so in October i did my own October project.
that was good.

then in November, i did this:
also, really good - and i'm still working on it, since i consider Nano a jumpstart mostly.


now for December, i think i will do this:

and i'll start with this, since i was a greedy piggy and could NOT wait until christmas for my own little present. i have been really really good about new toys and new boots and everything, it was time to cut loose a little, so i acquired that little iPod Touch i have been longing for since they finally made one with a camera. it is SO MUCH FUN!

my first hipstamatic (tm)

what do you mean that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving????

it does to ME!

it's that old red garage i used to walk by and make a picture of a couple of years ago. probably on this very same day two years ago. when i lived in that crappy student ghetto apartment that leaked all the time and flooded my bedroom and made moldy toxic carpet? see! it has a LOT to do with Thanksgiving, that picture, because i AM SO THANKFUL I DON'T LIVE THERE ANYMORE. ok, that is a small thing, but taking that "nostalgic" walk this morning and making pictures of some of the things i used to see, made me feel very glad to be coming "home" to my lofty and dry garage apartment. i am spending the day alone, my family are scattered and my friends are few. but i am not unhappy. i am baking sweet potatoes and making split pea soup with the turkey ham that i meant to have in my salad, but decided to put in the soup instead and will put some chicken in the salad instead. i have cold white wine and ice cream. i am working on artStuff and trying not to look at my lofty and dry garage apartment, because in the bright sun i can see it is very dusty. i am really not into being holidayish today at all, but if you are, i hope you are having a nice day. i am and i am grateful. for lots of things. not just my lofty and dry garage apartment. but if i were to list them, it would sound very strange...

onward.

since everyone seems to be presenting their book memes this weekend, i guess i can take up space with my long string of fake polaroids! i finally downloaded Poladroid again and played with it. it's hokey but so much fun to see what randomly appears. i even let it crop for me. gasp. such a loss of control! (but i cheated and straightened the images in photoshop first. shoot me!)

last weekend, i convinced the poet to wander in The Bottoms with me. i hadn't been in so long and that is one of my favorite areas in Kansas City. he gave it a good try, but after half an hour or so, there was some fretting over the cold wind and the possiblity of catching cold. argh! i could have stayed for hours, exploring! we also saw The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest and ate indian food and had a lovely weekend as usual.

now i am back to writing like a fool. i will probably finish the word count for Nano this weekend, but i am just not feeling the euphoria of last year. i can't seem to find the tenderness and humor i had for my characters and situations last year. and ... i don't seem to have a real story! just randomshit happening. well, we'll see. it seems like i didn't really get going last year until almost 50,000 words, so i will carry on. it is a pleasure. the writing. that's for sure. but i'm almost missing arting a little, too. last Sunday was traci's glueshitdown birthday party and i managed to make 3 little collages, which felt good. she has glitter glue. i really need some of that stuff.

finally! these buggers are all finished, all varnished, all scanned
and ready for viewing by any interested parties.
click to go if you like!

to see the whole set of retratos de detalles images alone,
GO HERE

now back to writing.
it seems much harder this year.

yesterday was really gorgeous. as was the day before. and the day before. and so on. although the leaves aren't quite as amazing as usual, the autumn sky has been a fierce, bright blue, almost frightening! the air is perfect, not too cold, not too hot. i have been on my butt a lot lately, working at the artTable, writing like a fiend, reading, etc, and really needed to get out for a walk yesterday, so i did. not a big exciting one, just the most winding-through-the-alleys route i could take to the library. but i tried to make it more exciting for myself by taking my camera for a little project.

usually i don't use the "scene" settings, because i think they are a little hokey, but on my cammie, i have to admit that i LOVE the pinhole scene, so i only allowed myself to make pictures using that singular setting. sure it is a little fake-looking, but still, i think it is interesting. even the most mundane scene takes on a certain holiness.

more pictures! what? you thought i would stop or something? nope!

last weekend was the biweekly visit to the city and the poet and i felt desperate to see something besides woods and movies, so we had a short wander in one of my favorite neighborhoods, Columbus Park. my eyes were still searching for ... details. and i find them there. we also had the most awesome pho at a little corner Vietnamese dive, Pho KC. it was a windy and cool day. very gray. we also saw Enter The Void and i don't really recommend it. my poor poet had to sit out the last half hour, because he was just too dizzy and nauseated. i was surprised that *i* wasn't. if i had known how it was to be, i would have dropped meclizine first, to be sure. but somehow i became immune to the stimulation as the film progressed. i was glad when it was over.

what else. writing like a fool for nanowrimo. the october objects are all in the flattening process, between towels and cloths, under books. i decided to go ahead and finish them all the way after all. i'm not really sure why, i must say. the long lonely weekend is coming up. i will write, glue and who knows, maybe even paint. it could happen!

it is becoming cold now, but there are furBoots to be worn, so all is well.

ps. no point in talking about the election, huh? ugh.

