i wrestle back and forth

between blessing and blaming
between forgiving and judgment
between pointing here and pointing there
between being better than and worse than

i read the most recent words
and i wrestle
and i remember
the words are a constant reminder
of what belongs to me
and what does not

i must sift the words and release
those which are untrue

i must bless and not curse
for that would destroy me

i must forgive and not judge
for i know that i do not know or understand

i must point inward and not outward
for i can account only for what lies within

i must not compare
for we are different

i must release the sifted words
for they are not mine
they are not me
they belong to another
they belong to their author
they are not mine

ease to say
so difficult to do
but i will try to continue
to redirect myself towards
blessing
forgiveness
mercy
kindness

but then sometimes
i get concerned that
i might sublimate my anger
so there is that

Note the skid marks

because i was running soooo dang fast, being fleet of foot and all, that when the root reached up out of the cinder track, grabbed me by the ankle, and flung me down to a screeching halt (or was that just a sudden gravity surge), we'll let's just say i gracelessly skidded a bit. Oooouchy! my other knee, both hands and elbows aren't so bad. tomorrow i'll get back on that horsey, but today I am cinder-fell-a.

Can you actually measure these skid marks to calculate the speed at which i traveled? kind of like a car wreck?

A blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you;

May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you;

May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace...both now and forevermore.

OR IN THE WORDS OF THE IRISH

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

Not my words, but it is the blessing I give you, hope for you. Go in peace.

Most sincerely your "old friend"
Kathy Kelley

Really

Beautiful sky

Throw in some of Kathy Kelley’s wild-eyed assemblages of tires, rebar and other detritus, and ...

Houston Chronicle Fine Arts Review:

CAMH's No Zoning suffers from, well, zoning
Be sure to read last line starring ... well ... me! :)

Soak it up while I can, sooner or later, I will also get spanked by the press. Apparently it is just not my turn today.

i just like when they work stupid big;their work becomes so interesting

this weekend their hw is to go beyond stupid big and work gigantor (made up word). at least it is gigantor for them (about 3' x 5 or 6'). can't wait to see the results.

here are some of their wonderful stupid big work (2'x 3') from this past thursday. we worked on the floor instead of easels to discover what kind of distortions occur when working in odd positions. typically on the floor like this you'll get some linear distortion (elongation) because of the odd translation of eye, body, to floor. [more images of students working]

good to know the sensitivity is still there

all this making students draw gave me a craving for it myself. so i meandered back to the artery for some figure drawing on wednesday night, i hadn't been since i locked my keys in my truck when attempting to fetch ice last year shortly after ike when we were still sans electricity. so it has been awhile. but it was good to go.

sometimes it feels good to be 'bête comme un peintre'(Duchamp). no offense painters.

the paper is crappy, but i just like newsprint (working 2'x3') and it is oh so affordable.


warmed up with 2 minute sketches


progressed to 7 minute sketches


concluded the night with 15 minute sketches. a nice evening.

Drawing 1 - Warming up with gestural ghost drawings

stephanie


stephanie

Women's work--sewing

http://kathrynkelley.blogspot.com

ghost drawings, stupid big (in a good way)

students, using gestural ghost drawing methodology, begin to work stupid big on 2'x3' paper with their compositions as an experiment...the results were...well let's just say everyone was pleased. What i also like about this experiment with gestural ghost drawings is that though there are similarities between each artist's (student's) work, they still maintain what i would call a unique voice (in other words all the drawings in spite of using the same methodology are still distinct from one another). this i like--how to teach them to see and translate yet maintain a unique voice or interpretation. it is also one of my goals that if they choose to represent reality, they will be equipped to do so and if they choose to distort reality for their own intent, they can. both are important skills.


stephanie


stephanie

ghosting (drawings)

10 to 15 gesture drawings on a single piece of paper. students start with 1 minute gesture drawings and capture the entire still life with charcoal, then wipe image away. then they analyze ghost image to real objects and look for areas of inaccuracy, then they draw another 1 minute gesture. this is repeated about 5 times then they evolve to 4 minute gestures for the remainder of drawings, wiping image away between each. After final gesture, they use an eraser to begin removing excess charcoal. they erase according to the cross contour.


