Thankful

There's lots to be thankful for this season.

Like my family (Mom is slowly getting better).

And my great friends.

And the ability to stay in touch with them.

And funny pets.

And  things I learn at school.

And for talents and creating.

And for my callings.

And for the gospel in my life.

And for our warm home.

And for no snow yet (soon to change!).

You can get inspiration anywhere- these were the table decor at the youth activity last weekend. Our stake YW has some talent!

Thought I'd share these pretty easy but great looking centerpieces!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Art Auction

Recently I participated in the annual student art auction on campus. The problem with studio classes is that you are usually making things that either you want to keep or no one will want to buy (like the odd practice still lifes that we did for most of the semester in painting class or the 20 body parts for sculpture) and that I don't have much extra time to make things to sell. When this year's auction rolled around, I actually had stuff to submit- extra prints from print class last semester. I picked a few out to auction and sold four of them. The Student Art League takes a 25% cut of the bids, but even after their cut, I had made $18.75! Not bad, I was pleased. I found out later that my woodshop teacher had bought one of them!

I don't think I ever got around to posting the rest of what I did in print class, I'll have to show that sometime. I would love to do more in that area, but the classes fill up crazy fast- way faster then the other studios.

I was pleased with a lot of the artwork up for bid- in past years there has been a lot of crap because they will let anyone submit anything. Last year I was outbid and didn't win anything, so it was a pleasant surprise to win three of the four things that I wanted.

So here's what I won:

This is a little (about 8x10") photo/painting collage on board by Mel Keiser. She has done some really great paintings in shows on campus so I was excited to own one of hers. I fell for the hair/flowers area. I don't like a lot of collages because it's often hard to mix materials and make it work but I think it works here. I paid $14 for it.

This intaglio print is called "A Lot of Frames to Fill" and it's by Makenzie Cherban. This is done with a metal plate and she scratched all those lines into a coating on a metal plate that was then put in acid to eat away the lines. Printing is time consuming as well- you fill the lines in with ink and then wipe wipe wipe the surface of the plate- when it goes through a press, the enormous pressure pushes the paper into the lines and you get a print. 

It's pretty large and I liked all the ornate frames- it made me think of the one I spraypainted black. Worth $9 to me.

I had seen this unframed in a different show and liked it- so I was glad to see it in the auction. Entitled "Barflies", it's by Courtney Bryan and I thought she made a fun screenprint. I liked the positive/negative space and bright colors. I liked the fly silhouettes. Registration (things lining up) is always an issue for printmakers. Sometimes mis-registration works and sometimes it doesn't but I like the way the black outline is off. I paid $31 for this, which was a bit expensive but if I were to frame it myself I'd be spending a chunk on that so it actually is a good deal.

This is the one I wished I'd won:

I really enjoyed this painting- I really liked the tones/colors used in it and the technique is good. It's larger- about 2.5' square. A big reason why I liked it so much was that I did a series of similar b&w handprinted photographs way back in 2001 that were very well received (and won me prizes and money and clients). I would have loved to have had this up with them on my wall. Sometime I will have to scan and show those. I would love to have that series become a book.

A lot of people want to collect art but don't know how to go about it. Clearly I'm not collecting art as an investment, but for enjoyment. I think that often people worry too much about collecting names or spending lots of money. I don't believe that collecting art has to be expensive, quite the opposite. I've found great stuff for pennies. I feel that a lot of the expensive art out there isn't worth it. A lot of art is expensive because of time and materials but just because it is a Warhol doesn't mean that it is the best thing ever- artists generally have periods of artmaking that are better than others and this could be part of the lesser stuff. And there might be some no-name thing that is the best thing ever.

A lot of people say "I don't know art but I know what I like". Exactly. Collect what you like. It's ok to do so! Then it will be worth something to you.

The art world is a two way street- creator and collectors. I think it's important to support the art world-  I like it when people look at or buy my stuff so I make an effort to see what other people are doing. If I fall in love with something, then I'll make an effort to own it. Art makes our world interesting.

For crying out loud, support your artists- who wants to have a boring cookie cutter living room anyhow? If I can duplicate your living room down to the manufactured BB&B art on your walls, then there's a problem.

