River Diving

Miranda and I took a drive up Providence Canyon today, and we found ourselves a little adventure. First off, the road was super icy and full of holes and bumps, which was super interesting to maneuver in Miranda's little Prism. There is a river to the right of the road, and at one point I looked down and saw a wooden pallet in the river. It looked like someone had just dumped it there, so I felt fine about snatching it up for myself. I carefully climbed down the icy, muddy embankment, and I realized that in order to get the pallet without diving into the freezing river, I needed to be on the other side. Sooooo, I strategically placed some rocks into the river to create a stepping stone. Most of the rocks just rolled away, so that was fantastic. But I finally got one to stay put, and after a few sketchy, slippery moments, I hopped on over to the other side. (Now don't get carried away. The river was only about 4 ft wide. So I'm not that cool. But it was cold and running fast. So I'm still cool.)
The pallet is not too wide, but it's pretty long, and quite heavy. I fetched it out of the water and had to shimmy and shake like a rattle so I could hop back over to the other side of the river while balancing the pallet in the upright position. I lugged myself and the pallet up the embankment a little ways, and Miranda threw down her handy scarf, which I looped around the wood. By this point, my hands were freezing nubs. (How would it be to hold hands with nubs?)
Now picture this: I have a pink, stretchy fabric scarf wrapped around a giant pallet that has ice all over it, and I'm pulling the whole dang thing up a muddy hillside, slipping every 3 seconds, with nub hands and muddy pants and shoes. It was so cool! Miranda grabbed the end of the scarf once I got in range, and she pulled and I pushed until we got it up the hill. Then she scarf-dragged it back to the car, where we pushed and shoved and pulled and twisted (and dented her car.....) and acted nonchalant when cars drove by until we finally just shoved it into the trunk, and used the trusty old scarf to secure the trunk lid, as the pallet was sticking out of the back.  (Don't worry, we put a red piece of paper on the scarf as a safety precaution. I'm sure it helped.)
Just as we were finishing securing the trunk, we heard snowmobiles headed toward us. We were parked by someone's truck and trailer, so we knew they were coming back to put their snowmobiles away. All of the sudden it seemed like we were stealing some important artifact, and the feds were closing down hard. So we shoved everything back in the car, jumped inside, and booked it outta there. We out-ran the pseudo-feds! (Someone should make this into a movie--maybe Fugitive 2: The River Pallet. Throw Harrison Ford in there again and it'd be a box office hit for sure! And yes, I still have a crush on Harrison Ford.) It was a fantastic adventure, and now I have an awesome pallet! I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but here are some ideas:

I'll let you know what I come up with. Oh, and I'm also going to be building a couch for our living room, so I'll keep you updated on that as well. Probably.

Peecture Tyme

I love National Geographic. So. It's picture time. Lots of pictures.

Latest Kool-Aid induced art project.

This piece was super fun to do--I was mostly just experimenting with materials and playing around with depth. The flower is made of card stock, and then I did ink transfers with my trusty old phone book and white acrylic paint. I painted the design on the background with acrylic paint, and painted the flower petals a light shade of yellow using gouache. Since I got the panel thing out of a dumpster, I'm not exactly sure what it is. It looks like a cheap laminate floor sample that schools use, but I really have no idea. Whatever it is, it works perfect for this project! Thank you, Aggie Village! 

Weekly break-ups-and-downs

Yeah...it's been that kind of a week. Tough, stressful, tiring, etc. But a lot of really good things happened. I received a flower for Valentine's Day. First flower ever? You better believe it. I got extra hours at work, which means more money toward spring break and THE BEACH!! The sun was shining today, and the mountains were gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. I got a package in the mail, and that in itself can make an entire bad week better. I cuddled with my pillow pet, Eustace the Unicorn. Very therapeutic. I didn't step in dog poop as I walked across the poop mine field by my house, and that's always a plus. I had time to take a small nap before work today, and I dreamed about Star Wars. I finished my assignments before 2 am. I had food with nutritional value for dinner. (It was at 10:00, but dinner is dinner, right?) I read a fantastic talk by Pres. Uchtdorf that made me cry--but in a good way. I talked to my Dad, who always knows exactly what I need to hear. And I talked to my Father, who knows exactly how I'm feeling. Seen in this light, this has been one of my best weeks.

