cobaltika

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tall doors in nortonville kansas

yesterday traci and i took a little photo fieldtrip to nortonville. i had been there before and liked it and hoped she would, too. it was a bleak day and everything looked rather ugly and there was a cold wind, but we had a pretty good time and it was GREAT to be out with our cameras again. be sure to check her spongebob digicam shots here. they are fabulous!!! then we ate a late lunch downtown and i realized i had not been downtown in almost a month. i guess i should get out more? ha.

i’ll have more images later, after i mess with them. some jamcams, too. and i even used some film. i am beginning to see a few more signs of spring, so i guess it is coming after all this year. some tiny buds on trees and bushes. some daffodils. last week there was even blue sky for a few hours! beyond the small photo adventure, and messing with an artBook for a bit, it has been mostly work, plodding, reading and sleep. same as it ever was! i am ready for a sea change…

amazing StudioSpringCleaningSale still in progress on etsy for a few more days!

i’ve decided to list LOTS of new and old things this weekend, at embarrassingly low prices (but i’m not embarrassed, because they would rather go to new homes, than live in piles in my studio, under the table!). so i am multitasking - creating, scanning, posting, packing - happily! click the image to come see? thanks!

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!