Am I a "Real" Artist Now?

Last year's Show at Space4Art

Last month, a friend posted an innocuous little link on Facebook, inviting artists to participate in a local version of ArtClash's "Fun-A-Day" project. 

It's basically a collective showing of artists who have made something everyday for a month... in San Diego, the making is scheduled to take place in February (Hello, LEAP YEAR!  Extra Day!) and showing on March 24, 2012 at Space4Art in Barrio Logan.

Last year, ArtClash San Diego accepted 30 artists on a first-come-first-serve basis.  THIS this year, artists were slected via a submission entry and jury process.  It also seems that both the name of the collective has changed (from "Art Clash" to "Open Arts Collective"), as has the name of the event itself (from "Fun-A-Day" to "Do Art Daily"), but that's neither here nor there...

Full of vim and vigor and more than a few crossed fingers, I applied.

I got in.

[Gigantic GRIN]

Here's my plan: 

1. For each of the 29 days in February, I will create one Curious Pebble to be shown at the OpenArts Collective "Do Art Daily" Show in Barrio Logan in Downtown San Diego. 

2. At the show, I plan to place the pebbles around the venue, much as one would find them as part of the Curious Pebble Project... Tucked into corners, at the base of a sculpture, in the windowsill, half-hidden among the "whatever-elses" happen to be there...

3. Following the show, I'll take all 29 pebbles and place them EN MASSE on one of our local beaches for people to find, take home, sign into the guestbook, etc.  I might even arrange them nicely for photographic effect, mmmm?

You can be sure there will be pictures of both the show and the En Masse leaving of pebbles (EMLOP) on the beach. Oh yes.  Lots.

Seems this little project is inching closer and closer to becoming something like a yarn-bombing.

Ok.... Maybe more of a "pebbling" than a "bombing", but still....

I'm so excited.  :)


There are a thousand other things to tell you.  I've been very, very neglectful of this blog (and of you) and suffice to say that it's been a difficult few months as far as animal companions go (losing Jack-the-dog was not the end of our troubles, I'm afraid)...

BUT! There are new companions (KITTEH!  PUPPY!), I am recovering from likely my fourth nasty cold of the season (enough already, ok???) and children are back to school, which gives me time to think about blogging and making again. 

Oh, thank heavens.

'Cause I'm going to need at least one child-free hour per day for this project. 

And likely another bucket 'o pebbles.

Ohio Bound...

(Written last night on an airplane... But not posted until, well... Now....)

Today begins a week of vacation/family reunion in Ohio... A trip that requires 8 hours in the air (ok, some of that is a layover), and I am currently hurtling above the earth at an alarming speed somewhere between Nashville and Columbus.

(Which makes it sound as if I have a fear of flying, but I don't... I just like the idea of hurtling through the air at an alarming speed.)

But, what really prompted me to blog from 30,000 feet is this story.

On the first leg of this journey - the almost 4 hour flight- I pulled out my thread and crochet hook, thinking that I might as well make some pebble sweaters. Although, I was not so silly as to bring a pile of pebbles with me, mind you. Seemed a little bit much, although the thought DID occur to me.

So... I'm working on a pebble sweater, and Flight Attendant Julie stopped by with a, "Ooh! That's pretty! What are you making? A doily?"

I'm sure I blushed bright red, because it sure felt like it, as I was trying to figure out just how to phrase my reply so that I didn't sound like Miss Havisham or someone equally certifiable. I think I did say something like, "Well... I... ummm... I make little sweaters for pebbles, then I leave them on the beach for people to find..."

At which point she called over Andrew, Flight Attendant #2, and thus I was compelled to launch into a full-blown explanation.

Julie is looking at me, smiling, half amused, half unsure if what I'm saying is true, so I fish into my bag and pull out one of business cards (no, TWO cards, because by this point, Andrew wants one, too). She is properly impressed.

Andrew (who seems also to be duly impressed) says, "That's so Random!" in a very nice and lovely way, and, well, it IS, isn't it?

Julie hints that, Gee! She sure would like to find a pebble like that! To which I sadly note that I didn't bring any pebbles with me... that I'm just making the crochet bits... and she giggles and tosses a bag of peanuts onto my tray and jokingly suggests I try making a sweater for that tiny bag of peanuts.

It was a little too floppy... Not impossible, of course, but not the best of subjects.

But it DID give me an idea.

I glanced at my water cup... And, YES! The crochet bit that I was working on JUST FIT the rim of the "glass"...

So I summon Andrew when her back was turned and asked him to bring me a clean cup, and told him that I was going to crochet a cover for it. I'm not sure he believed me. He doesn't know me like you guys do.

But I'm glad it was such a long flight, because I was able to finish the weirdest thing I've crocheted to date.

And Julie couldn't believe that I'd done it. I do believe she said she loved it, in fact. And she was ever so sweet about it.





