Thoughts, ideas, and curiosities of a Boston area creator of amusing and/or unusual objects.
Check This Out!
Here are some pictures of what I made with my 30th (my b-day was a few weeks ago) birthday gift. They are aebelskivers! or Danish pancake balls. They were really tasty and fun to make. I'm trying to get some family traditions going now that the Little One is here. I have some Danish ancestry myself. Now I need some German tradtions...
I've decided to use this Blog to post pictures and document my creative projects. Right now I'm working on some pet pads to donate to an animal shelter in NY.
I'm taking a little break here at work today. I cut some fairly complicated mats, stretched & matted a needlepoint, & did some fitting. Sitting feels good.
I'm just a little tired today after having been woken up twice by a fire alarm (most likely set off by a malfunction and cold weather).
I hear rumor that there is more snow in store for Boston this evening. I'm not thrilled by the thought of the sidewalks being clogged with snow again, but luckily I have a pair of awesome boots to wear in the nasty weather. They are knee high and waterproof, & quite frankly make my feet look gigantic :-)
Snow or not though, I'm looking forward to getting some quality (an hopefully undisturbed) sleep tonight.
It seems like I've been busy for months. Today however, I have very little that I need to do. :-D
The problem with this is that I usually find ways to busy myself(acually exhaust myself) such as cleaning, and chores, or I'll decide on a whim to cook or bake something unnecessarily complicated. So...today's task is to relax. I'm hoping to get a bit of reading done. I started a book last week about Albert Einstein and am enjoying it a great deal. The author has been describing Einstein's ideas in context with the events of his life and the world around him. The book is titled Einstein's Cosmos.
Now I must get busy relaxing...well maybe a few bits of work first, but after that, no excuses ;-)
Since I'm not all that computer savy (hopefully I'll get better) I don't know how to link to other web pages via this blog yet.
So here's a list of some artists to check out (I'm sure if you Google them there will be something interesting to see :-) )
Louise Bourgeois
Alexander Calder
Andrew Goldsworthy
Phillip Guston
Giacometti
Max Ernst
Joseph Beuys
(More names later, when I can bring them to mind)
Enjoy. :-)
Hello.
It appears that the last time I wrote anything in this blog was in November....Huh....I'll try to do better in the future.
What has been on my mind a lot lately is my relationship to the "art world" and the "art world"'s relationship with the wolrd at large.
I am tired of the media showing a select few angry, weird, or corrupt artists and painting these as the only picture of creative people. I won't say that I'm necessarily representitive of artists as a whole, but I know a lot of people who create for reasons similar to my own.
Firstly, my work is very personal. I don't expect anyone else to "get" it. I don't often want or need anyone else to see it. Making work is like an itch I must scratch. I am driven to create and so I do. This drive is very unlike that of many artists today who seem hell bent on alienating most everyone, except a select few which are expected to sing praises to their cleverness and damn those who say any different. The problem with this is, of course, that people who just want to make genuinely beautiful or interesting things, either for an audience or not, get clumped into the same group. Sigh.
So I ask myself "what can I do?". That remains to be seen.
Wow!! This was quite the busy day. There were five shadowboxes in the works. I love assembling them, but I'd say this is a bit too many for one day. Luckily only three of them were actually due tomorrow. The other two only needed to be set up to be fit Thursday.
The theme at work this week: Plexiglas that is cut just slightly too large to fit into the frame I am trying to assemble (I work in a custom picture framing store). Three or four pieces have had this problem already and it's fairly delicate business trimming an eighth of an inch off a large and no longer paper-masked piece of plexi. I wonder if the trend will continue or if I'll get a reprieve because of my good behavior ;-)
Food is always best when it is make with love. While I can admit that some fast food and prepard treats (such as the devilishly tasty hostess cupcake) have their place, they're almost nothing like homemade. I have been baking a fair amount lately. It seems I'm on a quest to assemble my own library of favorite recipies (the kind you pass on to family when you are old; the kind that make memories). The internet is a surprisingly good source for tasty recipies of all sorts; although I am having some difficulty finding a good recipe for Chicken Korma.
I think I may start to make collages tomorrow. The need to cut and tear bits of things into small pieces and glue them to a support has been building for about a week now. I figure the outcome will be more like sketches than anything finished, but it's been so long since I have worked two-dimensionally that I'll have to get back into practice.
I'm trying very hard to keep myself from starting another sewing project. This year has brought with it several costume projects, a bridesmaid dress, and two quilts(still in progess). Even though the most recent complicated costume was just finished, and was quite a lot of work (all worth it though :-) , I'm already itching for a new challenge. Sigh.
There's only so long can restrain myself ;-)
Thank you Pennsylvania Dutch!
I spent some time this afternoon making whoopie pies (chocolate cake/cookies filled with a white sugary fluff). They are a specialty of the Pennsylvania Dutch and they are tasty & fun to make. The only thing that would have made the process a little easier would be if I had an electric mixer. The recipe can be found at allrecipies.com Enjoy!
I have only one thing to say about the election.
The people of this nation have made their decision. Let's just hope, for all of our sakes, that it's the right one.
A squirrel just ran into the store where I work. Luckily my co-worker was able to scare it back outside. How random!
I've decided to spend the better part of today cleaning. It always feels so good to get rid of of items I no longer need.
Also on the agenda for today is working on my quilt, going for a walk, and baking oatmeal pumpkin cookies. Hopefully I'll get it all done with some time left over for just plain relaxing.
Why? Because They Might Be Giants (my favorite band) just gave an outstanding performance in Boston, and I say "BRAVO!!!, Encore, Encore!!" Saturday night's show at the Avalon was awesome. It was wonderful to feel the energy of the two Johns in person (especially John Linnell who is my favored of the two. I think his personality is more introverted/creative like my own).
I enjoyed seeing them occasionally putting on a a thick Boston accent and making remarks about Fenway Park. They are natives of Massachusetts after all (from the lovely town of Lincoln, home of the Decordova Museum andd Sculpture Park). I wonder if playing for a home state crowd is more or less enjoyable than playing somewhere completely different such as England.
The concert met or exceeded my expectations in almost every way. If I were to make one petty complaint it would be the lack of T-shirt selection.
In closing I'd like to say:
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS ROCKS!!!
Think I'll go call dial-a-song...
September is already more than halfway over and there's still much to do in the next couple of months. There are complicated (and marvelous) Halloween costumes to finish, quilts to sew before it gets cold, contests which need art to be made for them, King Richard's Faire to attend...wow. Deep breath.
All of the above are labors of love however, so I'm not complaining. Why was I thinking life would quiet down after finishing the work for my show? :-)
I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders today. I spent a good part of the day cleaning & organizing, both my space in my apartment, and my mind. I was able to rid myself of several bags of useless scaps and junk that had accumulated. I was also able to attain some clarity in my own mental state. A change in seasons can often bring about a change in oneself, fall most of all for me... It always feels like a time to take chances and follow my heart.
I am in the process of making a quilt. It's the first one I've ever seriously attempted, and so far its going well. I like the fabric for it very much. The overall pattern of the quilt will be alternating blocks; half will have little houses and half will be solid blue. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
New projects are great! :-)
I have been getting a lot of positive comments on my art work from customers, collegues, and friends. I feel much more relaxed showing this body of work than I have with other work in the past.
There's a certain amount of confidence I achieve from listening completely to my heart and acting on it. This work is a prime example. I can enjoy it without doubting and this is wonderful.
