Everyone needs a little time each day for themselves. I always think I can keep going without stopping, and of course this never works well. But I’m trying to change that.
Friday was a double shift at work for me. But in-between shifts I glazed more pottery with my dad. A meditation in a way. Something very simple. We are hoping to get one more load of pottery fired before the No Coast Summer Festival on Sunday. (Are you coming??! You should be!)
Saturday I spent a lovely day with my Mr. FN. He took me out for brunch, and then to the Museum of Russian Art, to the Groveland Gallery to see an exhibit of my friend Abby’s work, and then on a walk through the Walker Sculpture Garden. We sat under the trees in the middle of the Wind Chimes (after “Dream”) installation. I could sit there forever listening to the chimes. You only hear them when you are in between the trees. This was another meditation of sorts. After that we went to the Soap Factory, and then picked up dinner and headed home. It was such a wonderful day!
I have felt a bit run-down lately. I know I have been working too hard. It is hard to balance all of the deadlines with daily life. I feel a bit better now though. I did not make it to work in the studios at MCBA today. I’m bummed about that, but I realize I needed a day to rest. Tomorrow I have plans to hang out in my darkroom and babysit the kiln. I’m still planning on going easy though.
This weekend will be big and busy! The festival on Sunday will take a lot of work, but I think it will be a lot of fun, and will hopefully be quite successful.
Last, but not least, here is the photos I took over the last few days for my 30 project!
Today will end up being a home studio work day. Currently I am stretched out on my couch, surrounded by notebooks, calendars, my 30 Project journal, cell phone, coffee, and my laptop. The deck door is open so I can have a bit of the fresh air coming through. I have a lot to work on today, but I’m hoping by the end of the day I will be caught up on posting photos and pages for The 30 Project, an altered book cover for The Bookish Bash at MCBA, and hopefully complete a handful of applications for grants, exhibitions, and projects. It is a busy time of year with all of those.
This Saturday I am looking forward to having a wonderfully long day with Mr. FN that will include roaming around to some of the art galleries in our amazing city, and some photo walks in between. I am so excited! As my mom has proven to me, I need gallery days every so often. There will be a blog post about what we see!
Yesterday seemed like most of what I did was run around from place to place trying to collect the parts I needed for one job. Somehow I managed to get all of the pieces into one place. I am so grateful for the co-op storage space at MCBA and being able to leave things there that I don’t need/have room for in my studio at home.
I had a chance to talk to a couple of friends while I was there. A lot of what we talked about was structure. Being an artist is my ‘dream job’ but it is also a hard job to have. You have deadlines, and a constant amount of work, but you set your own schedule. Sometimes that is really hard…it is so easy to say you are ‘working from home’ and instead end up watching tv or reading a book and before you know it, the work day is over.
So, in an effort to be more a bit more productive in a creative way, I am starting to set a bit of a schedule for myself.
Monday mornings: catch up on emails, website things, check entry deadlines for the week, printing/scanning.
Monday afternoons: work at MCBA on photos for MCBA or my own work.
Tuesday mornings: catch up on emails, website things, entries, printing/scanning.
Tuesday noon and later: darkroom time and pottery.
Thursdays: computer work – entries, scanning, printing, creating, posting, etc.
There are times, I’m sure, when I will stray away from this schedule a bit, and that is ok. Having a structure will still help me. I’m already on track for today.
I did take a photo for yesterday, but it has not been scanned or journaled yet. Look for it soon!
….that is what my Mr. FN said to me last night as we biked home from my aunt’s house. I thought about it for a few seconds, as I pedaled (uphill) and I realized, he is right. We were on our way back home from a family pool party celebrating my 30th birthday, my aunt’s 50th birthday, and my cousin’s 20th birthday – 100 years all together. It included all of the best summer party bits: a pool complete with lights and glowing dive sticks, a bon fire with plenty of marshmallows to roast, plenty of food cooked on the grill, loads of family and a ton of laughter. This whole summer has felt like that so far. Many days and nights spent at the pool or the beach, out on a patio with friends, road trips, storm watching, bike rides…it feels like how you always imagine summers to be. Yes, life changes when you are an adult and are no longer in school with summers completely free. Yes, there has been a lot of hot weather already, and I can only imagine there is more of that to come. But, really, it has been a good summer so far.
