*cough snort sneeze* Sorry for the absence

Never mind the coughing and wheezing.

Must... get... back... to power tools.

See the bits of sawdust dirtying up the photo? Once the kids were out of the house, I got serious about sanding away the labels on the cigar boxes I'm going to use in my next project. Note the fabulous protective gear. (Especially the scarf. Believe me when I tell you that curly hair will hold on like death to particles of sawdust if you don't cover up beforehand.)

 

Sometime after I peeled off this "bank-robbing alien" costume, I sealed the boxes with matte medium. I've been beating myself up a bit for not moving forward faster on this in particular, and not making more art in general. Which is stupid, since I have been journal spilling, at least.

And January in this house means prepping for The Boy's birthday party, plus cleverly rearranging junk piles cleaning up for the grandparents' visits. It's just that I should get a move on with this project before I hate its guts and lose whatever momentum I have left. I may have to -- gasp -- set a schedule and stick to it. Gaaah.

A lover and a fighter

The Boy broke a board with an axe kick today, during his test to earn a high yellow belt in tae kwon do.

Which thrills me, because he's working hard and learning how to defend himself. But the thing that really makes me proud?

He wants me to help him paint the board pieces.

See? A lover (of art) and a fighter.

Soooo pretty

I had forgotten how much I luh-huh-huhv pretty paper. (And how the hell did that happen?)

I like pretty with my grunge. I can appreciate cute, but I prefer frayed edges and smudginess. Even pretend-smudgy is better than undiluted pretty.

I'm probably going to use some of this in a companion piece to "The Plumber's Jealousy." 

But it's going to take a while; what I want to do is complex and the rest of my life keeps intruding into my worktime.

More soon.