a cool distraction

It was nice to have a bit of a distraction last night. I made some prospective test boutonnieres; my daughter is going to homecoming, and rather than giving her date one of the many cookie cutter boutonnieres from the local market, we thought I'd try my hand at fashioning something more unusual.

Once upon a time, when I was about a year older than my daughter is now [yikes, what?], I studied floral design. It was one of the many career paths I strolled upon in hopes of figuring out what I want to be when I grow up--which by the way, I still haven't. It was a fun little stint and comes in handy now and then, although I couldn't tell you the scientific name to any flowers (I think I retained that for about a week--to get through test at the time).

Below are the samples I created for my daughter to picky and choosy from. Hard to make flowers manly, yes?

standard traditional carnation--corny/cool, can't go wrong

this one is created from vintage "silk" foliage

if you look closely, this one has guitar string embellishment

and this one is a bit girlie, but I couldn't resist a feather

(jen)

and now for something different

bones I 2010 24"x 24" acrylic by jennifer culp

These are a couple of pieces from a group I'm currently working on, Bones & Tissue.

tissue I 2010 20"x 20" mixed media

(jen)

Earth Laughs in Flowers

'Earth Laughs in Flowers' --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Heather and I had the privilege to visit the studio of Syd--Heather's artist friend, and now mine. She holds clay sculpting classes, and we were lucky enough to have Syd and her studio all to our selves last night.

It's always magical to be trusted enough to visit the inner workings of a functioning artist studio, and Syd's in particular, is brimming with treasures at every turn. Notes, sketches, sculptures, broken bits, mis-happen sculptures, student pieces, supplies, and inspiration are just a few of the bits scattered about the space. *One of my favorite parts of her studio are her the notes to herself; many artists keep these private, but Syd displays her ink scratched thoughts all about her space.

Here are some of Syd's tools and supplies, which by the way, she has endearing terms for, like the 'pokeholio'--a sculpting device that is round on one end and pencil-like on the other. The instruments in her studio are more like friendly productive conduits, rather than tools, and my thought is, because she respects her materials and gives them unique descriptive names, they give back to her.

One of my favorite areas in her studio--lots of notes and thoughts.

An architectural functional box, and probably my favorite piece of Syd's. She's even had requests for these pieces as urns.

One of her elephants, adorned with texture created from stamps from India. Syd actually has a shelved wall dedicated to rows of textile stamps from India.

This is one of her beautiful flower sculptures; she has more of these, along with other works, currently showing at Ombu Salon in Edmonds.

This is what we were creating last night--this type of sculpture--although ours will be dipped in white glaze [and I look forward to returning in a couple of weeks to dip].

This is my flower in progress...

...and here is Heather's.

This is the beginning of the center to my flower. Notice the holes at each intersection, and the 'pokeholio' that created said holes.

Here's Heather creating the center of her flower.

And here are our pieces as we left them [they're upside down, by the way]. Eventually they'll visit Syd's kiln room; Syd has 2 kilns (lucky).
I look forward to seeing these pieces complete, and I'm so appreciative to Syd for opening her studio to us and allowing us the therapeutic time we took in creating these beauties.

(jen)

Climbing Mt Everest

My lack of writing is a direct reflection of my current inability to find time to create. Life's busyness has managed to come between me and my art. I've moved, traveled for work, road tripped for holiday, etc, etc, and still have not managed to find time to unpack. Thankfully, Heather commissioned me to make a piece for her the other night (featured above) as a gift for someone. Although it's a busy time of year, I was glad to force an opportunity to dig around the Mt Everest of boxes that reside in my garage to try and find my art supplies, which I did manage to find, as well as inspiration to unpack and organize my mountain of belongings [and I plan to, as soon as...].