Be unique.

And can you tell that I will need a LOT of wallspace in my future abode?

Lace Box

The third project in Metals class was to make a box. So I thought "Oh, a camera box would be fun- I'll have lots of time to make something more complicated" and designed this:

I was really tempted to make it in paper and call it good! The front part would come out like a drawer and house some little photo artifacts of bygone days- BD, or Before Digital. There would be a little hook and eye to keep the drawer shut. And maybe a back piece that opened to show an old photo.

So I started on that, rollerprinting copper with a canvas texture. But I didn't get far- I'd forget my toolbox or forget stuff in the car. One day I sent half an hour searching for the metal I'd prepared, only to find it hiding in my backpack- I thought I was going crazy!

And then I hit other snags- like Mom in the hospital. And me being sick. And Hanky needing surgery. And then it became a matter of getting something done to turn in.

Crit was terrible- no one had anything finished. Including me. That doesn't happen. I was disappointed and embarrassed. But I got an extension to turn it in after the weekend and busted my butt to finish it in time.

It's a little harder to make square boxes then round boxes so I redesigned and made this:

I was inspired by the pin/earring/necklace pewter boxes that I had as a child. Those were a bit hokey though. I rollerprinted lace into the copper. I soldered and made a lid and base that actually fit together pretty well (you can't see the ring on the underside of the lid) which is a bit tricky with metal. The flowers are not permanently attached, you can take them off and wear them as pins. I rollered the copper to be thin, cut out my shapes, filed the edges and then hammered the edges to make them even thinner. Then I used a dappling block (a metal cube with different sizes of bowl shapes cut out of it) to hammer my flat shapes into a cupped flower shape.

There are holes drilled in the walls of the base so that one can string it and wear it as a pendant if desired. I didn't have time to add anything inside, but maybe I'll put a flower in there in the future. I applied patina and sanded it away just enough to really show the lace pattern. I sanded the edges and bottom to make them a brighter color for contrast.

Overall, I like my box and I'd like to do my camera still. I'm pleased that I figured out on my own how to solder the flowers and that it worked! I strung the flowers onto the wire and hung them upside down from steel cross-locking tweezers and applied solder to where the wire met the bottom flower. It flowed and worked! Then I had to twist the wire to work harden it, the heat from the torch anneals it to make it soft and you can't have a floppy pin back or it will bend and break. Then I filed the ends to be pointy enough to go through a shirt (but not too pointy!). They're held in the lid with little chunks of eraser for now.

I have a good amount of lace-textured copper left over- I should make a bracelet or something with it. I think it's pretty funny to make such girly stuff with non-girly materials and tools- metal and files and hammers and whatnot.

It's fun making stuff with big girl toys- like torches!

Pete and Repeat

I got hammered yet again both before and after the last YSA conference. The same individuals, yet again.

The woman who wants me to be with the single 35 year old in my branch is my visiting teacher- who came to see us while Laura and I were scurrying around trying to get ready to go to Harrisburg. I got dressed and came out and proceeded to get nagged by her about my hair, that I should wear it down- to look younger and to attract this guy. Nagged at me again to date this guy.

In my own house.

During Visiting Teaching.

In front of my mother and sister.

Can you say embarrassing? I didn't know what to say. My mother then asked, "Liz, are you interested in [Single Guy]?" to which I quietly replied, No. I think she was trying to get this woman off my back. She doesn't normally ask me things like that. And then the conversation moved on, thank goodness. It was all rather awkward.

My own mother knows better then to nag me about my hair, even if it is prettier down. And my own mother does not nag me about boys, even though I know she would love to be a grandma. Still not understanding why this woman from church thinks she has the right to tell me what to do in matters of the heart.

A week later I found myself at church. Did I really feel like being there? No, Mom was coming out of the hospital and I was pretty tired and had a million things to do to prepare. But I came and was glad because listening to other's testimonies was what I needed. After church I walked over to turn in my tithing and my branch president took my envelope and asked if I'd had a good time while at the YSA conference. Yes, I replied. I was clearly distracted and not remembering what would come next- and come it did:

"Did you meet anyone that you can't live without?"

