Merimask Goes On And On

Okay, this has been KILLING me.  My brother gave me permission to post this picture.   Remember when I said he was in Belgium a few months ago, working on a super-secret project?  Here's who he was working with.

That's John, STING, and Franco Dragone.

Yeah, I was all HOLY CRAP NO WAY!   John e-mailed it to me with only the words "...pick out your brother in this picture."  He's funny like that.

As a child of the 80's, I find it incredibly wrong that my brother looks better than Sting.  It hurts me, some place deep inside where Duran Duran still rules my internal airwaves and the MTV rocket takes off over and over for eternity, and I look pretty in pink.

*bemused sigh*

Here is a link to my brother's website.  Funny thing #1:  My brother tends to draw his girlfriends/wives/significant others as "characters" and so he's gone through distinctive phases that I call his "Jesse period" or his "Janine period".  He's in a Kari period right now...that girl on the home page looks a lot like his current squeeze (she's awful cute).  'Cept, she doesn't have pink hair.  Or stripes.  Still though, you can chart his social life through his art.  I wonder if he knows he does that?  :-)

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Franco Dragone.  He's a fascinating guy.  I haven't met him personally, but John's told me some great stories.  I made this mask for him (a gift that John commissioned) last year, and (this is why I've been thinking about John and Franco and stuff) I'm making a copy of it to show to the director of Lahaina Gallery in San Francisco next week.  My mom in law did the most amazing thing by getting me this interview, and I'm a tad (okay, a LOT) nervous about it.  Check out the link anyway and tell me what you think.   I think this place could really carry my work because it has 3-d sculpture as well as traditional wall art, and a really funky eclectic style.  We'll see, we'll see.  *crossing fingers*

I'm working on a second "wow" mask...something in the same vein as the Dragone mask but ...impossible to describe, I'll just have to show you all when it's done.  Celestial theme (sun and moon) but heavily influenced by Art Nouveau and Japanese woodcuts.  See?  Hard to describe.

Busy busy.  My hands ache!  Totally blue-skying right now, but wouldn't it be incredibly awesome if I actually "made it"?  I've been so close SO many times...I can taste it.

Yeah, I'm officially old.  Old old McOld.  S'ok though because IMO I'm still fun.   PLUS tonight my hair is  awesome  and magic just like it was in the old days, and I think that's just fine.  :-)

 




Anyhoo that's about all that's going on right now.  The wind is screaming outside (seriously.  Gusts of 60+ mph) and I'm worried that more branches might come down.  That storm we had over two weeks ago weakened the trees so badly that there's a good possiblity that we might lose power again, which would really suck.  :-/

*keeping fingers crossed and candles nearby*

OMG people...

My power went back on today around 3 in the afternoon.  I have my cable hookup in the bedroom computer but, curiously, not in the livingroom (where the TV is...no "Heroes" tonight I guess)...other than that everything is ok once again but WOW...what a crappy time everyone here has had.


Anyway, we're ok but I'm exhausted.  Between the storm scaring the crap out of me and saving my tree and keeping the basement dry and most of all freezing my ASS off, I haven't slept much.  Also, I'm really sad about the trees.  This is the most lovely time of year.  The trees were just starting to change.  Now they're ripped up...the streets are piled ten feet high in debris.   All my bike trails are blocked by tree stuff, and who wants to look at torn tree scenery anyway?  It's so depressing.  Sleep will help I know...but right now I just feel like crying.

Plus, we didn't get to the closing.  Heh.  So our sad little tree-deprived house is STILL not ours.  *sigh*

*needs a hug* 

Grr!   Well, we have a new problem in the basement.  Leaky pipe, yay!  *snarl*  I called the plumber last night when I noticed it (I was going to have to get him here anyway to look at the sump and do whatever he has to do to get it up to code) and he said he'd be here at 8am BUT he called this morning to say...he can't make it here until this afternoon!  Argh!  And I've had three hours of sleep and I'm full of coffee.  Waah!  And everything's going all surreal on me because caffiene + lack of sleep = a weird me.  Woo!  PLUS he's a creepy guy and he flirts with me!  Yick!

*sigh*

Okay, I'm better.

...

No I'm not.  I'm still in bitch-mode. 

BECAUSE.  My ex-husband is seeing Charlotte this weekend (which he hasn't done in weeks, mind you) and even though he's like two months behind on his child support payments I still have to buy him a birthday present (by which I mean I have to take Char to the store and pay for the present she picks out for him).  And I don't WANT to buy him a birthday present.  But Char really wants to get him something so...   I'll do this thing even though there were birthdays and x-mas's when we were still married when I got NOTHING from him (and he never takes her to buy me anything on my birthday...).  But whatever.  It's what the kid wants and she's stressed about it so...I'll do it.  But I reserve the right to grumble about it here.  *pout*

Okay, now I feel better.  A bit.  Until I have to write that check for the plumbing thing.

*sigh*  Tell me something funny.  I need a laugh.

Well!  I have a new futon couch/bed.  The sales lady talked me into an upgrade so it's the super-delux extra-thick nicest one!  The kind boys from City Mattress delivered it yesterday.  It's shiny.  Unfortunately it's also black...and my cat loves it.  Break out the pet-hair-tape-roller-thingy, sez I.

Because everything in this house is just an elaborate cat-toy.  I should know that by now.

When I was away at Pennsic I got a chance to catch up with friends.  It was SO nice...exactly what I was craving.  Greg couldn't stay with me the whole week, and I thought I'd be terribly alone, but I had friends with me every minute and it was really nice!  Also, a pleasant surprise:  I'm not socially inept!  Apparently!  Hmm!  Everyone kept telling me how much fun they were having, and how glad they were that my merchant space was a pleasant oasis of friendly normal in a sea of goofy.  It went right to my head. 

So I'm making an effort to be friendlier on a daily basis, instead of just once a year.  So far it's going very well.

Yesterday Char and I went back to that long lovely trail in Canada (I get a secret kick out of producing the passports at the border...because the border guards on the US side can be real pills but there is no argument when the little blue books come out.  "The Power of PASSPORTS compell you!!").  We went a lot further than we usually go, and my legs are sort of killing me today.  We're going to do it again today though, because summer vacation will soon be over and these half-day bike trips will only be a weekend thing once school starts.

My sister is in town but I've only seen her once.  She's very busy.  :-(

I'm working on a Sess + Rin,Naraku + Kanna piece of fanart.  The IY manga dictates that I must hurry, as poor little Rin may be going the way of the dodo soon (_{oh but I really hope not!}!).  I'm arranging them in a yin/yang kind of pose, with the guys' hair being the dark and light fields and the little girls' faces being the contrasting color "dots"...can you see it?  I have to draw it so it makes sense, probably.

And that's all I've got.  Thunderstorms today maybe, I hope.