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wife missing.....

that was me during the pathetic Chargers football game ....i don't even know much about football but i knew it would be better if i were out shopping for a vacuum cleaner at walmart. (i bought a bissell for $65, so far it is better than the two i got at costco and much cheaper). they all promote no bags and to not lose suction...yah, yah yah, we will see. i also bought from costco a shark by brissell a little cordless vacuum - that one is a good one for quick little pickups after meals...
kathy helped me today clearout some stuff from "memories in the making" a scrapbook store near my house at the vons shopping center, that i was renting some space from (with toni torgersen) as a second studio. they are closing down after 10 good years. i have really grown attached to the ladies there...i will really miss them...they are so pleasant all the time. shelly, one of them, will be helping me with my new etsy account. see www.pimpmyspleen.etsy.com its up and running but not much is there yet.

anyway, memories will close their doors in a couple of weeks after having a nice big sale on everything including store fixtures. if i were you, i would get over there for the big sale.
so the football game finished and afterward was a new york game, since my husband grew up in NY, i thought i might as well come home with the new vacuum. not sure, did NY win afterall?
i will let you know about the vacuum too.

four seasons of lisa

this is a horrible picture of me. actually it isn't the picture really, its that i actually look like this that's bad. this is a photobooth picture colored four ways. the reason i put this up tonight is because i feel like each of these colors right now. i feel sad (blue) because i miss my company, i feel tired (violet, like my under eye color) from not sleeping lately because i have had a stomach ache (green) and finally i feel old, (purple, minus red hat) because i am.
yesterday and today i volunteered for the Woman's Caucus for Art, San Diego with their annual juried show take-in . this year the venue is at the Woman's History Museum and education center 2323 Broadway in Golden Hill. The two groups formed a partnership for this month long event entitled "Woman's Work in the 21 Century". opening reception is October 6, 5-8, awards ceremony October 27, 2- 4 p.m. i saw some really wonderful art come in the door these last two days.

the grace's work

this is the first attempt by the graces to do art under my direction. i'm not sure if i have scanned them correctly, but i think you can get an idea. try not to be distracted by the cockeyed scanning job as well as the extra background - i need to learn to crop.
rona did the blue one with a boat and kaye did the geisha. what do you think?
they would be happy to sell these for $100 a piece. they are 8" x 10" on canvas board, perfect size for framing. signed and dated.

bye-bye graces

well, tomorrow the graces blast off toward their home land, england...tally-ho dear lassies. they are the nearest thing i have to sisters - i really love them and will miss them awfully.
they had a couple of art lessons from me while here. i have to say they really did well. neither of them has had any training in art, but they grasped what to do very well. i am pleased with them. it is late tonight and they have already gone off to bed...in the morning i will ask if i may post their art.


we went to mexico yesterday on a lobster run ...while there i inquired in at puerto nuevo, how much it would be to have an art retreat with constant supply of margaritas and lobsters...we are working out a deal. it looks like it might be very doable for a long weekend of art creating right on the pacific ocean. i mean, imagine sitting right above the crashing waves with a nice buzz on. the hotels are new, clean and updated. they have a nice swimming pool/spa and ocean front rooms. i'm thinking of next summer.
what do you think?
.

shoes, altered shoes...

i bought my daughter, rosie, a few pairs of ten dollar shoes tonight and asked her to alter them - to perhaps submit into the next altered couture magazine. i was amazed, as were "the graces" (see previous posts regarding the graces) how quickly rosie took to changing the shoes. she immediately started to color them, draw and write words on them; she did not hesitate a second as to what she wanted to do to them. i have watched her all her young life do this. she has instant and immediate access to her creative spirit. it is as though her mojo is constantly running. oh how i wish i could gather that pixie dust of hers and sprinkle it on each one of my adult students.
after a little while she will take her "masterpiece" over to me and explain what she has done. she will be very delighted with her own creation.....another mind set i wish i could capture and distribute.
she never asks me what to do next as she knows without a doubt what she needs to do. she needs to express herself and she knows that only she can do that - how could she ask for the next step from someone else?
who among us, is that centered? i wish we all were. i believe that because of this, she experiences a heightened spirituality; a deeper, more fulfilling life, every moment of it.

she isn't this way just because she is young, because i have taught many children and sadly they have hesitations. it is some sort of gift; a "free ride card" and "e" ticket given to her at birth...i don't know.
or perhaps it is because something didn't happen to her, no one ever tried to squelch or control her creative spirit. and maybe somehow school didn't kill her spirit off either. what a miracle. i am in awe of her.

so here is to youth and to mind bending permissiveness to ones' own mojo -here's to keeping your mojo running always at idle until revving it up on a new project. here is to excitement about art and fearlessness and pride. here is to feeling at one with your creative juices so that you know what you just created is what you were meaning to create.
i applaud rosie for showing me this can happen....i love her anyway just cuz she is my child........ but at the same time i revere her for her spirituality - she will never know what it is like to fear art....

