MaryQuiteContrary

Kiss them for me...

...for I may be delayed.
words go here...i'm off on my adventure west....this is what i'm leaving behind
...here's some of the stuff i made @ the Forest

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Lounge

The decking is pretty much sacred. Tyler's feet are still spray painted on the floor, it's always messy with art supplies and tools, and all kinds of people are drawn there like a magnet. Many a beautiful night, parties or otherwise, has been spent wearing away those floorboards. Some of my most memorable meals have been prepared there, the kind that feed your mind and soul. And as the weather warms, my new little office space is over by the giant disco ball, which is presently stored there.
Between the overflowing recycle bins, all my coffee and tea cups, alters, and animals of all sorts, lies the heart of the Enchanted Forest. Robert, Brandon and I replaced the tent and btw, we are still perfecting it. It is nestled high and delicately in the trees with lacing and carabiners. And now the lounge is almost twice as big as it was.
It's more than a living room, more than a kitchen, this plot is always full of creativity, music and vibrant energy. The leaves are bursting from the trees due to the unusually warm winter we have had. I'm glad to be working outside late into the evenings. I recently said goodbye to an old friend Mr. Eyeballs, my old bubble imac, and have fallen madly in love with my new laptop. Und yes that is an 8-track under the 'puter....I love my airstream. I gifted Mr. Eyeball to my dad who is still using dial up... He discovered Craigslist the other day, I was so proud...<3
Johnny and I are enthralled in the building of the new and improved Mandorla structure. The whole structure can be put up or taken down in less than an hour due to it now being assembled with pins and hinges. It's now 30'x30' round and 16' tall. I'm so proud of Juicebox for his fabulous engineering skillz.
The muse came to me again about a week ago. I sure needed it without ArtOutside happening this year, and all the momentum it builds. I'm plowing away and am soo busy right now. I'm reinspired and super excited about this year. Maybe its 'cause spring is here, maybe it's 'cause this TED Talk, but just maybe it's 'cause I'm building right beside the magical Enchanted Forest lounge.

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New Orleans

I just got back from a short trip to New Orleans and Florida with "Juicebox". We had a great time getting out of texass for a bit, and I miss NOLA so much, the good and the bad. There are so many memories for me tied to those streets of some past life I lived for 3 or so years. They are still so much a part of me. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel on St. Charles right in front of City Hall and ate at some of my favourite old haunts. It was really quiet in the city and the cold front kept us inside much of the time.
We drove the beautiful I-90 between Nola and Biloxi along the beach. Hurricane Ike literally destroyed all the old mansions on the shorefront ...wiped them clean. It's rather tragic. I picked up some broken shells and played in the sand, put my feet in the cold Atlantic very quickly and left.

This whole trip I was busy hand wireing all the antique bottles. I estimate that there will be 200+ tiny hanging bottles on my new improved Mandorla Aureola installation. They need some new Lightning inside. As soon as Papr gets back, I'm really gonna go at that piece hard and build flying buttresses, a new huge backdrop and 2 more hanging gaslight bowls....for the love of compound chopsaws and beautiful southern architecture.

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plastic spoons and crowns

I have been meaning to gift all of my silverware chandlers to GAGA. I really enjoyed making them, and they keep asking about them.
They went well with my recently destroyed mirror ball ponys...Some teenage kids raided the Forest, ripped down and played kickball with a 50-60lb. mirror covered plastic pony. They also got to my Temple. Untill the Forest reopens I may not be putting stuff down there for awhile...or at least till I can take a picture first;)
I'm currently reading Art & Fear Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking. The title really caught my eye. I've never really before run into an artistic blockage, I'm always tinkering with something...I cant help it. But last year, after Art Outside, really threw some amazing roadblocks and in my way. It's not the destruction or having no audience for what I make, (although I'm feeling a little artistically isolated). I'm constantly producing, good or bad ....whatever. But "That Art Feeling" was gone after too many heavy hitting failures. My Muse had gone on vacation to California or something, leaving me at home. My only relief was staying busy... constantly. busy. always. Yet it wasn't helping my sanity.
here's a quote from Art & Fear...
"For most artists, hitting a dry spell in their artmaking would be a serious blow; for a few it would amount to annihilation. Some artists identify so closely with their own work that were they to cease producing, they fear they would be nothing--that they would cease existing...
"Some avoid this self-imposed abyss by becoming stupendously productive, churning out work in quantities that surprise even close friends...
"Still, there must be many fates worse than the inability to stop producing art ...Annihilation is an existential fear: the common--but sharply overdrawn--fear that some part of you dies when you stop making art. And it's true. Non-artists may not understand that, but artists themselves (especially those who are stuck) understand it all too well. The depth of your need to make things establishes the level of risk in not making them."
I really need somthin good this year...and God, I'm really looking forward to Lightning in a Bottle...
But for now, I had a tin can breakthrough, and some rock wireing inspiration due to Miss Shelly's "Craft Night Upstairs" last night... I'm out to sort and wire some antique bottles

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