedding in PA. Dreya had to put her cat down when she got back. It was a sad surprise. I didn't find out till I got home from work. All in all, I think that's about it. I went cantra dancing finally. I'll keep you posted.

Goals reviewed and refreshed

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Self-Improving Traveling Tree Hugger

Ok, So Dreya tells me that I'm a sucker for hype. I like the way she puts it. It looks like I've found my perfect book, all about lists and goals. I don't think I'll be buying this any time soon since this is what I do on a regular basis but the advertising has inspired me to get back to goal setting. I have lots of goals, I just haven't kept them up-to-date or worked on my progress. I really like that the book recommends that you publish your goals and progress.

Here's what I can think of off the top of my head for now. I'll work on more later.

-keep house clean and ready for company
My house is actually clean at the moment, I have a game plan, a schedule, and criteria and I just ordered "How clean is your house?" Off Amazon. I flipped through the book at Barnes and Noble one time and have been inspired ever since. It's very colorful, and short bit's of info. A quick reference to get you moving and feel like it's not so daunting.
-write and publish my travel book
I just started a writing workshop and InDesign class last week. I'll have people inspiring me to write and critiquing what I have so far while I learn how to do my book lay out. SO EXCITED!
-learn to belly dance
-learn akido
-have a garden
does buying another garden book count? I bought one last year and was around when Bethany and Dreya had their gardens
-do art
I'm not going to be too specific but I have a list of projects to do for people that I need to get going on
-trim hair once a month
-get EMT certified
-get trained in phlebotomy (learn to draw blood)
-write and mail a letter every day
-work on scrapbook
-learn Spanish
-sail with Dad
-get married
-swim the English Channel
-get a log cabin
-fix my bug
-make my quilts
I have a crazy quilt, a round-the-world quilt, and a T-shirt and Jeans quilt to make. Round-the-world is first. From the scraps of that I make the crazy quilt. I have the scraps. I'd get a long ways if I could just cut the pieces.
-learn fiddle
-see The White Stripe in concert
-read the Bible regularily
I'm trying to start with a chapter a day. It's at least an improvement. I really want to read and study and grow spiritually but I really don't know how to go about it. I see lot's of books on spiritual growth, and I really like books but it's still someone else's interpretation and list of do's and don'ts.
-collaborate with Rachael on bowl designs
Yes, I have found another artist with the exact same name as me. I would like the opportunity to put my art on functional pieces and get out in another area
-have an art show
I'm a chicken. I'm afraid it would be expensive, and I haven't even looked at how to go about getting galleries to take me seriously. I'm afraid I have to invest the money to get my stuff framed first which will be expensive, take up space, and have the potential to get damaged.

-do New Zealand's biggest bungee jump
-learn Thai Chi


Goals I've accomplished

*elbow length hair
*fish in Alaska
*road trip the US
*see all 7 continents in 5 yr
I made it in 6 years but that's all right by me
*hike the Appalachian Trail
*meet Weird Al
* see Everclear, Eve 6, Modest Mouse in Concert
*learn to give stitches
My most recently achieved goal. This is where it shows that people are out there to help you accomplish your dreams. I've been saying just about forever that it is my goal to learn to give stitches. I happened to mention this in the company of "The Doctor" Jason's mom, and she was like, "Well, bring over some pigs' feet and I'll bring the suture supplies, and I'll give you a lesson". So Sunday after a wonderful brunch of eggs, oatmeal, and kale we rubber-banded the pigs feet to some boards and she gave Joe and I a complete lesson. Joe, had heard about my wish and wanted in as well. It was absolutely fantastic. She went through needle and thread guages, holding, surgeons' knots, square knots, all sorts. We sliced up the pigs feet and then sewed them back up. It was absolutely awesome and also a good dose of reality. Now that I have an idea of how to do it, I don't want to ever need to. I'll post pictures later.
*make pie crust from scratch
Another goal that came about because someone else willingly provided me the resources. Ben is an excellant and patient teacher, he showed the simplicity of it so well that I feel confident that I could make it again. I should really make another pie to make sure. Maybe that should be on my list today.
*sky dive
*bungee jump
*learn to knit and knit wrist cuffs
-get a credit card (Oct. '08)
Maybe that will help with new expenses. Really, I just want to be more financially independent and build credit. I'm responsible, I should just have some back-up.

updated picutres for Becky

Well, it's been awhile. I quit painting after the first week of January and I consider myself basically done until I have input from Becky that says different, otherwise there's just too many ways I could go and the goal is to go in the direction that she's interested. So, let me walk you through my studio.

