Dear Poppy,

I did it again. I think he may have been a prophet of yours. I have torn the book apart. I have made backgrounds and birds. I saved the last quote for you. Even though I partially covered it and sandpapered away the words, I wrote it down, to remember:

"Wherever he came by the clew of friendship and impulse of duty, his character and office were respected; he naturally found a wide door of usefulness open to him; and, in the short space of a few days, he came into personal and familiar contact with hundreds of souls hungering and thirsting after righteousness, who rejoiced in his light, and caught an increase of heavenly fire from the Spirit of burning which so eminently dwelt in him. The End"

-from "The Memoirs of Carvossa"

Photos will follow sometime. Hang in there.

Art vs. Idiocy

I know this is supposed to be about my art, but I haven't been getting much of that done. Maybe I should just start writing about the stupid things I do everyday.

Here is yesterday's short list:
1) Hit the top of a dog crate with a diaper cover, in the inane attempt to quiet Wallace's barks. One of the snaps flew right off the cover. I don't think I can fix it.

2) Slid one of three dog bowls across the floor with too much vigor, smashing it into a second dog bowl, cracking a big chip out of the first dog bowl. Wallace found the loose chip and proceeded to chew on it. Argh.

I feel like I am spending all of my precious time wrecking and repairing(at least trying to repair) everything in my path. Tomorrow, I hope to work on some artwork.

Calkins Art

Check out my friend Larry Calkins' blog. He has posted a whole series of new and wonderful paintings. He is so prolific, and inspiring. Take a look: http://calkinsart.blogspot.com/

For Poppy

I've been working on a series of book art lately. I tear out the inspiring pages. I cut holes through the covers of the books. I sand them, I glue them, I put bugs in them.

All summer long, I have been working in the Education Studio at the Museum of Glass. Twice a week I am there, leading people in art activities, and also getting some time to work on my own work- hopefully.

Last Monday, as I was turning a book over and over in my hands, and trying to decide what exactly to do with it, and which-if any- pages to tear out, a woman commented that she liked my reading material. it had just dawned on me that this was a Jehovah Witness book, and a very old one. Maybe from the 20's. As I explained to her what I do with the books and where i get them, she confirmed that it was a Jehovah Witness book, and she was a Jehovah Witness. She also mentioned that she always checks for copies of the old books when she is at thrift stores. When she asked if she could show it to her friend, and I agreed.

In the few minutes she was gone, I had an internal struggle, but decided she should have the book. It was a perfect, tiny treasure to her, and in this state, it was a weird old book to me. She offered to buy it from me, but I refused, and gave it to her.

Her name is Poppy. I hope you are enjoying the book, Poppy.

But I have a confession. I found another old Witness book in my drawer. I waited for you to come back in today. I thought about how horrified you would be if I began "destroying" this book. I turned it over and over in my hands. Then I tore out the beautiful, browned, blank pages. Then I cut through the cover. I have almost cut through to the center of the book. I'm sorry, Poppy. I had to do it. It's looking amazing. Maybe I will name it after you.

Photos will follow soon.

Mistakes Fixed

I realized that I had the comment part blocked on this blog. I fixed that. Please read and comment. Soon I will ad more images.

Clouds

Sometimes, Zonah likes to help.

Yellow Hair

I should be asleep, but am feeling guilty about the amount of time I have spent on my other blog(the 3 dog blog) and a few other things. I need to spend more time, more focus on my artwork. So here is a poem by Richard Brautigan:

Forget Love

I want to die

in your yellow hair.

It's a good start.
Goodnight all.