TAG you're it

At my high school reunion this weekend there was obviously alot of talk about Curt.

(one of our fellow classmates who was in a tragic accident this past April.)

see http://jillandcurtlucas.blogspot.com/



Shane Potter in particular, asked and as the night went on practically pleaded for me to throw the word out that they need help getting the house ready for Curt, so he can come home.



"bodies" he kept saying, "we need bodies"



I know it's a huge burden on many of Curt's friends to divide their time between making an income for their family and helping out the Lucas's. ( of course they weren't complaining, but there was alot of emotion over the whole situation, as I'm sure you can all imagine... those of us who were close to David have been there)



Curt and Jill's house needs serious renovation/adaptation in order for him to come home and get around. So much is needed, mostly time and energy. As you'll see in the their blog, they need... people to help out with Electrical, Plumbing, Excavating, Roofing, Siding, Heating & Cooling....much of the work has started, but there is so much to do still.


Brainstorming...any ideas, help, time....would be be greatly apprecitated.
And not just by Curt and Jill...but the community at large and by people like Shane who have been splitting their time between making a living for their own family and donating their time and services for the Lucas's.



tag, you're it!



PLEASE pass the word



thanks :)

here is Curts address at the VA hospital if you want to send him some love

Louis Stokes Cleveland Dept of VA Medical Center
10701 East Blvd
Cleveland, Ohio 44106

balance of gifts

Recently I was sent a very frustrating post. You may have seen it, the paragraph where nearly every word is spelled wrong, and yet, the meaning is completely intact. ( the exact point of the exercise )

.

"fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvea a sgtron mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blvelee taht I clood aulacity uesdnatrrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmenela pwoer of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrung to a rcshaerch at Cmabrigde Uinervitsy it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproament tihng is taht the frsit and lsat litteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and yuo can siltl raed it. Whotuit a pboerlm. ihs is bcusease the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlhoe, Azanimng huh? Yaeh and I awlys tghuhot slpeling wsa ipmorantt!"

.

Yes, I did and I am not amused. All these years I took consolation in the fact that spelling came easily to me. Spelling, grammar, writing, reading...this was my little token prize package to make up for a lack of speaking ability...and complete lack of a singing voice. Sometimes I'll click on spell check just to pridefully remind myself I have some useful skills. The spell check complete ''ting'' is music to my ears.

.

Cambridge University..or should I say Cmabrigde Uinervitsy blew that remnant of confidence out the window! thanks a lot.

.

I wish they would have done away with the absurd absoluteness of mathematics or maybe abolished the whole percentage, fraction myth, perhaps loosened the grip tax law has on the small business....but no, they would have to mess with the one true academic gift I had been graced with, spelling. Disheartening.

.

But, even if they do take that away, I can still find solace in the fact that my imagination helps fill any gaps in actual fact retention. I can continue to simply make it up as I go along. :)

focus

Dear Shannon,

Here is your AstroSlam for Sunday, July 6:

You'll be very proud of yourself for multi-tasking today, but you shouldn't be. The only reason that you're able to run around and do a bunch of different tasks is because you're a failure at prioritizing. Learn how to focus, dude.

why i subscribe to this little uplifting horoscope is beyond me! although, it is frightfully appropriate today.

This morning in my head and in my journal I had a little identity crisis going on...it seems I've come to another cross roads...and haven't a clue the best direction to go.
I love the open-endedness of my career choice, there really are numerous avenues for me to pursue and when I get bored of one role, jump into another.

I like having a closet full of hats, so to speak.

But.

At the moment, I don't feel like a hat person.

This fall brings teaching...only 2 days a week....since I opted out of a full time schedule to leave room for other pursuits...and cut down on driving. How wise is this? I don't know.
I am consistently unstable, the state of limbo is my home, the only given is my role as a mom, I took on that postition for life.

My sketchbook is full of ideas, too many ideas. I'm in the place where the ideas are coming too fast and it's paralyzed me. To start one thing, would mean leaving the others behind, along with all the what if's. It may seem like a strange problem to complain about, but the unrest is frustrating, I don't want to choose.

Julia Cameron in her book, "Walking in this World" has a chapter about this phenomenom. "Week 7, Discovering a Sense of Momentum" where she not only descibes in detail the whirling energy and logjam of creativity...but also the dangers and solutions.

"you must take some small step or the ideas will remain jammed up and the creative pressure will continue to escalate. When it does, it will often manifest as attacks of self doubt and self loathing, "I am so stupid!" you might wail" ( and believe you me, i have! )

She says the trick here is to start siphoning some out...not add more in. In our culture we are trained to deal with anxiety of all forms by putting more in. ( I am very good at this )
more of anything, drink, food, stuff, commitments, work projects, overexercising...

She warns, do not call to talk to anyone, write a letter if you must, no more words in...only words and actions out. This is good advice, there are moments ( like today ) when I have a hair trigger, when the dualing radios are at risk of having me declare a electricity fast, when the neighbors chatter drives me insane! SHHHHHH!!!! I want to shout, but wouldn't, the smile is plastered on my nodding head, while I plot my escape.


"if your head is awhirl and you cannot think straight, then start by straightening something up..." okay, so I cleaned my desk. That felt amazingly productive. Next up...
laundry, fold neatly, hang, put away, clean cupboards, write thankyou notes and on and on...there is power in the details. Sorting out my little corner of the world, helps me find my place in the great big world.

Here's the best part though......

In this chapter she also talks about the sudden strobe light clarity we sometimes get, when we catch a glimpse of our future.
Where we "know" what's going to happen, but have to wait for reality to catch up.

