Meet Allan

I haven't been on here for a long time because there was nothing that I wanted to pin down.
However today I met an interesting man.
He's 75 and his advice to me was to get in my car and live fast because by 70 life turns to shit along with your body.This was right after he tried chasing me off his property. Allan spends his day trying to keep thieves away from his yard and for the same reason he spends his nights by a bonfire.Till 3am. He's a hardcore collector and he loves his stuff.Fu dogs,cast iron tubs filled with grass (his neighbors hate that) farm equipment.
The city wants to tear his house down.He thinks this is the proof that we are living in a communist country.
More things about Allan? He was an advertising executive,lost a million in his divorce,loves California ,loves dinosaurs which he makes out of scrap metal and he has my phone number.What can I say.I liked him.

Calcification series

A while ago I started a project "the calcification series " and hoped to find out more about the people who like my work.It was always a mystery to me where my work is going and most importantly why .
I thought there must be a connection in what moves both parts, and I hoped there will be a spark carried back and forth.

This is a short story by Katie Farris , sent to me shortly after she bought my little creature which she called Annabell.The creative spark went back and forth more than I ever hoped for because after my initial excitement Katie shared her soon to be publish amazing manuscript with me and we decided I should try to illustrate it.
I will definitely show you the results soon.
Until then meet Annabell and her story by Katie Farris.






The Solid Bell of Her

She possesses all the necessary bones: femur, tibia, fibula, but instead of two distinct legs, there’s just a round rump and a tail out back. Her two legs like tongues within the solid bell of her flesh.
Her mouth is so small her inhales and exhales both whistle thinly. That thin whistle, and the smell of her which is the smell of a delicately herbed chicken broth, is what brings the Dogman running. The Dogman is loyal: he walks slowly beside her as she makes her laborious way from one thing to the other thing. With no definition she wades in. She wades in her own flesh.
The Dogman sits when she stops and squats beside her, winding his paws around and around himself. He looks at her, sees her sad flesh. Both her tiny mouth and his large toothed jaw can form no words: only vowel sounds.
“Eeeeoooouuu.” He howls.
“You.” She says. “You.”

To my mug; just in case you don't make it

I know I wanted you sparkly spotty white so I can stick a trendy image on you and sell you in the market.I wanted you to conform.
However you came out of the kiln all honey colored and dripping with layers of glaze, the only one of your kind.
For a little oxidation pot with an unassuming white glaze you sure got that luscious "I wish I was a wood fire" look on. That shows ambition and I respect that .Just in case you don't make it trough the second fire and you die a bubbly splotchy blob of brown,I wanted to tell you ,you have been loved.

I'm on fire

Not literally.Maybe is the lack of sleep but I have a vision of my future that is practically crammed with action. An old project of mine (the calcification series) wanted to shift the focus on the people who own my work. More than a year and a half has passed and the response on the project was insignificant.Yes the pieces sold but I had very few people ready to take a chance and reveal themselves on the other side.I will send out a call but basically not bugging people over it is part of the project. Until yesterday when an amazing short story showed up as a response to one of my sculptures. And to top it off the writer sent me a manuscript and asked if I would illustrate it . We're taking about October and November which are my busiest months of the year,the potter's market is 8 weeks away, paint creek center for the arts asked for my work in their gift gallery,my etsy shop is picking up and I still have to finish 3 big custom orders until November.
I drive 60 miles a day to take my kid to school,I have no idea if my husband sneaks in the house to sleep or has a cot at his office and I ripped my house apart in a crazy purge/renovation project.Yet .After reading the short stories I could not sleep, layers of images were forming in my mind and the next day armed with new ink I went off looking for a quiet place to work.
Farmington Hills is a sad,sad place to live in and while fighting crowds of well dressed shoppers I found myself in front of a strange place.It must be my weirdness radar, the vibe ,that thing makes me walk into drug deals, dance next to masturbating freaks , now,this place is mindblowing and while standing in front of it I knew it was what I needed.So my first attempt to draw the devil in the short story was while I was staring at a vintage siamese twin doll.And it was good.

Remembrance

We all hold on to memories ,many of them never uttered out loud or even conscientiously known until a small detail takes us back like watching a movie.
My memories come to me in always too bright of a light.It seems that there was always no place to hide ,things were sharp and focused or maybe I made them look like that.
I remember minute details from random times in my life and of course there's no better place to put intimate never talked about memories than on a public space where anyone can stumble across them.So there it is, the moment the came back to me last night while trying to fall asleep
memory #1
the kid who could eat earthworms.
I never knew his real name or if he was a boy or a girl,the short choppy black hair made me think he's a boy.
His face was always dirty and quiet but after each rain his moment of glory would arrive when with dirty fingernails he would pick up earthworms from the puddles and eat them.
The other kids were constantly talking/cheering/daring all this time but I just stood there watching, holding my little brother's hand tight and trying to push a thought out my mind ;maybe he's hungry.Sometimes he would spit a chewed up wriggly worm and dirt in his palm to prove he's really eating them and from his palm looking behind him I could see the muddy street ,the overflowing garbage chute from the 10 story apartment building , stray dogs fighting for food in it and I was still faintly pushing away the thought that nobody can be that hungry.

