Home Sweet Home

Leaving on a jet plane...

Sunsets that place a gal in bodily danger of being run over as she crosses streets, gawking wide eyed to the West.

Gluttonous Reading

Almost being run over again due to the shocking bands of heavenly light.

Puddle Jumper

Growing from every crack in the sidewalk, up every chain-link fence, around every white-washed tree trunk, the bougainvillea flashed their paper-thin vibrance.

Cacti nursery at sunset, one thousand glowing deadly orbs radiating in the humid evening light.

When in Rome; open mouths for cerveza...

...open mouths for guacamole.

And just like that, we're back to the shaded streets of my city, sleeping under a fluffy pile of [extraordinarily clingy] kitty boys,

breathing slower,

breathing deeper,

feeling the rhythm in the soles of our shoes

feeling back

feeling here

feeling home.

UmberDove and the Technicolor Technology Break

Way back in February as I looked over my goals for the year and began filling in my calendar with far off dates I had the thought, "Holy Shenanigans, the month of August is going to be absurdly busy." And now, over half way through the month, I feel like a prophet. I've had to really unplug for the last two weeks just to catch up with my own two feet and I'm starting to feel like taffy left in the twister a bit too long.

SERIOUSLY. WHERE IS MY CABANA BOY?

I need:

1. A massage. One of those super oily ones, with hot rocks and cucumber slices.

2. A gin and tonic. Stat.

3. Approximately 700 hours of uninterrupted studio time.

4. A chubby slice of peach cobbler (the scent should be wafting by soon...)

5. Someone to do my dishes (I'm over it)

6. Two plane tickets to Cabo San Lucas (OH WAIT! My flight leaves Saturday morning!! Yippee!)

* Picture snapped by the ever talented Mme. Bookling and "borrowed" by me.*

So with that, I'm signing back off, exhaustedly yours, and will return the world of internet wonders on Septmeber 1st. Hopefully with a quieter head and tanner legs.

- Umber

Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

After the great success of the past photo challenges, 30 Days of Self and A Shot in the Dark: December Evenings, I've been thinking a lot about beginning a new challenge. But while I was hemming and hawing over the subject matter, Mr. Chris Bradley came up with a douzey of an idea and I'm jumping right in AND taking the liberty of saying I'd love to see YOUR pictures!

Here's the dealio:

The photo challenge is titled Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and, yep you guessed it, consists of photos of those body parts (yours or someone else's). The challenge will run from right now (it actually started August 1st but I'm a little late - which means you can be too) all the way until September 1st. All you need is a camera, a head (or shoulders or knees or toes) and a Flickr account and you're golden! So join up, get snapping and try to post around four photos each week (more or less is completely acceptable too)!

I'll see your bee's knees soon!

- Umber

On why my chiropractor is better than yours

Well I'm pleased to report that my whole happy little family is alive and recovering from the "oh that's what you're talking about when you talk about global warming" heat wave we've had in Seattle this week. Seriously though. It was so hot the kitty boys turned into flat puddles of fur on the hardwood floors and I stopped caring if the neighbors saw my midriff while I wandered through my house in a daze clutching my ice water and frozen grapes.

I know I'm being completely melodramatic and that those who live in other climates (Hi J and M) deal with 100 plus temperatures all Summer long (as did I back in California) but here's the deal: Up in the Pacific Northwest only 13 percent of the population has air conditioning - and we're talking residences, businesses, restaurants, you name it - and when it hits 104 degrees F, well, you can forget about it.

All that to say, it was simply out of the question to work in my non-air conditioned studio-with-the-whole-ceiling-as-a-skylight. So the question was, where to paint for the week?

If you answered "in the extra, unused massage room at your chiropractor's office," you answered correctly! My fantastic chiropractor (I'm totally one of those people who loves their chiropractor and goes around saying "My chiro told me...") offered up the space in his air conditioned building and the rest is history.

I can not even express to you how much I appreciated the space this last week and that got me thinking. I feel it is incredibly important to put thanks out there when it is due, to let people know when their actions have kept your stamina strong, that their belief has buoyed you up through the sea of your own self-doubt, that their own art (in WHATEVER media it is) has inspired your art to new heights. So...

TO ALL THE ART COLLECTORS,

ART SUPPORTERS

ART BELIEVERS

I appreciate you more than I will ever be able to express fully with words. Thank you for believing in my voice and my hands, for opening doors to opportunities previously hidden, for offering your resources to my cause. Thank you for creating the music that I work to, for writing the words that act at fuel, for asking the questions that make me think and for listening to the answers that discover.

Thank you.

I really couldn't do this without you

I believe in you too.

Eight Years Ago Today...

And I've never looked back.

BC

You are the love of my life

My one and only man

Here's to another 80 years

Of putting life first,

Living with hands wide open

Standing close

And knowing each other

As deeply as we do.

BILYLK