The beauty in the lack of personal creation is the motivation that comes from witnessing the inventiveness of others. For instance, I had the good fortune to sit next to Kay Abude on a long turbulent flight from NY. I'm not even sure how to describe the type of artist she is; as best as I could understand from the 20 million questions I bombarded Kay with, she seems to be a contemporary installation artist/sculptor, testing spacial boundaries [I hope I explained that properly]. She is currently working on her master's degree, and told me of an installation work from the past that I think is best understood from this link.

I also found that a woman I worked with (Taj Sukhija) on an event with last year, launched a website, Seattle Namaste, which acts as an online local hub to the Seattle Indian community--a great undertaking and resource to many people.

And I also had the pleasure this past weekend to check out my friend's band, Railyard, at Soul Food Cafe, where they held a benefit gig, and from what my pal Ben told me, they gathered quite a bit of goods to be donated. Railyard's show is an acoustic trio treat of multiple instruments, witty interim banter, and sweet harmonies.

Now it's time to take the thoughts in my mind's eye and bring it on down through my hands; make something of it. And if I might be so bold in a respectful way, I challenge my pal Heather to do the same. I know she's got a lot of great ideas floating around, and I think it's due time we collaborate on another show; 2010.

(jen)

dead ted & rita bonita

dead ted 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

Today was a terrifically gloomy grey day of drizzle in the Northwest. Very inspiring to stay home and paint all day--well that and clean, do laundry, cook [macaroni and cheese for the kids, because I really didn't feel like stopping painting, and by the way, I'm probably the last mom on earth to admit that publicly], prepare plywood for future projects, and make [yes real home-made] snickerdoodles. PRO-DUCTIVE...my day was today.

The grey day also inspired some autumn theme (Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos) bits, like dead ted and rita bonita.

Story goes like this...Ted loved Rita from afar for days [long time for Ted], and on a grey gloomy Tuesday, much like today, he walked across the street from his barber shop (funny because clearly Ted has no hair) to Rita's bikini latte stand. Unfortunately Ted stepped in front of the 11am city sightseeing tour bus, which usually slows down as it passes by Rita's bikini stand, but on that day barrelled through with the fury of a red sports car. Rita kicked off her high heels to run barefoot to the scene of Ted's demise. It was then that she noticed, crumpled in Ted's hand, a photo of her--somewhat creepy, because it seemed to be a surveillance still shot, but the picture persisted to soften Rita's heart. Tragically still, Rita grew ill from pneumonia and died on Friday [too many rainy days of chill, and not enough clothing]. But on a happy note, Ted and Rita reunited in the afterlife, where they formally met and fell in love.

The end.
[They currently follow Riana, but that's a side story].

rita bonita 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

*oh, and thanks to Bill for cutting my plywood on this rainy day--snickerdoodles are for you.

(jen)

"But what if he has a happy life turning out bad art?"

We had an exciting day in our household a couple of weeks ago. When I retrieved the mail from our box, I noticed something that looked far more fun than the myriad of bills and junk that stuffed the box...

A good friend of our family, author/cartoonist Mo Willems (well, he may not actually be aware that he's a friend of our family), sent my youngest daughter Ellie a postcard in return for a picture she had created and sent to him.

I (oops, I mean) She was so excited to see the return address of Mo Willems, and after opening it to reveal its contents to us all, my oldest daughter suggested we place the postcard in our family collage, with the hand-written note side facing out. [Ellie's mail surprise featured below]

I recently listened to an interview with Mo on NPR about the importance of getting adults to draw. It was very inspiring for several reasons and is definitely worth listening to [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103818071]. The photo at the top of the post is a oil pastel family created picture my kids and I made about 4 years ago. It was initiated by my oldest daughter, and after some time, she asked us to join in and help color in the flowers, grass and trees. It's a drawing of a dogwood tree that sits in our front yard. Anyway, it ties into the Mo interview (listen to understand). Also inspiring is an idea I gleaned that will be quite nice for our next most awesome bookclub ever meeting. If any awesomers are reading this, then be prepared to create. The book this month was chosen by yours truly, and it's the biographical novel of Vincent Van Gogh, Lust for Life, by Irving Stone. Beautiful, complex, inspiring--I just feel that we should do something beside talk about the book, so by inspiration of the NPR interview we will be creating art by group effort.

