Ya Ya!!!!

Last night, we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see Marcia Ball and Beausoleil. It was fun, and it actually did not rain on us. We originally wanted to go to kill two birds with one stone: to see the Niki de Saint Phalle installation as well as listen to music. Unfortunately, the gardens were closed and we were confined to just one (large) area. There were some of the sculptures available to observe, such as the cool lion to the right. It is one of two flanking the Conservatory. The bands were great, of course – the place was full of ex-patriate Louisianians, of course. I will have to go back, as there are many other Things to See! I may just go alone and be inspired – a little Artist’s Date for myself.

When I was an exchange student in France, I got a chance to visit Barcelona, which has a lot of architecture designed by Antonio Gaudi. My favorite place in Barcelona was the Parque Guell, and the use of St. Phalle’s tile in mosaic is reminiscent of his work. One day, I will do some work in mosaics. I could start out with something more lightweight, like a felt mosaic. Oh, yeah!!!

Alas, summer is now over, and I will have to work to make time for my art. I am sure that it will be possible, but it is a challenge. One of the complications I did not preview was the idea that I should be – how do I put this? – producing more of items that I know will sell, like my shrines and crosses. This would serve a couple of purposes: using these items that I purchased a while ago to make said best sellers, and, well, whittling down the debt. But I am one of the ADD types that has too many ideas, and too little time.

One thing that I am pleased with is my CafePress shop. This past summer, I came up with a new series of Loteria Card designs incorporating line drawings and fabric samples collected online. I call this digital art my Loteria Quilt, and these are finally starting to sell themselves. That’s the beauty of CafePress – you can promote it as much as you like, but it’s still also there in the Marketplace for people to find on their own terms.

Although this is digital art, a lot of work does go into it: finding the images and adapting them to make the “quilt,” finding a variety of fabric samples to use on the images, and still working toward a uniformity of a Loteria deck. I decided to use some other images that could be found in a Loteria deck – I am inspired by Teresa Villegas, who did a year’s worth of research to create her Loteria installation. I also am paying homage to the fabulous Don Clemente – Series 2 that I was fortunate to find online after seeing it in a Mexican restaurant a year ago.

This week, we began pre-planning at my school. Yesterday was the big convocation of the whole system (my system is a city one, so it is smaller than a county system would be), followed by a faculty meeting. I also discovered, through a typical wacky interchange and series of events that I needed to move BACK to my old classroom.

Last year, I was informed that I needed to move my entire classroom to another room, just two doors down. I sent a letter of appeal, with very valid points, but I was rebuffed. I had my students move all of my books to a supply closet, and had really good intentions of moving the rest of my furniture to the new classroom this summer, but never finished that task. Good thing, too. The new teacher inquired as to why she was being given a Smart Board – the installers had goofed and installed it in my old room. Ha!

But all of that will have to wait until Monday. Today and tomorrow are slotted for MYP (Middle Years Programme) training, which came with its own set of misunderstandings. But, on the whole, it was fun. I was tired from last night and yesterday, so I was happy to leave and go home for a LONG nap.

I don’t know what is up with my karma, but yesterday, I was involved in a fender-bender. A young lady in a van drove into my path as she tried to make a left hand turn from a parking lot. Luckily, no one was injured, and her insurance company accepted liability for my scratched front bumper. That’s good, but I just severely stubbed my foot on a table, and may have broken one of them – or at least really really hurt it. Fabulous!