Love me some birds (San Diego, 2012), and love me some Roald Dahl.
“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” -Roald Dahl
As I plot out a cat commission, and only a few days after I had watched my own cat experience the effects of catnip, this video has come into my world. Hilarious. Surely it will influence this paper cutting that is about to be made.. Produced by Lawrence, KS, native Jason Willis.
“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you…. In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.” -Ruth Stout (I’ve quoted this before.. perfect for a winter & country & solitude loving person like myself.)
I had a super amazing weekend at the Lola Giant Holiday Show. Thanks so much to all you folks that came by! I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my year of art shows. Now, onto some major production work… and to enjoy the winter. Although I’ll still be working, it sort of feels like my summer break from school, only in a different season and with different priorities. Speaking of winter, I’m seriously hoping for snow this year. I feel like I was cheated out of winter last year.
And one last note, in the last 5 seconds of my drive to my final destination of the evening, a red fox ran in front of my car and into my mom’s yard. It was dark so I didn’t see where it went after that.. I think it must be a good omen to see a coyote going one way and a fox going the other. Omen or not, I get extensive joy out of seeing foxes and coyotes in the wild.. Til next time.
This may sound a little strange, but I love how animals bulk up and their fur grows thick as the winter approaches. I’ve been aiding my little squirrel friends in their winter prep with sunflower seeds and corn. I find them waiting on my deck railings every morning as the sun rises, knowing that I’ll be fixing them up soon.
I spent last night at my mom’s house hanging out with my cat (my family tends to think I come just to see the cat) and since I don’t see him regularly, he looked like a giant — at least 1/3 bigger than he looked over the summer– he’s been gradually increasing weight and fur as the temperatures decrease. In fact, he got so scraggly during the summer that I almost took him to the vet, but I suppose it was just his way of adapting to the environment (hot as hades). There’s no question about his health now.
I was on the road back home by 5:30am this morning, and as usual, I hit the country roads, except there was a very dense fog, and since there were no lines painted on the roads, I could hardly see where I was driving. I even had to hit my brakes for a family of bunnies that I didn’t see until I was almost on top of them. Anyway, I rerouted myself back to the main highway since it took me an hour to go 20 miles and I had an art fair to get to. And not long after I got on the highway, I spotted a coyote right alongside the road, bulked up for the winter with a thick, full coat. It was so beautiful. The end.
I always go back to Lotte Reiniger to draw inspiration — it was her animation “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” that inspired me to start paper cutting & animation. My graduate thesis paper was written about her animation process. I wish I had access to this video back then (in the days before youtube..).
“To let go is to release the images and emotions, the grudges and fears, the clingings and disappointments of the past that bind our spirit.” – Jack Kornfield
‘One day,’ you said, ‘I watched the sunset forty-three times!’
And a little later you added:
‘You know, when one is that sad, one can get to love the sunset.’
‘Were you that sad, then, on the day of the forty-three sunsets?’
But the prince made no answer.
My fifth and final day in San Diego started at 4am for no good reason except to enjoy the city lights out the hotel window I suppose.. Breakfast at the nearby Brickyard which did not disappoint — every morning. So, so good. And then a lot of wandering around and lunch in Seaport Village until it was time to head to the airport. It was an easy day of travel considering the day before Thanksgiving is supposedly the busiest travel day of the year. And the views on the flight back (with a layover in Minneapolis this time) were even more spectacular than those going out.
Like time in general, it all went by very fast. There’s so much more I wished I could have seen, but it is what it is.. Til next time.
My last full day and night here.. in a nutshell: back to the Balboa Park area for some art, botanic house, natural history museum, and a lot of walking. Watched an amazing 3D movie about coral reefs. After that, a trip over to the Old Town area (again — I was there Sunday, too) for some mexican food, complete with live music at my table. I had my camera out looking for a dog that I saw last time with a chicken standing on it’s back (live ones.. true story) but they were nowhere to be seen. I picked up some Peruvian carved gourds — more on those later, but long story short, I’m in love with them. Here’s some pics of it all:
