Please pardon my dust as I try to figure out this whole blog thing. It’s been a few years since I’ve made any major updates. This theme should look pretty once I figure out how to make it work right.. but I can only tell it’s right if it’s live.. so.. I’m gonna sleep on it after a nail biting evening trying to back up my website before I updated to the latest version of wordpress. I was still in the stone-age in techie years..
Rollover, the cat. Oskaloosa, KS, 2012.
I’m spending the next several days away from home visiting family here and there. All the while, I’m dying to get out onto some country roads with my new 300 mm camera lens. I saw two bald eagles in the last two days, plus a field full of snow geese and various hawks scouting out their scarce meals on the cold ground while I was driving down different highways.. So many opportunities for awesome photo captures and especially with a little snow on the ground. Today I bought a new pair of knee-high rubber boots to walk in shallow water (and maybe do a little early spring paddling – planning ahead here). I’m antsy to get out into nature.
I’m also in the middle of the book “The Man Who Quit Money” by Mark Sundeen– a recommended read. From Amazon.com’s description: “In 2000, Daniel Suelo left his life savings-all thirty dollars of it-in a phone booth. He has lived without money-and with a newfound sense of freedom and security-ever since.” Although it’s a lifestyle that would be a little extreme for me, it goes along with my own life & artistic philosophy that by getting rid of the things that you don’t need, the more room you have for meaningful experiences. The two most important things to me that I work towards are freedom and security, and I’ve been figuring out ways to create my own for awhile now and am always looking to simplify in all things — thoughts, possessions, etc… Til next time.
I was kinda hoping to have a little holiday animation for you all, but alas, time ran short. I’ve been busy up until yesterday with in-person and online orders, consignment restocks, commissions, etc. Thank you to all you folks who have bought my work over the last few weeks (and ever, actually). You’ve kept me on my toes, and I’m pretty sure I know everyone at the post office on a first name basis now.
Warm wishes to you all. It’s been an amazing year – the best by far (I’ll surely repeat myself next week for New Years because it’s worth repeating). Thank you for being a part of that. Merry merry. Til next time.
Random quote: “Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” -Henry David Thoreau
Today I shipped out two big boxes of prints & cards to Collector Art in Berkeley, CA, and Bella Luz in Wichita. I’ll also be restocking Dundee Gallery this week, and putting my work in new vendor Nurture Botanicals & Bazil Essentials here in Lawrence.
I’m working on a few commissions presently, and I’ll also be taking down my works from the Lawrence Community Theater next week and will likely list those still available in my Etsy shop since I won’t have any shows coming up for awhile. I also added a bunch of prints to my Etsy shop. Thanks to all of you who have ordered over the last few days. You’re keeping me busy!
Looking forward to dinner with family and friends this friday — if you’ve read my blog for awhile, you’ll know I enjoy cooking for people (on an occasional basis, anyway). My recent record purchase, Inti-illimani (give them a listen HERE), gave me a hankering to cook South American food, so I’m putting on my apron (just kidding – I’m not that sophisticated) and hitting the kitchen. I’ve got my soundtrack for the night picked out, and it includes a cassette that I bought almost 20 years ago in San Francisco from some Peruvian street performers. It was the first time I can remember hearing that kind of music (pan flute, etc) and I took an instant liking to it.. Til next time.
My workday started off very, very early as I prepare for my next three art fairs in hopes that I’ll be ready for them before I leave town this weekend.. I gotta admit, I love working from home. I’m thankful for that everyday. It’s nice to be able to move my work out of my workroom and into my living room for a change of scenery and a comfier seat..
I sent off shipments of prints and greeting cards yesterday to Dundee Gallery in Omaha and The Eclective, a new vendor, in Topeka. I’ll be re-stocking Bella Luz in Wichita and Collective Art Gallery in Berkley, CA, in the coming weeks. I’ll be ramping up my greeting card distribution after the new year — if you know any stores that you think would like to carry them, send them my way or let me know!
Ummmm..
The “Dead Room” at my uncle’s house.
A deer head in my aunt & uncle’s bedroom that was doubling as a coat rack.
A birch bark canoe full of critters at the Buffalo Lodge in Weston, MO.
And some more canoeing critters. I also saw a buffalo, a couple wolves, some bobcats, a few birds..
I spent the day matting prints and bagging greeting cards, and then I headed hometown-ward and enlisted my kind kinfolk to help me make up some buttons and magnets. I’m pretty well prepped for the Maple Leaf Fest this weekend.
I came across this photo looking through some oldies a bit ago.. Music has always been a part of my life (maybe a reason why a good portion of my posts here are music related..). “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” -Albert Schweitzer
In true Kansan fashion, I’ll bring up the weather. The wind right now is insane and blew me all over the road earlier. I posted a picture last week of a forest-like area which at that time was still lush with leaves, and today, those trees were completely bare. I’m now listening to the wind from a north facing room on the second story and it sounds like a roaring ocean. I like it. It makes me think of one of my favorite books, Song of Hiawatha by HW Longfellow. There’s a chapter about the four winds. Here’s an excerpt:
But the fierce Kabibonokka
Had his dwelling among icebergs,
In the everlasting snow-drifts,
In the kingdom of Wabasso,
In the land of the White Rabbit.
He it was whose hand in Autumn
Painted all the trees with scarlet,
Stained the leaves with red and yellow;
He it was who sent the snow-flake,
Sifting, hissing through the forest,
Froze the ponds, the lakes, the rivers,
Drove the loon and sea-gull southward,
Drove the cormorant and curlew
To their nests of sedge and sea-tang
In the realms of Shawondasee
etc…
I’ve posted Longfellow’s section about Wabun, The East Wind here before. Read it here.
Til next time..
Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis, with Neal (behind the camera).