Impacts on Reality

(11/26/14)

Photo from here.

I had a really vivid dream last night of being pulled over by the police in a car I wasn't driving. There were two officers who were super aggressive and demanded us to get out of the car so they could search the car and, as dreams go, to search my car that was parked across the street. (It was the 1994 Ford Thunderbird that I miss as much as I miss people). Of course I refused to consent to a search and asked what was the problem, which outraged the officers. But somehow how in all the confusion and high tension, I was able to calm the officers down and they ended up sitting in the car with us, agreed they were over reacting, and eventually left.

This would never happen in real life.

In real life I am sure I would have either submitted to the search or been so verbal as to get myself arrested. Which lead me to another mid-sleep though, if I were locked up, refused to talk, and insisted on an attorney...who in the universe would I call?

So this morning I raked my brain, figured out who is the nearest trust-worthy criminal defense attorney is that I know and added the firm's number to my phone. Along with a 24-hour defense hotline number, just in case.

Oh the wonder of dreaming.

Coming Right Along...

(10.21.14)

Last night I was able to actually turn off the distractions and focus on the projects that occupy my mind!

You may remember my Inspiration Everywhere post a few weeks ago where I showed you some research I started in pursuit of finally returning to a project I started in 2012. I have wanted to make some prints stylized after the great art made by the Bread and Puppet Theater Company. 

The subject matter for this print series came to me while attending the best church in the whole world (located in Cincinnati). You see, the Center for Spiritual Living of Greater Cincinnati has some really awesome tenants of faith. These tenants include core values that resonant with me beyond my wildest dreams. So, in response to my feelings I set out to make art so celebrate these values: 

Love 

Spirituality 

Integrity

Service

Abundance 

Consciousness

Mindfulness,  

Dynamic Energy!

Two of the sketches from 

And, as it goes with me, I chose to sketch ALL of the words at once and when I failed to finish, gave up entirely. So my sketch books has nice ideas for a lot of these values but still has empty pages waiting for inspirations.

This time, in 2014, when that whisper of inspiration for this project returned, I was bound and determined not to get lost in the enormity of newness. 

Though I wanted to go out and buy the largest linoleum I could find, all the paper I would need, the Speedball ink and roller and cutting tools, I forced myself to scale it back. 

I set out to make ONE PRINT AT A TIME. (brilliant, right?)

I borrowed tools from another artist instead of buying new.

I bought only a small piece of linoleum and no ink and no paper: one step at a time! 

This scaling back prevented me from becoming overwhelmed and I have actually been able to START ONE PRINT put one step in place before the the next step is started. 

Here's where I am: 

Pick just ONE inspiration at a time!

Outline the drawing with charcoal.

Transfer the charcoal image to the linoleum

The transfer didn't turn out too well the first time so I wiped it off and tried again.

Sharpies are the best! I traced all of the charcoal lines with black marker.

Now I have a great reverse image of the original!
Next step is to cut away the grey.
I will post more pictures as this project comes along.