*on a bluer note, I feel a bit like her (below), but the trials of life add to the richness, and the law of opposition promises good, so I go on knowing life is glorious.

detail to girl on a string by jennifer culp 2009 mixed media

(jen)

*title quote taken from Lust for Life, by Irving Stone

Under the big top of life.

under the big top 2009 6"x 6" mixed media

I spent the weekend with Heather, and she so sweetly surprised me with 3 vintage children's books, which immediately inspired me and I couldn't wait to get home to begin incorporating some of the pages from the books into pieces of art. I featured the piece above as tribute to mi mejor amiga, because she is a little obsessed with the circus theme. *If you follow our blog or know us at all, this may not be a surprising bit of trivia.

Beside the new books, and Heather's grandmother's artwork (as mentioned in the last blog post), was an equally inspiring trip to the Folklife Festival this weekend. Heather's family and mine spent an afternoon enjoying sunshine, good food, music, people, and the Seattle Center International Fountain. We also discovered some cool art/artists, two of which being Sean Wilkinson (http://www.wilkyart.blogspot.com/) and Don De Leva (http://www.dollhedz.com/). We met them (and their supportive wives) in the booth they shared--they and their art seem to be good friends, reminding me a little of my art friend that I show with periodically [Heather]. I bought myself two little pieces, a mini canvas magnet by Sean Wilkinson, and a print by Don De Leva entitled Loco. Heather was particularly taken by a small painting by Don De Leva entitled Blue Skull, that can be seen on his website.

After our weekend of dinners, the beach, the park, Folklife, painting, and lots of laughter, we came together again today to visit Heather's grandmother at her retirement community in support of the opening day of her art show. I wish I had brought my camera, because after visiting Kathleen today, I have a new favorite by her, featuring two swans. *If you missed it, a few of her pieces are shown in our last blog post.

I think that's that for today. I just wanted to make note of a couple of cool links (the art friends) before I lost the thought, and to give appreciation to my friend Heather for picking up the vintage books for me, and also to pay a little tribute to Kathleen for showing her art, when it couldn't have been easy to gather it all up and put it out there for everyone to see--inspiring.

(jen)

*The piece below is a paper pillow created from vintage paper and hand stitched together, featuring a bird fashioned out of paper from one of my new vintage books. It's meant as a little 3D art piece, paying tribute to pillows (i love naps) and art.

It runs in the family.

by Kathleen Johnson 1945

So I'm hanging with Heather this weekend, and she showed me some art created by her grandmother that she is helping to frame for her. I had the opportunity to talk art with Kathleen (Heather's grandma) at out February art show, and she shared with me that she too is an artist that had created some "bird" art in the past. I've seen some of Kathleen's work over the years and admired it without even realizing she was the creator--one of my favorites being a still life featuring colorful fruit.

I just found out that Kathleen is going to have a show, beginning Tuesday, and I look forward to seeing more of her work in person. I snapped a few shots of some of the pieces that Heather is helping to frame, and as you can see, her work is very cool and relevant today, although most was created long ago.

*On a personal note, Heather bought me some cool children's vintage books to incorporate into my art [thanks Heather].

And now we are off to take our kids to the Folklife Festival.

(jen)

by Kathleen Johnson 1944


by Kathleen Johnson 1984


by Kathleen Johnson 1987

Sister Eugena, my new treasure.

I'm totally diggin using vintage and tacky frames for new little art pieces I've been selling in my etsy shop lately. I buy them at the thriftstore, disassemble them, clean them, spruce them up, add my art, and put them back together.

