It's been a wild time in my life. And, after finally making it through the week (Louisville is still kind of like a war-zone, with lots of public lights and traffic signals still down, and whole blocks without power still) I had some time tonight to sit down and finish some prints I started a month ago!

This one I'm fairly pleased with, but I may tweak it again with another edition. This one is on Etsy.

I lost 13 pounds since starting WiiFit in May. No, it's not the "I lost 60 lbs. in just 4 weeks" type of endorsement, but it's definitely a healthy pace, and I am so happy to be in my 14s (handily) again. I am pretty confident that I will be in my 10s again eventually, and I can't tell you how happy that prospect makes me!

The last week has been very difficult, but it's getting better. Ronnie's father died last Thursday while I was at school. I dropped everything and drove to New Castle the minute I checked my messages, and life was a whirlwind until Sunday. Things are starting to get back to normal, now. It's rather amazing to me how much relief I felt when he passed--not because I wanted him to go, but because we simply don't have to expend that time and energy on checking up on him, worrying over him, and waiting on pins and needles to hear what the next medical emergency would be.

He had a hard life for the past 2 1/2 years, and I'm hoping he's found some peace in death that he could not find while he was living. I am dreadfully sorry that he will never get to be a part of our lives again, and never meet any children Ronnie and I may have. Its sad to me that his choices in life robbed him of his quality of life, and robbed him of his chance to be a part of his family in his later years. 

The early part of this week was fairly difficult for me for other reasons I will not get into here. If you are curious, though, just ask me. And of course, school has been great, but I'm beginning to get that ol' overwhelming feeling. Everything always works out, though.

Not a great post, maybe, but I felt bad for not updating anything lately. I have to get cracking on my Etsy shop again, and take care of some other web chores that have fallen off in the past few weeks with all that's going on.

Saturday night, the husband and I went out to Havana Rumba with some new acquaintances of ours who opened a bakery not far from where we live. Spectacular food, good fun, and really cool people. Mom and Dad came to visit us, and we had a great time, although it was brief. We went out to the trader's mall in So. Indiana and I got a couple of King's Island glasses from probably the 80's? maybe earlier I don't know. We took my parents to Clifton's Pizza, which was wonderful as usual. I miss living nearby to that place! Then, sadly, they had to go home.

I have a new linocut to start in the morning, but honestly I think I may have to start it tonight. It should be pretty cool.

I think I have my inking issue straight, but I'll have to do some tests tomorrow to be sure.

Meanwhile, I'm quite tired, and I'm hoping that the pizza didn't pack to much onto my weight. I had a bad weekend, food wise, missed my biweekly goal, and in general, I'm feeling pretty dumpy. But I'll get it worked out, I always do. I was just getting used to the constant drop, and forgot what a "bad day" looks like in pounds and ounces. I wish I could blame something classy and womanish like chocolate, but I know it's dairy. Dairy is my freaking weakness, and it's not even sweet dairy--it's cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, milk, cream cheese, butter, and cream. I don't even have to have a bagel under the cream cheese, I can just eat it. And don't get me started on sour cream.

Since I don't have soda in the house, and we don't eat "snack food" anymore unless it's like popcorn or something, I've been able to see just what a weakness I had for those items. And also, what a weakness I have for other foods, like dairy. It's a long, tiresome road, that I pretty much like, but I swear, sometimes it would be so much easier to hang all consequences and just eat like I used to. Frankly, I don't see how I stayed in a relatively static position eating the way I did--I mean, now, I see the scale go up if I touch a bad food (like a Krispy Kreme, for example) and don't work it off diligently (thank you bike and ddr). But before--I might sit all day long and eat four Krispy Kremes over the course of several hours. Not all the time, mind you, but I did have very bad habits.

But this system is better. I get treats when I want, but I have to pay for them--in sweat. And if I don't? Well, I have to live with that immovable scale in the morning. I know weighing yourself is bad every day--because it's easy to become obsessed. It sounds like I am, but I really feel more like I'm aware for the first time. I realize I fluctuate, and I'm fine with that, but on the whole, it's easier to see the effect of that "one little doughnut".

I finished a linocut of a cut apple with a paring knife today. I am very please with it, and if I can get the ink to transfer more cleanly, I'll have it in my Etsy shop tomorrow.

Here it is:

They do WHAT in Kentucky?

Show some love for us Kentuckians! Here's a snapshot in case you don't get to it in time.

Ok, I'm totally addicted. I added this to buy_ebsq_art earlier today: it's a note card I made featuring a cute lil owl. It's named Owly in the listing, but since I like naming owls (my friend is custodian to Roger and Cornelius) I hereby rename him Clovis. Look at it here.

I carved a new owl tonight, but he hasn't been proofed. I have two others ready to go (not owls).

Not sure if I'll be pulling prints onto anything but note cards yet, although the new owl is ACEO/ATC sized, so I may offer a limited run on him.

I interviewed for a position with a local branch of a national bookseller today. I won't say which--that internet can really find its way onto anyone's desk these days. But suffice to say, although they were pretty impressed with me--I don't think I'll be joining the team. I'm only half trying to find part-time work, so I'm not going to jump on the first thing that comes along. School will be a bear this year, and I'll be lucky if I have time for art. I just wish it would start paying for itself a little more! But, that's why I'm cracking down now, putting myself out there, trying to find my audience.