I am very blessed with having a part-time day job that I can leave when I leave work. When there are long days or bad days on the job (like today), it is temporary. Once the clean up is done, I can walk out the door and leave it there. I can come home, tired, maybe slightly grumpy even, and it never takes me long to realize that part of the day is over. Time for a shower and to feel better. Tonight, it didn’t take me long to remember the mid-bike ride conversation with Mr. FN. Yes, this summer is great. I, too, love this summer.
the bonfire part of the family birthday bash…before my cousin came and made the fire bigger….
It is Sunday night, and I feel like I have already started a new week. The past handful of days have been tough-ish to say the least. But tonight, after a very long day at work, I had a date with my husband that included a swimming pool, and Chipotle, and that helped more than anything else has this week.
I am not going to get into the details of this past week. It is over and done. There are a few good points that I will dwell on here…
On Friday, after discovering that the Kathe Kollwitz exhibit was ending this weekend, my mom convinced me (it didn’t take much) to drop the other plans I had for my time between shifts, and we went to the museum. I am so glad we did. First, there are so many museums around here that going to is a meditative, inspiring, calming experience for me. The Weisman is one of them. (It always brings me back to being in college and going there for class or just to escape between classes. I love seeing how they have remodeled. It is cool to see them have more space to display some of their permanent collection pieces.) Kathe Kollowitz was one of those artists I was inexplicably drawn to and came across frequently in my studies. To have the chance to actually see her work in person is quite amazing. There is a huge difference between seeing a piece of art in person and seeing it in a book.
The other completely amazing exhibit that is there now is Tenuous, Though Real and contains artwork from 33 Minnesota artists, including four pieces from my friend and mentor Laura Migliorino, and Gary Hallman, one of my professors from the U, and so many others, some I have met in person, and some I never realized were from Mn. It was amazing! And while I will go to the art museum or an art gallery with anyone who wants to go (and even a few who weren’t really all that willing) it is fun to take my mom – we have some interesting discussions about the pieces.
My mom found a couple of pottery books in the gift shop to bring back to my dad. Talking about pottery with my dad is always fun. We have a couple of art festivals coming up that we are getting ready for, so we spent quite a bit of time this weekend chatting about the logistics of kiln firings and stuff to get ready for the next show. (I am also hoping to have a new online shop open for us soon!)
Saturday I had a chance to hang out with Mr. FN. While not all of our plans happened quite like we wanted, he did have time to take me to see his new office space. I must say I am quite impressed with where he works now! He also took me out for a sandwich from Surdyk’s – his favorite lunch spot. We had a little picnic outside and it was quite lovely!
Today was quite rough at times. But it ended with Mr. FN and I cooling off in my aunt’s swimming pool and our usual Sunday night Chipotle dinner. It was a small “date”, but it was what we both needed. My granny used to say that when you had a lot of things piling up on your mind, and a lot of things bothering your heart, or any baggage you needed to get rid of, that you should drive past the cemetery and bury it. Let it go. I have often heard her in my head saying that, especially when I know I need to let go of something, or just get over an awful week in general. I have tried it in the past, with a mild amount of success. But what I found tonight works better is drowning it. Jumping in a pool, and feeling yourself be weightless again. The water is cool, and for that first bit you can’t concentrate on anything else except breathing. That is where I can get rid of things and just let go. I am so grateful to have had a chance to do that tonight.
In an hour a new week will start, though I feel like it already started a couple of hours ago in that pool.
John diving in. Taken with a Pentax digital underwater camera, that has since died. I only have underwater film cameras now. This is not a hardship, but something I quite look forward to for this summer.
Ok, the truth is I didn’t blog last night because I actually found a fun game to play on my new little laptop. It is called Botanicula and it is quite adorable. I don’t often get into computer games, but this one held my interest for a while last night, and I kind of needed it.
Yesterday wasn’t terribly exciting anyway in the way of the art world. It involved a lot of photo sorting and a ton of updating Adobe programs on my new laptop. Such is the exciting life of an artist using Adobe!
There was also a bit of mentally preparing for my new project that will start next week, and mental inventorying of the projects that are due all too soon.
Today will be one of those normal day-job work kind of days, with a bit of photo work crammed in the middle. It will be busy, but at least the sun is shining and the weekend is very very close.