I recently took apart a vintage frame that had some charming mini art in it. It looked to be some sort of ethnic collage, out of grass (?), featuring a bird on a branch [sounds familiar]. When I pulled the art out of the frame, behind it was a hidden photograph (the one featured above). I feel so lucky. This picture is exactly something I would purchase at an antique store, although I don't ever recall coming across a photo like this before. My friend Jodi suggested I should name her Sister Eugena, so now Sister Eugena is among family photos and other visual treasures in a collage in my living room.

I'm so lucky.

(jen)

*oh, and if you want to see the finished little mixed media art piece I created from Sister E's original frame, check: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24731490.

whack-a-doodle? yes I am, but so is Heather!

fried prawns party bird 2009 mixed media by jen

Well. I'm not even really sure what I should say, but I thought I should say something. I haven't blogged in awhile because I haven't really felt like I have something relevant to say. I guess I could confess to feeling a little overwhelmed--which actually is a constant state in this season of my life. But in contrast, I feel like I've got it all under control. Always balance. Always dark, always light. Always good, always bad. Always flow, always opposition...and on and on. What is she talking about? I don't know, or do I? This is turning out kind of funny.

Anyway, inspiring to me today is the book I'm (and probably Heather) currently reading for our book club, called The Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. I'm working on my 10,000 hours of something (?) to become proficient and successful. By the way, our book club is called "the most awesome book club ever," and although I've never participated in a book club (or any club that I can think of for that matter), it does seem to be the most awesome. It was founded and named by Jason, Heather's husband, a writing and reading fanatic.

Also inspiring is a little etsy shop http://www.clevernettle.etsy.com/. There are only a few items, but they're truly unique and cool--particularly the zine and the booklet about famous Bills.

Last and always inspiring to me (especially Saturdays)--reggae. I really pondered my love and connection with this musical comforter in my life, and how it came to be. It was like a first love; I stumbled upon it at 16 and have loved it since. It actually was on my first date. My friend Steve organized his school dance, a reggae theme, and brought me as his date. Maybe I had heard reggae before, but in the gymnasium on the big system, back to back cuts all night long, it made quite an impression on me. I then moved to Bob, Gregory, Frankie Paul, and some how discovered KCMU's positive vibrations--the Saturday morning reggae show. Reggae Charlie, selector back in the day, selected the soundtrack to my youth, and I've been listening since. Sometimes I wonder if I'll be a crazy old Grandma, still breakin it down to some bumpin dancehall or dub step...and I think, yeah, probably so.

Well, I guess that's it for my whack-a-doodle thoughts for today. Thanks to you reader, for letting me indulge, especially in my public professing of my love for reggae (it's the closest thing I could do to marrying it, although that has not yet been legalized in the state of Washington).

(jen)

Nothing good comes easy: 3 links

by jen (today)

Thanks to Heather for that sweet post on Friday for my birthday. I really missed her this weekend.

Dinner on Saturday night was at Mary's (as in Mary Hawk from the Feb. group art show), because her husband's birthday is the day before mine, so they put out the most deliciously beautiful sushi spread for us. Thanks Mary and Jonas--gracious hosts and entertainers extraordinaire.

On to 3 links:
*But first a little heads-up. The three this week will take a little work if you're up for the challenge, but anything good doesn't come easy, right?

1. Baltimore Museum of Art--there is a children's Matisse online activity that I think is worth while for kids to experience. I've used it as a tool when presenting a lesson on Matisse for my volunteer work as an art docent at elementary schools. For younger kids, they will probably need help navigating and reading. Matisse's dog, Raoudi, takes you through a colorful lesson about Matisse, which takes about 10 minutes, and at the end, you've collected items for a portfolio that can be used to create and print your own Matisse masterpiece.

DIRECTIONS: From the link (http://artbma.org/families/activities.html#Matisse), click online activity.

