[dogblog]

reentrophy

2010-01-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

reentrophy

Gathering

2010-01-16T17:16:00.001-08:00

Gathering

omg nomnomnom plz!

2010-01-08T11:16:00.001-08:00

omg nomnomnom plz!

making up

2010-01-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

Making Up
'Tis the season for resolute dissolution...

Spent my mini sabatical largely offline (or at least as offline as I'm currently capable of becoming). In the spirit of resolutions, the mayfly, and recession specials, I chewed on the eternal "what next" question. Nothing huge to report, but it did become clear to me that what I want most of all is more time to make stuff. Puttering is when I'm happiest, whether it's with paint, a soldering iron, or a pen.

So, people have asked me if I plan on selling my work, that I should make tshirts, put stuff on etsy, etc. And that's all super cool, and I love that vote of confidence. But really, the thing I need to do more of is make more shtick. So that's it. No big fancy resolutions, no big whoopedeedo. Just make, putter, paint, draw.

If that goes well, mebbe there'll be a show in my (near) future. Also, if you'd like to be my agent, feel free. The terms are likely to be flexible and generous (...it's easy to offer a big cut of nothing, eh?).

Staving off regret

2010-01-03T22:23:00.001-08:00

Staving off regret
End of one week vaca, and so much i wish I'd done, so much unfinished,so much more I'd hoped to accomplish. Bit overwhelming. So tonight I warded off some of that feeling by making more champagne deitritus furniture. None of it is ready for dwr's annual chair contest, but it's an amusing exercise nonetheless.

biggest moleskin evah

2009-12-25T09:45:00.001-08:00

biggest moleskin evah
happy xmas to meeeee! (i always know exactly what to get myself ;-)). can't wait to open it and start sullying the surfaces! oy the joy of new sketchbooks...

Defying gravity

2009-12-20T09:35:00.001-08:00

Defying gravity
Gorgeous dance performance by Project Bandaloop, literally breaking off the surface/landscape.

doodly bits

2009-12-19T19:08:00.001-08:00

doodly bits
courtesy of da free box, new notebook (one of those softsided moleskin numbers). enjoying the paper and ink randomness...

Flotsam Trouble

2009-12-18T09:40:00.001-08:00

Flotsam Trouble
This bit of flotsam washed up on our porch last night.

He's (she's) a talker and a biter. Cute, well-fed, no collar. Toki met him and was a cartoony dopey dog (ran past him, and then was amazed that he'd vanished). If Sy tries to "foster" him, I'm gonna sign up to be a foster parent (for ppl) and not ask for permission...

tis the season

2009-12-16T23:20:00.000-08:00

tis the season
thanks to auntie cwee for the doggles' hannukah gifties! and for the seasonally inclined, a little flashy sno for your enjoyment (yesh, it impairs your ability to click on some of da links. sorry. lemmeno if you're annoyed...).

orange to purple

2009-12-16T23:16:00.001-08:00

orange to purple
goodbye sweet orange, hello to purple's bruises and sinking deeper into the art...

More fishcake!

2009-12-10T11:06:00.001-08:00

More fishcake!
Worked on a few more little paintings. There's also something strange happening with another set of these boards. I'm not happy with how that set is turning out, so no photos yet. More to come soon.

fingers crossed

2009-12-08T15:39:00.001-08:00

fingers crossed
Weet Woo! is a finalist for an App Star award. We'll find out tomorrow if we won... (UPDATE: we didn't win, but congrats to all who did, and thanks for the great publicity!)

proof positive

2009-11-30T16:53:00.001-08:00

proof positive
photographic evidence that i have not been neglecting the little one of great brattiness. (the tiny dot in the middle of the first photo is toki at fort fun--and i needed it as much as she did...)

The cone of shame...

2009-11-30T16:41:00.001-08:00

The cone of shame...
Since Kehoe proved herself to be too adept at removing the various e-collar alternatives (thanks Becca! thanks Dr. Dunn!), we have resorted to the cone of shame. Kehoe's clearly not happy about it, but she's quickly learning to smack us with it, when we're not being responsive enough.

