Talk about the weather
Posted by: annahell on: Monday, February 8, 2010
| Mood: | Like one of them robots |
| Music: | The Beatles-Happiness is a Warm Gun |
loading dock dusk by anna hell
ed. This post has nothing to do with my current, mostly awful state of mind. I wrote it a few months ago and never got around to finishing it. I hadn’t posted in a while and this was 75% done, so I decided to use it in lieu of discussing recent events and talking about my feelings and whatnot. Enjoy!
Sometimes, I talk to my cat, Torrie. And by “talk” I don’t mean we have long, in-depth conversations on the state of the American health care system or that we engage in timed, joke-off competitions. No. For one thing, Torrie shares my longing for a single-payer, European-style, socialized medical system; not much to talk about there. For another thing, cats have almost no sense of humor. Fact.
No, by “talk to my cat,” I mean I sometimes verbalize random thoughts and the cat stares back at me with a mix of 90% blank incomprehension and 10% formulating a plan to kill me and take over the house.
So, I was talking to the cat a while ago and I mentioned something about the weather, something like…
“Can you believe how cold it is, Torrie? And it’s only November!”
But it could just as well have been…
“Can you believe how hot it is, Torrie? And it’s already September!”
…or…
“Can you believe how much it’s been raining, Torrie? And Colorado is an arid state!”
…but we all know I was really trying to say…
“Can you believe I’m talking to you, Torrie? I think I’m losing my mind!“
And there, under the glaring, embarrassing spotlight of self-realization, I finally accepted the fact that I am becoming an old, crazy person who sometimes talks/complains to her cat/other people about the weather.
It’s sad, really. I’m a thoughtful, college-educated, modern woman and I was raised by thoughtful, educated people who taught me the lessons of polite, WASP-y conversation early and often. One should never discuss politics, religion, income, sex, or the weather in front of guests or mixed company. I know talking about the weather is like hitching a ride to Dullsville (so then, writing a blog about it must be like buying property and joining the Dullsville PTA), but I just can’t help it.
It’s so effortless! Perhaps it has something to do with my long-lost agrarian ancestry? Now, I’m not aware of any farming ventures in any of my family’s past (I think we’re mostly made up of merchants, bons vivants, adventurers, and the idle poor), but it’s positively ridiculous to imagine that a distant part of my family hasn’t had their hands in some soil, somewhere. Maybe my inane weather chatter is my body’s way of telling me to “get back to the land” or that “modern life is rubbish?” I don’t know. I wish my body would just speak up sometime…and use complete sentences.
In conclusion, I am getting old, crazy, and boring and I’m somewhat ok with that. If you should happen to become ensnared in a discussion with me that has taken a turn for the climatic, have pity on me…and help me change the subject…to Art or something….I like Art.
Everything’s the worst, also photos
Posted by: annahell on: Friday, January 29, 2010
| Mood: | 100% ugh |
| Music: | Red Lorry Yellow Lorry-Hollow Eyes |
So, it seems like everything in my life these days is turning into a big pile of stinky brown doody. I feel like I’m just watching myself barely make it through each day. I’m not sure what to do about it all and I also don’t really feel like blogging about it.
As compromise, let’s talk about my new camera. As I said, I hadn’t taken many pictures since losing my camera in Washington D.C. (along with an entire, striking National Mall at Night photo set), and I wanted to replace it. I ended up buying one of these…
Canon PowerShot S90
It was pretty expensive for a compact, point and shoot, and I could have bought a nice, entry-level DLSR body for a few dollars more. I chose my little camera for, what I think are, good reasons which I’ll discuss after the period and spaces.
First, there are the issues of cost and portability. I think I’ve gotten a lot of good pictures from my pocket cameras and I’m loathe to lug around an expensive, high-maintenance image maker.
I also have a low opinion of photography as an art form. Sorry. I like taking pictures and I even try to make a lot of “arty” photos, but it’s easy for me and I feel like there’s very little skill involved. Drawing is hard. Painting takes years to master. Sculpture, fiber arts, dance, and music composition are all very challenging and each involves some practiced technique. For the most part, I feel like photography is just a way of curating life. I also like to carry a camera around with me whenever I can and taking photos all the time makes the act of photography seem less special; more common, like a sketch.
There are exceptional photographic artists, of course, but I don’t regret not buying a DSLR.
It’s a nice little camera. I can set the aperture, shutter speed, it has a lot of ISO settings, a video mode, it can shoot in RAW format, it has manual focus, it fits in the little pocket in my purse or bus bag, and it has a decent wide-angle lens. So, win win, win, win, win, win, win, win, win!