In the midst of my photo searching yesterday I cam upon a video I took at an aquarium last year. I’m not sure if it was at the Minnesota Zoo or if it was from when we were in Nebraska. That I will figure out eventually. But just finding it is making me want to go to the aquarium again. I could sit for hours watching the fish swim. There are a few of options kind-of close to us, but of course they aren’t cheap, so we don’t go very often. But I’m hoping to get back to one soon.
In the mean time, I watch this YouTube video on the biggest screen I possibly can and pretend I’m there. Dorky, yes, but it works.
The aquarium in Nebraska (taken with a Hasselblad, long exposure, Kodak Ektachrome)
I have honestly not done a lot besides bike to work, work, and bike home from work today. Considering it was 94 degrees out when I rode home, I guess that is ok. Yes, it was one of the hottest days I have biked. But, it really wasn’t that bad. Try working in a kitchen in a restaurant in the middle of summer. Riding a bike on a hot day is better than that. You actually have a breeze as you bike downhill.
Moving on!
Yesterday I finally allowed myself to order some more film from The Impossible Project! (Having a couple of paying art jobs allows that once in a while.) And thanks to the magic ‘express shipping’ fingers of Annie I got my film in the mail today! I’m quite excited. I’m hoping and hoping and hoping that Mr. FN and I will get out for a little drive on Saturday and I will be able to have a little photo day. Fingers crossed!
I was also quite excited yesterday when Milkweed Books re-tweeted my little book review post! Maybe I will throw a book review when they are relevant to shake things up a bit around here…
I got three rolls of film back from the photo shop today and hope to get started scanning tomorrow. There are a few old car photos on those rolls!
Of course there is also work to be done for MCBA. I will be thrilled if the network at home holds out and allows me to work tomorrow! #FirstWorldProblems
Soon enough it will be time to really get to work on creating new pieces for the show in October. For now, I am enjoying playing and scanning.
But tonight, it is time for me to go to bed early, curl up with my steampunk-zombie book, and actually sleep.
Sweet dreams internet!
Nebraska – last summer. I am so ready for another road trip!
I remember during my short stint writing for the school newspaper in college how we were always scolded not to title an article during layout night with anything like “title goes here” or “this article needs a title” or anything with a bad pun in it because invariably it would get late and you would forget to change that out with a real title and it would go to print looking stupid. But this blog post is keeping this title. Honestly, thinking of a title for a blog post is my least favorite part of blogging. I have a hard time thinking of a title! Especially now that I have been blogging everyday for awhile! Dear blogger friends, how do you keep coming up with titles??
Moving on.
As we always say, eventually things turn around, and the bad days are followed by good days, and the world keeps turning.
Today I started going on a 13.5 mile bike ride with my grandpa and his wife’s son. It was a gorgeous day! And because my biking company tends to take breaks a bit more often than I do (since this was actually an enjoyable bike ride and not an “omg I am late for work” bike ride) I brought a couple of cameras with (ok, 3 + my iPhone) and took quite a few photos along the trail. Results will be posted soon! It was a great day to be outside, and I enjoyed spending the time with my gramps and having an excuse to get out of the house for awhile with my cameras.
After that I spent the afternoon processing film scans on my new laptop. Oh man! Is this little laptop fast!! i am adjusting to the size – it is smaller than my old laptop, and it has a glossy screen instead of the mat finish – but what it lacks in those details, it makes up for in speed. It is so cool!
I have been focusing a lot on going through photos from the past year or so that I have not yet had a chance to work on. There are plenty of them! It is giving me a chance to compare cameras and film again, and see how much material I really do have to work from for the next shows coming up. It is fun work actually! While there are plenty of gorgeous summer days that I dread being cooped up inside working on my computer, I do really enjoy finding photos I had forgotten about, and finding film that I would like to use more frequently, and realizing how much I love a particular camera, etc.
There were good parts to yesterday. The main positive bit was that I managed to get to Wet Paint to buy a few art supplies. I now have a large mylar sheet which will assist me in screen printing! I also have a new medium to try photo transfers on, and two new journals to start collecting my next project in. I am excited to get started on it, and excited to actually tell all of you what I’m doing! (I’m not going to tell you yet though!)
Tomorrow promises to be a busy day, but I plan on getting a lot of exciting work done again, as well as finally being able to pick up my screen prints from the drying rack at MCBA! Yay!
Until tomorrow,
Nebraska, summer 2011. Among the cool photos I have been working on that I didn’t have time to work on before.
