3am start to my day. By 3:30am printers and coffee maker running at full steam. You can never have too many greeting cards and prints ready in my book. But you CAN have too much coffee (*note to self). Only about 145 more prints to mat and bag.. My house looks like (no, wait: it is) a dismantled art fair tent inside.
…and over yonder in my yard, I hit a milestone this evening: I cut grass for the first time ever (sad, I know) with my very own manual lawnmower that I acquired today. No motor, no gas – it’s environmentally friendly, not very noisy, and it worked like a charm. I feel like such a grownup. (I should have been working on a couple paper cuttings, but the allure of the new mower wooed me outside.. There’s something very satisfying about cutting the grass with it.)
8 x 10 inch paper cutting.
Art in the Park is this Sunday, May 6, at South Park (12th & Mass. St.) in Lawrence, KS. Runs 10am – 5pm. 10% of sales go to benefit the Lawrence Art Guild.
I made acquaintance last night with a nice couple that just moved in next door. They asked if I had any cats, noting the food dish on my deck, and I had to admit that it was there originally for my other neighbor’s cat, who sometimes visits, but had become, instead, the squirrels’ (and birds’ and other seed-eating creatures’) bowl. They’ll surely understand now when they look over from their porch why there are always one or two squirrels chilling out on my deck like it’s their own.
2.5 x 4 inch paper cutting.
Doin’, doin’, doin’… Halfway through a paper cutting AND halfway through an insane to-do list that I made this morning. (I must admit to adding something after I had already done it just so I could cross it off. Such a good feeling to cross things out, even when you cheat a little).
5 x 7 inch paper cutting.
“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.” ~Henry David Thoreau
One of the reasons I like to keep this blog is because I can go back and look at what I was doing, making or being inspired by last week or even four years ago.. I came across Alison Teal (Alison’s Adventures) after admiring surf photography by Sarah Lee — she does a lot of photography and cinematography for Alison, an adventurer, filmmaker and surfer who was home-schooled until her teenage years and raised by adventure photography/ yogi/ dancing parents around the world. She’s out there living it up – check out the video. Watching her stuff kind of reminds me to keep living and doing.. It’s really easy to sit in front of the computer and think about what could be, should be, might have been, isn’t, etc… I try not to even use the words ‘could’, ‘should’ or ‘would’.. Just do it. Easier said than done, but definitely doable. (Sidenote: I wanted to learn to surf when I was a teenager. Kinda funny for a Kansas girl, but I used to visit the beach every so often and can remember crying on more than one occasion when I had to leave. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been to an ocean. Looking forward to a trip to San Diego in November.)
In other weekend events, I bought some new running shoes — barefoot style Merrells. I swear by them. I used to run a lot but my left knee was giving out on me and so I quit. But when I got a pair of Merrells last year, I tried them out and kept going and haven’t had any knee pain at all (and now I’m ready for a new pair). Reason being, so I’ve heard, that the barefoot styled shoes reduce heel to ground impact which your knees absorb and create a more natural stride where the impact is on the ball of your foot. If you’ve ever run barefoot — without any shoes — you know what I mean.
I also spent some time with family in Kansas City, raced remote control cars, ate some awesome Mexican food, watched Ghostbusters at my brother’s house, and took a look at some kayaks and small boats over the weekend. I have a few paddling friends and I’ve always wanted to get out on the water so I’m thinking about getting into it.. Gonna give it a try-before-I-buy with my neighbor who canoes frequently on the river.
And now I’m sipping on some “Dirty Hippy Coffee”, locally roasted beans mixed with chai spice by company Home Brewed, and getting ready to go back to my artwork! Til next time..