Central LA tar pits

bones of mammoths, antelope, sloth, saber tigers even camels were found in Hollywood at one time....fascinating - the la brea tar pits are right on the fancy wilshire blvd. (the miracle mile) right next door to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) which, as it turns out, is closed on wednesday!!!! damn.
the pits were not closed and there was an excavation going on today. very cool. smelly though. i never knew until today that asphalt was mined, i just thought it was a man made mixture of tar or petroleum and gravel. but the tar pit at la brea was an asphalt quarry.

Natural asphalt was used extensively in ancient times. Ancient Babylonians used it as a building material, and it is referred to several times in the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus as a caulking material (see Bitumen). Natural deposits of asphalt occur in pits or lakes as residue from crude petroleum that has seeped up through fissures in the earth. Typical of these deposits are the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, in which the remains of prehistoric flora and fauna have been found

.

so the graces (see previous posts as to who the graces are) and i went on to visit the "hollyhock house" built by frank lloyd wright in 1921. never heard of it? it is right downtown Hollywood....

Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles

right smack in the middle of the seedy downtown Hollywood or again central LA is this lovely old historical brilliant work of architecture ....one of the first cement houses ever built. i suggest seeing it. there is a nice park with a fantastic view of Hollywood hills and an art gallery there too. we were too late to get in... boohoo on 2 counts for art galleries today.

after all this i got us soooo lost coming home because i don't have a GPS system....nor a map nor a brain. i think i ended up zigzagging for about an extra four hundred miles all over LA county. wearisome business.
time for bed now. tomorrow we visit mexico.....ohboy, better bring passports.

hate getting old.....

this is a collage of my friend/ studio buddy, joan irving's grandparents. i believe they lived in upper new york. i love the trees and the picket fence.
i think it might have been simplier to be old then.
today i had to get a cat scan of my pesky spleen. it sure got pimped up - yeah pimped up with 6 pints of barium....my god, the first gulp made me want to heave...just awful - and to make matters worse, i had to drink these pints within 45 minutes - but the trick is, you can't just throw it to the back of your throat, er down it, fast like that or you will upset your stomach...but rinking it slowing was pure misery. all i can say is....yuck! ugh! its like vanilla flavored pepto bismal......ugh.ugh.ugh.blahhhh!
anyway, it was over within a half hour. thats good now to wait for the results. if they are bad, i'm not posting it. anyway, i will be in italy during the time they come out. i don't want to know --- because i am a big wuss.

anyway, this piece is in the joan irving collection one of the her sibs have it, i think.

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the rose

here's a picture of my daughter taking a photo of herself. cutie-pie - altho sometimes she can get a bit too jr. high-ish. but i figure right now that is a good thing as it keeps her from being picked up on by older men.- er, hopefully. (see early previous warnings about shotguns, mafia affiliations and temper tantrums.)
anyway, she gets her photo up here today because she made honor roll and a near perfect report card. we are so proud of her.
her birthday is coming up mid november....i think she deserves a horsey...no, only kidding, no horsey. she might deserve one of those cute new tiny ipods i saw at costco. we'll see.
noticed the cute toilet in the background? i guess she was in front of the bathroom mirror.
the "graces" and i went shopping and then ate at anthony's.... later rona and i had stomach aches. we are both over it now, thank goddness - we had the same lunch, soup and 1/2 sandwich. the thought of it now is kinda barfy.
for dinner i made fried pork chops; (perfect for the queasy stomach. only kidding...i made sure we were over the tummy problem before embarking on the chops) the graces had never heard of deep frying (thin) porkchops...hmmm, must be something my mom from the south taught me to cook when i was a baby. i flour the chops and fry in hot peanut oil. once fried, i squeeze lemon juice and add salt....its perfect. rona made mashed potatoes all russets except one half a yam. oh boy, that was tasty, and better for you with a bit of yam.

las vegas

just got back from las vegas...the graces saw the cirque del sol, beatles...they loved it.
while they watched the show gastone and rosie and i walked around from casino to casino. i was hoping to do some minor gambling, feeling lucky this weekend.
but with a kid, its hard. finally just before leaving the state, we stopped for gas in Jean, Nevada...i went into the casino to buy drinks for everyone and played a couple of dollars on the machine at the bar...and got $31.50 for my trouble. i thought that was good until one of the british "graces" (see prior posts), kaye, told me she just pulled down a handle on an abandoned machine and it spit out over $40.! shoot, now that's lucky, she won without putting any money in!!!!! she also won another $40 on her own at and 25 cent machine.
heck, at least i tried the dollar machine.
of course, we all lost a bit. not money, but a bit of good health as we all came out wheezing and coughing from all the cigarette smoke. none of us are used to that.

art packing van for sale!

we are selling our fully loaded 1998 chrysler town and country LXI, white van, 75,000 original miles.

all seats are totally leather. the front two an middle two are captains chairs with movable arms, so that you can get in and out easily....
extremely comfortable ride, drives and steers like a car!

it holds tons and tons of paintings as the seats can easily come out.
asking below blue book, $5,500.
email www.Lisabebiart@aol.com if interested.

after lunch today

the two graces and i went to my studio in Escondido to clean up a bit and get ready for the big show coming up. the second Saturday in October will be open studio along with wine tasting. i think everyone will be there except me...as you know, i will be holding shop in Italy. but my work will be there and for sale along with the works of Rene Richetts, Joan Irving and Victoria Hutchins. Please go and enjoy yourself.
Joan Irving Glass Design
451 E. Valley Parkway
Escondido, California 92025
Phone: 760.735.8890

speaking of enjoying ....after the clean up i took the Graces to the La Tapia Restaurant in Escondido, an old authentic Mexican food place. we decided
margaritas would be very refreshing after the studio cleanup. the waitress asked us if we wanted a pitcher - we thought - why not?
i know i talk about drinking a lot on this blog, but i tell you i have never ordered a pitcher of margaritas before --- THAT was some huge pitcher. i think we had 3 big glasses each.
this ATC (artist trading card) is entitled "sleeping beauties" which visually describes the rest of our day.

the two graces are the graces, BUT the beauties were those drinks.

