preview of coming attractions...

I've been working all week on a set of paintings for LA Street Productions upcoming 'Liberation'-themed show. I'm not completely done, but I thought I'd post up a picture, open for critique :) It will make me feel more prepared to share them with the world in person.
(I know the colors aren't captured quite right) The background is spray paint with some drips of oil, gold leaf, and one-shot...then the hearts are oil on acrylic. I'm trying to decide whether to leave the wings white/black/grey or to make them more feather-ishy.

Today myself and a couple other art-group memebers hung a "pre-show" at the cafe which our opening will be at a week from Sunday. I had to squeeze it in very quicky in the morning, but I think it turned out quite nice. It's mostly just peices that hung at our last show, however, I did decide to show blue-boy there which is pretty exciting since he's always been a favorite painting of mine.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking off to Bass Lake for the weekend. My good friends from Sacramento are meeting me there - so we'll have some good family camping time! This will be my official first use of my tent! From camping, I'm heading to SF for a couple of days. I haven't been up there since January and could use a little of my homey San Fran.

wuuuuhuuuu!

So evidently nothing is wrong with 'the pup.' My mechanic said she started right up and ran just fine. He's going to drive her some more tomorrow. I'll stop by Wednesday and take her for a drive too. Then I'm going to be gone for a few days - so hopefully she can play at the shop for awhile longer!

I've felt too unsure to get super excited during this whole process. But, it is a practice of my patience and flexibility. Which this just goes along with my life in general right now...if my life were a book, this chapter would be called "Limbo."

Today I threw a pizza party for some of my 7th grade students...it was great. I also added up my attendance numbers...and I surpassed my goals by far...I've taught over 600 students since January! It feels like a good accomplishment. Now when I walk around school, lots of students say hi Ms. ___!

I also got some painting done this evening. I hadn't used oils for a long time and decided to pull them out, it was very enjoyable. I didn't feel the rushed pressure of using acrylics. And I tried/discovered some new tricks.

A long string of a lot

I’ve been quite busy and my mind has been so full I’ve failed to keep up on my blog...my apologies.

TAADAAAAA...I've now cruised the streets of LA in my Stude.

A couple of weeks ago it got here to So Cal. This past Thursday was my first ever driving of it. And yesterday I picked it up. Quite a bit was done to it in the shop to get it drivable…new transmission, water pump, electric fuel pump, tune up, starter, battery stuff. And the shop people have been so great, it’s a shop that only works on Studebakers.
When I first left the shop I had a little problem which was resolved by adjusting the throttle a bit. And then I had a glorious time driving it about halfway to my destination...it was running fantastic on both street and freeway.
And then something happened. I was able to get it parked in a safe place, and it did start up after a wait – but something is wrong with it. So it was towed back to the shop. Hmmmm…these problems are expected in ironing out kinks of a car that’s been sitting for 25+ years. I hope for hope that this is just a kink…but in my gut I think it might be something more serious. If that’s the case I’m going to have to sell her (which I had begun to rest on the nickname of “the pup”…which for those of you don’t know, is also one of my many nicknames too)
Selling the pup will be such a shame. I can’t tell you how fun it was driving the pup – and there wasn’t anything about it that I didn’t like. The noise, the shifting, the starting it up…it doesn’t bother me…and in fact I quite like it! And I also like that I’m willing to work for it, I’ve never had a possession that I’ve been willing to do much work for…seeing as I don’t live by quite the same material rules as middle america. But perhaps I’ll have to do some more work in advance before I can have an old car– I don’t know…we’ll see. But I know one thing, I’m attached to Studebakers – they’re great cars.

Other then car business I’ve been up to a lot. School is out for the summer, which means no more teaching. I will still go to work as normal (albeit not so early in the morning – yay!) It was really fun the past 2 weeks wrapping up the 3 different classes I’ve been doing for the past few months. I did a pizza party in 2 of the classes – for the winning teams of our last-day Jeopardy-style quiz game. That’s really fun.
I love that job so much. I’ve been thinking a lot about the possibility of moving down there (work is 22 miles from home.) Part of me really wants to, but when I think about it, all the connections I have made while here in LA are up near me, downtown, Hollywood, Silverlake/Echo Park. It’s quite a dilemma and a huge thing that’s been on my mind lately.