2. Kexp--yes, I know I reference kexp a lot, but it is so inspirational. Today it was Preachin' the Blues, hosted by Johnny Horn. There is a particular song that made me laugh out loud when I heard it, called Conversation With Collins, by Albert Collins. He's recounting a bluesy story between he and his lady, and it's awesome (I can dig it). The beauty is, he not only tells it verbally, but he illustrates the conversation with his guitar, and you can hear the banter. It actually inspired a piece I listed in my etsy store today called still mad.

DIRECTIONS: from the link (http://kexp.org/ondemand.asp) go to streaming archive,

then listen by time and submit Sun. Apr. 5 at 10:54 am--that pops you right into the beginning of the song.
I personally think the whole show should be listened to, but this song in particular *as well as use what you got, by Freddy King (10:35 am), which made me smile really big.

3. Vincenzo Rizzo--this link goes to Vincenzo Rizzo's etsy shop, full of very cool art, and makes me wonder how one person could produce so much original art that is so affordable? Nice. (http://www.vincenzorizzo.etsy.com/)

I wasn't kidding. You kind of have to work for the links this week, but they're good.

(jen)

just working out some issues

a different kind of bird 2009 by jennifer culp

The past couple of days I've been adding paintings to my shop that are markers to issues I may have--one being the unexplainable problem I have with naked lady mud-flaps. I'm not sure what my deal is, but when I see them, I'm automatically ticked off. I guess I decided to take the naked lady back, back away from the guy who feels he has to advertise his love for naked ladies, and instead feature her as a work of art.

I also started creating some little bird paintings that are meant to be inspirational pieces, but for the derelict minded (like Heather and me). They were actually inspired by a little porcelain bird I gave to Heather for her birthday one year. It was beautiful and said something like "generous" on it's belly. These little pieces I'm creating are a little more realistic for girls like we, with one stating, eat dirt.

That's that. Gotta get back to work; our show is like a week away.

(jen)

Sweet Inspiration

Although there may be nothing new under the sun, what is old is new to us and so rich and astonishing that we never tire of it.—Robert Davies

Inspiration, a topic I haven’t explored on our blog much recently, but so valuable.
Sometimes it loudly manifests itself after seeing, hearing, and feeling the world around us, yet often it comes from within, but even then it must be originating and building upon cultural baggage that we aren’t even aware of.

*My daughter, usually a music making nut, picked up a paint brush recently, and created some pretty cool paintings. I’d like to think that she may have been inspired by me (wishful motherly thinking probably). Her painting above actually reminds me of a picture on the blog of a favorite cartoonist of mine, and makes me wonder if she was inspired by that?
The ease in which she created the painting inspired me; the act of painting, not planning, not sketching it out first—just acting. [see painting above]

*Literarily inspiring to me right now is William B. Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life [the ancient art of stoic joy], and I mention this because I have a sneaking suspicion I am not alone in my partiality to stoicism.

*Heather. Heather is inspiring to me. She just told me some of the ideas she has for some new works, and I’m (not gonna lie) miffed I didn’t think of these ideas myself. [Not really. I can’t wait to see her bring these ideas to visual life].

*Music—ever inspiring. If you read our blog, this may be redundant, but http://www.kexp.org/ is always a hidden factor in all of my work, and may be for you too. Better go, listen, and find out for yourself.

I just wanted to give a little thought to inspiration, and try to be better about sharing links to those who are inspiring me.

(jen)

Finally, my new grey friend.

3 little birds too by jen 2009

Today I finally type from my new (well, new to me) computer, thanks to my mom--thanks mom. I'm so thrilled with the endless possibilities of a fresh computer; the googling, the printing, the non-missing keys, the updated software, the space to be filled with images from my camera, the history that belongs solely to me, the documents to be written, the spreadsheets to be spread (or whatever you do with spreadsheets). Oh I'm so happy. I even cleared off my desk and dusted just for the momentous occasion of introducing this new little grey friend into my life.

