.single.one.sole.

fairly new cards are now up for sale in my etsy shop!!! only four bucks a card!!! i've got three more designs to post so keep and eye out. take care.

the spirit of

When the revenant came down
We couldn't imagine what it was
In the spirit of three stars
The alien thing that took its form
Then to Lebanon Oh, God
The flashing at night, the sirens grow and grow
Oh, history involved itself
Mysterious shade that took its form
Or what it was, incarnation
Three stars Delivering signs and
dusting from their eyes

Sufjan Stevens

apple eyes

i have been overwhelmed with a thousand thoughts, tending a garden of ideas and projects, beehive trees, and "must-send" packages. i stumbled last night, pleasantly, in an hour long conversation with my mother. i'm often caught in a spider web of negative thinking, it is impossible to not feel one hundred percent better after blabbing innocently with a best friend like my mom, though. our friendship grows more mutual, more relaxed and positive as the years go by. i am without a doubt more thankful than ever before for mom. her story is different from mine, having had three children at the age of twenty five, never having lived alone as i have, but facing the same struggles. she reminds me of the love i need to share, give and consider. and she is open, transparent, fearless and less insecure. so i have justified, calling her was the best thing i could have done last night.

i wish that i had more to show and tell about. i'm not eager to give as much away at this point (beehive tree) maybe next week i'll show more work in progress. i will be honest i am discouraged about selling art via etsy. i am not complaining though. it is not as though i haven't ever sold my work before, afterall i just made two fifty on "one growth", and my brother and l.c love it. that's not looking a gift horse in the mouth is it? i am open to showing-exhibiting, i just don't have time to nor the quantity of work i'd like to submit. my work is still unifying itself, i'm learning anew. how do other artists actually paint the same thing over and over? i have never been that way and find it hard to stick with my trees. i can say though, that the practice isn't there yet, and i still have joy in the midst of my garden of trees. it is a growing forest.

i think i may take a break from phantomcrimes for a while, not sure yet.

the life of my weekend

1.
saturday morning: 9:11 a.m. before the pickup. took a small daytrip to atlanta (roswell) with jen to the dick blick. happy purchase of gel medium, modpodge, and origami paper.





2.

saturday evening: 7:31 p.m. at the TENshow. highlights included: the large light fixture, graphic design, music by j.d., meeting new friends, seeing my brother at the end.








3.

saturday evening: even later 11:30 p.m. at the pickle barrel: after party. catch up. gathering and reunion. highlights included: seeing old friends, talking with old friends, laughing with old friends. playing with my canon.








4.

sunday morning: early 1:00 a.m. at lamar's: the after after party continues. highlights included: joel's spontaneous dancing, good music, random christmas lights, soft couch, warmth. times with friends.









5.

sunday afternoon: 2:00 p.m. family dinner after time at calvary. highlights included: good vegetarian meal, family love, warm and cozy couch, helpful conversation with suzanne, white kitchen photo opp.





6. WIP

a mother's gift

to be all things with all the love she can possibly muster up the strength to have.

on target now:etsy sale too!

i reserved the temptation to pick up these wooden chinese dolls at target last night. when i went to gateway with my aunt a couple of weekend's back, i saw and picked up a wooden doll that was similar to these but taller and unpainted {i didn't purchase it either}. i should have bought that one, it seemed older and less manufactured.

i have put almost all of my art up for sale on etsy. i mean discounted prices, almost all of them are half off the original asking price. i also have put two of my paper quilt collage pieces up for sale both the fish and the robot. the blue bird paper quilt is not for sale because i do not own it anymore.

here are a list of of pieces and they're original:sale price.

1. Crimepays: was $200.00 now $100.00 (black gallery frame)
2. Poison Tree: was $400.00 now $250.00
3. Der Hund: was $150.00 now $100.00 (black gallery frame)
4. Recycled Air: was $400.00 now $275.00 (black frame/matted white)

if you have any questions please feel free to contact me. have a good weekend and take care you guys.

shape of tree

between the shape of a tree there are planes of color and my imagination. i have begun anew to pick up the old yellow bicycle piece, to recover, recycle, reuse, renew the once started, left behind piece. to pursue the path of yet another tree. i have no earthly idea what will come of this go. all that i have to offer at this point are my shapes, the simple lines, the beehive base of my new tree trunk.

