I'm Moving

My blog is moving to my very slowly developing website. Come find it at www.kathynida.com. Oops...just outed my name. Oh well...if you have a problem with anything I've written, you can take it up with my alter ego. She's responsible for anything that might get me into trouble. Me, I just make art.

I'm MELLLTTTIIINGGG

First off, things you shouldn't do with a plastic bottle of honey.



Pay attention to the microwave, you silly cow.

Second, in response to a comment on You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown...first of all, I used to BE the Spelling Police, and second of all, if Bayles and Orland write "artmaking" without the hyphen, then I say whomsoever does NOT do so is fully delusional about his or her hipness in the art world.



Check it out, man. You can borrow my copy except I think I already loaned it out to another artist...Amazon.com Art
and Fear.

In other news, drawing has occured, and I am currently dealing with wiggly women and two-headed beasts. Tune in later this week for details.

Pumpkins Gone Bad

Blogger's actin' weird. I don't have any buttons for adding pictures. That's too bad, because I've got an AWESOME disgusting pumpkins-gone-bad picture. Oh wait...blogger's just being slow. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm defragmenting a disk at the moment :-). Yeah.

Anyway, I think I need a shovel to get rid of these blobs.



I had an all-day meeting for school yesterday. I drew during the meeting when I got bored. I don't know why she has 4 arms. She started with 3. Like that makes sense.



Tonight, I would like to draw. Self, please allow yourself some time tonight to draw. You have two good drawings whirling around your head that need to get out. Yes, you have two-week's worth of grading to do, but even if some of your students' parents are by some amazing coincidence reading this blog, surely they must realize that you slave many many hours for your job and for minimal pay? Surely they would not begrudge you an hour of drawing time on a Sunday night?

Yeah right.

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

My kids were in a play tonight: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. One was Lucy, one was Schroeder. Not an amazing thing unless you realize how shy my kids can be. They were awesome...they projected, they knew their lines...I'm not sure who those two kids on stage really were...



In other news, I'm finding these shoes really comfortable.

They're not Crocs; they're Holeys. I wish I had 4 or 5 different colors...but my students already give me trouble for wearing them.



I had my students make paper-plate skeletons on Halloween. It was a good introduction to the skeletal system, but not really difficult. I only had half my classes that day, because of an in-school dance, so I didn't want to do something that the other two classes would suffer from missing. I think they turned out cool.



Here's the link to the instructions...

The lack of artmaking is depressing. I'm spending all day tomorrow in a school-related meeting, and I'm not even caught up on grading from the last 2-day conference. I think I should accept the lack of art during school time, but I was doing really well last year, and now I'm not. Last year at this time, I was dreaming about making art but not actually making any. Sigh.

Unexpected Money in an Envelope

Get home after long day, get mail, toss endless political ads for upcoming election, see envelope from show I'm in, open, see check. Scream. OK, I didn't actually scream, but I won Best of Show at Fiber Arts 2006 at the Gallery 510 Arts Guild in Decatur, Illinois. The show just closed, so they'll ship the quilt home soon. This quilt has made more money than any other for a long time...it's not a lot of money, but it'll help pay the property taxes in December (breathe a little easier). This is a detail of the quilt.



Here are the results of all the sewing I (and my mother) have done in the last two weeks. Mom made the wizard (my machine is fussy about fancy fabrics) and I made the pirate. The bottom of the skirt was supposed to be straight, but I decided that was boring and made it jagged. Gotta have a good reason to use the fancy pinking shears. Dad wanted me to post the picture with me in it. I had to dress up for school, so I went as my natural self.



I have a new nephew who is currently nameless. We place so much importance on our names, and yet we don't choose them. Weird concept. I feel like there should be a renaming ceremony at age 25, where you get to pick a new name or keep your old one. I think I would be Zenobia, my grandmother's middle name.



OK, back to the sag paneer (Indian food) and finishing up my grades.

Ode to a Tarantula

I'm guessing a giant hairy spider is going to show up the next time I'm allowed to draw. Whenever that is.



I thought maybe the tarantula was trying to molt. For days, it did this psychotic attack dance every time I walked by.



