I want to congratulate Dottie Byrd for winning the Mason Jar Painting Giveaway via Button Bird Designs. Her response to the question, "What do you like best about mason jars?" was my favorite.

Mason jars were part of my educational experience, My mother and my five aunts gathered to harvest and can or freeze the fresh produce from my grandparent’s farm. They made it into a party for themselves, and I found the laughter, the camaraderie, the female gossip, and their fun irresistible. I was constantly hanging around, snooping when necessary, outright joining in if permitted. I learned everything a girl could want to know and probably some things I shouldn’t have known at that age from that crew of wonderful women. So, in addition to the delicious contents of those old mason jars, I got myself some delicious womanly knowledge. I have a few of those old Ball jars in my kitchen and the sight always reminds me of those good times.

I like how she talks about learning "womanly knowledge" as a little girl through her mother and aunts. As a kid, I think that's the best way to learn, through experiencing something and not just being told something.

It also made me think about how much fun I have when I'm with my sisters. We've never canned together, but we cook and bake together at our parent's house for Christmas. A lot of laughter and yelling usually occurs over things like trying to interpret tattered recipes from 1945 or trying to find our way around our mom's cryptically organized kitchen.

It's not the type of behavior a young girl could probably gain any amount of growth from, as in Dottie's case, but we have fun at least.

Congrats, Dottie, for winning, for taking me on a trip down memory lane, and also for having one of the best names I've ever heard. Your mason jar painting is on its way.


P.S. You can have your very own for only $35!

 

Like any good pet owner, I talk to Juicy on a daily basis to make sure we're always on the same page.

  

On our family vacations, when we'd pass a field of cows, my dad would always yell, "Look! Horses!"

I feel like this explains something.

 

***

 

 

When I was little, I used to laugh when a small segment of my mom's hair would stand up straight and do a little dance when the sunroof was open.

Ha! Whose hair does that?

Yep, mine does.

My friend texted me last night:

"If I was Martha Stewart, tomorrow I'd be boat tripping and picnic lunching on an island in Maine. Oh, and doing yoga."

When I read the text, it was 4:30 am* so my brain couldn't register what she meant. Then it hit me that she was referring to the calendar in Martha Stewart Living where Martha tells all the normal people who subscribe to her magazine all the outlandish things she'll be doing that month. It's really good entertainment.

It would be fun to start posting a calendar of my own here, so I can have a visual of how much my life is not like hers.

Yesterday's entry would have been:

July 31, 2012
Make myself sick off BBQ nachos at Smokies baseball game

***

I'm learning how important it is as an artist (and as a human being) to write down everything I think about doing. Everything. I think I may have hit a level of "planner/to-do list lunacy" however.

I have a planner to carry around with me, I have physical calendars of each month til Dec 2012 hanging in my studio, I have a calendar online, I have a dry erase board at home and in my studio, I have a sketch book, I have a bulletin board, and I've become a post-it fanatic at work and home.

The outcome of this is that I'm actually getting things done. Well, no. I'm getting a lot of things started, which is more than half the battle in most cases. It feels really good.

***

November 17, 2014
Assess whether my life is moving toward or away from resembling Martha Stewart's

***

I could use a little more glamor in my life, and because of that, I can't say I'm never jealous of Martha's Month. I would never want too much glamor, though. That way, I can enjoy reading what this cat and Car Talk say about these sorts of things and also keep pondering the ramifications of such a lifestyle.


* August 8, 2012
   Consider prescription for Ambien

I love Alice from Cul de Sac.

I like the way she thinks and talks and can often relate to her sentiments. Her words are funny as well as sincere, and while I can possess those qualities separately, it is rare that I am both of them simultaneously.

Sidenote: It seems my sarcastic tendencies have started to get the better of me recently. I've noticed more and more that even when I'm being sincere, people assume I'm not*. While this humors me, it's also something I've decided to work on- just tack that on to my (neverending) Self-betterment To-do list...

I also admire how she unashamedly threatens temper tantrums and freely shares what she disdains (the Uh-Oh Baby) with others. She is fearless when it comes to what she wants to communicate.