about a week ago i started reading ahab's wife written by sena jeter naslund. i have made my way through it, learning and seeing through Una's {the main character's} eyes and life. i have never read anything by naslund and am interested to know if you, any of my lurking readers, have indeed. it occurs to me now as i write that the last couple of books i have read have been set near or around the water, sea or ocean. sailing and sailors, stars and ships afloating, cold air and winds that take you're breath away and tear at the corners of your eyes. i'm ready for the cold weather and wish it would hurry up and get here. i am more than eager to see the death of a lingering warmth here in the south. i hope so for a snow, a cold bitter snow to kill all of the bad things. i haven't even needed to run my heat and cannot for the life of me imagine living in a warmer climate year round. oh the poor oranges and avocados.

i have been going a bit fluttery about a few things:

1. in love with these lily cards from ISAK

2. sharing my books means: cuckoo bookplates

3. help me! who doesn't need this: owl notepad

in addition: if you are in the area being that of chattanooga, my brother aaron pleasantly informed me that wendell berry will be a speaker with the southern literature conference. mark your calendars!

caleb.collage.&.one by one

my hours at the rx are being cut back to about twelve per week and so hopefully i'll have a whole lot more to cross off my list. i had to work this weekend and didnt' find as much time to get things finished. i did however finally finish bitter water {pretending/posturing tree}. i had only a few more touches to make. i added some small stamped lettering and a few more touches of white as well as a full coverage of modpodge. i wasn't feeling the "hot" aspect of the painting and so there isn't going to be much more red or orange. maybe next time around. i started tracing out the shapes for my next tree. i have the canvas ready to go, now it's just getting the shapes going. i started a project with the buttons i received from nina last week. not exactly a button wreath. more like a button "ball". doesn't sound cool does it? i also did the doodle, a little drawing of my soon to be nephew caleb. my love for him is growing every day. i cannot wait to see him and meet him. i know that by his first halloween he won't be standing or even walking but i was drawing more from a stream of conscience. nothing as specific. i also went to see 'we are marshall' over the weekend with my dad. umm. i'll have to get back with some sort of review. i enjoy "man-ish" sortof films, football is fun to watch and play, this is a sad very true depiction of this story, and that's it for now.

WIP:pretending/posturing tree:bitter water

i am terribly sorry about the long, overly descriptive title of this post. i have no idea why i feel it necessary to include every bit of this painting's title, quite ridiculous, isn't it. considering i usually have a very difficult time with titles, this one came about, a very big no brainer. i'm really excited about the progress i have made. knowing the work on this tree is coming quickly to an end. the last few details are on the table and i probably just need one or two more free nights to complete it. i took a huge break over the holidays, all the way back to thanksgiving, because my family was coming over and i had several holiday projects underway that this painting seriously took a back seat. no more!!!

i am starting off the year exactly the way i looked forward to. last night i finished the second {very small & quick} read of the year. david sedaris' "holiday on ice." so unlike the last book i read, this one is very different, quite opposite and jaw-cringing. despite. afterall, i am fond of taking turns in my reading. i tend to read a couple of books by the same author in a row, then move on. i read "me talk pretty one day" by sedaris, last year and enjoyed it, as embellished truth, not complete fiction. these books have very raw tendencies that tend to make you want to cringe. sometimes so sarcastic, so painful that i had to question whether i should ever read something of sedaris' again. although i'm sure i will because i'm totally interested in barrel fever and naked. but the reviews speak to his irreverent verbage and off the wall collection of thoughts-stories. his six christmas stories remind me of how angry i was in highschool, how desperate i was to be free and rid myself of the norm. i am not sure if this book has any redemptive qualities, it is thought provoking and if you're like me; you'll enjoy the writing style and word choice, sentence structure is so nice. as i read i often tend to attempt to copy the writing style of the author. awh what a dork. that is my review.

bside: the little red mailorder envelope arrived yesterday{big thank you to amy!!!}. slide beneath my apartment door awaiting my anticipation and glee!!! i am going to try an tackle several things in january.

a. instead of a button wreath; i've got a styrofoam ball and i think it might be nice to make a large button ball to hang in a hallway arch...

b. i'm going to finish pretending/posturing tree:bitter water^

c. complete this WIP

d. enter this exhibit and benefit, but first find out what the deadline is. i know i'll enter my fish and robot

e. send nina a package of cool vintage things

f. begin to collect and eventually send a valentine package

g. work on the cross stich and other projects in mailorder #5

meanwhile will continue to walk everyday, eat right and cut back on the s.m.o.k.e. my january 2007 looks full but i'm willing to try for it. why not?

