Real art! (ish)

So since last post, I have been bizarrely productive. I have about 5 spreads to show you and I've done huge amounts of cleaning, yard work, and other things. Also, tonight Mike came over and toweled so I got to do some fire, which was glorious. I haven't spun since September, and I missed it dreadfully. Basically, everything in my life is either rapidly moving towards complete awesomeness or settled comfortably enough. I am stupidly happy. It's kinda freaking me out.

Anyway, art time.

So last time I posted what was intended to be piece 1 of 3 (This is a Fire Door Never Leave Open).

(Our letters sound the same- full of all our changing that isn't change at all- All straight lines circle sometime)

Originally, I didn't realize or intend for them all to be Weakerthan's songs, or to be songs at all. But then the second one happened to be a Weakerthan's song too. So now I have finished all 3 and here they are.

Guy 2- Time's Arrow

(So you whisper your arrival walking backwards to the door wonder breifly what it is you're hesitating for)

And then, I wanted the third page to match up. So I needed to pick a Weakerthan's song for the remaining guy. My first inclination was The Reasons, but it's way too early to say I love you. Which is what that song means to me. So I ended up with My Favourite Chords, which I think is actually better.

(You are a radio. You are an open door. I am a faulty string of blue christmas lights. You swim through frequencies. You let that stranger in. As I'm blinking off and on and off again. We've got a lot of time- or maybe we don't. But I'd like to think so, so let me pretend.)

I've also bought Sheri Gaynor's book, Creative Awakenings and started working with that. So far I've decorated my cover- not according to the instructions. ;p

I've answered the starting questions

And done the first "EnVision Dreamtime" spread, which will continue to grow and change over the month. So I'll post it again at the end of the month.

And that's about all I'm up to.

Tim Burton!

So, today, I went to the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA. Oh. My. God. And I do not say that lightly. Holy shit, it was amazing. Seriously, if you're in the NYC area, get your butt over there before it closes (April 26). Even my non-artsy friends really enjoyed it. It is epicly fabulous, as Tim Burton is wont to be.
Edit for brief art talk on why Tim Burton's work is fabulous:  It seems simple and almost child like, and is highly imaginative. But it's rich with layers of meaning, way more than you can take in in a couple of hours of an exhibit. Plus he's technically brilliant, using a wide variety of mediums with complete control, without sacrificing fluidity. His painting style is very different from his pencil work, with brush stroke movement similar to Van Gogh, while his pastel work is heavy, but still feels spontaneous. Really, his ink/watercolor work is my favorite. His line quality is superb, and his pieces looks very unplanned, like everything is a doodle that just came out perfectly, and nothing is overworked. He uses touches of color to liven up the work further, while retaining the freshness that keeps his pieces, which are often creepy as hell, from becoming moody. Now that I feel like I've written a gallery report on why Tim Burton is excellent, I'll stfu and go to sleep.
At first, I was kinda depressed because it was all holy shit awesome, and I will never be that awesome. But then I remembered that pretty much everything in the exhibit was done when Tim Burton was substantially older and more trained than I am, and one day, I too shall be awesome. Perhaps even awesome enough for my own exhibit at MoMA, but expecting that would be ludicrous.
And now that I have a connection cable for my camera I give you: Tim Burton Style Monsters, which I just created this evening:

And Valentine's Cards, which I must write in and send off. They will be late, but not because I don't love the recipients. I'm just slow. These are being sent because I failed new year's cards epicly.

And a journal page from a few days ago that I really love, unfortunately the camera failed a bit as I was working (really it was user error- the bits I was working on were not in the shot etc), so there is no video, well, not one I'm willing to post.

The quote is from Weakerthan's Reunion Tour. Lyrics here. Such an excellent song.
In the morning, I have to color page 2 of my 8 panel exercise, plot and thumbnail the first 3-5 pages of my stroke comic, and write the messages into my valentines. Plus I want to work on some more whimsical Tim Burton type art. Now that I have a camera cable, I'll try to update with pics more often.

Remember the Alamo?

