Books and Boos

"Books and Boos", a photo

Day 304: “Books and Boos”, a photo

Well folks, “viral pharyngitis” is still kicking my ass. Err, rather “kicking me in the throat” would be more accurate. My throat hurts so bad that I can hardly swallow. Tonight will be my fourth night of voluntarily bunking on the couch to avoid waking my husband/making him breathe in my germies all night. And today I had to drive to San Francisco to take down my artwork from the October City Art show. Which was next to last on my list of things I like to do while ill. (Jogging is coincidentally last, but then again- it always is.)

On the upside, I’ve lost 8 pounds this week from not being able to eat without pain. So… yay? It will probably come piling back on with some kind of bizarre physics-defying caloric maneuver the next time I’m able to say, eat a chip. But until then, I’m doing my best to get something up here for my daily project. I know it’s been photo-heavy, and I promise I will get back to paintings sometime soon.

Since I HAD to go to SF (which is a 2 hr drive one-way), I decided to make the best of it and capture a few images, from which I have today’s artwork. A bookstore in the ever-colorful mission district had some pretty elaborate skull decorations up as a backdrop to the always-alluring book stash on the sidewalk, including something with “Art” in the title. I liked the colors and the lines of it. 🙂 Happy Halloween, everyone!

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Dangleberries

Wire wrapped pearl earrings in berry tones

Day 303: Earrings

One of the few things I can make from my sick nest on the couch is jewelry. Today I put together a pair of wire-wrapped freshwater pearl earrings in tones of blue, purply-red and green. Feeling marginally better after another long night on the couch propped up with pillows in a failed attempt to keep junk from running down my throat. Here’s hoping tonight is better, as I have to make a trek to SF tomorrow to take down my artwork at the gallery… or what’s left of it, that is. 😉 I’ll post an update with which woodblocks are still available soon. In the meantime, it’s a great gray day for a cup of tea/cocoa/coffee and catching up on DVR movies!

Looky-loos

"Fly Bird", a watercolor on a play page

Day 302: Fly Bird

I have denied my hippie roots to some extent during this illness, buckling and having Rob pick up some Ibuprofen, Theraflu and Chloraseptic when the vitamin C, D and gargling with saltwater didn’t seem to be doing enough. I took Tylenol PM last night, hoping to get some solid rest so that I could force myself to work on a proposal for public art I’ve known about for a couple of weeks. The deadline was 4 pm… today. This elicited a “last minute Maries” chastising from Rob, but to be fair, I would have had it done much earlier had I not been struck down with sickness all week.

Sadly, my plan did not work, and I slept on the couch, alternating between hacking up green stuff and falling asleep. All in all, I’d had about 4 solid hours by the time Rob got up for work, at which point I conked out for another 3. When I got up, I actually felt ill enough to go to a clinic. I shelled out $65 to find out that I have viral pharyngitis, not strep, which gave me enough marginal peace of mind to get back into the office and hammer out my final proposal. By 2:30 pm, I was out the door and on my way to Elk Grove.

It was a journey out of some ridiculous sitcom episode. First, after some high-speed collating, I stood in line at Kinko’s for several minutes with a bunch of other people while the 5 employees ignored the line, angrily thinking of the Dave Chappelle PopCopy sketch. (Which is seriously hilarious. Check it out.) Then, I had to remind the Prius that we are in California and not the Midwest to get its GPS to work. Next, I made a mad dash down the freeway- that is, until I ran into a massive pile of traffic. Not commuter traffic, though- rubbernecker traffic. Some moron had apparently set the other side of the freeway on fire, and all these dumbass looky-loos had to slow down to check it out. This gave me time to discover that my papers didn’t really fit into the envelope I’d just purchased (damn it all!).

Amazingly, I made it to the location with 15 minutes to spare, and the gracious clerk happened to have an extra large envelope for me. “Good thing you made it,” he said, “we’ll probably have some late birds, and I’m going to have to tell them sorry, too bad!” I returned to the car, thrust my hands into the air and shouted, “Victory!”. And that was all the energy I could muster for the day. Besides this blog post, and little watercolor of a birdie on a page from Sartre’s “The Flies”, that is. 🙂 Have a great weekend folks, and thanks for all the well-wishes.

Lump of lymph

"Pensive Puppy", a photo

Day 301: Pensive Puppy, a photo

Man. I feel like a giant pair of sore lymph nodes with a head and limbs sticking out of them. I’ve mainly been in bed with the comfort of my sweet little Chessie-loo (aka Chester). Being sick sucks, but being sick with the companionship of a trusted dog always helps. They always seem to know when you aren’t feeling good and stay by your side. Chester even let me share the blanket, a crocheted afghan quilt my grammama made for me. Now all I need is some soup- good thing the husband’s here to order around. 😉 Today’s piece is a photo of my sidekick. I know it’s a bit blurry, but hey- that’s a chihuahua. Rarely still for long.

