Wanna see somethin' cool?

This ain't it, sugar. These are some mini books I made a while back, totally unrelated to my topic du jour. I just hate to post without a pic. Now for the cool thing. Go to www.quilts.com

Click on shows

Click on the Chicago show

Click on the catalog link

You will have to make a login and password

When you get to the catalog, click on Make It University

Ta-da

Toldja it was cool.

Every Little Thing...

is gonna be alright. Ot at least that what Ziggy Marley says. Who knows? Maybe he's right. I picked this song for this week because there are so many questions swimming 'round in my head right now. I got one definite answer back today -a resounding NO - ouch, that smarts. I don't even want to try again. My husband still says I want too much too fast. He says I was only on the cover a couple of months ago and I got my first ink a couple of months before that. What do you expect, he says. I expect to be successful. To prove it.

I have been struggling with an elbow strain - pinched tendon, right side - since December 11. I hope it will get better, but just increasing pain. It has gone from a vague ache and pain when I use my right arm and hand to now constant pain of a burning nature and shooting pains up my forearm. It is making me feel tired and out of sorts. It's my right arm, and I'm right handed. I was s'posed to see an ortho guy tomorrow, but he is too ill ( God be with him - it's VERY serious). My doc is sending me to another ortho, hopefully within the next week or so. I have been dealing with the pain and going to work and teaching art lessons and everything. I do have a small fear, however, of doing permanent damage and I have lots of years of art teaching and making ahead of me, so I want to get it resolved. Soon. Plus, I cannot do any type of exercise that requires weight on that arm - no curls, no push ups, no tae bo -nuthin. That will look great for short sleeve weather.

Don't worry about a thing

Don't you know

Every little thing

Is gonna be alright

Where'd my Kid Go?

It's really true and I have the handouts to prove it. Whit is starting high school in August. Tonight was the parent orientation and we register her for classes in February.

We had a little snow over the weekend.

Where have I been?

Did you miss me? I haven't posted in so long because every time I thought of something to write I became sickened by the sound of my own voice. I wanted to write about how these cold, dark days bring out the worst in me, how hopeless I feel and how far away spring seems. But everybody probably feels the same way.

Here are my pages from last week. The song is Wind It Up. There is an interview with Gwen in the current Elle magazine and she talks about putting a song from The Sound of Music to a beat. It's like music collage. She sees what she likes and puts it all together. Love that - fearless, letting all your weird hang out.

Both of the girls are now starting on their respective basketball teams. Whit has started almost all year. Court has just worked her way up and now some of the other girls on the team are mad at her. I don't ever want her to feel like she has to apologize for being good at something. I want her to be fearless.

I made this today...

while I was working on something else and needed a diversion. I started with an XL white sweatshirt, on sale for $4 at walmart. I dyed it a yellow-orange. I did the appliques by tacking them down with a bit of white glue and then machine stitching around them. I have used wunder under in the past, but it gives the appliques such a boardy texture. I am not sure how this will hold up in the wash, but it looks good for now and it's very soft. Next, I added the embroidery. I am sure I will figure out something else to add. I also dyed one pink. They are to wear when I go running. They are long enough to cover my fanny and the sleeves are long enough to cover my hands. I need gloves when I start out, but get too hot after a while. Now I can just push up my sleeves. I might as well look like an art teacher when I run.

This year's project

Okay, here are the pages I worked on every day last year and my pages for this week so far. On this week's pages, I painted them both with coffee on Monday, did the dots on Tuesday, added the NOWs on Wedesday, both with caran d'ache, and started filling around the dots with the song lyrics today. It's fun to see the compostion develop over 7 days and let my ideas evolve. I love the planning out phase of a project, and this journal project is letting me plan more than the "art bite" type projects.

I DID decide to go with the song idea for now, anyway, until it bores me (probably in about 5 minutes). Last week was the Talking Heads' "And She Was", which came out when I was a freshman at IU. This week, it's "Your Life is Now" by the (contemporary) Hoosier Poet, John Mellencamp, who I have seen in concert twice. His current/third wife is Elaine Irwin of the Almay cosmetic ads. The have 2 boys about the same age as my girls. They live up the road a bit. I have seen Elaine and the boys shopping at Hobby Lobby. I have seen Mr Mellencamp out in public and it's excting, like seeing a rockstar. I have been toying around with the idea of doing a collection of artist books/ narrative paper sculptures based on his music, which has been a huge part of my life.

I keep thinking about songs I want to use in my book. There will be some Janis, some Sheryl, some Gwen, some Lenny, some old, some new, all cool.

Cold, damp and dark

It was a gloomy day here. I need sunshine. I want to go to the tanner and sit in the bright light for half an hour. This is a picutre of a kitten we had, Santino Blue, which is now a cat my mother has. So cute. I think she is going to give him to my sister.

There is a BIG project in the works. I need all the good thoughts you can spare!

It's Saturday

One of my favorite places on earth - Hummingbird Art Camp in Jemez Springs, NM

Yesterday was report card day for the Crane sisters. All A and A+. We live in basketball country and as such the high school basketball games are minor social events. We have the same season tickets in the reserved seating section for the past 17 years. Somebody was sitting in my seat last night and wouldn't move. Hate that. All the jr hi kids sit in the upper level and talk the whole time. I don't care. The girls are where I can see them and it's cheap entertainment.

Please go get the new Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. The artwork on the cover is quite "humorous and inventive."

IPod Troubles Resolved

Mommy is a genius. The ipod is back to normal. Turned out I had to reset it. I have been working in my art journal every day this week and I already kind of wish I had done a different year long project for 2007. Oh well, there's always 2008. No, of course I'm not abandoning my big journal. It's way heavier than I expected, though. I am thinking about paying homage to some of the songs that play over and over in my brain like And She Was by the Talking Heads, Every Day I Write the Book by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Copperhead Road by Steve Earl and Me an Bobby McGee by Janis ( or is it big brother and the holding company, I know for sure they did piece of my heart, which, by the way, I was thinking I would LOVE to hear one day recently while working in the studio and listening to the radio - AND IT CAME ON). There are just words from those - and other songs - that I love and would like to use them in my book as kind of a narrative to tell the story of this year, which I know will be in some way momentous.

That's my husband J.R. and our backyard.

The world was spinning

She was floating above it

And she was

I pod problems

In my last post, I asked about a specific book title and got the answer lickety-split - THANKS - so I am asking another question. My daughters IPod has "frozen". It was playing on the docking thing and then just stopped. It won't turn off, go to the menu or anything. Any ideas as to how to fix it? I could draw a picture of it or write a poem about it, but I cannot fix it. H E L P !

It's here

The first day of 2007, my last day as a CPS cover girl. On the up side, I am being replaced by Cheryl Prater and her supa cool Sixtyopoly game. I wanted to run tp the bookstore today and see my magazine one last time, but I didn't make it. We saw a movie today, as is our longstanding New Year's tradition. We saw We Are Marshall - SO good. I love a good sports movie. Matthew Mc was cute and goofy in this one. Hoosiers, OF COURSE,is the best, but then there's Rudy and Days of Thunder and Remeber the Titans and Talledega Nights and, for a laugh, Blue Chips. Oh yeah, and All the Right Moves.

RMK got the record today. The only thing I hate about that is that it's not at my school.

Yes, I am making art today.