Maybe some other Sunday I wouldn't have cared so much. But I was emotionally and physically drained and all I wanted to do was to pay my tithing, not be heckled. I just felt like curling into a ball on the ground. I don't even think I answered No, I think I just said "I should have known that was coming" and turned and walked briskly out of the chapel.

What would he have done if I'd said Yes? Does he really think I'm going to come back and say "Oh yes, I met a boy a week ago and he's smart and charming and handsome and we're going to get married." I've heard of some fast engagements, but that's pretty fast. It was an odd way to put it too- shouldn't it also be a factor that the guy can't live without me either?

I guess I just don't understand why I'm getting the same questions over and over from these same people when clearly my answer hasn't changed in over three years. Does this woman think I'm all of a sudden going to change my mind? Does my branch president think I'm going to get engaged and not say anything?

Why ask me when you already know the answer?

Heck, when my time comes, I'll come to church wearing one of those stupid "Future Mrs.{Insert stupid new last name here}" T-shirts that I see in the back of bride magazines. I'll wear a big pin saying "I'm engaged" on my lapel. I'll wear a sandwich board and ring my bell. I'll wave my left hand all over in your face. I won't be subtle. It won't be a secret. I'll even hire a line of guys in medieval garb to come and play trumpets and announce it "Hear Ye, Hear Ye" style.

But here's the thing- I'm happy. Really. I love what I'm doing these days in school and YSA and YW. I'm where I'm supposed to be, doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do now. Nagging only serves to diminish my self-esteem, my sense of fulfillment and the happiness I feel. I'm trying, but I can't totally control this whole marriage thing, so why rub my nose in it?

I guess I need to say something to them because this pattern is getting really exhausting. Can't help but notice that it is generally people who are less satisfied with their marriages who are the ones who hound me. Them, and people who don't know proper social etiquette. Misery loves company?

Why is my singleness an open topic? Do I hound the married people? "Why don't you have more children? Do you like your Mother in Law? When are you buying a house? When will you get a raise?" No, because I generally follow proper social etiquette!

I know, I know- I should write the grievances that people cause me in the sand and the good things they do for me in stone- I try not to be offended or irritated but that's hard sometimes. So I vent.

In the meantime, I'll start writing a handbook for them on dealing with the other species at church- The Singles.

And designing a line of shirts (and perhaps some armor too?) for us single peeps.

Pretty tempted to wear this for real:

Then I could just point to it when someone makes a dumb remark.

Oh, and I got around to designing a badge-style pin for those who like better standards in their Get To Know You Games:

Enough venting for now.

Ciao.



Update: Craziness

Well, it's been a couple of crazy weeks since Laura and I got back from the YSA conference in Harrisburg. We came home that Sunday evening to find that Mom's leg was all swollen and bright red from the knee down. It had started happening the day before when she was coming home from the hospital. Mom's had some recent issues with the non-fatal kind of blood clots in her legs and so we didn't know if it was a blood clot or what was going on. Dad and I wanted her to go to the hospital, but would she go? No! Here she was, swollen, purple, and in a lot of pain- and she wouldn't go! She wanted to wait and see her blood clot Dr on Monday. What a brat.

So she went to her Dr that Monday and got immediately shuttled off to the hospital. Told you so! It was some kind of infection, they never did figure out what but they wonder if it was a strep infection. She spent a few days in the local hospital and then got shuttled off to the hospital in Erie where they have an area more specialized for infections. After a week in the hospital, Mom got sent home- with an IV port in her arm and bags of massive antibiotics that my dad gives her. Her leg is slowly getting better- the redness had spread all the way up her leg and is now mainly concentrated on her shin and calf. She has a sore on the back of her calf that is black- we call her The Black Spot (Muppet Treasure Island is one of our fave movies!).

It was a crazy week while Mom was away- she's generally much healthier then the rest of us and I don't think had been hospitalized since she gave birth to Laura. It was really odd to see her so sick and weird not to have her home. We teased her that she wanted attention like Grandma had this summer! Dad was able to get off of work and be there with her. Laura helped hold down the fort at home and I was busy with school. Oh, and did I mention I had a nasty sore throat/cold while all this was happening? I wasn't too functional myself.

