Hot or Not

Loobylu has a weekly Hot or Not list that I've been hankering to try out, so here it is! You can check out her fantastic site here as well as my friend Elise's here (a repeat offender) who introduced me to the wonderful world of blogging in the first place.

Hot:

Homemade or  makeshift Christmas trees! My husband and I decided to make our own tree this year (although I do love the look and smell of a real Christmas tree). We thought it'd be fun and it saves a good bit of money.

A Very Esperanza Christmas was this weekend and it was awesome! Some of my very best friends played (Law School) and the band that my husband plays with (Johnny Bertram and the Golden Bicycles) dominated the crowd, especially when we all ran on stage to do a cover of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up".

I'm going to be visiting a lot of family this Christmas that I haven't seen in years. Time flies when you're growing up, but I'm very excited to reunite with them.

Lastly, but most definitely not least... The Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit at The Mississippi Museum of Art. I saw it today, and it was brilliant. Jim Henson is a visual genius, and he just so happens to be from the lovely state of Mississippi where I proudly currently reside.

Not:

We'll be traveling to New Orleans to see our families on Christmas day. Although I'm excited about seeing them, I hate the long stretch of flat land and bad highways almost as much as I hate having to sit still in a car for two and a half hours.

My body is so sore. It hurts to laugh. I'm finally using an ab roller I got for myself last year...pressing on...

My dearest friends are packing up and heading to Austin Texas in about a month. I'm trying to spend as much time as I can possibly handle with them before the big move.

Its been a rainy winter and my poor sweet puppy hasn't been able to enjoy what little back yard we have. I'm crossing my fingers for some good weather soon.

Aside from all the "nots" I have been thoroughly enjoying the holidays. Many many new years resolutions to come..

-dig

the persistence of memory

I'm a little ashamed of how long I've let this blog go untouched. But I'm back now, and have many things to share. During the lull between markets and making crafts I've been working on some of my fine art pieces that I'm trying to build for a portfolio. I've long been dipping into the idea of "memory mapping" for some paintings and drawings.

It's been interesting finding ghosts from my or someone else's past to create pieces with minimal imagery while trying to provoke the same emotions I have or remember. I think this will be a much needed but challenging process.

I'm beginning to understand why the holiday season is the hardest time for some people to get through. It's been a year and some days now since my mother's death. I find myself unmotivated to work on these pieces because of the occasional emotional strain, but I've realized that I will never have an excuse not to make art, because as long as I have a person or memory to make images from, I will always be able to connect with someone through art. What is more human than a memory? They are ours, to be viewed with no one else's perception.  There are worlds of images that are completely unique to you.

I've got 2 weeks off around Christmas because the screen printing shop I work at has gradually been losing business the closer we get to the holiday. Not unusual for this time of year though. I plan to use the time to work intensively on these pieces, so stay tuned!

-dig