FOR HALLOWEEN I WORSHIP ORANGE.

Sometimes there is nothing better than some good orange food. Today I could hear it calling me from the other end of the room. It's spooky on Halloween to hear voices, but food voices I hear all the time.
It was the salty, cheery other-worldly glow of Cheetos that I craved and so I indulged myself as you can see from the self-portrait of my hand holding a bag of orange goodness. What would we do at work without the snack table?
When Cheetos don't work, Dorito nachos chips do the trick, and guess what? They are orange too!
Sometimes I worship at the altar of the Church of Orange Non-Food Products. Other times it's apples ... but no more candy. I've sworn off candy unless it's dark chocolate, and then only in small portions. The other night I was at the grocery store and I had eaten a small bag of Cheetos that day and I wanted to buy a great big bag and finish them in the car before I drove home. I didn't do it, however. Then, right there at the checkout stand, was a cart with a small girl (about 3) holding a large bag of Cheetos. She was quietly waiting for her parents to the put the rest of the groceries in the cart until she saw my eyes on her bag of Cheetos. She glared and me and suddenly clutched them to her chest. Her large brown eyes narrowed and you could tell she could read my mind. She gave me the evil look that said, "Oh, no, you don't. They're mine!"
"Don't you just love Cheetos?" I asked. "They are my favorite too."
My tone won her over, I guess. She smiled a little but she didn't loosen her grip on the bag. Smart girl.
Her mother assured me the little girl didn't get them often. "Just once in a while," she said.
Ha! I'm sure the girl wouldn't get many of them. Not if the mother and father worshiped orange non-food the way I do. Somehow the Cheetos would disappear faster than anticipated for the little girl ... unless she took them to bed with her. I wondered if I should warn her ...? But being a parent is rough enough. The two of them looked as if a few Cheetos wouldn't hurt them, and there's always more of them coming from the Land of Bright Orange Snack Food every day.
Happy Halloween everyone. Tomorrow - at midnight tonight - Nanowrimo begins. Wish me well on my quest to finish 50,000 words before the end of November. Visit my Nanowrimo page. Search for "femminismo" or literary fiction writers in the Pacific Northwest. You'll find me I'm sure. Watch my progress. Cheer me on.
More later, that's for sure.

Ah! So Much Has Been Going On.

Too busy. That's reflected in my art/journal page which isn't more than cutting and pasting. I admired this advertisement and it seemed to fit ... so I stole it.
It's fall all around, underfoot and overhead. I captured some photos of that.
I finally got my copy of Cloth Paper Scissors and was so happy to read about Judy Wise. She is absolutely the busiest, most creative person on earth.
I've also been busy baking "pies" for our Annual Artist Event at Valley Art. The theme is "Preface," with a strong emphasis on the nursery rhyme and story book about the four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. In the same Cloth Paper Scissors was an article on fancy "scrap crow" dolls, so I made one last night. Now I just have to make one every night until Nov. 6 and I'll be set to decorate tabletops with them in "pies."
Must leave you once again. Hope you enjoy the photos. femminismo

It's about time!

That's what all my loyal fans are saying: "It's about time!"
Well, what can I say? I've been busy? Yes, I'll say that. It's not that I've been lazy.
Here are photos from the latest class I took. They are huge. I'll have to make them smaller and repost them.
Sorry about that.
It was a class in "Shrinky Dink" art. We stamped shrinky dink material, colored the stamped image and then put them in little toaster ovens.
It was fun and the time flew by much too fast.
Enjoy. Hope your fall is going well. - femminismo

Paste paper ... and it's easy and fun!

Saturday was a too short day of playing and making art. Patricia Edmonds taught a class at the Accidental Bookmaker and though we were slow to take off, when things got cooking (one cooked element was the paste itself) our inhibitions "baked away" and we were churning out the artwork.
Paintbrushes were dipped into tinted rice and wheat paste and we covered our paper. Then we used a variety of tools - never intended for any other purpose besides whisking egg whites or combing hair - to make patterns in our paste mixture.
I tried to restrain myself from applying glitter on everything, and once or twice succeeded.
Some of these finished papers will go into books and some could stand as framed art alone ... (she said modestly).
There were many different papers to try. Black papers coated with paste and then "combed," with the original paper color underneath revealed, were lovely. Many of my papers were left in the studio to dry overnight. This morning I ironed the wrong side of the ones I brought home and I have feverish plans to include them in my November art journal, which I desperately hope will be better than my October book. It has been given short shrift because of my other projects this month.
However, in November I will also begin Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I'm not sure what my novel will feature this year, but I have a couple of ideas. You can wish me luck with it by following along at the Nanowrimo.org Web site. Search for "femminismo."
One of the nicest things about Saturday - yesterday - was getting in touch with Judy Teufel who also took the class. I have been thinking about her lately ... wondering how she was doing. Now I know. She has a new kayak and will be taking it out soon. Her new "ship" is a color she calls "Mango Tango." In a few years, I hope I am as vibrant and alive as this woman is today.
Enough. Take a look at my pictures of yesterday.

My, October is racing along!

Yes, it's true time is racing. Perhaps it's because I spend too much time on the computer altering and changing blogs and documents - and exploring those irresistible sites that I seem to happen upon by reading other blogs with yummy applications in them.
I found a way to tile some photos and I'll put the link when I get another spare minute. It was fun. Now I just have to find where I stored it on my computer.
Let's see if it shows up. Just like a treasure hunt ... you would think I would learn to make better notes on files. You would think ... .

A Saturday Market Kind of Morning

Cool, cool nights into the low 40s. This morning found us at our local Saturday Farmers Market looking at all the wonderful pears and vegetables. How about those photos? Some raspberries and peaches were still on show, too. The smells of the sausage stand brought us over that way. Carnivores until the end, I guess.
The trees seemed to change color on my way to and from the market. I swear they looked redder and yellower. Different weather from yesterday. Then it was sunny and pretty warm. The sunroof was open and small yellow leaves swirled like snowflakes, some making it into the car. Today it's too changeable and cold to leave the windows open very long.
I had some good news yesterday. That made the day special. Today I spent some time with my brother. We worked on his blog and put more pictures on it. Tonight we are going to a movie with friends, so that should be fun, too.
Art ... manana.

What Have I Been Doing?

Time has been getting on and what have I been doing, you ask?
Well, staring at the autumn leaves. Writing sporadically in my art/journal. Working at a paying job. Working on the computer for a volunteer organization.
The days and evenings race by and there's not much being done with my art.
I've drawn a few pictures in October's journal and I promise I'll do more.
I am working on a design for blackbirds for a project. I think black construction paper would work well, with black and white checkerboard wings for the birds.
I really need to marshal my organizational skills together. I am chairperson for an art event on Nov. 6 and will be doing Nanowrimo again this year - for the third time - and it begins Nov. 1. Yikes!
I haven't decided what to write about. It's usually a last minute decision, since you're supposed to start from scratch and I'm a very strict rule follower, even when no one's watching.
Paranoid, I guess, just a little. More later ... stay tuned.