There’s been some exciting rumblings of things happenings in regards to the prostitution/human trafficking work I want to do also. There’s a crew of people forming here in LA that will begin to tackle the issue by answering the question “What does trafficking look like here in LA?” In order to do this you need to take to the streets with open eyes for what is going on as well as building networks in communities (such as ethnic communities.)
I’ve also been in contact with an organization that may be a great place for me to hook up with and be guided in doing some other work I want to do that’s related to these issues. We’ll see where it leads – but it’s exciting to see some things coming together. I still really yearn for a community of people to gather with around these issues which I’m passionate about.

On other fronts – stuff is still happening with the art group. We opened a student show a couple of weeks ago, which was cool…we’re giving a couple of scholarships to students at the local high school. And we have a show opening in a couple weeks. Which…I need to sign off so I can go work on my pieces. I was daunted…but after doing some painting a couple nights ago – I’m getting excited about my pieces!

Ending with a line I heard today from my all-time favorite radio show, A Prairie Home Companion…
“Live what you love and love what you live.”

the eagle has landed...

It's here, it's here! My Studebaker has finally touched down in So Cal :) :) :)

A couple of months back I found a shop just a few miles from my work that specializes in Studebakers. The guys there are so nice. And obviously know what they're doing and love it.

I know I either have to get the Studebaker to run or send it off to a new home - so I buckled down and made a budget. Found someone to get it here. And wha-la! It arrived Monday afternoon. I can't tell you how exciting it was to see it sitting in the shop. I felt like a little kid coming down to the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. A mix of excitement, awe, and mystery.

Nothing is known yet. I'll be spending some time at the shop on Thursday, hopefully they'll have gotten a start on it by then. More news to follow...
_________________

On other fronts -

School is almost out for the summer, which means I'll have no kids to teach(I was dreading this, but now I'm looking forward to it.) Yesterday I ended one of my classes, and next week I'll be ending the other two. It's sad to say goodbye to them...I only have the students for 10 weeks, but they still become my kids of sorts. Since I've done 3 of the 4 science classes at this one particular middle school...I'm becoming quite well known. It's a little embarrassing when they call out "Hey sex lady" in front of school...but I have to laugh (I work for a clinic but go into schools and teach sex education for those who aren't clued into this fact...if you didn't know, the past sentence would sound VERY odd!)

Oh...and I never blogged it, but I was home the weekend before last. It was a really nice, low-key visit. I really needed some open brain space...and I didn't (almost) think about anything while I was there. And I realized...I frequently cook alot when I go home now. I realized recently that I hadn't make anything special for awhile and I think it's part budget and part small kitchen - but when I'm at Ma and Pa's neither of those things is a constraint :) It was delicious, I tried out some recipes that we saw on a Paula Dean show (one of Mom and Dad's regular watched shows...it's pretty cute.) Other then cooking I got to chill with my mom, my nephews, my brothers, my dad...and finish a piece of artwork that I started this summer. It's too big to bring here though - which is too bad because I could use it for this upcoming art show.

Which speaking of, I've blogged alot lately about art stuff...and I have been doing more art. But still not as much as I'd like to. Why is it so hard to find time to paint!? Space is another issue. Anyhow though, complaining aside, it's been great to get more involved with art and also the art group, LA Street Productions. There's a student show opening up this Friday, which will be some work to get up...it's student's from the local high school, we sponsor the show and give out 2 scholarships.

Other then that, the last exciting news to tell is that my statistics class is done! It's been a lot of extra stress on me this past month. The final was last Saturday and I could barely do any studying for it because my brain was just dead. I really couldn't get my head in the game until the final exam. I got the grades back today, and I did pretty good still. Good riddens.