Join me here in Umbria, Italy

NEW! Extended to 3 1/2 days!!!! There is still room for my workshop in Umbria, Italy.


I am holding an art "open studio" studies workshop featuring my newly developed paintover technique (painting and collage) in Umbria, Italy, Thursday through Sunday, October 11 through 14Th, 2007. 5 hours a day (with breaks) including wonderful meals and some chartered sight-seeing to local relatively unknown art sources. If you are interested in joining me (beginners welcome), please email me at lisabebiart@aol.com
first come first serve, limited artist space.
airfare and travel not included.
Price for the workshops $650 total, includes lodging, workshop, sightseeing and meals.

SO, dust off your passport and let's go... I have room for 5 more guests. (spouses welcome).

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freedom for royalty

this ATC i am posting is in honor of our beautiful kitty cat named "Princess Fifi". Today she gets promoted to Queenie Fifi!!!

Princess Fifi decided to be a runner for freedom, about 3 days ago. i think it was all the commotion and unfamiliar activity around the house....having the united nations in (see previous post entitled "helpful group") along with drain cleaner people and various people doing vacuuming and hauling and picking up donations while others visiting... i suppose she felt it would be better for her if she just dodged it all for a few days. i know my husband would have loved to have dodged it all.

But her absence was very frightening to us, because we didn't know for sure....we hadn't seen her and feared the coyotes ate her like they have done our previous kitties that lived outdoors..
We always kept Pricess Fifi in the house, but once in a while she would dart out to the lawn to smell the grass and eye the birds.
so late this evening after watching "curb your enthusiasm" (favorite HBO show ever)my husband and i both heard a tiny meow. we both jumped up, hearts pounding and ran to the screen door. there she was.... little Princess Fifi!!!! she had come home. we both cried for joy!
we all did a little dance around her, including our "vicious" doberman, Dempsey. he was beside himself, running in circles like a young pup, it was hard to contain him. then he suddenly stopped to sniff her rear-end to make sure it was really her. (why did God make dogs this way??)
So here is a toast to Princess, oh sorry, Queenie Fifi for filling us with such joy after horrifying dread. making us all do the happy dance at seeing her return!!!! Cheers, kitty-kitty.
She walked slowly into the house letting her long tail touch and curl around all the furniture legs; she is so stunning. then she licked herself a bit and finally demanded to be fed (even though she already had food in her bowl). after that she got right back into her routine, she rejoined the pack and flopped her butt into Dempsey nose. They both love that. jeesha, pets!
*******
i have been asked this question many times... why do you have the letter "Q" on so many of your ATCs?

well, the "Q" stands for "Queenie", of course!

When I was a little girl, my mother always called me "little Queenie". My first day in kindergarten after the teacher called roll, the teacher asked the class if we had a different name that we preferred to go by....like David, might want to be called Dave.
i raised my hand very high and stood up and said my name was really "little Queenie". i sat down then smoothed my dress very pretty. the teacher looked on at me for a long time, then closed her mouth and quietly giggled and said she didn't mean that kind of nickname. well, dang, i couldn't see the humor in it and felt hurt not to be called that affectionate named my mom used. i sulked for days. i wondered what rock or dirt clod she had be living under not to know that was a real name.

so later, in first grade, when i learned to write my name, i wrote "Queenie" at the top of all my papers. I made a special effort on the curly-part of the "Q". i felt very superior and grown up in first grade. the teacher hadn't asked for names we preferred to be called. i was glad because i didn't want to be laughed at again. i also thought it would be prudent and more grown-up if i dropped the first word, "little" from my name.
after a week, the teacher called my mom. my parents had a little laugh about it for a very long time---NOT at ALL fair, since they named me.
damn, after that i had to go by the name "Lisa"; the name that made my mom's voice sound very squealy and mad when she yelled it out. it did not feel affectionate.

the "two graces"

This little ATC is entitled the Two Graces".... it is posted as a tribute to my family/friends who are here visiting from England, Rona and Kaye. They are sisters, in the sibling sense, not the Papal sense. Although they are very angelic. They have come and chipped right in on the overall campaign of cleaning and clearing my house. Who doesn't want to spend their vacation cleaning house? You see, my house is THAT bad.

