Walls, inspiration and naked girls.

I'll be honest: it's been a while since I have felt so inspired, so alive with creativity. I experience inpiration in the little things in life...it is always there for me. But it has been a while since I have experienced goosebump-y, jumping-up-and-down, oh-my-gosh-I-can't-breathe inspiration. This has been a whirlwind week of sketching, envisioning and imagining...then painting, creating, gluing, stitching, nailing and building to bring these ideas to life.

Next on my wacky life agenda (as many of you know) is to be a partner in the Anam Cara Collective in Asheville, a consignment art shoppe (much like Veggie Art Girl!) paired with a performance space for intimate shows and performances. The marriage of the two concepts feels so natural to me, that I knew it was going to be a smashing success the minute that my partner Erinn starting talking about it over beer at the local pub a year (or two?) ago.
Now, everything is becoming an exciting reality. We've been transforming this olllld building on Haywood Ave. into a beautiful venue for our first show performance on Feb. 5th (Nikki Talley!), which is going to be followed by two weekends of Naked Girls Reading. Our art shoppe is going to open a couple of days prior. People have really been working together to help make this happen. Local press has been creating a buzz! It is all overwhelmingly amazingly inspiring and humbling to me.

And now (drumroll please!)...I will share with you some of our cool construction. First off: we needed to divide the space a bit for sound, seating and all that. So we built a wall.

In trying to stay green (and save some moola!) we decided to use old doors and shutters. I brought some with me (in Janis!) from NH and we created this beautiful wall! (Dad, you should be proud- everything you taught me about framing out a wall, I used- it's all 24 on center! AND amazingly square and level!)
The best part? The wall is hinged to the wall so we can fold it flat to open up the space. I have to say that I have taken a lot of inspiration for this wall project from Melissa McCarthy at The Studio- whose wall on wheels I have been admiring for some time. :o) (And all of the funky architechtural pieces are taken from old shelving I dumpster dove for!) There are pieces and parts from all over the place, making this installation so rich in texture, but history. I love this wall!

And I love what I am doing here. I can't wait to share more pics of our progress, shop and shows. Awesome things are happening! Cheers to art! :o)

Asheville or bust!

Last Saturday, I packed Janis to the brim with all sorts of creative stuff and headed south for a month-long adventure in the best city ever. And while this stay is going to be shorter than most, I have giant, GIANT plans for my 4 week stay! See Mom? I am wearing my seatbelt. :o)

I packed my two travel buddies: Kermit the Frog and Michael Jackson...

Beautiful skies and sunshine led me through the mountains to my favorite city in the world...

On the last leg of my trip through Tennesee, I got to enjoy this beautiful sunset. (Well, I didn't stop to TAKE these pictures...I just strapped the camera to my arm, hung it out the window and kept on driving!)

And now I am here, safe and sound...Janis all in one piece and this crazy city out my front door. Stories of Asheville awesomeness coming soon...and pictures of my new business adventure here! I am so completely overwhelmed with inspiration, that I cannot wait to share with everyone! :o)

Trudi

It was love at first sight. I went back to visit her for 3 days in a row and called twice to make sure this fabulous green bike hadn't been sold. And then I remembered the wise old saying, "if you love something, set it free," which I did...for an entire day. But then I got nervous, called the antique shoppe back, and had them put a hold sign on it. I scrounged together every penny I had, decided I could live off the box of pasta I have in the back of the cupboard and tap water for the next week and bought my groovy dream bike. Fantastic.

I asked the cashier what she thought I should name it (as I was shaking in excitement) and she kind of stared at me blankly. The fun lady behind me in line showed a little more enthusiasm about my purchase, told me she had a similar bike and offered to take a picture of me. And just like that my new bike had a name: Trudy. Named after the fun lady with the purple pants.

Trudy and Janis become friends:Oh, I heart this bike so. We are going to be soooooo happy together. :o)

Time for a change?