I like her.

***

Did you know Bill Watterson is a Cul de Sac fan and supporter?

In the intro of his 10th Anniversary Book, published 17 years ago, he describes Susie as smart, serious, and earnest, qualities he was always attracted to in a woman and the qualities he eventually found in his wife.

He said it would be interesting to see a comic strip from a girl's point-of-view, written by a woman.

Although Cul de Sac is written by Richard Thompson, who is not a woman, sometimes I wonder and muse about the depth of connection between he and Watterson, who has been silent for so many years.

  

* Example: I was telling some friends the other day about my passion for drumlines, and they would not believe me, which made me laugh, which made them not believe me even more. Y'all, I freakin' love drumlines. How could I even be sarcastic about that?

Back in December, I attended a white elephant party at a friend from high school's house.

My gift ended up being the image below, framed. No one tried to steal it from me later, and I can't see why not.

There's something inherently mysterious and delightful about the Bananacorn. Maybe I know deep down that I can identify with Bananacorn more than I could just a bowl of bananas or just a heap of corn. Bananacorn and I. We get each other.

So I decided recently to remove it from the back of my car (where it's been for the past seven months), dust it off, and hang it in my studio. (Thanks, Jorden)

Also, just for kicks, below is the gift I gave, which was in puzzle form. Yes, it was a re-gift (thanks, James and Abby), and it was a hit. It was traded several times whilst Bananacorn and I remained (out of force, but still) committed to one another.

I began 2012 wanting to collaborate more with other artists. The thing I've learned so far is how difficult it can be to make this happen because of conflicting schedules and also the hesitation to actually begin working with someone else. It's hard enough to start most projects when I'm left to my own devices, so add the dynamic of another person, and... you get the idea.

With that said, I decided to start small...

I have a shop on Etsy, where each week, they feature different shop owners who write about their products and show photos. Many times, the shops are run by a husband and wife duo (like these jerks). I find it inspiring as well as annoying because a) I don't have a husband and b) even if I did, who's to say he would be someone with whom I could collaborate.

In my dreams, I'm married to some wonderfully talented, good-looking man who would also be great at all things technological and financial. He'd also be able to take incredible pictures.

Each morning, we'd switch off making each other breakfast and then we'd go our separate ways. In the afternoon, we'd come back together and share the things we'd learned and make things together. Something like that, more or less.

As much as I might pine away for my elusive collaborating husband to be, I do not have one. However, I do have something I come home to that breathes. That's right: Juices O'Hulihan, aka Hammerpants, aka Juicy, my cat.

I have had portfolios made out of chipboard from college days stored under my bed for the past couple of years. It just so happens that chipboard, which is very much like cardboard, is one of Juicy's most favorite things to claw. Although my artwork was protected, she destroyed the chipboard out of her own personal enjoyment.

So this is what I come home to: not a handsome art-collaborating husband, but a beautiful soft and rotund cat who loves tearing cardboard to shreds. So I proposed a project to do with her which would feature her favorite mark-making technique: claw marks. She accepted.

I love drawing people, and I love drawing people that I love. I decided to make portraits of males that have held a significance in my life. Whether I love(d) them romantically or as a friend is not important. Some are still friends, some not, some I haven't seen in years, all have pushed me to be a better version of myself, whether they intended to or not.

I drew them on 11 x 14" pieces of acid free chip board and placed them under my bed, one or two at a time for a week. There, Juicy could work her magic.

 

Although it was not a malicious act, I realized it could be construed as such. Instead of denying that aspect, I decided instead to yell to Juicy from time to time, "Claw their eyes out!" Honestly, this had nothing to do with each of the individuals personally, just something to make me laugh, which it did.

I never had to prompt her to claw them; She did it of her own volition, and because she derives great joy out of the process, I enjoyed being a part of that.

Something weird is that she never did claw their eyes, and the areas she did claw seemed pretty consistent. It's all very strange and makes me curious about what's going on in that little brain of hers.

So there you have it, the first Juicy-Beth Meadows Collaboration.