Steak Poster

This is my inspirational steak poster. Look at what a college art education has taught me, Mom and Dad!

Yeah. It's pretty inspiring. Oh, in case you were wondering: I did go dumpster diving the other night. And Miranda and I found some awesome wood for my art projects, and Miranda even picked up a sweet injury on her foot when she dropped a giant piece of wood on it. (hehh....sorry Mir!) It's incredible what people throw away-I found a fluffy pillow in the dumpster. All it needed was a good wash to get rid of the diseases, and it would have been perfect! I think I should go back and get it. I'm in need of a good pillow. Literally. My pillow is basically non-existent. 

So, I cut my hair. All by myself. I've done this many times before, and it's always turned out pretty good. Not so much this time. I may be sporting an up-do for the next 5 months. But that really interferes with my plans, because I'm growing my shave out, and I was planning on wearing my hair down to cover up the awkward length. It's going to look hilarious when it starts getting longer. I can't wait.

Another interesting tidbit about my life right now: I'm addicted to Kool-Aid, and that is not a lie. It's my fix. I should really get a handle on it. But I probably won't. 

One more thing: Sometimes church is hard for me to sit through. My mind wanders unceasingly, and I get distracted by the littlest things. But today, during steak...I mean stake...conference, I was riveted to the speakers. It was one of the best meetings I have been to in a long time, and part of that was probably because I was actually willing to listen and learn this time. One of the speakers, the wife of a mission president, said a lot of things that I really liked. So, I'mma share a few of them with you, because this time I have my notes right here with me!

-Don't strive for perfection, strive for improvement. (This one is big for me, because I get caught up in trying to be perfect at everything.)

-Life brings us trials and challenges, but misery is optional. 

-There is a difference between "giving up," and "giving all." (I think her husband might have said that one. He was an amazing speaker as well. Super passionate and motivational. I think he even hit his hand on the pulpit a few times for added effect. Very kewl.) 

-Impressions should lead to expression. (I also took this one to heart, because there have been many times when I've received impressions, written them down, and then....nothing else happens. I want to work on this one.)

Anyway, I'm sure you've heard those same type of quotes many times, but it's nice to be reminded, right?

The Howler.

Today's inspiration is: DON'T PUT OFF YOUR HISTORY READING, OR ELSE YOU WILL BE READING 8 HORRENDOUSLY LONG CHAPTERS 2 DAYS BEFORE YOUR TEST. YOU WENT DUMPSTER DIVING AND MADE A STEAK POSTER LAST NIGHT INSTEAD OF STUDYING. (granted, I had studied all afternoon at work.) DO YOU WANT A COLLEGE EDUCATION OR NOT? GET YOUR BUTT IN GEAR! 

I hope this inspires someone.....preferably me. 

I need a commission. Now would be nice.

I've come up with a plan to earn more money. I'm going to Dubai to find a husband. Everyone is rich over there, and I'm sure someone would be happy to have a white American wife. 

If that doesn't work, I have a plan B. 

I'm going to make more panel pieces and try to sell them. I'm not really sure at this point how I'm going to get buyers, or even how I'm going to get myself and my paintings known. But I'll find a way....somehow. I'm really excited to do these panels though. They are going to be sweeet! They'll have text and vibrant color, along with a random image, such as an old fashioned camera, a typewriter, a flower, etc. They will be large in scale, and can easily be customized. They will basically be variations on the flower panel piece I did earlier.  So, if anyone has connections, now would be a good time to use them...for me. Heh. When I'm rich and famous I'll buy you a car for helping me out. Or a department store. Whatever.

I don't have the money to buy masonite right now, so I'm going dumpster diving to find wood that I can use. I know of a good spot up on campus that usually has a lot of dumped building materials. Thank goodness for waste!

My goal is to sell at least one piece before the end of this semester, but I have to find time and energy to make the piece first, and that could take some thinking and re-arranging on my part. Anyway, as soon as I get one done I'll post some pictures. If anyone has any ideas on what a cool object would be to paint, please let me know!