cobaltika

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.

it is another winter day. not as frigid today, but the sky is whiteCold, an eye-hurting non-color. i have to be glued to the computer, working on the magazine, but it is very hard to stay focussed or to sit still for too long, because of my evil neck. stiff & painful. i have been scanning some new things and listing on etsy and scanning some things that didn’t come out well, but i think i might like to play with the images of them anyway. like that one. it is the back of an altered photo, made when i was first learning to use beeswax. not a pretty sight, although i like the pieces. they do not have that sweet smooth surface, instead they are rough and unappealing. so i may play with them as i like in photoshop and see how they print. or do other things to them. all of it is interesting (to me). i miss the girls very much today and don’t feel like i have nearly enough Fun in my life lately. i am not sure how to remedy that situation. i mean, art is Fun (to me). but it is also work. and not very social or outgoing. sometimes i long for people-oriented activities, i guess. but i’m not sure what i would want to do with them actually. those people. oh well. that is about it for today then. back to the grindstone.

and i am singing hallejuah songs. the image above is from my newCam - sambo, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, who has now officially replaced miss jemima, my trusty Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, who has joined me in my wanders for this past year. miss jemima left for her new home in Houston this morning. i hope she will be greatly revered, as she well deserves. it seems a little odd not to have an Important Camera now, but i think i have been heading in that direction. i still have absolutely no lust for a digital SLR. small, quick and sharp, that’s what matters most. for other stuff, the Valiant, the Olympus XA2, my nailpolish cameras - they please me well. and photoshop. i am going to have a polaroid blowout photo event pretty soon, using my last few boxes of polaroid film. then all the polaroid cameras will be packed up in a big box and sold to the highest bidder. the reserve price will cover postage! ha ha.

i feel a little silly this morning. it must be all that ibuprofen.

another fairly dreary morning. needing more coffee. man this is a rough week. and SO COLD. why is winter so long this year? this morning ice pellets falling, overslept, *had* to wash my hair, late, stomping around, finally my poet offered a ride, now scratchy-eyed and lumpy with extra clothes that i didn’t need after all in the office. ready for lunch. baby food in a can today - Annie’s Cheezy Ravioli. hey, it’s easy to bring and very cheap. i’m trying to be so much better about bringing lunch. i don’t like messing about with food in the morning AT ALL. it’s nauseating. the best parts of life lately are the artTable, despite the freezing floor, and daydreams of trips away. california and the NW are coming soon and i could not be happier! i don’t even care if all my ebay sales flop and we have to sleep in the car at campgrounds!! and eat power bars!! margaret has been scheduling the college visits and we almost have a plan. then in april, to boston and betsy. YAY. i love my girls so much and miss them like crazy, but i am so glad they are off having interesting lives. last night we watched Rest In Pieces (Joe Coleman). it wasn’t what i thought it was going to be, because i didn’t really know who he was after all, but it was strange and GOOD although i had to close my eyes at times. and i saw the eclipse. is it lunch yet?

very very sleepy this morning. my eyes are sandy and blurry. i wish the professor who makes coffee was here today! if i try to make it, in the office pot, it will taste so nasty, i know. i can only make it in my own pot, and then just barely. not enough this morning though. need more. a little cranky. last week i was looking at tickets for Boston, but was not quite sure of the timing, so did not buy. today i look, ready to buy, and they have gone up $60. shit. oh well it is only money, right? i am having much fun being an online entrepreneur, i think. now that i have kind of settled on small art for etsy, my hands are busy every night and new things appear as if by magic. i am finding old bits that i loved and saved and it is fun to use them now. it seems magic when they sell, too. i even like the packing and mailing part now. i just wish i knew a way to become more visible and desirable. the pieces are sweet, small and very reasonable. i don’t like the term “cheap art manifesto”, but i do like the idea of making pieces that can give visual pleasure and be affordable. especially in these days. i am also enjoying the eBay stuff now, too. i like answering questions and watching the bids and feeling like something that was taking up space and no longer useful in my life has great value to someone else. i have now washed many quilts that i made 15-20 years ago and stored away. not fancy wall kinds, but for babies - non-traditional babies, of course. no pink and blue here. on the weekend i will be able to photograph them in the daylight and then i will list more things. i am getting into it! and my scuffy old fluevogs, too, maybe! it is definitely work, though. but remember, i am escaping into art and work now! not red wine and trashy mysteries! (at least not to excess) my hips ache today. i hope i am not getting arthritis, too. maybe it is just from clomping up and down the hill in lumpy ice and biting cold weather. winter can be done anytime now. where are those little yellow crocus? i’ve been looking…

some new things on etsy: hanging objects & more prepared books
lots of good things!

… and …

i have finally started listing many random, interesting and useful things on eBay. starting today with cameras, lenses, filters and flamenco shoes (which are doing very well, don’t laugh!) i am selling Miss Jemima, my Lomo, my Smena8M and my Diana+.

go see if you like?

hopefully tomorrow i will start listing some vintage textiles and clothing and yet more random, interesting and useful things. god it is a lot of work though! setting up photo shots, then listing, thinking of what to say, jeez, then packing and sending. but i MUST. there is so much stuff in this house now. what will i do with it all when i go off to the Peace Corps???

ok, enough advertising. it is rainy and cold and my back hurts so much. i want to start new pieces, but i don’t think i can tonight. my body only wants to lie in a clean flannel nest and read a book. then sleep. mmmmm.