shaka brah!

Well, I finally finished "shaka."  What a joy it was to work in these colors, and THAT TEXTURE!  This is kind of my story in a nutshell.  There are a few fun inclusions within the mosaic that reference my love of board shorts and flip flops.  A while back, I read a book about the wisdom of the Tao.  Lao Tzu talks about the fact that water, which is so soft, can wear away stone.  Shaka is a surf term meaning- hang loose.  Yeah, perfect, right?  This whole work has been an illustration for me that things are going to work out.  You know I have to have fun with my signature so where is that??  Right up on top is billet, surfing through life.  Shaka brah!

and then...

You know... there are those that would question the sanity of a person that works on a 3 foot by 5 foot piece with a tweezers.  And really, it is ridiculous how long it takes to cut, fit, cut, fit, cut a tile like the one in the lower photo.  But then it is kind of scary how much I enjoy doing all this.  Just the color palette that I am working with is enough to make me giddy.  Down to the wire and I STILL think I can make it by Reston!  Woohoo regardless!

pressure? pfft!

Pressure is ON!  I have a little over two weeks to finish this mother wave.  On the top is about where I am.  The middle is the photos I am working with. Looks exactly the same, right?  Anyway, things should move a lot faster now.  It is mostly basic mosaic from here on out.  I bet it takes two days to grout the white part.  Not complainin'.

underwhelmed

This week has been a typical week for me, meaning that it is the same roller coaster that I always experience.  No doubt, it is the same that YOU all experience.  A lot of good shit happens and a lot that you'd rather skip.  First thing... I got in Longs freaking Park.  This is HUGE in my book.  I've gotten into shows that are ranked way higher but in all the years I've applied to this show, I could never get in.  I am so unbelievably stoked about this but it would be just as easy for me to focus on the stuff that didn't go so well this week.

 

Let me tell you about a few of the things that I DON'T usually blab about in my blog, newsletter, or FaceBook.  For a while now, I have been involved with serious talk about an enormous mosaic in the med center.  I've been so excited about it that I have lost quite a bit of sleep over it.  So Friday, I found out that they decided against a mosaic (for now.)  They felt the room that they needed art for would be better served with transparent glass on the windows and I had to agree.  They assured me that they def want my work in the hospital and I know that whatever mosaic project pops up in its place will be far more glorious than this one that I had been envisioning instead of sleeping.  I swear to you that all my thoughts directed toward mosaic are never wasted.

 

I look at setbacks as just part of the process.  This week, Rob came in my shop and saw the progress of the wave I am working on.  His comment was, "I am underwhelmed."  He knows, and I know that there are many stages of ugly before a mosaic is finished.  Look at those enormous gaps that will be filled in and rough edges that will be covered with frame.  And for real, who besides me can see a wave in that mess?  It is just a recent thing that I am becoming a little more comfortable with showing my work at this stage. 

 

What I am trying to say is that I think a lot of my friends think that my life is something different than theirs.  It is not that I am trying to hide the fact that I didn't get into Longs Park the first 8 times I applied.  Its also not that I am bragging about getting IN this time.  I am just celebrating HARD CORE because I KNOW what it took to get there.  I guess in a nutshell it is this: What works for me is to talk about and focus on the truth that I got in Longs rather than the truth that I missed out on the med center this time.  I don't worry about how this mosaic looks now because I can see the end.  I realize that whatever I am dealing with I can CHOOSE how to look at every situation.  If you don't believe me, read Viktor Frankl.  Love this life.

gram's wish

gram's wish 20 x 36 inches
Yeah, I'm a slow learner. I remember almost thirty years ago my Gram was shocked that I was planning to spray some toxic shit on something as beautiful as a dandelion.  To illustrate how wonderful they are, she promptly went out in my yard, picked some and ate them, unwashed.  At the time, I was mortified.  How did I not see that what I was planning on spraying in my yard was far worse for my family (not to mention the rest of the world) than eating any dirt that would have been on dandelion leaves?  I feel a little embarrassed admitting to you that it is just 2013 that we quit spraying our yard, even when we were growing food for ourselves in it.  The aha moment came to me when I read the blog of a landscape designer that was working with a doctor that said he knows how toxic even the "safe" sprays are to his family but he doesn't want his neighbors angry.  REALLY??!!  So, I am not going to tell anybody what to do, but I thought maybe I could show you what my Gram wished I would see... that dandelions are pretty. 

living the dream

Who gets to play with kids all day... and then gets paid for it?  Yeah, this girl.  I have one more day of this residency but WE'RE FINISHED!  Chill for tomorrow, yo!  That's what I'm talkin' about!

 

 

The kids got to vote on words and they chose these.  I thought aggression and angst might be good words but they didn't let me vote.  Just kidding.  I am SO proud of the work that Mifflin County High School did.  To cover three 3 x 5 foot boards in 8 days was an unbelievable feat.  What a fun two weeks.  Now it is back to the same old job that is even more fun than playing with kids.  Life is but a dream.

anybody ready for spring?

Whew!  This is how much I have been in my shop lately.  That is Rob hanging with me, getting all "comfortable" with my sandblasting cabinet as a backrest.  He normally avoids my shop but till I get a few things sewn up, this is how we do it.

 All right, these are just phone photos and I ask you to look past gaping ungrouted crevices, and bare cement board but almost all of the hard parts are done.  I have a bee that is about two firings away from a decision of whether he will make the cut.  The poof part of this mosaic took WAY longer than expected... then that yellow flower, come ON!  I am still pushing to have the rest tiled by Sunday.  Then I start another school residency Monday and I can hopefully grout this sucker next weekend.  Regardless, all good.  BTW, when I said I was in my shop all the time, I was sayin' that like it's a good thing, cause it is.  Lovin' this life.