But, I digress. The interview went well. I didn't manage to make good eye-contact. I'm shifty like that--I really can't look people in the eye much. Confidence issue aside, I was personable and honest, and made a good impression. If anything, I got a chance to brush up on interviewing skills.

My newest are in the Etsy art showcase today for another 2 hours. Some new hearts and hits, but no bites. However I didn't expect much. Just trying to get my name and face (art) out there for people to see. Possibly get spotted into a treasury or something. I really, really need to start following the treasuries on ebsq again, but I got so busy and got out of it.

Speaking of ebsq, I also need to crack down on Art History. I'm looking for a new hook to post up--I really want to put up some weekly discussions and profiles, etc. But that all takes time, so I'm going to have to have that on the back burner for a while before I really get a chance to let loose.

Ok, that's enough, I'm going to go play some DDR with the husband.

Working on a couple of designs for hand-pulled prints and maybe some note cards. If I get some good proofs off of them, I'll post them here tomorrow morning. If I get some REALLY good proofs, I'll post them on Etsy, and you'll see them in the buy_ebsq_art blog. Trying to pimp out one new piece a day... not easy! But I am enjoying doing lino-cuts today so I'll probably keep working on some ideas. I need some smaller-ticket items to put in my store; also I need to keep the momentum going until I release my not-right-nativity card sets in October. I may move that up to September--I've already got them, and it's killing me not to put them up!

Yep, I've been busy. The studio is nearly clean, and I finished and put up three new paintings. You can find 'em on Etsy right now. They have also been added to my EBSQ portfolio. They were actually mostly completed a few months ago, but true to my own fashion, it takes me a while to do anything. I have a commission or two on the horizon, so I'm likely to be busy for a while until school starts! I worked a while on my Imagekind presence today, so far, so good. Anyway: here they are!





Death of Hestia, 11 X 14





Burning, 9 X 12





Drowning, 9 X 12

I haven't really gotten a lot done this month. No *significant* art got done at all, mostly because the studio is a mess. I just rearranged things so I could put a chair and a small sofa in there, which I think will help, since I love working from comfortable furniture. I still need a new desk to put in there for my study area.

So, I'm likely going to be quite busy for a while--I have to get it cleaned out before school starts or it will never get done.

I've been riding the bike a lot lately, and I'm starting to feel fatigue in my back. I hope I can push through that feeling without it becoming a big deal--my first semester of school (that's now been quite a while!) I managed to really hurt my back bad from carrying the weight of books again. That took 6 months to clear up, and I really don't want to go through that again.

I took most of the red out of my hair last week, but it's still pretty red. I'm hoping to get it dialed back to my natural color by winter, but it's so tricky when working from bottle jobs. It's pretty dry from all the manipulating, so I need to get a deep-conditioner. I'll be happy when I get about three more inches on, I'll be able to put my hair up again.

This afternoon is going to be a "fun" day--going shopping, etc. Tonight though, I'm planning to sit down and finally do some real work on the studio--mostly the little business details I need to tie together, along with some listing on Etsy.

I'm kind of in a bad mood right now--I have millions of mosquito bites.

Yes! Washing Machine! I've been doing laundry ALL day!

Sitting in my dime-sized backyard, listening to the throngs of people coming out of the community center/church behind the house, watching my parakeets in their outdoor cage, I began to wonder about my life, and where it's going.

I remember vividly the first three years of my marriage, spent in the huge (but still cramped) one bedroom apartment  on a beautiful street.  Three cats, a couple of aquariums, birds--we all had to fight for space in there, cook our food on warped counter tops...the joy of that place was the very nice deck where we used to line our pumpkins up at Halloween. I hated that place and yet, I look back on that time as a precious memory. Sometimes I wish things were like that again.

The next house was such a sour note, I don't even think about it. But this house has been ok--I hate not having a bathtub, and this place has many of the "old house" problems that we had with the first house.

Ronnie and I are careening toward the end of schooling--him his masters and I my undergrad, but have we really accomplished anything? I want more than anything to have a home of my own--no landlords, no neighbors 2 ft away. Sometimes I compare my lot with more affluent friends and I wonder how we do it. We don't make a lot of money--I barely make any right now. But we pay our bills, we have enough left over for some fun, and we never go hungry. I like my life.

Still, we are in such a transitional phase that it does kind of get under my skin. I really want to put down some roots--stretch out, make something mine. After having to virtually destroy my garden in the summer of 07 because we had to move, I haven't had the will to put anything into the yard here at the rental house. We just signed a lease for another year, but I still worry. I still don't have the heart to spend money on flowers to make this place my own, because in my soul I know this place isn't my own.

So I'm sitting outside, feeling kind of happy, kind of sad, and thinking to myself--is THIS the time I'm going to look back on in ten years? Wishing we were back there?

I don't know. It's one of those summer days that I wish was an Autumn day--because I really, really want to get right into those cozy fall activities like football, Halloween, and scary movies. Oh, and Thanksgiving. I guess you can tell I'm kind of in a time out of time right now, huh?

