no. i'm not back. i just decided to make an official "goodbye". i have always been upset when people i have become attached to online just disappear. and i didn't mean to be one of those people, even though i am not sure it was noticed. if so, i'm sorry.

i am still in San Antonio, same job, same little apartment, same wandering and snapping of houses (now with an iPhone rather than my beloved iPod - which is now in the hands of Betsy), same struggles with enough time for studio work. same lonely alien. life seems a bit of a struggle and i question some of my decisions of the last year and a half. but as always ... onward.

this public journal will now be closed. i still moan and ramble and make pictures in my locked journal, the same old livejournal - and i am on facebook and instagram (minimally) - feel free to ask. i would probably love to see you there if i don't already. my etsy shop is closed and my website has been hacked again. when i am feeling more artful, i will likely resurface to the public. it will be announced. thank you. always.

images from a new land ...

this morning i thought i must have moved to paradise. not only (within a few walking blocks) is there the BEST grocery in the city (sorry, Whole Foods, but ...), and several buses and all kinds of shops and even a pear tree, right on my block!, there is also a LARGE red brick catholic university! if you know me, you know how that delights me. so i went out walking this morning. i almost took my real cammie, but the batteries have not survived a certain lack of attention, so only the ipod went with me.

 

while i was walking, at the back of the grounds, i heard ethnic music and drumming. such liveliness for 9am!! so i followed a path and crossed a red bridge over a ravine and came upon a mass of people. with flowered headdresses - some with rebozos and flounced skirts. all with running shoes. it was the end party for the Free-Da 5K Run/Walk! to celebrate Frieda's birthday and to support the arts. it was so awesome. people let me take their picture and asked if i would take theirs with their cammies. (of course i did) it was so jolly!

 

after i left and crossed back over the bridge - i saw a white heron - and found the nun's cemetery.

 

then my sister came to visit and we went to a great place for lunch - La Gloria IceHouse - at the Pearl (Brewery) Complex - not too far from my new home. we walked around and bought some Aveda scent and she bought a cookie cutter for making ceramic tiles. now i am drinking cold white pinot grigio and *still* unpacking. i love San Antonio!!!!!

(ps - i have just had the most difficult time making this entry - last night it was impossible, so finally accomplished this morning, despite constant messages from Blogger telling me my browser was no longer compatible, i should choose Chrome now. well poop on *that* - don't tell me i can't use Firefox for Google stuff or i will just stop using Google stuff - i hate that world domination attitude. that is why i never set foot in WalMart. so i don't know - i never liked the terms "blogger" and "blogspot" anyway. i may soon move along to a new format...)

goodbye sweet little town

what happened to me? where did i go? am i back? i don't know! if i am, it will all be different. because life is about to change AGAIN. my year in limbo is over (sort of. another period is starting, but it will not be as long-lasting).

in the last month, in between shuttling myself around to interviews, family visits, etc, i have been In The ArtBarn. i don't remember if i wrote about the new big canvases i was building there while my sisters were beginning new mosaic/ceramic pieces? i have wanted to work BIG for a long time, but it is soooo intimidating. and expensive. i have kept all of my stretchers and old canvases from painting class. then a huge roll of canvas appeared in my sister's horse barn - a gallon of Golden gel medium was discovered - then a gallon of gesso. my sisters goaded me and i had no excuses! so i spent my pennies on inkjet cartridges and went crazy. i am building some wild new stuff. it is big and it is fun and i will show it eventually, but right now i am very very protective of the work. it is similar to the things i have had on etsy - funny reconstructed places, made from my pictures, but man, when you work big you can say a lot more ... it has been such fun, all of us working together.

and then, i was offered a great job. and i start it in two days. in San Antonio. which means another packing up and moving and a whole new life to get used to. i'm pretty excited! part of me is terrified, of course, but the job will be in an environment that i have familiarity with, in a city i wanted to be in and i am no longer afraid of "losing my art" working full time again. i have realized that i flounder with no structure. i have wasted so much time this past year.

i can't WAIT to live in San Antonio again!!! i was born there and have been back and forth for many years and now i am going to settle there. i AM. and i am SO excited about wandering and making pictures there! for a couple of months, i have felt sort of stale here, no new discoveries, no new pictures, but now i know i am leaving, i have different eyes and will probably miss this sweet little town. i am glad one of my sisters is here and i can come back ANY TIME.

 

 

 

 

 

 

during our all-too-brief trip to New Orleans, there was not a great deal of time for the type of photoWandering i generally love to do when away. there was also a great deal of rain! but, no complaints, we managed! the last morning was humid and cool and i crawled out of the bed in our haunted 19th century room early, so i could have at least an hour in our new and interesting neighborhood - the Lower Garden District. i have learned that in interesting neighborhoods, i must learn to accept the details of contemporary life - huge plastic trashbins, chainlink fences, countless utility lines - so i acknowledge these details as part of compositions now. but cars. NO. i cannot accept cars. they just don't fit with these old places.

ps - apologies for the short disappearance. i am trying to rethink my "online presence" lately and though i still want to share my images and artwork, i really want to minimize the ... rambling ... and personal information, so am doing editing and elimination of archives. 

 

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stone ladies : metairie cemetery : new orleans louisiana : april 2012

what can i say? i love the stone ladies in cemeteries. the abundance of them here, in the Metairie Cemetery, overwhelmed me. absolutely. next time, i will plan to spend half a day there (and hopefully not on a gloomy wet evening which was an excellent atmosphere, but not so good for images! these have so inspired me, that i am in the process of turning them into small waxed objects.

i am still absolutely in love with new orleans.
despite her miseries - of which we viewed many.

i vow to never again stay away for seven years.

more pictures to follow.
(of course)

the wildflowers in the hill country of Texas this spring have been insane. i have really never seen anything like it. yesterday, driving from F-burg to SA, i am sure i saw 24 varying species along the roadside. so amazing. then, when i dropped my rent check in the mail box at the post office later in the evening, i looked over to the Catholic Cemetery and thought something was wrong with my sunglasses. that weird blue/gray color over everything. well ... the cemetery was LOADED with bluebonnets. dense, snakey and shocking. i could not believe it. so this morning i hiked back with my bigGirl cammie and we had lots of fun. i was very careful. fire ants and snakes are NOT fun!

but bluebonnets are. as are cemeteries. what a delightful combo.