I worried a lot about Mom because we have family friends where the wife got some kind of nasty infection in a hospital- and wound up having to have limbs amputated.

It was pretty crazy getting ready for Mom to come home- we keep a decent house but nothing makes you see the imaginary bugs like knowing your mother is coming home with an infection and an IV port! It was crazy trying to disinfect the entire house- not an easy task when you have a little house filled with three big dogs, ceiling fans that drop dust, a wood stove (our only source of heat) that kicks up dust and the fact that Laura and I were sick. I scrub scrub scrubbed the house the weekend before she came home.

Mom's gorgeous gam in the hospital:

...and taken this week:

Mom came home on Monday while I was away at school. That day was insane because the dog was scheduled for surgery to remove a cyst from his eye. Normally that would have been Mom and Laura dealing with that, but Mom was down for the count so that meant that I had to reorganize my schedule and deal with the dog. Laura drives, but not very far and not in complicated areas. We took Hank to the vet in Titusville at 8 am, came home and finished getting things ready for Mom. I went to school and then from school went to go pick up Hank- by myself. Did I mention that Hank is an 80 lb mastiff mix? Somehow I got this 11 yr old half asleep huge dog in the car- he'd only fit up front with the big cone around his head! And somehow I got home with a big conehead dog in my lap! Getting him out was a real challenge! And then Laura and I zipped off to Erie for fhe...of course the one day that my life was so crazy was the one fhe that a bunch of my friends that I haven't seen for awhile would be at...so we made the trip. I was tempted to stay home. Thankfully we had a really fun time, I needed that.

Hanky, you're such a goober!

Trying to hoover his food:

It's been a crazy week. I had to turn in an Earth Art proposal in Art History, teach a group of middleschoolers with a partner at the Erie Art Museum, and have a metals crit, no less. I was really thankful to get a good group of kids- they were so much fun to talk with! They asked me all about school and what we do. I wish my partner had been better- I pretty much wound up doing everything, it was almost like she wasn't even there. At least I knew this going in, so I tried to prepare myself beforehand. She didn't know how to connect or communicate with the kids, either. She also really wanted to do this lesson plan that I had qualms about- and sure enough the kids didn't like what she wanted to do (discussing really freaky paintings of Chris Marrs) and so I steered them to the lesson plan I had wanted to do (learning about color symbolism and looking at how works of art can influence how we feel). Sure enough, they liked that better. The day kindof became a blend of our two ideas.  They were great kids, I would have loved to work with them more. Thank heavens for my experience in teaching Primary and YW- the church's way of teaching you how to teach is so much better than how they teach you in college.

At the end, we had the kids each draw a section of a monster, then put them together on the wall. I thought they did a great job. The girls who did the hands kinda copied one another but overall it was pretty unique.

There's been a bunch of little miracles in my life recently, I'm very thankful. I needed to go buy wood for my table in woodshop- and then Mom got sick and everything went to pot. My friend Angie in class wound up accidentally buying the wrong stuff for her project- which just happened to be exactly what I needed. I bought it off of her- it really was as if she had picked out wood for me!

I had also really prayed that my teaching experience in the museum would go well, and overall it was a really great morning. I left the museum feeling really invigorated. It was so foggy that morning that I was worried I'd be late, but somehow I made it on time.

Metals crit was not so great this week, the assignment was for us to learn how to design and solder boxes and most everyone (including me) showed up with unfinished work. It was pretty depressing. Some people didn't show up at all! At least I had a decent excuse, right? I felt bad because I am normally prepared for critiques, but I just had too much going on. Thankfully I have an extension to get it done. Anyhow, we wound up talking about how things were going to be, not how they turned out since there were only like two finished projects. Some people didn't pace themselves, others bit off too much.

It's pretty true, trials make you stronger. That's how we learn and grow in this life. I feel stronger and have a deeper love for the gospel and for my family. It was pretty sweet watching my dad put everything aside to take care of Mom. Usually it's her taking care of him.