Anyway I had a second free to write in the blog right now as they are having a manicure and pedicure each...i think they deserve that since they already vacuumed my house and cleared out my refrigerator. see what i mean? who is lucky enought to have guests like that!?!?

so they are the 2 graces, if their mum had come, they would have been the "Three Graces". but at 79, Mum doesn't want to travel by aeorplane this far.....but, hell, when she was here last time (2 years ago) she out vacuumed and cleaned and shopped us all.

maybe Mum will come next year. its better to have the third Grace here.

helpful group

i had to call in the SWAT TEAM to help clean and clear the house....

i have been thinking about this.......... i have had the united nations at my house to help..... kathy is japanese. the people who came to clear today were, Indian from India, Mexican from TJ, Tom....who has been doing repairs, hard labor and general fix-it-ness says he is scotch, Irish, american Indian and other stuff. so he makes up for most of the nations.
my husband (Italian) contributed by taking us to lunch and buying margaritas (mexican drink originated in TJ).) and ME, little half jew girl.

oh, and don't forget the British are coming this afternoon. They will make us tea.

so no wonder this place seems like an UN Conference in Geneva .

i think i can finally say that between us all....... we are marginally winning against the house and garage. i have a few more table tops to attack and closets.

so, lets see:
4 truck loads to the dump.....so far...
15 BIg bags to St. Vincent de Paul donations
purchase of :
1000 new plastic containers,
space bags,
more huge hefty bags,
new curtains, shelving, table cloth
new bedding and towels,
shampoos and soaps
minor things like deep heating pain medicine.....advil..........
pedicure, and manicure
and lots of Starbucks Chi Tea blended cream frappaccino with sprinkled nutmeg on top- my new favorite cold drink that kathy turned me on to.

another few weeks of attack and i think we could win this battle.
after all this happens, i will go back to being the busy little artist i was...... and let the house migrate as it will until the next time i deploy the United Nations.

paring down

this painting is for my husband, the vintage boxing fan...it is entitled "the demonstration" of james j. jefferies and jack armstrong (his sparing partner). they were a great pair and toured doing demos for publicity. James j. jefferies was the champion of the "Great White Hopes" until he had a run in (in about 14 rounds) with big black Jack Johnson in 1909. he later settled into his farmhouse in guess where? Burbank, California!!! hard to believe, isn't it?

Kathy and i did a bit of sparing of our own today...us against my garage. not fighting but clear up and clean up. we are both on a huge campaign to get it all done..."it" meaning the house in order and organized. of course handy tom did all the lifting and the real dirty work. it helps to have a man around the house... we shall see who wins this match. us or the house and garage.

my brother, Danny

this piece is entitled, "Danny's Look" (12" x 14" acrylic, $500). this is a painting from a photograph taken about Christmas time 1953...about the time I was born. I think I can tell by my brother's expression that he wasn't too sure about this little ugly kitten- mewing alien they called "sister". No, and i don't think he really ever got used to it.
I think my dad must be (just out of view) explaining it to him --- that they found me under a rock at a placed called "hospital". .


About four years after the time of this painting, my brother took to getting up very early in the morning to be with my dad before he went off to work. My dad asked him why he made such a drastic change in his sleeping habits. My brother replied in all earnestness, "I need to get up before the wound-up chatterbox wakes up and talks over me." Of course, he meant me! My parents thought this remark was supremely funny and laughed about it for years. Even older now, I fail to see the humor. Parents have funny senses of humor sometimes. My brother rarely thought anything I did was funny. Especially my endless yammering, as he still calls it.

It was sometime during my early high school years i became fascinated by my own colorful dreams and liked to try to interpret them. I had books on the subject. My brother to this day maintains that he is still suffering from my tireless details about dreams. whenever i start to explain something to him, he interrupts...."OHNO, is this going to be like one of your dreams?" then he makes a zombie face at me, like i killed him by over explaininng.

Brothers sure are hard to understand. He hated it when i "tagged" along with him and his friends....or if my mother left me in his charge....he would have loved to die first....would rather have chewed off his left arm, or eaten liver for a week.

but strangely later, i would hear him bragging, in big brother fashion, to his friends..."yeah, my sister thinks... (he sucks in his teeth as though needing a toothpick)... it is cool to hang around me." (he nods approval to himself) i might let her come along next time." (still nodding and sucking his teeth). his dumb friends just looked at him, blinking...they didn't have such a thing as a sister. (they nodded back wondering why he reminded them of a cowboy in a western).

Ah, but it was true, I did think it was cool to hang around him....but also...... he was the one with the candy money...............

my tshirts make the magazine!

Altered Couture
Our Altered Couture department shows off fun and fashionable altered clothing designs like these collage T-shirts created by mixed-media artist Lisa Bebi

the magazine is called belle armoire -sold everywhere.

i love using my dad's image, especailly this particular image. his stoney expression makes for a good straight man for my many visual jokes. so, his image is represented in my tshirts a lot. the yellow tshirt is entitled "Max and His Fish Named Dylan". and Dylan is singing "once upon a time you dressed so fine, threw the bums a dime, in your prime, didn't you?".

the white tshirt has a serpent on it. i added the snakey lady and max...it says...."Max displays uncanny snake charming ability".

the dark green one has many Maxes in a whacky neighborhood.

these were very fun to make. i like knowing i have a unique shirt to wear, so that i can be asked:


How does it feel
To be like a rolling stone?

afterall, a girl needs to wear something.