Still sick

"Span", drawing on dictionary page

Day 300: Span, drawing on dictionary page

Still sick. Think I might have strep throat. Hoping to get into a free clinic tomorrow if it isn’t any better seeing as how we don’t have health insurance. Unable to be witty, but did manage to eke out a small drawing on dictionary page.

You say it’s your birthday…

"Lantern Lane", a photo

Day 299: “Lantern Lane”, a photo

As I am still sick, and it’s all the effort I can muster to sit here at the computer and make myself do something, I’m posting another photograph today. 🙂 This one is from Half Moon Bay; it’s the exterior of a restaurant called “It’s Italia” where the reception was held for the wedding I took pictures at this weekend. The drizzly evenings when the streets reflect the light are my favorites when it comes to painting cityscapes, but I don’t get much rain out here in Sacramento, so it was fun to catch this image.

Today is my husband’s 40th birthday! We have rented a movie and are having tacos and wine. Nothing wrong with a low-key celebration, right? He has been really sweet, taking care of me and getting me medicine and and making sure I’m resting comfortably. What a lucky lady am I. It’s hopefully back to paintings tomorrow for an exciting milestone- day 300! We’ll see how it goes. It’s back to the couch for now. I love you Rob!

Vitamin String Quartet

"Sawdust and sewing silks", a photo

Day 298: “Sawdust & Sewing Silks”, a photo

I had initially planned to tackle that cityscape for hours on end today, but I quickly realized after waking up that I’m coming down with a cold. So I dragged myself back out of bed after a nap and did a little bit of painting, but it became clear that I would not finish my painting today. Feeling the need to crawl back into bed (does the fetal position help you feel better faster?), I figured I better fix up some daily art and get my blog post knocked out before things get worse.

I started looking through a box of exciting odds and ends my friend Nicole donated to me recently when she moved. Hoping for mixed media materials for a mini painting, I found photographic inspiration instead. I took a few images of this antique cache of colorful spools of thread I found in the box of goodies next to a pile of sawdust in my studio- which I will soon be mixing with some wood glue and using. Nothing in there is purposeless, even if it does look rather like a garbage-y mess. I’m off to make some tea in hopes I will feel better for my hubby’s 40^th birthday tomorrow. Germs can probably transfer digitally these days, so now that you’ve read this post, don’t forget to take your vitamin C!

All the leaves are brown…

"Guardian of the Pumpkins", a photo

Day 297: “Guardian of the Pumpkins”, a photo

After a day full of photography, I headed home from the bay area this morning through crazy rain, looking forward to seeing my hubby & puppy and settling into my studio with a cup of tea and a paintbrush. I picked out the photo I wanted to use next and taped it to a canvas and have been staring at it longingly for a week or so. Somehow I expect this anticipation and excitement will magically make the painting process go more quickly, or at least I hope it will- inevitably, most paintings include that cranky stand-off argument stage. But we’re still in honeymoon mode. Just like the happy couple from yesterday. 🙂

At the end of the event, mom swung up the street to an inn covered in lights and piles of pumpkins for a couple last images. Anything involving night, lights and orange is always appealing to me. I first eyed the pumpkins glazed with rainwater reflecting the white twinkling lights so prettily, and then upon closer inspection, I spied this ceramic rabbit keeping an eye on the squash citizens and had to have an image of it. Yay, it’s autumn!

In Rainbows

"Turkish Lamp", a photo

Day 296: Turkish Lamp, a photo

Today I’m in the bay area to help photograph a wedding with my mom. Neither one of us are professional photographers by any measure, but the bride and groom are pretty casual (and trusting!), so fingers crossed that it will all turn out well. Generally I enjoy the cloudy weather, but today’s one day I hope transforms from drizzle to daylight considering the circumstances! So since I’ll be out and about until this evening, I’m posting a photograph from my mom’s lovely home. This is a photo of a GORGEOUS glass chandelier mom picked up when we visited the Grand Bazaar in Turkey last year. Hopefully I have not already posted an image of this thing at some point this year… that’s how you know the year is almost over, I guess! I’m starting to wonder if I’m duplicating myself… If I did already use it, I’ll double up tomorrow to make up for it. 😉

California Farming

"Palm Meadow", acrylic painting on woodblock

Day 295: Palm Meadow

Today’s piece is a scene capturing a few palm trees standing sentinel over a farmhouse and meadow. I always find it interesting how California’s landscape has an equal chance of sprouting redwoods, palms, cypress, pines, maples, oaks, elms and almost any tree you can think of. For me, the palms are at much at home here in the farm fields as they are on the streets of Malibu. I’m heading into the bay area again this weekend to help photograph a wedding in Half Moon Bay, so the next couple of days will most likely be photographs as I’ll be out of the studio. Hope you’re gearing up for a great weekend yourself!