Today is Mom's birthday, we'll have a low-key celebration at home, since she can't really go anywhere. She's getting better, slowly. I just hope that this doesn't become a pattern for her!

Gaga Ooh La La

Halloween weekend I went down to the Tuckahoe YSA conference down by Harrisburg for some fun. I went to this conference last year and had fun and this year they extended it to Sunday which made it a bit easier for us driving so far (five hours!). The whole event took place at a Boy Scout camp.

I got to be a princess and stay in a castle:

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!

Couldn't resist.

Friday was games and food and there was a fun bonfire, too. I really need to watch the things that come out of my mouth when it's late and I'm tired, lol!

 Kristen, Miranda, me and Laura having girl talk

On Saturday, we had a really great speaker, Brother Toma. He even sang for us, too. He talked about missionary work and it was great. Very spiritual. So many inspiring stories- you really never can guess who will join the church! You also can't be discouraged when something doesn't happen right away. If you recall Elder Nelson's talk in conference, it was Brother Toma's dad that he said would join the church and then offered to seal Brother Toma's mother and father. Ten years later, the dad joined the church and Elder Nelson did seal them.

So, we need to Speak, Ask, Live the gospel and Testify. After Brother Toma there was a panel of  bishops/stake presidents that answered submitted questions. It was good, though I kindof wished there had been a woman's perspective offered. I also wanted to answer when someone had submitted the question "I'm 30, why do I feel old?" Hey! We're not old! Quit comparing yourself to others! Don't listen to those who think you're nothing if you didn't get married by age 22!

Later on there were activities- I didn't care about the obstacle course or ziplining (a bunch of people got hurt ziplining so it was a good thing I didn't go cause I'm such a klutz!) so I stayed at the main cabin and carved a wicked awesome pumpkin:

I like how it glows:

So what was I for the Halloween dance?

Lady Gaga!

I know her music is way naughty, but I get a big kick out of her crazy costumes and thought it would be fun to design and make my own. You know someone is having fun making all those crazy things for her to wear! I decided if I was going to do this, then it had to be this year cause who knows how much longer she'll be popular! I actually wish I'd done this costume even crazier!

It took 5 rolls of duct tape (it comes in any color- sweet!), 3 T-shirts as the base of the overpiece, a wig and spray-painted shoes! I also found red polka dotted eyelashes! When I found these pants for $3 at Goodwill, it was a sign to do this costume! I collect fake eyelashes- I love wearing them, the crazier the better and this was a good opportunity to wear some! The trick was to do a modest costume- a challenge since she often wears leotards!

It was funny because most people understood what I was but some people thought that I was Fire or they'd never heard of Lady Gaga before...I was like, What rock are you living under?? I don't have tv or internet and I know full well who she is!

My pal Ivan and I both showed up in red duct tape (he's a tetris piece and had two buddies in other shapes/colors)...good minds think alike! Pretty redneck to make a costume out of duct tape, huh?

My galpals from my stake

These pics don't show it well, but I have these flamelike appendages coming off of my front. The outfit weighed a ton and was hot to wear but I had fun. The top and skirt were separate pieces so I could move and actually sit down. I had wanted to attach red hula hoops to me but the ability to sit down won out.

Me and my friend Jared

Oh, and I had "You and Me could write a Bad Romance" written on my back...I was at a YSA conference, after all! I don't think anybody saw it because the T-shirt crinkled up in the back. It was my own secret joke to myself- there's very little dating potential at these things!

There were lots of really great costumes at the dance, almost everyone dressed up. There were a group of girl M&Ms, Jack and Rose from Titanic, The Morton Salt girl, a peacock with a real peacock feather tail, the Red Queen, a Mountie (who is really Canadian!) and a bunch of other fun ones. I have a bunch of ideas swimming in my head for next year, I don't know which one will win!

Sunday was church there at the camp with a testimony meeting, it was nice. In all, I had a lot of fun being a big goofball this weekend and seeing people that I don't get to see all the time. A good mix of spiritual uplift and fun- which I needed.

Mental note: Next year make a figure flattering costume! Red duct tape does not help so much!