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archie moore

every once in awhile i paint something for my husband who loves heavy weight boxing. this is one is of Archie Moore, 12" x 16" acrylic, not for sale.


Archie Moore lived here in San Diego and knew my dad. Archie had a boxing glove shaped swimming pool which was awesome. my dad was a local newspaperman and also was president of SD sportswriters/sportscasters for a few years running, archie would drop by my dad's shop every once in a while.....

when i was a teenager, my dad would take me to the fights at the Colosseum in San Diego. i remember being ringside during a Jack O'hallern fight and getting splattered with blood and sweat. i thought it was cool - only a bit smelly. in those days there was smoking allowed ringside, cigars, cigarettes....it was dark and smokey and i am sure i was the only girl (well, decent girl)there. i remember looking across the ring and seeing the weirdly delighted, excited faces of the men watching the fight - it was strange to me. i mean, in San Diego, we have the old globe, Cassius carter stage theater, my dad had taken me to many times and i could see the faces of the audience there - they never looked like the faces at the boxing ring. it is just an entirely different culture.

today my father is gone, there is no more colosseum in san diego, and no more archie moore - the "ageless" fighter. (heavy sigh)
oh boy, thinking about this makes me miss my dad. love you papa - wherever you may be. i better go to bed now before i make myself cry.

good old days with no car seats

here's my brother and me on main street in lemon grove (where the trolley station is now) about 1955. it was a great year without restraints, i.e. seat belts, carseats...baby harnesses. in fact, i think i was driving this car.

my daughter said i look like a flipper baby here - born without properly formed hands. hmmmm, thanks goodness i have hands - so that i can slap my kids for being cheeky!!!
this painting is my largest 40" x 48, acrylic $1,200. it is one of my favorites, even though i look deformed. (er, i'm sorry if i offend anyone with my careless statements.)

tough competition

and i do mean tough!!!!

our little rosie is growing up. today she swam her 6th annual rough water swim. she was hoping to win it - she didn't, she got 5th. not bad, but she was crying mad. her coach had to explain to her that the competition gets tougher each year. this time, "tough" turned into something i would have done (see previous post in august entitled "its soooooo hot"), where i tell the tale of when i swam the cove against (channel 10) newscaster carol le beau and was forced to pop her one on the head. yeah, yeah....

ANYWAY, rosie got caught in some physical smashing, but continued on and swam through it all, albeit, as mad as a hornet.....we are so proud of her!
my friend mary swam the gatorman and made it!!!! YAY! Mary!


*********Hoboy, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is back on HBO!!!!! that's one funny show. our favorite.
time for bedsie now. nighty-night.

One "extra long" - Gone

This piece is entitled "extra long", 8" x 14", $300. but i was referring to the pervious post about the extra long twin bed i was needing to dispose of....it is gone!!!!!

a wonderful family with a like son (only a couple years younger than mine, but just as tall)in a different UC school needed the bed for his bedroom back at his parents' home, so that his legs wouldn't dangle off the end while catching his beauty sleep during holidays from school.
the uc system has extra long twin beds in the dorms....that comes in handy when we la mesan parents keep growing our boys up to be 6 foot 5 inches. so the bed went afterall and to a good cause.

the good cause being, comfortable sleep for a growing lad.

tomorrow is our family's VERY big day for the year!!!!! we are very excited!.....we will all go watch our 12 year old rosie blast throw the ocean in her annual la jolla rough water swim. she came in second by only a small trip up last year. we are hoping for a re-match with the kelp and sandy beach this year. (see www.ljrws.com)

also, my friend mary will be doing the gatorman (3 grueling miles in open water)..she is worried that she will be the oldest one there....i doubt that. i think that out of over 400 plus swimmers, someone will be older than (ahem, 35!)...ok, 46. go mary, go!!!!!

journaling etiquette

how serious does one have to be.......?

just wondering.
painting entitled "gracie's birthday", 18" x 24" on birchwood panel, $650

ah crap!

i was wrong....shoot, the gardeners only put the damn bed on the side of the house out of view, shit, i thought the thing was gone!
anyone want an extra long twin bed, boxsprings and head board? --- for free?

takes a lickin' and it keeps on tickin'

kathy (otherwise known as the human "energizer bunny"or something from Timex) has been coming to help me clean and clear the house. she is using a "full on attack" approach. we worked or rather she worked last night under floodlights in the livingroom. my family was coming and going while she did a miraculous break-down and build up again of the dining room scene. she worked nonstop from 6 pm. to past 9p.m.!!!!

where was i? i was being the Foothills Art Association's Vice President and conducting the intro to the night's demonstration. fortunately, the art association is near to my home. so i was able to buzz back and forth. i was not much help to kathy until today when we jointly attacked the back two bedrooms. she's amazing. i couldn't have done it without her. i have trouble throwing things out, she directed me to "go ahead" and toss stuff. so, "out" today went my son's bed!!! that was a very hard thing to do emotionally for me, but....
he has completed college and has a job in santa barbara..Kathy told me it was OK to use his room now for art stuff. i put the bed and headboard and box spring out in front of the house with a "free" sign on it. by afternoon, it was gone. i thought my husband would be happy about this, but he was cautious. he thought perhaps i should have sold the bed. frankly, i was very surprised someone took it home. but what do i know.

so things are shaping up -- a few more days and maybe it will look like a house again and then i will be ready for the british invasion.
i have been reading "running with scissors" by augusten burroughs

entitled "manic excitement"

this was a very early painting i did when i got back to painting. It is a Kandinsky-ish-fish. it is 20 x 24, framed and SOLD. sorry.

