Everything comes to an end

Well, looks like my summer break is coming to a close next Monday. All in all it was a fairly nice summer to be stuck in Tucson. We had a good, long monsoon season this year, and received far more than double the average rainfall. Things were really tough money wise, but we managed to squeak by. The bus, which sat in the driveway all summer, has finally been repaired thanks to a couple of books I was able to sell. I don't know about all of you, but the recession has been pretty tough on us. Actually, Tucson in general has been really suffering. I went to the thrift store (my usual one) to get a few clothes a few days ago, and I couldn't believe how packed it was. Usually only a handful of people will be scattered around the department sized store, but apparently that is not the case anymore. While I was standing in the 20 cart deep checkout line I chatted with a few fellow shoppers. Many of which had never been to a thrift store, but simply can't afford to buy clothes from a department store any longer. Many were elderly and living on fixed incomes, while others were my age (or younger) trying to offset the rise in gas and food prices. Hopefully, now that the college kids are back for school, we'll see a little boost here.

Not much going on otherwise. My lineup for school this semester is:

Intaglio Printmaking
Independent Study - Sculpture
Intro. to Fiction Writing
Literary Analysis
Intro. to Costume Design (this is part of the English Education Degree believe it or not)

Should make for an interesting semester :o).

Well, I guess that's it. Hope all of you are well, and take care!

Whew, it's finally July. June was a bit crazy with school, not to mention it was a little sad with the passing of the great George Carlin, so let's hope July is a little relaxing and cheerful. I do have to note that right now Kermit and I are a bit sick (possibly the flu that is going around), so July is starting out on a bit of a sour note. On a more happy note, there is a new book out called 500 Handmade Books, and yours truly actually has a book in it. Yeehaw! I just received my free copy today, and it's pretty cool to see one of my books in a book. Other than that, I have just been working hard on making some new blank books and artist books for a little show I am participating in later this month. Well, guess that's it for now. Everyone take care!

Do You Really Know Who You Are Voting For?

O.K., I'm not really much of a person for politics, but we ran across this the other day and felt it was worthy of posting. I'll let you view it and decide what you think. Oh, and yes, as I stumble upon worthy info. about the other candidates I will post that as well. You won't find me playing favorites, as I think I'm voting for my cat this year. :o)


Don't Be A Sheep. Know Who You Are Voting For!

To Clarify Treated Well (The Rock and Ear Piece)

Hey guys! So just to help clarify the piece that seems to have you all perplexed, I'll explain the choice of the ear and the rock. Well, rocks tend to represent(for me at least) stability and strength both of which I feel are characteristics of said person. I chose an ordinary river rock because I also feel that this person is someone who is not really flashy, and pretty down to earth. The ear represents (to me) two things. One was how this person would listen. The other is how they would pretend to have the volume down on their hearing device and ignore certain people (so it's a bit of a humorous reminder for me). The entire piece is actually a puzzle of sorts as well (a noted favorite pastime of this person). There is no handle on the drawer, so one actually has to figure out how to open it to reveal what might be inside. Only by turning the ear can the drawer open to reveal the book (whose cover is cast of butterscotch) that contains a poem titled "Treated Well". The title "treated well" takes on a duel meaning, implying how I was treated by this person, and how I was often given treats by this person.

Whew, hope that helps.

Love you guys! ;o)

Best Class Ever!!!!

Hi everyone, just finished my summer school. It was absolutely the most insane thing that I think I have ever done (school-wise that is). So it was a printmaking / bookmaking course and we crammed 16 weeks of classes into 3 weeks. My days at school were 7 hours long, and I would come home and continue working until I couldn't stay awake, then get up the next day and start all over again. The class was 5 days a week, but we had to work 7 days a week to keep up with the homework. It reminded me alot of woking the Gem Show, except somehow I managed not to get deathly sick. Despite the intenseness, it turned out to be one of my favorite classes ever. My instructor (a grad student named Nate) was awesome and let me incorporate my crazy, untraditional bookmaking ideas into my projects. I ended up making a zillion prints (dry etchings and xerox transfers), and total of 3 dummy books (little traditionally bound blank books) and 3 artist books. I am posting images of two of them, but my third one was only about an inch by an inch big, so it did not photograph well. It's unfortunate, because it is really cool and inside it is a poem I wrote about being ant like, and feeling small and out of place in the world, while also trying to maintain individuality. It looks like a miniature hardbound book (has a white cloth cover), with a small ant (plastic, not real) ant attached to the front cover. I wrote all of the text in the drypoint method on plexi-glass, which means it was all scratched into the plexi by hand (it was super tiny writing I might add), and I had to write every thing in reverse. Crazy stuff! So, hopefully this fall I can replace my stupid camera that broke and get a photo of it up. I borrowed a camera to take the other photos, so here they are! Enjoy!

Oh, the quilt looking one is a book, it actually folds up into a book form, but hangs for display. The other one is actually cast from beeswax (which is not advisable on a warm day, as it attracts every bee in the neighborhood), and then bound like a book.

So for any of you who may be interested, summer school is going well. I am staying super busy and all I can say is I wish I had the energy of the younger people in class. I am making lots of really cool stuff and learning a lot of new things, which is probably why I am having such a good time.

The weather has been a bit odd lately. Apparently mother nature can't figure out if she wants to warm up or cool off. It's 100 degrees one day and 70 the next. Not complaining about the 70 degree temps. though, just wish they would stay a little longer.

Things have still been really, really slow for Kermit an it doesn't appear to be getting any better. Found out recently that Arizona has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, but on the up side we have the lowest gas prices (which really aren't that low by any means).

Well, that's it for now. Take care everyone.

And It Ended With A Pfffffffft.

So the semester is finally over, and all I can say is this was the suckiest semester ever. Yes, even worse than the year I fractured my arm and was forced by my teacher to write "I will not talk in class" 100 times on the bulletin board with the bum arm, which was in a sling mind you. Bad, bad professors this semesters. Actually bad, bad, lazy, opinionated, elitist professors with ginormous egos is more like it. Hope to have made a B in each of them (the classes that is). Got so fed up with one, I actually politely told him what I thought of the School of Art and most of the faculty that I have encountered there. So, although I plan on finishing my BFA, I have enrolled in a second degree program, which I am happy to say is not related to Fine Art, but rather English Education. I have realized that I can only take so much opinion based bull crap in one semester, so I am going to balance it with English Ed classes. So by the time I graduate, I will be able to teach English at a secondary school level. Ahhh...relief.

With that said, I am gearing up for my summer school class that starts Monday. I had to drop the second one, due to the current financial situation, which isn't so great. I actually received enough money (scholarship) to attend the two classes, but was using it all for tuition which left me no money for bills for over the summer. I don't know how things are going where you are, but here they suck and it seems as if there will be no end to this recession. Kermit's even seen a huge drop in customers and customer frequency. Hopefully all will be fine and work out, but for now it has left us broke and stranded in the desert for the summer. I think the biggest loss is missing my little brothers wedding (which is to take place this summer), of which he is probably mad at me for, but hopefully he will forgive me.

Well, that is it for now. I hope all of you take care, and keep in touch!

For this months totally Kool video, click here.