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The End of the October Project
including ... The Objects.

only awaiting 2nd coat of varnish and glued-on backings.
(which i will complete tonight.)
and then scan and show. so ...

I DID IT!
(a personal goal. important to no one but myself.)

now i am going to write another book.

so don't look for pictures every day. ha.

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the project is nearly done!
this morning i was a little cranky about how the objects were coming out,
but worked hard on them today, taking some stuff off and adding
words! ever-important words!
then some shiny gloss varnish.
and now i love them!

and now i guess i must scan.
ugh. not my favorite thing, to be sure

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duh bobbi. shouldn't this have been #23? duh?
ok! never mind. i changed it. i'm happier now.

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it's a good weekend.
the poet's birthday.
1/2price gooseberry pie & organic vanilla ice cream.
walks in the woods.
lots of movies!

and then someone went and hacked my site.
DON'T GO THERE!!

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i am so glad i had this one marked for today

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an old old favorite. i wish i could remember where this was...

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detail of the serving bar at Berry Austin (froyo! yum!)
on of the most amazing contemporary examples of pique assiette EVER.
the tops is all pale. the bottom all color.

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Fade. 2010
Mixed Media on Board. 36" x 36"
Anthony May

i always forget to mention it, but i keep a tumblr going, as a digital scrapbook for the (personally) inspiring art that i find online. at first i just kept it to myself, but i may as well share since it is becoming LOADED with goodies. so much beauty in the world...

cobaltika : cosas diarias

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i did it!!!!

Real Live BREAD!

sure, i cook my own food all the time. it is so much more nutritious and so much less expensive, even for only 1 person. and basic stuff is really easy. but BAKING ... i haven't done that in YEARS (other than a very-seldom pan of brownies from a box mix for the poet). i don't even keep flour and sugar and baking ingredients in the house anymore. but i have had a hair up my tail for baking my own bread lately and yesterday acquired a bit of flour (they only had pastry flour in the bin, though. i was a little worried...), yeast and some cane sugar from the co-op. i made myself a promise that i would do it TODAY, even though i was intimidated and i DID. i used a very basic recipe from Joy of Cooking, for the first time, but i would really like to add more grains and stuff eventually.

i can report that although they are not beautiful pieces, they are each quite tasty. #1 was meant to be sort of a rustic loaf, but it sprawled out and was sort of flat, only about 2" high. the taste was fine, though, especially dipped into some sweet Spanish olive oil! now at least i'll bet i can make a focaccia!! #2 was an experiment, because i thought two loaves of whitish bread would be pretty dull. so i grated a big handful of cheddar and threw in a handful of the Hatch green chiles that i roasted last month, then froze, for just such occasions as this. i rolled it all into the dough and threw the lump in the pan and it worked! a little over-brown on an exposed cheese place on top and on the bottom another cheesy place stuck to the pan a little, but mostly ... nice!

jeez. i hope i don't eat it all tonight. it smells amazing and tastes delicious, but i'm not used to bread and i can already feel a lump in my belly just from tasting. i'm probably safe.

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i wanted to find something sort of john lennonish today, in honor of his birthday, one that would have turned him ... omigod ... 70. but i couldn't exactly, nothing good enough, so i looked at other things. i went for a long walk this morning and noticed that the leaves are not exciting yet. every year i forget exactly when it will happen. i do remember that there is often red and bright orange at halloween and sometimes even snow. shocking. it will come. i feel like i can't quite keep up lately. it is all so fast. life is.

i like this little october project. the objects themselves, involving the images, are also coming along quite nicely. i am liking them, too. it is good to have something besides mystery novels and dinner and financial/legal terrors to focus on. and it is a good discipline, too, because next month is ... NANOWRIMO!!! ... and i think i am going to do it again. really!

also, i am going to bake bread tomorrow. not in a machine.

it has been many years.

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some time i will probably write something too, but for now, i'm patting myself kindly for at least doing *this* consistently!

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in the past few years, i have had a "daily october project" of some kind. maybe not last year? it is a good exercise and i have ended up with some pretty good stuff. i love the idea of a timed project. so i have decided to do it this year, too. starting today i will make portraits of details. i can use lots of my old images, there are so many unpublished ones and it is a good chance to go back and examine them and reflect. i actually *want* to use the old images and not try to shoot new ones every day, although i will likely be inspired to make some new pictures. i notice i am not shooting as many details as "big pictures" lately, and i think that is a commentary on how i am looking at my life too often. it is good to look and appreciate the small and close.

then, with the images made each day, i will turn them into 31 objects - all 5 x 7 - and not one per day! gah! do i want to go crazy? they will be completed by the end of the month and then i will show them. the objects will only use available art materials, of which i have many.

it will be fun.