In Dreams

Perhaps I’ll be standing at the top of a life guard tower, shielding my eyes from the sun glittering off the waves.  Larger than life sea shells, starfish twinkling at the bottom of the turquoise clear water.

Perhaps I’ll sputter as chewed up sunflower husks fall from the ceiling, speckling my face.

Perhaps a lady made mostly of oblivious white hair will attack me with her strong arm, but Homer Simpson will save my life.

Perhaps I’ll stumble home at 4am and wash a bowl of uncooked rice, like I did that time someone gave me a pill.

Perhaps there will be a race with plump vampires climbing a steep wall, a vertical real life version of Frogger.

Perhaps I’ll lay frozen, a hunk of flesh, while the room is washed in television fuzz, as the room glares too white.

Perhaps a blackened lemon wedge will poison the world as it gets tossed from one unassuming salad to the next, with me following the acrid trail of destruction.

Perhaps I’ll have the world on dvd.  Play the same moment in a broken record sort of way until I can manage to squeeze through a fence, just barely escaping.

Perhaps a lady will stand at my feet clenching and unclenching her hands, like she’s gearing up to smack me.

Perhaps I’ll be standing at the sink when a girl, skimpy in her slinky gold bodysuit, will let her lush tits spill from the skin tight fabric and piss all over the floor, like the two boys did before her.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll wake up with visions of skunks sweeping their tails to a choreographed showtune the way I did today.

First Fridays

I’m standing at the fleshless claws of some long dead dinosaurs.

One a hulking array of bones cut short at the arms.

The other a stout skeleton under a tri-tipped crest.

I’ve got a heavy handed drink cut sparingly with cranberry. 

A sliver of lime pinched between fingertips.  My face feels the flush

A flutter of warmth to my bones.

There’s a dj in the African Mammal Room.  Way at the end of the hall,

The stuffed leather of a mother elephant stays rooted to her spot

While her babies in their own stiff stance lift their trunks to play.

Over in the Whale Room.  A loose crowd hangs back,

Watching a boy in yellow get down by himself.  And the whale

is hang drying from the ceiling, the oontz oontz of the dj vibrating

Each colossal bone.

Tied

In an unmistakable knot, we are tied

We are tethered.

Tornadoes couldn’t tear us apart

Even when people wish it,

We hold fast.

Two heads in one, they say

Gruesome.

We dance a delicate part

Your waist, my hands

We breathe alike, we think alone

Two heads are better than one

All that exciting news I spoke of has dissipated due to reasons out of my control.  However, this is for the better for everyone involved. 

Aside from that, school is in full swing.  Today I wondered why I was dragging ass, only to realize I hadn't had coffee.  It's a bad sign when you need your morning coffee, but I can't help it this semester.

While my big project has been nixed, I've got a few other side things to work on.  A few of my friends are in a Halloween art show and I'm hoping I have enough time to make a mobile-type skeleton thing.  I have sketched out bits in my head, but have yet to actually produce anything.  I'm also considering making a few of the paper cut outs I was really into about this time last year.

Must do homework.  This blog post is clearly an escape route from studying.  Bah.

Buzzing on news.

VERY excited that an idea I had about a year ago is finally coming to fruition!  And on a level even I didn't think could happen.  With the help of a local art group (which I think I'm a part of now) and their connections, I'm getting the chance to not only showcase my idea, but also to decorate it. 

I won't say yet what it is, but stay tuned.  Things are happening and I'm oh so thrilled to be a part of it!

BFFF

My best friend (for over 20 years now!!) and I celebrate birthdays that are exactly two weeks apart.  I celebrated mine and she did a wonderful job decorating a surprise party with large paintings of forest creatures (raccoons, deer, owls, bears).  Even if I had just gotten those paintings without the multitudes of friends and family, i would have been overjoyed.  Thus, it was an extra special birthday this year.

For her birthday, I was supremely stuck.  I can be crafty and handy, but recently I've been knee deep in school and work.  I had ideas, but where to start?

First, I decided I would draw her a picture and frame it.  This isn't to say I think my work is so great it needs to be framed.  No, it's more of a joke.  Every birthday since I can remember, she has drawn me a card (they get better every year).  Every time we have art jams or creative times, she asks me to draw her a picture of a squirrel.  It's always a line or two of shaky scribbling that ends with the inevitable "I can't draw".  So I drew her a picture of a squirrel.

I bought her some knick knacks from the Korean stationary store, three pairs of earrings, art pens, and some tights.  Here's the final product:

The earrings are each on their own button and then fastened to the tulle.  Everything else is neatly bound up by the tulle.

I also made her a small mobile to hang somewhere.  I was really lost on this project because i just started out with some paper pinwheels.  I made about 8 or 9 and couldn't figure what to do with them.  At first I was going to make a banner that said Happy Birthday and attach the pinwheels for decoration, but Gaby wasn't big on being loud about her birthday this year.  I figured that wasn't the way to go and nixed the idea.

I tossed ideas around for probably a whole day, then decided on a mobile.  The idea was so half-baked when I started.  I first used a hanger (what I was thinking, I don't know!).  Then when I realized it looked overly homemade (in a bad way), I started over.

I happened to find three small wooden dowels and decided to use those to build the mobile.  Here is the finished product.

The paper pinwheels have buttons attached at the center and the string runs through each center.  I've never built a mobile, but it was surprisingly fun to mess with the balance of objects on the wooden sticks.

