My "studio"

I have been doing a lot more work recently but I don't have a studio.  I have been working in the dining room and basement, and sometimes outside.  My whole house is my studio!  Haha!  I have work piling up on bookcases, and recently I took over an entire shelf of a built-in in the dining room in order to store some supplies that I have been using on a semi regular basis.

So here is a studio tour :)

My work station is our old dining room table from when we lived in small places.  The table folds out so I can use it, and then folds away so we don't lose the space a permanent set-up would take.  I have considered using the drawers for art supply storage instead of dining room storage, but haven't gotten that far ... it feels unsafe, with two toddlers running around, they could easily get those drawers open.

Frames for my next 3 pieces :)

Here is the built-in.  On top there are some of my recent works, the first shelf is my art supply shelf, the second shelf is serving bowls, and the bottom shelf is my husband's scotch collection.  I'm working on finding a piece of furniture that can better serve for the scotch collection / wine storage / drink glasses so it doesn't have to be hidden in the built-in.

So there you have it, my current "studio".  It has great light, hardwood floors, and lots of windows!  Not bad.  If only it had a slop sink ...

Day Book, D.A.I.Y.E. Day.

Today I made an organizer, because when I am feeling disorganized I make systems for organizing (and then maybe I don't use them).  I decided the first thing I would do after my time at my current position ended would be to do something that felt productive and grounding... so... and organizer it was.

I took three sides of an old box (plucked out of the paper recycling bin in our apartment, somewhat to JewishGuy's dismay).  I collaged on the outside, covered it with mod podge, and used brads to hold the "general to-do list" paper on one side.  Then I did something way too complicated to bind the other side together into a book and then sew it onto the cover very slowly.  I also put a brad on each side of the covers to be used as closure devices (a red string wraps around them to keep the book closed).

I might still sew a pocket into the large empty flap so that I have somewhere to keep business cards or whatever that I pick up.

Basically, I felt like I needed something to keep me motivated, because now that I have nowhere to go during the day I have become very anxious.  Okay, today was Day 1 of not having anywhere to go... and I already contacted a temp agency to help make some moneys while I continue the job search.

My position ended because the department closed, effective Erev Rosh Hashana, last Wednesday.  Last week was such a stressful week, and even though Rosh Hashana was good it was not due to our planning!  We were both so stressed we barely got what we needed to get done, done, and one of the meals we hosted was woefully short on food (I mean, for my standards - I want people to be stuffed with food of all sorts before dessert, and that just wasn't the case).

A piece of good news - I sent in my ATR application as soon as I got home from work on Wednesday!  All of my hours are finished, the application went in the mail, and this week (or next) I will follow-up to see if they got it.  Hooray!  I also put in for a hold on my LCAT permit, hopefully that will come through soon.

And finally, one of my goals for the month of October is to create a consistent online presence, which will mean a major overhaul of my website and blog.  I will keep updating (such that I have been) in the meantime, but look forward to some big changes soon :)

Recycled Planters

Did some work on the patio today.

I have spent more money on the garden than I had anticipated, but I think I've stretched it further than last year.  I made planters out of tin cans, twine, and beads I pulled off of an old necklace and hung cheap flowers in them.  So I guess hanging these flowers really only cost me what the flowers themselves cost me, and it was $2.99 for a pack (of four plants), so ... what you see in this image cost about 75c.  Not bad.  I have five of these hanging around, and then the leftover three marigold plants were put in an aluminum bucket I got at a flea market.

Mostly I am trying to do the actual plants for as cheap as possible because of my tendency to kill things.  I bought some plant food today so I fed my plants, which I will try to do every Friday.  But almost everything in the garden has been started from seeds or are super cheap (like the flowers).  Because all of the sprouts I started in April died while we were out of town, I am starting from scratch outside - but the spinach is already sprouting, so I have hopes the rest will follow suit soon.  This is why I'm doing it cheaply... okay, so all of my sprouts died (except the peppers), I'll just start over, no big deal!  I don't mind the "wasted" effort, because the process is the fun part for me, not necessarily the product

Yesterday I put up the solar powered lights and last night it was so pretty...

I can't wait until we're finally finished and I can take pictures!

Professional Nerdiness (I love charts)

Because all of my hours are volunteering, sometimes I feel kind of low.  I keep a very detailed chart of my progress but tonight I made a graphic to show myself getting closer to my goal as a way to stay motivated.  I also calculated the percentage of the hours I've completed towards my two licenses - I am almost finished with 30% of the hours I need for my state license, and have finished more than 50% of the hours I need for my national registration!