Best!
A

Reposted from MySpace, last night:

Well, I have been lax in reporting, but Ronnie and I use WiiFit every day. We have not yet had occasion to miss a day, and we are getting a heckuva lot of benefit from the thing!

I am pleased to report that as of today, I have lowered my BMI one whole point from where I started. And that, my friends, is progress! I look a little trimmer, my pants are falling off, and I'm feeling a lot more energized. It's taking a while, but I'm happy to know that the athelete I used to be is still with me--just buried. I'm thinking of making a new goal for myself:

Next summer, I want to join a rec league softball team. My glove needs oiling--badly--but it would be fun to knock the rust off and get back in center field!

Unfortunately, I haven't got a lot done today, despite a promising start. However, I will be doing some deep cleaning later this afternoon as my mother-in-law will be here tomorrow to help me go claim my new washer.

However, my big accomplishment of the day is that I rode my bike (I am now calling her Lupe) all the way to Preston and Floyd, which is almost all the way to campus. Now, when I got home, I thought I might barf, but I'm still pretty happy with myself. My quest to fitness continues!

I'll be back in school in a little over a month... back to the old grind. It goes by so fast, though, it really, really does. I'm just trying to enjoy the heck out of it, because I know life isn't going to slow down once I'm through. As a matter of fact, it's probably going to get more hectic than ever.

Ronnie is close to his Master's degree but he's going through some bumps in preparing his thesis. I know he's brilliant, so I wish he'd just convince himself of that!

I've been keeping myself at home this summer. Last summer was a nightmare wrapped in a bad dream, being forced to move (a year ago now) while I was out of town house-sitting. I decided not to do any part-time work so I could get some work done on my two Etsy stores but so far, I'm not accomplishing too much. When school starts if I wind up having the time I will probably get some part-time waitressing work or something nearby just for some incidental cash.

This year marks the beginning of my biking to school every day. We're a little closer now, so I'm hopeful that the mostly flat, 3 mile bike ride (6 mile, round trip) will be a healthy, cost-effective way for me to get to and from school. I'm starting a routine of doing the ride every day now so I'm not arriving late, drenched in sweat, and ready to die when I'm trying to get to class. I got a new bike this past week, a powder-blue cruiser with cream fenders. It's pretty girly, but oh my sweet lord is it comfortable. I will probably be adding a rack to the back for transporting little items and definitely putting in a bottle holder. 3 miles doesn't sound like much, but I'm sure I'll be thirsty after doing it for the first time with a bag full of heavy text books.

I'm spending a lot of time with my friends this year, which is a refreshing change. Jennifer and I are going to King's Island with our passes this summer (June was kind of a bust, but we both had a lot of things going on). We'll definitely be going the last Friday before I'm reporting to university. Cheresa and I are spending a lot of time together, also, being crazy as usual. :)

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Selfish, maybe, but--I get the day to myself. I can clean, get prepwork done for some freezing I'm planning to do, get some studio stuff done, and I won't have to be anywhere or do anything if I don't want to. I don't even have to get dressed if I don't want--pajama pants and men's T-shirt it is!

Today I got some German textbooks off Amazon--a bunch of solid stuff to help me brush up before going into round 2 this coming semester. So I see someone come up the walk this morning, and I'm totally not wearing pants, so I ran to get something to put on, thinking it was the UPS man. I found Ronnie's workout shorts, which, differences between the sexes taken into account, don't fit me very well. I put them on, then went to the door. Nothing. Turns out, it was the meter-reader. So I take the shorts off, and start to go in the other room to find some of my real clothes, when the door rattles, and, yes, it's the UPS man. And I'm so not wearing pants again. Me being me, I just opened the door up and took the box and played it off. :)

That's probably enough for now. I'm going to repost some blogs from myspace here as I get the time.

I have revamped my website, although it's still not anywhere near complete. I plan to have a portfolio up and going asap--but I'm still unpacking from my move and gearing up to head back into my second semester of college (eeee!)

Still, things are returning to normal, and despite the fact that my wine bottle painting was f'ing STOLEN, I'm pretty happy about the way things are going right now.

More updates to come.
Cheers,
A

I can't remember if I linked to her yet: here she is!



I'm getting ready to do a 10-series of pin ups (still working on my Tolkien illustrations, of course). Check back often for details!

I have listed this on ebay, starts at $3 so you won't lose much by bidding!


as well as Sunrise, which I have listed before. I'm clearing house!

Check them out by searching for items from user ID podkaynestudios on eBay.

Also be sure to search EBSQ to support living artists!

I'm working on a great pin up project right now--can't wait to show it off right here!

Well, as the inventive title suggests, I finished that still life! Yay!

But, I'm also going through a rough patch, trying to do the university thing, still (pathetically) trying to find a friend, dealing with in-law issues...

"Accursed unhappy temperament" is a term that was used to describe the way Horatio Hornblower felt about himself... he may be a fictional character, but I think I share in his personality. I logically know I do my best 99% of the time... but it is never enough. I am always second guessing. It is a hard way to be.

But, I have done some painting, and here it is. :)