While my self-employed earnings have been not been*quite* as much as I would be making at my last cubicle day job, the completion of my 2009 taxes (yessssss!) have proven that I can in fact do this. 2010 is going to be a smarter year for me. I now know what I need to itemize, write-off, budget and pay annually. I feel this year I can make better choices. And while I do LOVE my van (Janis), she may need to get traded in for something smarter in the near future. I'm thinking something that gets good gas milage, has 4WD (oh how I have missed that...the luxury of being able to visit my friends up on the hill in the wintery weather!) and can of course fit all of my crap (I mean art) in it when I travel and go to art shows. I have always loved, loved, LOVED the Jeep Cherokee, and think back fondly on my time with Jeffery (my 1994 beauty) that I had a short relationship with. I loved that it was green and looked like a box on wheels. I liked that it only played tapes, had a stick on the floor and the windows whistled on the highway. But it may be time to even upgrade from that. I'm thinking Honda Element. Couldn't you just see me in this sweet lil' ride? Suggestions, recommendations and offers to sell me your vehicle are all welcome. :o)

C'mon Spring! :o)

I have to say, as much as I loooooovvvvveeee Asheville, the weather has been kind of terrible this season. There has been a scattering of sunshiney days, but they have been massively outnumbered by New Hampshire-esque, blizzardy, snowy ones. But, it's all about making the most of it! And as the sun is shining and it is a near 50 degrees out today (woot!), I think I will post the last of my wintery pics, and then store them far, far away. Most of these were taken when Jim came to visit me in February. (Chainsaw: did YOU grafitti this wall?) Fig snow art.

I have to say that while Janis does okay in the snow, she does prefer the springtime. :o)

Today...

I took Janis (my van) for a drive downtown (gotta keep her in tip top shape!) and walked though West Asheville today for a bit, soaking in the beautiful sunshine and taking it all in. It's warm out here today, probably in the high 50's, and people are out and about. It feels good and I feel good....better than I have in years. My creative energy is flowing, I'm enjoying a delicious organic salad at the West End Bakery (a great place to get yummy salads, spelt goodies & herbal teas), and life is remarkably good here. :o)

It's the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational...

I've always been drawn to Jim Henson and his work in an almost indescribable way. I don't remember my first words, or my first day of school. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, but I do recall the first sight of Big Bird on stage of Sesame Street Live at the New Haven Coliseum when I was barely potty-trained.

Something clicked in me at that ripe young age and I have been a fan of everything Muppets ever since. To this day I will watch the opening song to the Muppet Show over and over again to just be able to see the paint strokes and hand-carved quality of the set and see the details that formed what I think to be one of the most brilliant masterpieces of all time. Because it is not just the Muppets that I am oh-so-intrigued with. It is the mind of the late and great Jim Henson that has inspired me to do so many things in my life and has changed me.

The Smithsonian exhibit was a nice, colorful display, that guided you through the life of Jim and his many forms of creative media. From his graphic design (which I was excited to learn about!) to his cartooning to his comic books to his sculptures to commercials to the Muppets we all know and love, I was able to see this evolution, and see the pages in his sketchbook (which, by the way, were full of swirls and doodles in Sharpie and colored pencil). This was the down and dirty stuff....scribbles in faded marker on the back of a menu, covered in coffee stains that laid out ideas for sets and Muppet sketches. I stood before the actual original drawing for the set idea for the Muppet Show and my heart actually skipped a beat.

Then of course there was Kermit (who, little known fact, was originally constructed out of a ping pong ball and one of Jim's mother's old coats). There were some Dark Crystal characters. Ernie. Bert. And Rolph the dog made an appearance. I left there feeling inspired and changed. But I could have used a little more Muppet viewing. I wanted to stare at more of these creatures of wonder for hours and see the handiwork, the glue drips, the recycled materials and the stitches that they were made of.

So I randomly struck up conversation with the lady at the front desk (who, was nice enough to offer me the student discount, despite me not having any proof of the sort). She casually mentioned that there was a permanent display of the Muppets up the street at the Center for Puppetry Arts, a museum of only puppets, that was actually established with the help of Jim Henson.

Whaaa? I had no idea. I ran out the door hopped in Janis (my oh-so-reliable vehicle, who loves the warm weather!) as quickly as possible. If there were Muppets to be seen and they were in that town, I was not wasting time here.

The sun was shining and I felt as if I was heading down the yellow brick road. (Sidenote: I actually lost the top of my sunroof leaving the parking garage. Somehow I managed to make the clearance on the way in, but the incline on the way out snapped off the top to my sunroof and it flew off the back, leaving a gaping hole in my roof. A random jogger was passing by, saw this happen and handed me the sunroof. I know this should have phased me more than it did, but the whole transaction in my overly excited state reminded me for no reason at all of that scene in Muppets Take Manhattan, when Gregory Hines has his skates taken by Miss Piggy in the park. I know...they're not even related. But if you haven't seen it, you should at least You Tube that right away.)

