There's this process when working a clay sculpture where you have to hollow it out, either digging out from below or slicing open the back of the head or cutting it into pieces in order to get inside and remove the excess clay. This allows for more even drying and reduces the risk of a disaster in the kiln. It's also really really scary and I approach it holding my breath and getting as close to prayer as is possible for me, as I destroy my hard work in order to save it from the fire's wrath.

In my work, I like to allow the process to become a visible part of the piece -- letting the sketchy lines show through the paint, showing eraser marks on drawings, leaving parts undone. I consider the process to be part of the beauty of art, just as I find beauty in the bones of things, the roots, the dirty, messy parts that usually are the parts that support life. So the idea of showing these parts is really intriguing to me.

Given the recent vulture sculpt, I am intrigued by the idea of opening up the figures. I'm planning on doing a series of sculpts and maybe drawings and such that are broken open, mixing up the external with the internal; the outer bits with the innards. Holes in the heads, bones poking through, showing the hollowed out form, secrets revealed.

I don't think it will be terribly gruesome.

the poor twisted thing came through firing without cracking open (although, i did sculpt him with head broken open). i gave him a waxed patina pigmented with raw umber and a touch of pearlized blue. i think he looks quite nice!
here are a couple views (with more on flickr, as always).

so, at 7:55am, i wake up to the god-awful sound of 5, count 'em, 5 high-powered, gas leaf blowers and a friggin wood chipper right outside my bedroom window, blowing my neighbor's leaves off her tiny yard. the smell of gasoline fumes leaking into my house was nauseating. doesn't help that there's a cold drizzle and the air is so heavy and dense that it keeps the fumes from dissipating.

day ruined before it even started. bleh.

I'm working on a few sculpts at once...two wall hangings, one of which is a vulture (surprised?) and this new little vulture I just finished and is now drying. Started out like an ordinary vulture and then I sat back, quit thinking and started poking, twisting, pushing and digging. So here's the poor little guy, bowing his thanks (probably that I finally stopped the torture).

a visual experience...



the break happened in 1993 when a semi decided not to stop at a red light, but brni's car was in the way. there's a story that goes with this...here it is:
http://brni.livejournal.com/47001.html

Found this lovely under the chestnut oak out back. Guess what we're eating for dinner tonight!

went and bought my rabbit at the art show! we got there around 3:30 or so and it was already sold.
i'm flabbergasted!
gonna miss the little guy.



i wonder if they'll let me know who bought it, or if it's like a closed adoption thing....

If anyone is curious to see the illustrations for The Halfling's Court by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, I put them up on my Flickr page. Here's the link to the set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thereallinda/sets/72157622653614694/

and here's a small sample of the Faerie King, Dair.

I just found out that the book I illustrated, The Halfling's Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale by Danielle Ackley-McPhail has just gone live on Amazon. Yikes! This is so much fun! Here's a link to the announcement on Dani's LJ page: http://damcphail.livejournal.com/23350.html

We'll all be at FaerieCon in Baltimore, Nov. 6-8 where the books and art prints of the illustrations will be available for purchase. We'll also have some handbound editions of The Evil Gazebo by my wonderful husband, Bernie Mojzes, and copies of Dead Souls, a horror anthology that includes Bernie's story, "The Collector."

Look for our vendor table, under the name, Sidhe na Daire, where you can choose from lots of books, art prints and cards, claw beads (made by me), and Dani's famously popular and fun "costume horns" to show the world your devilish side.

I just got word that my small piece, "Hare" was accepted in the Fall 2009 Member's Juried Exhibition at the Wayne Art Center.
I'm rather surprised since it's really a small little thing, barely 6-7 inches high. I do think she's rather cute though.

So, I guess I'll be heading on over the the Wayne Art Center on Sunday (3-5pm) to see the company she's keeping.

* The small rabbits are done for the most part. Will post pictures as soon as I finish the wax patinas.
* The cover art is done for the Evil Gazebo paperback which comes out in Dec. Will post that when it's finalized.
* The big rabbit is being fired! yay!
* Just started working on a new ceramic vulture mask/wall hanging and have decided to make small skulls on sticks out of paper mache (note to self: buy balloons).

what next? what next?

I am so happy that I successfully completed the illustration job for The Halfling's Court by Danielle Ackley McPhail ON TIME with like a whole 2 days to spare! I will now perform the happy dance...

*happy dance*

The book should be out sometime in November if all else goes well, which I'm sure it will.

Sold two prints and a card at the Witches Ball. Less than wonderful, but it was a very fun night. I got to meet a beautiful American Bulldog, hung out in a beer garden, spent more money than I made on stuff I didn't really need, saw some amazing costumes, and found out that the old historic village of Mt. Holly, NJ is a very quaint and pretty place.