The old has to finish falling apart and the new has to finish coming together.

(That is a great line...not verbatim from the book...it's just how my mind twisted it. Generously paraphrased and taken slightly out of context, but it works for me.)

The shock of seeing my reflection in a new mirror, causes everything I own to look out of style. But, I can't arrive at my destination with so many loose ends...so it's time to start putting everything in the present reality in order, finish all the half done projects...or toss them once and for all. Detox the house, purge it of all the excess, make it sparkle.

It clears up the vagueness.... and... what do you know....restores focus.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!! my second favorite holiday of all time ( after my birthday of course)

Spent yesterday with the Orange Crush..my old soccer team and their families...laughing, eating, fireworks, fun... then today....parade in the morning, massive pool party, gorgeous weather

patriotic, yes, but mainly i think it's everything rolled into one...
seeing friends, crazy loud!!!, fire!!! dark!!! danger!!!
a holiday with very little prep time, no gifts to buy, no cards to send, a watermelon is a welcome offering, even i can't screw up a watermelon. :)

Hope you all enjoy your 4th!

so what do you do?

Random shots of where i spend my days....
facing this way...
( my crazy messy desk! the purple bird was a gift, her name is Stella)

.....or that...

( work in progress...actually this used to be a painting i never quite liked, so i'm reusing the canvas...coat one.)

sometimes i'm in the office....shipping department

or pulling prints.... restoration work...or listing online....or packaging....

i like my work, it's eclectic to say the least, all the unrelated parts make up my career....

this has been the focus of much thought, especially now, with the 20 year reunion coming up...i wonder, how to answer the question...' so what do you do for a living? '

i could honestly give a different answer to most people, and if I figure in all the grouping possibilities, i may be able to give a different answer to everyone who asks....what a concept, a challenge.

I guess once the studio opens, that will be the main answer to give, i own a studio...but that starts up a whole new realm of possible answers...teaching, in my own studio, holding shows, running the shop...

there will be the nurses, the accountants, the teachers, the construction workers, the insurance people, lawyers, computer guys ( or gals)

and then...a artistcreativewriterpoetantiquebookrestorerantiqueprintsandmapdealerartteacher

creativewritingteacherpoetryteachermuralistoccassionalimprovwaitressjewelrymakergalleryowner..... i think i can spit that out quickly, maybe in a sing songy voice,

yeah, it can be done, besides it's all formalities anyways. the only thing that really will be discussed after the fact is how so and so looks, who looks different, who looks better, worse, ha!....sad, but true. :) I'm still looking forward to it. There are so many great people i graduated with that, because of my extreme shyness and the whole structure of the high school experience, never got to know...but through the magic of the internet...have found them and have decided

i really like 'em after all....too bad we can't have a do-over, or spend more time together than just one formal night...but now we are dealing with posturing and the structure of life ...

oh well, still looking forward to it.

i suppose, if asked what i do...i could simply answer, i am an artist. that should encompass the whole of my story...and could have eliminated this entire blog. :)

living shadow

The painting.

"Living Shadow"

Never, ever one to voluntarily speak in front of a crowd or ask to use a microphone...I did.

I had to explain this painting.

It's simple, plain and not really all that exciting...but there was a purpose behind it.
Out of all the ideas I had and all the paintings I started, this one begged to be finished.
To be the debut painting for the foundation.

I was asked to create a piece to be auctioned off each year...
so, in order to fully express my feelings and capture both the heartbreaking loss of David
and the beautiful emerging body of work that is, the David Lytle Memorial Foundation,
I used every color in my paintbox.

This portrays how David soaked up all the colorful people, experiences and adventures he encountered thoughout his life. The bright and shiny, the dull, the dark, the pure, the wild, the cool...and he blended us all together, creating something that wasn't there before.

The landscape was painted to show the vastness of his world. As confined as he was, he lived a large life, far reaching, expansive.

The empty wheelchair, is a sad image, but it casts a living, growing shadow....all of us, we are Dave's living shadow, and it's just budding now,
The David Lytle Memorial Foundation is all about growth and possibilities.
I am honored to be a part of it.

Directly after speaking, I made a beeline for the back door...walked out...sat outside...but I heard that it went for $750.00. Humbling.

sweet fairy tale dreams

I love this bed. I always knew that whenever I replace the bed I've had since a teenager, it would be an iron bed of some sort. Canopy beds and frilly numbers never enticed me, but this is a canopy I could sleep under. It's $15,000...a wee bit out of my price range and budget, (of zero, nada, zilch, nothing....)

But like my foray into welding and all the nifty things I was able to produce, thanks to a generous and adventurous man who turned his studio over to me, maybe I'll meet someone with the tools to go about putting something like this together. Stranger things have happened.

I now have projects of all shapes and sizes in waiting, things I've seen and want to try, techniques that fascinate me, sketches of paintings, outlines of books, skeletons of jewelery designs, themes I want to explore and classes I'd love to teach....along with all the books I want to read and places to explore...

sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I could only focus on one particular thing, to master a certain something and just do that. ( it would make it enormously easier to answer the casual.." so, what do you do for a living? " question!) but, I really enjoy the chaotic commotion and perpetual planning, the uncomfortable newbie feeling and the daydreaming.

Besides, it's all connected, each project feeds on the next and i get to meet all sorts of fascinating new people along the way. There isn't a destination point, like I wrote about in my lost essay, except to experience and create and feel alive everyday. Live inside out, heart on my sleeve, give and love and stay awake......

unless i'm in my tree bed, then i can sleep. :)

http://www.slmetalworks.com/proc_hm.html