It’s been a while, but here’s another page of my art journal. The picture is of my paternal great grandmother, the mother of my father’s father. She was married to free methodist minister, which means that they lived a very strict life. No drinking, dancing, card playing, or carrying on was allowed. What has always struck me about Nellie Hill was that she was always smiling. Almost every picture I have of her is smiling. She must have been an... Read more

So here’s another painting, I enjoyed this one a lot. I used a 2.5 inch trim brush to do most of it, so it forced me to work big and I loved it. I plan to do more paintings like this, I just have to make the canvases. Those painting masters of the past were no wusses, making canvases is hard! Below, the Mystery Squash continues to get bigger, and bigger and bigger…. Read more

I’ve been thinking a lot about the developing underclass, or the disappearing middle class, or the rise in unemployment, or whatever you want to call it. It equals good looking middle class people in the shitty jobs and the less fortunate looking stuck doing whatever is even worse than working at the corner gas station or the local Taco Bell. I just read an article here that talks about the challenge of “passing” as middle class white. Now he’s not... Read more

I made Kimchee, a Korean fermented pickle the other day. Traditionally it’s made with Chinese cabbage, roots like burdock and turnip and lots of garlic, hot pepper, and ginger. I was craving some Korean pickle goodness, so I made some up with tiny beets, carrots, and used chard and kale for the greens instead of the Chinese Cabbage. First you brine all the vegetables overnight, then pull the vegetables out of the brine and add the spice mixture and more... Read more

I called this one Axis Mundi, or translated, the World Axis. It refers to the idea in many religions that there is a sacred center of the world that holds and connects cosmos allowing shamans and others to travel between the realms. In native Norse religion it is Yggdrasil, the ash tree that connects all the worlds. In ancient Greek religion it is the Omphalos, a boulder that is the navel of the world. In our world of complicated technologies,... Read more

Just for clarification, that last post was to claim my blog on the Technorati website. Some of you probably don’t even know this is from my blog, as I have it linked through my Facebook page, posting there as well. However, the whole point is that eventually I’m planning on starting an Etsy business, and wanted to work on a blog to go with it. So this is a continuing process where I will be trying to make this a... Read more

2p3nthur4d Read more

It was threatening to storm the whole time I was out. I love the backs of buildings. I see these flowers every year around town, but I have no idea what they are. in a mirrored window This was the weirdest shot. A dove had made her nest in a board full of screws that was sitting on an overhang over a walkway. I can’t figure how it got there. Read more

It’s been ages since I updated on how we were doing on the Independence Days Challenge. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write about, it’s just that I’ve been too busy working on projects and getting chores done to write up all the things we’re doing. On the garden front we’ve been having a pretty good year. The zucinni and cucumbers are producing well, for the first time ever. Previously I’ve always had huge infestations of squash bugs,... Read more

I though I’d post two pages since I missed a couple of weeks. This one is my take on my womanhood. I really love this one. Read more