Now, I must start making things for xmas presents. Last year it was santas and snow men. This year? argh...I don't know. I should have started over a month ago. I feel another deadline coming on.

so...
Without going into details (hurts my brain to do that), my latest reading on what is happening in the great health care reform initiative by our illustrious leaders is this:

Score 1! Health Insurance Co's lobbyists on the mandate that everyone must buy health insurance (or be punished with government fines) and all direct cost containment measures removed in favor of "voluntary" efficiency measures.

Score 2! Pharmaceutical Co's lobbyists in negotiating limits to government (and medicare) cost cutting, and to their efforts in creating disincentives for medicare recipients to switch to low-cost generics. Market protection at its most creative.

Score 3! Hospital lobbyists in crafting a deal to limit medicare payment reductions to $155 billion over 10 years.

Runner Up- AMA lobbyists stomping their feet on how unfair it is to favor hospitals over doctors incomes. I'm sure they will get their protections in the end.

FAIL!! We, the people.

With the Oct. 10th deadline approaching, I have thus far completed the cover, all sorts of permutations of the cover design for other applications, the border, and 7 illustrations. I have 5 to go.

pray for me

eta: so, h'okay....ALL day i've been thinking it's thursday. it's not. it's wednesday. i have a WHOLE EXTRA DAY!
prayers musta worked!!!

I'm not at all sure it's reasonable to dream about an old friend, lost to the decades and distance, as a reanimated corpse who is bored and wants to go to the Mutter Museum, but it is apparently 3pm on a Sunday and the museum will be closing at 5...

and so on

dear everyone,

oh, i so do want to make a change. i honestly don't like living in the burbs of philly pa. i would prefer new mexico. montana. colorado. maine. canada. italy. the south of france. spain. mexico.

i miss the sky. the big sky with lots of expansive blue and thousands of stars at night. where there are few people and many animals, plants with thorns, sparse profusion.

ahwell...

Today was the first day of my new "Home & Garden" sculpture class. I started a BIG rabbit for my first piece and it should be done and set to dry next week.
but but but
I don't know what I'm going to do for the next piece. It's a 12 wk course, so I hope to be fabulously productive.

any suggestions? more rabbits? gargoyles? vultures? birdbath? cute little kitties...er...nah.

It shouldn't surprise people who know us that Brni and I had a somewhat unconventional wedding. After living together for about 5 or 6 years, we decided to get married. Rather than go to a JP or have a regular wedding, we had a "Double Shotgun Wedding and Hitchin' Party" after some friends remarked that they'd have to train a shotgun on both of us to get us married.

So we had a theme party. It was a covered dish, byob affair, followed by hot-tubbing and a sleep-over.
And this is the guy we hired to be our wedding singer. Last time we saw him, he was touring with Ani DiFranco. He's irreverent, inappropriate, and one of the sweetest guys I've met. When he got to the party he said he knew he was in the right place when he saw the "bride" (dat be me) was barefoot.

So...watch some videos. To get them to work, I had to click on the reload button (little turny-arrow thing on the lower left of the screens) and then click the play button. The streaming format seems to be a little flakey.

http://hamelltv.com/30-in-30/

Poll #1458517 it's all over now. or is it?
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

so, h'okay...Bernanke says the worst recession in almost 30 years is OVER. tada! Do you believe him?

It's a sad thing, something I'm convinced of by what's been going on at these so-called town meetings and "demonstrations." I'm glad people of Carter's caliber are beginning to call it for what it is. I don't think racism is the only reason this is going on, but it's certainly the big, unspoken one.
This is from a facebook friend...

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/carter-animosity-toward-obama-is-based-in-racism.php

Loki and I had a grand time at the Green Lane Scottish/Irish festival today. We watched Brni and his classmates murder 2 liter soda bottles with swords; communed with a golden eagle who eagle-eyed Loki; petted a pot bellied pig while Loki stood nose to snout in wonder; ate amazing fish and chips by a Nessie inhabited lake.

On the way out, a boxer fell in love with Loki and she broke his heart without ceremony.

the cicadas living in my yard are insane. they are everywhere and they cry in waves and then they drop from the trees onto my deck where the dog plays with them as a cat would, only a bit more enthusiastically, as dogs do.

here are three i saved from loki's frantic love.

I don't know how it happened, but I started sculpting a new hare yesterday and today, a baby rabbit showed up in the middle of it. hmmm.

This one pretty much dictated itself. Started out dreaming that I was to make a solid, slightly cone shaped cylinder and then push it all into shape. Which is what I did when I woke up. Then today, it pretty much finished itself by adding the baby.

Here are a few pictures of it in process...as usual, click through for more pictures on flickr.

so, was on my way to fire the last batch of hares i made when this tragic accident occurred. my newest rabbit lost his ear in transit and had to undergo emergency ear surgery! looks like a wounded soldier in the war between the states, no?





he even looks in pain.
poor wabbit.

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook. This is the first thing I heard this morning and now need to share it with more people. I also may need to move to Texas someday...

Hesitation Blues by Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel.
enjoy!