Besides my new technology, I've been quite busy madly (or happily) painting, as have Mary and Heather. I love how creativity grows when creating. Sometimes it just takes the act of doing to channel in the brilliance, other times it takes a quiet moment to let the brilliance whisper to you. I've had both types of inspiration so far this week and I'm appreciative of any.

I decided to give 1 link that doesn't stink today. It's a link to a shining illustrator named Celia Marie Baker. I saw her at a farmer's market a few years back, looked her up and came across her website http://celiamariebaker.com/. The link to her blog is equally as great and features some handmade books she created for family. Really nice.

*One more little thing to note--I think on an artistic note--and maybe you don't care, really. I thought I might take a moment to explain my heavy use of parenthesis, semi-colons, commas, hyphens, brackets, and asterisks. Maybe you think to yourself, why does jen use so many parenthesis ?(or whatever else you may have noticed)--much in the same way I notice people who are heavy with the exclamation mark. The answer is this...I am a visual writer, I mean my writing has to be visually interesting, with lines and dots and stars and spaces (oh and italics). My thought is this: who wants to read a bunch of veranda type words all scrunched together without any variation? Not me. So if it's distracting (like heavy exclamation users are to me), then I apologize.*

*one last thing--I think I've also illustrated, you're never too old for your mom.

(jen)

Much appreciation friend.

winged felt heart (or heart-felt) by jen 2009

I thought I would wait and let Heather say a little something, but I cannot let an opportunity go by where I should be expressing some gratitude.

Thank you to the anonymous friend(s) that dropped off several canvases for me to paint. I don't know who you are, but I'm hoping (on the off chance) that you are a friend who may periodically peek at our blog. My youngest daughter had a theory that it was Sparky who dropped them off--Sparky's one of our pet goldfish who died this evening, and we just had a service for him in the in the back yard about an hour earlier--but I explained how it's probably not.

Whoever you may be, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I truly appreciate you thinking of me.

Take care friend(s).

(jen)

Divine Inspiration

After pondering my inspiration, and well, lack thereof, I decided to paint through my creative block in hopes of pulling together something, or even just to exercise my creative muscles.


So I decided to paint a simple rose just to get my artistic muscle juices flowing. After much creative frustration, I walked away to clean my brushes and noticed from afar that the flower had a face!!... and not just any face!! HA! I just accidentally painted Jesus!!! So I went with it and even made it more obvious (although I don't think it's finished yet, I'm almost afraid to alter it too much, I hate to mess with some divine intervention or something).

I finally had my inspiration... literally staring me in the face.

As soon as my 7 year old daughter saw it she immediately pointed out, "hey there's that guy in your flower"... my 14 year old son didn't notice (believe it or not!) until I strongly hinted... when he finally discovered it he asked, "is it dad?"... yeah we're not particularly religious, which is why I think this painting is so ironic.



I ran with it and decided to try to put Mary in my other flowers, but discovered it was much harder to do when you are trying to make it happen. I think I'll at least try to tackle Jesus in a tortilla or something... or maybe green eggs and ham. I'll keep you posted.

(Heather)

Speaking of Skulls...

lil cabeza 2008

Just for fun, and to emphasize how Heather and I are somehow on the same artistic page, I thought I'd feature a picture of the crochet friend I gave to Heather as a Christmas gift. We did a white elephant-type gift exchange (hand-made/re-purposed/or under $5); thankfully I did not receive the dog fur pillow. Heather at least likes me enough not to give it to me, or maybe she's just waiting for my birthday?

As for this skull, unlike Heather's sparkly sugar skulls--it's edible (yarn, poly stuffing, faux suede, and a rhinestone [lots of fiber]).

Also, Heather and I would like to give a little love to the theatrical art of Jet City Improv (http://www.jetcityimprov.com/). We spent New Year's Eve at the University Theater, watching improv comedy, mingling, and dancing--those at Jet City Improv are talented, funny [and tolerant].

That's that for today.

(jen)

+ oh, and our last post did actually include words directly typed by Heather---we really were together, and I actually wasn't speaking on behalf of her (otherwise "she" would have said something much more embarrassing).