The second photo is of Kehoe in one of the cone alternatives. This one, she can get off within 5 seconds (even when sedated).

kehoe update

2009-11-25T12:51:00.001-08:00

kehoe update
Well, good news and bad news. (ain't that always the way?)

So far, what i know is that it's a grade 2 mast cell tumor. That's vague enough that the doctor sent the info to the oncologist, who gave her more detailed info. I'm hoping to talk to the doctor on Friday, and get a clearer picture. But, basically, it could be worse, and it could be better. It's not benign, and it's not crazy aggressive. We might be in a holding pattern of just watching for any sensitivity that might indicate that there's more going on, or we might have more aggressive options to pursue. Either way, i won't know a whole lot more for a bit.

In the meantime, I was feeling all tough that Sy and I were able to remove Kehoe's tension stitches (supportive extra tubing and stitches that helped keep the main stitches from having too much stress during the critical first 3-5 days). Sy's been taking photos, so I'll post them when I can bear it.

Just now, I found out that Kehoe manage to tear out some of her head stitches. The ones I wasn't even worrying about. Sigh. So they're back at the vet now, and I'm just waiting and hoping that it isn't too traumatic for them all.

More when I can. But at least I'm glad we're here this weekend, and not heading out of town. Good time to reflect on all that I am thankful for, and to spend some time appreciating all the good shtick that's around me everyday. (Likely, if you're reading this, this includes you--so thanks!)

exceeding our materials

2009-11-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

exceeding our materials
After tearing through Jonah Lehrer's How We Decide, I decided to give his debut book a try. I haven't even got past the prelude, and I'm already taking notes. He ends this prelude with this lovely paean to art and science:

It is ironic, but true: the one reality science cannot reduce is the only reality we will ever know. This is why we need art. By expressing our actual experience, the artist reminds us that our science is incomplete, that no map of matter will ever explain the immateriality of our consciousness.

The moral of this book is that we are made of art and science. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, but we are also just stuff. We now know enough about the brain to realize that its mystery will always remain. Like a work of art, we exceed our materials.

...The experiment and poem complete each other. The mind is made whole.

He's got a nice touch with verbage--thoughtful, poetic and heartfelt. I'm doing my best to save this read for the coming Thanksgiving holiday, so I can enjoy it at home in our cozy living room, rather than on a cramped Bart or bus ride home.

Sunny Kehoe

2009-11-16T13:52:00.001-08:00

Sunny Kehoe
We found out this weekend that a tiny bump on the inside of Kehoe's back leg is a mast cell tumor. Fingers crossed that it's benign, it's coming off on Thurs, and we'll know more afters.

Update 11/22/09: Both bumps (nonscary one on her head, and the mast cell lump on her leg) have been removed. She also received a spa treatment (ears and teeth cleaned and nails trimed) while under. So far, the recovery is slowly improving everyday. Now the challenge is to keep her relatively still for the next week and a half. Oh, and I'll be removing the tension stitches myself. Wish me luck.

There's a few photos on flickr, I'll post more when I can bear it.

Chumby guts!

2009-11-03T12:15:00.001-08:00

Chumby guts!
Stayed up a bit too late last night with my newest distraction--Chumby Guts!. It arrived about a month earlier than I expected, and was easier to put together than I'd anticipated (in great part thanks to mtbf0's helpful flickr photos, and *despite* the ikea-like directions that came with the package).

