Flummoxed or Tired?

Pictures from last year's trip to the east coast. Above, Sheila and Susan ponder the incredible structure of the National Building Museum. Definitely a place for a man (or woman) to feel small in and a place to hold in awe the architects and builders of the past.

WaspMan Mug Shots

WaspMan stands about 12" high. The gallery that sells some of my pieces said they weren't interested in taking any pieces with these funky colors in them because they didn't think they would sell. Not a problem - he's a "keeper" as far as I'm concerned.

Round Top Stories Untold

More shots from when we were at Round Top. Looking at the pictures now just makes me wonder what the history is. Some of the stuff sold is just made to look old but it still conveys to me that sense of mystery and abandonment.

Chihuly in Phoenix

My friend Janis is a terrific photographer and personally responsible for introducing Susan (and then me) to ArtUnraveled and Art & Soul. She's also an Art Supply Enabler, so much so that I'm not surprised anymore when Susan comes home from buying art supplies and says she saw Janis at the store. The two of them are also art book fiends although Janis refuses to get involved in LibraryThing. But she did admit to accidentally buying the same book twice, to which Susan replied, "Big deal. Been there. Done that. More than once."

Janis and her husband, Mike, took a trip to Phoenix where they were fortunate enough to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens. These are just a few of the pictures she took for your Eye Candy fix of the day.

Glass Man To Clay Man

This guy stands just about 6" high with a body of fused glass. I bought him a few years ago at some street art fair because I wanted to help out the artist who didn't seem to be making very many sales. The piece sat in the back of one of my shelves and has pretty much been ignored.

But when I was doing some clean-up last week I brought him out, dusted him off and looked harder at him. I now realize I like the way the artist put the ladder and the screws down for feet and the way he added chunky pieces to be like knee and ankle joints. In fact I'm liking the piece more every day.

Although I don't do glass stuff I'm trying to work out in my head a way to do a series of clay pieces like this. But much bigger. I'm not too good on little stuff. Rebar wire will work fine for the structure, it could be threaded through the clay body for the arms if I just make little holes in the piece in the right place. I'm thinking . . . .

Cleared for Take-off

These two guys were the first pieces I made that had ears. I wasn't too pleased with them so they were put aside and I went in a different direction with smaller ears. When ACC had its art sale I put them out and they went to a good home. Now, looking at their pictures, I sort of miss them.

Don Does Art on Paper

I needed some papers to be pages in a book I'm going to make next month. Susan had some pages she had done jello? gelatin? printing on but it was just black on white. So I had her help me put some more dirt (i.e., guy) colors on the papers, I stamped a few places, and then we cut it up to be the pages. They'll be folded in half for the book.

I can weld, I can do ceramics, I can make jewelry, I can make painted papers and I can even do the laundry. I got to make dinner in exchange for Susan giving up her papers.

P.S. Just to keep the record straight, that's my hairy arm in the picture.

Too Pale?

I'm not too fond of these pale colors but I do like the lettering on his head. He went to a good home, thanks to the Austin Community College Student Art Sale.

Cheryl and Printmaking

Susan speaks:

I went to a demo at Jerry's Artarama featuring Cheryl Finfrock. I love her work! (top image). She talked about screen printing and how she makes her pieces look distressed instead of having crisp, sharp edges (second image). When she asked for volunteers to give it a try we all sort of looked at each other. Finally, Xena, who had come in with her father, came over and enthusiastically did the usual thing kids do around art supplies -- she just started right in, didn't pay much attention to the specifics, asked for bright colors, and had a great time.

Peeps

Easter is rapidly approaching and therefore, in the interest of scientific research, I present you (click here) with a review of relevant Peeps documentation. [Photo above is Medical Miracle, Phase 1, Pre-Op]. I have absolutely no idea why people are so interested in these little suckers but Susan has fond memories of Friday afternoons, office microwave ovens, split-second timing, and frantic $1 bets being placed. . . . never mind.

Old? Maybe Not

Lots of stuff at Round Top and it's easy to be suspicious when you see large accumulations of similar items for sale. Poking around often yields the "Made in China" sticker but I don't care where it's made if it looks interesting for my pictures. I'm getting used to Susan's camera which she has yet to take a picture with, mainly because it's fast becoming "Don's camera."

Indulging Yourself

"It's been a depressing winter, and there's nothing wrong with indulging yourself a little."

