Toronto Vs. Nagoya Artfight at the Nagoya Arts festival

So about a month ago, i was on the phone with the poison control peeps looking for confirmation that i hadn't absorbed an unhealthy amount of wintergreen oil (which i had to sign for at the pharmacy) by doing the photo transfers for this call for entry.

It was a very hair-raising learning curve but mostly it was fun. 

I watched the first two Rambo movies whilst embroidering explosions on pictures of a 'dream home' and 'fantasy castle' in this 'FAIRY TALE ENDINGS' series. 

It was one of those opportunities that comes up to challenge yourself to make something spontaneous and capturing where you are at that one particular moment. 

I'm glad that i did it, but it isn't my proudest achievement. 

Also, i named my stapler 'RAMBO' as a result of this weekend.

Weight Control

This is the scene of my wednesday night reality check. 

I've been 'thinking light' for the past well... i won't say how many months but i can tell you this; i've got wardrobe compaction, down to a science!!!!

Tonight i tried to squeeze all my sweet and wonderful favourites/staples into the suitcase i plan to take with me to seattle.

I will be flying internationally and therefore i can bring with me two bags each weighing under 50 lbs.

It turns out that that won't be as difficult as i expected. 

All of my careful and perhaps neurotic planning is going to good use and i will arrive, well dressed, and comfortably within the 'average weight for my economy class flying self.  I'm going to make a master manifest tonite of what i am bringing.  It will make the non-test run of packing a breeze.

I'm just going to say it, I'm very proud of my ingenuity. 

This truly feels like a TRIUMPH!

Also... I'm going to be the one woman force bringing back SHOE CLIPS!!!

You heard it here first.

How else will one pair of grey shoes go with silver/gold/navy AND black!!!!

Journals

Journaling is so much more than recording details, or keeping track of the order of events.  (I have Ical for that!)  

While waiting for the shipment of my favourite journals (GALISON, Write On! style) I have just had a week of 'GASP' not journalling.  Yesterday I even considered NOT journalling anymore at all because it wasn't really that difficult, but why would I DO such a thing!

Never have I been more aware of how important that process has been in my life. 

I guess, looking back, that i have always kept a journal of some kind.  I think it started when i was a preteen, just after my parents divorce and just in time to start recording my outlandish first dealings with boyfriends and the women they drive crazy!

I've gone through some phases to be sure, college years were less journal, more 'little black book of to do lists'. I actually managed to keep it all in one journal for my thesis year of university, and since graduation, i've been using the Galison's to keep in touch with myself. To spur myself forward and really think out my wants/needs/goals.

I love journaling, I love that element of twenty/twenty hindsight that comes with being blatantly honest with yourself, and putting it in writing. 

These are more than JUST journals, these are love letters to myself. 

Instead of calling an end to this love affair, we're going to some couples therapy, me and my journal are going to be adventurous, try new things: Mindmapping, ToDoList Inclusions, Sketches, Poetry, wherever my mind and body lead me!

new CALLING CARDS

Tomorow is the gallery opening for a show i'm involved in.

Every time i put work into a show i think to myself... you should have a business/contact card like all the other professionals here so people ca

n contact you if they would like to... or so they can see what a great artist you are in other media.

So, 

I've been hulling and cutting 'header cards' from work for a week or two in preparation becasue i don't beleive in buying something you can reclaim.  They're cute and have a hole in them already in case i need to hang them from a cup hook or tie them onto a gift box.  Then, last week i took my expert artist freind to get a three line self inking stamp from business depot, and tonite while 

watching the top model finale, (YAY WHITNEY!) i cut out the stamp for the back side of my new cards.

Tonite, i printed them, so that they will be dry and beautiful for tomorow's opening and i'm very impressed... Things like this don't usually work the FIRST time, but i guess after years of buggering up and putting a word/all the letters in reverse i've somehow LEARNED to do a good job.  Who knew!

What i've been up to lately:

Come check out the 'BEND/FOLD/MANIPULATE' exhibition online, or to the opening next thursday evening between 6:30 and 9:30.  The work will be on display at A.C.A. Gallery at 183 Queen Street East Wednesdays through Saturdays from May 14th to May 28th, 2008.

My work in this show is entitled 'Inhale';

The concepts of 'nature' and 'humanity' are perhaps nowhere more closely intertwined than in medical technologies. We use machines and drug that seem so far removed from the natural world, yet these are often made from natural substances. 'Inhale' begins with oxygen masks, parts of machines used for breathing and administering anesthesia.  In this way they preserve the most natural, animal parts of us: beating hearts and breathing lungs.  The local wildflowers that adorn this series (Purple Cone Flower, New England Aster and Butterfly Milkweed) each contribute to the health of the environment here in Ontario.  They provide shelter and nourishment to insect pollinators necessary for maintenance of biodiversity in the broader environmental context.