Back on the road.

I've decided to take a longer trip to Europe.Amsterdam was always on my list of cities to visit and I took 5 days there first.I chose a great hotel The Toren on one of the oldest Amsterdam canals Keizersgracht ,grabbed my camera and went out walking.I didn't feel so excited and alive in more than a year.It was bloody cold,windy, a couple of fun people on fast bicycles were singing opera bits.
Next day I walked to the flea market in noordermarkt when a freezing rain started,I kept going all the way to the flower market and when I finally caved in, a small southamerican cafe looked promising for warmth and amazing good coffee.Not kidding here I know coffee and Amsterdam is many thumbs up..The owner was speaking Spanish and dutch but switched to English in a couple of seconds,the next people in were Germans,he made it work and finally he cordially set tables for a horde of funny and freezing Italians ,twelve.in half an hour there was a crazy mix of languages the restaurant cat was looking warily at the huge german dog a few italian kids were trying chimichurro sauce.The best way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy day.
Back on the street I dropped a piece of my pinhole camera in a gigantic old vine cask.We decided to try shaking it out.While it looked funny to everyone watching all we got out was very dirty water a couple of bruised fingers and a few puzzled looks in dutch. I tried one more time a couple of hours later, more rain water.I got out this time a cigarette butt,I patched my camera with black goth bandaids.End day one with a few more canal walks.
next day my holga pinhole broke again this time the part that holds the tripod attachment.I went in a small sex orientated souvenir shop and got some superglue ,managed to leave some of my skin on the camera..Took more pictures went on more canal walks, got lost repeatedly on kalverstraat and the nine streets,felt the urge to buy a dress ,had 10 coffees,and realized after 6 hours that is the end of day 2.It was Easter that night ,all bell churches started at midnight so I went for a walk.Freezing rain again,no people on the streets but the bars were full,took more pictures,came back to the warm hotel room ,soaking wet and had a small drink.
Next day we planned to see a couple of old fisherman villages (note to the guy who recommended this on his blog; dude,really?) volendam and markham
It was sheep tourism.While I was not going to spend 4 hours waiting to see Ann Frank's museum or any other museum for that matter, I ended up in a bus filled with people,with a guide who was interpreting each language,German English and Italian and with long lines to see the windmill,cheese factory and the clogs factory.I broke off and went on my own little stroll.Missed the whole cheese deal and watched a gigantic dutch woman in pink clogs bending over a Japanese kid who kept dropping Delft ceramic cats ;snarling; Wat in the world is wrong with you? took more pictures had fish and chips in the rain ,in the port with lots of mayo,took another stroll saw a kid chased by a mean swan.All in all a good day.The tour company conveniently missed to mention most tourist attractions were closed for Easter the same way the next day they forgot to mention that the trip to the tulip fields is basically one red field and some daffodils.that was quite a misunderstanding because the prospect said tulip farms and there was a picture of a kid in the muddy fields with a bunch of flowers.Instead we got to this pristine park.meh.oh forgive me,we got to this exciting park with supergardens that is the best in the world Keukenhof.The day was not a complete bust because by now back in Amsterdam I knew my way around the city and went exploring more and more colorful parts of the city ,talked with some seriously weird guys,looked in the windows of many many art galleries (closed for Easter of course) and had a mean meal in an organic restaurant with two cats.
Exit Amsterdam.
what I loved: most old homes on the canals have a pulley system on top ,many old homes bend dangerously on one side or another, amsterdamers are great on bikes ,people were friendly and smart,the food was great ,the cats were lazy ,art was daring the attention to design was everywhere.There was a very interesting feel on the city at the early hours before sunrise .If you decide to see the small villages and windmills what have you,go on our own ,avoid the turist crowds and you'll have a time to remember.definitely on my list to go back but next time I'll spend time in Rotterdam.

Many thanks

To the dedicated team behind the unofficial etsy featured seller blog.
I spent a couple of days now discovering amazing artists and their stories and I'm proud to be featured in their blog.
you can read my interview here and make sure to browse the archives because there's amazing work in each post.
thank you!
XoXO