This will definitely be something I am going to play with more.  I think with more practice and more time, I can get pretty good at mobiles.  I just love the way the pinwheels look when they spin. 

Paaaar-tay

I've been lying low recently and not doing much but riding bikes, swimming, and eating. Ha.

I haven't much moneys right now, so I haven't done anything artsy. But a friend of mine celebrated her birthday by throwing a zombie themed party. In honor of her awesome ways, I made her a zombie unicorn pinata. I didn't make the actual pinata (toooo lazy to go through that), but I bought a horse from a party store and transformed it.

The unicorn part was easy.   Last year, my best bud Gaby and I made a unicorn pinata (for this same friend.  What? She likes unicorns!) and it was so simple.  Just a horn, really.  This year after the horn, I wasn't sure which direction to go.

This is a preliminary photo.  I added blood, scarring, and green skin.  I put black for the eyes, but wasn't sure what to add.  I also added black paper to the left foot to try and create a "missing foot".  It didn't quite work.

This is the finished product.  More blood, and green skin.  I also changed the colors in the tail, but you can't see it here.  There were also pink heart on the front and sides.  I left the front one, but changed the side ones to black and green then added more blood.  I also added blood to the missing foot that you can kind of make out.  I think my favorite part of all is the bloodied horn.

And here is the aftermath.  She really enjoyed the pinata.  She was actually the only gal to hit it since her second swing knocked the body clear off, leaving only the decapitated head dangling for all to see.  Inside, I stuffed the pinata with mini lollipops, fizzy lollipops, whistles, bouncy balls, two normal sized candy bars (for two lucky drunkards), condoms (plain old rubber and festive colored ones!), and smoke bombs!  The smoke bombs were a total hit. 

Overall, the pinata was a hit.  I had a good time making it.  And it was SO cheap.  I had leftover streamers for adding gore and got most of the favors from The Dollar Tree (my fave store since I became so broke).  More than anything, I'm happy happy happy it was a hit with my friend and the party.  I hope she keeps that severed zombie unicorn head forever. 

 

Product

I haven't posted much of anything in a while.

I'm being more productive, though, I swear. And summer is full of potential, I can feel it in me. I want to create, create, create. Make some little videos. Make some art. And write till my hands swell up and fall off.

I'm working on a few different things and the worst one thus far is my children's book(s). Who knew writing for children could be so difficult? I've got the story mapped out. I just need to get the actual words down.

Fingers crossed. Summer will be my time to work out all the kinks.

Going Back

I've been in a state of confusion regarding writing topics. I've also been in a rut with my dreams which not only affects my mental well-being, but also my writing. A lot of what I write is inspired by a dream or thought. Instead, I've been waking up tired and dreamless. I've had nothing to look forward to when I wake up which makes me feel even more tired. It's a morning routine to recant to myself what adventures I've been on while slumbering.

I'm not sure how to improve my dreams, but I've been returning to old (and unfinished) writings to try and siphon creativity from them. Here is something old that I'm working on completing. It kind of falls apart, but the first paragraph flows beautifully (in my mind) and I would love to complete it. The second one kind of jumbles around and I enjoy the third one. It all needs a lot of work and, cross your fingers, hopefully I can manage to work something out.




How sweet the sound of keys pressed softly in the dim glow of a fading sun. While dusky shadows trace a silhouette, fingers fold over the twinkle of each ivory bone. In the cramped corridors of what was once a pulsing nightclub, the silhouette plays for no one.

Outside, the city bustles. Like ants scavenging, the people follow an invisible trail, eyes trained to the floor. The pavement slops, wet with a gritty dirt that coats the city's streets and walls. Yet, the people don't see this. The streets are packed with jostling arms and pendulum legs swinging back and forth, back and forth, with no thought. People seem to move regardless of destination or will. Out here people have all the time in the world, but can't stop to breathe, or think, or listen.

From deep in the heart of the jungle grown from seeds of concrete and vines of steel comes a most unusual occurrence. Something has changed. People walk with the same automatic movement, but something, perhaps, seems different. Through the heavy stale sound of silence, a certain brightness brews. For most, the brightness, the twinkling lightness is a sensation almost forgotten.

He bleeds in a pool of inky black, slipping with his eyes closed. Around him business suits clatter by, each sleeve ending in a pale hand grasping the sleek leather handle of a briefcase. Skirts cut business appropriate short swing past, the puff of air moving slight his hair. His pants soak slow in the warm wet of his own life and when he opens his eyes, he’s staring at crotches jostling and cloth covered butts shuffling away.

It’s warm in his head, in a most unusual way. The leak in his side throbs less making it easier to focus, easier to steady himself on the ground. But with each movement, the warmness in his head seeps as if hot blood had never reached

Silhouettes

I'm taking a jewelry making/metalsmithing class this semester. We have just begun working on our first project, a silhouette bracelet. It is made of one image that is repeated and layered three or more times. They can be different sizes, metals, or textures. It was a process finding the right silhouette, as a lot of images lose their complexity/interesting quality once the details are blacked out.

I ended up with a sparrow on a branch, but I'm not all together happy with it. It doesn't seem original enough or dynamic enough. It is a first project though, and maybe with enough textures and contrasting metals it will look more interesting.

Anywho, here's a picture of the template I'm using:




More updates to come when I have actual progress.