I got it on Wednesday and have been busy catching up on taking horrible photos of Miss Kitty, to wit…
the gruffalumox
…and…
relaxed cat is relaxing
And let’s not forget the arty photos in which I offer a glimpse of my naked sorrow, dread, and misery cloaked within the guise of the abstract and mundane…
Stitch, bitch, repeat…my stuff
Posted by: annahell on: Friday, January 22, 2010
| Mood: | 10% wistful, 50% ebullient, 22% other |
| Music: | The Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Heads Will Roll |
Continued from here.
Let’s just get right to it, shall we? Here’s a picture of the scarf I completed right around the beginning of the new year…
Anna with scarf #1 FTW!
…and another look…
Who's a pretty scarfy scarf?
It’s my first real knitting project and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I used 17 gauge bamboo knitting needles and one skein of lovely, variegated, chunky alpaca (I think) wool. The color is a weird, almost ugly combination of orange, magenta, purple and grey.
Mom bought me the yarn, some Addi turbo lace needles, and a copy of Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch for my birthday when she and my aunt came out to visit. My aunt taught me to knit when she was here, but it took me a couple of weeks of practice making swatches on cheap acrylic yarn before I felt ready to move to the more expensive yarn. I didn’t follow a pattern, I just made a garter stitch (knit every row) and played with the width until it felt right.
It’s about 8″ wide, which is pretty wide for a scarf, and around 7′ long, which seems crazy, Dr. Who long. Regardless, I love it. We’ve had some really cold days her
e this year and it’s nice to have a soft woolen scarf to wrap around your head and neck like five times if need be.
Next up is my first foray into embroidery and cross stitch since I was a teeny tot.
untitled (lol) by Anna Hell
I apologize for the crap photos. I’ve had to resort to using my webcam until I buy another, big girl’s camera. Anyway, I started this project almost a year ago! I awoke from a feverish dream (or something) with the basics of this pattern in mind and I felt compelled to finish it…very slowly. It’s approximately 5×7 inches and it felt like it took me a google-illion hours to finish. The truth is prolly closer to 50 or 75 hours, but there are a lot of stitches in it. I’m pretty happy with it, but I feel like it’s more of a sketch/practice piece than anything real.
This is the doodle I started the other day…
pop heart sketch by Anna Hell
I have an idea for how I might use this later, but it really just started off as a fun diversion after I finished the bohemiath above. I know it sounds weird to take a break from needle work by doing some more needle work, but regular embroidery is way faster than cross stitch and it was nice to be able to sketch out something so fast. Like I said, this might be incorporated into a larger piece (8×11 or pillow size?), but I just started this…
Elizabeth's Grace Lace Beret
…and I should really finish it before I get distracted with five other projects, as is my nature. I’d also like to do a Blog, Sweet Blog title card and experiment with some “topographic” embroidery.
So, I’m happy to have finally finished a couple of projects, but only the heart thing and beret will count towards my viva la resolutions art things if I finish them this year. Wish me luck!
What projects are you guys in the middle of/planning to start?
Stitch, bitch, repeat
Posted by: annahell on: Friday, January 22, 2010
| Mood: | Get down with the sickness |
| Music: | some episode of The L Word |
O hai Englandz! We'z gonna need to have deez castlz and landz, kthxbai!
If this seems out of order, it’s because I started this the other day when I was home sick…and why I made reference to it here and showed some here. Let’s just pretend like this is a Blog, Sweet Blog time machine ride to the not-so-distant past!
O hai Interntubes!
So, I’m sick today, but I couldn’t help but share some of the cross stitch/embroidery and knitting work I’ve completed recently. I also want to show you some of the super wonderful Innerwebz stitch art I’ve seen over the past couple of months.
I’m not sure if the other people’s stitch art thing will become a regular feature or not. There are plenty of great websites that do this all the time, e.g. feeling stitchy, mr. x stitch, and craftster.org. Also, I tend to think every.single.project I see on those sights is lovely and amazing. I would just be re-posting every item I see and that’s hardly the sort of top-drawer, Blog, Sweet Blog curating you’ve come to expect. I think I’ll just let the pros handle craft blogging and I’ll just add some of my new besty craft sites to the right-hand blog roll.
Let’s start with the some of the online projects I’ve really loved…
![[Max04.jpg]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZkJWj_O7sa4/S0CvqxfZ60I/AAAAAAAAAmY/BtaZMEL8uH4/s1600/Max04.jpg)
Max by mimilove, click the photo for her page!
The piece above made me do a weird combination of gasp and squeee the first time I saw it. It combines many of the elements of life I love…Hello Kitty, actual kitty, watercolor, an interesting color palette, and weird, delicate embroidery. Mimi’s site is a treasure of similar wonderment.