Luckily, I married an engineer.  Everyone ASSUMES he is the nerdy one.  But I am an ARTEEST.  Obviously that makes me cool automatically, right?  Coolness came when I bought my first canvas?  Or pastels?  Right?

This chart is so awesome, and it just keeps getting more awesome.  You can get so much information quickly and easily (well, YOU can't, because you can't see the headers).

The graph just makes the info look pretty, like at a fundraiser, I can see the totals rising.  I hated the color schemes so I put awesome retro wood paneling on it.

NOW YOU KNOW HOW COOL I AM.

Coming soon... art?  Maybe?  Sorry for the intermission of art making, I am going a little nuts.

Our 2011 Patio Plans

Well, I was home today taking a bit of a vacation after coming back from Passover with family, and I decided to work on the plans for our patio that I mentioned.  The winter was really hard, especially with our heat going in and out every few days, and our apartment isn't very big.  We took this place because of its sweet patio space, so we are going to make it amazing for this summer.

So this is my vision!  I decided to make a collage because it helps me get a feel for the colors I want, and it also explains it to JewishGuy who luckily trusts my tastes enough to say "I can't picture it, but I'm sure it will look good."  So there you have it, the foundations of a good marriage, right? :)

Read the full description after the jump!

Plans and Plants

From here you can see (clockwise from left) the basil, spinach, tomatoes, chives, and then in the front right one little bell pepper starting to peek up!  The bell pepper seeds came from a pepper I got at the grocery store that I wasn't sure would sprout, but here we are!  And because the planters are clear, I can see that there are at least four other sprouts coming up.  Yay peppers!

I know there's not a lot of art making going on around here, but actually there's quite a bit of art making going on!   I just can't share it!  My groups at work are making many long-term projects so I don't have little directives to share, and I haven't been able to make my own versions of these projects so I can't even show the ones I'm working on.

However, the planting is part of a larger therapeutic process for me.  We are planning a big decorating project for the patio.  It's very exciting!  It is also helping me through these cold, wet days that are just dragging on.

I even made a sketch, although I don't think the lamps will be the same.  We'll have a vertical garden on the fence that gets the most sun, which is where these sprouts will go assuming they survive us being out of town for Passover (I'm going to ask the pet sitter to water them every day but I am nervous).  We're also planning to have solar lights placed around the fence and even make a solar light chandelier type thing so we can do seudah shlishit out there - the solar lights will turn on automatically when it gets dark so we don't have to do anything.  They aren't very bright but most of the meal would happen before it gets too dark anyway.  Also we are hoping to somehow cover the gigantic air conditioning units just to make it not seem so ugly and maybe buffer some of the noise.  When the units are both on it's pretty loud out there.  AND we're going to try to figure out something to do with the space right next to our apartment, under our upstairs neighbors' overhang, because it's kind of just empty space right now.

All that and more ... to be unveiled in June.  A big project!  A spring project to keep us focused on the summer and warm weather!  Keeping spirits high during the last days of winter and the first days of spring...

@artsyplantsy

I've started a new twitter, @artsyplantsy.  Here I'll post all the little things that don't merit a full blog post, like tons of pictures of sprouting things, or art I see while I'm walking around.  And of course links to interesting artsy or plantsy blog posts.  I like this new name because I feel more free to post the things I want to post, and feel like people will follow me based on those things, instead of having lots of random Jewish organizations following me because of my username even though none of my tweets are Jewish-related.

I haven't decided how I will include a feed to artsyplantsy on the blog yet.  But if you want to follow along while I'm still in the rough stages, please follow me!

I think this new twitter account signals a move from my JewishGal brand that I've been working under for the last almost four years.  I'm not really connecting with that part of me right now the way I was back when I started this blog (and the other JewishGal things, like my old twitter account).  I'm more Jewishly active in my private life than I was back then when I was a Jewish professional, but I'm less interested in using that part of me as a lens for my public life.

What I'm saying is I'm contemplating a major shift that will have minor effects.  I am thinking about moving my blog and revamping it, including all of the past posts, but under a new name.  I'm thinking of consolidating my "brand," changing my personal website url from the obscure "spiffywafer" to something that is more cohesive with the rest of my online presence.  I don't have any ideas, but coming up with a new twitter made me think about it.  But I don't think there will be any major effects on any of my regular readers' experiences with my blog, website, etc, other than typing in a new url when you want to see what I'm up to.  I've been spiffywafer since 2001 and JewishGal since 2007, so it's kind of a tough choice!