Kim early on

Kim after 10 to 15 gestures and beginning to erase

Less scatish

A bit scat (noun not verb) like

Growing

Time for a nap on a rainy afternoon.

Must be why it wasn't too hot to work today.
Image is much prettier if you turn off the sound.

Outdoors again. Hot but not so bad

Sewing for work to go in gallery at Lonestar College Kingwood Campus opening Thursday, October 15. Artist talk at 6:30 pm.



Installation Oct. 10--if you want to provide muscle, I am still looking for muscle. Let me know if you want to come help (10 am at the BOX to about 2:30ish and I'll feed you and give you beer [afterwards of course]).

I will never be a chef like P'ta

But here is a can of black bean soup with fresh jalapeño, tomatoes, onion and Colby cheese. Yum.

Exclusion & Embrace

Exclusion & Embrace :: A theological exploration of identity, otherness, and reconciliation by Miroslav Volf.

A very interesting text, thought and faith provoking, which calls for something from me and i am still trying to understand what it is that God is moving in me.

Ghost images

Students gesture draw in charcoal for one minute, then remove image by wiping it away. Analyze ghost image to real object then draw and adjust. The repeat this about 15 times until they find the object. Then they clean up image by erasing following the cross contours as they erase. Fun.

Melissa.

Sometimes it is the unseen

Sometimes it is the unseen inner workings that are the most, fascinating, beautiful or even shocking in art and life.

Hmmm, who knows

I will just keep sewing

Hmmm

I just can't tell. Oh well time to cleanup for the night.

I love arugula!

I learned to love it on a trip to Italy with my mother-in-law. To my good fortune HEB sells it. It makes eating my greens quite tasty. Though the can of pozole soup is limping along even with a little rotelle to try to help it out.

One of the tribal masks travels to Austin for auctionat Women and Their Works Red Hot Red Dot event

Red Hot Red Dot

Art Spree and Silent Auction Thursday, September 17, 6 to 9pm
Exhibition continues through September 29th

Don’t miss one of the best parties of the year! Red Hot Red Dot is also your chance to buy outstanding art created by over 200 artists from Texas and beyond for $500 or less.

Latin American inspired food from La Sol Y La Luna; spectacle from the Supersonic Soul Squad Dancers.

Tickets are $75; visit our website http://womenandtheirwork.org and buy yours today. Coming soon: an online list of all the fantastic silent auction items that will be auctioned off Thursday night.

I just can't tell

I think I want to cinch up the big ring with the chain tighter to the vertical frame. Not sure and not strong enough to cinch it solo. But the good news is I was able to tighten it up a bit, which means it is not as heavy as I dreaded it might be.



The understructure rings are attached to the vertical frame with hinges so that the entire piece can fold up sort of flat for transporting and getting it through doorways. Why are gallery doorways so small? Do they think everyone who paints, paints with paint? These are black paintings painted with sewn tire tubes. Well i think of them as paintings because their primary structure is a rectangular frame that leans against the wall--kind of like a painting.

So far in it's current configuration the black painting is about 10' tall by 7.5' wide and about 7' in deep and maybe 300 to 400 pounds.

Some day I wont have to abuse my male friends and family to move my works and instead some museum or perhaps the menil will fund and move the works for exhibitions and such or just flat out buy the work so i have more room to make more!

In process and static image doesn't work

Still sewing on this piece. Hard to get a good image because a second
piece is immediately adjacent to it. I suppose I will get a bit of a
surprise when I separate the pieces. I really am not sure what will
visually happen when they are separated.

Too complex for static image

Been pulling it a part and restructuring it because it didn't feel
right. It is starting to feel right.