Hodgepodge Fandangle

Thought I would post a few items of interest (well, they're interesting to me!)

This Thursday, April 28, from 7 to 9 p.m. there will be an opening at Hal Marcus Gallery of Arte' Pequena, miniatures by 25 local artists. Besides refreshments and a cash bar (including pimento cheese finger sandwiches by moi) Cecil will have four new little pieces in the show (he likes BIG canvases so it was a challenge for him to size it down.) If you can, please come and check it out...

And for all those that keep asking, Cecil has a job. He is a dealer...NO!, not that kinda dealer! All those years of collecting stuff is finally paying off and disbursement has begun. He works hard photographing, describing and listing items for sale on eBay (you have no idea how much time that takes!) and is doing quite well, thank you. So if you are interested in first edition books, periodicals, paper memorabilia from the heyday of the sixties and seventies, and a whole hodgepodge of other things...look for him on eBay: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmtmynd1
He even has some of his prints up this week...we'll see how those do.

For those of you that are NASCAR fans (good on you), my Bud finally did well this last Saturday night in Phoenix...him and Mikey both. If you aren't a NASCAR fan, you don't know what the heck I am talking about, do you? Hah!

While I watch NASCAR, I bead...have to keep those hands busy or I get nervous and shout at the TV...sometimes I shout anyway and scare the family who are busy doing other things. "Oh, it's just Mom, You okay Mom?" Anyway, I made some really gorgeous beaded barrettes and a pair of beaded earrings while not watching and watching the race. Really happy with the way they turned out and will post pictures of them soon as they are finished (glued to the backs, threads clipped, earwires attached, etc.)

This coming weekend (yes, I am sure of the date this time) Jan and I will be doing La Vina in La Union, New Mexico. I have been working hard to make stuff for this show and all the others coming up after. My summer is going to be very busy as I am also going to be doing the farmer's market at Ardivino's Desert Crossing on the Saturdays I am not elsewhere so postings here will be infrequent, I think.

Here are some new origami earrings(I sold all the other ones I made) that I finished last week. They are fun but very labor intensive as I coat all of them with a finish to make them sturdy and waterproof and each origami bead is less than an inch square...imagine the folding of those little papers!



Note: I tried to resize the picture but was unsuccessful. Sorry for the giant earrings! Really, I am not trying to slow down your computers.

(Whoops...came back and found that they resized really, really small. At least your computers will like them. I will try and fix them if I get the time.)

Go Figure

I am indulging in a bit of self analysis, I mean, what is it about numbers and me? I really can't figure it out. (sorry, bad pun)

As long as I can remember, I have had issues with numbers, you know, math, 'arithmetic' as it used to be called. Some folks are afraid of snakes or bugs or heights...not me. The biggest cockroach in the world doesn't even make me quiver. I don't mind snakes a bit, tight spaces, high places...not a problem, but give me two or more digits and I am shaking in my boots. Do I have a 'number' phobia?

It seems, as I look back and try to remember, that this has always been an issue for me. Hiding in the cloak closet as a very young child waiting for the math portion of class to finish and the teacher never noticing is one memory. My grandfather used to drill me on my multiplication tables which by the way, I never managed to memorize and would dread. I can remember most peoples names that I meet but never their phone numbers, even old friends that I talk to frequently. I can't count although I have worked in credit departments, as a cashier, and do my own bookkeeping (how I manage is always questionable.) And it is not just math that makes me sweat...dates, times, anything, anything to do with numbers makes me nervous because I know I have dyslexic tendencies with numbers. I will get 'em mixed up more often than not.

And it is not as if I am not careful, very careful when numbers are necessary. I recently sent out postcards to several hundred of my customers on my mailing list with the upcoming shows, times and dates. I create the template for my postcards, go and print them myself, hand address them (my printer sucks, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't) and have that satisfied feeling that I've done all I can to insure a successful turnout to the shows. Then (EEK!!!!) I discover that I put the wrong dates...for the next show!!! There it is, in print...the wrong days, the wrong weekend. This is a quandary...do I go to La Union and sit by the winery and apologise to all that turn out on the wrong day for my show? Explain that I have issues with numbers? Hah! I can't send out correction postcards. Sheesh! At least, I called my friends (I looked the numbers up) and let them know the right dates and damn if some of them were planning on coming on the wrong date that I sent them... How in the heck did I get it wrong...even though I thought I checked everything carefully...?

They (the ubiquitous 'they') say that part of dealing with a problem is knowing what the problem is. I know I have this problem with numbers so I try and be very careful when I HAVE to use them. Although, more often than not my checkbook never balances, I have to do my taxes over and over, etc. And it's not as if I think I am stupid...I have a pretty good opinion of my capabilities, my brain function. String theories in physics fascinate me, cellular biology is something I enjoy reading about, Einstein's theories are fairly well understood and 'ubiquitous' is a word I use in a sentence but don't ask me what 9 times 8 equals...I'd have to calculate it and even then, I may get it wrong.

Now for those of you that have no issues with numbers, this may all seem a bit silly, a fear of numbers but think about how you feel about snakes or bugs or whatever it is that you have irrational fears about. It just is. Trying to analyze myself and the 'problem' I have experimented with several reasons why this may be. It is known that the right side of our brains has to do with creativity, communications, and is more subjective and the left side is analytical, logical and that's where we use numbers. Obviously, I am more right sided than left but is that the reason for my unreason? I am still working on it...until then, your indulgence is required if I sent you the wrong date, told you the wrong time and don't ask me to 'go figure' for you.

Starving Artists

The road to San Antonio is punctuated with mesquite and an abundance of desert primroses due to the break in the recent drought. When you leave the environs of Phar Lepht and the traffic and head out on Interstate 10, you are sure to notice the good verses bad drivers on the highway. Those that know how to behave on long stretches opposed to those that think the highway belongs solely to themselves. I, of course, think I am one of the former and not the latter but only another can tell.

A nine hour drive brings you to the brink of the city and more traffic and a loop that seems to take forever when your arms ache and your eyes are bleary. Fortunately, I didn't have to set up my tent at the crafts show until the next day and could enjoy the company of friends and a good dinner that evening.

Friday, the day we set up was windy and unkind especially when your tent is made of the same material they use for kites and hot air balloons. I held it down while my partner Jan scrambled from leg to leg of the tent to set the 50 lb. weights but even with the weights, the tent slid four or five feet after a big gust. We sat down to watch and consider the options and finally decided to just set up the tables in the corners with heavy tubs on top and continue the set up the next day when the winds were supposed to subside. They did...

Saturday was beautiful and there were beaucoup artists this year but unfortunately a plethora (I use that word where I can) of jewelry artists and nonartists. My real bane is the fact that in these so called juried shows, a few always get in that don't belong there and don't make what they sell and they are always jewelry booths. So you end up competing with cheap ass jewelry that is bought and resold and the people that run the shows never seem to notice even if you tell them year to year.

I barely made expenses even though the weather cooperated and the crowds were plentiful. It was discouraging and frustrating. I have to reconsider doing this show again next year if the situation remains the same and there is no telling until one gets there. A nine hour drive both ways for just a pittance doesn't seem worth it.

To top it off, the ride home after an exhausting weekend was a typical desert wind event. The dust storm and wind blew my little truck all over the road and I had to fight the wheel all the way home. By the time I arrived Monday evening, my arms, wrists and shoulders were aching.

I am glad this one is behind me...my luck is bound to change, at least that is my hope. It seems I am just moving from one trying situation to the next and keeping my chin up is becoming more of an effort.