muerto de risa

Now, if I could just finish packing...

This is my last post until November.  Tomorrow I leave for a 3 1/2 week trip to Peru.  I am lucky enough to be going on this textile tour which includes workshops in backstrap weaving, embroidery, braiding, etc.  And I will be returning to the magical Machu Pichu (above) and visiting the Colca Canyon which I´ve heard is amazing.  I can´t wait to meet the other participants and start snapping photos.  If only Jordan could come with me...I will miss him. 

I hope you all enjoy the rest of October!  I look forward to sharing my adventures with you when I return. 

who knew skulls could grow scruff?

the weather in quito never fails to surprise me. a moment ago it was dark and cloudy and i decided against heading out to the bookstore for fear of getting caught in the rain. now the sun is out again and the view from my window no longer matches the elliott smith tunes blasting from my mp3 player. i thought the music might block out the shouts from the political rally in the park (probably related to the upcoming presidential election). it is, kind of.

anyway, i'm going to pretend it's still cloudy and rainy outside so that i don't have to feel guilty about the time i'm spending online. i've been finding some new artists (new to me, anyway) that i really like and i thought i'd share a couple of links.

i love, love the portraits by wes maygar.  i like the angles of the people and the concentrated color.

 

and speaking of wes, these sculptures by wesley anderegg are great:

 

and finally, i would love to celebrate the day of the dead by drinking a cup of spicy mexican chocolate out of one of these mugs by michael corney:

(i especially love the mug with the scruff.)

thanks for all of your wonderful comments lately.  i enjoyed reading every one.  have a great sunday!

i´m too hungry to think of a good title

have you been reading shari´s posts on inspiration?  her words and the comments left by her readers have provided me with an overload of ideas to contemplate.  i cannot seem to stop thinking about what inspires me, how inspiration is related to my production, etc.

one thing i realized in the past few days is how important it is for me to have some brainless crafting mixed in with the projects that require more thought.  lisa and i learned a new craft on tuesday, which, after the creativity involved with designing a pattern (or as in the case of our first projects, picking out a pre-designed pattern) and picking the color scheme, is a basically mindless activity.  and i am totally obsessed with it!  i love working on a project where i quickly see progress and can weave (sew? what´s the correct verb here?)  while i think about other projects.  it´s only been a couple of days, but i already have some new ideas in mind for both collages, rugs, and pillows.

i especially love the idea of making some pillows influenced by the simple designs of these graphic pillows by jonathan adler:

             

and then yesterday while i was working one-on-one with one of the boys at work, he mentioned that one of the things he doesn´t like about the treatment program is that he isn´t as religious as most of the other boys.  as is common for people in drug treatment, many of the boys use their faith as a form of support as they attempt to change their lives.  i talked with him about other passions he might have that could provide him with a similar type of support.  besides his family, he mentioned his love for music and how he never feels quite right when he´s separated from his collection. (another reason why he doesn´t like being in the residential program is that it requires him being away from his CDs for 9 months.)  and this discussion was another reminder of how important it is for me to be surrounded by inspiring images.

 

when we first moved to ecuador i neglected to bring a lot of the art and crafts i lived with in brookyln.  and until i collected some new items to place around our apartment it didn´t feel quite like home.  i like having these pretty things around, not just to inspire me to create, but to also provide a constant reminder of some of the good things in life.

hey bubbee...

i love retro-style packaging.  for example, i bought this can of instant coffee solely for its adorable label:

 

i admit, it is a little odd that children would be licking their lips at the deliciousness of instant coffee, especially since this instant coffee was quite horrid.  nonetheless, it was worth a couple of bucks to have a cute new storage container for my crafting supplies.

and then there is this:

 

 

it is the packaging for a kosher-for-passover potato kugel mix my mom sent me last year.  it cracks me up!  i wonder if the packaging has stayed the same since the '50s, or if the retro style was brought back to try and entice people with fond memories of potato kugel from their childhood.  is it true (as the box suggests) that there are jews who happily reminisce the days of relaxing with a slice of kugel and their favorite mixed drink?  "hey bubbee*, it´s been years since we last enjoyed kugelniks 'n cocktails!  why don´t  you swing by pathmark and see if they have any mix for sale."  i love it.

*a yiddish term of endearment

show & tell: flowers

happy october!  despite enduring a rash of bad luck, i had a nice weekend.  friday night we enjoyed a yummy chinese meal with belen and cesar which was the perfect thing before a long night of deep sleep (after much tossing and turning the night before).  last night we went to a fun little party where i showed off my atrocious table tennis skills, met some new people i really like, and finished off the night gracefully by throwing up in our friends' brand new extra bathroom sink. (no, i didn't drink too much.  it was something i ate, an unfortunately fairly common occurence here in quito.)

anyhoo, do you remember the list of inspirations i posted a few posts ago?  well, i have started a series of collages inspired by the ecuadorian economy, dealing in particular with some of the big industries and class division.  you may remember that the first item on my list was the flower industry and this influence can be seen in my first two pieces:

1.

 

it was difficult to fully photograph this collage, but there are a few flowers mixed in the pink painted section, which is kind of important as the idea is she is "painting" with the flowers.

2.

 

and a couple of close-ups:

 

in both pieces the women are supposed to be indigenous women from the ecuadorian highlands who work for flower farms.  there are flower businesses here where the workers are treated and paid well.  but in many cases, lower-level employees work long hours for little pay to help grow beautiful flowers, many of which end up in the homes of americans and europeans and lead to piles of cash in the pockets of the wealthy ecuadorians, americans, and europeans who own the businesses.  to me, there is both great beauty and sadness involved in this work.