In any case, look forward to future unveiling of something big and more put together than the current semi-connected website, blog, and twitter accounts.  But not yet.  Still kind of busy with what's on my plate right now!

Spring is almost here (feeling grounded)

This bulb looks like it's giving me the finger.  I bought it today at the plant store when I stopped off to talk about Spring planting, which should happen in the next few weeks.  I asked about what to plant in my partial-shade / shade garden space, and had a great conversation with the guy who works there who has some good tips about gardening for cheap. 

And then I bought this bulb.  I've already forgotten what kind of flower it is.  It just sits in water for a week or two and it will turn into a few purple flowers.  I'm excited to see this bulb grow as a sign of impending Spring.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks, which is why I don't have much to report.  I'm feeling more grounded today, but a lot of that could be due to the warmth and sunshine that's going on right now.  I walked around for about three hours this afternoon, which just felt so good.  I dropped off my film from my Holga, so I'll have that early next week and I can't wait to see what's on it.  Now I've got the windows open, soon I'll be playing some music, making art, and getting ready for Shabbat.

Haggadah Project, here we go!

I'm working on my illustrations, trying to make up for some lost time.  Working on the pages is making me so anxious for some reason.  It takes me forever to sit down and actually do them, and even though each one doesn't take very long to make it takes a long time to actually put brush to paper.

This painting will be the illustration behind motzi matzah (where we say the blessing over the matzah).  Imagine it without the watermark, and instead having the text formatted beautifully around and through the image.

(Read My first post about the haggadah project!)

Good-bye Fiona

Today Fiona passed away. She died at the ripe old age of (roughly) 7 1/2 years, after living in 5 different states (Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Illinois, New York), with two other pigs and a cat, and having more lettuce, peppers, carrots and hay than she knew what to do with. My little piggy-face :( I made this painting of her when I got home from one of my favorite pictures of her. She had the best piggy lips. We will miss you, Fiona!

More about Fiona's last illness and my other pigs here.

AATA Conference Booth

Here we are, selling at the 2010 American Art Therapy Association conference in Sacramento!  Of course, my ceramics didn't make it out of the kiln in time, so all I could sell was some of my watercolors.

I have a plan for combining my watercolor painting style and my ceramics... it's in the works, but it will be slow to come to fruition for sure.

Shhh...

I have a new major project in the works. 

I'm SO excited.  I'll be using this blog to keep myself accountable (like I did for my mural project that inspired the blog).  I'll unveil it after Found Object Art Month is over.

But here's are a few clues to keep you interested: this blog is "JewishGalArt.blogspot.com" and this project is more true to this name than my recent undertakings, it's a large scale project with a specific deadline that I didn't set myself, and it's something that can be distributed and many people will be able to use.  Oh, and I am definitely not the first person to make something like this.

New business cards!

I got new business cards from moo.com! I think they are so awesome. I got to choose up to 99 pictures to put on the back but I only used 13 because I couldn't really decide. Carrying them around is like carrying a mini portfolio with me. I also got a little holder that's on a keychain so I can keep them with me JUST IN CASE.

I'm also going to be changing my spiffywafer dot com logo to the exploding head artichoke thing that you see on the front side of the business card. I currently use a fun print I did of a vegetable still life, which is still one of my favorite prints but I don't know if it makes sense anymore. In class last semester everyone was making jokes like, "what is spiffywafer? a produce company?" The exploding head kind of looks like a self-portrait, so I think it's a good choice.

However, I'm not changing my domain name - I briefly thought about it but realized that my namesake domain name was taken already, and "artbyrobin.com" was also taken, and I thought to myself, do I want to be a ridiculous domain like lookattheprettyartworkbyrobin.com or robinmakesartforhealing.com, or should I just stick with spiffywafer? So I'm sticking with it, and when people ask I will just say I've had it for 9 years and I kind of love it. I've put this name on the backs of cards, signed it on collaborative works, and it's on my etsy page. I think it's interesting and unique, maybe not "professional" but what is professional for an art therapist, anyway?

In Recovery

Okay, I'm ready to post about my plants now. They seem to be recovering from 2 transplants, including one to a bad spot that made them look like they were dead.

The basil is coming back to life thank goodness. In a few days I will pinch off some of the top stems so that it will grow two stems from the stump, but for now I just want it to grow some more and feel healed.