It spent a lot of time squirming around on its back, looking like a spider trying to molt.



I thought it might die. And it...he...did. I miss him.



No really, I do. Sounds weird, I know. But he was a companion for a year or so and I enjoyed watching him and yes I have a pretty screwed up life if a tarantula provides comfort.

Sleeping Beauty, died October 27, 2006
Birth unknown

Rest in peace, little hairy one.

Today I Took a Test

My school made me take what was apparently a 7th grade test today. It's self-leveling, so as I got answers right, it got harder. How mean is that? I was into Calculus (and drowning) very quickly. I RECOGNIZE calculus, but I can no longer DO calculus. It was very disheartening.

My tarantula (the small one) is on its back today. It's been struggling, like it wants to molt but forgot how. I hope he's not dying. Not sure what to do for him except think good molting thoughts.

I don't get to make art right now. I was going to write that I accept that, but I don't really. I just get more and more frustrated and cranky and like I want to break out of my skin and run screaming naked through the yards of my neighbors. OK, maybe not. But you know how that feels...

Here is my oldest cat, Juni, and her new army. She is completely in control of them.



Here's a picture from the San Francisco trip. I wanted to take lots more, but never seemed to have camera out or appropriate lighting at the right time. I took this one even though the light sucked, because despite the awesome nature scene, this is a porn club. Yeah. I wanted to go closer, but felt a little um weird about it.



I went to a kids' make-a-plate event, and made plates for my kids. Hope they like them. You color on the paper and then they transfer it to these plastic plates. My kids made them when they were little. I even have my daughter's footprints on one.




I did get to see Quilt National 05 and the Gee's Bend show, both of which were very enjoyable. But frustrating, because I'm incapable of finding time to sew at the moment. I thought the best Gee's Bend quilts were those that used old work pants in their construction. They were wonderful. No question in my mind of their artness. And I really enjoyed seeing some of my favorite QN artists up close and personal. I remember seeing a Susan Shie quilt in person for the first time and having a distinctly faux-religious experience. I'm sure there's a better term for that feeling that greatness is in the room, a word that doesn't use the word "religion".

Halloween Looms

What sewing I do involves optical illusions that make one sick to one's stomach. I can't actually look at the black and white fabric without getting dizzy.



A pirate costume. Yup. That's the sewing I'm doing this week. I don't have time to do any quilt stuff, so I'm making a costume instead. Yeah.



I did get into the Form, Not Function show. High Tide got in. That's cool. I'm happy about that. High Tide normally hangs in my hallway. It's in Illinois until mid-November, and then in January it goes to Indiana until March.



I was in San Francisco from Wednesday night until Sunday morning. I have other stuff to write about, but it will have to wait until I have more time. HA! OK, maybe it'll wait until I'm procrastinating about something else and log into blogger as a way to avoid the something else.

Why I Can't Make Art Excuse Number 37

This week, I am going here



to hang out with a bunch of these



That's part of my job.

But I also get to go here (San Jose Quilt Museum)



to see this from 2005



because I didn't get into 2007.

So I think I will be OK.

Will I make art? Hell no. Won't be time. UNLESS! I have an idea so that I can sew on this small quilt I've had pinbasted for a million years, but I have to get my act together before I leave to get part of it machine-stitched down so I can hand stitch in San Francisco. It's a possibility. Don't hold your breath...I don't want you to turn

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mylakent/34427376/

Check out Myla Kent's photos...I love the colored smoke photos, which I found by googling (well, dogpiling) "blue" under images. But she has many other wondrous photos.

Go See This

Art Quilts XI: Stages, Cycles, and Fits



Venue: Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler AZ 85225. This Chandler venue is located at the northwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard in Chandler, Arizona.

Dates: Oct. 20-Dec. 30, 2006

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday

****Opening Reception: Oct. 20, 2006, 7-9 p.m.*****

Photos from the opening reception are welcome, as always. I would do a road trip, but I'm supposed to be in San Francisco for some geeky science thing that weekend. Oh yeah, like I would put the kids in the car on a Friday and say, "hey, is it OK if we go to Chandler for dinner?" 5 hours or so later...