So…have you ever been up in your own head, working on a certain project and you start thinking…
Wow, that is some good stuff right there. I am soooo good at art! I think I might even be sell-the-cat-move-to-Portland-and-join-an-art-collective good.
…and then you stumble onto something from Tod Hensley and it makes you feel like you just graduated from Baby’s First Art Class? Well, that totally happened to me when I saw his work. It’s a hurtful experience, but I highly recommend looking at super-talented artist’s work when you need to go back to keeping it real.
![[il_fullxfull.75100722.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9ko92typA5o/S0fz9MBrUkI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/CNSl9HK61Hc/s1600/il_fullxfull.75100722.jpg)
Untitled by Tod Hensley
The subject matter isn’t exactly something you’d show your mother (unless you’re me), but the stitching and design are expressionistic, tribal, folky, and sickeningly complex. I think I like this one more…
excerpt from a larger, untitled piece by Tod Hensley
The last of the other’s work is an off-the-cuff, yet totally mind-blowing relaxation sampler by Mrs. Kitty.
![[Cats+Sewing+07-09+032.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tFxbfXxeYoI/SmpoNnB-LyI/AAAAAAAAAPg/O_LypAwC6CM/s1600/Cats%2BSewing%2B07-09%2B032.jpg "Playing with color and texture by Mrs. Kitty")
Playing with color and texture by Mrs. Kitty
It’s so good, it makes me a little bit angry and full of the awe. I think a lot of the old-timey samplers are interesting to look at, but would have been dreadfully boring to actually work. Mrs. Kitty’s piece looks like the most fun way to learn every stitch and also work with color and design.
This is getting long, so I’m going to cut it up into two posts. Click here for a look at what I’ve been up to lately, craft-wise.
I think I’m in love…with Phoenix!
Posted by: annahell on: Thursday, January 21, 2010
| Mood: | 72% wistful |
| Music: | Phoenix-Fences |
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
Ok, one more post before the needle craft porn, promise!
So, um, I’m in love with this album. I know, I’m prolly like the last person to hear it. I’ve, not intentionally, been keeping my finger far from the pulse of “what is happening” in modern music at the moment (more on that later), but better late than never, right?
I downloaded Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix last week and it seems like I’ve been listening to it over and over since then (last.fm tells a different story, but who are you going to believe?). And when I’m not listening to it, I’m thinking about it. And when I’m not thinking about it, I’m having imaginary conversations with it…
Anna: Wow, Phoenix, that was SO amazing! I love that song!
PHX: Thanks, Anna! That’s nice of you to say.
Anna: (staring intently) You have pretty eyes, you know. I like how they’re kind of a brownish greeney blue…like you’re actually made up of four different people. And your album cover is pretty too. It’s like The Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb On Me” with a splash of French flag. So good! Wait, how do you say it in France? Tres bonn? (laughs)
PHX: Oui! And thanks again. We are, as you know, made up of four different people. There’s four of us. In the band.
Anna: (continues to stare as if in a trance, then wakes) Hmm? Oh that’s nice. So anyway, how do you do it, Phoenix? How do you write those songs? How did you get so good at making the songs only I like and want to hear all the time? Did you take a class or do a weekend seminar or something?
PHX: (uncomfortable) Um…well, we just started writing, and-
Anna: (forefinger to her mouth) shhh, please don’t speak, sweet Phoenix. You’re ruining this…beautiful moment we have together.
(crazy laugh) Ha ha ha! Remember that time I was knitting and you played “Fences” and I started to cry a little bit?
PHX: No…
Anna: And remember when “1901″ was playing and it reminded me of that time I heard “Countdown (Sick for the Big Sun)” on the bus and I was so happy? We’ve been through a lot, you and I. Haven’t we, Phoenix?
PHX: (backing away) I think we’re going to go…now. (runs away)
Anna: (runs to the door and yells after them) I LOVE YOU! I can’t stop listening to you! (falls to her knees) I’m nothing without you! (crying) Please don’t leave me!!! (screaming) PHOEEEE-NIX! PHOE-NIX!
…yeah, so you should buy it and stuff, and join me in my crazy.
an introduction
Hi, I'm Anna. I like cheese.
This blog is me trying to figure out/chronicle my life. The About page has a little bit more information, but, remember, none of this is really me...it's just a supplement, a thumbnail sketch, an Intarwebs placeholder. I'm way better/less wordy in person. :-)
Oh, and if I wrote something about you and you thought it was mean or hurtful, I'm sorry. It's how I felt at the time, but probably isn't how I feel now. Chances are, I love you and I think you're awesome.
i’ve been listening to…
favorite artists this week
flickr photos
|
