Out in the garden after the rain.

 

  

 

blog it forward

 

badge by ez from creature comforts

Victoria, aka sfgirlbybay, has proposed a "blogging mashup" beginning February 10. She's picked "what inspires us most" for the theme and since that feels like exactly what I want to be sharing about here, I decided to join up. So stay tuned. It should be an interesting experiment.

 

I've seen the rainbow spot in the clouds a couple times in the past month. 

I was finally able to get a shot of it this week.

Can you see it?

 

This week I also got a shot of another elusive sighting: the guy with the light bike!

It's a terrible shot since I was on the bus and he was riding down the street, but you can probably imagine the spectacular light display on this guy's bicycle. It makes me smile every time.

printing & binding

 ideas in ink

If you're interested in the nitty-gritty of printing, including inks, paper and tools, you should check out PrintSpecs, a new blog from the talented lady behind jezze.

If you are interested in bookbinding, you should sign up for my February class at Home Ec Shop.

what's your metaphor?

Books  - available here

I recently hung a version of this print over my desk to honor the fact that one of my major life metaphors has changed - changed for the better, I feel.

My metaphor used to be juggling. I was juggling my professional life, my creative life, my social life. I was juggling a lot of balls and nothing could drop. Dropping anything would mean Failure. Dropping anything meant I would never be able to pick it up again, as if it was paper dropping into lava, instantly irretrievable.

Wants turned into shoulds at an alarming rate. Yes, I wanted to play guitar more. Yes, I wanted to spend more unstructured time at my press. But then I started telling myself I should be playing guitar everyday. I should be logging 8 hours a week at my press. Oh, and this all had to happen in addition to a full-time job and the necessities of health, hygiene, nutrition, and rest. The only thing I was creating was a giant ball of anxiety.

I was shoulding all over myself.

Well, it's taken some work and many conversations with wise people, but somewhere along the line my metaphor changed. Now, instead of juggling, I am shelving (an apt metaphor for a librarian.) My projects and creative plans are waiting for me, safely stored away until I have the time, space, and energy to take them off the shelf, dust them off, and dive in. There's no rush.

Do you have a metaphor? Is it working for you or against you?

coming home from Camarillo

Reanimation Library

Do you know about the Reanimation Library in Brooklyn, NY? I've been thinking about the collection a lot lately, browsing the online catalog, and dreaming of a weekend trip to comb through the shelves for a possible art project. That's a big dream for this year, one of those if-a-bag-of-money-falls-out-of-the-sky dreams. (Or if I get a nice tax refund.)

The library's mission is "to assemble an inspiring collection of resources that will facilitate the production of new creative work and promote reflection and research into the historical, legal, and methodological questions surrounding the adaptive reuse of found materials. It strives to provide the necessary space and tools to allow these activities to flourish, and to foster a climate of spirited collaboration."

Here are just a few of the many intriguing titles:
The Curious Gerbils: a booklet for caring for them
Exhibiting Poultry for Pleasure and Profit
Far Out Factories: manufacturing in space
How do they get rid of it? (about pollution, refuse and refuse disposal, of course)
Nature's Way: how nature takes care of it's own
Potato Diseases (I don't know why, but that title makes me a little sad. Poor diseased potatoes.)
Sex Lives of Animals without Backbones

And I didn't even list my favorite titles.

You can learn more here. Go ahead and click. You won't be sorry.