I won't hide my shame... here is the damage that occurred due to the shady spot:




But it seems to be growing past that damage. Yesterday's dreary day of drizzle and clouds seems to have revitalized these plants, even though they usually like the sun. I think being in a sunny spot, combined with really hot days, and even though I water them every day I'm sure some of it's evaporating too fast, led to a lot of the damage :(

You can see the oregano was also damaged but seems to be recovering:




The thyme didn't suffer too much but it also seems to be happy in its new spot:



The macaroni pepper plant, which seemed the saddest of them all, has perked up today. There's some new growth, too!




Throughout it all, my mint has been growing like a weed (maybe because it is a weed). Some of it was damaged when it was in the sunny spot but it seems to have forgotten all about that. It feels like every day it doubles in size. Today I pinched off some of the top stems to help make the plant bushier rather than long and stemmy, and I just stuck the pinched-off stems into the ground. I wonder if they will take root?




And to think, on Tuesday I almost them all out (except the mint).

There were some casualties, however. The chamomile never recovered and the lavender looks kind of sad. No pictures of their corpses, though.

Proposal Submitted!!!

I have just submitted a proposal to present at a conference in New York this November!

I've proposed to do the same workshop I did as my thesis presentation back in May. The workshop went really well and I got a lot of great feedback, so I am excited to have the opportunity to do it again (and make it even better). Plus maybe I will get more time - the biggest complaint was that an hour and a half was not enough time.

Also, it should be noted that I submitted this proposal during the second night of my move to New York. Yes, it is taking three days and two nights to get to New York. We are in a hotel room right now with the animals. It is a hectic time for us all.

In honor of leaving Chicago, here is a picture I took with JewishGuy's iPhone last summer when we ate at the restaurant in the Hancock Building.

Frequent poems

I decided I want to write more poems not connected to artwork but I don't want to fill my blog with them. So I created a new blog to post these poems. But don't worry, the poems will be posted on my this blog in the top right corner, just not filling the main space with them!

If you want to check out those poems alone (because you only use an RSS reader and you're especially curious), the feed is:

http://jewishgalpoems.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Maybe I can use some of these poems for inspiration for art projects when I am seriously in need of ideas. (haha)

NaBloPoMo

I think it might be time again for me to dive into another NaBloPoMo! It might be challenging because we will be moving next week, but I feel like it's a shame that the last one I did was March 2008 - two years ago! It was such a crazy month, too - I interviewed for grad schools, got into two schools, GOT ENGAGED, decided to move to Chicago, and so much more...

They haven't announced what July's theme will be, but I'm already getting excited. NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) started with the challenge of blogging every day for one month. It was so successful that they decided to make a new challenge every month so you can choose your challenge month! The inspiration for NaBloPoMo comes from NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in which writers are challenged to write an entire novel during the month of November. I once began NaNoWriMo and became totally overwhelmed, but NaBloPoMo is more within my reach - though still very challenging! Especially for me, being Shomer Shabbat, I will have to make sure to post late Saturday night.

Who's with me?!

Classic March 2008 NaBloPoMo Lists (the theme for that month), in list form, of course.

• "Donate for Purim" - a list of items JewishGuy, HillelLady and I donated to Texas Children's Hospital Art in Medicine program
  
  
• "Top Remarks Re: Art" - a list of some of the things I hear people say (to me) about art, especially modern art.
  
  
• "Favorite Media" - my favorite art materials!
  
  
• "Things I Capture on Camera" - some favorite subjects :)
  
  
  
  
  

Moving

The weird thing about moving is you kind of take an inventory on everything you have, some you throw away, some you give away, and some you keep. It depends on the move how much throwing/giving away you do.

In our case, we are downsizing our apartment size by a lot in our move to New York. A lot, a lot. On Thursday we're having a big good-bye barbecue with a lot of our friends and we are setting up a "take what you want!" table in the apartment. It's covered in books, board games, DVDs, and other things we think other people might want to take. Whatever our friends and family don't take will be donated.

The hardest things to part with are the books. But we have so many books that we read once and will never read again that have followed us from city to city. It's time to give them to someone who will read them (and maybe take the book with them from city to city). We are keeping the books we care about the most, though. It still makes me a little sad to see them go. But the empty spaces on our bookshelves won't be empty for long - as soon as we find a used bookstore near our apartment in NY we will be sure to restock...

Back

We just had a two week traveling extravaganza. Salt Lake City, Toronto, and New York City, all in one big crazy trip. It was fun and we have an apartment (yay!).

(Photos are from Salt Lake City)

My installation

The gallery is open now so I thought I would post a picture of my installation! This is the final piece to my thesis project, all of my work (including the poetry) all in one place. PHEW!