And now for a brief interruption of our regular broadcast:

note: plaster cast of dino foot print on floor

pteradactyl chandelier  

pin the tooth on the t-rex anyone? a 7 foot non archival tempera paint masterpiece

i was afraid the smoke alarm would go off...

Some random not art related things i found myself doing last week for my sons 4th bday party. excuse the distraction from the art blog, just ignore this if you so choose. My latest installation: transforming the house into a dino-land.  complete with volcano cake ( red velvet with marbled chocolate). mmmmm...

Drawing! How much further away from the expected could i go?!

So for yet another "should have experimented with this my first semester" moment i have started to DRAW! yes me, it has been such a looong time that i had to wrestle out my art bin from under a few sedimentary layers of shit in the studio closet (which is actually a pile that extends out into the studio a few feet, like a landslide). I decided to start on a roll of rice paper which i have always loved working on because of its translucency and texture (and the fact that it is a roll and cheep to boot). After rigging up a bungee cord drawing board system for it i ventured into the frigid outdoors, figures i decide to start this when the winter temps finally set in! I am making a kind of time line map. using time to be the organizing principal of the map in a linear form. so starting at one end of the rice paper i drew interesting things (using pencil and charcoal) when it felt "done" i rolled that part up and started on a new part the next time i saw something i felt needed to be memorialized. i built a little pile of rocks (ala inuksuk- not the people kind) and sketched it that so i would have a record of when and where that session was over so i could start back up there next time. { http://indianrockpiles.weetu.com/articles/RockPileTypes.html - interesting link from the uk about different rock piles and significance. } This is functioning as kind of a mapping of landmarks according to time and where i was wandering (most of which are really small but i have a tendency to draw really really big). I will see where this goes and how i will install my big ol'roll!
I also found this about rube goldberg style contraptions and i am in LOVE. must make one. http://cre.ations.net/creation/sticks-and-stones
 I have a meeting with my mentor Wendy Jacob on Thursday! Yay!

work ideas

green= chair frame, black= fabric cover

{disclaimer: i just sketched these out on a index card: not final sketch} cross hatch is a "wing" flap blanket

So i have been thinking about what i am going to do with my art this semester and have a few ideas. 1. i want to make a cover for this amazing comfy chair that is a folding lounge. here is a picture of my sketch the green lines are the chair (viewed from the side) and the black are the lines created by the edge of the material, making it a streamlined unit. I am drawn to the simple, clean lines and would use a white fabric that would stand up to the woods. i would also make "flaps" or wings (drawn with little cross lines) that would extend like a triangle from the feet to the head with the longest point part being in the middle so i could wrap myself up like a cucoon in this chair in the woods and just sit and think. after this idea and some puttering online i found the work of elizabeth holik and fell in love.... i could totally use a cucoon chair! so i am also reading a (depressing) book: dying of the trees: the pandemic in america's forests, and second nature,  and a small farm in maine, as well as some other similarly minded books whose exact titles are escaping me at the moment but i will later post.  i am trying to stay away from the reading but am obviously not succeeding much in that regard. 2. i've started going on looong walks in the woods and making a mental map of the stumps and other interesting features i have managed to overlook for the last 26 years of roaming these woods. i am going to make some sort of tangible map out of this, experimenting with different ideas, strongly influenced by my last semesters readings on space, place, lost, maps ect. (particularly "you are here")  and indigenous ways of directional intelligence such as carin's etc. 3. i have started a little thought listy thing to keep sane, has not worked for that but is interesting as is.  oh and yes i kicked my husband out for a trial separation! go me! onward with life.

Pics of old Stumpy

So as a preface to my photos i would like to say that i am NOT a photographer. i have a craptacular point and shoot camera and remedial photoshop skills at best (which i have not used on the photos following, (which is probably obvious) i do not know what i will be using these for and am pretty sure that there are at least a billion photos like this already in existence. clearly there is nothing earth shattering original about these actual pics except that i know that nobody has ever photographed this exact stump before as it is in my yard that i have lived in for my entire life and was woods before my parents "homesteaded" it.  so without further blabbering here they are:

ALLL the photos!

inside chamber

looking inside chamber

mmmm juicy!

So here are the pics. turns out after i was thoroughly convinced that i was loosing my mind and all capacity for being organized it turns out my brother accidently took my cameras usb cord thinking it was his (my computer is at their house, you know with the internet! so here are my photos from the residency and i will for the sake of clarity put all the photos of stumpy and updates about this weeks art making on a following post.