I went back to the doctor today to have my feet checked out. again. It wasn't Dr. "hot" sadly, but Dr. Chin. my husband teased me about going to a chin doctor for my feet. silly man. see what i have to put up with?
anyway, Dr. Chin determined i needed a podiatrist and needed (ugh!) arch support. yeah, i know that's what Dr. Hot told me. i thought i DID get better shoes, (they weren't flip-flops, afterall) but after Dr. Chin inspected them he said they were no good. dang. now i need really ugly ones.

Dr. Chin has no bedside manner. i mean, he hardly massaged my feet at all, then he insults me with this less than sexy diagnosis of flat feet.
he continued to demonstrate with his hand just how... over time, weight and age, the arch can go flat. i didn't need to see that. i didn't need to hear the words, age nor weight either. humpf.
the final insult was (the first insult being: he wasn't doctor hot)the diagnostic sheet he gave me as a parting gift said he discussed plan of action with patient to:

1. get proper arch support,
2. exercise, AND
3. LOSE WEIGHT!!!!! what the...*^#$^*((%@!. he never said a word to my face about weight lose or exercise...what a weasel.

Besides Dr. Hot told me, i didn't need to diet......., but if i wanted to, he recommended i start on the "kaiser fast". i love dr. hot. i'm taking my feet to him next time no matter what.

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Jewel of the Hills

this painting is all acrylic and is also large, 36" x 48" and it is for sale!!! it is $750. if you are interested in it, you may email me. it is an older painting of mine done in 2004. it is called "Jewel of the Hills" because that is the slogan of the city i live in (http://cityoflamesa.com/Visitors/Moving.htm).

finally today the heat wave lifted - it was a beautiful 76 degrees, 30 degrees milder than yesterday. unbelievable to have such a change in weather. for people like me with a short attention span, its hard to figure out why i feel so tired. oh yeah, i wasn't able to sleep for days in the heat. Duh!

soooo, what to do on such a beautiful day - a respite? NooooOo, today i spent the day digging out the house like a mad woman..... it is the guest bedroom in preparation for the British invasion. my British relatives are coming on the 15Th.

actually, my relationship to these Britons is confusing and complicated. the two women who are coming (let's just call them "Rhona" and "Katie") are sisters.
first, my brother was married to Rhona but divorced without children in 1988 (about). so Rhona was my sister-in-law. But while my brother was married to her, i married Rhona and Kaye's Uncle Gerald! Which made Rhona and Katie both my nieces, since Gerald was their mother's brother. Gerald and i had a baby boy "Jamie"- who is Rhona and Katie's second cousin, er, i think, or, i suppose he could be a great nephew, if there is such a thing.
meanwhile, my brother divorced Rhona, leaving my relationship to her as only my niece. BUT THEN, my beloved Gerald died...leaving Jamie still related to them, but my relationship to them became murky...especially when i re-married to Gastone who is not related to any Brits at all.

So i call them my sister-in-laws because they are my age --- i can't see calling them my nieces. although they love that.
i have introduced them just as my "friends", but that doesn't seem right either.

oh well. i love them both and can't wait to see them. meanwhile i have been clearing things out of the house. i can't believe the treasures i am finding. and as always, finding treasures makes me want to sit down and create - BUT there is no time for that now. i only hope i can remember where i put these things when i have time to create again. chances are very much against me remembering, though...since i can't even remember this deadly heat wave that i had been bitching about for days on end.

entitled "diagram of a tutu"

this is a painting that is 36" x 48", pretty big. it is sold. it was $850.00, for those who want to know.
for a while i was painting ballerinas. ballerinas from the 1920's because i liked their longer tutus and their cotton-y looking tights and cool head-dresses....and i'm keen to do the vintage aspect...i find great pleasure in painting from black and whites. i love to invent color from pictures where there is no record of visual color. during this same time frame of painting ballerinas, i was also painting boxers - heavy weights. (Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson (see previous post in july entitled "competitions"), Rocky Marciano, Archie Moore, etc.)

i did this initially because my husband has such a huge collection of old "Ring" magazines from 1925 to 197Os around the house supplying me with plenty of material....and.....i wanted to give him gifts (peace offerings for messing up the dining area with paints).....

BUT THEN, i realized they were a great way to study the human form; plenty of muscles and poses. i also grew to love the theater lighting and the drama. sometimes i would include the ringside expressions in the faces of crowds...OR, i include in a close up, the sweat and blood spilled and sprayed from the blows of the gloved fist, together with the very strangely contorted and gnarled face. often the face looked like a natural Picasso expression.

Boxers and ballerinas as subjects offer movement, balance and grace. the color is the fun part.