Happy New Year!

sugar skulls by Heather 2008

Hello. Heather and I are here blogging together--just a little girl on girl action (sorry, shameless way to draw random google search visitors). Really we're here to bestow well wishes and greetings to you in the hopeful beginnings of this new year.

Heather and I were talking today about inspiration, why we create and what we have to say with our work, and have decided to briefly comment on our thoughts...

Jen's comments on art/2009:

As I pondered what art means to me, why I create and what I'm trying to say, I realized I'm not trying to say anything really. No message, just cathartic paint strokes creating aesthetically pleasing (hopefully) pictures of fluff. Sometimes there is meaning, but only meaningful to me. I guess it's really a translation of (candidly speaking) ugly thoughts and feelings into something I'm willing to look at. As for this new year: Bring it, let me see it--let's go.

Heather's comments on art/2009:

What inspires me? Usually inspiration comes from what I can produce in the 20 minutes I have while the baby is napping, or what I can create while helping with homework and eating tacos. Oh, also what paint coordinates with my sweatpants in case I get some on them (which I usually do) deep huh? I am mostly attracted to color and how it makes me feel. Like most creative endeavors, it's a release. Happy beginnings and happy endings to you in this upcoming year. Good riddance 2008!

*the above photo features some bejeweled sugar skulls that Heather recently created. I hadn't been to her house in a while, and they so fancifully caught my eye--we had to share them. Below is a preview photo of a painting I finished a couple of days ago for our upcoming show.

when life hands you lemons... by jen 2008

Speaking of cupcakes...

So nice to hear from Heather. I'm glad she could tear herself away from eating bon bons and watching tivo re-runs of Yo Gabba Gabba long enough to prove she exists (but seriously, I am pleased to have her publicly join our blog).

It's funny--Heather and I are often inspired by the same things. I made this crochet cupcake (above) as a Christmas gift last week, right about the same time Heather was dreaming of Cupcake Royale.

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. I'm borrowing my daughter's computer, which similar to the last two computers that crashed on me, is an old formerly crashed computer that she somehow got working??? It's rather archaic, and I'm not even completely sure if this post will work; it's like dealing with a zombie computer--it used to be dead, and now it's (possibly against its will) been brought back to life, with minimal out-of-date programs, and no space bar (don't ask me about how I'm making spaces). Anyway, I just had to pop in and put my two cents. It's very cathartic, this blogging--even if no one were to read it. Words are like balloons (even when you type them), ideas being released into the air.

As for the links--I am too busy to keep them fresh at the moment; I have a interior painting/mural project and Heather and I need to get ready for our show next month. We'll bring the links back as soon as we can post them with the integrity we originally intended.

*okay Heather, bring it...say something else. Let them see why we go together like cornflakes and ketchup (or is it catsup?).

(jen)

So here I am...

Heather here... I had to "man up" and take on the blog while Jen tries to find a solution to her curious magnetic field that continues to destroy each computer she ventures near. I guess that can happen when you are hit by lightening. Let's hope for all of our sakes that she finds a solution or you will be stuck with me... which means you never know what your going to get.

Anyhoo... I've been thinking about cupcakes lately and they have actually been inspiring me to do something artistic, not with the cupcake per say (although that could be my next venture after cheese whiz sculptures, at least the mistakes would be more palatable) maybe I'll just start by painting them(canvas not cake)...

I not only appreciate the scrunptious yumminess of the cute little cakes at my local cupcake bakery (the appropriately named Cupcake Royal http://www.cupcakeroyale.com/ ) but also the wonderful presentation which makes each cupcake look like an adorable present wrapped in frosted happiness.

I'll get back to you on my cupcake creation when I decide which creative direction I am going to take... but for now I'm hungry and wondering if I dare brave the snow and ice for a Sunday morning cupcake... sounds like an adventure!

--Heather