An unfocused and unproductive week.
Well, except that I finished the hat I was knitting and started a new one.
But enough about that- today, I am reminded that the internet is a magical place.
Two things to share:
1. I want an LED tattoo. So fucking awesome. I really think step two would be to make it touch sensitive, so you could draw on your body with your finger and have it show the strokes (or on someone else's body, even better).  Like the best body paint EVER. I want. Make this. Make it cheap, and make it safe and make it now.
2. Glen Beck is a rodeo clown. But a rodeo clown with a good point:  "Will anyone look at these issues instead of looking at my past? We will continue to fight this, you and me together, you and me and quite frankly, Fox News, the Alamo for truth!"
Yes. Fox News is the Alamo for truth. Where it is brutally massacred, so people with no sense of history can use it incorrectly later. Well put. 
In other news, I will never understand men. Anyone with an explanation is more than welcome to try, but I really think they're all just either completely mad or incurably stupid. Or maybe I am. Because more and more of them keep being added to the "he's being weird and I don't know why" pile. 

Apologies

I don't seem to make enough of them.
Gibbs says "never apologize, it's a sign of weakness".
But I'm not convinced. So, just a quick post to say I'm sorry.
Sorry that I never post. Sorrier that I never act on the impulse to call or write or let you know that I'm alive, and that I wonder how you are and I miss you. Sorry that I don't do the things you want me to do, that I can't be the person you want me to be. Sorry that I'm so selfish and whiny and that I keep making you put up with it. I only hope that the sarcastic commentary is occasionally funny enough to make up for it. And not just annoying, as I suspect it is.
And I want to say thank you for being my friend anyway.
The reason: I realized that I've been trying to make myself this woman, which means I have to make one of you this man. Which isn't very fair. And I've been doing a lousy job of it, so I keep making us these people instead. At least it's music I like, even if it does mean I keep ending up with fucked up relationships with my guy friends.
Or maybe you all think we're fine, and it's all in my head because I'm completely egomaniacal. Which is apparently not a word. But the only word I know that's similar is vainglorious. And obviously, I can't use that. Not only because that would mean I was saying the problem is that I'm Christopher-esque, which I am distinctly not, but because vainglorious doesn't convey the right level of self-absorption. Its more boastful and is about pride rather than general self obsession. And I'm pretty sure egomaniacal is a word, and that time it didn't underline it, so what the fuck? As Robin would say, dwonky.
In other news: since I've been home, I have accomplished very little. A couple hours "cleaning" mostly so I'd have space to take out my cold-weather clothes. I've been biting my nails, which I completely stopped in Canada. And last night and today, I've done a little art. Maybe I'll eventually have some to show. And I'll sort out my costume for Halloween. Votes on if I should be Psyloche or Rouge?
And see, again, in a post that was meant to just be an appology for being a shitty, self-absorbed friend, I've gone completely off into talking about myself. Seriously though, I need to learn to shut up about myself. Danielle thinks it would make me less offensive. Friedman says he doesn't get offended, and that I shouldn't worry about people who do. I dunno, I'm trying to be a decent human. I'm just failing spectacularly. But really, I do love you all and I miss you. Call me or email me or something, because I'm clearly never going to manage to contact you. But I'll keep trying.

70+ gifts

Which I will bake/paint/create tomorrow.
Much jumping in lakes, trying to stand up on inner tubes.
Time with friends, delicious food, insufficient sleep.
A club that played the Spring Break Fuck Yeah Bitches song.
Planning the future, then scrapping the plans.

Of brilliant ideas and body aches

So, this weekend, my friends and I went camping. You know, strap 50 pounds to your back and hike a couple miles through the woods so you can sit on damp ground and get mosquito bites and smoke in your eyes. It was surprisingly excellent. There was only one point where I actually thought "If Kyle (who organized the trip) were next to me, I'd cheerfully push him off this cliff). I'm very afraid of heights and had a minor paralysis/panic attack on a bit of fairly sheer rock face. But now my quads hate me.

Which is why today I went to tumbling class at the Lava studio in Brooklyn. 105 minutes of stretching, conditioning, handstands, rolls and cartwheels. Now my back, shoulders and arms hate me too. I must be a genius. I'm going again next week. But I may not make it to the trapeze class there tomorrow. First, I may be too sore, second, it takes almost 2 hours each way to get there.

For your amusement: last week, on the way to visit my CT house (where we will hopefully be living starting in September) Elias and I came up with DA RULES. 10 important commandments for being a decent and happy human.

1) Try not to kill.
2) Love yourself (but not too much).
3) Some things are your fault (but not everything).
4) Learn from your mistakes.
5) Be nice.
6) Use your body.
7) Use your brain.
8) Relax. Have fun.
9) Contribute.
10) F the Cookie, and the Rules.

I'm feeling unproductive. Tomorrow, more laundry, sewing, art, job apps, etc. Less TV. I swear. I'm doing a bad job on my health kick. I'll spare you the emo-ness that is the "reason" why.