My piece Portrait of an Ex is in this show.

Anyway, go. Go, I say.

October...Beautiful Month, But No Free Time

I've always loved October: great weather, not too cold and not too hot. The skies are beautiful. Exercise is thoroughly enjoyable. But I don't get any art done in October. I looked back at last year's journal...same complaints of no free time, no art making happening. Makes me feel better, yet worse. Better because it's not that I'm flailing this year any more than last year. Worse because I'm still flailing.



Here's my friend J. with her miniature crazy quilt. She's been working on these tiny blocks for months. They are so delicate and gorgeous, with the most amazing fabric highlighted in the blocks. She finally stopped making them and sewed them together. I'm hoping you'll be able to see it in person at some big quilt show in the future...if so, I'll let you know, because she has just as much right to be famous as any of us.



Here's a closeup so you can see some of the amazing stitching.



Here's a scary cleaning moment in my house.



I just want to get a box and put everything in it, slap a label on it, and deliver to some kid's house in about 20 years. That would be funny. My mom did something along those lines when I bought my first house. Even my training bras were in the box. Yeah. I tossed those suckers.

Arlee reminded me to draw something in a landscape. Yup. It's in my head, the whole drawing. Too bad there's no technology for getting it out of my head onto the paper.

Reaction Time

Seems Quilt National has notified its acceptances, so us losers wait for our thick, slide-filled envelopes once again. I must have QN PTSD, because my reaction was to enter another show with the rejected pieces. Hey baby...I don't make quilts because I want to enter them into shows or get them published or sell them. I make them because I have to. I ain't got no choice. So be it.

Some pieces in progress...




I keep making these little pieces on black backgrounds. Not sure what their purpose is.



I've only ever finished one...this one...called Violated II (never finished Violated). Sigh.

Head Throb

Not heart throb. Must be headache season. High pressure, low pressure.

I sewed this weekend. This is what I sewed (horrible blurry picture follows.



And then I sewed this.


I didn't really sew this. I just sewed stuff ON this. Not the same. No artistic satisfaction gained from either.

Many years ago, I sewed this, and it only recently returned home after two years of traveling with one of the MasterPieces shows. It's in my hallway right now because the piece that normally hangs there is in some show until the end of November or December. I can't stand blank spaces. Its name is Third Eye Blind.



I just realized it is the first of two pieces of mine with three eyeballs. I'm on a roll. Roll...eyeballs...oh my.

I drew this during a staff meeting. Tells you how I normally feel in staff meetings. I plan to draw it bigger with lots more cool nifty stuff on it. When my head stops throbbing (or more importantly, when I get done grading the 20 tons of stuff I brought home).



I don't remember last year, this time of year. That's probably an indicator that it was just as bad as this year in terms of free time. I remember sewing like a mad woman over Thanksgiving. I don't remember getting much done. It feels worse this year. Don't know why. Maybe because I thought it would be better.

Good news. The new bras arrived. Doggy lips are not allowed near them. I killed 4 rats in all and since then, there has been no more sign of ratty rustling.

Death and Destruction

Death: 2 rats, by rat trap. Eew. But I don't want those silly vectors anywhere near my house, and when I start to see multitudes of them in broad daylight? Well, it's time to take action.



Destruction: My bras. Four of them. By Puppy. Not appreciated. Luckily, VS is having its annual sale, so replacement is not totally heinous. No, that's not a picture of me. I wish.



Doesn't really count as death or destruction, but they stuck a huge needle in my heel, and ironically, now it feels better (three days later). But it's still taped up, so I'm showering with plastic bags over my foot.



Art? Not happening. I think about it a lot, but nothing's happening. I'm so disorganized at the moment that I'm scared of what ball I'm going to drop. But the skies have been nice lately.



I don't really do landscapes. In fact, my people are often floating in space. Maybe I should draw a landscape with a human ON it or IN it. Wow. If it weren't 10:26 PM and I weren't completely exhausted, I might draw that. Someone remind me of that in a week or so.