cobaltika

view of bay bridge : san francisco : evening

i guess this will probably be the last of my “vacation snapshots”. a pretty awful collection, i must say! some of margaret are rather sweet though, but for the most part - yuk! even hers! (sorry margaret…) i guess the combination of fast car travel and sickness are not conducive to artful photography. finally in san francisco, i was feeling almost human, and we had dumped the car and could finally be still enough to walk around for a while, so that is where i had the best luck. but it was low light, and grayish, except for the surprise bit of golden sun that blew out just before sunset, and i was just not very focussed. that’s ok! i’m a little disappointed in myself, but hopefully i will make up for it another time, another trip.

i haven’t been inspired to capture anything around here lately. maybe soon? i guess i’m ready for spring, but i will miss my fleece and boots.

mostly just very tired, with fried eyes. from working a LOT this weekend, *still* working through tonight, computer work at the office, reading too much in bed and not sleeping enough. i did manage to sneak a little art on Sunday, working on a board book, trying some new paint things, adding random imagery, thinking about words. of course it is not finished and i haven’t even had a chance to look at it since then, but i will. still coughing and headachey. ok, onward…

it is easter morning and i am sitting around in my flannel nightgown and blanket, with my big white cup of coffee. this time last sunday, margaret and i were eating peanut butter and bagels in the adelaide hostel dining room, then wandering in the bright sun and blue skies in downtown san francisco for a few minutes before we had to pack and leave. sigh… already nostalgic.

i am about to finish work on the magazine, then spend the day at the artTable. last year, on Easter weekend, i made an entire book. of course, i will not do that today, but perhaps something special will evolve. or at least *something*. we’ll see. it seems to be sunny, when snow and clouds were predicted. all is still brown here, although i have seen a few clumps of crocus by now. i cannot understand how places we saw in the NW were already green, with many spring flowers - and those places are further north than us? god we saw beautiful things. i wish the NW weren’t so far from my mama.

well, there are no easter happenings scheduled here today other than chocolate peanut sundrops on the table, pretending to be eggs. no church, ham or potato salad. no colored eggs. no waking from the dead. yet. i’m still waiting though! so … onward. work and play.

i’m back. (&have been for a few days!) still trying to feel returned and settled. flying away is such fun, it is hard to land again. it was a GREAT trip with margaret, we barely fussed even. laughed a LOT and saw so much. unfortunately, i was sick most of the time we were gone, with an appalling intestinal disorder, then a sorethroat and cough, and we needed to move SO fast to get to the places that we needed to see, so there are not really many images to see, but there will be a few. i will scatter them on flickr and here in the next week or so. but the impressions that flew by were wonderful. god. the north coast of california is PARADISE, i think. those little villages … the ocean and windy roads … the redwoods … wow.

funny, i didn’t think about art the whole time i was gone, except for the moment i passed a woman painting in a storefront studio in Chinatown in SF, twilight on Saturday night. a gutTwisting envy. normally, i fantasize and visualize art, even when i am not physically working on things. i came to a stopping place and cleaned up before i left. now it seems like it is time for something new. *really* time. i wonder what it will be?

i’m not *quite* gone yet. but really really close. tomorrow AM, crack of dawn (erf. i hope i can get it right, with the damned timeChange), on the shuttle and on the plane and off to california. meet margaret at her flight, BART to downtown SF, pick up tiniest car possible, drive over the big bridge (omigod) and onward. we are GOING!

see you next week! (unless i send a postcard…)

and hey. just because i’m gone doesn’t mean i am not still springCleaning.

bye!

another of those photos that only a mother (or maker) could love

it has turned cold again, so i am leaving the camera at home again, but it was very much fun to wander with one on the way to and from work at least one day last week. it was fun showing Sambo all of the things that the pencam (ok, Penelope) has been seeing for the past few months. Sambo looks at things so differently. he is fun. i can’t wait to go on a TRIP with him!! SOON SOON SOON! fleece and tencel are my new favorite fabrics. J41 shoes are *not* Keens. they sort of hurt. i have started cutting up my old grandpa’s 1959 ranchwear catalog for collages (the first set is on etsy and it really makes me laugh) and am about to tear into the 1950’s sears and monkeyWards, too. years and years ago, i claimed these from my grandma’s back porch. and then have hoarded them and lugged them around the country for that many years. NO MORE. it is so much fun to finally release hoardom.

that dead rose that i have seen all winter : panasonic lumix tz3 macro mode

finally i have made it work! yesterday it was warm and safe (finally most of the lumpy ice has melted) enough to wander up the hill with my camera in tow. it has been too fierce this winter to enjoy wandering and shooting on the way to and from the office. and who wants to slide down and but their new camera? not me!! i am certainly in love with the new camera, but i have not been successful in creating a nice clean macro flower. well, sometimes i like to do that. but yesterday … YES. it finally worked. there is even some DOF. i love it.

carrying this camera is also interesting in that i don’t feel like a Real Photographer. i mean it is essentially a point and shoot! ha ha. so i really am a naive photographer now. a secret imageMaker! i like knowing that with my eye and skill with my simple tools (and photoshop of course!), i can create lovely and/or interesting images. it’s all about composition and awareness. not whether you have a big $$ DSLR. i mean i see people do beautiful work with those, but they would probably do beautiful work with anything in their hands, you know? ok enough philosophy. much to do on this sunny day. a big ETSY surprise will be announced this weekend. i know all readers must tremble in anticipation…

last night we watched another japanese film. Woman In The Dunes. i thought it was a bit too harsh and literary. i can’t think of the word my poet just used to describe it. i much prefer the Ozo films we have been watching. they are dear. we saw our first color one, a later one from the 60’s earlier in the week - Late Autumn - and it was truly gorgeous. more silly than his others that we have seen. as if the color stimulated some giddiness. i have to admit i really heart Netflix…although i try to keep the film-viewing to the weekends. once in a while i need a mid-week break from the artTable though.

at first i nearly wrote, “already wednesday”, but then i thought already? jeez it seems like 3 years since last sunday when traci and i escaped our indoor labors for a little while and went wandering in the rare sunlight with our cameras. it was still a little too cold, and there was gloppy slush in all the alleys. but we persevered. fresh air and cameras are important to well-being. the time in between has been spent finishing the magazine, the 8-5, packing and shipping ebay things and trying to heal my dreadful upper spine. today i think it is almost better. i have been *trying* to stay away from the computer and have not had time to be humped over the artTable and have been learning to sleep with one pillow. i hope i can fix myself. i’m not giving up the artTable. no way.

anyway, the wandering was good. i also took my Brownie Hawkeye along. it is so friendly to carry, like a little child’s purse. and of course, Sambo, my beloved (already) newCam. i wished i had a nailpolish camera, too, but i no longer like to feel too loaded down when i am wandering. sometimes i don’t even want to carry a bag of any kind. just pockets. we also did a drive-by shooting of the Jayhawk mobile home village, where i had not visited in THREE years. there are some images on flickr. no one is looking at them. it seems vintage trailers are not amusing photo subjects. haha. they are to me!!! i wish i could Go In one and explore.

i keep wondering what i will do in my next life. which is fast approaching. sometimes i look on craigslist and daydream about living and working in new places. i know i will leave here. i wonder if i will live in a trailer village?

it is good when there is coffee in the office.