Sunroofless, I found my way to the Puppet Museum (thankfully, I had a nice collection of colored duct tape that my friend Rox gave me for Christmas, so I did some quick repair on Janis), and there, amidst a flock of first graders on a field trip, and for a ridiculously discounted price (I think the front desk dude saw a sense of urgency in my eyes), I found it.

Ahhhhhh...Muppets (the signs said no photography, but if you drove 19 hours to see this, I think you would take pictures too...enjoy!) Jaw dropped, heart beating, I stood before these creatures and took it all in. I ate lunch out of the vending machine so that I could spend more time there, seeing how they were made, and how Jim's brilliant ideas were realized, from a napkin drawing to life-like puppets that have made their way into my heart. The Doozers. The Fraggles. Big Bird. Pigs in Space. The door knockers from the Labyrinth. The word amazing does not do this man's work any justice. He was pure genius.

Needless to say, I took away a lot from my day of Muppets and learning about Jim Henson. Most importantly I learned that it's important to just put your ideas out there, and try to acknowledge but excuse the fear (that I have come to know in creating) of rejection or the need to perfect everything before it is seen. While I am sure that there were many raised eyebrows at the sight of Jim's zany creations and ideas that began to surface in the 60's, he believed in himself and knew he had a worthwhile story to tell. And for the opportunity to learn his story, I am forever grateful.

Remember these guys? Mahna mahna! Doot-doot-doo-doot-doot...

I know these guys were behind glass. But you would practically smell the polyesther of Bert's super cool V-neck sweater.

Wow.

On the road again...

I woke Sunday morning in New Jersey (after perhaps one too many glasses of champagne with dinner) at 4:45 to be on the road by 5:00. I did it all right, but not without driving through an ice storm in the pitch black morning. It was freezing and Janis didn't want to start, but when she finally did, onward we went. I traveled just over 1000 miles that day, landing in Alpharetta (just outside Atlanta) Georgia in the evening at Joy and Greg's house, where I was warmly welcomed. And while it was a loooong drive, at the same time, it was quite beautiful. I was able to really take in the views of the east coast highways—from the dude ranches to the “adult toy stores” (which are a-plenty down south!) to the gorgeous farmland...I was happy to be driving through all of it. (Though I would like to take a moment to thank the following people for the mixed CD's: Bob, Jim, Tanya, Anna and Larry. They helped a lot.)

Bizarr-o things I noticed between New Jersey and Georgia:

1.) Buttzville, NJ had the worst weather ever. Ice. Wind. 35 on the highway. Oh, the irony.

2.) While crossing the Mason Dixon line, I actually had the Mason Dixon song playing (partially by coincidence—I skipped ahead, knowing it was in a song or two once I saw the sign indicating I was fast approaching it). Thanks Tanya, for the mix. It was a bit less uneventful than the song. Man, that is a good song. I gave that about 7 or 8 listens in my travels.

3.) You really can wear the same socks for 4 days and get away with it. Just turn them inside out every other day and air them out at night.

4.) I drove 14.5 hours and saw only 4 cops. I found this to be more than shocking. I see more than that driving to the store some days in Plymouth.

5.) Most of the cities Pennsylvania end in “burg.” Pittsburgh. Harrisburg. Gatlinburg. Each time I stopped in Penn., the sales clerk or gas station attendants told me to button up because it was “cold one out there.” It was nearly 40 degrees! I laughed at all of them. Wimps.

6.) If you have a cold and you cannot taste, the absolute worst snacks to eat are Bugles and Whoppers. Neither of them are known for their fabulous texture and neither of them were worth it. I ate both bags in their entirety.

7.) It is possible for someone to consume 2 Red Bulls, 1 large tea, a coffee and a diet soda and still get sleepy. Usually a decaf tea will keep me awake, but these beverages did nothing for me.

8.) There are no Mobil stations between NJ and GA. Where did they all go?

9.) I still am not sure what Meatloaf would not do for love. And I gave the song a good long listen...10 or 12 times. (Again, thank you Tanya for your musical genius)

This pictures was taken on a cold morning in Allentown, PA, just as the sun was coming up. Billy Joel was no where to be found. I even tried Dunkin Donuts.