KEEPER SHELF: January 2012

Day One (as a working artist)...

1) Set alarm for 8:30 am slept 'til 10:30 (room for improvement)
2) Woke up positive and excited for this next chapter of my artistic life.
3) Starting some housecleaning to make room for the band practice happening tonight.
4) Spent a little too long on facebook. (room for improvement)
5) Lunchtime $$ freakout - on phone with student loan company! (definite room for improvement)
6) Decided not to let panic ruin my day - so I....
7) filled out necessary relief paperwork.
8) Messaged some friends for advice/help
9) Advertised painting commissions
10) Continued cleaning and prepping studio space!!

Project Runway All-Stars

While it may not work for Miss Piggy, it's the only outfit on the history of Project Runway that Matt can remember me ever saying, "Oh, my! I want to wear that!"

3 Year Anniversary!

Three years of reading, writing, and sporadically posting random art! While the volume of posts and my reading habits change month to month, it does feel good that I've kept up with something even with the additional changes Facebook and Tumblr represent. It's funny, I've successfully compartmentalized most of my internet life - fb is for tattoos and the public, tumblr is for 4 other ladies, and this one is just for me (and a few random readers!) I have some time coming up - maybe I'll do a round up of art, resolutions, and good intentions - might be lovely and nostalgic, or it might make me feel like a naive slacker!

Step 2

Step 1 was cleaning out the studio closet, and thinking long and hard if those dresses, t-shirts, or random costume accessories would every be necessary again. I'd been holding onto some tacky ass items for years, without ever touching them - and I recently realized I didn't like the dress so much as I liked the pattern.

Can you imagine the polyester monstrosities I not only purchased, but saved in hopes of revitalizing or transforming a la Martha Stewart or the Austen Craft Mafia? Half of the items in my studio are there because someone could do something awesome with it, and I always think that person is me (or should be me)... Since I've started tattooing I've reaffirmed that my skill set includes an entire spectrum of artistic mediums, but not sewing or dressmaking, and that's ok!

So, I cut a sample, chucked the dress and put my scanner bed to good use.

I know the same rules apply to my fabric stash. So, that's next on my scan for print hit list, and I'll be giving away the actual fabric to someone who can do something great with it! A real win win situation!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) - Mindy Kaling - 2011

Dear Mindy Kaling,
Thanks for the behind the scenes Office talk, especially for the peek at the mind of Executive Producer Greg Daniels (he seems terrifying). Thank you for sharing the self-deprecating stories and images from your childhood. I'm glad to learn we share a love of Conan and comedy...
(I had completely forgotten about Amy Poehler!)

Thanks for the words about romance and boys vs. men (especially this man) -

And finally, thanks for making me feel like a huge slacker (the rest were genuine, this one's sarcastic...you can't always tell in print!)

Yours etc,
Laci Hess

I'm not the only one.

Nubby Twiglet

Aspertame shame?

Not this girl. In the past 20 days I've had less than 12 oz of any diet drinks whatsoever!

I have not had a drop of:

That logo screams, "Just like water!" - but I'm not fooled (anymore....)

And I only drank I small amount Galliker's Diet to avoid a caffeine headache emergency while working. Pretty good, I'd say.

Let's do this again, shall we?

Sigh. My copy is sad and a bit falling apart - but it also opens directly to my favorite scene,
because I've re-read it so many times.

There are three kinds of kisses, this is the second...

Just lovely.

I found this while searching for Austen tattoos.

Me too.

"True Life" I am a craft hoarder,

This is something I'm working on in 2012. Being honest about what I will use. Focusing on real strengths and skills instead of 'ideal' strengths and skills.

I realize I am a bit of a hoarder across the board (the whole house is subject to this overhaul) but no area of my life is as stuffed to capacity as my studio space. According to the books I've been reading, unloading a bunch of unused clutter will also eliminate a bunch of guilt. It's strange as part of the reason I kept I keep so much stuff is because I feel guilty - guilty because it was a present, guilty it will end up in a landfill, guilty that I could make something out of it, someday, eventually, maybe. But really, all this crap is pretty damn stifling - I keep buying, finding, adding to the piles, but nothing gets made.

First step was to recognize the problem (I've known for a while...)
The second step is purging. It feels pretty damn good.

Well, that's the plan anyway.

KEEPER SHELF