chinese calligraphy always comes in handy

how is it that i can THINK i will blog every day....and here, not even two weeks into it, i've just NOT blogged for three days in a row!! life interupts, that's all there is to it....i've been artsy busy with artist bios for two different things....and write ups for two more different things....and for some written tasks, i am just me...i write what i think and feel without much thought to who will be reading it and what they will be thinking...i am what i am....but for other writing, artist bios and art descriptions need to be "right" ..they need to sound professional or serious or something.......something that does not come naturally to me......so...i have been furthering my art career, though not wielding a paint brush as much......WAIT ....i have been gessoing EVER day for five days or so......

here's an odd side story...my extraordinarily lovely dog ATE the cord to my computer.....i did not love her for a whole three minutes, then i got over it.....i went to the apple store (i wish all of life operated as efficiently as an apple store...i could be a spokesperson for that company, i love them so much) .....i digress....making that a double digress...i went to the apple store (two weeks ago?) and bought a new power cord...and it came in this impressive box...strong, sturdy, folding together in such a way that it was just a lovely box engineering marvel....i once knew a guy who designed boxes for a LIVING....he was an engineer......anyway, awesome box...so i just left it out on my coffee table to admire.....hmmmm, what should i do with this groovy box? .....i'm sure my family couldn't even see it because it was just one more bit of mess in the mess......but i loved the box, admired the box, appreciated the heft and shape of the box......and then i covered it nearly 400 feet of masking tape......ok...maybe 300 feet....... before i wrapped it , i had to think long and hard about whether i'd put anything in this box before taping it up FOREVER .......or write in it....or tape something in so there's no shake noise....hmmmmmm......so.....taped that box beauty up like there's no such thing as earth day and pretending that tape is NOT a precious commodity in this house (tape is SO precious a rescource!) .....so.....every day for nearly a week now, i've been applying gesso to that dandy box......it's getting ready to be art...you can't love a box that much and then not make it spectacular.....my greatest fear now, is that i'll make bad art out of that box and then just throw it away after all this glorious daydreaming aobut what a box can become......so...that's where i digressed from......i've been wielding a paint brush daily in order to gesso that box into artistic submission.......

back to where i was.....i've finished my write ups for the three art cards that ray at lark books has given me the go ahead for...yippee.....now i just have to bundle up the cards, the spare ephemera, the contract, the tax form...and mail it off....that'll probably happen thursday...and my deadline isn't til may 1....so i'm doing great!! yippee again!

here, i have two pics, of two cards, that were not taken by the book people.....these were actually my favorites.....mona lisa is a fave for obvious reasons...i adore HER....she certainly looks perkier in her new necklace...she, like i, has a may birthday, no doubt.....so emeralds, even faux emeralds, are a fave.....

...and the chinese symbol card, i think is very lovely...thank heavens that second language has finally come into good use, even if it is just on my art!........the book people wanted simple....so, though these two pieces aren't quite as arted up as my usual, i still dig 'em.......ah well......they picked three other groovy ones...that'll have to do...mona doesn't mind that she wasn't chosen.......