cobaltika

the artStuff rambling - i have a feeling no one ever clicks on my cut links except for 2 or 3 people, so i feel kind of safe writing anything i want behind them! ha ha ha. it is almost like a private journal. i always click on cut links, because i am a voyeur and i also want to see the BIG pictures that have to go behind cuts. i try not to click on NSFW when i am at work though. heh.

last week i was crazed with artMaking after the workday even. it felt SO good to be productive again. i even decided to re-open my Etsy store - just in case the economy hand not killed everything. but wow. i guess it has! barely even glances. (i HATE that things that shows views and wish i could just turn it off) is it Etsy? is it Art in general? is it ME? (lifts arms. sniffs. seems ok.) i won’t say i am disappointed, because i had no expectations, just curiosity. sure i would like to sell some of this stuff i can’t stop making. but mostly i just like to put it into the world and give it new homes besides those plastic boxes in the (hopefully dry) storage cupboards out in the hall. but if it doesn’t sell online, then i know it will look good hanging in that crusty little gallery i know i am someday going to have. maybe sooner than i think. if just i could find the right space. i *am* visualizing, though. i WANT. i CAN DO. i KNOW i can.

then this week, after a weekend of being away, socializing, wandering, not arting - back to sluggishness. ACK! all i wanted to do was feed from the stack of paperback mysteries my sister sent me home with. in my cozy bed. last night, i finally perked up though, and started again. new ideas. on the same tiny canvasses (altered photographs - why do they feel so perfect to me?). i like the feeling of using only available materials, nothing new. ok. i *did* cheat a little … and bought some new pale papers last weekend. *all* of my pales were used up. it wasn’t just that i wanted some new ones. and adhesives. i have to buy a lot of that. i haven’t figured out a way to re-use it. heh. but i love rummaging through the stacks and boxes of saved things, giving them new life. so i guess i’m back at it now. whew.

but wait - this doesn’t really need to be filtered or cut-linked, does it? i didn’t even curse.
hi everybody!

it was a good weekend. i fled from home in a rentalMobile on Friday evening, off to Kansas City to live with my poet for a few hours. after re-connecting, we had protein drinks and chips for dinner, then walked around the Sculpture Garden at the Nelson-Atkins/Bloch, right in his neighborhood, then back for wallowing about, listening to Fish Fry on scratchy public radio, with the breeze blowing through the window and the fan spinning above. some sleep. up early, out to a fairly unsuccessful breakfast at River Market and procurement of some vegetables. then exploration of a new neighborhood - Columbus Park - and discovery of the breakfast joint we really wished we had waited for. next time!!! but we sat on their orange cut-velvet sofa and had a little coffee anyway. later some lunch at Cancun then for a little fresh air hike at Cave Springs Park. i found a snake for my poet! he likes them! (shudder). somewhere in the day i bought some glue sticks and new tissues at Utrecht, and he bought some groceries. there was a Swedish film - Everlasting Moments - *not* about cutesy ceramic figurines or a hokey Harlequin romance - but a beautiful slow fine photography film. highly recommended. then daydreams and strawberries at home for dinner, an early night with little sleep (man! the sirens and birds are so much more plentiful and LOUDER in the city), then my poet must be at work at 6:30am and i must go home for my weekend errands and some lethargy at the artTable. tornado watch. flood watch. feeling out of place. but King T is glad i am back.

does writing your life online feel strange to you now, too? it is feeling increasingly so to me. i miss everyone very much. facebook doesn’t quite do it for me. and twitter - i’m not touching it! anyway…

NOW RE-OPENED

cobaltika@ETSY

*finally*! i’m productive again. and having FUN.
my little etsy shop is being refilled daily with both new and old items.
i am concentrating on photo-objects, mostly -
these tiny (4×6) objects are perfectly sized
and priced for the current economy.
*and* they are green!
each is created with available & recycled materials
on re-constructed photographs (from failed film experiments)
all are completely finished - front & back
& ready to HANG and ADMIRE

i hope you will visit!

(sigh ) wisteria on rock wall : bandera texas

i know i know. i’ve been very quiet since returning. not many piccies of texasThings, no travel details, etc etc. i had to go right back to the grindstone, had tons of laundry, wet carpet in the bedroom again, so many decisions, minor details like that. monday morning i woke and walked right into the wall, head spinning. so had to stay home, upright, still, eat drugs and read a trashy paperback (which luckily one of my sisters provided me with - a large stack!). now better, just have to be careful to keep slow.

the most amazing thing is that i have been Working At The ArtTable - and with *great* enthusiasm. the big public spam shall appear soon, but i have re-opened my etsy shop even. yes. true! i keep thinking i have to do big important artThings, which are frankly beyond me right now, but the truth is, i love to make *little* unimportant artThings. they are sweeter to me. just like the tiny sheds and decrepit garages. so there.

i have lots on my mind. too much. likely that is why my head spins. but. onward… as always.

every time i participate in a project with Verian Thomas
(and i have done several in the past years),
i feel quite proud.
beautiful beautiful music …

listen & download

it seems i’m back now. yes. i’m sure that was me sitting in the fluorescent prison today, rather idly. or a reasonable facsimile. i think i left my heart in Tejas. it is easy to do in April. until i got there, i had forgotten that i once vowed to only visit in April. everything was very beautiful. bluebonnets, indian paintbrush, mexican primrose and more lining the normally-appalling interstate. lots of fresh green and blue skies. cool air and warm sun. perfect.

in Austin - Margaret! tacos in the trailer park eatery, on picnic tables under liveoaks lit with holiday lights. not enough napkins. who cares. what are tongues for anyway? a few errands. cat toys. snakes in Petco. wine. back to the hipster eastside apartment with wooden floors and lots of windows and grackles in the trees. househunting TV (Margaret’s favorite). up in the morning. coffee on another picnic table at Clementines, wandering and pictures. so many. get the kids up. breakfast at miMadre, thrift shopping (oh! Savers! i love you!) to the cowboy store and YES. i have new cowgirl boots. factory discounts. simple and caramel-colored. so beautiful. Pickle Research Center - we couldn’t break in. nope. back to to the apartment. pack and to the country.

more family! Kathy! local pizza. and … Twilight! heh. i tried not to laugh, because my sister was so serious - but, with Margaret - everything becomes so silly. then sleep. awake. more family! rabbit ears and loaded easter eggs hidden outdoors. so rowdy. lunch at the lovely table out there. such wind! hanging out. playing. fun. leaving. not fun. on to another house - mother’s. Desperate Housewives. chatter and news. the navy sailor rescue over and over and over… sleep. wake. Mexican lunch with another sister. trespassing at the abandoned old stone motel/cabin place in Medina. tripped the wire of the redneck security system and the phone began to ring and ring. we walked quickly AWAY. 2 silly matrons not busted (this time) such fun. Dancing with Stars (oh i have learned so much about TV this trip!)

sleep. wake. to the Senior Center with mother - a long long walk around Bandera while they quilt - many pictures. back for lunch with the dear little seniors. more Mexican food of course. back to Austin via the Blanco river, Margaret, Bonzai sushi and more houseTV. sleep. wake. go. drive. and drive and drive (try not to be too sad).

the visit in a nutshell.

i am homesick.

the old car in my gramma’s yard forever : Olympus XA2 : last fall
pipecreek texas

well, i guess i’ll go home for a few days.
off before dawn. regardless of heavy rains and thunder.
hell. nothing is worse than ICE.

maybe i can find some cowgirl boots in the junkstore. i’ve been longing…

it will be nice to be gone for a while.

see ya!