Lately i changed subject matter to that of surfers. i was born in San Diego and grew up with the surf culture here. so, painting surfers is like painting my youth. it gives me great pleasure and a chance to re-live my past a bit.

tinting bleached work

another article i wrote earlier this year for somerset workshop was this technique on bleaching paper, then tinting the bleached areas. its a nice warm result.

GOOD LUCK ARTFESTERS!!!!!

*****
it was so hot today (108) i saw a transvestite in a shift and FLIP-FLOPS!!!! when was the last time you saw a transvestite in anything less than heels?

waiting to hear....

So tomorrow is the last day of waiting before the registration envelopes go out in the mail to Washington state (fort Worden) for Artfest 2008 in April. (see, www.teeshamoore.com) how exciting!!! teesha astutely holds off the registration day until September 4...no one can register sooner than that date --- to give everyone a even playing field as far as registering is concerned. there will be 500 artists attending Artfest and only a handful of the very best or "cream of the crop" teachers. and hey, this year I am one of those teachers!!!!! i can't wait to see which artists i get for students...i believe i will have some big named ones as i heard privately from some ....Artfest is the finest art retreat in the country.... we share 4 wonderful days of growth and idea sharing workshops. artists attend from all over the globe....New Zealand, Canada, Australia, England, France, Switzerland, etc. the experience is so condensed and intense that the rest of the year we will all still be enriched and processing the art experience. many will come away teaching what they learned in their neck of the woods. and so the art experiences grows. i really can't wait.
I will be teaching a mixed media class, mostly painting is involved. no painting ability or experience is needed...many of the artists are skilled in other things like sculpture or print making and want to expand their creative arsenal.

*********
i know i keep complaining about the weather (see previous posts)- the heat here (over 106 degrees Fahrenheit today) in San Diego, southern California, but i failed to make clear just why it is so awful... you see, we have a thing here called San Diego Gas and Electric Company that is very greedy, in fact they are more criminal than old fashioned mafia....or any slum lord in new york. it would cost us approximately $2,000 a month to run our air conditioner!!!! i kid you not!...we can't afford that, nor can anyone else. our family has a swimming pool, thank goodness (although the water was warm today). but what about the poor and infirm, i really worry about them.

today we went to costco to get our passport photos processed (for my Italy workshop in October!!! see previous post entitled Umbria, Italy workshop ....). i was surprised that the big warehouse was air conditioned, i really didn't expect that. turns out everyonein town knew this but me. i am a crowd-phobe...can't handle it, makes me touchy and bitchy. to make matters worse in costco.. it was the mid-day free food fest time...oh lord, i don't believe in unnecessary laws or big-brother surveillance, but i truly believe there should be some sort of pre-requisite test to get a license issued before anyone may drive a shopping basket. a crowded costco at lunchtime is the worse, very closely followed by anytime of the day at Trader Joes. gawd, if only i had a gun today..... argh! why do people leave their carts parked sideways in an aisle that is clearly a cart thoroughfare? there was this mean old lady with no teeth i was stuck behind in the fruit section that refused to move her cart that she left sideways blocking an entire aisle while she was examining tomatoes. i practically screamed "fire" to get her out of the way....damn it. when she finally did move, she took her sweet time....there was no where to move--- forward or backwards, i was trapped between her and a clot of freeloader feasters trying out samples of soggy sloppy joes. barf. just to the other side of me was a station of some kind of previously frozen burrito mush with "fresh" from a can salsa topping it. (where's the toilet bowl I'm gonna puke) the experience was nerve fraying. panic attack.
later, i don't know what possessed me to do this, but i finally tasted something, unfortunately it was a vitamin enriched protein drink that was close to the healthy section near the exit. i tentatively asked the person pouri the drink if it tasted good and she said, "wellll, do you like prune juice?" i thought maybe i did for a crazy minute, then- PAH-TUEY that was lethal. i had to run to the coke machine after that.
with all this aggravation, i had forgotten that it was 106 degrees outside - until we stepped out. i was worried my flip flops would melt and stick to the blacktop. my poor 12 year old was chattering away about blacktops at school; that they shouldn't have them because they are too hot during P.E., maybe green tops, she was thinking, white would reflect too much - hard on the eyes.....she makes a good point. i looked over at my husband, but he was fighting for his life against the heat (still sunburnt and sore from his fishing trauma). so he had no comment on the matter.
i think there ought to be another law preventing schools from having gym class during these months anyway. maybe they could instead teach young middle schoolers how to use shopping carts in a civil manner by taking them to an air conditioned grocery store instead.

got milk? resist?

last year (summer) while getting ready to dream up a new project to write about for the xmas issue of the magazine (www.stampington.com, publications), i started playing with milk and cookie cutters and pale colors of pink and green inks. as a result, i discovered a new resist with milk - and i did this article for somerset studio magazine.
i have been thinking about it more and more, i am getting excited about a new possibility with this technique. .....i'm thinking of doing milk drawings, like pen and ink of animals and designs for backgrounds.......i think i will start that tomorrow - unless it is still too hot to work.
it was too hot to work today.....and i spent the day with rosie floating around in our pool. sigh. its tough.