With each breath, as with each of our decisions we contribute change to our surroundings.  As we re-think the cultural logic of our place in the world let us consider what it is we are exhaling. 

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I'm really proud to be a part of this show, and to be on my way to becoming a 'for real' artist.  It feels good because i'll just make stuff anyway.

http://www.bendfoldmanipulate_for_peace.cachelan.com

100 things that make me happy Spring 2008

1. Bouffantes

2. Listening to people speaking Finn (and not understanding)

3. Falling asleep peacefully

4. Under dressing for the Ballet/Symphony

5. Over dressing for a house party.

6. A clean, Gin and Tonic with lime.

7. Sneakers, No socks.

8. Getting my eyebrows waxed.

9. Pepe's from the Scandinavian Bakery, Sudbury ON.

10. The colour 'French Ivory'.

11. Bee's and Beekeeping.

12. Family Get-togethers.

13. Long frank talks with mom.

14. Coffee; Dark Roast, Black, Body Temperature.

15. Street Vendor Okonomiyaki

16. A night of dancing like a fool.

17. Earpops...

18. Tupperware collapseables.

19. Pineapple.

20. The Drew Carrey Show.

21. Vanilla, YUM!

22. Ronnie Burkett

23. Neices and Nephews, freeze tag and vaccum kisses.

24. Short stories 

25. Remembering only the best parts of high school.

26. Mass Transit.

27. Growing up a small town girl.

28. Juggling. (even though i'm mediocre)

29. Thrift Shopping.

30. Multi-functional Design.

31. Soup

32. Toddlers that aren't mine.

33. Permaculture

34. Chatting with my best girl friends.

35. Designing and making stuff.

36. Being GOOD at what i do.

37. Kitchen dancin'

38. Pundits (esp. McLaugchlin Group Sundays)

39. Mindless Video Games ie: tetris/poppit

40. Traveling Alone.

41. Journalling.

42. The luxury of staying in.

43. Waking up in friendly arms.

44. Singing

45. Riding my bicycle... Wheezie!!!

46. Learning ALWAYS

47. Taking Compliments Gracefully

48. The excitement of meeting new people.

49. Cutting to the chase.

50. Curly Hair

51. Toronto Island Summers

52. Science Fiction (enders game, Baxter, Mary Doria-Russel!, Ronald Moore)

53. Driving with dad, while he tells me stories 

54. Flying solo at the movies.

55. Non-fiction interest writers

56. Uniforms, and systemization 

57. Being Early.

58. Going on adventures whilst 'waiting' for people/events.

59. Alchemy

60. Brit-pubs and football...(soccer), liverpool, arsenal, tfc, france (international league).

61. Rob Brezney's Horoscopes.

62. John Steinbeck

63. The guy who plays guitar downstairs

64. Long walks, to a distant destination with no time pressure.

65. Re-visiting old poems of mine... old selves.

66. My home.

67. Warm bath + Cool glass of water.

68. Funny Laughers

69.Spicy Dark Chocolate

70. *HUGS*

71. Japan, i love it there... i would/might move there, it just feels good.

72. Crushing/Flirting

73. Snowboarding

74. Folk Festivals

75.TRUMPET

76. Silversmithing

77. Sing alongs

78. Swimming in a lake/river.

79. St. Johnsbury Vermont in Early March.

80. Radial Imagery

81. Quinoa (SPIRALS!!!!)

82. My Kenmore Sewing Machine.

83. Symmetry.

84. Alexander Calder and tinker's at large.

85. Tea in bed.

86. Danish Modern Furniture

87. Michael Caine Movies

88. Cedar Trees

89. Sauna

90. Sound Art.

91. Fine Art that means it

92. Rich Nutty Amber Beers

93. Singer Songwriters

94. Being a student and appealing to experts in my search for breadth and knowledge.

95. The Zissou

96. Being a mentor and setting positive examples by living my ideal life

97. Bookstores on sundays

98. Cooking for people i love.

99. Waking up to crisp bright mornings while on trail or canoe trips

100. Me.  I'm my own best friend/enemy/critic/lover.

 

ahh... i love BOBBINS!

Ok..

So i've been having issues with my sewing machine and i realized its probably because i've never ONCE cleaned it in all the seven years i've used it, and its well used!

So today i hoped to clean it and have that fix my crappy tension problem. 

no dice.

The tension wasn't fixed so i fuddled and muddled and surfed for information on the webbernet. 

Turns out that there is a little tiny screw on the bobbin case to set the bobbin tension!

Note to self:

1. Clean your machine more often, and show it you care!

2. If this ever happens again, check the bobbin case tension screw!

now i'm gonna go and sew my brains out!