I don’t think anyone realized how bad my art table was. But believe me, it was bad. I have the photos to prove it. And I’m willing to show you.



So you can see. I had to do something. Its been this way for a good year. Probably longer.I’m sure longer. I really don’t remember the last time I cleaned it. REALLY cleaned it. Not just moved things around and called it good, but actually cleaned it. So I’m long overdue. Its so bad. How can I make art on that? How? But I do. Correction, did. I “did” make art on that.

That’s right. I cleaned it. REALLY cleaned it. I put all the good papers away and tossed the unusable scraps that I tell myself I’ll use but I won’t. Which was most of them. And tossed a lot of stuff I said I would use but I won’t. I know I won’t. How do I know? Stuff has been on there since 2007. Seriously. 2007. Summer 2007. So its been at least a year and a half that the art table has been cleaned.

So now that I’ve cleaned it, what’s next? I need to get a chair or another balance ball. Since my last balance ball broke I have nothing to sit on over there at the art table unless I move the chair from the computer desk over.

My Art Mess is Clean

Its so rainy/foggy/crappy/pollutiony out that I can’t even see the store across the street. I can only see the street light. You ever see the movie “The Fog”?

I had hoped to have posted more the last few days. How hard can it be to post more than zero. Apparently pretty damn hard. I fell short.

Its been raining here yesterday and today. The pollution is so bad its coming down with the rain and I could smell it the last three days in the apartment even. Raining pollution :( Yuck.  You would think Salt Lake City would have good air quality. But no. They report on the new when we have the worst in the nation. Happens more than you’d think. Right now is one of those times.  I had to walk home last night in the rain, And breath that crap. It was horrible. You can taste it in the air. And the lake too. The salt.    So. That’s the last two days. That grossness. But you’d think being inside I’d have posted and I didn’t.  I did manage to get out today. The rain stopped. The sun came out. So I rushed to the shipping connection place and the grocery store (been out of soy milk for a week) and got some sun. That was nice. Still smells like the lake is bad though. The storm was not enough to move the pollution out from over the city, just pulled some of it down on us. So we still have it there over us. :( Just not quite as much. But I still try to stay in. I have no car and the air makes me sick to breath it when its this bad and I have to walk everywhere. Or wait for the bus.



On Wednesday I got a delivery from FedEx. I was expecting it. Waiting patiently. And I probably should have made space while I was waiting. But I didn’t. So now, If I could just get the art table cleaned up a bit, then I could work on the space under it a little…..




I could find a place for all these little guys…...

Supplies

I like the color dragon red. Its not a paint color. Not that I know of. Its a pottery color. I take a pottery class. Handbuilt stuff, not wheel thrown. Yesterday I brought home some stuff I’ve not been able to get in to pick up for awhile.



This bowl is a coil project we did in class. I did mine in a pasta strainer for that side texture you see. It’s a fairly large size bowl. I had to let it dry extra slow. Not just out on the shelf. So it wouldn’t crack.



I did the sides unevenly on purpose. Well, there was really no way I could get them even, even if I had tried. So I didn’t try. I chose to go uneven and in a more random pattern. I think the bowl came out well.





These piggies are just too cute. I’ve done so many piggies, but these are surely some of the best. Partly I think that may be because of the color. I’m not sure. But I will attribute it to the color.  I think I had made a fifth piggie, but for some reason I don’t remember, I did not paint him that day I went wild with dragon red. Just the four. And here they are.



  I originally found something called a ‘lucky pig’ online that was a perfectly round pig carved out of wood. I liked it, and thought I could make my own in clay. Mine ended up looking almost nothing at all like those lucky pigs. But I love mine very much and now have a whole army of piggies of my own. I call them lucky and carry one with me. I have some that are rattles and make noise when you shake them. These are not rattle piggies however. Just regular piggies.

lone red piggie

I went to the dentist today. So my gums are tender and just a bit sore. I also needed to start a new medication today. One that I need to take with food for better absorption.  What I had planned on eating when I got home from the dentist was the some more of the beans and barley in the slow cooker. But the heat from that made it a no-go. I needed cold. And in order to take the med I needed filling. So smoothie to the rescue. Blueberry smoothie even. I tossed in some pecans to make it more filling. And more delicious. And some flaxseed to up the nutrition even more. But what if that wasn’t enough? So I made some toast. A quarter of an onion pita, toasted with peanut butter. I tossed on some banana slices at the end just to, again, increase the nutrients and make it even more filling.





And yes, those are the art supplies you see in the background. Where better to have a late lunch/early dinner then messing around at the art table? Just don’t try to eat anything not on the plate or in the cup.

Blueberry Pecan Smoothie*
half a frozen banana, cut into slices
two handfuls frozen blueberries (about 2/3-3/4 cup)
one handful pecans (about 1/3 cup)
enough light vanilla soy milk to cover it all up (about 1 1/2)
one spoonful of ground flaxseeds (about 1TBSP)
more light vanilla soy milk to thickness you like best
~~sometimes I toss in a packet of stevia, that’s a natural sweetener, you could use a bit of sugar, most times I don’t

Blend. Serve. ~~ If you start with 1 1/2 cups of milk you get a thicker smoothie, if that’s what you like, add more milk till you get the thickness you like.
~~~~This makes and extra large smoothie, about three cups~~~

*Yes, I know this is not a ‘true smoothie’ as it doesn’t use yogurt or whatever you are supposed to put in one to make it a ‘real’ smoothie, but it works well and satisfies the sweet tooth and the sore gums that go with it.

By now you might have noticed I have a thing for spirals.



I am fascinated by them in all their forms.



So what does a spiral mean? The definition of a spiral is this :
  Winding or circling round a center or pole and gradually receding from it; as, the spiral curve of a watch spring.
Or, more fancy, A plane curve, not reentrant, described by a point, called the generatrix, moving along a straight line according to a mathematical law, while the line is revolving about a fixed point called the pole. Cf. Helix.




Our galaxy is a spiral



The spiral also shows up in nature. Tornadoes, hurricanes, snails, the pattern of sunflower seeds, right down to the shape or our DNA.



Is it any wonder I cant stop painting them? They don’t even have to be round to fascinate me.



These images and more can be found here.

Around the world

mixed media collage on panel
24 x 24