i am getting nervous about this problem of the killer heat preventing me for doing much. we are expecting guests from london, england in 2 weeks and my house looks like it was a test area for the atomic bomb. i am seriously thinking of ordering a large skip from a waste company for a week and doing major demolition to our home. kathy thinks i ought to hire forensic people and a hazardous waste cleanup crew to clean up the house.
*******
(see previous post about my husband) my husband stumbled home about 9 tonight. the boat he was on was caught in a storm. the ocean was rough and he threw up numerous times. he threw up in spite of his "patch" for motion sickness. he also was thrown from his bunk in the night, unable to sleep, and for some reason the air conditioning wasn't working either, so the cabin was roasting. he become dehydrated and sun burnt during the day. oh, and he didn't catch any fish. but apart from that, he had a great time. at first he said he would never do that again...then he reconsidered and said that he might if and only if he could go on a boat that didn't rock. hmmm. this trip was a gift from his workmate, "alex", which was very generous. it costs over $3,000. i screeched when i heard this and said, holy crap that would be a trip to italy. for all three of us. but a gift is a gift. (i don't know what his friend expects for his bday - yikes).
anyway, he brought home some albacore - "alex" caught one which was divided up - the only fish caught by these 6 fishermen.
sounded like the highlight for my husband was seeing dolphins swim next to the boat -those dolphins are very playful animals, they are always doing that (the dolphins, that is). they also spotted and followed a whale. which i thought was totally cool.

so i am hoping that the weather cools so that i can cook his birthday meal (see post entitled "just think happy thoughts") so that we can share his expensive wine before the heat ruins it. hmmmm Bordeaux really doesn't go with albacore. better get some pinot grigio. or maybe we will eat out in an air conditioned restaurant.

whenever the heat is this bad i remember a "married with children" episode where they went to their local grocery store, like vons, and got the chaise lounge beach furniture down from the store's shelf and sit in it all day in the freezer section, of course using the coolers as ice chests for their beers. i am so close to doing that myself. maybe we will have a meal there and uncork the Bordeaux. or we could get down a hibachi from a shelf and buy some coals and have a cookout of albacore in the freezer section. we could even pull over an umbrella to sit under for effect. they already play pretty good piped music.....-
yeah, i'm pretty sure about the pinot grigio now.

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thinking ahead to valentine's day

in the publication business, creation has to start very early, xmas art was done a few months ago and now i am working on valentines day. earlier this week i created some ATCs (artist trading cards, see previous post "nice hat weather isn't it?) for one of my projects. here are a couple of them. i'm thinking of making them bigger than ordinary ATC, meaning a bit more substantial and giving them to friends after theny have published in somerset studio magazine (www.stampington.com, see publications).. as most my smaller work does. love that magazine.

today kathy and i covered a lot of ground - we got up to escodnido early as planned and took down my show and put it up again in my studio there. then we began our tour of stores. we missed going to stamping delights in poway because of one small mistake i made on the freeway; somehow i ended up in the HOV toll lane which shot us straight out of the area south about 20 miles. there was no way to get off that carpool portion of the freeway. kathy had me worried too, as she said the HOV changes the direction in the stream of traffic from south bound to north bound about mid day. and it was mid day. that's a hellofa way to run a freeway, if you ask me.
nevertheless we managed to find plenty of stores south of our destination. then west. and then east. we found many bargains that we were sure we needed - er, someday.
tonight gastone, my hubby, is away on the ocean enduring a fishing trip that a friend bought him as a bday present. i can't wait to hear the story behind this. my husband is an unlikely fisherman. he is a total homebody; loves to spend the weekend with his family and pets and remote control. i don't think he has been on the ocean once in his life. and i know he has never gone fishing.......
the other thing is, gastone is very much like Saint Frances of Assisi. at least, i like to call him that. (sometimes i think of him as a bald, hairy chested snow white too, but he fails see the humor in that----actually he fails to see he humor in st. frances for that matter, but rosie and i always have a good laugh).

anyway, all animals come to him and hang out. our pets - anyone's pets...gather round him.....if he goes outside in our back yard to smoke a cigar, bluejays will come and land on the iron fence behind him and sing to him. we even name the wild birds, they are so familiar. (actually, i call all of them "chip" as thats the sound they make).
the other funny thing is ...like something out of the bible, all animals get alone with one another when he is with them. the cat and dog curl up together, the bird and the cat occupy the same space without hassle. all is right in the animal kingdom.
so i really can't imagine him killing a fish. he is not a sportsman nor hunter, like the friend who bought him this excursion. his friend, lets just call him "alex", has a big personality and is a huge gamesman. he goes to africa all the time in hunt of large beasts that he later has the heads stuffed and mounted on his walls. gastone loves hearing the africa tales, but that is because of the way alex tells them. alex is very entertaining. but, i think alex has misunderstood gastone's interest. all i know is, my poor husband was already suffering from motion sickeness before he left the house tonight. he wanted to put on the sea sickness "patch" 3 hours before the "all aboard" blasts. he said that the boat cruises five hours west while they sleep, then when they get up sometime around sunrise, they start fishing. hooboy. something tells me we won't be eating fish in the near future.
perhaps i will make a "fish" valentine ATC for him. or perhaps one with a prince and a castle. ahahahahah, oh poor gastone. just teasing, baby. hehehehe