August Reading

I have a slight disclaimer to make. It may look as if I've been reading an insane amount, but the majority of the books I've been reading this month are children's/young adult's, so they are much shorter and I can read them in about a day. Also, the first book on my list was mostly read in July but finished this month. 



War Brides by Helen Bryan



Pink Smog by Francesca Lia Block



The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn



The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell



The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey



There are some books I read when I was younger that I got rid of when I became older and it was no longer cool to have quite so many "youth" books. I wish now that I hadn't gotten rid of them, because I want to read them again. And there are some I just don't remember what they're called or who wrote them, but I remember roughly what they were about. The Doll in the Garden was one of those books. I hadn't given the story much thought until a few months ago when artist Shannon Richardson brought this painting into the gallery:



Little Girl one day You'll... by Shannon Richardson

(I can't figure out how to get rid of the white at the side...oopsie.) After re-reading The Doll in the Garden, I feel like this painting totally tells the story. It's sort of incredible how art can affect your mind.

I'm almost done with The Chemistry of Tears, and I really wanted to enjoy it more than I am. It's one of those storys where the author kind of glosses over things and gives vague little hints about what something might mean, and you feel like the concept probably isn't that difficult to grasp but you just cant. It makes me feel as if I'm reading through a fog, and I don't like that. I find it frustrating. But who knows, maybe the last couple of chapters will tie things up nicely and answer some questions.

Selfish Acts



Seriously.

 I need to confess something. I just did something I feel a teensy bit guilty about. And I know you'll probably think that's silly, but whatevs. I just signed up for a book arts class at the local art center. (Squeee!!) I wasn't able to get into the book arts elective the one time it was offered at my college, and I've wanted to do something like this for a long time.

So, you might ask, why the guilt?

I don't really know. I guess now that I'm out of high school and college, and "in the real world" with a "real job," doesn't doing something like this make me just a tiny bit selfish?  It's something that's done just for me, no one else, so isn't it just a tiny bit wrong? I'll be at work for 8 hours and will head straight over to the art center for a 3 hour class once a week. Shouldn't I make my home life with James a priority?

Logically, I know that signing up for a class doesn't make me selfish. I know that it's not wrong to do something that's just for me. (Who knows, I could incorporate books into my art at a later date and make some money at it. That would be for my family, not me!) James is super supportive of any ideas I have, including dying a hot pink streak in my hair, even though I can tell he hopes I won't do it. (I won't. Probably.)  He knows that me taking a 3 hour class once a week does not make our home life any less of a priority. But still, there's that tiny voice (you know the one).  It's saying all sorts of nasties. It should really shut up.

In true me-style, I acted before I could chicken out. (That's the only way I made it to England. I just didn't think about the fact that I was going to a country I'd never been to for a significant period of time until I was basically on the airplane.) I registered before I could give that voice the chance to talk me out of it. So I have to go, because I've paid for it. Ha.

What do you guys do to shut that little voice up?

New Jewelry, Plus Some Mostly Senseless Ramblings

Okay, I know that as a southern Californian, I really can't complain about the weather. I'm pretty spoiled for nice weather. But. Oh. My. God. It's so hot. The heat and I are not good friends. There's a period of about an hour to an hour and a half, between about 5:45 and 7:00 am when our bedroom is actually comfortable to sleep in, and that's it. The rest of the time I spend sitting/melting on the sofa with a glass of ice water wishing it were mid-winter. I can't concentrate on much of anything when it's this hot. I tried to get some jewelry work done yesterday, but the pool at my parent's house kept calling to me. So this is how I spent the afternoon:


Ahh, relief

 I did manage to make some new necklaces last week, thanks to the benefit of air conditioning.



Tiny Houses, side one



Tiny Houses, side two



San Francisco Scenes, side one



San Francisco Scenes, side two



Butterflies, side one



Butterflies, side two

 Tiny Houses: fabric, ink, French text, papers
San Francisco Scenes: photograph by Jennifer Geisert, illustration by James Keniston (we collaborated!)
Butterflies: French text, papers, glitter, paint

All are now available at Chemers Gallery. I would show you the other two I made, but they sold already (yay!).

Another thing that's driving me to distraction is that my "studio" is out of control messy and on my big table I only have a tiny space in which to work. This needs to be fixed soon.



Out of control studio

I don't even want to tell you what the rest of the house looks like, and it's totally my mess. James has been amazing with the cleaning he's been doing. Our kitchen has never been so spotless. I think it's because he's having a love affair with Lime-Away. Just kidding. (He does love that product, though...)

Artwork, aka Please Don't Steal My Car

I'm usually really bad at letting people know that I have artwork on view while the show is still going on, but hey, I'm slightly better than normal this evening. SO! If you're in southern California, go see the Orange County Fair and find my artwork! It's on until August 12th, so you still have a little time to check this out:



The Writer



Lighter Than Air - I won an honorable mention!

 The photograph is in the Non-Traditional Color prints section, and the fabric collage is in the Professional Graphics (??) section. (I give two "??" because the thought of me doing anything graphics related is somewhat rediculous.) Lighter Than Air was at the Scenes of Tustin exhibition at Chemers Gallery earlier in the year. You'd think I really knew how to quilt, wouldn't you?

In other news, I kitted my car out with a MasterLock (same thing as The Club, except not bright red). My neighbor's car got broken into last night, and since the only thing of value in my car is my car itself, I'd rather it not be stollen, thank you very much. I'll probably forget I've gotten one, get in my car tomorrow to go to work, and go "OMG, what the hell?? Oh yeah..." Seriously though....please don't steal my car.

July Reading, Part 2

The Wind in the Willows



The Notebook - see, I told you I'd do it.

I tried reading The Wind in the Willows when I was little. I remember I had a set of hardcover books, and they were all maroon and shiney, and this was one of them. I just didn't like it, so I stopped reading it. I don't think I understood a lot of what was going on. Now, I can read it and see just how very British it is, and I can understand why my little brain couldn't "get it" way back when.

Also - I so read The Notebook. And I watched the movie. But I did it the wrong way 'round, so I already had the movie in my head when I began reading, and found myself just not liking the inconsistencies. Hey Hollywood, not all of us like it when you "improve upon" a novel to make it into a film. Why don't you cater to US every now and again? 

I've read 26 books so far this year. I won't be counting the numerous children's books I'll be reading over the next several months in preparation for a big show at work, although one of the books is called Fartiste and is about a man who lived in France and preformed his *ahem* special bottom tricks at the Moulin Rouge. And it's a true story. Fo' realz.


You read that correctly.