Month: February 2007

Art, Doodles

How I Lost My Mind

Shelly

How I Lost My Mind
Fall Schedule 1994

I was going through the studio closet, looking for, of all things, wood stain. The crate of paints and stains was at the bottom of a stack containing a crate full of old notebooks. I scanned a few pages from them, some because they have doodles, and some because I’m a little astonished at how obsessive I was about note taking. Also, the trip down memory lane was kind of entertaining.

First of all, the image above might help to explain how I lost my mind. Twelve credit hours was considered full time. I started out college taking half that, but when I switched to full time, I went a little overboard. Fall 1994, I had 16 credit hours, but the year before, both semesters I took 21 credit hours. Ouch! That was on top of working half-time.

The reason I took so many classes was so that I could cram in as many elective subjects as possible. One thing I was absolutely determined about was that my college education was going to be for me. I wasn’t interested in studying a subject based on whether or not it was going to make me money down the road. That strikes me as a sad waste of time, money, and effort.

Doodle

Doodle

Doodle
Early Latin American History, Fall 1995

I like history, but I didn’t take many history classes. I think I ended up getting a pretty good overall history education by taking art history. However, my last year in college, I got pretty deeply involved in researching a group of Precolumbian artworks at the art museum. To coincide with that, I took an independent study in Precolumbian art with one of the history profs, and then a course he taught on early Latin American history. Dr. Alves was one of the best teachers I have ever had.

Sketch for Painting
Sketch for a painting

Doodle
Greek Drama notes, Spring 1994

Doodle
Homer, Spring 1994

I never officially declared a second major in classics, but I had more than enough courses to fulfill the requirements. And then some. I liked the subject matter and most of the profs in the department. The subject matter dovetailed nicely with my art history classes, so for me, it was a no brainer. Just don’t ask me how many times I’ve read the Iliad or the Homeric Hymns. I think I could still recite passages from them by heart.

Doodle

Doodle
Early Medieval Art History, Fall 1993

Doodle
Early Modern Art History, Fall 1993

The Early Medieval notebook has some sort of complicated highlighting scheme that I vaguely recall corresponds to passages I highlighted in the texts. That course was taught by Dr. StuffyPants. Y’all remember Dr. StuffyPants, don’t you? Well, there is a reason why I did not take Late Medieval, and it wasn’t because I didn’t love the subject matter.

Notebook Cover
Comparative Religions notebook cover, 1993

Doodle
Comparative Religions, 1993

Doodle
Comparative Religions, 1993

Art, Artist Books, Collage

Hemp Bound Journal Completely Finished

Shelly

Hemp Bound Journal
Hemp Bound Journal (click on the collage to view the Flickr set for the book)

Hemp Bound Journal: Cover
Cover
collage (photograph, masking tape, fragment from anatomy text, and paper tape measure)
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

Hemp Bound Journal: Table of Contents
Table of Contents
collage (ink jet print, child’s clothing pattern, and yearbook photos)
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

Hemp Bound Journal: Gather Along These Lines
Gather Along These Lines
collage (fragments from text books, paper measuring tape, and child’s clothing pattern)
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

Hemp Bound Journal: Letter from a Muse
Letter from a Muse
collage (magazine clippings, ink jet on tissue paper, and child’s dress pattern)
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

Hemp Bound Journal: Fortune
Fortune
collage (fortunes and child’s clothing pattern)
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

Hemp Bound Journal: The End
The End
collage (altered Polaroid photo, library book pocket and card, child’s clothing pattern, and alphabet stencils)
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Brand New Bed

Shelly

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I also picked up a new bed for Harriet while I was out yesterday. She needed somewhere comfortable to sleep while I’m in the studio. Even though it’s carpeted in here, the floor is cold (damned heat vents are up by the ceiling!), and she’s a delicate flower.

Harriet was disdainful at first, and for awhile I thought I may have actually bought a cat bed by mistake. Eventually, Harriet decided to give it a try. She spent yesterday afternoon and most of this morning sleeping in it. I’m glad I opted for the one with the nesty sides, because I think it’s a big hit. (And, as you can see by using the cat–who is on the petite side–for scale, Harriet is on the small side herself. I was afraid at first that the bed wouldn’t be big enough, but once she curls up, there’s room to spare.)

I wish I could have slept the morning away lazily, but I had to get up for Mr. FedEx. It’s a good thing I did, too, because he showed up at the crack of dawn. And now, even if I wanted to take a nap, I couldn’t, because Mr. Upstairs has his teevee blaring away. I think he must have had custody of his children this weekend, because there were small pitter-pattering feet, very loud cartoons, and the world’s longest one-fingered rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” on the keyboard. The last was cute for about twenty minutes, but after that, my ears started to bleed. Also, the front hallway smells like someone cooked rotten pork with ginger and oranges. O ick.

