Creative process

Recently I dropped a couple of bucks to pick up a pack of translucent plastic sheets and I've been a busy little bee ever since: yes, I have officially discovered the thoroughly enjoyable art of stenciling! My fingertips are developing all-new calluses from cutting out the stencils with a knife, I've added some new paint stains to no less than three shirts, and I'm starting to run low on paint — life doesn't get much better than this. There may even be a tutorial on the way...

Look forward to seeing some spiffy new stenciled designs that will soon be gracing the journals/sketchbooks in my Etsy store.

In the meantime, you should check out the Stencil Revolution boards for some of the most astonishing stencil talent I've ever seen on the web — and for pure inspiration, go drool over the legendary Banksy.

Military presence

Evan, Rufus, and I went to Denver for Thanksgiving, and just got back last night. I'd gnaw my own leg off before subjecting a dog to riding in the cargo hold of a plane, so we drove. It's a 14-hour drive from there to Minneapolis. Rufus slept most of the way.


After sleeping in late this morning, I took Rufio out for his morning potty. The apartment complex we live in abuts the playground of an elementary school, and I won't lie to you — I felt a moment of panic when the first thing I saw was a military helicopter, blades still spinning, out on the playground, with a few soldiers in camo jumping out of it and an ambulance parked nearby. The elementary students were standing in rows and bunches closer to the school building.

By the time I got back with the camera, everyone had gone inside. (YES, I have access to a working camera again!)


One of my neighbors said it was for "DARE Day."

When I was in DARE way back in 4th or 5th grade, they had police officers come lecture us about drugs. I had no idea that the military had gotten involved. If I had known, I would've protested.

I want to be clear: I'm NOT anti-military. I am, however, very much against military presence in schools, regardless of whether they're actively recruiting. Because it can easily be argued that the military is ALWAYS recruiting. And when kids age 10 and under are involved, it just gets way too creepy for me.


Besides, it costs an obscene amount of money to fly a helicopter. That seems like a pretty excessive expenditure for an anti-drug program that's been proven not to work.

Relocation

Evan and I moved last week to the Minneapolis area. Neither of us has a job yet, so we're both busy scouting out our options, unpacking, opening bank accounts, building up our mental maps of the surrounding area, getting acquainted with the different pace of life...

We're in the midst of suburbia, but it's considerably more urban than the town where I've been living for the past six years. Most of the local establishments aren't local at all, but are chains. I have yet to find a good place to let Rufus run around off-leash. And there's an oxymoronic aura of both isolation and significant lack of privacy.

We have no internet at home yet (and I still lack a working camera), so I can't make any promises as to the regularity of updates or the timeliness of answered e-mails. I can promise, however, that I will try. At the very least I'll queue up some entries to post automatically.


Here's a pattern I made. My experience with making patterns is... well, you're looking at the sum total of it right now. Sized for widescreen desktops (full size 1280x800) for your downloading pleasure (for personal use only).

Click for larger image.

Recuperating

I'm exhausted. I had surgery last Friday (nothing even remotely life-threatening — no worries) and have barely left the house since. Well, Evan and I did take a day trip to Minneapolis on Wednesday, but it was strictly business — we're going to be moving there at the end of the month and needed to meet with some folks about an apartment. Eight hours round trip. Evan drove, and I languished in the passenger seat and tried not to scratch at my healing sutures.

I don't have a new job lined up as of yet, but our finances are in good enough condition that we can make rent all the way through April just on savings and Evan's allowance. His parents are very generous, which is awesome for us.

I'm going to take my unemployment and work on making more blank books for the Etsy shop — more posts as I finish new products. I'm also going to run some art experiments I've been meaning to do, and bang out a full rough draft for that novel I started last month.

In the meantime, please enjoy this kitschy little tiger I made with Copic marker, Micron, and colored pencil. The original is only about 3x4".

Camera is broken

Yes, it's true. I was running a test with it, playing with all the settings and such, when it froze in the middle of taking a picture and turned off. And won't turn on again. I put in a fresh set of batteries just in case, but no dice.

The wicked old witch, she is dead.

Technically it was Evan's camera, but he almost never used it, so he's not overly concerned about finding the original packaging to see about a warranty. It was a gift from his mother; I'm hoping she still has the original receipt.

I'll try to make do with the built-in camera on my laptop, but the quality is so low, and — as lightweight and portable as my laptop is — it makes a much better computer than camera.

Behold the chaos!!

This is what my studio looks like right now:


I hope this gives you some idea of why I haven't been posting regularly. We'll be moving out of state in late October, and I have a lot of projects to finish and a lot of downsizing to do before then.

HOWEVER. In the interests of my sanity, I've decided to do the following:

• Dog profiles will happen on Fridays (if I have a new dog to post).
• Regular posts will happen at least once a week for now, to the extent that I can manage even that much. Please mind that much of my life currently resembles my studio. :)
• I've committed myself more firmly to posting more progress pictures of various projects. To that end, look for an image-heavy update on the Anubis mask later this week!
  

I'll get the hang of this blogging thing yet, I promise!