I layed out the the pictures that were similar. I think they could really go together and make a powerful wall piece. I see them all framed in minimal black frames that stick out like they're stretched canvases, maybe even overlapping some of the frames to make one of those sort of collage pieces.
Here's another angle just to get you thinking. Once the two paintings that are on one sheet are seperated there a lots of possiblities.

I really added some subtle changes to the scenery one. I was trying to incorporate the red and greens again. I added red to the trees and the shadows, and yellow in betwee. Full sheet.


This is that bathtub stain painting. I started to try to make it a real murky/misty forest scene with horses but I'm still stuck on it. I still don't really like it. I should really find a good photo referance. I'd like it to stay abstract with horses. Something has to change because this painting seems really dreary. I don't know how to brighten it or where, the same problem I had with the other landscape. this is a crop, it's probably about 11x17, I would like to repaint a larger painting like this with all the crisscross angles. I was breaking down the blur and movement of horses and jockeys. I could detail it some to give that idea of racing action or I could break it down more into angles and colors. I just like block-y .


I like how much the painting changes depending on how I crop it. Here I think it looks a little more like horses racing, in an abstract way. I would like to take this and make it a larger painting. Right now it's too small to for much impact. approx. 15x17

Becky had mentioned that she wanted horses and racing so I wanted to try doing a sort of abstract color block horse head. I made all the little mock-ups to see what combination I liked better and then tried to make them like minature pictures, maybe a long row in window boxes. I'd like to see them rearranged and displayed with the bigger one. In the end I couldn't commit to just two colors on the large picture and now I have something that reminds me more of some early 90s poster. Total is one watercolor paper.
This is the narrow fence one finally done. I don't think it's a very strong painting on it's own. I think it should have a very large wide black frame. Or be grouped with other paintings which I have also tried. I could repaint the horse head perhaps. It was just a mock up of what I was thinking. approx. 32x10

Here is an idea of putting two together, or maybe they could turn horizontal.
Remember the green blurs of colors, I put in a horse eye, That's all I could see doing but the left side doesn't seem finished. I think I need to finish some of the streaks and then reshape the big red and green blob to be more like a horizon line. I like how the feathered white space looks like a blaze on the horse. full sheet


Here I just cropped it to show how I think the picture could look more dynamic. I would still need to fix the drooping red in the background. Maybe I could soften the blue lines that frame the eyes, they kind of box it in.Could this just be a minimalis painting? I did some streaks trying to make a larger version of that angled painting and then I stopped and didn't want to go any more. I think I did them wrong.
And then I had a huge break through. I found a new technique that could take me in a whole different direction. I've got texture, tons of color and all sorts of possibilities to just make a mess of blended colors. I painted this without really manipulating my materials, just to see how they would work out. I don't care for this painting a whole lot but I like it for the reason that I was in a bad mood and by basically finger painting with such bright happy colors totally made me happy. I just feel happy and relieved when I look at this painting. I don't think the colors work with what Becky is looking for.

See how you can change the painting just by rotating it? This is the way that I actually painted it but I think I prefer it vertical 16x20
THIS is what I got trying to make something geared more for Becky, I kept the thought of racing horses in my head and I like the movement this has. I see a dusty silhouette of horses backlit by a sunset. If Becky likes this I would definately like to continue with more of these. Both of these pictures are rather small though, not a full sheet of watercolor paper. I worry that a large sheet might end up looking more like a finger painted mess. 32x10 approx.

I started painting a multi colored background to do that new textured technique over it but then I just had fun watching colors blend and ended up with this. I don't know if it's done and it could go a lot of different ways. Something else I am still waiting on feed back for.

Or should it be horizontal?

All right, that was my show, any ideas or suggestions. Please let me know. Particularily BECKY. Send me an e-mail Becca. This is what I'm thinking, if from these you have your "two" paintings that you want then I'm done, if you still don't see anything that really jumps out at you tell me what you want, send me some ideas, or tell me what things you want differently. I could change the black streaks to brown and make less contrasting pieces, I could use fewer colors, more muted colors. I have seen some really really all red paintings which I really like and could try but I don't know if you want that and I might have to get more paint for an all red canvas.