cobaltika

the weekend was great and very productive. the kitchen floor was clean (for one day anyway), laundry was finished and folded, windows opened, some poking around in the garden (mostly dealing with weeds and grass, not fun stuff), some hikes with my poet, pinhole polaroids, a rail, 3 baby killdeer, finishing The Easter Book, and finishing LOTS of mixedMedia pieces that had been in progress for quite some time.

i am putting these up on my etsy throughout the next few days and there is a BIG FREEBIE (sorry i don’t know how to make flashing text any more! whew!) offered from now through the rest of May. many of my listings run out in late May and i will not be relisting them. etsy has been interesting, but i am not doing great there. i don’t think many clients come from within etsy, but most are people i already know (and Love!) or who visit my site. so i am thinking i might use the etsy as a storefront, but most work will be on my own gallery again. it will allow me to keep a few extra pennies and also control the “look”. i am not sure exactly when that will happen. i know i need to be better about “marketing”. i always feel embarrassed to spam my journal and flickr, which is silly really. it’s just an announcement.

i am feeling more motivated about my artmaking (and even the gulp marketing), as things have become more clear about my path at my job. i am definitely going to have to create more income. i am almost to the point where i know what i want to produce, and i enjoy creative production, so maybe i can make it happen. can’t think clearly right now though, as i’m nervous about the dentist this afternoon. yuk.

for several years i have participated in WorldWide Pinhole Photography Day and will do it this year, too! today i will use up my last pack of 600 film and my homemade-by-traci pinhole polaroid and document my day. no big plans so it won’t be *that* exciting, but i will show all the results. maybe i will even go do this?. and if i had some 120 film left, i would use my beloved and fragile pinHolga, made by my friend john. click click click! this is almost like a blog…

it is a good weekend. i am SO glad i opened my mouth and said i don’t want to go away this weekend. i am much happier staying home, making a clean kitchen floor and clean clothes, poking around in the “garden”, wandering around the wetlands with my poet and working at the artTable. yesterday was very productive and i finished many things and they will soon go to etsy. i am not sure about keeping on there. i have some ideas … but now i want to go play, not write!

it is the longest spring. many of the trees have not made leaves. they are timid after the Big Cold. it is still quite cool. but i like being able to wear my elf boots and long skirts and a sweater in the morning for the walk up the hill. i am always so sleepy in the morning. after very hectic nights of intense dreaming. this has been another bizzy workingweek and i am so glad for friday. it was supposed to be our car weekend, but i only feel like staying home and poking around in the dirt and finding ways to get my hands dirty. and making the kitchen floor clean. i wish i would sew some new skirts, too, but … so we will have a car next weekend and go adventuring.

i keep wondering what will be the next thing to do. i won’t stay here forever. sometimes i can’t even visualize a future at all. maybe that is good, as i don’t want to dwell on the future, even if dwelling on the here is sometimes ploddish and dull and lonely. at least it is peaceful. but i miss my girls and my family so much. i would like to be closer to them. travelling is expensive. sometimes we fantasize of having a VW camper and just driving around looking at things. stopping to wander. sigh. i’m still dreamy and sleepy. and hungry.

it has been workBizzy both at home and in the office and my cameras and the artTable are covered in dust. on saturday, during errands, i picked up some film i had left a week ago. BLEH. i am back to the state where i NEVER want to mess with realFilm again. what a huge waste of $$. $25 and there were about 6 images in 3 rolls that possibly deserved a second glance. only in desperation though. very depressing. i know i have not been exactly charmed with my environment lately and i often force myself out for seeing exercises, but hell. i’d better stick to the digital for those exercises hmmmm? my XA2 let me down for the first time and i have never quite figured out the Smena.

i was pretty excited to take the Holga out again. but had forgotten her atrocious lightLeak (PS’ed out of this image, but click for more on flickr). it is very dramatic and BAD in every single frame. otherwise, i rather like her again. i only used the close up filters once and that was before i read the information on focussing length, so never mind about that.

now instead of fantasizing about a used film SLR on eBay and teaching myself Real Photography, i am thinking about abusing the lens of a digital crapcam. i think film mistakes are just not in my budget right now.

otherwise, working, reading, sleeping, dreaming, plodding, eating beans and chocolate ice cream and watching some French films.

and there is some little green stuff in my garden.

earth day 2007 : holga double exposure

another week another dollar. finally the weekend, although a working weekend. i see i will have to trim my nails. clack typo clack. i did not carry a camera this week, although i will pick up some film today. i worked at the artTable on a book one night. i managed to water my tiny seedlings that are arising from the earth and planted some more. last night we had a Big Date - to hear Emerson String Quartet. i discovered them when i was searching for some music to enchant my poet on a road trip, distract him from 10 hours in the car. i know very little about classical music, but could tell they were tight and had a good reputation. when i saw they were to appear at the Lied Center, i showed him the brochure and asked if he thought it sounded good. he read the program of music to be presented and almost squealed. so i was determined we should go, despite ticket price. and we did. and it was quite lovely. we *do* need to get out more often!

today is free books at the library. salivate.

i have thought of a way we could go to costa rica. or *somewhere*. peace corps. no. i’m not kidding. i’ve considered it off and on for years.

onward.
there is already too much sun for working on the computer. and i am behind. uh-oh.

the weekend was fine. quiet. passed too quickly. etc. saturday seemed cranky. in the evening i forced myself out with the camera to wander and engage in some visual exercise. on sunday, my friend traci came over for some photowandering and glueing. that was good. i started 4 new pieces that i seem to hate now and have put away for a while. then my poet and i walked at the swamp and that was good. still. the weekend seemed SHORT. very. today was a sick day, as i had dentist this morning and after last time knew what to expect, so thought i deserved the afternoon off for ibuprofen and napping and reading in bed if i liked. i have been indulging in extreme and subtle worrying lately, which makes me edgy. but i am grateful that i am not a VA Tech parent today. damn. horrors can come at any time these days. it seems there is no safety. only luck. and appreciation of NOW and thanks for the current personal safety of loved ones. i am trying to be happy about the small things. like mashed potatoes.

here are some pictures