Consumer hell, art paradise

So I wasted several hours over the past few days, trying to restore nearly $100 worth of minutes to my Verizon pay-as-you go account. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, the folks on the other end of the line, with their endless repetition of "I'm sorry, but you failed..." got the better of me. Then I remembered this poem; heard on Writer's Almanac:

Meditation on Ruin by Jay Hopler

It's not the lost lover that brings us to ruin, or the barroom brawl,
or the con game gone bad, or the beating
Taken in the alleyway. But the lost car keys,
The broken shoelace,
The overcharge at the gas pump
Which we broach without comment — these are the things that
eat away at life, these constant vibrations
In the web of the unremarkable.

Add cell phone customer service to that list.



Meanwhile a wonderful-sounding exhibit it on at the Danforth Museum, Material Drawing:From Left: Audrey Goldstein, Michelle Samour, Debra Weisberg, Julia Shepley,Courtesy of the Artists

The exhibit explores the use of material as a jumping off point for image-making. Sounds familiar.

Printing away

I made some spectacularly ugly fabric last week. But I had so much fun it doesn't matter.
I was printing off screens I'd loaded with dye months before,using an accidental mix of dark brown. I wasn't thinking clearly about colors, just process, so the results, well, let's just say I now have great base fabric for experimenting. It can't get worse!

Today I want to get three nearly-finished projects off my desk. Six prints need to be packaged up for a sale at ArtStream Gallery. They are a collection from my bird series:They will be part of an Affordable Prints show this spring.

After that, I have a slew of keybags to finish, and some lovely square Advice pieces too.I've been holding off because I can't decide if they are pillows or Art that needs mounting: They are clearly decorative, but beautiful enough I don't think they deserve to be sat on.
Under THAT I have a commission to sort out: two small hangings in honor of a friend's mother. I must buckle down and create both a proposal and a schedule, or else it will be 2010 and still in the "in a minute from now" pile.

So I thought I'd stop work, blog, and tell you all that the movies Duplicity and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist are both totally wonderful: non-stop intelligent and witty. Nick and Nora is also thoughtful and moving. Go see one and rent the other.

How else can I procrastinate?

Hold me back

Finally, a home-version of real screen-printing technology:
Craftervidz: Screen Printing with Yudu from Handmade Detroit on Vimeo.
O my stars and garters. Of course, they want you to use only their screens and inks. But still, it's fun to imagine.