Kind of sad to put that much work into a plastic airlines cup.

Or not.

Not if it made someone happy.

Westfield Mall, Oceanside, California



After a very full day yesterday-- The Wild Animal Park with a long lost friend and her son, followed by a lovely dinner and conversation at my house-- today was sort of just drifting along with no real plans on the horizon.  So, when little girl mentioned that a trip to the Disney Store would be "a very good idea", we decided that, in fact, it WAS a good idea.  I grabbed my camera and three Curious Pebbles and got to work.  Figured out in a hurry that the mall is a pretty crowded place to be inconspicuous....

 

This is the reason the rest of my pics are a bit out of focus... I was trying to emulate a very slow shutter speed on my digital camera to get a nice swirl effect on the Merry-Go Round.  Didn't exactly work, and then I forgot to switch it back for the next couple of pics.  Ooops-a-Daisy. Oh well.  I promise to do better next time!

  

The trio as we left the house... ready for Pebbling!



An orange Spider-web Pebble, left on a bench near the Merry-Go Round, and which disappeared as I was trying to get all artsy with Merry-go Round pics.  Sign it in if you've found it!



See?  Left him right... here....



A blurry shot of a pretty pink one...



Left on a wall just outside of Macy's (second floor).  Did you find it?





A yellow sunflower...



Placed on the shoe-cubby at the kid playland...

 

Someone moved it once while we were there, but I put it back....


SO!  If YOU have found a Curious Pebble at the Westfield Mall in Oceanside, won't you please sign the guestbook and tell me what you thought? 



Wild Animal Park (Part Two)





I couldn't resist!  I didn't leave it there, but I thought Mr. Ellie

could use a little color... if only for a snapshot...



Well, it was a little chilly, and my husband kept insisting that I was going to get arrested, and/or the Animal Park Staff were going to ban me from the Park for life, etc, etc, etc... but in fact, I ended up leaving not just the three pictured in my last post, but FIVE total.  Here's how it broke down:

SILVER



Left in the African Aviary, right at the entrance of the Park.  Our second favorite spot in the park (The Aviary in the Hidden Jungle is awesome), and we *never* miss it.  We even take a picture of our kids in the exact same spot each and every time we go there, so we have a whole continuum of shots from a particular angle of a particular kid.  Very funny.  In fact!  I left the Silver one on said rock after I took today's obligatory picture of said kid...





...and then walked about ten feet away to check out the Spoonbills, only to look up and see someone picking it up within a minute and a half of my leaving it there.  Very exciting. 







Success!  The whole family was gathering around it discussing it.  Hope they sign the guestbook...





RED

 



Ms. Red had an interesting day... Ooh!  I love the red thread against the black rock...







I first put her in the crook of a fallen tree in a less traveled section in the park







Then, my husband said, nah, not there.. and thinking he meant it was too visible, I kinda hid her a little more in the tree.  Can you see her?





Apparently, that wasn't what he meant.  He actually meant was that it might not be prominent ENOUGH, and so I picked her up and took her with me toward the gorillas.  I last saw her on the stone wall walking toward the Gorilla Enclosure...  Didn't stick around to see if she was picked up, so as with the last time I did this, red is once again the wild card...



BLUE



Ah, Mr. Blue... We headed over to the Hidden Jungle - where we could literally hang out for HOURS in the tropical humidity with the sweet 'lil birdies singing to us from the trees.  A place where you MUST sit and wait and watch closely, and you will see the most amazing things.  Like, today... with one particular group of birds in the midst of mating wars, with six or seven males wrestling on the ground, pinning each other to the dirt with their beaks in effort to show off their manly-birdieness for the girls... Quite an act.  I was convinced that they were actually trying to kill each other, but, they eventually stopped and went about their business.  But not before I got some interesting photos an video. 



In any case, Mr. Blue was left on a bench inside the Aviary, in plain sight.





See 'im?



THEN!  As we were leaving the park for the evening, we took a quick detour back through the Aviary to see if he was still there.  He was GONE!  Imagine my surprise to see him sitting on a rock just outside the Aviary.  Curiouser and Curiouser



PURPLE



Of course, with little kids, one must always make a pit-stop at the very cool Wild Animal Park Playground.  Got some great shots of my little girl (Miss Thing) going in and out of the tunnel, me playing with the light and the camera...





Anyway... Purple... Left him on the curb leading up and our of the playground...

I'm pretty positive that some little guy or girl must've seen him, picked him up and showed his mommy.  Hope she comments. 



Thus ends the Curious Pebble for the day... Wonder where I'll leave them next?

The Wild Animal Park (Part One)

We've decided not to completely waste the afternoon and are heading for the Wild Animal Park.  So, just as an experiment, I think I"ll take these with me and plant them surreptitiously somewhere in the park.  Will post pics when we get home!  Happy Sunday, everyone!

Off to become Found Art at the San Diego Wild Animal Park!