---- Ran Kivetz, a business professor at Columbia University, on people being so worried about saving money that they miss out on life's pleasures.

We went to the Round Top/Warrenton Antique/Flea Market a few days ago. Parking is always tough but we watch out for the Funnel Cake truck and park near there. The Market happens only twice a year and we don't go everytime but when we do, Susan MUST have a funnel cake. That's the only time she ever eats one. Yep, just as it looks like in the pictures below, cooked in an obscene amount of grease. Covered with powdered sugar. Eaten with fingers. This year the wind was blowing really hard so she anchored it down with the plastic knife. And then did her indulging. She didn't share and I didn't dare ask.

What I Hate and Like and Why

Memes are viral nuisances and every now and then someone throws one at me. I hate that! I never know what to do and make Susan deal with it (what else is a Blog Wrangler good for?) and then she gets really cranky. Very cranky. So this time, and this time only, I'll deal with it because she said I have to because I haven't been commenting on any of my Blog Friends' blogs. OK, I give up.

But, in the interest of stopping the meme madness, I'm not going to make people pass this on. I will do the meme questions, as (snarl) suggested but instead of tagging anyone, at the end (so keep reading) I'm going to pass on some blog and website links. Which ones? Some from our Top 100 Hit Parade, the ones we come back to over and over again, the ones we often share with friends. Giving you these links is the easy part. The hard part and the part that is important is the Why. Please pay attention to the Why because we think the links will take you to places where you'll learn something or be amused or be awed or just plain entertained. Or maybe you'll think "What the %$#& . . . . ?"

But first, the nasty meme questions and answers (Don//Susan):

1-What is your current obsession?
eating avocados // photoshop

2-What was the last thing you bought?
clamps at Harbor Freight // citrus reamer

3-What are you listening to right now?
Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground by Beth Rowley // Erik Satie's Gymnopedies

4-Say something to the person who tagged you:
Don't make me hunt you down! I hate this! // I hate this too but we are still kin.

5-Favorite vacation spots?
Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Paris, Port Aransas, Bonaire

6-What are you reading right now?
The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara // Voodoo Heart by Scott Snyder

7-What four words would you use to describe yourself?
meticulous, quiet, happy, flummoxed // messy, noisy, glass-half-empty, crabby

8-What is your current guilty pleasure?
ice cream with homemade hot fudge sauce and praline pecans // the "Next Blog" button at the top of blogspot blogs

9-Where are you planning to travel next?
Washington DC and New York City

10-What was the best thing you ate or drank recently?
grilled trout and red wine// chocolate parfait from Whole Foods

11-care to share some wisdom?
Fake it till you make it. // Growing old sucks.

12-What currently has you fully flummoxed?
How pathetic TV is // The decline of newspapers

As promised, random selections* from our Top 100 Hit Parade, in no particular order, with the all-important Why:
Lee Valley Tools --- Why? Their spiral punch is $30 cheaper than most other places.
Ron Pippin --- Why? Imagination unleashed.
Art Propelled--- Why? Robyn provides depth and value to your browsing.
BibliOdyssy--- Why? Incredible amount of material provided.
Carol Marine--- Why? She keeps at it, day after day.
HP Smart Web Printing--- Why? It saves ink and paper and it's free.
Denis Collette--- Why? Beautiful photography
The Altered Page--- Why? Seth continues to engage the art community.
How to Make a Button--- Why? It's mesmerizing.
Where the Hell is Matt?--- Why? It's our global community.

And finally,The way cool video on YouTube about information dissemination. It will make you feel smart because it is about digital ethnography and digital anthropology, which (if you are reading this) you are a part of.

Step 1. To make sense of it you should watch this video first:
Michael Wesch: Machine is Us/ing Us.
The first/original version of this video has been viewed over 8 million times, this is his final edited version which has been viewed over a million times.
Step 2. Then watch this very nutty homemade video (it will make sense later) which has been viewed over 27 million times.
Step 3. And finally, the main speech Michael Wesch made.

*Did we leave off your blog or website? Don't be offended, we just randomly picked from our Hit Parade and you might be on it but missed being a random choice.

These Boots Aren't For Walking

Tomorrow is the Austin Community College Student Art Sale as a part of the "Carnival ah!" These little boots are going to be for sale. I never could manage to make a pair that matched, much less figure out right and left feet. But I do manage to dress myself in the morning.