2012/365 - Day 235

non-photo day of thinking

Today I have been drifting through a Benadryl fog, losing time, thinking it was Tuesday, then thinking it was Thursday already.  This morning I woke up and called the x-ray place and apologized for missing my mamogram only to be told that it is actually not until tomorrow.  Sheesh...what a mess.

I honestly cannot remember ever being this messed up by allergies and allergens before.  Does your sensitivity to allergens increase as you age?  Are allergens more invasive and aggressive than they used to be?  WTF?

I have been making notes and lists and planning stuff...so there isn't anything to look at.  It will be interesting -- IF the weather/allergens slow down some time soon -- to see what ideas actually surface from today's notes and scribbles.

On to tomorrow!

365 Day 181

printmaking progress

Today I am plagued with lots of allergy-related symptoms that are driving me nuts...Juana and I ran a bunch of errands this afternoon (a very needed diversion for me) and so I couldn't take any Benadryl because I couldn't count on whether it was going to knock me out or not. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't -- but it is pretty much the only thing that helps my allergies.

ANYway...I got home and still needed to blog so I decided to try and print the block that I spoke about in the entry for Day 178. I tweaked it a few nights ago and had to keep re-carving the marks around the dots -- the dots are lightning bugs. The thin lines kept wanting to close up so I needed to use a black Sharpie marker to see where I was carving...LOL.

Lightning bugs have been escorting me home from printmaking class for the last two weeks. There still aren't any in my yard yet, though. They generally show up by the 4th of July. And that reminds me of my dad. I miss my dad.

This is the best print I could manage this evening...I am really really cranky and irritated by all this itching. I am okay with this print. In person you can see where I had to re-ink it and it just doesn't want to dry. Perhaps Shaqe will have suggestions in our next class (June 11) (that seems so far away!)



the tweaked block...I (tried to) clean up some lines, added the broken lines to the guy's coat and added the lightning bugs
















the best print I could pull this evening

















I really like this picture a lot, but I really don't like the material it is carved in. I think I may try to re-do it on the harder material.

365 Day 168 (a day late...sheesh)

arrrrrrrgh -- allergies and Benadryl

I am not thrilled about losing a day (and night) yesterday to allergies and Benadryl...it feels like such a waste of time. But you know what -- I pretty much had no other choice. Blinding, pounding headache with major congestion. When Benadryl works for me, it completely knocks me out...other times it does absolutely nothing. Yesterday was a day it was working.

So today I am fighting taking another does of Benadryl. It is already 1:28 in the afternoon and I still haven't gotten anything done...my head is killing me...but I am DETERMINED to do SOMEthing creatively useful today before I have to give in.

Just now it dawned on me that I don't need to stress so much over trying to paint black circles on the glass eyes for my plaster cloth guys. Duh! I can use the unused eraser on a pencil as if it were a rubber stamp. And wouldn't you know it -- the first pencil I grabbed was from The Boca Raton Museum of Art. I guess I needed an arty pencil from an art-filled place to be able to do this.














Okay, so this blog entry is to make up for yesterday's no-post.

I will post the real entry for today later on.

365 Day 80

allergies central

Wow -- allergies were kicking me all day long. I finally ended up giving in and taking a couple of Benadryls and then a nap.

I am not a good napper, I can't just drop off to sleep for an hour and snap back -- so today was pretty much a blur...a bit disappointing to "waste" the day, but it is what it is.

This morning I did get the 4 main Tookies made that I needed to do. I am very pleased with them...they are a rollicking bunch.



These finger puppets were all embellished with my new batch of yarns. They look really great in person!