Pets, Photography

Octo-woobie

Shelly

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I suddenly had to get out of the house this morning, so despite the fact that the wind chill is 1F, I warmed up the car and went to Target and the grocery store. I needed groceries, but the Target stop was just an excuse to wander around somewhere that was not my house. I played in the pet supply aisle for a bit and found a couple of really cute toys for Harriet. One of them is a plush puffer fish with a deep, froggy squeak. The other is Octo-woobie. Octo-woobie is pale pink and leggy and ubercute, I think. As soon as I took Octo-woobie out of the sack, Harriet knew it was hers. She started boinging up and down in excitement. I’m a meanypants, though, so I made her wait until I took Octo-woobie’s picture.

And, yes, Octo-woobie only has six legs. Life is unfair sometimes.

Art, Paintings, Photography

Reduce Reuse Recycle

Shelly

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I pick up stretchers at yard sales and thrift stores. You can get them cheap that way. I got four of these 24 x 24 inch stretchers years ago at a garage sale. They were covered with some godawful 70s gold-and-orange-on-brown patterned fabric. O ick. I pulled the old fabric off and stretched canvas over them. The other three are sporting paintings that I’ll probably keep, but the fourth was never finished. The underpainting on the old canvas was done about 10 years ago, and it’s not something I’m likely to ever want to finish, so I decided it was time to pull it off, restretch the canvas, and start over from scratch.

The stretcher is old, but it’s still nice and sturdy. The crack along one bar is only superficial. I’ll need to tighten up one of the corners, but other than that, it’s perfectly usable. I love the look of the old nail heads and the way the paint seeped around and through the back side of the canvas. No, that’s not a good thing. It’ll eat the canvas where it wasn’t primed. The seeping is a by-product of using heavily thinned, drippy paint. It goes where it wants, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. I primed the canvas along the edges, but that didn’t keep the paint from being wicked around to the back, where the canvas was left raw.

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Pets, Photography

Saturday Dogblogging

Shelly

Harriet has developed a deeper appreciation for playing with balls since moving to a place that has lots of floor space. Red Ball remains her very favoritest toy, so it’s fun to tease her with it. She is unamused! Then, clumsy me, I threw it for her and it bounced into a Rubbermaid tub. Harriet saw it go into the tub, but it was hidden by a plastic bag, so she couldn’t see it. I finally took pity on her and retrieved it for her.

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Crankypantsing

Happy Groundhog Day

Shelly

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I’m officially in hate with FedEx. The last three times I’ve had a package delivered by them (not by choice!), they have not updated the tracking information. That’s kind of important for us folks who have full-time jobs, especially as FedEx is often hit-and-miss about leaving packages when there is no one home.

For example, I came home yesterday to find a note from them on my door, informing me that they required a live person to be present to sign for my (two) packages. M’kaythen! Today I came home to find that they’d left one of the “requires signature from live person” packages sitting on my doorstep. Of course, it was the DVD burner I’d ordered. You know, the more expensive of the two purchases. The blank DVDs are still AWOL, and will presumably be delivered on Monday. That’s fine, as it turns out, because I have Mondays off, so I’ll be here to sign for them. Still, it’s kind of frustrating for me, and it can’t be very cost effective for them. Really, what sense does it make to come here three different times to deliver something?

How do people who work 9-5 M-F get packages from FedEx? Do y’all just wait until they’ve made their three attempts to deliver, then go to the FedEx office to pick up your packages? Gah! At least UPS A) updates their tracking info and B) has never had trouble finding me or been shy about leaving packages on my doorstep. Better yet, because I was on the early end of his route, the UPS driver at my old house used to leave my (and my neighbor’s) packages on the driver’s seat of my car. At the same address, the FedEx driver used to stand by the gate and yell for me. If I didn’t hear him, he’d drive off without leaving my things. The jerk didn’t even knock on the door. Of which there were two in plain view!

And, in fact, the last time a package was shipped to that address via FedEx, they claimed they couldn’t find my house. After having lived there for five and a half years, and after having had umpty packages FedExed to me, mind you! So, instead of calling me to find out where I was located, they just returned the package to the vendor without informing me.

No art today, I’m afraid. I spent my arting time installing my shiny new DVD burner. And, I might add, the installation of which went swimmingly. I opened the box, only to realize that I’d been a dork and had bought the wrong burner. This one came without any software or even drivers. The burner with software and drivers was only a couple of dollars more. Oops! The good news is that this is the exact same model as the one I meant to buy, and it turns out it didn’t need drivers or software. I pulled the old drive, popped in the new one, and Bob’s your uncle. I did a test burn, and everyone is playing nicely with everyone else. And they lived happily ever after. The End.

Pee Ess: Punxsutawney Phil supposedly says we’re going to have an early spring. What I want to know is, when is winter going to start?

Pee Ess Ess: Still working my way through Upstairs, Downstairs. It’s just as soap opera-y as I remember, but in a good way. Also, out of wedlock babies, abortion, and homosexuality? Lordy!

Pets, Photography

Thursday Catblogging

Shelly

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Pandora likes to sleep on Harriet’s blankets when Harriet’s not looking. It pisses Harriet right the hell off, though. She’s jealous, and can’t stand it when the cat usurps her spot, even when she’s not using her spot at the time of the usurpation. The nice thing, I suppose, about being an old cat is that you just don’t care. You sleep wherever you want, whenever you want, and you ignore anydog who tries to bossypants you into doing otherwise.