Still tinkering to figure out why it's hanging up when downloading the control panel, but pretty happy I did it. Makes a great present for the geek in your life, btw. (And yes, they can borrow my soldering iron.)

doodly mayhem

2009-10-29T15:09:00.001-07:00

doodly mayhem
see...i'm not not drawing.

it's just that i've been (mostly pleasantly) too swamped to post anything. been fussing at my huge painting, and not sure of where it's headed--i really liked the changes, and now i'm back to my usual skepticism. so that'll take a bit more before i can post again. i do love that it's changed so much in the intervening years (!).

been happily consumed with project sketches--to the detriment (improvement?) of my sleep deficit. and the other stuff is my usual fidgety daily doodling. so it's all still happening, just an effort to post. will report back with more when I can.

painting: in progress

2009-09-25T16:31:00.001-07:00

painting: in progress

Yeah it's upside down. Whut?

2009-09-25T16:28:00.001-07:00

Yeah it's upside down. Whut?

you do not have to be good

2009-08-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

You do not have to be good
This is one of my favorite poems of all time (thx to Jill for the reminder). Given that it says everything I could (and better, with craft and elegance), I'll not say much. But everytime I read this poem, I find something new.

Today--from where I stand, now--it's bringing me back to the ordinary flesh and blood that we are. That we aren't some esoteric mind that somehow rises above our lowly animal selves. When we die, it's our bodies that are forever, not our riotous minds. Our bodies are literally immortal--changing and eventually getting absorbed into dirt, plants, sky, water, air--immutable but also always changing.

Of course, all that verbage (and the words below, for that matter) are just products of various thoughts, and therefore necessarily ephemeral, mortal, and may well be undone in the next moment...

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
...

beyond my imagination

2009-08-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

Beyond my imagination...
Good, productive weekend of bursty work patterns and getting things done. Think I've been overdoing it for a bit, because I'm worn out and honestly a bit sick today (tired, achy, slow). But that's also data, and so I'm resting and getting myself together for the next charge. In the meantime, I got to finish a book of substance (recommended by the general herself): Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.

It's a quick read, but far from easy. It's wrenchingly, quietly, painfully, beautifully difficult in places. And transcendent throughout. She's not my favorite writer (The Namesake gets a nod, but that's it), and at times I disliked her stories intensely. Perhaps the quiet ordinary despair was just too much for a midweek commute read. But she's a good writer, and excellent at her craft--she uses words so well and with such skill, that her prose is transparent, light-weight, and devastating.

If you only have 15 minutes, read the last story in the series. But I'd recommend just reading the entire book, and savoring the last story at the end.

"Whenever he is discouraged, I tell him that if I can survive on three continents, then there is no obstacle he cannot conquer. While astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly thirty years. I know that my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have know, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination."

-from Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Walking in the dark

2009-08-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

Walking in the dark
[Backposting on 9/25/09--written on Saturday, 8/15/09 5:30am-5:45am]

Those of you who know me, might know about my glaucoma--a condition I'm thankful to have caught early (Dr. Slam!), thankful to be treating (Dr. P!), and scared to death of.

My life is so dependent on my vision, a fact that I've taken for granted until recently.

Everything I do--from the living I make, to the things I make that give my life meaning--they're all based on my ability to see, and to see well and with attention.

It defines me so completely, that when I think of it, there's that chasm again. And with the inkling of the chasm, I'm off, toiling, if not to fill it, at least to keep myself busy while facing the abyss.

So I find myself practicing. Walking through the darkened house, testing my non-visual memory: Can I locate and get through doorways, around furniture, avoid squeaky toys (it is, after all, just after 5am, and while our puppy would love a romp, my partner and my older dog would most certainly not appreciate it). And this is another, very literal, way for me to feel and find myself at home in our house. It's surprising, after only a year, how well I know and can sense our home.

Yet, when it comes to the void, my favorite things ("He took a polaroid everyday, until he died.") that have had the most profound impact on me are the smallest of gestures. Sure, some garner fame (bansky, andre to obama). But that's not what it's about--despite the gnashing voice in my head that demands to know what I've *done* with my life, to show what I have produced that is of value--no, the act is reason enough, and the art is just gravy. So I suppose we all just keep on keeping on--and especially when you can't, then you go easy. and if you can't go easy, go as easy as you can.