outages

there have been scheduled outages all day today and so i've been taking advantage of the time and actually working. you may think i'm a squirm for blogging while on work time but i've done it since the beginning and no one here has a problem with it. is it ethical? well. if everyone is doing it than the rules are changing right? and if i'm getting my work done, i mean really getting it done, not lying here. or fudging the facts than who is it hurting?

this past weekend was insane at the creative discovery museum and sunday i spent the day with my aunt at gateway. we walked through the entire place, taking three hours to catch up with the merch. i did find a few little things which i will try and share in the next couple of days. i also received a sweet swap package from nina with all kinds of fun goodies, can't wait to show you all!

show & tell:vote

**very special goebel birds**

the most important thing that i have to mention...in a very sheepish sort of way, is that it is again time for bloggies 2007.

every year i love seeing who has {won} in the varied catagories. it is an exciting way to find new writers, new artists, humor, and the daily life of someone else like me across the globe.
i have been blogging for quite a long long time and have very few readers, that i know of. with some definite pride i think i've got a very nice thing going on here. i feel comfortable in this niche'. i have often thought about writing less and posting more photos. i've wondered about the art i post or the lack thereof. i have wondered about how our society seems to create cliques even on the great www. i feel i fit in some sort of clique here, even though i am not sure how or when or why. at times it has boggled my mind at how people have come across phantomcrimes. and certainly sitemeter has changed my views on blogging. i have found that people search for the most outrageous and sometimes rather hilarious things, and so haphazardly find phantomcrimes.

someone actually was searching for "artist sh*t paint", which led them here. someone else must've been actually feeling the terrible weather we were having yesterday, their depressing search "glummy Sunday music", led them here. oh brother, i really do love this, this process we have going on, throwing out our thoughts, like target shooting almost. looking back i have found blogging to be one of the most rewarding things, aside from actually painting and making art, i've ever pursued. fellow bloggers feel the same exact way, i read about the community and unity almost everyday! i have met and followed several for so long it is second nature. i continue blogging for the sake of family and friends but also to share with the anonymous, and give something, even it is really little, back. i have done so many different swaps i remember my very first with hilary from weewonderfuls. it was so thrilling to get mae in the mail!!!

well i say all this to get you all to vote if you'd like for phantomcrimes or maybe you'd rather vote for one of my dear blogging friends>see my teansy blog role to the right. it isn't really about winning for me, it's about knowing and being involved in this great community.

and look at the crap i posted last year...unga bunga!!! how embarassing:)

weigh of the evening

i felt like crawling into a cup of hot coffee last night when i returned home from the pharmacy, but instead found the stale nestle cocoa in my cramped cabinet. an incredible pile of wrinkled but dry clothes lay in the middle of the apartment living space...

listening in

now i am falling behind to listen more closely. to give myself a little bit more time to catch up and gain lost momentum. i started painting again, every night since the new year began. the brush caught up with a little hint of transparent yellow{christmas gift via matt}, the excuse is a cover-up.

i will ready myself, to tarnish my own name for the sake of my friends, throw the first wave of attack and bank myself on the shore of fantastic {may i be bold and say superior} art making-anti gallery-anit fest participating in chattanooga. there should be a call for boycott, a call to the fringe, a better competent exclaimation of why and how. you may ask, where is my respect? my sincerity? awh but it is a blur. there are no official rejections!!! there are holy causes, mysteries pursuits, talent beyond reason, let your hearts not be broken let them rise up and rejoice! for we are, united we stand rejected. it is not all asham but a creepy pasture of questions that shouldn't be asked until you aren't painting anymore. yes and more yes. there is room enough for us all to grow and learn and i don't doubt the meaning of it all, but i for one will not stand to let my friends be discouraged in a city where there isn't any urban, "where's the graffiti?", and no sight of pushing the envelope and the lack of respect for collage as fine art. the end. the answer is in us not in the monopoly, the who's who in art in chattanooga. my goodness she's gotten funding:winner! doesn't that count for something? in my book it does so very much.

i will stop. besides kate and jen are probably already sick of my rantings...

bsides: i finished my first book of the year. even though i started it in 2006, i'm going to count it and eventually put it up on my sidebar, so that i might be reminded of my reading accomplishments and commitment to more. now it's on to this one> book number two for 2007. here i come.

i didn't break down and have a cigarette until 5pm yesterday.